Blog Entertainment for You

California's state assembly has passed a bill aimed at stopping police from selling information about celebrities who get in trouble with the law.

The law was prompted by Mel Gibson's public humiliation after being arrested for drunk driving last summer.

Celebrity news website TMZ.com posted an arrest report on the actor and director the day of the arrest, including details of an anti-Semitic tirade Gibson made to the arresting officer.

"Mel Gibson was one of those cases where information was given out before his due process was executed," said California assembly member Julia Brown, who drafted the legislation.

The director of Apocalypto had his rights violated, she said.

The law, which passed unanimously in the state assembly on Monday, makes it illegal for the media and law enforcement agencies to exchange money or other compensation in return for information on criminal investigations.

The measure must be passed by the state Senate and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before becoming law.

If it goes through, media who buy information from law enforcement agencies could be fined up to $1,000 and face a misdemeanour charge.

TMZ.com has denied it paid for the report on Gibson's arrest.

Gibson was criticized publicly over his drunken tirade in which he accused Jews of causing wars throughout history.

He later apologized for his anti-Semitic remarks and was treated for alcohol abuse.

California legislators said they were concerned that celebrity journalism might get further out of hand, with media organizations competing to pay for information.

"For the sake of a few dollars or to get someone their '15 minutes of fame,' it's not appropriate to sacrifice people's rights," assembly member Greg Aghazarian said.

Source : CBC Arts

While I was on vacation, the world seemed to turn upside down. Or, at least Maxim magazine turned upside down.

The horny men's magazine announced its 8th annual "Hot 100" list, and Lindsay Lohan was named the hottest woman in the world. That is not a misprint. I said Lindsay Lohan.

She replaced Eva Longoria, who had held the top spot for the last two years. Joining Lohan in the top 10 were the usual suspects: the two Jessicas (Biel and Alba), Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera, Ali Larter, Eva Mendes, Rihanna and Fergie. Longoria apparently hadn't deteriorated enough to be left off the top 10.

I was wondering why the magazine considered Lohan the hottest woman in the world, and this is the explanation provided by editor-in-chief Jimmy Jellinik: "There is no other star in the world that causes more of a stir in the public eye than Lindsay. Her every move is watched and reported on. She is a huge star in the truest meaning of the word."

Huh? I thought the true meaning of a huge star was someone who was successful in their chosen field. Lindsay Lohan is not.

Oh, people who work with her praise her acting abilities, but her last four films - "Georgia Rule," "Just My Luck," "Bobby" and "Prairie Home Companion" - have not set anything on fire, let alone generate any heat. If Lindsay Lohan is indeed a huge star, she is a huge manufactured star. She is no star by any measure with what I am familiar.

But she did allow most of her right breast to peek out of a loosely fitting dress at a recent public event, so I guess that makes her hot.

What do you think?

Paul McCartney snagged Natalie Portman to star in his new music video – thanks to his fashion designer-daughter, Stella.

Portman, 25, makes a cameo as a ghost in the video for "Dance Tonight," a track from McCartney's new studio album, "Memory Almost Full." The video had its world premiere Wednesday on YouTube.com.

"The connection with Natalie came from my daughter Stella, who makes non-leather shoes that Natalie buys, so I just thought, 'Well, I'll ring her up and just see if she'll do it.' So I rang her up and said, 'Hey, I'm Stella's dad!"' the 64-year-old former Beatle said in a statement posted on his Web site.

Portman plays a "futurist electronic ghost" who is summoned by the sound of McCartney's mandolin.

"Memory Almost Full," McCartney's 21st solo album, will be released June 5 in the United States.

Call him Cool Hand Nuke. Paul Newman weighed in Wednesday on the Indian Point nuclear power facility in the New York suburbs, pronouncing it safer than military bases he had visited.

The actor visited the Buchanan, N.Y., facility on Monday, according to Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, the company that owns Indian Point.

Newman, the star of such films as "Cool Hand Luke," "Slap Shot" and "Nobody's Fool," praised the nuclear power facility as an important part of the region's energy future because it doesn't produce greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming.

"What I saw exceeded my expectations," Newman said in a statement issued by an industry group. "No Army or Navy base I've ever visited has been more armored, and I couldn't walk 30 feet inside the plant without swiping my key card to go through another security checkpoint."

Watch the Trailer

• Lucky You - Official site of Curtis Hanson's romance/poker movie Lucky You, starring Eric Bana as a professional poker player in Vegas who falls for a local singer (Drew Barrymore). Also starring Robert Duvall, Debra Messing, Horatio Sanz, and Jean Smart.
• Apple.com Trailers: Lucky You - Watch the trailer for the movie Lucky You, starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore. In QuickTime format and available for iPods.
• IMDb: Lucky You - Cast/character credits for the movie Lucky You, with photos, a message board, and production details about the poker/romance starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore.
• MovieWeb: Lucky You - Features several video clips from the movie Lucky You, as well as photos, the trailer, and production notes about the making of the film.
• Rotten Tomatoes: Lucky You - Offers a collection of critics' reviews for the movie Lucky You that have been compiled to formulate a "rotten" rating.
• Yahoo! Movies: Lucky You - Offers photos, cast and credits, trailer, and other details about the movie Lucky You.

Lindsay Lohan says sex is the most important thing in a relationship.

Propelled by the success of her second album, "B-Day," and the award-winning film "Dreamgirls," Beyonce is up for best female R&B artist, best collaboration (with Jay-Z on both "Deja Vu" and "Upgrade U"), video of the year (for "Irrreplaceable" and her duet with Shakira on "Beautiful Liar") and the viewer's choice award.

Plus: Why is Madonna interviewing lap dancers?

When late-night host Jimmy Kimmel asked Cyrus to tell him, on a scale of one to 10, how happy he was to be off the show — with ten being happiest — Cyrus quickly exclaimed “Ten!”

Cyrus claimed that from day one he felt that he didn’t belong on the high-steppers’ show.

“I’m a singer, songwriter and musician,” he said, though he added, of course, that he was grateful for the experience.

Dress you up in not much
Madonna has taken a break from helping orphans in Africa to focus on another area of interest: lap dancers.

The Material Girl was spotted at a London girlie club called Secrets, auditioning lap dancers for her next project — rumored to be a short film.

Wearing oversized glasses, a button-down shirt and trousers, and toting a take-out cup of coffee, Madonna asked the dancers to read from a script before they showed her their moves.

Notes from all over
Helen Mirren wants to make it clear: she didn’t dis the Queen. The queen’s aides are said to have been outraged — and some British citizens weren’t too happy, either — after it was reported that the British actress snubbed an invitation to dine with the Queen. Mirren’s rep says that the actress, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of the monarch, would have loved to have accepted the invite, but she couldn’t get away from South Dakota, where she’s shooting “National Treasure: Book of Secrets.” “All attempts were made to accommodate Her Majesty’s request,” according to Mirren’s rep, “but a very challenging and uncompromising production schedule in South Dakota, complicated further by poor weather and locked-in locations, made this impossible.” The statement went on to note that Mirren has “only the greatest admiration and respect for the Queen.” ... Gisele Bundchen was spotted dropping $400 on boy’s baby clothes at Bel Bambini, a chic new Los Angles baby boutique. The model has denied buzz that she’s pregnant or planning to become that way, so it must have been for a friend or relative. ... When Entertainment Weekly asked new age guru Deepak Chopra who he’d most like to teach to meditate, he responded: “George W. Bush. So he can stop being at war with himself.” And when the mag asked Chopra what person he is most often mistaken for, he said it was the late rapper Tupac Shakur — because people think their names sound similar. “When he was gunned down,” Chopra explained, “we had a lot of condolence messages at my office.”

The letter said she might be sued but offered her the chance to settle out of court.

Barg couldn't imagine anyone expected her to pay $3,000 — $7.87 per song — for some 1980s ballads and Spice Girls tunes she downloaded for laughs in her dorm room. Besides, the 20-year-old had friends who had downloaded thousands of songs without repercussion.

"Obviously I knew it was illegal, but no one got in trouble for it," Barg said.

But Barg's perspective changed quickly that Thursday in March, when she called student legal services and found out the e-mail was no joke and that she had a pricey decision to make.

Barg is one of 61 students at UNL and hundreds at more than 60 college campuses across the country who have received letters from the recording industry group, threatening a lawsuit if they don't settle out of court.

"Any student on any campus in the country who is illegally downloading music may receive one of these letters in the coming months," said Jenni Engebretsen, an RIAA spokeswoman.

Barg's parents paid the $3,000 settlement. Without their help, "I don't know what I would have done. I'm only 20 years old," she said.

At least 500 university students nationwide have paid settlements to avoid being sued, Engebretsen said. Students who don't take the offer face lawsuits — and minimum damages of $750 for each copyrighted recording shared if they lose.

UNL officials have been told 32 more letters are on the way. At least 17 UNL students who did not take the settlement offer have been sued, according to the RIAA, although the university has been asked to forward only five subpoenas.

But the students coughing up the cash question why they're the ones getting in trouble.

"They're targeting the worst people," UNL freshman Andrew Johnson, who also settled for $3,000. "Legally, it probably makes sense, because we don't have the money to fight."

Johnson got his e-mail in February, with the recording industry group's first wave of letters targeting college students. He had downloaded 100 songs on a program called LimeWire using the university network.

The money to settle came from the 18-year-old's college fund. He'll work three jobs this summer to pay back the money.

Johnson compares what he did to people driving 5 miles per hour over the speed limit.

"It's not like I downloaded millions of songs and sold them to people," Johnson said.

But just one song can bring a lawsuit, Engebretsen said.

"It is important to send the message that this is illegal, you can be caught, and there are consequences," she said.

The industry realizes attitudes need changing, and money from the settlements is reinvested in educational programs schools and other groups can use to spread the word that song sharing can have severe consequences.

Some of the programs are tailored to start with third-graders.

"We do recognize that by the time students reach college, many of their music habits are already formed," Engebretsen said.

Earlier this month, members of Congress sent a letter to officials from 19 universities, including UNL, asking for information about schools' anti-piracy policies.

According to the letter, more than half of college students download copyrighted music and movies. The information requested is intended to help assess whether Congress needs to advance legislation to ensure illegal downloading "is no longer commonly associated with student life on some U.S. campuses," the letter says.

Barg is still angry about her letter from the recording industry group, which she calls bullying. But she agrees sharing music is common, and that other students don't understand the consequences.

"Technically, I'm guilty. I just think it's ridiculous, the way they're going about it," Barg said. "We have to find a way to adjust our legal policy to take into account this new technology, and so far, they're not doing a very good job."

Barg thinks the university should send an e-mail to all students, warning them that the recording industry won't look the other way.

As campus clears out for the summer, UNL officials are considering launching a new educational campaign in the fall.

"If we can do anything to help educate students about what illegal file-sharing is, we're willing and interested in doing that," said Kelly Bartling, a university spokeswoman.

Bartling said no one wants students to have to worry about how to pay tuition because of an expensive settlement. "It is a hugely expensive lesson," Bartling said.

Johnson, the UNL freshman, doesn't think the threats from the recording industry group are going to solve the problem. Friends who know he got in trouble still share music online.

"People are still going to do it until they get caught, and they can't catch everyone," Johnson said.

Watching “Entourage” can feel a bit too close to home sometimes.

No, I didn’t have a co-starring role in “Aquaman” nor do I have a group of friends attached at the hip that suck the financial life from me, but I know who these guys are. Not necessarily Vince and his troupe — manager Eric, hanger-on Turtle and brother Johnny “Drama” — but those they interact act with: the agents, publicists, studio execs, aspiring screenwriters, wannabe directors and the various showbiz folks they encounter on a daily basis.

As an editor for Daily Variety, the entertainment industry’s trade paper, my job is to deal with those wanting to get into — or, more often than not, get their clients into — the newspaper of record.Variety also has been in the crosshairs of “Entourage” creator Doug Ellin for years. The publication wasn’t kind to his first few movies, and in Variety’s initial review of “Entourage” back in July 2004, we wrote: “Taking a dig at Hollywood requires a nuanced touch, a blend of the familiar with the surreal, or else you’re stuck with one long in-joke. At its worst, ‘Entourage’ doesn’t even manage that.”

Ouch. So with that —and a couple of other shots along the way — Ellin was looking to get even. And, via Drama’s revitalized TV acting career, he’s done just that

Drama brings drama to Variety offices
At the end of last season, Drama (Kevin Dillon) lands a co-starring role in the Ed Burns pilot "Five Towns." After the series gets on the air, Variety trashes Drama’s performance, infuriating the actor known best for his role in “Viking Quest.” Taking the critique way too personally, Drama storms into the Variety office and confronts the paper’s scribe.

Those of us in the newsroom received a memo that the “Entourage” crew would be shooting in the newsroom on an August Friday from about 4 a.m. to mid-afternoon. When I arrived to work at about 9 a.m. that day, the office was packed.

Not with editors and reporters, but with nearly 100 behind-the-scenes folks — make-up artists, sound technicians, lighting pros, cameraman and dozens of extras. Now, if you haven’t been to a newsroom, its inhabitants will never be confused with those from the Ford Modeling Agency. We’re not the best-looking group around, especially in the context of image-conscious Los Angeles. So when these extras — who were sitting in various cubicles around the newsroom — were all about 22 years old and looked more like Heidi Klum than the late Ann Landers, it made those few legitimate Variety employees laugh in disbelief.

LOS ANGELES - Even when he takes a huge fall, Spider-Man comes out on top.

Sony’s “Spider-Man 3” took in $60 million in its second weekend, a hefty 60 percent drop from its record debut a week earlier but good enough to easily outdistance the competition and remain the No. 1 movie, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“After a record-breaking opening weekend, to me this is an appropriate second-weekend drop,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “Any studio would be happy to have a movie opening with $60 million, let alone a second weekend with $60 million.”

With $242.1 million domestically in just 10 days, “Spider-Man 3” continued to beat the box-office pace of its predecessors. After 10 days, 2002’s “Spider-Man” had grossed $223 million, while 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” had taken in $225 million.

“Spider-Man 3” quickly became the year’s top-grossing film, hurtling past “300,” the Warner Bros. battle epic that has taken in $208 million.

Second-weekend drops for successful studio films typically are well below 50 percent. But “Spider-Man 3” shattered records with $151.1 million in its first weekend, making a big decline virtually inevitable since so many people already had seen the film.

The weekend’s other new movies had fair to poor openings.

Debuting in second place with $10 million was Fox Atomic’s horror sequel “28 Weeks Later,” a follow up to “28 Days Later” that continues the story of a virus in Britain that turns people into raging, cannibalistic zombies.

Universal’s “Georgia Rule,” starring Lindsay Lohan, Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman, opened at No. 3 with $5.9 million. Lohan plays a rebellious teen who’s put under the charge of her no-nonsense grandma (Fonda).

Lionsgate’s “Delta Farce” premiered at No. 5 with $3.5 million. Larry the Cable Guy stars in the comedy about three weekend warriors mistakenly dumped in Mexico, where they take on a gang of bandits.

The Weinstein Co. and MGM’s workplace comedy “The Ex” tanked with $1.4 million, coming in at No. 12. The movie stars Zach Braff as a husband dueling with a co-worker who also is his wife’s ex-boyfriend.

“Spider-Man 3” made up for an otherwise soft crop of movies. The top-12 films took in $96.9 million, up 14 percent from the same weekend last year, when “Mission: Impossible 3” was No. 1 with $25 million and “Poseidon” debuted in second place with $22.2 million.

Since her debut in 1993, Kirsten has become one of the industry’s staple go-to girls, stealing roles from some of the best young actresses including Christina Ricci and Kate Hudson. As Kirsten grew up, she began to appear in a number of respectable teen fluff films like “Bring It On,” “Get Over It” and “Crazy/Beautiful,” but more recently she has begun to take on complex roles in independent features like “The Cat’s Meow” and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Her latest accomplishments include her role as Mary-Jane Watson in the Sam Raimi "Spider-Man" franchise and the creation of her own production company called Wooden Spoon Productions. Aside from being noticed around Hollywood as one of the more talented actresses around the business, she has also been fingered out as one of the most desirable, listed twice as one of People’s 50 Most Beautiful People as well as one of Teen People’s 25 Hottest Stars Under 25. While it’s easy to bark out all of Kirsten’s high points without mentioning any of the bad, even her worse films are always turned around with one time-stopping smile, and that’s why the guys at Bullz-Eye agree she more than qualifies as a Celebrity Babe; she’s at the front of the newest breed already taking Hollywood by storm.

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, James Franco, Bryce Dallas Howard, J.K. Simmons
Director: Sam Raimi
Rating: PG-13
Category: Action/Adventure

History has proven that movie sequels rarely exceed their original, but as we already know, “Spider-Man 2” holds its place in time as one of the very few to ever do so. The 2004 follow-up to Peter Parker’s origin story offered better drama, action and special effects, not to mention the most engaging character study of any superhero to ever grace the big screen. It’s an even rarer feat, however, for the third installment of a trilogy to live up to its predecessors, but “Spider-Man 3” pulls it off almost effortlessly, thanks in part to the return of the same creative team from the first two films. Offering better action, unrivaled special effects and yet another inner struggle for our main protagonist, “Spider-Man 3” is most certainly the must-see event of the summer.

Unless you’re one of seven people that haven’t seen the first two films, number three starts out by integrating a highlight show into the main credit sequence. From there, the story picks up right where the last one left off. Oozing with confidence now that Spider-Man has become a national icon, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finally musters up the courage to ask Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) to marry him, but while Peter’s confidence is at an all-time high, Mary Jane’s has hit rock bottom. She’s just been fired from her first Broadway play, and she doesn’t find much solace in Peter’s cocky behavior. The arrival of a new romantic foil – Gwen Stacey (Bryce Dallas Howard), the daughter of the city’s police chief (James Cromwell) and Peter’s suspiciously unmentioned lab partner – only adds to her jealousy.

Meanwhile, Harry’s (James Franco) personal vendetta against Peter is put into motion when he reveals himself as the new Goblin; small-time crook Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) – Uncle Ben’s real murderer – becomes the web-slinger’s latest arch-nemesis when he is transformed into the shape-shifting sand creature, Sandman; rival photographer Eddie Brock Jr. (Topher Grace) battles Peter for the open staff position at The Daily Bugle; and an alien symbiote that feeds off negative energy attaches itself to Spider-Man, creating an evil (black) version of the web-slinger.

If that sounds like a lot of information, it’s because it is, and though the movie is noticeably longer than the first two, there’s still not enough time to properly develop every subplot. It’s not the new players that suffer, however, but rather supporting characters like Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) that get the shaft. Other familiar faces, like Dylan Baker as Dr. Curt Conners and Bruce Campbell (this time in a hilarious cameo as a French maitre d’), get remarkably more screen time than in previous installments, but they’re still shortchanged in favor of the film’s visually appetizing villains.

The decision to introduce three new villains was a brave one, but director Sam Raimi pulls it off with flying colors. Thomas Hayden Church is effective as Sandman – the most prominent of the group – and is even given a motive similar to that of Doc Ock’s from the second film, while James Franco does his best work of the trilogy while under the guise of the Goblin. Unfortunately, neither actor is quite as memorable as that of either Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man”) or Alfred Molina (“Spider-Man 2”), so it’s Topher Grace’s limited appearance as fan favorite Venom that ultimately steals the show. Of course, a character of his stature would have better served as the primary villain of a future installment, so here’s hoping the writers find a way to reintroduce him in the next trilogy.

As far as the film’s two stars are concerned, not much has changed since the first movie premiered in 2002. Maguire and Dunst remain the perfect choices for their respective roles, despite the fact that neither is a remarkably talented actor outside of the franchise, and we can only hope that they’ll agree to reprise these characters for as long as Sony continues to make “Spider-Man” movies. Raimi has certainly shown signs of growth, though, and while he’s always inserted his trademark humor into every installment of the series, it’s more prominent than ever.

Great sketch from SNL by brilliant Eddie Murphy.

In an interview to promote Shrek 3, Cameron Diaz talks to Us magazine about the prejudice in Hollywood against beautiful girls. She wants everyone to know that she can't help but be this pretty, so you should all just learn to deal with it.

Cameron says: "If a woman who's a successful actress weighs 300 pounds and has warts, nobody ever asks her, 'Do you think you made it because you're ugly?' So why should there be prejudice against someone who's had some success in films and looks a little better than average. It's all in my genes, so don't hold it against me."

Cameron sure is pretty, pretty like a rainbow! A rainbow with bad skin and brown teeth and constantly bloodshot eyes. Wait, not a rainbow. What's that other one? A cigarette! Cameron Diaz is pretty like a cigarette!

Lohan is said to be "inconsolable" about the latest scandal and fears she'll be condemned for appearing to be taking drugs just 20 days after she completed a rehab spell in Los Angeles.

A pal says she was “crying hysterically," adding, "She's convinced that everyone is out to get her." And now her attorney has weighed in, "This just goes to show how hard it is to be Lindsay Lohan, who's even denied her privacy in the sacred confines of a ladies'-room stall and then must fend off the slings and arrows of false allegation."

"Musician Nikki Six attends a news conference announcing the October 31, 2006 release of 'Bat Out of Hell III,' a new album by Meat Loaf, in New York, in this July 31, 2006 file photo. Nikki Sixx will release his first solo album, 'The Heroin Diaries,' on August 21, as a precursor to his autobiography of the same name, which arrives September 25. (Jeff Zelevansky/Reuters)
Motley Crue's Sixx to release solo album, memoir Reuters - Wed May 9, 4:02 AM ET

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx will release his first solo album, 'The Heroin Diaries,' on August 21, as a precursor to his autobiography of the same name, which arrives September 25."

Singer Mandy Moore appears on MTV's Total Request Live Monday May, 7, 2007 at MTV Times Square studios in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

Mandy Moore Mon May 7, 7:43 PM ET

Naked News provides news, entertainment and lifestyle segments on the Internet, television and to mobile phones, presented by both naked men and women.

See the slide

Screen actress Katharine Hepburn appears in her film debut opposite John Barrymore in this photo provided by RKO from the 1932 film, 'A Bill of Divorcement.' (AP Photo/RKO)

See her Slide here


Katharine HepburnWed May 9, 4:52 PM ET

Tom Selleck arrives for a film premiere at New York's Ziegfeld Theatre, on April 25, 2006. Selleck will join the cast of the NBC drama,'Las Vegas,' next season, playing a billionaire with a mysterious past who becomes the new owner of the Montecito Resort & Casino, the network said Wednesday, May 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

See His photo in slide here

Miss Universe 2007 News
Miss Rusia 2007 Tatiana Kotova poses for photographers in the resort city of Cancun, Mexico,...

See all them in Barasil trough yahoo silde photo here

By Budi Putra

Source : CNET Asia:

Sony has launched the Playstation 3 in India, nearly six months after its release in Japan, Europe and US.
Apart from gaming PS3 offers playing of movies and songs as well as internet access. But is that a good enough reason to price it higher by $300 than rival Microsoft's Xbox. The price of Playstation 3 in India is Rs 39,900 ($975), while Xbox is available in the range of Rs 19,990 ($488) to Rs 27,750 ($677).

The games for this console will cost around Rs 2,799 per unit. Xbox 360 games cost between Rs 1,499 and Rs 2,510. One needs to pay an additional Rs 2,990 for a SIXAXIS wireless controller and Rs 1,990 each for a Blu-ray remote control and HDMI cable.

LOS ANGELES, May 6 — Superman has the power to leap tall buildings. But leaping onto a cellphone screen is proving a little trickier.

Warner Brothers recently created a six-episode series of short videos for mobile devices based on the popular Superman television show, “Smallville.” The episodes tracked the history of Oliver Queen, the “Smallville” billionaire mayor who, like Clark Kent, has a superhero alter ego, the Green Arrow.

For Warner, it was a way to tell the Green Arrow story that might have otherwise been missed. “We were never able to do that in the show,” Lisa Gregorian, the executive vice president of worldwide television marketing for Warner Brothers Television Group, said of the “Smallville Legends” mobile series.

But while short, multiepisode cellphone series are growing in popularity, the lucrative advertising dollars prevalent in other entertainment segments — and which studios rely on for profit — have been slow to migrate to the supersmall screen. Sprint, which underwrote the series as part of an overall deal with Warner, was the only sponsor, Ms. Gregorian said.

In the two years since Fox Mobile and MTV Networks pioneered the market for cellphone programming, almost every major film and television studio is developing projects. But, for now, advertisers are reluctant to abandon traditional formats.

In 2006, $421 million was spent on mobile phone advertising, said a study by the market research firm eMarketer. By contrast, broadcast television advertising was estimated at $48 billion last year, according to the Universal McCann media agency.

“If you think about what the market could be from an advertising perspective, it is a dream,” said Linda Barrabee, an analyst for wireless mobile communications at the Yankee Group, a research firm in Boston.

“That’s why you see a lot of companies playing with different concepts and ideas,” she said, but added that “it’s hard to target advertising in a meaningful way. From a brand perspective, they haven’t figured it out.”

Even studio executives suggest that the explosive growth predicted is still some time away.

“In six months from now, we will be producing more of these,” Ms. Gregorian said about the “Smallville” episodes. “But an advertiser would have to pay us to develop content for wireless phones because right now there is no business model. There has to be a way to make money there.”

Alana Muller, director of wireless data marketing for Sprint, said companies are reluctant to sponsor ads because demand for video is still new. According to the Yankee Group, the number of mobile video viewers in the United States is about 5 million, 10 times more than in 2004 but still a small fraction of the 195 million mobile phone subscribers nationwide.

Ms. Muller said that Toyota sponsored advertising for mobile episodes created for the Fox television show “Prison Break.” But that was one of the few she could remember. Instead, wireless Internet promotions have proved more popular, she said.

Many in Hollywood are betting that interest in mobile video will be hastened by the debut of the new touch-screen iPhone from Apple, which are expected to begin selling this summer. With a 3 1/2-inch screen and no cumbersome keypad, many people believe it will be easier for Americans to watch movies and television shows like their peers in Europe and Asia readily do.

“The iPhone is going to shake things up and make cellphone companies look like they are behind the curve,” said Thomas Lesinski, president of digital entertainment for Paramount Pictures. “It is going to be good for us.”

Until then, studios continue to experiment. For fans of “Borat,” 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, which released the film in November, distributed 12 one-minute episodes last fall through several mobile phone carriers. The clips included “best of” highlights and unseen footage tailored for palm-size viewing.

“ ‘Borat’ was not a sweeping cinematic melodrama,” said Kevin Campbell, an executive vice president of marketing at 20th Century Fox. “We offered short, funny clips we thought people would like.”

Television has so far proved the easiest to adapt to cellphones. Cellphone users who can’t get enough of Fox Television’s “American Idol” on Tuesday nights, can download the losers’ auditions to their phones the next day. MTV Networks currently offers original shows like “Dances from the Hood,” a 10-episode hip-hop series.

Indeed, there is no limit to what Viacom, MTV’s parent, won’t try; it has created 30 hours of programming for MTV, VH1 and other youth-oriented brands. To promote the MTV television hit “The Hills,” it distributed early footage to several wireless carriers narrated by the show’s host, Lauren Conrad.

“The notion that we have to hold out and be precious for television is gone,” said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music and Logo Group, which was one of the early adopters of mobile phone programming. “We’ll leak this stuff all the time.”

But even Mr. Toffler conceded there were challenges for even the savviest creators. While MTV wanted to offer music videos created by fans, Mr. Toffler said MTV “will edit the clips.”

“We’ve learned how to produce better content over time,” he said. “It is my ambition that before I die or get fired, I would like to do an original 90-minute movie, in non-linear fashion, which is told in three-minute bites.”

The question is whether anyone will pay to watch. Ms. Barrabee said there is a disconnect between what mobile users are willing to spend for video services and what wireless companies charge.

“It’s more like the Internet,” she said. “People are going to want things for free. Studios will have to come up with advertising-supported business models.”

Sony Pictures Television plans to create its own products specifically for the cellphone. It recently closed a deal with the Groundlings troupe, which will develop sketch comedy routines for cellphones. Jamie Erlicht, a co-president of programming and production at Sony Pictures Television said, “we are going to use it too as a tool to market original programming of traditional shows.”

In the summer of 2006, Sony created behind-the-scenes vignettes from the FX series “Rescue Me,” which were offered in three-minute installments on cellphones in-between the weekly television shows.

“We were trying to leverage the production,” said Mike Arrieta, executive vice president of digital distribution and mobile entertainment for Sony, adding that they had their own team on the set for filming.

Where studios could get into trouble, though, is if mobile phone episodes like these are viewed less as promotional material and more as pure entertainment. Unionized actors, directors and writers have already balked at creating videos and other material for the Web, saying they should be paid for the extra work. (Unionized workers are not paid extra to create promotional materials.)

One way to get around the situation is by creating animated episodes or hiring look-alike actresses instead. That is what Fox did early on. But the issue is expected to be a sticking point in the planned talks with the unions. Some unions are already monitoring how much advertising revenue studios are making.

Not surprising, studios are bracing for tough negotiations.

“I think everyone is trying to figure it out and decide how to deal with it,” said Zack Van Amburg, a co-president with Mr. Erlicht at Sony Pictures Television. “For now we are all in a ‘Let’s embrace it and it’s here’ mode. No one has the answer yet.”

By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer

Paris Hilton is so pampered she doesn't read her mail.

"I have people who do that for me," she told a judge. Legal documents and traffic citations elude her.

"I just sign what people tell me to sign," she testified. Facing a 45-day jail sentence — and perhaps her first brush with accountability — could be a reality check for Hilton. But regardless of how she handles it, it may make her more popular than ever. "It will actually increase her star appeal in a very sick and demented way," said longtime publicist Michael Levine. "There's a segment of our society that's somehow engaged in the soap opera that is Paris Hilton, and this a very compelling plot line in the soap opera."

A judge ordered the socialite to report to a county jail in suburban L.A. by June 5 to serve 45 days for violating the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. Her attorney has said he will appeal.

That only prolongs the publicity, said Roger Gillott, whose public relations firm, Gillott Communications, specializes in crisis management. "If she wants to put this behind her and come off looking remorseful or repentant, then she should just serve her time as quietly as possible," he said. "The more she protests, the more she claims she was innocent and doesn't know what she's doing, that she never reads her legal papers, the more she portrays an image of someone who doesn't pay close attention and thinks they are above being held accountable."

The 26-year-old hotel heiress, who parlayed her party lifestyle into worldwide fame, told the judge Friday that she didn't have time to talk with her attorneys about her probation. That dismissive attitude is part of her appeal, said veteran publicist David Brokaw.

"The premise of her fame is being naughty," he said.

"This is a career move for her. It simply fuels the fascination. She can only win with this." Some celebrities have fared well after a stay in the graybar hotel.

Time behind bars isn't likely to impart any lessons for Hilton, said West Hollywood psychologist Jeremy Ritzlin. Jail time doesn't equal rehabilitation and the club-hopping Hilton would need extensive therapy to make lasting changes in her life, he said.

"It's going to make her very unhappy because she's not used to this. She couldn't buy her way out of it," he said. "But one 45-day trip to jail is not going to change her behavior."

Hilton's plethora of professional pursuits — which include a namesake perfume and handbag line, a fledgling music career and a starring role in the reality show "The Simple Life" — can probably survive 45 days without her. "Production for `The Simple Life Goes to Camp' wrapped in early April and will premiere Memorial Day," as planned, the E! network said in a statement. "We wish Paris all the best as she deals with this difficult time." Hilton's fans filled her MySpace page with words of support over the weekend. Her spokesman, Elliot Mintz, declined to comment

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