News

We lost some entertainment giants in 2024.

Among the big-screen legends who died during the past 12 months were Donald Sutherland, James Earl Jones, Maggie Smith, Carl Weathers, Shelley Duvall, Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, Louis Gossett Jr., Anouk Aimée, Marisa Paredes and Gena Rowlands.

Related: Saying Goodbye: A Video Tribute To The Hollywood And Media Figures We’ve Lost In 2024

The TV world mourns the likes of Bob Newhart, John Amos, Phil Donahue, Linda Lavin, David Soul, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Martin Mull, Shannen Doherty, Michael Cole, Richard Lewis, Richard Simmons, James B. Sikking, Peter Marshall and Joe Flaherty.

Filmmakers and producers who left us include Norman Jewison, Roger Corman, Al Ruddy, Jon Landau, Lynda Obst, Jim Abrahams, Charles Shyer, Irv Wilson and Paolo Taviani.

The industry also paid tribute to such top executives as Charles Dolan, Paula Weinstein, Jamie Kellner, Richard Parsons, Gerald Levin and Paul Fox.

Broadway’s lights were a...

Ron Simons, who had a busy if low-key TV acting career before making his greatest impact producing such acclaimed Broadway plays as Thoughts of a Colored Man (2021) and the 2022 revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, died Wednesday. The four-time Tony Award winner was 63.

His death was announced by SimonSays Entertainment, the production company he founded in 2009. A cause of death was not immediately available.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the unexpected passing of our beloved, blessed, and highly favored friend, Ronald Keith Simons. Funeral details will be forthcoming,” the production company said in a statement.

The Classical Theatre of Harlem said in a separate statement, “We are heartbroken to learn of our friend and former trustee Ron Simon’s passing. Our thoughts are with his family. Ron has left behind an unmatched legacy on Broadway and beyond. We will...

Ron Simons, an actor and four-time Tony Award-winning producer, has died. He was 63.

His production company SimonSays Entertainment shared that Simons died Wednesday. His cause of death wasn’t immediately available.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the unexpected passing of our beloved, blessed, and highly favored friend, Ronald Keith Simons. Funeral details will be forthcoming,” the production company wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Born on Nov. 30, 1960, in Detroit, Michigan, Simons didn’t initially pursue a career in acting and theater. After graduating from Columbia Business School in 1989 with an Mba in marketing and international business, he started his professional career at Microsoft as a product manager in San Francisco, California.

It wasn’t until years later, at 39 years old, that he decided to quit his job and follow his dreams in entertainment.

He got his Mfa in acting from the University of Washington and eventually moved from California to New York,...

Refresh For Udpates: The nominations for the 76th Annual Tony Awards will be announced on CBS Mornings today by Funny Girl star Lea Michele and Mj‘s Tony Award winner Myles Frost. The complete list of nominations will be posted here at 9:10 a.m. Et./6 a.m. Pt.

The nominations announced so far:

Best Musical

& Juliet

Producers: Max Martin & Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, Jenny Petersson, Martin Dodd, Eva Price, Lukasz Gottwald, 42nd.club, Independent Presenters Network, Jack Lane, Library Company, Shellback, Shivhans Pictures, Sing Out, Louise!, Kim Szarzynski, Taylor/Riegler, Tenenbaum/Keyes, Barry Weiss, John Gore Organization

Kimberly Akimbo

Producers: David Stone, Atlantic Theater Company, James L. Nederlander, Lachanze, John Gore, Patrick Catullo, Aaron Glick

New York, New York

Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, Tom Kirdahy, Wendy Federman & Heni Koenigsberg, Crossroads Live, Playing Field, Stephanie P. McClelland, Ambassador Theatre Group, Waiting in the Wings Productions, Colin Callender, Gilbert and DeeDee Garcia/Sue Vaccaro,...

Updated: Waitress, the Broadway musical featuring music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, has canceled its remaining performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, producers announced tonight. The decision was made after new cases of Covid were detected among the company and crew. The production was to have run through January 9.

Likewise, producers of the groundbreaking Thoughts of a Colored Man at the Golden Theatre announced that the December 22 performance of the show was its last. When Thoughts of a Colored Man opened in October, it made history as the first Broadway show to be written, directed by, starring and lead-produced by Black men. Like others, the Keenan Scott II play, directed by Steven H. Broadnax III, tried to navigate the rising Covid crisis in New York to no avail.

Producers Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana Dimenna, Kandi Burruss, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Samira Wiley issued the following statement:

While this is...

Thoughts of a Colored Man, the new Broadway play by Keenan Scott II and directed by Steve Broadnax III, is moving up its official Broadway opening by more than two weeks, with the new opening date now on Wednesday, October 13.

The play at Broadway’s Golden Theatre had previously been set to open Oct. 31. No reason was giving for the date change, but such moves have been relatively commonplace this fall season as numerous Broadway productions juggle their openings and re-openings following the industry’s recent return from the Covid pandemic shutdown.

Thoughts of a Colored Man features an ensemble cast including Dyllón Burnside (Pose), Bryan Terrell Clark (Hamilton), Da’Vinchi (Starz’s upcoming Black Mafia Family), Luke James (The Chi), Forrest McClendon (The Scottsboro Boys), Tristan Mack Wilds (The Wire) and Esau Pritchett (Prodigal Son). The play is produced by Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana Dimenna, Kandi Burruss, Sheryl Lee Ralph,...

Prodigal Son actor Esau Pritchett has joined the cast of Broadway’s upcoming Thoughts of a Colored Man, replacing Keith David, who is leaving the production due to a private family matter.

The cast change was announced today by producers Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana Dimenna, Kandi Burruss, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Samira Wiley, The Shubert Organization, and The Nederlander Organization.

“The company of Thoughts of a Colored Man supports The David Family during this time,” Moreland said in a statement, “and we are also elated to welcome a new member to the family.” Details about David’s family matter were not disclosed.

Pritchett, who made his Broadway debut in a 2010 Lincoln Center Theater production of John Guare’s A Free Man Of Color, is best known to TV audiences for his recurring roles on Fox’s Prodigal Son and the Starz Network drama Power: Book II Raising Kanaan.

Thoughts of a Colored Man,...

By Susan King

Audra McDonald is the most lauded Broadway performer winning a whopping six Tony Awards in both musical and dramatic categories. And she may be receiving her seventh for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair du Lune” when the 74th annual Tonys take place Sept. 26th at the venerable Winter Garden Theatre.

Despite that record, it took a long time for Black artists to be acknowledged by the Tonys, which were first handed out in 1947. It wasn’t until 2004 that a Black actress won for a lead performance in a play: Phylicia Rashad broke this barrier with her win for a revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” Hansberry was the first Black artist to be nominated for Best Play in 1960 for the original production of “A Raisin in the Sun” as were its director Lloyd Richards and stars, Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil.

Tony Award-nominated choreographer Camille A. Brown will make her Broadway directing debut with a 2022 production of Ntozake Shange’s 1976 classic for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, becoming what producers say is the first Black woman to serve as both director and choreographer on a Broadway production in more than 65 years.

Brown previously choreographed director Leah C. Gardiner’s 2019 Off Broadway production of the play at The Public Theater. Her upcoming directing debut was announced today by producers Nelle Nugent, Ron Simons and Kenneth Teaton.

“I’m extremely thrilled and honored to helm this new production of for colored girls…,” Brown said in a statement. “It’s an amazing feeling to bring this seminal show back to Broadway 45 years after it opened at the Booth Theatre on September 15, 1976. I look forward to diving into the divine Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem and celebrating her legacy.”

Brown...

Kandi Burruss, the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and The Chi actress, has joined the producing team for the upcoming Broadway debut of Keenan Scott II’s Thoughts of a Colored Man starring Pose‘s Dyllón Burnside.

Burruss, who appeared in the 2009 season of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta, is now part of the Broadway producing team led by Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana Dimenna, Samira Wiley, Sheryl Lee Ralph, The Shubert Organization and The Nederlander Organization.

“As we know, the best theater holds a mirror up and reflects the world to us,” Burruss said in a statement. “Thoughts of a Colored Man does something that is quietly revolutionary: it holds a mirror up to Black men and shows everyone the strong, wonderful, funny, caring, vulnerable, emotionally complex people that they are.” She added that the play “speaks to everyone regardless of gender, race, or age.”

Thoughts of a Colored...

Thoughts of a Colored Man, the new play by Keenan Scott II, will begin performances at Broadway’s Golden Theatre on Friday, October 1, opening Sunday, Oct. 31, with an ensemble cast that includes Dyllón Burnside (FX’s Pose), Bryan Terrell Clark (Hamilton), Da’Vinchi (Showtime’s upcoming Black Mafia Family), Luke James (Showtime’s The Chi), Forrest McClendon (The Scottsboro Boys), Tristan “Mack” Wilds (HBO’s The Wire), and Keith David.

The dates and cast were announced today by producers Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana Dimenna, Samira Wiley, Sheryl Lee Ralph, The Shubert Organization, and The Nederlander Organization.

The limited engagement, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, will be the first new play on Broadway following the shutdown.

Tickets for the production will go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 18.

As described by the production: “As the sun rises on a single day in the pulsing heart of Brooklyn,...

Keenan Scott II’s play Thoughts of a Colored Man has officially landed a venue – the Golden Theatre – becoming the first new, non-revival show to take up Broadway residence since the industry’s pandemic shutdown last March.

The play, which enjoyed critically acclaimed runs in 2019 at Syracuse Stage and Baltimore Center Stage, will be directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. Producing are Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Diana Dimenna, Samira Wiley, Sheryl Lee Ralph, The Shubert Organization, and The Nederlander Organization.

Casting, first preview, opening night, and ticket information will be announced in the coming weeks.

The production will mark the Broadway debuts of Scott and Broadnax. Scott’s new play The Migration LP is in development at New York Stage & Film, while Broadnax most recently directed Katori Hall’s new play The Hot Wing King at Signature Theatre.

Set over the course of a single day in Brooklyn, Thoughts of...

The newly formed Theatre Producers of Color organization announced today its first educational program to support and mentor the next generation of Bipoc producers. The 10-week, limited-space program will be tuition free.

“Producers 101″ will feature a guest speaker roster of top Broadway producers to teach what Tpoc says are the fundamentals of commercial producing, including securing rights, marketing and advertising, development paths, financing, and budgeting. The weekly course begins Jan. 25, 2021.

“Oftentimes, the opportunities for learning how to become a commercial producer are inaccessible and out of reach,” said Tpoc founder Miranda Gohh in a statement. “We’ve observed many barriers keeping Bipoc out of commercial producing, and Tpoc strives to break these down and make producing more accessible for a variety of voices. By making all of our programs free, we are allowing any Bipoc regardless of background, level of education, training, or previous accomplishment to join us.”

Rashad V. Chambers,...

Thoughts of a Colored Man, the critically lauded new play by Keenan Scott II and directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, will open on Broadway during the upcoming season, producers announced today.

The play, which had its world premiere at Syracuse Stage last year, will be staged on Broadway at a Shubert Organization theater to be announced.

Broadway will remain under the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown at least until June.

Unfolding during the course of a single day in Brooklyn, Thoughts of a Colored Man chronicles the lives of seven Black men as they confront and discuss any number of issues facing their community. The play utilizes spoken word, slam poetry, and rhythm, and will mark the Broadway debuts of playwright Scott and director Broadnax. Both are Black men arriving on New York’s theater scene as calls for diversity and inclusion throughout the industry intensify.

The announcement was made today by producers Brian Moreland,...

On todayas episode of BroadwayRadio's 'Tell Me More,' host Matt Tamanini speaks with one of the busiest Broadway producers working during the pandemic, Ron Simons. In addition to being the first Black producer in Broadway history to win four Tony Awards, Simons also has four shows that are circling the main stem, all of which they discuss in this episode.

Editors’ Note: With full acknowledgment of the big-picture implications of a pandemic that already has claimed thousands of lives, cratered global economies and closed international borders, Deadline’s Coping With Covid-19 Crisis series is a forum for those in the entertainment space grappling with myriad consequences of seeing a great industry screech to a halt. The hope is for an exchange of ideas and experiences, and suggestions on how businesses and individuals can best ride out a crisis that doesn’t look like it will abate any time soon.

Producer Brian Moreland waited well over a year for a Broadway theater to open up for his production of Charles Randolph-Wright’s 2000 dramedy Blue. It didn’t happen. Moreland, a producer on recent Broadway productions The Sound Inside starring Mary-Louise Parker, Sea Wall/A Life starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge, and the shutdown-interrupted American Buffalo with Laurence J. Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss,...

Today, producers Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Eric Falkenstein, Mike Jackson and singer John Legend announced complete casting for Blue, a play by Charles Randolph-Wright and directed by Phylicia Rashad which will play a 16-week limited engagement at New York's legendary Apollo Theater 253 West 125th Street in Harlem starting Monday, April 27 with opening night set for May 10.. Blue will run through August 16.

The previously announced revival of Charles Randolph-Wright’s play Blue, directed by Phylicia Rashad, will play a 16-week engagement at Harlam’s legendary Apollo Theater, with Tony winner Leslie Uggams and Emmy winner Lynn Whitfield heading the cast.

The production was announced last spring with the intention of finding a Broadway opening, a task that proved impossible in a very crowded Broadway landscape (the popular Beetlejuice is being booted from the Winter Garden Theatre in June to make way for The Music Man with Hugh Jackman).

Blue, a play with a jazzy score by Nona Hendryx and Randolph-Wright, will begin previews at the Apollo on April 27, with opening night on May 10. The engagement will run through August 16.

The announcement was made today by producers Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Mike Jackson, Eric Falkenstein and singer John Legend.

Rashad starred in the play’s 2000 premiere at Arena Stage in Washington D.C.

Producers Brian Moreland, Ron Simons, Mike Jackson, John Legend and Eric Falkenstein announced today that Blue, the play by Charles Randolph-Wright with music by Nona Hendryx and lyrics by Charles Randolph-Wright, will play a 16-week engagement at New York's Apollo Theater 253 West 125th Street, under the direction of Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad who starred in both the play's 2000 world premiere at Arena Stage and 2001 New York premiere at Roundabout Theatre Company.

“It has been long in the making since this started as a personal tragedy and turned into a best selling book, then a play that made an unexpected major impact in my home country, Bolivia, and now an international feature film.”

Tu me manques is a film adapted by Bolivian director Rodrigo Bellott from his socially transformative stage play, based on his own very personal story about his boyfriend’s struggle with coming out, his family’s homophobia and eventual suicide. The play had such an historic impact on Bolivian society that it led to the inclusion of the Lgbtq community in Bolivia’s anti-discrimination law with its Supreme Court declaring May 17 as National Day Against Homophobia.

The story is simple: Following his son Gabriel’s death, Jorge travels from conservative Bolivia to New York City In order to understand the circumstances surrounding his death. Jorge initiates contact with Gabriel’s former partner,...

Phylicia Rashad will make her Broadway directing debut next spring with Charles Randolph-Wright’s play Blue, featuring music by Nona Hendryx, producer Brian Moreland announced today.

The production will mark a reunion: Rashad starred in the work’s 2000 world premiere at Arena Stage in Washington D.C. and the 2001 New York premiere at the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Though Blue will be Rashad’s Broadway directing debut, she has directed productions of four August Wilson plays, including Gem of the Ocean at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Mark Taper Forum, and Fences at both the Long Wharf Theatre and the McCarter Theatre. She’s also directed at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and New York’s Signature Theatre.

“I am happy to be directing this play that brought me so much joy,” Rashad said in a statement. “It affirms the...

A musical about the great Temptations is headed to Broadway. Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations, directed by Des McAnuff and produced by Ira Pittelman and Tom Hulce, will begin performances at the Imperial Theatre in spring 2019.

The musical, which follows the classic Motown vocalists – and their signature dance moves – from “the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” had its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where it became the highest grossing production in that theater’s nearly 50-year history. The musical later broke the single-week box office record at Washington D.C.’s Eisenhower Theater in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, according to producers.

Producers describe the show as the “story of brotherhood, family, loyalty, and betrayal,” all playing out against a backdrop of civil unrest and set to Temptations classics like “My Girl,” “Just My Imagination,...

Look for a review of Easter Mysteries here at We Are Movie Geeks next week.

From the producers who brought you the Tony-Award® winning Broadway hit “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” comes Easter Mysteries, an original, and wholly entertaining musical theater depiction of the Easter story for modern audiences. Presented by Fathom Events and SimonSays Entertainment, “Easter Mysteries” will play in select U.S. cinemas for one night on Tuesday, March 22 at 7 p.m. local time, and features veteran Broadway actors and singers from the stages of “Les Misérables,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and more. In addition to the feature content, a timely interfaith discussion between Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders on the essence and power of Passion plays will complete the event.

Tickets for “Easter Mysteries” can be purchased by visiting www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.

Will it be Birdman, Boyhood, Love is Strange, Grand Budapest Hotel, or Under the Skin tonight? Read on for the winners and commentary.   

8:01 Uma Thurman the awards host is even more mannered than Uma Thurman the actress. Who knew? (I love Uma so I can say that. If you're no Umaphile you'd best shut it! 

8:14 Ifp is bragging about Ifp. Which is okay. This is the raison d'etre of Awards Bodies essentially.

8:18 First Uma, now Heather Graham? It's getting very 90s up in herrre.

8:20 I've been pronouncing "Riz" wrong in "Riz Ahmed" as it turns out. Breakthrough Actor goes to Tessa Thompson in Dear White People. P.S. She's also really good in Selma. I love that they announce the juries. This prize was given by Shane Carruth, Michael B Jordan, Ron Simons and two actresses we love up in herre Famke Janssen & Brie Larson

8:...

WWE

John “Bradshaw” Layfield has been a WWE employee for nearly 20 years. He’s been retired from in-ring competition since 2009 and is probably going to be in WWE’s Hall of Fame in the very near future. These day fans know Jbl as one of the main voices of WWE since he’s been a regular commentator since the summer of 2012. He’s also a one time WWE Champion that is best known for his pompous rich persona known simply as Jbl.

It’s time to take a look at some of the things that WWE wants you to forget about Jbl’s career. These are things that aren’t mentioned when talking about the best moments of his career. Some are storyline related. Other things are behind the scenes stuff.

His WWE career had a few chapters. He started out as a midcard wrestler that was doing a tough cowboy type of gimmick.

WWE.com

As we’ve seen with the 10 heel turns in the WWE that ultimately failed, a change in a character’s direction may not necessarily be a good thing. While character turns are important for keeping the wrestler fresh in the minds of the viewing audience, and can contribute to the longevity of the character, it takes a certain kind of wrestler to have the versatility to go from being hated to being loved, and vice versa.

It’s widely understood that it’s easier to be a heel than a babyface. It’s easier to get the audience to hate you than it is to get them to like you. Whether it be the fact that the person behind the character just isn’t that likable in real life, or he can’t seem to “click” with the audience, many babyface turns are severe flops.

Especially in the years since the Attitude Era,...

WWE.com

Everybody loves a cheap pop. It is a technique that has been used for years in the wrestling business to gain the crowd’s respect and to hear their voices. Cheap pops can range from simply saying the city a wrestler is in during a promo or by wearing their top team’s jersey.

It is the easiest way to get a crowd to react, whether it is funny, serious or something, well, cheap. One of the kings of cheap pops is Mick Foley. In fact, a documentary was made by World Wrestling Entertainment dubbed, Mick Foley: Hard Knocks & Cheap Pops.

The style at which it is done can take many different forms. Guys like Chris Jericho or Triple H just had a way of working the crowd. Often, it didn’t take a cheap pop to gain recognition from the hometown fans. Cm Punk rarely said a city’s name.

WWE.com

Race and wrestling go together like peanut butter and jelly. When it works, Caucasian wrestler Sputnik Monroe becomes the Memphis territory’s most beloved of babyfaces by advocating for African-American fans to be allowed into buildings in order to watch him perform in the 1960s. When it doesn’t, there’s Tony Atlas as a stereotypical spear wielding African savage in the early 1990s as Saba Simba. Somewhere between these two concepts is the WWF’s Nation of Domination.

Started in 1996 as an appropriation as an angle from Memphis meant to get some steam behind Ron Simmons’ re-tooled Faarooq character, the Nation of Islam knockoff lasted for two years in the WWF, and moreso than any level of racial disharmony, the group provided an incredible springboard to create new stars like D’Lo Brown, Mark Henry, Kama (later The Godfather) and of course, The Rock.

Thus, when rumours...

Fully realizing its underdog appeal, the cheeky musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder slayed the competition this morning with a whopping 10 Tony nominations, including nods for both of its tireless leading men, Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham. Neil Patrick Harris’ return to Broadway after a decade yielded him his first-ever Tony nomination for the celebrated revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which netted an impressive eight nods. (Had it been eligible as a new musical, Hedwig probably would have easily tied Guide, as score and book would have been slam dunks). Trailing these shows with seven...

WWE.com

A lot of people have been talking about Benjamin Morris’ 538 piece, “Are Pro Wrestlers Dying at an Unusual Rate?”

Like Morris, I am neither an actuarial scientist nor a demographer. So, our interpretations of the data should be taken with a grain of salt. My results were somewhat different from Morris’ due to a difference data set and changes in how we calculated actuarial predictions.

Differences in methodology from Morris

I also used Social Security Actuarial Life Tables, but my “expected mortality rates” for the age groups were not the same as Morris’. For each wrestler, I calculated what their age would have been as of today. Then, based on gender, I looked up the number of lives (out of 100,000) that were expected to still be alive and converted that to a percentage. His analysis looked at wrestlers who were on 20+ WWF PPVs through 2002. I went with a...

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave pulled a five finger discount at the 2014 Indie Spirit Awards grabbing hardware in the Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography categories. Apart from the larceny in the Best Doc category, the winners in the above mention category (excluding Bobbitt’s work) and the double win pairing of Leto and McConaughey along with Cate Blanchett’s perf win in Blue Jasmine will likely repeat itself less than 24 hours later at tomorrow’s Academy Awards celebrations obviously begging many to ponder the following: who needs the 86th Academy Awards when we have the Indie Spirit Awards? While today’s most pleasurable wins come from the truly indie kudos for Best First Feature (Ryan Coogler for Frutivale Station) the John Cassavetes award for Chad Hartigan’s This is Martin Bonner, and the Piaget Producers Award to Ain’t Them Bodies Saints...

Tag team wrestling is an important part of the wrestling business. Wrestlers can go for singles titles all the time, but there’s usually only one set of tag titles to go for in any company. Of course when WWE had Raw & Smackdown going they had two sets of tag titles, which made all of it a bit confusing, but the point remains that being tag team champs is a big deal.

It’s also a big deal when a tag team splits up because then there’s typically a feud. One of the guys ends up the face and the other is a heel. Then there’s a feud a lot of the time. The focus of this column is on those teams that split up and had one person rise to prominence while the other struggled. In some cases the struggle was worse than others.

There have been...

Film Independent announced nominations for the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning.

Film Independent President Josh Welsh presided over the press conference held at the W Hollywood, with actresses Octavia Spencer and Paula Patton presenting the nominations.

Nominees for Best Feature included 12 Years a Slave, All Is Lost, Frances Ha, Inside Llewyn Davis and Nebraska.

Mud was selected to receive the annual Robert Altman Award, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.

In its commitment to recognizing the importance of below the line contributions to the art of filmmaking, Film Independent has now introduced, for the first year, the Best Editing category in the Spirit Awards.

Winners will be announced at the Spirit Awards on Saturday, March 1, 2014. The awards ceremony will be held as a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, with the premiere broadcast airing later that evening...

Adding to the awards show season buzz, the list of hopefuls for 2014 Film Independent’s Spirit Awards was just unveiled.

Hosted by Patton Oswalt, the much-anticipated event is slated to get underway on March 1st in Santa Monica, and there will be plenty of stars to be seen.

Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oscar Isaac, Michael B. Jordan, Matthew McConaughey, and Robert Redford will all compete in the Best Male Lead Category, while the Best Female Lead nominees are Cate Blanchett, Julie Delpy, Gaby Hoffman, Brie Larson, and Shailene Woodley.

The 29th Spirit Awards contenders are:

Best Feature

12 Years A Slave

All is Lost

Frances Ha

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Best Director

Shane Carruth, Upstream Color

J.C. Chandor, All Is Lost

Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave

Jeff Nichols, Mud

Alexander Payne, Nebraska

Best Female Lead

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Julie Delpy, Before Midnight

Gaby Hoffmann, Crystal Fairy

Brie Larson, Short Term 12

Shailene Woodley,...

Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" led the pack of the nominations for the 29th Annual Film Independent Spirit Award. The film received 7 nominations including best feature, director, and acting noms for Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o, and Michael Fassbender.

Winners of the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards will be announced on Saturday, March 1st at a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica with the premiere broadcast airing later that evening at 10:00 pm Et/Pt exclusively on IFC.

Congrats and good luck to all the nominees!

Here's the complete list of the nominees of the 2014 Spirit Awards:

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer, Executive Producers are not awarded)

12 Years a Slave

Producers: Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Brad Pitt, Bill Pohlad

All Is Lost

Producers: Neal Dodson, Anna Gerb

Frances Ha

Producers: Noah Baumbach, Scott Rudin, Rodrigo Teixeira, Lila Yacoub...

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave is in contention for seven Spirit Awards followed closely by Alexander Payne’s Nebraska on six as Film Independent top brass announced nominees on November 26.

McQueen earned a director nomination and will compete against Alexander Payne for Nebraska, Jc Chandor for All Is Lost, Jeff Nichols for Mud and Share Carruth for Upstream Color.

Not surprisingly given the strength and depth of this awards season, the categories are strong across the board.

Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is among a mighty crop of international contenders that includes Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner Blue Is The Warmest Colour, Sebastian Lelio’s Gloria, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt and A Touch Of Sin from China’s Jia Zhang-Ke.

12 Years A Slave’s Chiwetel Ejiofor will contest the lead actor race with veterans Bruce Dern for Nebraska and Robert Redford for All Is Lost, as well as...

Once again, I’m thinking you movie fans out there will be interested in a documentary about filmmaking. It doesn’t have the all-star cast of something like Side by Side or the classic film clips of These Amazing Shadows, but Click Here should still be on your radar if you care about not just cinema but all visual storytelling in the digital age. Its full title is Click Here: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Making Movies, and it’s a project led by Pete Chatmon, who directed the early Zoe Saldana movie Premium and who teaches production at Nyu. He also won the Tribeca Film Institute’s Creative Promise Narrative Award in 2008 for a script that, five years later, has yet to be produced. That frustrating experience is what inspired him and co-writer Candice Sanchez McFarlane to embark on this other endeavor. Their scope appears to be very wide, as...

The Third Annual Gary International Black Film Festival (Gibff) is all set to take place this month, running Oct. 18th to the 20th..Offering a lineup of drama, documentary and short films, the festival opens with Blue Caprice starring Isaiah Washington. Along with an opening night reception, Ron Simons, one of the producers of Caprice, a 2-time Tony Award winner and the president of SimonSays Entertainment, will be in person for a post-screening discussion following the film.Additional films slated for the fest include: a Women in The Director’s Chair panel discussion, featuring Chicago-based filmmaker Barbara Allen and her Emmy nominated documentary Colorblind: Rethinking...

A film that just might be this year's award's season sleeper, given that virtually no one is talking about it right now - especially when conversations are had about black actors who might be in the running for performance trophies. Don't forget about Isaiah Washington in Blue Caprice, a film that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and was picked up by Sundance Selects. I should also say, don't forget director Alexandre Moors (his debut feature) and co-star Tequan Richmond. Penned by R.F.I. Porto, and co-produced by Ron Simons (SimonSays Entertainment), alongside Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O’Carroll, Kim Jackson and...

In March, Sundance Selects acquired North American and Latin American rights to Alexandre Moors’ debut feature Blue Caprice, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film, with a screenplay by R.F.I. Porto, was co-produced by Ron Simons (SimonSays Entertainment), alongside Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O’Carroll, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham. It opened Film Society of Lincoln Center and Moma’s 2013 New Directors/New Films Festival, and really hasn't screened much at all since it left Sundance. Starring Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson and Leo Fitzpatrick, Blue...

In March, Sundance Selects acquired North American and Latin American rights to Alexandre Moors’ lauded debut feature Blue Caprice, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film, with a screenplay by R.F.I. Porto, was co-produced by Ron Simons (SimonSays Entertainment), alongside Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O’Carroll, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham. It opened Film Society of Lincoln Center and Moma’s 2013 New Directors/New Films Festival, and really hasn't screened much at all since it left Sundance. Starring Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson and Leo...

In March, Sundance Selects acquired North American and Latin American rights to Alexandre Moors’ debut feature Blue Caprice, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film, with a screenplay by R.F.I. Porto, was co-produced by Ron Simons (SimonSays Entertainment), alongside Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O’Carroll, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham. It opened Film Society of Lincoln Center and Moma’s 2013 New Directors/New Films Festival, and really hasn't screened much at all since it left Sundance. Starring Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson and Leo Fitzpatrick, Blue...

SimonSays Entertainment, the blossoming production house behind critical hits like Night Catches Us, Gun Hill Road, and the upcoming Blue Caprice, and Mother Of George, has announced a summer call for screenplays. As an aside, I interviewed the company's principals - Ron Simons (founder and president of the company) and Producing Associate, April Yvette Thompson - in February, and you're encouraged to read that interview Here if you missed it. It was an extensive piece profiling the company. Here are the details of their call for summer script submissions: SimonSays Entertainment only considers scripts that have been submitted via our...

Sundance Selects has acquired North American and Latin American rights to Alexandre Moors’ debut feature Blue Caprice, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film, with a screenplay by R.F.I. Porto, was produced by Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Ron Simons, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O’Carroll, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham. The film, which will open the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA’s 2013 New Directors/New Films Festival on March 20, stars Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson and Leo Fitzpatrick. The story centers on an abandoned Jamaican boy (Richmond)

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Breaking: In what I’m told is a low seven-figure minimum guarantee, Sundance Selects acquired North American and Latin American rights to Alexandre Moors’ debut feature Blue Caprice, which debuted at Sundance last January. Pic stars Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson and Leo Fitzpatrick. It tells the story about an abandoned boy (Richmond) adopted by a dangerous father figure (Washington), who brings the youth into the horrific Beltway sniper attacks that terrorized the Baltimore and D.C. region. Story is told from the point of view of the two killers, whose distorted father-son relationship facilitated their long and bloody journey across America. Script is by R.F.I. Porto, and the film’s produced by Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Ron Simons, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O’Carroll, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham. The film will open Film Society of Lincoln Center and Moma’s 2013 New Directors/New Films Festival,...

Sundance Selects announced that it has acquiried North American and Latin American rights to Alexandre Moors’ debut feature "Blue Caprice," which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film -- with a screenplay by R.F.I. Porto --was produced by Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof, Ron Simons, Stephen Tedeschi, Brian O’Carroll, Kim Jackson and Will Rowbotham. It will open Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA’s 2013 New Directors/New Films Festival, and stars Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, Tim Blake Nelson and Leo Fitzpatrick. Read More: Sundance Review: Does 'Blue Caprice' Sympathize With the Beltway Snipers? As described by the press release: "'Blue Caprice' is a haunting psychological thriller about an abandoned boy (Richmond) lured to America into the shadows of a dangerous father figure (Washington). Inspired by true events, the film investigates the notorious and horrific Beltway sniper attacks from the point of view.

It was announced today that Grindstone Entertainment has acquired North American rights in all media to the gritty thriller Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn (formally titled Goat) and will be released by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. In a separate deal, International rights have been acquired by Los Angeles-basedsales company, Recreation, helmed by founder and president Ariel Veneziano.

Produced by William DeMeo, Paul Borghese and newcomer Robyn K Bennett, written by DeMeo and Borghese who also directs the movie, Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn stars Golden Globe nominated and Emmy Award winning actor Armand Assante (American Gangster, HBO’s Gotti), Ice-t (New Jack City), Vincent Pastore (Goodfellas), Ja Rule (The Fast And The Furious), William DeMeo (The Sopranos), Cathy Moriaty (Raging Bull) and Paul Borghese (Transamerica).

The film tells the story of Bobby Baldano, who after serving several prison sentences, is finally out. Although desperate to honor his family who...

Oscilloscope Laboratories picked up its first film of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Saturday by grabbing North American rights to Andrew Dosunmu’s “Mother of George.” The drama premiered in the U.S. dramatic competition of the festival. Danai Gurira and Isaach De Bankolé star in the story of a Brooklyn woman who struggles with getting pregnant after marrying a local restaurant owner. Yaya Alafia and Tony Okungbowa co-star. Darci Picoult wrote the screenplay. Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy of Parts & Labor produced along with Matt Parker & Carly Hugo, Picoult, Chris Maybach, Saemi Kim and Okungbowa. Executive producers include Saerom Kim of Maybach Film Productions; Ron Simons of SimonSays Entertainment; Jerry Tankersley, Laura Bernieri & Joseph Sorrentino of Fried Alligator Films; and Rhea Scott & Fady Salamé. “We couldn’t be more excited to be releasing ‘Mother of George’ — it is exactly...

Good news, and congrats to Andrew Dosunmu, Bradford Young, Danai Gurira, Ron Simons and company! All the details on the acquisition follow in the press release just received (although no specific release date is given yet); read Zeba's Sundance review of the film Here: Oscilloscope Acquires Critically-Acclaimed Sundance Competition Film "Mother of George" (New York, NY) January 26, 2013-Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that it has acquired North American rights to Andrew Dosunmu's Mother Of George. The film made its world premiere this past week as part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition in Sundance, to widespread critical acclaim and...

Blue Caprice

Director: Alexandre Moors

Writer(s): Moors and R.F.I. Porto

Producer(s): Kim Jackson, Brian O’Carroll, Isen Robbins, Will Rowbotham, Aimee Schoof, Ron Simons, Stephen Tedeschi

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, Joey Lauren Adams, Al Sapienza, Leo Fitzpatrick, Isaiah Washington

The highest spot in our countdown for a first time filmmaker on our list belongs to Alexandre Moors – the Filmmaker Magazine Top 25 New Faces (Summer ’12) talent’s Blue Caprice is imposing because it details the true story crime spree before it is even conceived. If his videoclips/short films work is proof, this should be visually arresting observation. Grouping of actors Tim Blake Nelson, Joey Lauren Adams, Al Sapienza, Leo Fitzpatrick and Isaiah Washington topline the film. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one.

Gist: Blue Caprice examines of one of the most charged and enigmatic events of...