Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991 TAG: 9103220579
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Under the agreement with Sony Software, the Japanese electronics giant's U.S. entertainment subsidiary, Jackson will also do work for Sony in TV shows and possibly even video games.
Sony Software spokesman Robert Zito said the long-term contract's value could top $1 billion, based on a conservative estimate of sales of Jackson's work. The exact duration of the contract was not disclosed.
It was one of the biggest deals ever with a single entertainer and dwarfed the $32 million contract Michael's sister Janet signed with Virgin Records.
\ Wayne Newton put up the collateral to get former child star Dana Plato out of jail on robbery charges, his manager says.
Mark Moreno said the Las Vegas star secured the $13,000 bond for Plato, who played Kimberly in the TV series "Diff'rent Strokes." Moreno said Newton had never met Plato but wanted to help because he knows the trauma of being a child star.
"Wayne Newton came up through the industry," Moreno said. "He's seen what this industry has done to people. This industry takes a terrible toll on children."
Plato is charged in the robbery of a video store that netted $160. Police said she was armed with a pellet gun.
\ Kevin Costner's "Dances With Wolves" won a top award from the Writers Guild of America.
The screenplay by Michael Blake, adapted from his novel of the same name, on Wednesday was voted the WGA's best 1990 screenplay based on material from another medium.
Costner, who directed and starred in in the smash Western, received the top prize Saturday from the Directors Guild of America.
For an original screenplay, the WGA honored Barry Levinson, the director-screenwriter of the immigrant drama "Avalon."
Since 1949, WGA winners have repeated their victories in the Academy Awards 80 percent of the time. The Oscars will be handed out Monday.
by CNB