US Magazine is reporting that final contracts are are currently being signed by Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler, with an official announcement expected in early October, before auditions begin for the new season.
According to Deadline Hollywood, Jennifer is signing a 12M dollar contract.
Wow. They are pushing this announcement out as far as they can, aren’t they? If this report is true, the producers probably want to announce the new panel and the judges’ round schedule at the same time.
Now that there are semi-famous people on the panel, I wonder how crazy scheduling is going to get. I hope Hollywood week is finished by the time the auditions begin airing in January.
That late schedule really screwed the audition episodes. The director had no idea which contestants to focus on, because the Top 24 was picked while the auditions were airing. The producers ended up stuffing a bunch of key auditions into the last “Best of the Rest” episode.
Also, the US source says that Jennifer was selected as replacement for Kara Dioguardi rather than Ellen Degeneres, as if it really makes any difference.
Randy Jackson has one more year on his contract, from what I understand. If he’s negotiating, it would be to extend the contract he already has, I believe.
