VOTING IN SESSION - One Page Screenplays! CLICK HERE and watch the 10 One Page Finalists and VOTE on your favorite. WINNING VOTE gets made into a film CONFRONTATION Screenplay
YESTERDAY'S POLL
Who was the most FASCINATING person of 2008?
Barack Obama - 73% Michael Phelps - 10% Tina Fey - 9% Sarah Palin - 5% Tom Cruise - 3% TOP Write in BALLOT: Heath Ledger
The death of Australian actor Heath Ledger last January 22 at age 28 was judged the top entertainment story of 2008 by U.S. newspaper and broadcast editors polled by the Associated Press.
No. 2 on the list was the ending of the strike by the Writers Guild last February.
Placing third was the box-office success of The Dark Knight (featuring Ledger as The Joker), which took in close to $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide.
Fourth on the list was the rise of political comedy, particularly the comedy of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on cable and David Letterman and the Saturday Night Live cast on broadcast TV.
Rounding out the top five was "Britney Spears' Downward Spiral."
SAG TO CALL OFF STRIKE?
SAG's postponement of its strike authorization vote may signal that its leaders are tilting in a more moderate direction -- so much so that the divisive vote may be called off.
It's still unclear what direction the national board will take at its emergency meeting on Jan. 12-13, scheduled ostensibly by national exec director Doug Allen and president Alan Rosenberg to persuade the fractured 71-member panel to present a united front and convince members to vote up a strike authorization.
But the timing of the Monday night announcement was telling. It came a few hours after Allen and Rosenberg met with leaders of the Unite for Strength faction, a group of Hollywood moderates who gained five board seats in the fall after campaigning on a platform that asserted that Rosenberg and his allies had bungled the contract negotiations strategy.
Unite for Strength spokesman Ned Vaughn told Daily Variety that he and his colleagues expressed concerns about going ahead with the vote, given the growing numbers of SAG members - particularly high-profile stars such as George Clooney and Tom Hanks - coming on the "no" side.
"We felt that in light of what's been happening that it would have been reckless for the national board to proceed without having the chance to reconsider," Vaughn said. "We appreciate that they've taken our concerns seriously."
CLASSIC FILMS
BY GENRE
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Nothing Like the Holidays
Yes man
Slumdog Millionaire
Frost/Nixon
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Australia
Quantum of Solace
Milk
Four Christmases
Twilight
Bolt
