Stories about film studios that have had YouTube rip down videos
featuring copyrighted works are a dime a dozen, but it’s not that often that you see the surfers of the Web unite in protest over it.
Constantin Films is in the middle of a PR disaster for just this reason, though. The German production company has asked the streaming video service to remove the hundreds of parody videos that used the climatic scene from its film “Downfall”.
Demand Media, the company behind online hits such 
as eHow, Livestrong.com and Cracked, is expanding its reach, adding both Hollywood and Internet heavyweights to its board of directors.
Peter Guber, chair of Mandalay Entertainment Group, and Josh James, senior vice president and general manager of the Omniture Business Unit of Adobe, have joined the company’s board to help the company in its content creation and audience behavior.
It was no surprise that Disney-owned ABC was one of the first media companies to embrace 
the iPad. Steve Jobs, after all, is a prominent board member. But now that the first numbers are coming in, you can bet that executives at the network are awfully glad they signed on early.
In just 12 days, ABC’s iPad app was downloaded more than 212,000 times. And users have already streamed more than 680,000 episodes via that app.
With consolidation sweeping through the film industry and indie shingles closing down at a rapid clip, it’s harder than ever for budding filmmakers to get a break. But a new Website that counts three members of the Academy among its ranks is looking to make it a little easier.
Openfilm.com emerges from its beta period Thursday with a series of grants for filmmakers, its own distribution company and an advisory board that includes actors James Caan, Robert Duval and Scott Caan, along with director Mark Rydell.
Chris Morris: Journalist 