GNGL Executive Producer facing charges

GNGL Executive Producer, Mark Cubin, has been charged with insider trading.

NEW YORK — The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged entrepreneur Mark Cuban with insider trading, the agency said Monday morning. Cuban and spokespeople for him couldn’t be reached for comment.

The SEC said its charge stems from Cuban’s 2004 sale of 600,000 shares of Internet search engine Mamma.com “on the basis of material, nonpublic information concerning an impending stock offering.”

The FCC filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. It alleges that in June 2004, Mamma.com invited Cuban to participate in its stock offering after he agreed to keep the information confidential.

Within hours of hearing about the offering at a discount, Cuban, knowing it would dilute the holdings of existing shareholders, called his broker and instructed him to sell his entire position in the firm, according to the SEC.

Once the offering became public, Mamma.com’s stock price opened 9.3% below the previous day’s closing price. Cuban avoided losses in excess of $750,000, the SEC said.

“Insider trading cases are a high priority for the commission,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “This case demonstrates yet again that the commission will aggressively pursue illegal insider trading whenever it occurs.”

Scott Friestad, deputy director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, added: “It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market.”

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George to Discuss Role in “Good Night, and Good Luck” at Reel Journalism With Nick Clooney

Washington, DC (Vocus/PRWEB ) November 11, 2008 — The Newseum, in partnership with American University’s School of Communication, announced yesterday that actor and director George Clooney will be among the featured discussion panelists for the Reel Journalism With Nick Clooney film series. George Clooney will discuss his role in the 2005 film “Good Night, and Good Luck,” in which legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow stands against Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Jan. 26, 2009, 7 p.m. — “Good Night, and Good Luck” (2005)
Panelists: George Clooney, actor and director
Summary: At the height of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist campaign in the 1950s, legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow takes on McCarthy against a backdrop of intense political pressure. Academy Award-winning actor George Clooney, who directed, co-wrote and starred in the docudrama, discusses his inspiration for bringing the tale of Murrow’s most memorable moment to the silver screen.

The Reel Journalism film series, featuring one film each month, will take place in the Newseum’s state-of-the-art Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater. Programs will include screenings of the films accompanied by live discussions with prominent filmmakers, award-winning actors and top journalists. The series kicks off on Monday, Dec. 8, with “Broadcast News,” a 1987 romantic comedy revolving around three television news broadcasters.

Veteran journalist Nick Clooney, author of the book “The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen,” will host the series. Clooney, who was appointed Distinguished Journalist in Residence at AU’s School of Communication earlier this fall, will teach a course based on his book in spring 2009. The appointment is part of a long-term partnership between the school and the Newseum. Clooney also is a familiar face to viewers of the American Movie Classics cable network.

Tickets to the four films featured at the Reel Journalism film series will be sold as a package. A four-pack of tickets costs $125 per person and includes all-day admission to the Newseum on the day of each film. Tickets are available at the Newseum admission desk or at newseum.org. To see a brief video promoting the series, go to http://www.newseum.org/events_edu/reel_journalism/index.htm.

Nick Clooney: Reel Journalism and Apollo 8

Nick will be hosting two events with The Newseum.

Reel Journalism

Hollywood’s portrayal of journalism has offered up countless images of newspeople, from the noble truth-seeker to the compromised scandalmonger. Influential and timeless, the “reel” reporter has helped shape the public’s view of real journalists.

Beginning Dec. 8, 2008, the Newseum and the American University School of Communication present the marquee film series “Reel Journalism,” showcasing classic and contemporary films depicting the integral role of journalism in American life.

Veteran journalist Nick Clooney, author of the book “The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen,” will host the series. Clooney is also a familiar face to viewers of the American Movie Classics cable network. Each program will include screenings of the films accompanied by live discussions with prominent filmmakers, award-winning actors and top journalists.

Screenings take place in the Newseum’s state-of-the-art Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater. Programs begin at 7 p.m., and doors will open 30 minutes before start time. Ticket purchasers will be able to visit the Newseum throughout the day of the screening.

Good Night Good Luck will present on Jan 26th 2009 and George is listed as a guest.

Apollo 8

WASHINGTON — Almost 40 years after NASA executed the bold decision to send the first human flight of the gigantic Saturn V rocket to the moon, the crew of Apollo 8 will reunite as part of a special public program produced in cooperation with the Newseum in Washington.

The program features Apollo 8 crew members Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders. It will be broadcast live from the Newseum on NASA Television and www.nasa.gov on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 1:30 p.m. EST. The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

The event is part of the Newseum’s commemoration of NASA’s 50th anniversary and is open to visitors. Seating in the Newseum’s Knight TV Studio is limited and seats will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional overflow seating will be available throughout the Newseum.

Media representatives who wish to cover this special presentation should contact Tina Tate at the Newseum at 202-292-6313 by 5:00 p.m. EST, Nov.12.

During the 60-minute program, astronauts Borman, Lovell and Anders will discuss the epic December 1968 lunar orbital mission and how the success of Apollo 8 contributed to the overall moon landing effort that culminated just six months later with Apollo 11. The crew also will discuss the years following Apollo and the future of space exploration.

The program will be moderated by Nick Clooney, the Newseum’s distinguished journalist in residence.

Getting her just due

Getting her just due
BCPA to host jazz singer Dianne Reeves
By Dan Craft

She’s been a queen of the jazz-singing hill for two decades now. But it took an A-list fan’s admiration to bring four-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves to the masses in a really big way. Her admirer: actor-writer-producer-director George Clooney. The occasion: his 2005 one-man movie show, “Good Night, and Good Luck.” From the evidence on screen, Clooney clearly knew what he was looking for when he hand-picked Reeves to provide his acclaimed Edward R. Murrow chronicle with its mood-setting aural vibe. His aunt, after all, is the late Rosemary Clooney, one of the great vocal stylists of the ’50s, the decade in which his Murrow saga exists. In an interview from her home in Denver, Reeves says that “all the music in the film was selected by George Clooney so that it became part of the storytelling. The thing I loved more than anything about it was that I could deliver my lines just like the actors.”

Read complete article at Patagraph.com

GNGL Screenplay receives Literary Award

GNGL DVD receives two nominations for the Satellite Awards

The International Press Academy announces its official nominations for the 11th Annual Satellite® Awards honoring Film, Television, DVD, and New Media, to be held Dec. 17, 2006.  The DVD Good Night and Good Luck  ( Warner Home Video) was nominated in the two categories Best Overall DVD and  DVD Extras   (OscarWatch Newsletter)

George Mention…

Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Eric Goldberg at Animated News touching on the subject of film funding and GNGL. 

AN: Last time we talked about Napoleon Dynamite.

EG: Yeah! That’s a success story and there should be more of those. It cost under half a million and made a hundred million in the theater and even more on DVD. That’s a hit, folks. So, something’s backwards, and I think the studios are starting to take note. I think there are less blockbusters these days. I think they are starting to understand maybe all that good cash for bad isn’t worth their while. And obviously at Oscar time it’s the independent films or smaller ones that get a look in. I mean look at the nominees this year. There weren’t really any major big pictures that were nominated for Best Picture, were there?

AN: Not really.

EG: Capote, Good Night And Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain. Here’s an interesting thing: George Clooney couldn’t get the money for Good Night And Good Luck. He had a seven million dollar budget and none of the studios would pony up for it. He had to find independent financing because it was in black and white. And the black and white photography was beautiful.

AN: Yeah, it was. And Schindler’s List was black and white.

EG: Yeah, and that was beautiful. But, you know, Spielberg is Spielberg, too. Even so, I would think George Clooney has a little weight in this town, but even he can’t get low budget funding. It’s outrageous. Hats off to him and anyone else who tries to do it the different way.

Source: Animated News
Credit and Thanks to Peanut for the find!