Lionsgate-Summit Laying Off 12% Of Staff: Film And Home Entertainment Hit Hardest

Inside The Summit And Lionsgate Merger: Layoffs Are The Order Of The Day BREAKING… EXCLUSIVE: I’ve just learned that Lionsgate is laying off about 80 staff today from the merged company with Summit, including executives as high up as EVP. Insiders are begging me not to call this abloodbath because enoughpeople are freaked out already. The integration ofLionsgate and Summit is ongoing, and this move was expected to eliminate duplication. But it’s still horrible when it happens.Lionsgate is reducing the combined workforceof the two companies by approximately 12%.It’s unclearhow many employees are actually being notified today.Lionsgate had about 500 employees prior to the merger, Summitabout 175 employees.The total combinedworkforce will be approximately 575 which makes Lionsgate a bigger and more muscular company post-merger.I don’t have any breakdown of how many Lionsgate and how any Summit employees will be laid off, but I’m toldmotionpicture and home entertainment are the areas with the greatest number of overlappingfunctions.

Bridesmaids Wendi McLendon-Covey To Co-Star In ABC Pilot Only Fools & Horses

EXCLUSIVE: Bridesmaids co-star Wendi McLendon-Covey remains attracted on since the female lead in ABC’s comedy pilot Only Fools And Horses. The sale caps a couple of times of craze all over the actress, who out of the blue increased being designed for broadcast aircraft aircraft pilots when she was released within the Cinemax pilot Nowhere pill Journals on Friday following star Goldie Hawn’s surprising exit. McLendon-Covey’s reps were immediately inundated with calls. The Reno 911! alumna received five offers, ultimately purchasing Only Fools And Horses. Using the British format, the multicamera comedy tales the misadventures of two streetwise brothers and sisters, Del (John Leguizamo) and Rodney (Dustin Ybarra), in addition to their aging grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) simply because they concoct crazy, morally questionable get-wealthy-quick schemes inside their mission being riches. McLendon-Covey may have Del’s ex-wife Ruby,who is the owner of The Lost And Situated Lounge, who began him for the curb after he exchanged her wedding ring for just about any truckload of ostrich meat. Groundlings alumna McLendon-Covey, repped by UTA and manager Gladys Gonzalez, will next be viewed within the qualities Miracle Mike and What You Should Expect When You're Expecting. She recently reunited along with her Bridesmaids castmates within the Oscars where they offered as presenters.

Michael Bacall gives update on Les Grossman movie

Screenwriter Michael Bacall has given an update on the long-rumoured Les Grossman spin-off movie, revealing that the film will attempt to uncover where the Hollywood hothead's well-documented anger issues originated."Tom [Cruise] had an incredible idea on how to tell this story, and give it some real emotion and heart," Bacall told THR, "And as soon as he hit on that idea, it was off to the races. But I feel really good about that project, and I hope that it will happen."Having recently worked on both Project X and 21 Jump Street, Bacall is confident his script for the Tropic Thunder spin-off will fall somewhere between the balls of the former and the heart of the latter."I think people would be disappointed if that character didn't carry around that explosive rage that we associate with him" continues Bacall, "and that's what makes his performance so enjoyable. But none of us feel like the movie could sustain what was a 90-minute Les Grossman tirade." "So we want to try and get a little bit of a glimpse of where that rage is coming from," he says. "The guy will be a force of nature, but we want to have some kind of emotional connection to him."

Museum of Moving Image to honor Local 817 prez

The Museum of the Moving Image will honor Teamsters Local 817 president Thomas O'Donnell at a benefit on Saturday at the Sheraton NY Hotel and Towers, Herbert S. Schlosser, chairman of the museum's board of trustees announced Thursday. "As a founding member of the Museum's Board of Trustees, Tom O'Donnell was instrumental in leading Local 817's important contributions to the revitalization of the Astoria Studio and the formation of the Museum," Schlosser said. O'Donnell has served as prexy of the local since 1961, when he expanded the union's membership. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Will Sacha Baron Cohen Be Banned within the Oscars?

Downton Abbey, Maggie Cruz and Hugh Boneville The Summer Season 2 finale of Downton Abbey on PBS came an impressive 5.4 million audiences within the first airing to write the network's finest audience in nearly three years. The Two-hour closer was PBS' most-seen program since the 2009 premiere of Ken Burns' Character and appeared to become greater than double average prime-time PBS viewership. Shirley MacLaine joins Downton Abbey"PBS and our member stations are very pleased that this kind of large audience is experiencing this phenomenal work from Masterpiece," PBS leader and Boss Paula Kerger mentioned in the statement. "From viewing parties to Twitter mentions, Downton Abbey is riding a wave of public enthusiasm, which is been wonderful to find out many people finding public television just like a place to choose programming that's smart, distinctive and entertaining."Overall, Season 2 was up by 25 percent inside the first season.Season 3, which will feature new cast member Shirley MacLaine, is presently being created in England which is scheduled striking stateside early next season.

Exclusive: Cleaning cleaning soap Full Lauralee Bell Spoofs Paula Abdul on Castle

Stephen Colbert The Colbert Report takes an unforeseen break. "Due to unforeseen conditions, the show will air repeat episodeson Wednesday, February 15 and Thursday, February 16," Comedy Central mentioned in the statement. VIDEO: Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart vow not to coordinate, poke fun at Super PAC Right before Wednesday's tape, audience people received your final-minute email proclaiming that their reservations must be canceled. No further particulars were provided. Will you miss Colbert Report now?

WB taps Davies, del Toro for 'Beast'

Del ToroWatsonDavies Guillermo del Toro will direct "Animal," a completely new undertake the "Beauty as well as the Animal" tale that Warners has attracted on "Bridget Jones's Diary" scribe Andrew Davies to produce.WB's "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson is at final discussions to topline time pic. Del Toro was aboard only to produce. DiNovi Pictures' Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan will produce with del Toro, who expects to create cure that Davies works. Del Toro, who's presently filming "Off-shoreline Rim" for WB and Legendary Pictures, is credited just like a co-author on of WB's approaching "Hobbit" movies. He recently professional produced Universal's "Mama" and DreamWorks Animation's "Rise in the Parents."Getting wrapped her extended-running role as Hermione Granger inside the "Harry Potter" photos, Watson will next reteam with "Deathly Hallows" director David Yates. She co-stars in "My Week With Marilyn" and may soon be viewed in Summit's "The Perks to become a Wallflower."Davies, who written "Bridget Jones's Diary" which is 2004 follow-up, most recently composed "The Three Musketeers" and "Brideshead Revisited."WME reps both del Toro and Watson, that are also correspondingly repped by Exile Entertainment and U.K.-based Markham, Froggatt and Irwin. Davies is repped by CAA. Contact Rob Sneider at rob.sneider@variety.com