Amid threats of a boycott and anger over their secretive and awkward transition, the new owners of the LA Weekly have sent out an apology statement to the readership. “We have made numerous missteps in the transition of new leadership at L.A. Weekly,” said the letter from Semanal Media’s Brian Calle and David Welch…

UPDATE:  Responding to ill-will generated by firing most of the staff and threats of a boycott, the new owners of the LA Weekly have issued a statement promising to promote solid journalism and continued coverage of niche and under-served communities. The owners generated controversy by not revealing themselves…

Ashok Amritraj's company came home from AFM with a raft of sales for the features Life Of Crime, The Fall Guy and Christ The Lord. Hyde Park International closed deals for Daniel Schecter's Jennifer Aniston starrer Life of Crime in territories including the UK (Artificial Eye), Canada (VVS), Germany (Constantin)…

EXCLUSIVE: Longtime film writer Amy Nicholson has been named full-time film critic at LA Weekly. Her hire was made by parent company Voice Media Group, and her reviews will also appear in VMG’s other 10 newspapers. Nicholson will work with Voice Media’s principal film critic Stephanie Zacharek, who is based at NY’s Vil…

The venerable alternative newspapers plus 11 others are part of a buyout announced last night that will separate them from Backpage.com, the classified ad service that critics say promotes prostitution. The chief operating officer of Village Voice Media Holdings, Scott Tobias, led the team buying the papers, called…

Video below. Politico says comedian turned U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken helped head writer Seth Meyers brainstorm tonight’s SNL opening sketch mocking John McCain. Ugh, it was lame. Not funny at all. In fact, the whole show…

  Few people in Hollywood actually like Aaron Sorkin, least of all his fellow Writer’s Guild scribes who recently learned about his attempts to undermine the guild’s solidarity behind the writers strike. But NBC political anchors really really like him. Last night, NBC’s Brian Williams and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had…

Hot button documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has come out today on his website and in the media with his blueprint for “losing the most winnable presidential election in American history” taken from his new book, Mike’s Election Guide. The Oscar winner says his thesis is based on the Democrats’ past losing…

  George Clooney this afternoon just responded to published reports that he is phoning and texting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on everything from the Middle East to body language. FOXNews.com today posted an account by the London Daily Mail claiming Clooney and Obama regularly chat by email and text…

California governator Arnold Schwarzenegger is so useless — and not just because nearly every morning he sits around drinking coffee in a Brentwood cafe instead of tending to state business in Sacramento. Now, instead of helping the California economy by stopping the networks’ and studios’ runaway production, he’ll…

Tonight the AMPTP issued this statement on something they call “final offer retroactivity.” (But if you ask me, it just sounds like the Hollywood moguls don’t want their summer vacations interrupted…): “The Producers remain committed to making a deal with SAG as soon as possible, which is why the AMPTP’s final offer…

  Bernie Weinraub, the retired Hollywood and political correspondent for The New York Times (and my pal), has not one but two plays previewing. His drama The Accomplices about Jewish activists who sought aid from the U.S. government to stop the Holocaust, makes its West Coast premiere at the Fountain Theatre July…