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More layoffs at Lucasfilm targeting licensing and marketing

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By all indications, there’s been another round of layoffs at Lucasfilm. This time it also affects the Lucasfilm Licensing division.

These layoffs are reportedly impacting individuals within licensing, marketing, and publishing. The first two make a certain amount of sense since Disney has huge licensing and marketing arms, but publishing would be a bit more out of left field as they do not have much in the way of in-house options on that front. Possibly the layoffs within that arm are confined to children and reference materials, which Disney can probably replicate. Adult fiction would be tougher.

Via Club Jade

UPDATE: Publishing not impacted

Sounds like the initial report was wrong on the publishing front. LFL’s Jen Heddle got in contact with Club Jade to clear things up:

This makes quite a bit more sense. If Disney can do anything internally, it’s licensing products and marketing everything under their umbrella. Publishing is still something that they in theory have the framework to do entirely internally, but isn’t what I would call a strong suit. For now (and I suspect for a long, long while), the setup remains the same for Star Wars literature.

Mythbusting: Did George Lucas order Anakin Solo’s death?

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The myth: George Lucas feels that there would be marketing and brand confusion to have two heroes named Anakin at the same time, one in the Prequel Trilogy and one in the Expanded Universe. Because of this, he orders Anakin Solo to be killed in the New Jedi Order books. Troy Denning is given the instructions from Lucasfilm itself to kill off Anakin.

Murdered by George Lucas!?

The investigation: To get to the answer, Nanci went to the Twittersphere and all-around-awesome Lucasfilm person Pablo Hidalgo dug into his notes to get to the bottom of the issue.

The reality: It turns out that George Lucas and Lucasfilm itself didn’t order that Anakin Solo be killed. Rather, they stated that he couldn’t be a prophetic hero and that role should be changed up to someone else. Hello, Jacen.

It appears that the decision to kill Anakin was made somewhere lower on the chain, perhaps the editors and/or authors working with Del Rey at the time. Whoever made the call, what’s clear is that there wasn’t a directive from on high to off Anakin Solo. The decision to kill him rather than change his role or put him on a bus appears to have been made by the people actually producing the books. 

Busted

Michael Giacchino Says John Williams Should Score Episode VII

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michael giacchinoThese days, there are seemingly two constants in the film universe. First, if there’s a Star Wars movie, John Williams is scoring it. Second, if there’s a J.J. Abrams movie, Michael Giacchino is scoring it.

Uh oh.

Given these two virtual certainties, a number of fans are wondering exactly who is going to score the next episodic installment of the Star Wars saga. Will it by franchise legacy composer Williams, or will J.J. Abrams bring in Giacchino? There’s no telling for sure yet, but Giacchino himself seems to think it should be Williams back at the conductor’s stand.

“He has been a great inspiration to me over the years,” he continued. “He has been a great teacher to me and good friend and I would love nothing more than to hear more of his music from that universe.”

“If it were up to me I would say ‘John, you must do it.’”

For whatever it’s worth, I do agree with Giacchino. If Williams is able and willing, he should be the one that scores Episode VII. If nothing else, maintaining a constant presence on the film score side of things will go a long ways in linking these three distinct eras of Star Wars together.

Richard LeParmentier Passes Away

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Motti-anhEarly this morning, word broke that Richard LeParmentier had passed away at 67. LeParmentier was best known for playing Admiral Motti in Episode IV.

Over at Big Shiny Robot, Bryan Young and Janine Spendlove shared their heartfelt thoughts on LeParmentier.

The first time I met Richard in person was at Celebration III in Indianapolis at a 501st dinner, where I offered to buy him a beer. I’ll never forget his response, “I’m too old to have that much carbonated liquid in my bladder. I’ll take a glass of wine, though.”

Richard was a very nice guy. I kept up with him on facebook. He mentored me for a time as a writer, as we were workshopping the script for Motti Now and breaking it down for production. Aside from being instrumental in my favorite scene in A New Hope, Richard left an indelible mark on my life and I’m very sorry to hear that he’s passed away. I was hoping to get him on Full of Sith these days, and join him drinking a bottle of wine again at some point.

For more, head to the above link.

Tosche Station Radio #53: It’s A Unix System!

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This week on Tosche Station Radio, the hosts look back fondly at of their favorite films, Jurassic Park!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria and the Waru Express started the New Jedi Order and explained that Cosplay Is Not Consent. Meanwhile, Emily finally came up with a recipe for ryshcate! Bria then decided to be an overachiever (and we thank her profusely for it) and wrote up a new comics primer called “So You Want to Read Marvel Now.”

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s kept herself busy by writing a few short stories. She also finished up Timothy Zahn’s Night Train To Rigel and started reading Overdraft: The Orion Offensive by John Jackson Miller. Brian has been reading through Season of Passage while not going to baseball games. Both of the hosts took the weekend to go see Jurassic Park. More on that later!

Deak’s Dirt starts out with news on the Star Wars animation front. Dave Filoni revealed he’s involved in the new animated series. In Expanded Universe linkage, EUCantina did an interview with The Last Jedi author Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff. Her Universe posted a sneak preview of the new Rogue Squadron tank. Outside of Star Wars, Christopher Eccleston will not be involved in 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Comixology and Marvel team up to offer first issues for free. From Club Jade, the Legend of Korra is coming to BluRay in July! On the Star Wars rumor front, no one has spoken to Billy Dee Williams yet. In continuing entertainment industry woes, Walt Disney Studios was hit by layoffs. Finally, Yoda won This is Madness.

This week on Camie’s Concerns, the hosts look back at one of their favorite blockbuster films: Jurassic Park. How did the 3D re-release fare? Is it the perfect blockbuster? What lessons could future blockbusters learn from it?

Wrapping up the show, the hosts field questions in Ask Us Anything.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.

Her Universe - Flaunt Your World - www.heruniverseshop.com Listen to a bestseller for $7.49 at audible.com!

More Entertainment Industry Layoffs: Disney Eliminates Studio Jobs

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Not even the Mouse House is immune, unfortunately. According to Variety, Disney has begun the process of laying off at least 150 workers at Walt Disney Studios. Some of the affected employees are part of the animation division, marking yet another company that has been forced to downsize their entertainment arms.

At this point, it appears to be an industry-wide thing. The powerhouse Tippett Studios underwent layoffs a few weeks ago. Last week noted game developer and publisher Square Enix announced that they were eliminating a number of jobs from their Los Angeles studio as part of a corporate re-organization. This is just a sample of the hard times the entertainment industry has found themselves in lately.

While it’s easy for many fans to get angry with Disney for they layoffs at both Lucasfilm Animation and LucasArts, we have to understand that there simply wasn’t any malice involved with those decisions. The entertainment industry is in a state of upheaval right now and that’s forcing these studios to make some uncomfortable choices that lead to re-orgs and layoffs. Given the state of the industry right now, some of this restructuring could have happened even if George Lucas still owned the company.

ComiXology, Marvel team up to give away first issues

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Kate sassWant a bunch of free gateway drugs comics? Good news! Marvel and ComiXology are giving away the first issues to over 700 comics. All you have to do is go over to the ComiXology promotion page and sign up to get a promo code.

Once you’ve signed up, what should you get? Well I’ve got a pair of suggestions.

  • Hawkeye by Matt Fraction – This might be my favorite series out there right now. Follow the misadventures of Clint Barton while he’s not doing Avengers-y things. 
  • Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick – Looking for a well-developed, kickass female lead? Carol Danvers is right up your alley.

The site is getting slammed, so you might need to refresh your browser a couple of times to get it to resolve. Once you’ve signed up, ComiXology will send you a date when you can start downloading your comics. From that date you’ll have 48 hour window to get them.

Dave Filoni Involved With New Star Wars Cartoon

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FiloniIGN has a recap from Dave Filoni’s sit down with Rebel Forces Radio yesterday. Among the highlights? He’s apparently involved in the early processes of a new Star Wars cartoon.

“At this point, I am involved in some early production discussions and exploration of what we’ll be doing with Star Wars animation in the future, which is really exciting for me and I have some friendly faces around me, of course, that are helping me on the project. So it’s a transition time, as I’ve said before, and I think it will lead to an exciting time and hopefully I’ll see things grow again.”

What is this new cartoon? New idea yet, but I kind of figured this would happen. Lucasfilm Animation was somewhat of a redundant department after the Disney acquisition, because if Disney has anything, it’s a world-class animation shop. That said, even if Lucasfilm Animation were to shut down or downsize, Disney is smart enough to pick off that talent and retain them for future projects. Don’t be surprised if not only Dave Filoni but the bulk of his creative crew find their way to this new project.

It’s also worth noting that Lucasfilm isn’t the only company experiencing downsizing in their visual effects and animation departments. Over in the comments at Club Jade, Pablo Hidalgo pointed out that Tippett Studios and numerous other VFX shops were experiencing layoffs. The downsizing at Lucasfilm Animation might have less to do with Disney and more to do with a changing entertainment landscape.