Studios

The back-to-back blockbuster successes of "Harry Potter," "Twilight" and now "The Hunger Games" have turned the hunt for fresh young-adult fiction white-hot in Hollywood, as studios try to turn what used to be a phenomenon into what might be a formula. Frenzied auctions are underway for books that haven't even been published. Studios are paying as much as $1 million for the rights to adapt titles that are relatively modest sellers, particularly those featuring science-fiction, fantasy and dystopian themes.

Motel 6 and Studio 6, the no-frills budget hotel chains that once offered rooms for $6 a night, are being sold by French parent Accor for $1.9 billion. The new owner, an affiliate of private equity firm Blackstone Group, already owns Hilton Worldwide. Blackstone said it plans to "accelerate the expansion of the franchise base" for Motel 6 and Studio 6. Accor will use proceeds from the sale to slash its debt and grow its luxury Sofitel and Novotel hotels in Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Tom McCauley didn't plan on making house calls when he started in the music business. As a recording engineer, McCauley made a good living working out of the many commercial studios that had grown up throughout the Los Angeles area to serve the music, film and television industries. But with the advent of software that allows high-end recording from a personal computer, the 53-year-old Sherman Oaks resident has traded the quasi-industrial atmosphere of the commercial studio for his customers' garages or living rooms.

Half a century ago, Walt Disney leased a horse ranch in Placerita Canyon to shoot episodes of "The Adventures of Spin and Marty" from the classic ABC series "The Mickey Mouse Club. " Disney liked the property so much, with its rich variety of meadows, oak groves and mountains, that his production company began buying up land, eventually accumulating 890 acres. Over the decades, the storied Golden Oak Ranch, located in an unincorporated area of northeast Los Angeles County, has been used as backdrop for countless Disney TV shows and movies, including "Old Yeller" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. " Now Walt Disney Co. is moving closer to transforming part of the historic movie ranch into one of the largest high-tech production developments in Los Angeles in the last decade -- and the public will soon get its first say on the project.

SO the golden era of cinema is drawing to a close; too bad ["In a Losing Race With the Zeitgeist," by Patrick Goldstein, Nov. 22]. But it's the studios' reliance on technology as a replacement for good writing and directing, more than the advent of DVDs and such, that's been doing them in. Technology's changed things, but it'd be hard to conjure a more putrid and unimaginative stream of bilge than Hollywood's been producing. Good riddance. WILLIAM CRAIG DROSE Los Angeles

Give us "something beautiful," mandated CalArts President Steven Lavine when architects Jeffrey Daniels and Elyse Grinstein were hired to design 20 artists' studios at the California Institute of the Arts. Built on a knoll overlooking Valencia and partly shaded by wispy eucalyptus trees, the cream-colored stucco boxes are easily recognized by their colorfully painted, steeply raked triangular clerestories.

Hollywood film directors and studios said Tuesday that they agreed to start early negotiations next Monday on a new contract to replace one that expires June 30, 2002. The decision by the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to start talking so far in advance differs sharply from the recent negotiating philosophy of writers and actors, who pushed contract talks to the 11th hour this year in an effort to gain leverage.

A shopping center developer is quietly pursuing plans to build a 43-acre studio complex in the NoHo Arts District of North Hollywood that would rival in size Los Angeles's largest film and television studios. The proposal drafted by J. Allen Radford, of Santa Monica-based JARCO/SLG&G, would turn a crushing demand for studio space in Los Angeles into a force for transforming the industrial area surrounding the yet-unfinished North Hollywood subway station.

Commercial photographers often strive to create beauty on film. Only a few, however, strive to make their studios as striking as their photo images. One such photographer is Vic Huber, who recently converted an Irvine industrial building into a combined studio and office that he says is intended to be as elegant as his photographic work. Designed by the firm Carlile/Coatsworth/Shankweiler Architects Inc. of Irvine, the studio matches Huber's aesthetic: simple, direct and highly finished.

The City Council has imposed a limit on how late into the night aspiring singers can carry on at a karaoke studio. Yeon Sook Seo had requested permission to stay open until 2 a.m. at a studio that she wants to develop in a commercial building at 9738 Garden Grove Blvd. A karaoke studio operates until 2 a.m. in neighboring Stanton, and she needs to stay open that late to remain competitive, she said.

Yahoo Inc. is trying to stake a claim on the summer movie season with the launch of Movieland, an interactive online game promoting 35 upcoming big-budget films. Developed with participation from all the major movie studios, Movieland is laid out as a virtual board game, with each square representing a summer film. Users will be able to watch trailers, answer trivia questions, earn and share online badges, buy tickets and win prizes. Ken Fuchs, vice president and head of sports, entertainment and games at Yahoo Media Network, said Movieland "game-ifies moviegoing in an interesting way. It sucks people into an experience.

In Los Angeles, red carpet treatment is not just for celebrities. Here, mere mortals can find specialists - medical concierges, cat whisperers, image consultants - for almost everything. And that includes experts who are hired to help families prepare for their newest members. Enter the baby planner. Before the advent of the current expert culture, it was a role that used to be filled by mothers, grandmothers and best friends, doling out advice, shopping lists and favors.

Having cast a spell in Orlando and planted his flag in Los Angeles, Harry Potter is now taking his theme park magic across the Pacific. Universal Studios Japan on Thursday will unveil plans to build the first international version of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the blockbuster attraction that has drawn millions of fans to Universal's Orlando resort and is expected to do the same at a planned Hollywood location. The Osaka destination, which will begin construction in the next few weeks with a planned opening in late 2014, is the latest in a series of expansions underway at major parks around the world that has followed an uptick in attendance, particularly in Asia.

The most reliable predictor of box-office success these days may not be a marquee name or a masked superhero. It's thePG-13rating. Created in 1984 in the wake of the sometimes scary PG-rated movies "Gremlins" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" to warn parents that some movies might be inappropriate for young kids, thePG-13 has become an inclusive Good Housekeeping seal of approval - an imprimatur that promises adults won't be offended and...

Build-a-Bear Workshop was introducing a line of stuffed animals called smallfrys and wanted to reach moms through Facebook. One video used in the online promotion showed a woman pulling up to a fast-food window. Her young daughter requests "a smallfry. " When her mom suggests a fruit cup or celery sticks, the daughter says, "Mom, order me a curly-haired bunny in a purple sequined bathing suit. " The 45-second smallfrys spot came not from a traditional advertising agency but from Poptent Inc., a "crowdsourced" video production studio that has built a global community of 50,000 writers, directors, cinematographers and animators to create commercials for Build-a-Bear, American Airlines, Dell, Intel, Jaguar, General Mills and others.

In a short video produced by LA Louver in advance of Ben Jackel's solo show, one encounters the artist taking an ax, quite literally, to one of his sculptures. He's chipping away at a block of Douglas fir to form an enormous replica of the head of a pole-mounted weapon called a halberd, in a style traditionally carried by the personal guards of the elders of Saxony around the year 1600 - as he quickly clarifies when I mistakenly call it a spearhead. The piece, which, at 131/2 feet tall, would clearly do damage if it fell on you, is titled "Pay Attention.

Famous for fabulous galleries and an active cultural scene, Santa Fe has a new arts trail that buyers or browsers may follow into the studios of working artists. Visitors can arrange individualized itineraries of studio-hopping around town through Studio Entrada (P.O. Box 4934, Santa Fe, N.M. 87502, (505) 983-8786), a local tour operator and artists' representative. Linda Morton, founder and owner of Studio Entrada, conducts the tours.

CBS will ask the city for permission to embark on a major expansion of its studio facilities at a zoning hearing today. Specifically, the television network wants permission to build seven sound stages on residentially zoned land and to build above height limits on Radford Avenue in Studio City. The 245,000-square-foot project includes dressing rooms, storage areas, production support areas and 1,202 parking spaces.

Google Inc.'s YouTube announced the launch of a new channel devoted to women in advance of a presentation to advertisers and brands, concluding a two-week-long series of marketing pitches by the leading distributors of online entertainment. "Black Swan" executive producer Jon Avnet and "Albert Nobs" director Rodrigo Garcia joined together to create WIGS, a YouTube channel of original scripted dramas and short films about women. Avnet and actress Virginia Madsen, who is best known for her role as Maya in the 2004 film "Sideways," were expected to take the stage Wednesday at New York's Beacon Theatre to tout the partnership with YouTube.

About three years ago, producer Graham Broadbent visited the offices of Peter Rice, who was then running Fox Searchlight Pictures. Stacked near Rice's DVD player were discs of the senior citizen comedies "Cocoon" and "Cocoon: The Return. " "There have to be movies for older audiences," Rice told Broadbent. "There have to be. " Broadbent replied, "I think we may have something for you. " The movie Broadbent pitched that day was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,"a comedy starring Judi Dench and Bill Nighy about a fledgling retirement home in India.