'Game of Thrones', 'Veep' win big at 2015 Emmy Awards

executive@coastaldigest.com (Agencies)
September 21, 2015

Los Angeles, Sep 21: Breaking its four-year-old jinx, fantasy epic "Game of Thrones" bagged the outstanding drama gong at the 2015 Emmy Awards, along with three other honours, tying with "Veep" whose trophies included the outstanding comedy series.

emmy

"Game of Thrones", HBO's darling series, was a favourite this year as it bagged nods in all the 24 nominations. Since its first season in 2011, the globally popular series has been in the outstanding drama race at the Emmys but failed to taste success until this time.

It defeated biggies like "Better Call Saul", "Downton Abbey", "Homeland", "House of Cards", "Mad Men" and "Orange is the New Black" to bag the coveted trophy.

The other three major awards for the show came courtesy Peter Dinklage's performance as Tyrion Lannister, winning him best supporting actor in a drama series, creators David Benioff and DB Weiss's work earning them best writing and helmer David Nutter bagging the outstanding directing honour.

Benioff and Weiss thanked the show's cast and crew and HBO for taking a chance on them and "believing in dragons."

Dinklage said he did not have anything prepared and gave a shout-out to the other nominees — particularly Better Call Saul's Jonathan Banks, who was the odds-on favourite to win.

Backstage, the showrunners were asked by reporters why Thrones finally won this year.

"We knew that there would be some resistance at first to a show set in this genre... We knew it would take a while," Benioff said.

"But we'd hoped if we did our jobs and if we were fortunate enough to be blessed with the cast and crew that we were blessed with and if we got lucky, that we'd get there eventually."

The series has beaten 1999 serial political drama "West Wing" for the most Emmy wins for a TV series in a single year.

HBO struck gold at Emmys as besides becoming the best comedy series, its show "Veep" swept awards in categories-- outstanding lead actress for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, outstanding supporting actor for Tony Hale, outstanding writing for Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche.

For his portrayal of Don Draper, the creative director of an advertisement agency, in period drama "Mad Men", Jon Hamm took home the trophy for outstanding actor in a drama series.

While Viola Davis bagged the outstanding actress in a drama series award for "How to Get Away With Murder", becoming the first African-American woman to receive an Emmy.

Actor Jeffrey Tambor won the outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his performance on "Transparent". Uzo Aduba bagged the outstanding supporting actress in a drama series honour for her work in "Orange Is the New Black".

Allison Janney bagged the outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for "Mom". HBO's "Olive Kitteridge" won the outstanding miniseries award and also three other honours.

The 67th annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

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News Network
July 5,2020

Nalgonda,  Jul 5: Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has been booked in connection with his upcoming film 'Murder' which is based on Pranay Kumar's murder in Nalgonda district.

Ram Gopal Varma was booked following Nalgonda court's directive on a petition filed by father of a man who was killed in an alleged honour killing incident in Miryalaguda in 2018.

"We have booked filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma following a court order for his upcoming movie 'Murder', which is based on sensational caste-based Pranay Kumar's murder that occurred in Miryalguda, Nalgonda District in September 2018, " Police said.

On June 21, the filmmaker has released the poster of 'Murder', based on a true story.
Police said, "Pranay's father Balaswamy has filed a petition in Nalgonda Court stating that the film will affect the on-going trial of Pranay's murder case and the film should be stalled."

"We've registered a case under relevant section of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act and taken up investigation."

"The court has ordered Nalgonda police to register a case against the film director Ram Gopal Varma and the producer," added the police.

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News Network
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Thursday paid tribute to the Indian soldiers who were killed in clashes with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan valley.

The 'Fashion' actor who is currently living in America with her singer husband Nick Jonas took to Twitter to extend support to the families of the fallen soldiers.

"My heart goes out to the soldiers and their families. May God give them the strength to cope with this irreparable loss," she tweeted.

Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a violent face-off with Chinese troops on Monday at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

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News Network
February 26,2020

New York, Feb 26: Disney CEO Bob Iger, who steered the company’s absorption of Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel and Fox’s entertainment businesses and the launch of a Netflix challenger, is stepping down immediately, the company said in a surprise announcement Tuesday.

The Walt Disney Co. named as his replacement Bob Chapek, most recently chairman of Disney’s parks, experiences and products business.

“Did not see this coming -- Wowza,” tweeted LightShed media analyst Rich Greenfield.

Iger will remain executive chairman through the end of his contract on Dec. 31, 2021. Besides leading the board, Iger said he will spend more time on Disney’s creative endeavors, including the ESPN sports network, the newly acquired Fox studios and the Hulu and Disney Plus streaming services. He said he could not do that while running Disney on a day-to-day basis.

“It was not accelerated for any particular reason other than I felt the need was now to make this change,” Iger said on a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Iger steered Disney through the successful purchases of Lucasfilms, Marvel, Pixar and other brands that became big moneymakers for Disney. Last year, the top five movies in U.S. and Canada theaters were all Disney movies, including two from Marvel and one from Pixar. With the Dec. 20 release of the latest “Star Wars” movie, Disney had seven movies that each sold at least $1 billion in tickets worldwide last year.

Iger’s most recent coup was orchestrating a $71 billion purchase of Fox’s entertainment business in March and launching the Disney Plus streaming service in November. That service got nearly 29 million paid subscribers in less than three months. In a statement, Iger said it was the “optimal time” for a transition.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said Iger had implied he would stay until his contract ended in 2021.

“On the other hand, they just successfully closed the Fox deal and had an unquestionably successful launch of Disney Plus so maybe he felt earlier was better to hand off the reins,” he said.

Colin Gillis, director of research at Chatham Road Partners, said the choice of Chapek seems solid because his parks division has had success.

Chapek said that while he has not led television networks or streaming services, his background in consumer-oriented businesses should help. Chapek and Iger both stressed that Disney would continue on the direction it had already been taking.

Disney is facing challenges to its traditional media business as cord-cutting picks up, meaning less fees from cable and satellite companies to carry Disney networks such as ABC, ESPN and Freeform. Disney’s own streaming services require the company to forgo money in licensing revenue, although the company is betting that money from subscriptions will eventually make up for that.

In the short term, Disney parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China, remain closed because of the coronavirus outbreak. In a CNBC interview, Chapek said the outbreak may be a “bump in the road,” but he said the company could weather it given “affinity for the brand.”

Iger told CNBC he had no plans to stay with Disney beyond next year.

Iger’s appointment as CEO in 2005 had been accompanied by controversy and protest from dissident shareholders Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold. But he has come to be seen as a golden-boy top executive, and even someone who could run for president.

Iger told Vogue in 2018 that he had started seriously exploring a run for president because he is “horrified at the state of politics in America today,” but the Fox deal stopped his plans. Oprah Winfrey told Vogue that she “really, really pushed him to run.”

Iger, a former weatherman, joined ABC in 1974, 22 years before Disney bought the network.

At ABC, Iger developed such successful programs as “Home Improvement,” “The Drew Carey Show,” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and was instrumental in launching the quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” He was also criticized for cancelling well-regarded but expensive shows such as “Twin Peaks” and “thirtysomething.”

Since Iger became CEO, Disney’s stock price has risen fivefold. Its stock fell more than 2% in extended trading following the announcement, on top of a broader market selloff on virus fears during regular trading.

Iger, 69, was the second-highest paid CEO in 2018, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. He earned $65.6 million. The top earner was Discovery’s David Zaslav who earned $129.5 million.

Susan Arnold, the independent lead director of the Disney board, said succession planning had been ongoing for several years.

Chapek, 60, is only the seventh CEO in Disney history. Chapek was head of the parks, experiences and products division since it was created in 2018. He was previously head of parks and resorts and before that president of consumer products.

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