Studio

Producer-engineer Stan Ross, who co-founded Hollywood's Gold Star Recording Studio, which has a storied place in rock history as the home of Phil Spector's innovative "Wall of Sound" technique, has died. He was 82. Ross died Friday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of complications following surgery for aneurysms, his family said. "Stan was born with a musical ear," said David Gold, an engineer who co-founded Gold Star with Ross in 1950 when both were barely out of their teens.

Wendy Greuel's resume is dotted with the political accomplishments of a politician on the rise. But there was an unconventional detour: her stint as an executive at DreamWorks SKG, working alongside Hollywood titans Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Greuel cites the job as evidence that she understands the city's most prominent industry. Her position at DreamWorks, however, was about more than making movies - she was a go-between for the studio to the political, governmental and civic worlds.

NEW YORK - Scott Elyanow had clung to the red, long-sleeved sweatshirt with the words "Marblehead High School" for 20 years. It had softened with age, like the memory of the long-ago love who had given it to him. But Elyanow was nearing 40, and what he had gained in years and wisdom he hadn't gained in living space - his apartment measures 275 square feet, including the bathroom, kitchen and an entryway with overhead clearance of 5 feet, 7...

When the upcoming comedy "The Hangover Part III" wrapped production in January, Warner Bros. was left with tons of used plywood, joists, furniture, faux brick and other materials from the film set. But instead of hauling the leftovers to the landfill, the studio donated the items - enough to fill 10 truckloads - to the charitable organization Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, to be sold in Habitat's stores in Gardena and Norwalk....

Stepping up to the plate today is the new film "42," a biopic about the legendary Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball's color line when he suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. The film is written and directed by Brian Helgeland, who won an Oscar for his "L.A. Confidential" screenplay, and stars newcomer Chadwick Boseman in the lead role. Given the inherent drama and heroism of Robinson's story and its roots in America's pastime, it would seem ripe for big-screen treatment.

Amid expectations of more coverage for West Coast games and events, ESPN is officially opening its 12,300-square-foot studio today in the middle of LA Live, the entertainment complex across the street from Staples Center. The national sports cable network, which reaches 98 million viewers, will broadcast its first 10 p.m. "SportsCenter" from the new studio tonight.

Casey Kasem, who gained a national radio audience after "American Top 40" launched in 1970, and his wife, Jean, are listing their Westside estate for sale at $42 million. With 12,000 square feet of living space, seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms, the home has been the site of intimate interviews and sleepovers for as many as 20 youngsters a night. The yard has served as the site of elaborate celebrity-studded gatherings and paintball battles. The syndicated radio host bought the property for Jean Kasem in 1989 as a gift.

Digital Domain Media Group, the parent company of the Venice-based visual effects house, said Friday that it was laying off most of the 320 employees at its new animation studio in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and shutting down the facility. The company also announced that Digitial Domain Chief Executive John Textor had resigned immediately. Digital Domain, which created visual effects for such movies as "Titantic,"  the "Transformers" movies and "Tron: Legacy," said the moves were part of a "strategic realignment" to refocus the company on its core business of creating visual effects digital effects, CG animation and digital production for the entertainment and advertising industries.

BOOKS In a homage to the 1955 Six Gallery reading that put the San Francisco Renaissance on the map, Los Angeles-area poets will read their favorite poems at a one-night celebration of the Beat legacy, "Waiting for Jack. " Produced by Eve Brandstein, Michael C. Ford, Rex Weiner and John Densmore the readers will include John Harris, Bill Duke, Pegarty Long, Herbert T. Schmidt Jr., Doug Knott, Jerry Garcia, Sarah Maclay, Gail Wronsky, L.K. Thayer, Stephen J. Kalinich and S.A. Griffin, with works by Diane DiPrima, Gary Snyder, LeRoi Jones, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski and others.

In the northwest corner of Fran Siegel's studio, not far from a giant roll of bubble wrap, you'll find a horizontal band of wire netting suspended between a pair of slender metal armatures, several feet above eye level. But for a few scraps of foil and colored film tied to some of the wires, it isn't much to look at. Indeed, under most conditions, there is a good chance that you wouldn't notice it at all. When the sun reaches the right point in the sky, however, angling through a nearby skylight to fall directly across the wires, a twinkling composition of light and shadow springs to life on the wall behind.

Deanna Durbin, the singing starlet with the bubbly personality and the jewel-tone voice whose enormously popular movies were widely credited with saving Universal Pictures from bankruptcy during the Depression, has died. She was 91. Her popularity peaked by her late teens and by her mid-20s Durbin had left Hollywood forever, made wealthy by her relatively brief career. She died in April in France, said family friend Bob Koster, the son of Henry Koster, who directed Durbin in films early in her career.

DreamWorks Animation has a bunch of cavemen to thank for getting some fresh Wall Street love. Analysts responded positively to news that the Glendale studio had scored with its prehistoric feature "The Croods," which helped drive first-quarter profit to $5.6 million. The results sailed past Wall Street expectations. The unexpectedly good numbers coming from DreamWorks triggered investors to snap up the company's stock. After closing at $19.28 on Tuesday, shares climbed 7% in after-hours trading after the studio reported financial results.

First they put a lid on it, and now they're pulling the plug. Universal City's Gibson Amphitheatre, a fixture on the Southern California live music scene for more than 40 years, will close in September and be demolished to make room for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios theme park, officials announced Wednesday. The announcement came a day after Universal Studios Hollywood won approval from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to begin construction on its planned $1.6-billion expansion of the theme park.

On the fourth floor of a vacant wing of St. Vincent Medical Center near downtown Los Angeles, some 150 crew members crowded the hallways, joining actors Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson as they prepared to film a scene for "Captain America: The Winter Soldier. " The hospital wing is often used for filming television crime dramas such as "CSI" and "Private Practice," but Tuesday's shoot was among the largest St. Vincent has accommodated in 20 years of renting out its facilities to Hollywood.

After a bumpy 17-year process that once proposed developing thousands of homes on its famous Hollywood back lot, NBCUniversal won unanimous approval Tuesday from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for a plan that lets it expand its Universal Studios theme park. The $1.6-billion project will include nearly 2 million square feet in office and production space, a bike path along the adjacent Los Angeles River that would eventually allow cyclists to pedal to Studio City, and a Harry Potter-themed attraction.

Martin Johnson, lead singer and songwriter for Boys Like Girls, has put his Studio City home up for sale at a price of $1.1 million. The three-story contemporary, built in 1978, features vaulted ceilings, balconies, canyon views, two fireplaces, two bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and 2,681 square feet of living space. The more than quarter-acre lot contains fruit trees, a lawn and a hot tub. Boys Like Girls released a self-titled album in 2006, “Love Drunk” in 2009 and last year released “Crazy World.” Johnson has worked with Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana, among others, as a songwriter and producer.

Los Angeles police bomb squad members were responding to the KTLA-TV studio in Hollywood after a man called up and said he was going to detonate explosive devices on the property, authorities said Tuesday evening. A man called 911 and said he was "going to detonate" three devices, which were on the north side of the station at 5800 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, Officer Christopher No of the Los Angeles Police Department told The Times.  Employees were evacuated, KTLA said in a Tweet.

The main problem with owning a network that specializes in 3D is that there isn't a ton of 3D programming around to fill the schedule. With that in mind, 3Net -- the 3D cable channel owned by Sony, Discovery and IMAX -- have created an in-house production company to make original 3D content. “With the industry now struggling to keep pace with the rapidly accelerating consumer demand for 3D programming across multiple platforms...the formation of a world-class production studio to help fill both the 3D and ultra-high-definition content voids became a logical next step in our evolution as a global player in the entertainment arena,” said Tom Cosgrove, president of 3Net.

The Cannes Film Festival has a long tradition of showcasing independent global cinema. But in a twist, this year's lineup also includes movies from a wide range of Hollywood entities: Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., CBS Films, the Weinstein Co., even HBO. The selections revealed Thursday morning reflect a festival leadership that, for all its auteur leanings, is happy to thicken its lineup with American glamour. And while past slates have included a smattering of Hollywood films, the docket this year suggests that studios and networks are - for reasons having to do with marketing and keeping their talent happy - particularly eager to bring movies to the festival despite the hefty price tag. Cannes-related expenses, after all, can run a studio as much as $5 million.

MovieLabs, a studio-backed research and development venture, has appointed a cable-industry veteran with Silicon Valley ties as its new president and chief executive. John Carney, senior vice president of engineering at Comcast Corp., will run the nonprofit organization, which was created in 2005 by the six major studios to research new forms of movie distribution and protection. Although MovieLabs' initial emphasis was on thwarting movie piracy, its focus has expanded to include the digital distribution of movies and television shows.