Film producer buys Studio City for $1.925M

Michael Charles Ohoven bought a five-bedroom, 5.5-bath home at 11247 Briarcliff Lane in Studio City from Allan C. Hochman for $1.925 million on March 10.



The 5,000-square-foot house was built in 1991.

Ohoven is a film producer and serves as the founder and CEO of Infinity Media. He formed Infinity Media in 2000. He learned financing and institutional investment at the prestigious Commerzbank and at the family's investment bank. He previously worked with the International Corporate Affairs division of RTL Television. He studied economics and business administration at one of Germany's leading universities.




His films have already been honored with five Academy Award nominations and one win. He is one of the youngest ever Oscar-nominated producers, and in 2006, The Hollywood Reporter named him one of Hollywood's "Most Prolific Producers."

According to BlockShopper.com, there have been 383 home sales in Studio City during the past 12 months, with a median sales price of $700,000.

Janet Jackson to Be Movie Producer

The 'Nasty' singer, who signed a production deal to develop big screen projects, said she has negotiated a contract with studio chiefs at Lionsgate to pick and produce a series of movies.

Photo credit: Dominic Chan/WENN

Pop superstar Janet Jackson is set to become a movie producer, the singer has signed a production deal to develop big screen projects. The "Nasty" hitmaker has spoken of her desire to concentrate on her acting career, but recently thrilled fans when she announced she would be hitting the road on her new "Number Ones: Up Close and Personal Tour" later in 2011.

However, Jackson isn't abandoning her film career, she has negotiated a contract with studio chiefs at Lionsgate to pick and produce a series of movies. She tells The Hollywood Reporter, "Many people forget I started out as an actor. I have been fortunate to work in the film industry, though not as much as I would like. I have a passion for storytelling, and have been doing it through my music for some time."

Jackson already has a longrunning relationship with bosses at Lionsgate, she has starred in the studio's Tyler Perry films "Why Did I Get Married?", "Why Did I Get Married Too?" and "For Colored Girls".

And Lionsgate president Mike Paseornek is adamant Jackson will make a success of the deal, adding, "She is a powerful onscreen presence, with a vast audience, and we believe she will be an equally powerful presence behind the scenes. We are honored to be able to provide a home for her ideas, passion and immense talent."

Film producer Walter Seltzer dies

Actor Charlton Heston feeds Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green,
one of seven movies Heston made with producer Walter Seltzer, who died Friday. 

 

 

Walter Seltzer, a Hollywood producer who made seven films with Charlton Heston, has died. He was 96.
Seltzer died Friday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's retirement home in Woodland Hills, said Jennifer Fagen, a spokeswoman for the fund.

Seltzer began his career as a publicity agent for actors such as Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable and Joan Crawford while working for MGM.

He became a producer with Marlon Brando's independent film company, making films such as the 1959 drama Shake Hands With the Devil with James Cagney and One-Eyed Jacks, a 1961 western starring Brando.

In 1965, he started working with Heston beginning with The War Lord and followed by the western Will Penny in 1968.

Their partnership also produced The Omega Man in 1971 and Soylent Green in 1973, both films touching on overpopulation, a subject that obsessed both Heston and Seltzer.

He was also known for his Oscar campaigns, including the 1955 movie Marty, a low-budget film that spent $400,000 on marketing, more than it cost to make.

"We offered to send a print of the picture, a projector and a projectionist to the home of anyone who would invite 20 academy members to a screening," Seltzer told the Associated Press in 2005.

Marty won four Academy Awards and was considered a sleeper hit.

Seltzer was born in Philadelphia on Nov. 7, 1914, the son of a pioneering film exhibitor. He worked as an usher before going into publicity and serving in the armed forces.

He retired from filmmaking by the late 1970s and became a fundraiser and board member of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, which cares for aging actors and runs the home where he died.

'Breaking Dawn' News: Producer Explains How They Plan to Tackle the Tough Issues

 

By Peter Martin

 "Vampires doing kicks." "Soft porn." "A crime against our audience." "Newlywed tension." Fear not, Twi-hards, your beloved movie franchise will not contain any of those potentially offensive elements, even as its final two chapters tackle the thorny issues of sexual intimacy, a bloody birth, and a director known for his musical numbers. Except for "newlywed tension": that will definitely be an important component of 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1,' due out in theaters in November.

Producer Wyck Godfrey explained to USA Today that domestic issues will take precedence over the action in 'Breaking Part 1,' as Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) discover marriage "is not quite the experience that they thought it was," especially after enjoying a "romantic and sensual" -- but definitely not "soft porn"! -- honeymoon. The picture above, released a while back, is a "morning after" look at Bella's arm, which may give you an idea of the chaste tastefulness that will characterize the night when Bella loses more than her memory. But what of the product of their love?


When their love child bursts forth from Bella's body in a hail of blood, bones, and gooey stuff, it will all be seen from Bella's point of view, "looking through the haze" of a very painful experience, thus neatly side-stepping the more explicit descriptions in Stephenie Meyer's novel. The producer says "it would be a crime against our audience to go R-rated." This confirms what screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg said last summer. (For a more extensive weighing of the pros and cons of showing the bloody birth scene on the big screen, see this great article by our own Jessica Barnes -- and check out the passionate debate it sparked.)

The interview features other tidbits of information: where, exactly, the book will be split ("The first part will cover the wedding, the honeymoon and the birth. The film ends just before she embarks on her supernatural transformation"); how Jacob's section of the book will be handled in the films; why Bill Condon ('Dreamgirls') was selected to direct; and the possibility of a vampire "soft-shoe shuffle." If nothing else, it's clear that the filmmakers are united in their desire to honor the spirit of the book while maintaining the invaluable PG-13 rating. Whether they succeed or not will be entirely up to you.

American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, receives the 2010 Ambassador for Humanity Award.

USC Shoah Foundation Institute Celebrates the 2010 Ambassador for Humanity Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Jeffrey Katzenberg (right), American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation,
receives the 2010 Ambassador for Humanity Award from film director and USC Shoah Foundation Institute founder
Steven Spielberg at a gala on Dec. 9 at Kodak Theatre. Photo credit WireImages.

Jeffrey Katzenberg (right), American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, receives the 2010 Ambassador for Humanity Award from film director and USC Shoah Foundation Institute founder Steven Spielberg at a gala on Dec. 9 at Kodak Theatre. Photo credit WireImages.

A spray of stars and supporters of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute came together on Dec. 9 in Hollywood’s famed Kodak Theatre to honor American film producer, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, philanthropist and humanitarian Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Steven Spielberg, founder of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute and honorary chair of the Shoah Foundation Institute, likened Katzenberg to Jimmy Stewart’s character George Bailey in Frank Capra’s classic film It’s A Wonderful Life. “Without Jeffrey as a part of our collective lifetimes,” he said, “I shudder to think of what Hollywood would be like today,” he said.

Spielberg called Katzenberg a true visionary who along with his family is a firm believer in the word “yes.” He cited a long list of his philanthropic leadership roles in the United States and around the world where he has been a champion of charitable movements.

When receiving his award, Katzenberg spoke of Spielberg’s seminal film Schindler’s List and the wonderful after effects including the establishment of the Shoah Foundation. “He dramatically demonstrated how art can lead to action through the foundation that documents, in excruciating detail, to mankind the facts that can never be denied, distorted or dismissed.”

Calling the 52,000 testimonials in the Institute's archive a powerful and profound and permanent shout of never again, Katzenberg said that along with the cry “never again,” in his mind it is “ever again.”

“Ever again in large and small ways people rise to the challenge and push back the darkness that happened in camps, battlegrounds, in attics and hiding places,” he said. “Ever again good people do what is right and the world inches forward. Ever again we see it around us today in soup kitchens, the Haiti relief effort, and the fight against AIDS.”

Katzenberg said that he was both inspired by stories in the Institute’s archive and by the story of the Institute itself.

USC President C. L. Max Nikias and USC’s First Lady Niki Nikias at the USC
Shoah Foundation Institute Gala on Dec. 9, 2010. Photo credit Kim Fox.

"By preserving the past, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute is changing the future. These testimonials remind us that although we may be separated by the boundaries of nations or differences of opinion, we all have a shared humanity,” USC President C. L. Max Nikias said.

“We are very fortunate that people like Jeffrey Katzenberg have the compassion and the generosity to help us share these powerful testimonies with more and more people around the world. And we are also fortunate that a visionary like USC Trustee Steven Spielberg had the insight and the foresight to create the Shoah Foundation,” Nikias continued.

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Institute, gave a moving presentation interspersed with video segments featuring survivors. “We are not all activists, but of course we can all take action. We are not all educators, but in some way we all teach and learn. We are not all revolutionaries but in some way we all want to change the world.”

Stephen Smith, executive director of the USC Shoah
Foundation Institute, gave a moving presentation at the event.
Photo credit Kim Fox.

Smith believes the Institute’s archive is a voice that speaks to us, one voice at a time. He acknowledged a few Holocaust survivors attending the event and thanked them for their courage and sharing of their stories.
Singer and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson provided the evening’s entertainment singing “When you Believe” and “Circle of Life.” Comedian Craig Ferguson, who hosted the gala, said that when asked to take part in the event that he could not say "no" to a free dinner or to Spielberg.

Howard Gillman, dean of USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, at the event. Photo credit Kim Fox.

“Our broad and diverse community of students and scholars is dedicated to honoring the hopes and aspirations of every single person who shared his or her testimony,” said Howard Gillman, dean of the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences. “We are all deeply grateful to the countless individuals including Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg and organizations that have come together to support this invaluable education resource.”

The mission of the Institute, housed in USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, is to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry — and the suffering they cause — through the educational use of the Institute’s visual history testimonies. The Institute holds an archive of nearly 52,000 testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses from 56 countries and in 32 different languages.

Previous recipients of the Ambassador for Humanity Award include philanthropist Wallis Annenberg and actor Kirk Douglas.

To learn more about the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, visit college.usc.edu/vhi.

Movie producer Dino De Laurentiis dies.

The family of Dino De Laurentiis has confirmed the film producer's death to CNN.A statement from Raffaella De Laurentiis, family spokesperson and daughter of Dino De Laurentiis, said he died at 10 p.m. PT Wednesday at his Beverly Hills, California, home, surrounded by family.

Dino De Laurentiis in pictures on Life.com

His granddaughter, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, issued this statement separately:

"My grandfather was a true inspiration. He was my biggest champion in life and a constant source for wisdom and advice. I will miss him dearly."

Dino De Laurentiis, who produced more than 160 films and was nominated for Oscars 35 times, has died at age 91, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

De Laurentiis won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film for 1954's "La Strada," directed by fellow Italian Federico Fellini, according to imdb.com.

He produced the Jane Fonda cult classic "Barbarella" in 1968 and moved to the United States shortly after, according to Digital Spy.

He had a reputation for backing big-budget bombs, but he made good movies too. Among his credits are "Serpico," "Three Days of the Condor," "Flash Gordon," "Dune" and the 1976 remake of "King Kong."
He did not produce "The Silence of the Lambs" in 1991 but did take charge of "Hannibal" and "Hannibal Rising," according to DigitalSpy.

He was the grandfather of celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis.

Upcoming Hollywood Movie Producer - Afam Obih Seeks Public Support.

As part of the plan to roll off the production of his new movie "Searching The Green", Afam Obih, an upcoming Hollywood movie producer in partnership with INDIEGOGO, a crowd funding organization is appealing to the general public to become part of the production for some special incentives here http://www.indiegogo.com/searching-the-green

The upcoming movie, designed to be shot in both Africa and America settings, is centered around a young man who migrated to America from one of the West African countries in search of a greener pasture. To his utter dismay the American dream was not as easy as thought so, he decided to take several short cuts that fetched him some marital uphills.

In order to raise the estimated amount which is to the tune of $24,000, the film maker is reaching out to the members of the public to help fund the project and become beneficiaries of several incentives of different categories here http://www.indiegogo.com/searching-the-green

The producer said the kickoff of the phase 1 of the upcoming movie will take effect immediately enough fund has been raised towards that end. The production is intended to have 4 phases and will last a maximum of 14 days per phase to be shot serially following each auditioning exercise.

According to a source closer to the producer, the money realized from the public appeal will be used towards the payment and feeding of their cast and crew members, costume and props, lights and filming equipments, fueling of their power generator and location van.