Beals to to create 'Vinyl' jazz pic

"The L Word" star Jennifer Beals is placed to topline and convey "The The almighty of Vinyl," an indie jazz pic which will mark the directorial debut of Dennis Bartok, who authored the script as well as produce with Patrick Cunningham ("Martha Marcy May Marlene"). Story follows the bittersweet existence and comic despair of the lonely fortysomething Angeleno who's obsessive about jazz and hides in the disappointment around the globe inside the good thing about music. He suddenly finds themself exploring the potential of new love by having an discontentedly married publish office manager (Beals) just like he attempts a reconciliation together with his estranged 11-year-old daughter, now coping with his ex-wife and former closest friend. A significant plot point involves the potential of just one making it through recording through the enigmatic "godfather of jazz," New Orleans music performer Buddy Bolden, who inspired Louis Remedy before he died inside a Louisiana mental hospital in 1931. Bartok formerly authored and created Lionsgate's anthology horror film "Trapped Ashes," which tested in the Cannes and Toronto film fests in 2006. Cunningham is originating off a completely independent Spirit Award nomination for creating Fox Searchlight's "Martha Marcy May Marlene" with Chris Maybach and Borderline Films. He lately created Sean Baker's "Celebrity," which premieres at SXSW this month. Beals, who lately starred on Fox's "The Chicago Code," is better noted for starring in "Flashdance," along with the Denzel Washington photos "It of Eli" and "Demon inside a Blue Dress." She's repped by APA, Greenlight Management and Production and Loeb & Loeb. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com

Jonah Hill to Receive Israel Film Festival's Achievement in Film Award

Jonah Hill will be honored with the 2012 IFF Achievement in Film Award at the 26th Awards Gala of the Israel Film Festival, which will be held March 15 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.Yossi Madmoni's "Restoration" also will screen that night as the festival's opening night film. The film stars Sasson Gabai as an older man trying to keep his antique restoration workshop open and wasnominated for 11 Ophir Israeli Awards, was named best film at Jerusalem Film Festival and won the Screenwriting Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.The festival, which runs through March 29 at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills and the Laemmle Fallbrook in the San Fernando Valley, will showcase more than 30 new Israeli films.Hill, nominated for a best supporting actor Academy Award for his work in "Moneyball," will next be seen in Sony's "21 Jump Street," opening March 16."We are very pleased to honor such a dynamic and multi-faceted talent like Jonah Hill," Festival founder and executive director Meir Fenigstein said. "We are excited to present the IFF Achievement in Film Award for his remarkable accomplishments and his support for Israeli filmmaking." The Hollywood Reporter

Pilot Season: Heroes Alum Milo Ventimiglia Joins Frank Darabont's TNT Pilot

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ioan Gruffudd Wedding bells may soon be chiming on Ringer. Exclusive: Ringer lands Awkward's Nikki DeLoach for sexy role "Siobhan" (Sarah Michelle Gellar), aka Bridget in sibling disguise, and Andrew (Ioan Gruffudd) are getting re-married, which means Bridget may actually wed her sister's husband! Oh Bridget, what have you gotten yourself into? Their news pales in comparison to what the actual Siobhan finds out in next week's episode. Watch the sneak peek below to get the scoop: Ringer airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

The Help, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer Win At NAACP Image Awards

The Help accumulated more accolades tonight with the NAACP Image Awards naming it Best Motion Picture, and Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were chosen Best Actress and Supporting Actress. Ceremonies at the Shrine Auditorium were hosted by Sanaa Latham and Anthony Mackie. In addition, the Founding Members of the Black Stuntmens Association received the NAACP Presidents Award. A list of winners in motion picture and TV categories follows: MOTION PICTURE Outstanding Motion Picture “The Help” (DreamWorks Pictures/ Participant Media/ Touchstone Pictures) Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Laz Alonso – “Jumping the Broom” (TriStar Pictures) Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture Viola Davis – “The Help” (DreamWorks Pictures/ Participant Media/ Touchstone Pictures) Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Mike Epps – “Jumping the Broom” (TriStar Pictures) Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Octavia Spencer – “The Help” (DreamWorks Pictures/ Participant Media/ Touchstone Pictures) Outstanding Independent Motion Picture “Pariah” (Focus Features) Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture “In the Land of Blood and Honey” (FilmDistrict) DOCUMENTARY Outstanding Documentary – (Theatrical or Television) “Sing Your Song” (HBO Documentary Films) WRITING Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series Salim Akil, Mara Brock Akil – “The Game” – Parachutes….Beach Chairs (BET) Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series Lolis Eric Elie – “Treme” – Santa Claus, Do You Ever Get the Blues? (HBO) Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture – (Theatrical or Television) Ann Peacock – “The First Grader” (National Geographic Entertainment) DIRECTING Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series Leonard R. Garner Jr. – “Rules of Engagement” – The Set Up (CBS) Outstanding Directing in a Dramatic Series Ernest Dickerson – “Treme” – Do Watcha Wanna (HBO) Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture – (Theatrical or Television) Salim Akil – “Jumping the Broom” (TriStar Pictures) TELEVISION CATEGORIES Outstanding Comedy Series “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” (TBS) Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series Malcolm-Jamal Warner – “Reed Between the Lines” (BET) Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Tracee Ellis Ross – “Reed Between the Lines” (BET) Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Nick Cannon – “Up All Night” (NBC) Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Keshia Knight Pulliam – “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” (TBS) Outstanding Drama Series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC) Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series L.L. Cool J – “NCIS: Los Angeles” (CBS) Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series Regina King – “SouthLAnd” (TNT) Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series James Pickens, Jr. – “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC) Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Archie Panjabi – “The Good Wife” (CBS) Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special “Thurgood” (HBO) Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Laurence Fishburne – “Thurgood” (HBO) Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Taraji P. Henson – “Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story” (Lifetime) Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series Emerson Brooks – “All My Children” (ABC) Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series Tatyana Ali – “The Young and the Restless” (CBS) Outstanding News/ Information – (Series or Special) “Unsung” (TV One) Outstanding Talk Series “Oprah’s Lifeclass” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network) Outstanding Reality Series “Dancing with the Stars” (ABC) Outstanding Variety Series or Special “Oprah Presents: Master Class” (OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network) Outstanding Childrens Program “I Can Be President: A Kids-Eye View” (HBO) Outstanding Performance in a Youth/ Childrens Program – (Series or Special) Keke Palmer – “True Jackson, VP” (Nickelodeon)

How To Land Your Very Own Guido: Love Tips From the Girls of the Jersey Shore

Snooki, J-Woww and Deena Nicole In the spirit of Valentine's Day, we talked about love, dating and sex with three girls who have plenty of experience: Jersey Shore's Snooki, JWoww, and Deena. The ladies abide by many hard and fast rules, and they were kind enough to impart their wisdom to us. "Definitely don't do sex on the first date," Deena says.Check out the video below to hear more:

Strong winter for Broadway

The Phantom of the Opera hit 10,000 performances on Feb. 11. Chandra Lee Schwartz and Jackie Burns in Wicked at the Gershwin.Winter, believe it or not, has been kind to Broadway this year. Sure, last week's box office numbers may not have given legiters much to get excited about, but for a mid-February frame, it wasn't so bad. And measuring from the start of the calendar year, the current annum is well ahead of 2011 both in terms of sales and attendance. According to numbers put together by the Broadway League, this year's B.O. cume hit $112.3 million vs. the $87.6 million logged for the same weeks in 2011. Attendance reached 1.3 million, compared to the 1 million theatergoers who turned out during the same window last year. A number of factors contribute to the uptick, not least of which is the higher number of productions running this year than over the same six weeks in 2011. There are also Street-wide promotional deals, under the banners Broadway Week (which ended Feb. 4) and Kids' Night on Broadway (Feb. 5-9), helping to heat up winter biz, and on top of that, the unseasonably warm winter hasn't yielded a single blizzard to scare off auds. In a week when some shows were up and others were down -- and none of the fluctuations were attention-grabbing -- the biggest news of the frame was possibly the 10,000th performance of "The Phantom of Opera" ($604,378) on Feb. 11. The week's tally was down a bit from the prior sesh in part because half the inventory at that landmark perf on Saturday was donated to an Actors Fund charity event. Also down was "Porgy and Bess" ($818,346), in a dip possibly attributable to the four-show absence of above-the-title thesp Norm Lewis. A far more worrying decline was posted at "Sister Act" ($426,152), which saw attendance slide below 48%, as well as at soon-to-close play "Stick Fly" ($196,337), another show that played to less than half of capacity. Among those reporting gains over the prior week was "Wicked" ($1,508,501), which reclaimed the top spot on the charts ahead of last week's leader, "The Book of Mormon." The latter, however, still did just fine, breaking yet another house record at the O'Neill Theater with a weekly tally of $1,485,740. "Spider-Man: Turn of the Dark:" ($1,378,970) and "The Lion King" ($1,349,837) rounded out the frame's millionaires' club. Among the other productions to see a sales bump were the ones most likely to have gotten a boost from the Kids' Night campaign, including youngster-friendly "Mary Poppins" ($667,272) and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" ($656,165), whose star, Nick Jonas, was promoted as the Kids' Night ambassador. Overall sales climbed about $600,000 to $15.6 million. That's higher than the $15.1 million posted during the same frame last year, but last week's attendance of 177,602 was a bit below the 179,000 from 2011. Joining the fray last week was the commercial transfer of last fall's nonprofit staging of "Venus in Fur" ($346,117), reporting solid numbers for a play that's technically still in previews ahead of a Feb. 29 re-opening. Contact Gordon Cox at gordon.cox@variety.com

Linsanity Continues! What Do You Think of Jeremy Lin?

Jeremy Lin It's only been seven days since NY Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin made his first career start, but after leading the team to their fifth consecutive win Saturday, it's safe to say Linsanity doesn't look like just a passing fad. Lin, 23, scored a combined total of 89 points for his first three career starts - the most for any player since the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association merged. On Friday, he scored a career-high 38 points against the Los Angeles Lakers - days after Lakers star Kobe Bryant told the press he was completely unaware of Lin's recent stats - and scored 20 points in the Knicks' win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Saturday despite a lackluster second half. Catch up on today's latest news It's hard to believe, but Lin's hot streak comes less than a month after the Knicks demoted Lin to the Erie BayHawks of the D-league (he was recalled three days later after scoring 28 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in a single game). Lin, one of the few Chinese Americans to play in the NBA, played basketball for Harvard after making waves as the captain of his high school basketball team in Palo Alto, Calif. He was not drafted immediately out of college, but signed a two-year contract with his hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, shortly after graduating in 2010. However, the Warriors released Lin after his rookie season shortly before he went to the Knicks. He averaged just 2.6 points a game during his first year. So what do you think of Jeremy Lin? Are you or is someone you love currently suffering from the Linsanity?