Nikki Finke, the Game?

Just like the internationally known website filled with entertainment news and rare candor on which it is based, the ‘Deadline Hollywood Game’ introduces the real Hollywood where power, relationships, and influence are as important as money (and sometimes more so). The game employs the same mixture of street smarts and dumb luck to make it in The Industry by allowing players to choose one of several career paths – actor, screenwriter, producer, director, agent, studio executive – leading to success or ruin.

In the real Hollywood where information is major currency, the more you know about the business the better you can maneuver. So the ‘Deadline Hollywood Game’ will usher in the next generation of Facebook play by incorporating Deadline.com’s real-time breaking headlines to influence actions and reputations – with the effect of making the game as unpredictable as filmmaking itself.

Thomas Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment, said: “To capture the essence of the inner workings in Hollywood, this game incorporates actual entertainment news feeds as reported by Deadline.com which is an innovative next step for the Facebook game platform. There is nothing in the marketplace today that comes close to this level of authenticity.”

The ‘Deadline Hollywood Game’ will launch this summer with invitation-only play by select showbiz insiders. Facebook users can pre-register at http://www.deadline.com/deadline-hollywood-facebook-game/ to be among the first people to know when the game goes live and to be entered to win a Hollywood Mogul Swag Bag. Additionally, 40 runners-up will win a pair of movie tickets courtesy of Hollywood Movie Money.

Like every new ambitious arrival in Hollywood, players will begin on the bottom rung. “I started thinking about creating a realistic Hollywood game about three years ago, and I kept coming back to the many interviews that began, ‘I arrived in town with $50 bucks in my pocket and lived in my car while I looked for that first job,” said veteran journalist Nikki Finke, who is President, Founder, and Editor-in-Chief of Deadline.com. From there, players try to run the town before they’re run out of town. Driven by relentless ambition, some well-played moves and successful movies, plus a big set of cojones, game users can manipulate situations to catapult themselves from anonymity to celebrity readying an Oscar acceptance speech. Along the way, they’ll find that the ‘Deadline Hollywood Game’ utilizes the same pithy intel and snark about The Industry as the website, with quips like “If you want to make it in Hollywood, move to New York” and “If you want to get a screenplay made, write a novel.”

Noted Finke: “The ‘Deadline Hollywood Game’ will allow experienced gamers, real-life Hollywood players, movie fans, and casual users to truly experience the grit, intrigue, and rivalry of the Hollywood industry. And just like the real town, this game is not for every schmo — only the strongest will survive.”

Liquid Entertainment, an award winning development studio, worked with Nikki to develop the gamed based on her idea. Paramount Digital Entertainment is publishing and distributing the ‘Deadline Hollywood Game’ this summer. Paramount Digital Entertainment recently won four awards at the 2011 E3 for its upcoming multiplatform STAR TREK game in stores in 2012. [Deadline.com does not report on the digital gaming industry and does not cover Liquid or Paramount Digital.]

“Deadline Hollywood Game has been an exciting project for us,” said Holly Newman, Chief Executive Officer of Liquid Entertainment. “Being able to do live updates to the game’s content to incorporate the real headlines from Deadline.com means that players will be able to stay connected to the real Hollywood while trying to conquer the virtual one.”

“No media outlet is more plugged into the behind-the-scenes of Hollywood business than Deadline.com, which sets the agenda for news and opinion,” commented Jay Penske, CEO of Deadline.com’s parent company PMC. “With real time news updates, there is no better way to experience Hollywood than through a game based on the website.”

ABOUT DEADLINE.COM
Deadline.com was born out of veteran journalist Nikki Finke’s must-read 24/7 ‘Deadline Hollywood’ website which began in 2006 and became a uniquely candid and authoritative source for delivering news and commentary about entertainment. Always focused more on the “business” instead of the “show” of film and television, her website delivered the story behind the story, the truth beyond the press release, the details that the people in power didn’t want journalists to know. Finke’s website was purchased in 2009 by PMC digital media company CEO Jay Penske who renamed the website Deadline.com and staffed it with more deeply sourced top editors and writers and expanded its online reach to print and soon TV. Now Deadline.com is renown as an award-winning must-read for influencers and leaders in the global media business and regularly included on lists of top entertainment and news websites compiled by Time, Forbes, and Vanity Fair magazines, to name a few.

ABOUT PARAMOUNT DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) is a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation. PDE develops and distributes filmed entertainment across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices, videogames, and emerging technologies.
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company’s labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

ABOUT LIQUID ENTERTAINMENT
Founded 12 years ago, Liquid Entertainment has dedicated itself to creating original IP and crafting unique experiences through video games. Our projects spawn all gaming environments – PC, consoles, web, social and mobile. Liquid is behind several PC and console classics including Rise of the Argonauts, the original Battle Realms and Dragonshard.