Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

Best wishes to each and everyone of you for a healthy, safe and prosperous 2008. As many of you know, I have just returned from a glorious winter holiday in South America. My first trip there, and definitely a place I recommend to others. Rather than visiting Paris, visit Buenos Aires; rather than visiting London, try Rio de Janeiro. We visited some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen that seem to reach forever. Ihla Grande, Porto Belo, Punte del Este – and more. And, I found film festivals everywhere – from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo. Just wait as you see our plans to expand our partnerships this year to international venues.

While away, I have been tracking entertainment news from home. I see that writer-director, Brad Bird (“The Iron Giant,” “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille”) has been in the news extoling the virtues of animation writers. Yesterday, I saw my first feature film of the year, the Disney sequel “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and hoped to see the new release, “P.S. I Love You” which my daughter worked on. Unfortunately, we purchased tickets for the 1:30 screening of the former and 4:00 of the latter and when we tried to get in to see “P.S. I Love You” there were no seats left. I have never seen our local UA/Regal Cinema so packed as it was New Year’s Day. As we left the theater, the line for tickets wrapped around the outside of the building – this in single digit temps! Who says that no one goes to the movies anymore.

Last, I turned to updates on the writer’s strike. Looks like Jay Leno’s show has been spotlighted as WGA West abandons pickets at all other locations the rest of this week in order to focus on NBC Studios because Jay returns to The Tonight Show tonight. Although Leno helped out the Guild in the early days of the strike, apparently there’s a rift between his show and the guild because of the WGA’s decision to make an interim agreement with David Letterman’s group allowing The Late Show and the Late Late Show to return to the air with scribes.

WGA Agrees To Allow Dave’s Late Night Shows To Return With Writers Jan. 2
Late Night Breakthrough; Dave Cooks Up WGA Deal That NBC & ABC Won’t Enjoy