WGAW taps Verrone for Morgan Cox kudo

Former Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone -- best known as the public face of the guild during the writers strike -- has been tapped to receive the WGA West's Morgan Cox Award in recognition of service to the guild. Verrone will be honored at the Writers Guild Awards' West Coast ceremony on Feb. 19 at the Hollywood Palladium. "Patric Verrone has dedicated much of his professional life in service to this guild and to its members," said WGA West president Christopher Keyser. "He is the embodiment of all the qualities that the Morgan Cox Award celebrates and was the unanimous choice of this year's committee. As he has honored us, it is our great pleasure to honor him now." Verrone joined the WGA in 1987 and worked on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," "The Simpsons" and "Futurama." He is best known for serving as WGA West president for two terms (2005-09) and leading the WGA through the 100-day writers strike of winter 2007-08. Verrone was first elected to the WGA West board in 1999 and then served two terms as secretary-treasurer in 2005. Keyser defeated Verrone last fall for the presidency. Verrone's been nommed for nine Emmys and won for "Futurama" in 2002 and 2011 and for "Muppets Tonight!" in 1998. He received the WGA West's Animation Writing Award in 2002 for lifetime achievement in animation writing. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Warners requires a 'Killshot'

Warner Bros. has bought the pitch "Killshot" from scribe Ken Woodruff. No logline was immediately available. While Woodruff hasn't labored for that studio's film division before, he's no stranger towards the company's TV arm. Scribe is presently a producer and staff author on "The Mentalist," created by Warner Bros. Television. Other credits include "Goodbye Mexico," a script Woodruff authored for Richard Saperstein's The Genre Co. WME reps Woodruff. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

Selena Gomez States Paradise Is Everywhere

Sherrrd like to star inside the book adaptationDisney Funnel celebrity Selena Gomez is searching to acquire a a little better than the usual couple of of her contemporaries if the involves her career. She already features a production company in place and contains just optioned the rights to Jandy Nelson's novel Paradise Is Everywhere.It's beginning for your film, which does not have a very author or director attached or any studio backing by yet, but as it pertains lower together, Gomez desires to play Lennie Master, an introverted 17-year-old band geek and bookworm who lives inside the shadow of her much more popular and adventurous older sister, Bailey. But Bailey dies out of the blue and Lennie is skyrocketed into another existence, and becomes torn between two boys, one her sister's grieving boyfriend (blimey, he doesn't hang about, does he?) as well as the other a sensitive French music artist studying in Paris. And (whodathunkit?) she arrives of her spend and knows that she's really quite attractive, whilst her usually bought world falls apart when she tries to juggle two associations.Gomez was last noticed in the strictly tweencentric Monte Carlo, an undesirable film through which she was fairly decent, as well as in the design of Sky it won't exactly stretch her into very new territory. It'll, however, appear like she's striving to think about more risks, as she's also signed on for Harmony Korine's women-make the most of-a-restaurant-to-fund-their-holiday crime pic Spring Breakers, that's organizing to shoot in, er, spring.

Shorter vfx reels demand new strategy

Cutting a 15-minute vfx bakeoff reel from massive spectacles like "Avatar," "Titanic" and "King Kong" was with enough contentration. This season, with increased records, bakeoff reels are just ten minutes, and that is forcing the presenters to re-think their strategy.The attempted-and-true method ended up being to tell a condensed version from the story in fifteen minutes, with sufficient story to help keep the viewer oriented and the large vfx shots in context. That assisted convey the emotional impact from the shots.With five less minutes, though, "Hugo" vfx supervisor Take advantage of Legato required another approach. "I place in whole moments, presuming individuals have seen it. Whole moments that demonstrate all of the work. It cuts down on the filler and today it is simply the meat and taters." Nevertheless, the very first cut of his reel was twenty minutes.InchTransformers: Dark from the Moon" has massive effects in the majority of the movie, so selecting ten minutes is an extremely tough challenge for vfx supervisor Scott Farrar. "You need to tell a tale, a minimum of I actually do, something which has a little emotion and action and scope and scale. But our first sweep was 40 minutes. Geez!"Tim Burke of "Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," known as everything condensing "tricky," but stated he felt these were still in a position to construct the storyline and obtain lower to ten minutes. Still, he adds, "It's a shame we have needed to omit a lot great work.InchAttention around the Academy awards: VFX, Seem & EditingLong photos spur sly methods Oscar lacks home for 'designers' Seem minds Bakeoff buzz: Heart trumps hardware Shorter vfx reels demand new strategy 'Bridesmaids' editors required lengthy view Contact David S. Cohen at david.cohen@variety.com

Goldman Sachs puts Alliance Films on the market

As Wall Street begins to cautiously re-enter Hollywood, Goldman Sachs is cashing out. The company is putting up for sale its two-thirds stake in Alliance Films, the Canadian finance and distribution operation which backed "Insidious," "The King's Speech" and "Shame." Investissement Quebec, the Quebec government's investment division which owns the remaining share, is selling its portion as well, according to an individual with knowledge of the transaction. Bank of Montreal is handling the sale. Sale of the company, which was first reported by the Financial Times, would include Canadian and other rights to a library of more than 11,000 films, as well as Canadian distribution rights for pics from Relativity, Lionsgate Entertainment, Focus Features, the Weinstein Company and CBS Films. Sale would also include rights to release Relativity's pics in the U.K. through Momentum. IQ is shifting its investment focus away from film, according to sources with knowledge of the company, and is turning its eye toward natural resource projects as well as the creation of advanced materials and new technologies. Goldman's reasons for selling were not immediately clear, but observers close to the company said its decision did not come as a surprise. While the financial crisis of 2008 saw a mass stock market exodus from the entertainment biz, some banks and institutional investors have slowly started re-entering the entertainment space, or decided to enter for the first time. And some of those relative newcomers - like SunTrust and OneWest Bank -- have been instrumental in some of the largest film company refinancings over the past 12 months. SunTrust was one of the principal banks involved in Legendary's $700 million credit facility; both banks participated in New Regency's $500 million credit line. Both transactions closed last year. Other companies are finding a renewed source of leverage from their film libraries. Miramax, for example, was able to raise about $500 million from institutional investors, in large part due to its projected future digital licensing agreements from its older titles. Reports of Alliance's sale come just six months after the company acquired Maple Pictures from Lionsgate for about $40 million. Alliance Films is one of two major Canadian distribs -- the other being Toronto-based eOne -- with operations in the U.K. though Momentum and in Spain through Aurum. Company first came under partial government ownership in 2008, when the Societe Generale de Financement bought a 38.5% stake for $102 million, giving the investment arm a 51% of the voting shares. Goldman Sachs took a stake in Alliance Films in 2007. Alliance Films was formerly Motion Picture Distribution, an income trust controlled by Alliance Atlantis Communications. EdgeStone and Goldman Sachs took over the company after the rest of Alliance Atlantis was bought by CanWest Global that year. Alliance Films declined to comment. Goldman Sachs and IQ did not return requests for comment. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com