Studios

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.

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.

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

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....

Just three months after shipping his first game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has reportedly laid off the entire staff of his two development studios, Big Huge Games and 38 Studios, and shut down the operations. They had roughly 400 employees combined. Messages left for Schilling's spokesman, Adam Kahn, were not immediately returned. Schilling's 38 Studios had been working on a massively expensive multiplayer online game that was supposed to be released later this year.

After the coffee. Before wishing I had submitted as a comedy instead of a drama. The Skinny: I didn't watch the 12/12/12 concert last night but I know a lot of you did because I got more than my share of live snarking on Twitter and Facebook. Lesson learned: Stay offline during popular cultural events. Today's news includes the Golden Globe nominations, Redbox Instant taking on Netflix, and an analysis of which studios actually still make movies. Daily Dose : Time Warner Cable subscribers in Los Angeles are getting new channels including BBC World News and Aspire, the cable network being launched by Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson.

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.

Hollywood's movie studios are heading to Comic-Con with less spring in their step this year. Stung by splashy presentations in the past that resulted in costly box-office duds like"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"and"Green Lantern,"the major studios will not arrive in full force in San Diego for the annual event that begins Thursday. Although Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate are making presentations and trumpeting their wares for fans, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures are skipping the show this year.

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.

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.

For those who want to give pole dancing a try, studios tend to welcome beginners with open arms, says Annemarie Davies, founder and chief executive of United Pole Artists. Many have introductory and beginner classes. Scared you don't have the same strength and flexibility as those who competed in the National Aerial Pole Art championship? You probably don't, but Davies said that's no problem. There are no strength expectations for beginners, Davies said. Men and women will build strength and improve as they move forward in pole, "just like almost everything else in life.

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.

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.

Amazon, the online bookseller turned online department store, turned e-book-reader manufacturer, turned publisher, turned video streaming service, turning movie-and-TV studio, has posted its first 14 "TV pilots" -- six kids' shows and eight grown-up comedies -- online for your ratings and comments. (That is the Amazon way.) What is a studio? Once it meant a physical place, with soundstages and a back lot and departments full of craftspeople with crazy skills. Now it requires only a name and money.

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.