Mission Control

No matter what you think of the work of JJ Abrams (I happen to think he's doing some of the best out there doing work in any medium today and that he's very talented--Thanks for askin'), you have to hand to him, he had three studios fighting for him recently. That's quite the feat in Hollywood... Josef Adalian of Variety talks of Winners and Losers

Warner Bros. TV and Paramount Pictures are betting big bucks on J.J. Abrams.

In a move that left many observers scratching their heads, Abrams' longtime home, Touchstone Television, apparently balked at a key deal point, opening the door for the "Alias" and "Lost" guru to move to Warner Bros. TV next month via a highly lucrative multiyear pact.

Separately Paramount, which continues to fine-tune its studio strategy, has inked Abrams and his Bad Robot production company to a five-year first-look deal. It is Abrams' first film production pact, aimed at making him one of the studio's biggest suppliers of film.

Par deal guarantees Abrams will receive $22.5 million from the studio. Pact includes $2 million a year for Bad Robot's film development overhead; Abrams also will receive $2 million per year as an advance against his producing or helming fees. Shingle will receive $500,000 per year as a discretionary fund.

The WBTV deal guarantees Abrams about $4 million a year between now and June 2012, though one source indicated that number could be as much as $1 million per year higher. Studio also will pay overhead costs of approximately $2 million per annum, bringing WBTV's total outlays to roughly $35 million.

As with most major TV deals, Abrams will pull down even more from backend coin on hit shows.

Bad Robot's cut of those monies is said to be about one-third of any profits. There are also provisions in the pact covering a host of other media, from digital platforms to videogames.
Abrams' camp had shopped a combined film/TV production deal to studios earlier this year. But sources at Par said they had been interested only in the film side, because after Viacom's corporate split from CBS, it is largely out of the TV production business.

Paramount had made clear for months its desire to land Abrams. What nobody saw coming was Abrams' agreement with WBTV, which didn't come together until a bit after 3 a.m. Friday. As recently as Wednesday, the Abrams camp was in active talks with Touchstone about reupping at the studio he has called home for the better part of a decade.

So what happened?

Find out here

Wow...The man responsible for setting Star Trek straight again is gonna be very busy--not to mention very rich.