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Stephen Emery, producer and entertainment executive, died suddenly after a workout in Redondo Beach, Calif., on Oct. 14. He was 46.

Emery was a producer at Big Swell Entertainment, a production company launched by Andy Horowitz in late 2022, and previously served as head of film and TV at The Solution Entertainment Group from 2016 until 2022. He is known for his work co-executive producing Netflix’s “Wheelman” and executive producing “Killerman,” “Line of Duty,” “Honest Thief” and the upcoming “Werewolves.”

“Everyone that had the pleasure to know Stephen Emery is heartbroken over the sudden loss of one of our own. Stephen was much more than an invaluable producer, he was also an irreplaceable friend,” Horowitz said in a statement. “His passion for film was outweighed only by his passion for life, and he lived every day like it was his last. We will miss his adventurous spirit, his loyal friendship, and his genuine love for life.

Joe Simpson — a manager and producer who is perhaps best known for once steering the careers of his famous daughters, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson — has a new gig.

Simpson has joined Eris Talent Agency as chief operating officer, effective immediately. In the Los Angeles-based role, Simpson will partner with Eris owners Tina Randolph Contogenis and Amy Lord Posey and be charged with oversight of the talent agency’s revenue-driving areas, including packaging arm, Eris Entertainment.

Eris Talent Agency, which also maintains offices in New York, has a client list that includes Maite Perroni, Todd Bridges, Shondrella Avery, Nancy McKeon, John Posey, Cristian de la Fuente, Jesse Posey, Mindy Cohn, Musetta Vander, John Kapelos, Miktzi Kapture, Karen Lynn Gorney and Yuri Lowenthal, among many others.

Simpson is a recognizable face who was ubiquitous presence in the aughts as he oversaw the careers of both Jessica and Ashlee. Pop culture aficionados will...

Much has been written about just how dismal this year’s summer movies have been, but one of the silver linings in such a poor season has remarkably been indies. Where blockbusters like “The Legend Of Tarzan,” “Warcraft” and “X-Men: Apocalypse” failed, indies such as “The Lobster,” “Cafe Society” and “Love and Friendship” succeeded. And while studios were certainly rolling in cash when it came to “Suicide Squad” and “The Secret Life Of Pets,” critics weren’t exactly impressed. It was a rough season for studio films, but it won’t be a total waste if executives can learn from their mistakes and start course correcting. Below, we look towards the indie world in order to offer up the biggest lessons for studio films.

Read More: IndieWire On Demand: ‘Krisha,’ ‘The Lobster’ And More Great 2016 Indies To Watch On VOD

1) World-Building Needs To Be Organic To The Story (“The Lobster...

We have news of another actress that will be fighting the evil dead. It has been announced that Jill Marie Jones (Sleepy Hollow) has just joined the cast and we have details on how her character gets caught up in Ash's latest adventure:

"Beverly Hills, Calif., February 19, 2015 - Starz has announced today that Jill Marie Jones (“Sleepy Hollow”) will play the role of Amanda Fisher in the Starz original series “Ash vs Evil Dead.” The series is the long-awaited follow-up to the classic horror film franchise The Evil Dead and is set to film on location in New Zealand this spring and premiere on Starz in late 2015.

Following the grisly murder of her partner, disgraced Michigan State Trooper Amanda Fisher sets out to find our anti-hero Ash and prove his responsibility for the crime. But as she soon learns, Ash and his cohorts may be mankind’s only hope against the plague of Evil Dead,...

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of '89 arrives on Sunday August 31st, two weeks from now. We'll be celebrating 1989 here and there until then as "the year of the month". You need to get your votes in, too, (instructions at the end of the post). If you've wandered in from elsewhere and are like, "What's a Smackdown?," here's how it started and here's last month's entry on 1973 with its companion podcast. The year in question this time is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

no, these ladies are not the panelists

The Smackdown Panel for August

Without further ado let's meet the voices who will be watching and discussing the '89 hits Steel Magnolias and Parenthood. They'll also be sounding off on the Oscar-winning bio My Left Foot and the underseen actressy curio Enemies: A Love Story. Stay tuned.

new panelists

Kevin B Lee

Kevin B. Lee is a filmmaker, film critic and...

A Novel Romance. At The Top Of The Pyramid. Duckwalls. Ay Luv Yu. Cornered. Help Me, Help You. The Gold Retrievers. Fatal Rescue. Shannon's Rainbow. Major Movie Star.Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the last ten films to star one time leading man Steve Guttenberg, all of them produced since 2008 and hands up anybody who has seen any of them. I do this to make a point. Power brokers at New Line, Steve Guttenberg is available to star in your Police Academy remake.Yes, kids, one of the stupidest comedy franchises of all time - though, admittedly, quite funny for the first few installments and an adolescent favorite - is coming back, New Line having just named Scott Zabielski to direct a remake....

ABC Family has given a pilot order to "What Would Jane Do."

The project by April Blair ("Lemonade Mouth," "Major Movie Star," "Christmas Caper") is about a 16-year-old girl who juggles life as a teenager and a demanding new job as a full time assistant for a design company.

The network is expected to announce the pickup shortly. Executive producer is Gavin Polone ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Gilmore Girls," "My Boys").

The move is the latest in a slew of pilot orders for the network, which already picked up "Strut," "Nine Lives," "Switched at Birth" and "The Lying Game."...

Jessica Simpson and her father Joe reported to the La set of Entourage yesterday afternoon so she could film a cameo for the show's upcoming seventh season, which premieres June 27. She arrived in the sweater she sported to lunch earlier in the day, but soon Jess changed into a short skirt and high heels as the cameras began to roll. It was apparently her second day working with the cast and crew, and afterwards she tweeted a thanks to them all for making her experience memorable. We just got to see her on the small screen with the documentary-style The Price of Beauty, but her appearance on the series will mark her first foray back into acting since Major Movie Star in 2008. View 15 Photos › To see more Jessica just read more. View 15 Photos ›...

Jessica Simpson finally got around to tweeting about Melrose Place firing her sister, Ashlee, and she is none too happy with the writing staff. In fact, Jess thinks the show is worse than any of her straight-to-dvd movies like Major Movie Star and Blonde Ambition. Last night she tweeted: "CW catching up on MP.who writes this crap?i have had bad scripts to work with,but this?thank God my sister is amazing and got you some press...Watch til Jan.. :)" Wow. So Jessica believes that Melrose Place only got press because of Ashlee's amazing acting? That's not entirely accurate. While it's true that Ashlee was the most buzzed-about castmember and did most of the press leading up...

So here's the deal. Over the weekend, the La Times reported that The Weinstein Company was already starting development on another sequel to the Halloween series for the summer of 2010 that would be titled Halloween 3D. Even though the most recent Halloween 2 made $16 million over the weekend, apparently everyone hated it, mainly because Rob Zombie did some ridiculous things with it (here's a good 2/10 review). Now Bloody-Disgusting adds another detail into the mix - they got an email this morning claiming that Steve Miner would be returning for the sequel instead of Rob Zombie - which is actually great news. Miner is an "old school" horror director responsible for Friday the 13th Part 2 and Part 3, Halloween H20, and Lake Placid back in 1999, but has most recently been directing TV shows and straight-to-dvd crap like Jessica Simpson's Major Movie Star. From what I hear, though, ...

Katie Chonacas has had guest roles on Cold Case, Strong Medicine, CSI: NY and even helped Ashton Kutcher on his MTV hit show Punk'd. She can be seen on the silver screen starring with Nicholas Cage, Sharon Stone, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, and Jessica Simpson. Not only is Katie a talented actress, she is also a model that has landed work with K-swiss, Lux Hair, Stuff Magazine, and Ed Hardy. You think that is a lot; well, we have not even told you about Katie's music or the that fact that she sponsors seven kids! The bubbly actress/model/performer has set no limits to what she can accomplish which is seen when reviewing her resume. Last year was busy for the young actress as she went on 50 Cent's European tour, filmed with famed filmmaker Werner Herzog and filmed alongside the Hollywood elite. Creating fun music, modeling, and acting are...

Vivica A. Fox will host TV Land's "The Cougar" from producer Mike Fleiss. Apparently, each episode will have a single woman looking for a match from a pool of eligible younger men. The series will premiere April 15 on TV Land's Prime programming block. Eight episodes of the show which runs an hour have been ordered. Produced by Warner Horizon Television and executive produced by Fleiss ("The Bachelor").   This fits in well with the channel's target of viewers in their 40s and 50s with original programming. Fox is constantly busy with work on TV and film. Her credits include TV's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "1-800 Missing" with film credits like "Kill Bill: Vol. 1," "The Salon." Her more recent work was in the video release "Private Valentine" (a.k.a. "Major Movie Star") with Jessica Simpson in the lead. She also played in Mike Green's "San Saba" alongside Angus Macfadyen,...

Jessica Simpson wants to star in a British pantomime. The actress has been encouraged to pursue a role in a traditional Christmas theater production after her friend Steve Guttenberg - who stars alongside Jessica in upcoming film "Major Movie Star" - told her how much money she could earn.

The "Police Academy" star told Britain's New! magazine: "I've been talking to her about when I did my stint in Bromley, U.K., and she's keen to experience the panto for herself."

"I told her how I'd picked up 100 grand for four weeks' work - that's going to appeal to anyone!"

Jessica - who recently left her pop career in favor of country singing - may have to put plans for a pantomime stint on hold after it was recently revealed she is "actively trying for a baby" with her American football star boyfriend Tony Romo.

Chicago – Singer, actress and fashion icon Jessica Simpson sports a fancy greeting for the HollywoodChicago.com lens on Dec. 6, 2008 at the launch of her new “Fancy” fragrance at Macy’s on State Street in downtown Chicago.

Jessica Simpson has been featured in the 2008 films “The Love Guru” and “Major Movie Star” as well as “Blonde Ambition,” “Employee of the Month,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Jessica” on TV, “The Twilight Zone” and “That ’70s Show”. She has also been seen on “Entertainment Tonight,” the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “The View” and many other such shows.

Our exclusive Chicago portrait of Jessica Simpson is below.

Singer, actress and fashion icon Jessica Simpson sports a fancy greeting for the HollywoodChicago.com

lens on Dec. 6, 2008 at the launch of her new “Fancy” fragrance at Macy’s on State Street in downtown Chicago.

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

By Adam FENDELMANEditor-in-ChiefHollywoodChicago.

That sentence almost sounds like an oxymoron. But it should come as no surprise that Jessica Simpson’s latest movie, Major Movie Star, has hit a “minor” road bump: it won’t be appearing in theaters. Yes, the #1 box office hit in Russia just isn’t a contender over here in the states. Guess theater bosses just couldn’t chance it, after Blonde Ambition only made $1300 before being shelved. But look on the bright side, Jess! The movie is opening in Bulgaria next month! Fingers crossed!

This should come as no shock. Jessica Simpsons upcoming movie Major Movie Star is being renamed and also dumped direct to DVD according to Us Magazine.   The last update on this film was that Steve Guttenberg had joined the cast. The plot for the disaster goes like this; Megan (Simpson), a somewhat clueless movie star who impulsively enlists in the U.S. Army Reserve after discovering that her boyfriend is gay and her cousin/accountant has stolen all her money. Vivica A. Fox will play Sgt. Louisa Morley, an intimidating training officer who's tough on Megan. Guttenberg will play her cont...

Jessica Simpson put on her most sultry face to pose along with Eva Mendes on the red carpet of the Macy's 150th Birthday party in NYC last night. While Jessica was also quietly celebrating her No. 1 movie in Russia, her man Tony is still rehabbing his pinky figure hopefully with the help of his most important nurse. In fact, the singer skipped out on date night in order to make her flight to the event last night. Sure we may not be getting the stateside debut of Major Movie Star anytime soon, but at least her box office topping smile was the big winner somewhere. To see more from the party just read more. Images include: Tommy Hilfiger, Jessica Simpson, Martha Stewart, Eva Mendes, Kenneth Cole, Source...

We like to give you new trailers as often as we can. Normally, we tend to gravitate towards trailers for good movies - imagine that - but every now and then, a trailer for something awful catches our eye, and in the interest of fairness (or sarcasm), we feel compelled to showcase that, too.

Here we have Jessica Simpson, who was not so many years ago, one of the world's most desired women. Beautiful, blonde, and - as her father always likes to point out - buxom, Simpson tried to use her leverage as a reality TV and music star to become a big deal in the movies.

Never happened, and it never will.

She's not a very good actress, to put it mildly, and bad actresses that also happen to be hot are pretty easy to find. But that hasn't stopped her from trying, even though her flicks have...

The father of former SNL cast member Cheri Oteri was stabbed to death on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn. Authorities have arrested and charged country songwriter Richard Fagan, 61, with criminal homicide in the death of Gaetano Thomas Oteri, 69, the Associated Press reports. Oteri, known as "Tom," was Fagan's roommate as well as his longtime music associate and publisher. According to the local NewsChannel 5, the incident took place at Fagan's home in South Nashville on Saturday night. The Tennessean newspaper reports that Fagan was arrested Saturday night for a Dui. The songwriter told police that a fight had occurred around 9 p.m.

Actress/singer Jessica Simpson has boosted the morale of U.S. troops stationed in Kuwait with her own Hollywood tour of duty.

The 27-year-old's upcoming film Major Movie Star follows the adventures of a spoiled actress, played by Simpson, who accidentally enlists in the American armed forces.

So Simpson, who is currently in the Middle East entertaining soldiers as they await deployment to Iraq, decided to screen the unfinished movie to the troops.

She says, "It's actually in production right now, but once I found out I was going to come out here to Kuwait, I wanted the soldiers to be the very first to screen Major Movie Star.

"I haven't even seen it yet, so they got to see it before me. The special effects and all that kind of stuff's not in it (yet), but I wanted them to be the first to enjoy it and watch me make a fool out of myself trying to do boot camp."...

Steve Guttenberg will play a father whose son has disappeared in The Well, directed by Stephen Manuel.

Aislinn Sands and Dominic Rickhards also star in the film, about an estranged couple who while in the middle of a divorce face further anguish when their son turns up missing and becomes the center of a desperate rescue effort.

Sabine Leipert and Julia Neumann penned the original screenplay. Michael and Ica Souvignier along with Rolant Hergert are producing through Germany's Zeitsprung Entertainment GmbH. Filming is set to begin this week in Berlin.

Guttenberg recently wrapped Warner Bros.' Major Movie Star with Jessica Simpson. He is repped by Binder & Associates.

NEW YORK -- Billy Ray Cyrus and High School Musical star Olesya Rulin will headline Jim Amatulli's drama Flying By, the story of a businessman who risks his marriage, family and fortune to pursue his dream of being in a rock band.

Rulin will play the supportive daughter of the businessman (Cyrus) alongside Oscar winner Patricia Neal, Robert Gossett (TNT's The Closer), Eric Allan Kramer (American Wedding) and Ted Hutton in the family-friendly indie feature. Eric Abrahamson, Jonathan McHugh and Amatulli will produce for Arte Films and Encore Partners.

Neal is in final negotiations to play the mother of Cyrus' character, who teams with his bandmates (Gossett, Kramer) after being encouraged to perform by a club booker (Hutton). The film will begin shooting Nov. 26 in San Diego.

Cyrus, best known for his country hit "Achy Breaky Heart", is riding high with the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, starring his 14-year-old daughter Miley Cyrus. He's on tour promoting his new album, Home at Last.

Rulin will be seen next year opposite Jessica Simpson in Major Movie Star.

Amatulli wrote, directed and produced the 2003 crime drama Artworks, starring Virginia Madsen and Rick Rossovich.

NEW YORK -- Vivica A. Fox, Steve Guttenberg, Ryan Sypek and Saturday Night Live vet Cheri Oteri have been cast opposite Jessica Simpson in the comedy Major Movie Star for Nu Image/Millennium Films.

High School Musical's Olesya Rulin, Gilmore Girls regular Keiko Agena, Jill Marie Jones, Aimee Garcia and Gary Grubbs also star in the story of Megan (Simpson), a somewhat clueless movie star who impulsively enlists in the U.S. Army Reserve after discovering her boyfriend is gay and her cousin/accountant has stolen all her money.

Fox will play Sgt. Louisa Morley, an intimidating training officer who goes hard on Megan. Guttenberg will play the controlling agent Sidney Green, furious at her for enlisting and at Gen. Greer (Grubbs) for keeping her there. Sypek will play the handsome officer Megan falls for, Sgt. Mills Evans. Oteri will play Pvt. Jeter, the most gung-ho recruit on the base and Megan's arch-nemesis. Jones, Rulin, Agena and Garcia will play Megan's fellow reservists.