PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - Whatever people may think, Robert Redford and his daughter Amy Redford say that her debut as director of “The Guitar” at the Sundance Film Festival was all Amy’s doing — no help from the Sundance Kid.

“It’s a very basic question, and one I would ask,” Amy Redford, 37, told Reuters. “But the thing I feel good and confident about is that I’ve been involved in other films that haven’t made it, and it’s a democratic selection process.”

The elder Redford, who founded the festival named after his role as the outlaw Sundance in the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” told reporters at a separate news conference that his only role was as a father who supported his daughter.

“I’m happy to say she is here on her own drive,” he said.

The Sundance Film Festival, which began on Thursday and ends January 27 at the Utah ski resort of Park City, is the premiere gathering for U.S. independent film. Each year thousands of filmmakers submit movies in hopes of gaining entry and, perhaps, the exposure that can make them Hollywood stars.

Of the more than 3,600 movies submitted this year, only about 120 were selected from 25 countries around the world, so it’s natural that some people might suspect nepotism was involved in “The Guitar” winning a spot.

Yet, the festival employs many programmers to screen all those films, utilizes a selection committee to pick entries, and Robert Redford is not in that group.

“The Guitar,” which tells of a young woman finding her own true spirit and independence, debuted at Sundance on Friday, and like any first-time director Amy Redford said she was nervous

Kiefer Sutherland is set to be a free man beginning Monday morning,Access Hollywood has confirmed.

A rep for the Glendale City Jail said the “24” actor will be released from the place he’s spent the last month-and-a-half on Monday. The rep said Sutherland will have served his full sentence on that date.

Sutherland checked into the Glendale City Jail on December 5, the same afternoon that he was sentenced to 48 jails by an LA court judge. 

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Sutherland requested to serve his time in the Glendale facility.

Sutherland was required to serve 30 days for a DUI charge stemming from September 2007 and 18 days for violating probation on a 2004 DUI, Nick Velasquez, spokesman for the LA City Attorney’s Office confirmed to Access Hollywood previously.

On the morning of September 25, Sutherland was stopped by police after making an illegal U-Turn in West LA. Sutherland was arrested after he tested above .08 and released after posting $25,000 bail.

Sutherland previously issued a statement over the incident.

“I’m very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I’m deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers on ‘24’ and at 20th Century Fox. I appreciate the support and concern that has been extended to me these last weeks both personally and professionally,” his statement read.

“We’re in a recession - at a minimum,” Donald Trump told Cramer in a recent interview. The host of NBC’s The Apprentice has been critical of Ben Bernanke and Federal Reserve for some time, saying that the central bank’s conservative rate cuts haven’t been enough.

The pen may be mightier than awards.

After taking the luster off the Golden Globes, striking writers now have their sights set on the Grammys.

On Tuesday afternoon, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences announced it had asked for a pass from the Writers Guild of America to stage the music biz’s biggest night.

The WGA confirmed that it has received a request from show producer John Cossette and the Recording Academy for an interim arrangement and that it will refer the matter to the WGA West Board of Directors.

But earlier, the WGA indicated it did not plan on granting a waiver for CBS’ Feb. 10 telecast. WGA spokesman Gregg Mitchell said the guild hadn’t yet received word from the Recording Academy, but that any request is ”unlikely to be granted.”

Still, ‘the Recording Academy is remains hopeful that there will be a quick and positive response,” said the organization’s president and CEO, Neil Portnow.

Without a waiver, not only would the Recording Academy be unable to hire union scribes to write scripted packages paying tribute to Grammy’s 50th anniversary, writers could set up a picket line in front of Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

In turn, Screen Actors Guild members would be loath to break ranks with their WGA brethren, thus diminishing the Grammy star power. Last year’s Grammys featured Chris Rock, Nicolas Cage,Luke Wilson and Samuel L. Jackson in attendance. A similar number of stars was expected at the 2008 edition.

Further complicating matters is that many Grammy-loved musicians moonlight as SAG members, including Justin Timberlake, 50 Cent, Jack White, Beyoncé Knowles, Fantasia Barrino, Jon Bon Jovi, and Queen Latifah, and the WGA is pressuring them to boycott the bash.

Then, of course, there are blue-collar rockers like Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Joni Mitchell and Steve Earle—all of whom are nominated this year and, as strong union supporters throughout their careers, they have traditionally refused to cross picket lines.

The Recording Academy typically unveils its list of performers and presenters three weeks before the actual ceremony.

“Let me reiterate our desire to bring this matter to a positive resolution working with the WGA,” Portnow said.

“And to slightly alter a famous saying in our world, ‘The Show will go on.’ We will take whatever action is necessary to ensure that a program so vital to our industry, artists, charitable beneficiaries, and the great city of Los Angeles is held as planned. Accordingly, all preparations by th Academy for our milestone 50th Annual Grammy Awards remain in full-swing.”

While the Grammys seem to be striking the wrong chord with the WGA, the NAACP Image Awards are getting a flyer.

The WGA announced Tuesday it had granted a waiver to organizers of the 39th annual awardscast, which honors people of color in film, TV, music and literature. The WGA has granted similar waivers to the the SAG Awards and Independent Spirit Awards.

That’s good news for such nominees as Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Will Smith, America Ferrera, Taye Diggs and Jordin Sparks, all of whom are free to attend the Feb. 14 ceremony without the fear of union backlash.

Meanwhile, as the strike goes on and scribes’ beards grow ever bushier in their battle for a greater share of the new media pie, several studios are taking action.

Disney-owned ABC Studios, 20th Century Fox Television, CBS Paramount Network Television, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Television have confirmed plans to terminate development and production pacts with a multitude of writers.

January traditionally marks the occasion when writers who have deals with studios get to work hatching new comedy and drama series for the upcoming television season.

The WGA said in a statement that such moves were “alienating the very creative force that has made entertainment one of the most successful businesses in the country.”

Finally, the guild has signed additional interim agreements with two more major film production companies, following recent news that the guild had reached separate independent accords with the Weinstein Company, United Artists and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants.

The deal with Spyglass Entertainment and Media Rights Capital allows them to hire screenwriters until an industry-wide agreement takes its place.

The WGA hopes the current side deals—which are estimated to give writers a 2.5 percent stake in a distributor’s gross for TV properties presented on the Web and 2 percent of the gross for airing movies online—puts more pressure on the big five studios to return to the bargaining table.

Oprah Winfrey, the daytime talk show host whose media empire also includes a television production company, radio show, magazine, popular Web site and other ventures, will soon be getting her own television network.

Ms. Winfrey and Discovery Communications said on Tuesday that they would jointly create OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable television channel to make its debut in 2009 on what is now the Discovery Health Channel. Discovery Health is available in more than 70 million homes.

The new channel will not initially carry “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” the top-rated syndicated daytime talk show featuring Ms. Winfrey as host. But Ms. Winfrey said that she had the option to end that show in 2010 or 2011 and could move the talk show to the new channel then.

“Eventually that will happen, we hope,” Ms. Winfrey said in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

The venture will be half owned by Discovery, of Silver Spring, Md., and half by Harpo Inc., Ms. Winfrey’s production company, which is based in Chicago. Ms. Winfrey will serve as chairwoman of the network, will have full editorial control over the joint venture and will be responsible for its “programming, branding and creative vision,” the companies said.

In addition to continuing her syndicated talk show, Ms. Winfrey said she would also continue to produce programming for other outlets. A new reality show, “Oprah’s Big Give,” is scheduled to begin on ABC in March.

Discovery and Harpo said the new venture involved no additional cash investment, but that Ms. Winfrey would contribute her Oprah.com Web site to the company. This is not Ms. Winfrey’s first foray into television programming. She was an initial investor in the Oxygen cable channel in 1998, but she soon cut many of her ties to that company.

Asked about the difference between Oxygen, which was sold to NBC in October for $925 million, and the latest venture, Ms. Winfrey said Oxygen “did not reflect my voice.” That assertion is subject to interpretation, however; Ms. Winfrey was host of a 12-part series called “Oprah Goes Online” on Oxygen. The show was sort of a primer on the Internet. She also was frequently referred to as a co-founder of the channel in news reports at the time.

“I was not a participant in the development of the channel,” she said. “That’s why after a couple of board meetings I took myself off the board.”

With the Oprah Winfrey Network, “I will have editorial control,” she said. “I have a vision for what we want to accomplish with this network.”

David Zaslav, president and chief executive of Discovery Communications, said that he and Ms. Winfrey would immediately begin a search for a chief executive for the Oprah Winfrey Network.