Production News and Notes

tvlandlogoTV Land finds love

“First Love, Second Chance” is a new six-episode original series on TV Land.  It’s a great title and accurately describes this docu-drama-reality series.  Each episode will feature a different couple who were once emotionally involved but who have since broken up.  They may have been apart for as long as 20 years.  Personally, if I broke up with you 20 years ago, I’ve probably moved on.  But that may not be the case in this series, as the viewer takes a week long journey with each couple as they try to go beyond their past and rekindle the romance that once was.  The series premiers on Wednesday, March 10th at 10:00 p.m ET/PT.  The executive in charge of production is Marco…

The Musical TV Show Isn’t Dead

fame_movie_image__3_When the movie “FAME “was released, I was thrilled; it was about my alma mater  The High School of Performing Arts.  I loved high school and the film reflected much of the drama, angst, craziness and bold creativity I experienced as a teenager.  When they later made it into a TV show – I was on my couch watching.  Since then, there really hasn’t been a musical TV show that worked until “Glee”.    I’m not saying they didn’t produce them, I’m just saying they didn’t work.

Steven Bochco achieved great success when he created “Hill Street Blues” and “LA Law”.  Both shows helped reinvent the one hour drama with fast cutting, unique story lines and bizarre characters.  Mr. Bochco was a ground breaker.  And with…

An Indie Filmmaker with Guts and a Vision

DavidBaker

David Baker is a filmmaker, director and actor.  I learned about David by reading an interview he gave to producers Joke Fincioen and Biagio Messina. I found him so fascinating I started following him on Twitter and since then have discovered he’s a filmmaker with that rare combination of a strong creative voice coupled with a business savvy that reaches beyond the typical producer’s job description. David wrote, produced, directed, acted and distributed his latest film, Mission X.

Mission X is the story of Grant, a documentary film student who wants to travel to Iraq and document real war.  Grant’s only experience with war is his expertise with his military Xbox game. He meets Ryan a…

Videos Enhance E-Books and They’re a Bargain

iphone-screenshot_Vook_Woman's DayEnhanced e-books are digital downloads of books featuring extras similar to the extras on a DVD.  Some e-books include video trailers, author’s bios, links to author’s sites, links to locations mentioned in the book, etc.

I’m not a big fan of video trailers in fiction e-books because  I’ve already purchased the book and I’m not interested in a visual interpretation of what I’m about to read.  I want to create my own images from the author’s words.  However, the use of video in non-fiction works not only enhances the purchase it’s a bargain you won’t get in the hardcover version. The digital extras now being included in many children’s books, cookbooks, fitness books and how to books make you want to jump right out of…

Are the publishers at Bloomsbury Racists?

magic-book-white_320Last July I wrote a post about the book “Liar” by Justine Larbalestier.  Her young adult novel was the story of a young African American teenager named Micah, yet the book cover featured a white girl.  If you read my previous post you’ll understand more fully why the marketing ‘geniuses’ at Bloomsbury felt it was necessary to put a white girl on the cover.

The point of my previous post was to question whether we were cultivating racism in young readers by not accurately representing a multi-cultural book and instead white washing covers so they sell.  After multiple outcries across the blogosphere Bloomsbury was shamed into changing the cover to more accurately represent  the protagonist Micah. The dust settled, the…

Paramount Pictures Makes Licensing Easy

paramount-majestic-mountain-logoIf you’ve ever worked on a clip show, or any show that requires lots and lots of clips from movies or television you know the search can be painfully slow and expensive.

When producing a clip based show, you have ideas of what clips would work but unless you actually see the footage in the rough cut, it’s a gamble as to whether or not they will work in your story.  Typically, you’ll have your researcher, associate producer, or production assistant contact the studios to inquire if the footage is available for licensing, send a letter of intent and then pay for a screener.  The screener will usually arrive within a day or a week depending on how many other orders the one studio person…

Were Newsreels the Precursor to YouTube?

movietone_newsI’m big on time travel stories and when I imagine myself travelling to an earlier time, I can’t quite wrap my wits around how I would survive without my iPhone.  It makes you wonder how people in the early 20th century survived without instant access.  In fact, they didn’t have to, they had newsreels.

Ten minute newsreels aired before the ‘double feature’ and began with world events, followed by stories of national interest.  Typically a segment on fashion, entertainment, or the latest pop culture craze like the hulu hoop or ping pong would round out the reel before ending with a sports segment.  Sound familiar?  It’s the news format of today, or if you separate each segment you’ve got YouTube.

Considering there were no PDA’s,…

Filmmaker Friendly in Minnesota by Phil Holbrook

To start off with, I want to say how honored I am that Maria let me take over her blog for the day.  This is a blog that I pay close attention to, and when Maria asked if I would write something about the EgoFest Short Film Festival here in Minnesota, I just about fell off my chair.  Of all the topics I could blather on about, EgoFest is the easiest.

What’s EgoFest?

EgoFest is a one day film festival for shorts.  It takes place in Brainerd, MN on February 20th, 2010.  EgoFest was originally a one time festival four years ago.  Since EgoFest was never planned as an ongoing event, everyone had a great time and then went their separate ways.  But in the…

It May be 18 Years Old, But It Still Brings Them to MTV

jerseyshoreWhen it comes to pioneers in cable television MTV sits at the head of the wagon train.  They launched a network in an era when many of my dear friends were just beginning their TV careers; and like my friends who helped MTV blaze the trail, the network was young, ambitious, and created something brand new  – a niche network devoted entirely to music videos.  They put the uber in cool.  Many said they were crazy, “A channel just for music videos? It will never last.” And they were right, it didn’t.  While they had a good long run featuring only music videos eventually they had to change their programming to stay relevant. So the uber cool network changed with the times and created one…

Are Facebook and Twitter reliable sources for professional journalists?

huffingtonpost-logoIf you’re registered on any social networking site you can and will be found by someone who wants to find you.  In this case that someone could be a ‘journalist’ trying  to corroborate or enhance their story.

For example, when Tiger Woods’ infidelity scandal was front page news, everyone weighed in on it including The Huffington Post.  The headline of their article, Susie Ogren: Tiger Woods Took Ecstasy, Hoped To ‘Get Me Into Bed‘  was enough to make anyone click and read – I did.  Once reading I discovered there wasn’t much fact to this supposed fiction.  In fact, the article was written by The National Enquirer.  In fact, Susie Ogren and Tiger Woods didn’t have sex.  In fact, the reporter searched Facebook to find…