Hollywood Digest

MOVIE BUSINESS PICKING UP

There are indications in Hollywood that local feature production is picking up.

Daily Variety reported that off-lot activity in Los Angeles was up in October, with 835 permits issued for location shoots. That was more than double the number of permits issued in October 2001, and the second-highest monthly total so far in 2002.

In September, 930 permits were issued.

Features currently being shot in the streets of Los Angeles include "Bruce Almighty" (Jim Carrey), "The Cat in the Hat" (Mike Myers), "Daddy Day Care" (Eddie Murphy") and "The Fast and the Furious 2."

Also, according to a new report by the Entertainment Industry Development Corporation, October feature activity in Hollywood was the second highest monthly total since June 2001 -- although feature production for the year to date was still 21 percent below the first 10 months of 2001.

Overall, movie, TV, commercials and music video activity in October was up 38 percent from last October.

DELANEY LEAVING 'MIAMI'

Kim Delaney is leaving the cast of CBS' new hit drama "CSI: Miami."

The network issued a statement confirming that Delaney will be going after shooting 10 episodes -- because her character, Megan Donner, doesn't have enough to do on the show.

"The network, the production companies and the producers jointly arrived at this decision upon recognizing that the character of Megan Donner was becoming less integral to the series as the season progressed," said the statement. "The departure of the character will be explained in an upcoming episode."

CBS said no other changes are being planned for the show, a spinoff from the Thursday night hit "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

SINISE, RICHARDSON TEAM UP FOR HALLMARK MOVIE

Gary Sinise ("Forrest Gump") and Joely Richardson ("The Patriot") will co-star in a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie for CBS -- a Christmas-themed project called "Fallen Angel."

Sinise was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for "Forrest Gump." He won the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or special in 1998 for "George Wallace," and was nominated in the same category in 1996 for "Truman." He will play a man who grows up haunted by memories of a fatal car crash.

Fisher will play a woman who was involved in the crash.

The movie is expected to be telecast in November or December of 2003.

LASSE HALLSTROM'S NEXT

Oscar nominated director Lasse Hallström is on board to direct "Casanova" -- a new take on the old story of the famously adventurous lover who, according to legend, only discovered true love when he comes up against a woman who can resist his advances.

Regardless of his reputation in bed, Casanova might have been famous anyway. He knew Mozart and Voltaire and is said to have persuaded the Empress of Russia to introduce a new calendar and to have written one of the first science fiction novels. He also spent some time in the Venetian army and was variously occupied as a preacher, a gambler, a spy and a violinist.

Hallström was nominated for the directing Oscar for his screen adaptation of John Irving's novel "The Cider House Rules" in 1999.

'STARGATE' STILL IN ORBIT

The Sci Fi Channel has ordered 22 more episodes of "Stargate SG-1," renewing its highest-rated series for a seventh season.

Richard Dean Anderson will still be with the show, despite reports that he had desired to leave.

"Stargate SG-1," based on the 1995 movie "Stargate" starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, has been a huge ratings winner for the Sci Fi Channel on Fridays.

Sci Fi also runs episodes from the first five seasons of the show on Monday nights. Those shows ran first on Showtime.

REMEMBERING A COMEDY LEGEND

Hollywood is mourning the death of Stan Burns, an Emmy-winning comedy writer who came up with countless gags for most of the top comics in show business -- including Steve Allen, Milton Berle and Carole Burnett.

Burns died of heart failure Wednesday at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 79.

He was the first writer on "The Tonight Show" when Steve Allen introduced the late-night talk show. Burns also wrote for Allen's prime time variety show, "The Steve Allen Show."

His TV comedy credits include "The Smothers Brothers," "The Flip Wilson Show," "Get Smart," "The Milton Berle Show," "Dean Martin's Celebrity Roasts" and "The Carol Burnett Show." He was nominated for five Emmys, winning in 1972 for outstanding writing achievement in variety or music for his work on "The Carol Burnett Show."

Burns aficionados knew him also as the co-creator, with Mike Marmer, of the offbeat comedy "Lancelot Link/Secret Chimp" -- featuring voiceover actors putting words into the mouths of on-camera monkeys.