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Gears of War movie making the rounds in Hollywood again
We haven't heard anything about the Gears of War movie since back in 2010, when it was said that production was being scaled back. Today it seems the project has new life and is being shopped around, thanks in part to the impending release of Gears of War: Judgment. Creative Artists Agency is currently looking for producers, Variety reports. The most recent version of the film's script was penned by Stuart Beattie, who also wrote Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. CAA represents both Beattie and Epic Games, the latter of which suffered two high-profile departures recently, both tied to the Gears of War franchise: Rod Fergusson and Cliff Bleszinski.
Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley starts new game studio
After helping birth the original Xbox way back in 2000, Seamus Blackley left Microsoft to get back to game development. He put that dream on hold in 2004 when his studio, Capital Entertainment Group, folded, choosing to soldier on as a talent coordinator at Creative Artists Agency. Beyond negotiating deals for famous names like BioShock creative lead Ken Levine and Flower devs thatgamecompany while at CAA, Blackley most recently helped ex-Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West navigate that debacle's dangerous waters. But now, it seems, Blackley is changing jobs once more. Variety reports that he'll be heading up his own game production company, with virtually zero details given about the move. The change is still fresh enough that Blackley has yet to alter even his LinkedIn profile, for instance. For now, the games team at CAA will now be headed up by Ophir Lupu and David Stelzer, who were already working with Blackley's command, as well as Greg Essig retaining his role as a "games agent."
Report: Writers hired for big-screen Tomb Raider reboot
The writing duo behind such films as Iron Man and the forthcoming Cowboys & Aliens have signed on to help pen the next Tomb Raider film, reports Deadline. Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby are the two gentlemen who allegedly will be helping refresh Lara's life on the silver screen, with the piece noting that "a new adventure storyline" will be created for the film. As previously reported, the rebooted film franchise is expected to launch in 2013, though no details have been provided as to the film's content, or whether franchise star Angelina Jolie will be reprising the role of Lara Croft. Fergus and Ostby's talent agency, CAA, had yet to respond to request for comment as of publishing.
EA calls Activision's legal claims 'deliberate misdirection'
In light of last night's revised lawsuit announcement by Activision, Electronic Arts corporate spokesperson Jeff Brown responded on behalf of his company, characterizing the announcement to the LA Times as "a PR [public relations] play filled with pettiness and deliberate misdirection." The revised suit added EA as defendants in the case between Activision and West/Zampella, citing several alleged interactions between the ex-Infinity Ward heads and EA, a relationship said to have been fostered by talent agency CAA. Brown continued, accusing Activision of attempting to "hide the fact that they have no credible response to the claim of the two artists who were fired." He further contends that West and Zampella "now just want to get paid for their work." Unfortunately, it seems for all parties involved that this whole affair is a bit far beyond the basic reconciliation point.
Ex-Infinity Ward heads now represented by Creative Artists Agency
In the video game industry, the talent (read: game developers) are often "hired guns," if you will -- part of a developer that is either wholly owned by a publisher (i.e. Infinity Ward's relationship with Activision) or a developer that's being contracted for development by a publisher (i.e. Ruffian Games' relationship with Microsoft). Rarely, if ever, is an individual (or individuals, as is the case here) represented by a talent agency, nonetheless a fancy, bigtime Hollywood one like Creative Artists Agency. That is, however, the case for the recently let go ex-Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West, who recently inked a deal with the agency. Though a CAA representative wouldn't divulge any info on what the duo's next move is (nor the CAA's next move on their behalf), we have to imagine the pair's pedigree will help out just a bit in finding work. According to the LA Times Company Town blog report, hollywood talent agencies aren't exactly known for scooping up game developers, so this could very well mark a new option for (at very least) big name devs in search of greener pastures.
