Feb '00
Industry Buzz

The Hollywood Black Film Festival is ready to roll with 48 films for fest-goers. There will be 10 features, 27 shorts, six documentaries and five student films. The sophomore festival will be held in Culver City, CA from Feb. 25-28 and will include panels and seminars. For more information, call 310-348-3942 or check out their site at http://www.hbff.org.

Getting Paid? According to the December 16 edition of "Variety," super-star funnyman Chris Tucker stands the possibility of receiving $20 million for the sequel to Rush Hourr and $15 million for The Black Night. Tucker will join the rarefied company of Eddie Murphy who is the only Black actor/actress to ever receive that amount for a project. Purportedly, Murphy received $20 million for Nutty Professor 2. The Clumps will to theaters nationwide on July 28, 2000.

According to the Directors Guild of America, in 1998, things were not that great for Blacks, women and other minorities behind the lens. In 1998, minority film & TV directors accounted for a pitiful 8.4% of the work dished out to DGA directors. Worst of all, that's less than the 1997 percentage of 8.6%. It looks like the NAACP has lots of work to do and so do we.

No Limit's gettin jiggy with more deals. Trimark Pictures signed a multi-pic deal with No Limit Films which of course is the film production unit of Master P's No limit Records. No Limit will produce approximately five action packed urban films. Note to P: please use this opportunity to tell some good stories - we have seen enough drugs, guns and pimps. How about a film about a young brother from the south who defies odds and becomes a multi-millionaire?

The late Curtis Mayfield. Did he have skills or what? Who can ever forget the Superfly soundtrack which was one of the first soundtracks to perform well with consumers. Mayfield was inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in May 1999. May Grover Washington rest in peace as well.

The 31st Annual NAACP Image Awards are approaching and the Entertainer of The Year is none other than the breathtaking Halle Berry. (See Dorothy Dandridge Review) Berry, while often viewed for her physical beauty, has taken on various roles including a crack-head, a southern belle-idiot and hip-hop hit-girl. Congratulations Halle on a job well done. Call 323-937-2454 for more info. The Entertainer of the Year Award is presented to an individual who has excelled in the entertainment industry and merits special recognition for a recent outstanding achievement or contribution to the industry and the community. Past recipients of the Entertainer of the Year Award include Will Smith, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Oprah Winfrey, Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington. Berry also won a Golden Globe for her work in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

Is everyone doing a DOT COM? In December, ESPN Sportsman of the Century, Michael "His Airness" Jordan teamed with John Elway and The Great Gretzy to form MVP.com. Obviously they will focus on sports.

Getting Large? Mekhi Phifer, who gave us a stunning performance in an Invited Guest will soon star in Impostor opposite industry power-actors Tony Shalhoub, Gary Sinise, Madeline Stowe, and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film will be produced and distributed by Dimension Films.

Snipes chooses publishing? Action-star, SUNY Purchase graduate Wesley Snipes will produce book-CD packages that focus on the urban genre. Accompanying the book-CD will be Def Jam recordings creating an interesting blend of reader-tainment. Snipes company, [S] Affiliated is scheduled for an May 2000 launch.