Standoff p.

By: M.L. Stein

Studio, L.A. Times stare each other down over disputed story
COLUMBIA STUDIOS threatened to make itself off-limits to all Los Angeles Times reporters and editors unless the newspaper barred a free-lance contributor from covering the movie company.
However, the Times adamantly refused to punish the writer, Jeffrey Wells, and stood by his story about a movie screening that the studio denies occurred.
Times Sunday Calendar executive editor John Lindsay last week said he was unaware of any restrictions Columbia placed on Wells or any other Times writer.
Studio officials were enraged by a Times article reporting a preview screening of Arnold Schwarzenegger's film Last Action Hero. The studio claims it never took place.
The story by Wells, who writes regularly for the Times entertainment section, said the audience reaction was generally negative. He included quotes from unidentified persons who said they attended the screening at a Pasadena theater. Some of them expressed disappointment with the movie.
The writer said no one would speak for attribution because "research officials" instructed them not to share their impressions of the film with the media.
Wells' article also carried denials by Columbia officials that the screening ever happened. Barry Josephson, the studio's vice president of production, was quoted as saying, "It never took place. The movie is in pieces, being dubbed. You're way off, I can assure you."
Wells quoted Columbia publicity vice president Mark Gill as stating, "It absolutely never happened."
Wells' story also observed of the screening, "It's always possible that this whole thing could be a hoax, that all these unrelated sources could be a part of a conspiracy to hoodwink the press."
Gill subsequently wrote a fiery protest letter to Lindsay. The letter apparently was leaked to the New York Times' Los Angeles correspondent, Bernard Weinraub, who wrote about the dispute June 17.
Gill refused to release a copy of the letter to E&P but said the portions of it quoted in the New York Times were accurate. The Columbia Studios publicity chief refused to comment on Lindsay's statement or any other aspect of the dispute.
Lindsay was informed in the letter that the Los Angeles Times would be "out of business" with Columbia unless Wells was removed from any coverage of the motion picture company by June 21. This means, the letter said, that the paper's reporters and editors would be persona non grata in terms of having their calls returned, attending screenings and receiving announcements.
Gill wrote further, "You ran a story about a screening that demonstrably did not happen. We are unable to come up with any explanation other than malicious intent on the part of the reporter.
"Our discussions over the last week have led us to the inescapable conclusion that Columbia Pictures will be out of business with the entire Los Angeles Times editorial staff unless you guarantee that your paper will never again run a story written or reported by Jeff Wells about (or even mentioning) this studio, its executives or its movies."
The letter continued that Columbia would, "if necessary," take similar action against Newsday of Long Island, N.Y., another Times Mirror Co. newspaper. Other Times Mirror executives received copies of the letter.
Weinraub reported that Columbia officials also were talking about yanking its advertising from the Los Angeles Times, said to amount to $5 million a year.
Lindsay said he told Gill that "we were not going to meet his demands."
"This was a legitimate, speculative story about Hollywood that happens all the time. It's just another tale out of Hollywood. No movie company can dictate to a newspaper what it can cover. What we cover is decided internally, not by institutions we cover," the editor said.
Lindsay said he had the "absolute support" of Times Mirror executives and added that Gill, when informed of the paper's stand on the issue, replied that he had to go back to his bosses.
In his review, Los AngelesTimes film critic Kenneth Turan described Last Action Hero as "an awkward mixture of overproduced action and underwhelming comedy. This ponderous joyride is more notable for how strenuously it's been promoted than for how much pleasure it delivers."
The picture has generally been reported around the country as a box office flop.