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Julie Ahlberg produced independent feature films and television movies before turning her talents to making award-winning documentaries and commercials. In 1994, she served as Supervising Field Producer for 500 Nations, a documentary miniseries on Native Americans for CBS, executive-produced and hosted by Kevin Costner. For commercial director Joe Pytka, Ahlberg produced numerous spots for national and international campaigns for such clients as Lotus, FedEx, Pepsi, Apple and Coors. She’s also worked with European directors, producing commercials for Credit Suisse, Volkswagen, Estrella, and Miller Lite.

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Director’s Statement on STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed America’s image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few “bad apples”?

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It has been a quarter since HD DVD lost its contest with Blu-ray, and the market has absorbed the consequent impacts while remaining open to changes. To clear inventory, HD and universal players are selling at deep discounts; HD and universal drives will no longer ship after 2008, leaving HD DVD discs orphaned, and Best Buy has removed HD DVDs from its shelves to make room for more standard DVDs and Blu-ray titles. But the Blu-ray player and optical drive markets must undergo further evolution before reaching their full potential.

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Errol Morris films have won many awards, including the Oscar, the Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America, the Golden Horse (Taiwan International Film Festival), the Grand Jury Prize (Sundance Film Festival) and have appeared on many ten best lists. They have been honored by the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, the New York, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles film critics. Roger Ebert, in fact, has placed Morris’s first feature Gates of Heaven on his list of the 10 Best Films of All Time. In 1988, the Washington Post surveyed 100 film critics around the country and picked The Thin Blue Line as the best film of the year.

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Danny Elfman was born in 1953, in Los Angeles, California, where he currently resides. Over the last 20 years, he has established himself as one of Hollywood’s leading film composers. In addition to his score for Standard Operating Procedure, Elfman has written close to 50 film scores featuring his unique sound, including Batman, Spider-man, Men in Black, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. In addition to these signature soundtracks, he has scored such diverse films as Big Fish, Good Will Hunting, Dolores Claiborne, Midnight Run, To Die For, Dead Presidents, Sommersby and Chicago. For television, Elfman created the infectious themes to The Simpsons and Desperate Housewives. His honors include a Grammy, an Emmy and three Academy Award nominations.

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Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy,” “Blade 2”) will direct “The Hobbit” and its sequel, it was jointly announced today by “The Hobbit” Executive Producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line Cinema’s President and COO Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, Chairperson, Worldwide Motion Picture Group, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM).

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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures has acquired Jay Scherick and David Ronn’s comedy spec script “The Zookeeper,” with Walt Becker attached to direct. Becker, director of the hit film “Wild Hogs” as well as the upcoming comedy “Old Dogs,” will also produce with Jennifer Eatz for The Walt Becker Company. “The Zookeeper” marks another new project put in the production pipeline at MGM under the supervision of Mary Parent, Chairman, Worldwide Motion Picture Group.

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Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA - News and VIA.B - News), its Paramount Pictures unit, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF - News) have formed a joint venture that creates a next- generation premium television channel and video on demand service that combines new and classic feature film output and original television series of five leading studios. The new premium channel, which will launch in the fall of 2009, was announced jointly today by Philippe Dauman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Viacom Inc.; Brad Grey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures; Harry E. Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); and Jon Feltheimer, Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lionsgate.

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The Blu-ray Disc victory in its recent format war with HD-DVD will propel this technology into 29.4 million homes worldwide by the end of 2008, according to the latest research published by the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service. According to, “Blu-ray Devices: Forecasting Sales and Ownership,” Sony’s PS3 games console will continue to drive the Blu-ray market until 2009, after which stand-alone Blu-ray players will become the dominant segment. By 2012 more than 132 million homes worldwide will own at least one Blu-ray device.

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Shoot On Sight, a film produced by Aron Govil under the banner Cine Boutique Entertainment and directed by Jag Mundhra, will be screened at the prestigious Cannes Film festival on May 14, 2008 by American World Pictures.

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