In one of the more unusual films being sold at AFM, former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi stars in the docu feature “The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.” The film bears the same title as a book Bugliosi wrote, arguing that the former president should stand criminal trial on the allegation he led the country to  invade Iraq using faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction that the White House knew was false. 

Bugliosi—most famous for convicting Charles Manson and his clan and turning that experience into the book “Helter Skelter”—got the cold shoulder from media when the book was published. His longtime agent, Peter Miller, thinks the global dislike for Bush and the war might lead to a better reception for the docu in theaters outside the U.S. Miller said this after entering negotiations with a publisher he wouldn’t name to get the book published in 22 Arab countries. The book, which became a bestseller despite media snubs, was also published in Germany, Korea, England, Australia and Canada.

In the film, Bugliosi bristles with anger and blames Bush--whom he calls a "draft dodging son of privilege"--for the death and destruction of a war sold to Congress by painting Saddam Hussein as an imminent threat. Bugliosi said that was done by using information that U.S. intelligence agencies discounted as likely false. Bugliosi then presents a blueprint and legal precedent for a prosecution. He's no crackpot: as prosecutor, he won convictions in all but one of 106 cases, he's written numerous bestselling true-crime books, and his 1612-page JFK assassination investigation, “Reclaiming History,” is getting miniseries treatment from HBO and Playtone. 

Still, the book wasn’t reviewed by a major newspaper when it was published, and Bugliosi was treated as a Don Quixote figure on the few interview shows that would have him. It would be easy to regard his campaign as a publicity stunt, but Miller said he hasn’t made a dime on the project, and Bugliosi said he is risking his legacy on it.   

Said Bugliosi: “How is it possible for Bush to take the country to war under false pretenses, resulting in cataclysmic consequences, and America does absolutely nothing about it, just gives Bush a free pass? No one even wants to talk about it. The mainstream media blacked me out for the first time in my career. I could not get on any national network and it got so bad that ABC Radio refused to take money from the publisher for a radio spot. We couldn’t raise a dime for this documentary in America.”

The notion of putting on trial a former president for actions taken while in the White House seems somehow unfathomable. Attorney Alan Dershowitz, after lauding Bugliosi’s record, says in the docu that he doubts the case will see the inside of a courtroom. 

Bugliosi understands the skepticism, but said he is too incensed by the death of over 4000 U.S. soldiers and significantly more Iraqi citizens, to let this go. He said he is determined to find a prosecutor to take the case, and feels the book and movie will help. There is a wide pool of potential prosecutors, as Bugliosi said that jurisdiction is possible in any state that is home to a soldier who was killed in Iraq.

“I’m willing to help any prosecutor, from serving as consultant up to being appointed special prosecutor,” Bugliosi said. “I have to measure my words here but I am making progress toward that goal and I’m not giving up. I may not succeed but I won’t be satisfied until I see Bush in an American courtroom.” 

Pic’s financier Jim Shaban, a Canadian-born exhibition exec who’s now building a production facility in Michigan, said he has assured Bugliosi the film will get theatrical distribution in the U.S. and Canada. That will possibly come through Independentbooking.net, a service run by ex-Cineplex Odeon exec Eric Ball. Ball said they will likely organize screenings for buyers, the goal being to open the film in February or March.

Hollywood insiders last week found themselves invoking the name of a man they've never met and whose opinions remain obscure to them.

Jeffrey R. Immelt is the man who rules General Electric and hence bears ultimate responsibility for key decisions involving the future of NBC Universal. It's Immelt's man, Jeff Zucker, who again shuffled the deck at NBC last week and thus focused attention on the malaise gripping the entire corporate landscape, encompassing film and TV.

In granting Ben Silverman his exit visa, Zucker dealt directly with a management issue at the network. But indirectly he also raised the bigger Immelt question: Does GE want to stay in an industry — entertainment — that has proved so uniquely inhospitable?

It was Immelt, of course, who decided to acquire Universal, thus running counter to Jack Welch's dictum that GE should only buy the No. 1 entity in any industry. Welch also felt that Hollywood was too unpredictable.

Consider the following: At a time when GE was already suffering severe recession pangs, NBC Universal reported a 41% decline in second-quarter profits. Vivendi, the enigmatic French conglomerate that owns 20% of the company, is making noise about running for the exits. Rival companies both in old and new media are indicating an appetite to feast off NBC Universal assets.

So how does Jeff Immelt assess his life in showbiz? No one really knows, beyond his spokesman's periodic assurances that "NBC Universal is a business we like.”

On the surface, Immelt is a genial, extroverted man who came out of sales and who makes eye contact when he speaks to you. But he is unique among the mavens who rule the global media conglomerates in that he's never had a tie to any aspect of the business. Sony's Sir Howard Stringer was once a newsman, Viacom's Sumner Redstone was an exhibitor, Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes ran HBO. But Immelt's world was one of nuclear reactors and jet engines.

A recent Charlie Rose interview provided insight into the world according to Immelt: There will be more attention paid to the "infrastructure markets” (energy, health care, etc.) and less to financial services, Immelt said. GE would like to start building nuclear power plants again as well as wind farms. "My future really depends on the ability to play in every corner of the world,” said Immelt.

The most painful moment for the exec was cutting the GE dividend for the first time since 1938. If you're a CEO these days, he confessed, "you're sleeping less, you're worrying more, you're working your team harder. What makes a cycle like this so hard is that it's just so relentless.”

Clearly, Immelt must find the problems surrounding his media ventures to be equally relentless. The audience for NBC's primetime programming has declined 13% in the past two years. About 60% of NBC Universal's profits are now generated by cable not broadcast. Ad rates for the coming season are being rolled back as advertisers cut costs.

On the film side, Universal insists it has retained profitability despite being caught in a down cycle. Strong grossers like "The Fast and Furious” sequel were diminished by flops like "Land of the Lost.”
Ironically, some of the biggest underperformers on the slate were smart, sophisticated films — "State of Play” and "Duplicity,” for example.

To a degree, the same applies to NBC U's corporate executives. Immelt's appointees, by and large, are smart, talented people who are willing to take chances.

But these are tough times, and Immelt is not getting enough sleep. With everyone feeling the pinch, there is less tolerance for intriguing experiments like Silverman who, as NBC's top programmer, exhibited great flair but an absence of managerial talent. His successor, Jeff Gaspin, is widely regarded as a solid corporate player.

So the questions remain: Given the range of company-wide problems, will there be still other changes in the NBC Universal cast of characters? Indeed, will the stresses and strains trigger further shifts in corporate ownership?

Inevitably, the answers to these questions reside with the man no one knows. At some point, Jeff Immelt may have to think more about prosaic things like movies and TV shows and worry less about his reactors.