Focused on the theme of celebrating locations on the screen, Diversity On Wednesday night, a cocktail reception was held on the rooftop of the Neuhaus in Hollywood, hosted by Neom, a sustainable metropolis and regional manufacturing hub located in the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia.

The event brought together producers, production managers, location managers and others from the film, television and content creation industries, providing Wayne Borg, Neom’s managing director of media, entertainment and culture, with the opportunity to introduce others to what the region has to offer. suggest and encourage decision makers to consider moving their products to the Middle East.

“We really want to work with the industry, whether it’s for your manufacturing or if you have a service business that can help us grow the ecosystem,” Borg said in his opening remarks welcoming attendees. “We are very happy to be here. We’re so glad you came to hear our story, our vision and what’s going on out there and the reality of it.”

During an on-site presentation earlier this month, featuring 140 of the world’s film and TV industry leaders, Neom unveiled the opening of its fourth fully operational sound stage.

“We had people from the US, the UK, Germany, India, France, Turkey,” Borg said in an interview. Diversity thinking about the window. “Now it is a global industry. We had a lot of directors from various film companies, producers, financiers, investors, as well as service providers. It’s about how this ecosystem evolves, and now that they’ve seen what’s happening on earth, we’re demonstrating a proof of concept. There is real energy in being involved in this, and it’s fantastic.”

In addition to supporting production with its growing offering of soundstages, full-service support facilities, cash discount incentives, and resort-style accommodations, Neom boasts proximity to a variety of geographic locations, including easy access to the Red Sea, mountain ranges, and desert environments. .

“As Jeremy Bolt, one of the producers who worked there, said, it suits a lot of genres, from sci-fi and romance to action and literally big, epic movies,” Borg explained. “So, to that end, it’s flexible, and then when you add a stage component, nowhere else in the region has that combination of variety of venues combined with state-of-the-art facilities, with a lot of incentive. Certainly.”

Revealed in September 2022 in tandem with the opening of Neom Media Village and Bajdah Desert Studios, the incentive discount provides a cashback of more than 40% of the amount spent on production, which recruits local crew and talent above and below the line, and producers “can to get a higher percentage based on their contribution to the industry.”

When it comes to the genre or type of content being produced, Borg explains that Neom acts “agnostically”. The region has already hosted 30 completed productions in the past year and a half and hosts productions of all types and sizes.

“We are working closely with manufacturers and line manufacturers to make sure it works. It should work for them,” Borg said. “Now we have a lot of equipment on the ground. We have conditions, we have housing. Therefore, we treat each project on its merits and work with [productions] close to make sure we can supply what they need. And we are very interested in saying yes. Ultimately, the success of productions and our ability to support them comes down to working closely with them and ensuring their success. For us, it’s about delivering a seamless experience and always on budget, on time, every time.”

Borg added: “When you think about Neom’s proposal as a whole, it’s about rethinking urbanism and how people will live and work in the future, and those relationships with both the built and natural environments, and in the context of in which cities put a lot of stress on the planet. And Neom on how do you solve this problem, how to create a sustainable model, making your infrastructure more efficient, your transport more efficient and minimizing car use and all the headaches that come with it? And that’s where I think we’re in the unique position of having no heritage. We are not trying to reverse engineer or try to bypass existing infrastructure. We can create the optimal solution for the future now.”

Jeannie Newhart, who inspired the masterful ending to her husband Bob Newhart’s second sitcom of the same name, has died at the age of 82.

Newhart’s wife, now 60, died Sunday in Los Angeles after a long illness, Bob Newhart Show star Jerry Digney’s publicist told The Times Tuesday in a statement. Digny did not reveal further details about her illness.

“We have lost our beloved Jeannie Quinn Newhart – wife, mother and grandmother … after a long battle with illness. She was our mainstay and we miss her terribly,” the family said in a statement on Monday. Bob Newhart’s Twitter account.

Jeannie Newhart was born Virginia Lillian Quinn in New York. She was the daughter of veteran actor Bill Quinn, who appeared in the classic film The Birds, the 1983 film The Twilight Zone, and his brother-in-law’s The Bob Newhart Show. She also appeared on the program several times.

“[My publicist] said, “Well, we need background dancers behind Gisele Mackenzie and someone else.” And the next thing I know, I’m in an apartment, I’m moving, and I’m not a dancer. But they had to pay me less,” she said. PBS in 2005 for Bob Newhart: Wide Open. “I did a couple of things where I was a dancer in the background, but I wasn’t a dancer.”

She and Bob were created in 1962 on a blind date arranged by comedian Buddy Hackett.who predicted that they would marry and name one of their children after him. They did both, Bob said, sharing that they named one of their daughters “Buddy.”

The couple married in 1963 and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in January. Ginny and the Emmy-winning comedian believed humor kept their union going.

“Comedians are just fun. Their marriage seems to last,” she told PBS.

“Comedian marriages, as tumultuous as they are, seem to last a long time, and I attribute that to laughter,” the TV legend said. Parade in 2022. “No matter how intense your argument is, you can find a line and then you both look at each other and start laughing. It’s all over, you know? I think a sense of humor is very important to the longevity of a marriage.”

He added that all four of their children also “have a great sense of humor.”

Jeannie supported her husband throughout his career, including in the early days when he recorded his first stand-up album, which in 1961 made the Everyman Comedian the first non-musician to win a Grammy for Album of the Year (“The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart”) and the best new artist of the 1960s, as well as a comedy performance – The Spoken Word.

The Big Bang Theory and Elf star hosted NBC’s The Bob Newhart Show from 1961 to 1962, and its sequel Newhart aired on CBS from 1982 to 1990. The idea for the sitcom was suggested by his wife, who came up with it at a Christmas party she attended with his first television wife, Suzanne Pleshette. ranks among the best TV finals of all time.

In the Newhart ending, Newhart’s character Dick Loudon, a Vermont innkeeper, wakes up in Chicago next to his Newhart Show wife Emily Hartley (Pleshette), realizing that his entire eight seasons of misadventures in Green Mountain State were dreams.

“Ginny knew I was unhappy with CBS,” Newhart said. Yahoo Entertainment in 2020. “She said to me, ‘You know what the final show should be like? You wake up in bed with Susie and describe your dream about owning a hotel in Vermont. I said, “Honey, that’s a great idea!” Actually Suzanne was at the same party and we told her about it when we saw her. She said, “I’ll be in New York in a minute.”

“I gave the idea to the writers, and they added the rest,” he added.

Although Jeannie came up with the idea two seasons before the series eventually went off the air, the writing team worked on both the regular episode that would end the season and the finale that would end the series, he told The Times in 1990. year.

The Newharts were also close friends of Don Rickles and his wife Barbara, a friendship Digney says was initiated and strengthened by the comedians’ wives. Their families spent years together while Newhart and Rickles worked in Las Vegas as well as on family vacations, and the two comedians often shared stories of their extended travels together on late-night television.

In addition to her 93-year-old husband, Ginny is survived by four children — Rob, Tim, Jennifer and Courtney — and ten grandchildren. According to Digney, there will be a private memorial service in the coming weeks.