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ERMP
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DECEMBER 7, 2007 |
VOLUME
1, NUMBER 13 |
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This
Edition Brought to you by: speechlesswithoutwriters.com & deadlinehollywooddaily.com
Alternative Journalist’s Web Site Is
Scrutinized for Writers’ Strike News By BRIAN STELTER When some striking members of
the Writers Guild of America created a series of videos depicting speechless
actors in support of the writers’ cause, they did not post them on the
guild’s Web site or on YouTube. Instead, the videos made their premiere exclusively
on Deadline Hollywood Daily, a Web site owned and operated by Nikki Finke, a
columnist for the alternative newspaper LA Weekly. Since she began the site in
2006, Ms. Finke’s Web site has become a critical forum for Hollywood news and
gossip, known for analyzing (in sometimes insulting terms) the
behind-the-scenes maneuvering of moguls. But it has been the
screenwriters’ strike that may have finally solidified her position as a
Hollywood power broker. For this article, more than a dozen executive
producers, writers and agents offered to attest to her influence. But with
those plaudits also come complaints — only anonymous ones — that Ms. Finke
plays favorites. “Like it or not, everyone in Hollywood reads her,” said Brad
Grey, the chief executive of Paramount and, like many executives, an
occasional target of Ms. Finke’s scathing reports. “You must respect her
reach.” For many of her readers, Ms.
Finke’s Web site has supplanted traditional media as a primary source of
strike news. Before the strike, Ms. Finke said Deadline Hollywood Daily
averaged 350,000 page views a day. Since the beginning of the strike, she
said the daily average had soared to about a million. Ms. Finke said the size of the
audience began to sink in when Bill Wrubel, a writer for the ABC series “Ugly
Betty,” started a chant on the picket lines outside Raleigh Studios comparing
her with two other industry publications, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
“Variety and The Reporter stink. We get our news from Nikki Finke,” Mr.
Wrubel chanted. Ms. Finke, who works from her
Los Angeles town house, has repeatedly assailed coverage by other outlets,
particularly Variety, for, she maintains, running articles slanted toward the
studios’ interests. “They have been reporting stories that are fantastical,”
Ms. Finke said in an interview. “What they are doing is kind of old-fashioned
fear mongering.” Dozens of readers responded to
her post, saying they were canceling their Variety subscriptions. Tim Gray,
the editor of Variety, said his colleagues are used to criticism. “There is
constant noise from bloggers,” he acknowledged, “but we just tend to our
business and check our facts.” Ms. Finke’s criticism of
Variety has opened her to accusations that she is siding with the writers.
She strongly disagrees, and said she has repeatedly reached out to the
studios to include their points of view. As a columnist, Ms. Finke expressed
opposition to a strike, writing on Oct. 16 that posting on a labor action is
something “I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.” However, since the strike
began, Ms. Finke has published 142 posts about it. She said she had worked
almost around the clock for three weeks, and had fallen asleep at the
computer four times. She estimated she had received 2,000 e-mail messages a
day. “It’s been brutal, but it’s also been exhilarating because I love news.
I love it — a scoop is better than sex,” she said. Ms. Finke, a onetime debutante
in New York City, honed her journalism skills at The Associated Press,
working in London and Moscow — “covering Hollywood is no different than
covering the Kremlin,” she said — before stints at Newsweek, The Los Angeles
Times, The New York Observer, New York magazine and The New York Post. She
was fired from The Post in 2002 after writing negative articles about Disney;
she sued the newspaper’s parent News Corporation and settled for an
undisclosed amount.
After years of writing about
media corporations for media corporations, Ms. Finke said she now feels an
incredible independence. “I don’t think I’m a better journalist than anybody
else,” she said. “I don’t think I’m a harder-working journalist than anybody
else. I do think I have a forum where I have more freedom than anybody else.”
To a lesser extent, national
newspapers and Los Angeles television stations have also fallen under Ms.
Finke’s microscope. Calling them “newsosaurs,” she argues that major media
outlets are wary of being too tough on studios because they benefit from
movie and television advertising. Ms. Finke benefits from their
advertising indirectly, as LA Weekly pays for the right to place banner ads
on her Web site. She would not comment on how much she makes from the site,
only that she doesn’t “live the high life.” “Her influence cannot be
overstated,” said Jon Robin Baitz, executive producer of the ABC drama
“Brothers and Sisters,” calling her “perhaps the greatest Kremlinologist and
reader of tea leaves” in Hollywood. Justin Stangel, a head writer for “The
Late Show With David Letterman,” summarized the sentiment on his strike blog,
saying: “I feel like I am having an affair with Nikki Finke. I am spending
much more time with her than my wife.” (from the New York Times) High currency dims lights in film industry Canada's film and TV industry must develop more
international projects if it is going to remain competitive in the wake of
issues facing Hollywood, say Canadian producers. "With the high dollar, any projects that are
being budgeted for the longer term, it makes Canada much less attractive -
regardless of what province you're in," says John Barrack, national
vice-president of the Ottawa-based Canadian Film and TV Production
Association (CFTPA).
In addition to the strong loonie, the U.S.
industry is dealing with a writers' strike that has prompted some U.S
companies to cease production of some TV shows shot in B.C. and other regions
of Canada. Negotiations to resolve the writers' strike were resuming at press
time, but a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike also loomed. Producers predict so-called service firms, which
provide on-location shooting, casting, set-designing and other work for
primarily U.S.-based productions, will be the hardest hit. But producers of
distinctly Canadian shows will also suffer because they rely on U.S. markets
for both sales and funding.
"Part of the way you get something financed
to make a Canadian production is that you also make a sale or a pre-sale in
the United States, and the value of that pre-sale has dropped dramatically
because of the dollar's increase," says Barrack. "Because it's paid in U.S. dollars, the U.S.
broadcaster is not inclined to pay any more money just because their dollar
is of relatively less value, so it makes actually producing Canadian product
much more difficult."
Alexandra Raffé, an independent producer, says it
will be a major struggle to keep Canada's relevance as a major shooting
destination because our appeal to Americans has always been bottom
line-oriented.
Raffé, a former head of the Ontario Film
Development Corp. who moved to Vancouver recently, says Canadian production
companies must shoot more big-budget, internationally produced feature films
and sell more domestic TV shows around the globe in order to maintain the
high volume of production that keeps thousands of crews, casts and supply houses
employed. "If both our offshore production and our
domestic television production wobble at the same time, we're going to be in
quite a mess," says Raffé. "I think there'll be a contraction. A lot of
the mom-and- pop companies will find it very hard to survive. Canadian money
is very scarce. We have to work with our funding bodies and work to make
films that are more driven by the international market," he adds.
"Telefilm (Canada) has done a very good job of trying to drive the national
market - the qualification for films to be firmly footprinted in the national
market - but the reality is, the Canadian theatrical market is
minuscule."
Raffé says Canadian producers face a
"complex journey" over the next two years as American producers
deal with their issues.
Domestic broadcasters are also renewing their
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission licences and
determining what Canadian content they will air, and the federal Conservative
government is renewing its interest in allowing more foreign media ownership. Susan Papp, a Toronto-based TV documentary
producer who works primarily for Canadian broadcasters, says the lesson about
international appeal applies to all productions. "The Canadian audience is quite small
compared to British audiences or German audiences or whatever worldwide, so
we have to make our stories appeal to more than one country," says Papp,
whose documentaries have included programs on a Canadian missionary in Taiwan
and Hungarian immigrants to Canada. "If you don't find the right story, the
right fit, the right mix - something that will appeal to other audiences
overseas - or if you can't find a second and third broadcaster somewhere else
in the world who will guide your documentary, then it's very difficult." Papp obtained complete funding for her
documentaries on OMNI Television, but she says such support is rare among
broadcasters. She says producers must push broadcasters to do more than just
pay lip service to funding Canadian shows. Jason Priestley, the Canadian-born actor and
director who became a teen heart-throb on the Beverley Hills 90210 show, says
the U.S. writers' strike hurts him more than the high dollar. "Now that it's at $1.05, that's just a bonus
for me," says Priestley, who recently finished directing the TV show The
Other Woman in Calgary. "I have always worked on both sides of the
border, and I always will. It has no influence on my decisions at all. "My Canadian actor friends, their shows are
all going to shut down in America because of the writers' strike. I know
they're all calling their Canadian agents and saying: 'Hey, what's going on
up there?' " Priestley notes the rising dollar has caused a slowdown
across Canada for the past couple of years, along with better tax credits
from U.S. jurisdictions.
"The downside in America is that they don't
get the film crews that we have up here," says Priestley. "In
Vancouver and Toronto, the depth of the film crews is astronomical. "There are a lot of good crews here in
Calgary ... But now that the Canadian dollar is actually stronger than the
U.S. dollar, when it comes to service production, I think we're going to see
quite a precipitous downfall, quite a big slowdown." Chad Oakes, whose Emmy Award-winning Calgary
company, Nomadic Picture Corp., produced Priestley's show, says he relocated
shooting of the $8.5-million movie Disciple, starring Darryl Hannah, to
Prague because of the high loonie. "It's killing us," says Oakes. "We've shot in
Prague at half the cost. When the Americans are complaining that all of the
production is running away to Canada, they need to take a really close look
to see that some of the Canadians are running to Europe." Oakes says companies can't survive by shooting
Canadian-content movies and TV shows for the domestic market alone. Peter Leitch, president of the Motion Picture
Production Industry Association of B.C. (MPPIA), says his group is developing
a strategy that will see Canadian companies accept the U.S. dollar at par. The B.C. industry is the largest production
service centre outside Hollywood and depends heavily on U.S. network TV shows
that are shot on the West Coast. "We've always worked at (developing co-productions), but
obviously these situations provide more incentives to look at what other
opportunities are available," he says. We have been, historically, very
dependent on the U.S. market, and I suspect that we'll continue to do so for
quite some time."
Zoltan Barabas, a Canadian independent producer, writer and
director, says depending on its length, the U.S. writers' strike spells an
opportunity for Canadian companies that are shooting on short-term schedules.
But it likely won't make a difference to producers of TV series and feature
films that take longer to start up, he adds. "There'll be a larger demand for reality
programming, because of (the writers' strike)," says Barabas, who
managed the recent FTX West conference that drew 200 Canadian industry
insiders to Vancouver. "Plus, reality programs are very quick to turn
around." Barabas says American producers are still
committed to shooting in Canada because of world-class crews, virtual
one-stop shopping with unions in B.C. and attractive settings that range from
cityscapes to ocean scenery.
Producers were more upset when the dollar rose to 85-90 cents
American, he notes, but the rise even higher has not resulted in a
proportionate decline in business, he adds. American producers can still save
money because of efficient and enthusiastic crews that can shoot shows more
quickly than counterparts elsewhere. Producer Blake Corbet, who produced the
critically-acclaimed movie Fido for $10.7 million from worldwide sources and
obtained distribution in Canada, the U.S., U.K., Europe and Japan, says
international exposure is vital to a Canadian feature film's success. "We need to make films that are marketable
all over the world in order for them to be viable," he says.
"Canada only represents three or four per cent of the world market. You
don't want to be making a product that ... is only interesting to that small
a part of the population." (Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca) Student’s
Reactions to Writer’s Strike By DAVID THOMAS Although the writers' strike is entering its
fifth week, some students of Northern Illinois University are finding that
little has changed in terms of their viewing habits.
(from www.northernstar.info) ERMP
Focus: Gennaro D’
Onofrio With all the negative press surrounding the
writers’ strike, it’s easy to forget the simple and elevating joys of the
performing arts, especially when viewed through the eyes of a child. Luckily
one of the best remedies for remembrance lies within your local playhouse,
and Durham theater producer Gennaro D’ Onofrio hopes you’ll take advantage of
Find The Light Repertory Co.’s staging of Hansel and Gretel, currently
being performed at the Parrish Street Theater.
Under the artistic direction of Gennaro D’
Onofrio the Durham theater has presented numerous plays such as “The Odd
Couple” (female version), “This Property is Condemned” and “Portrait of a
Madonna”. The current production of “Hansel and Gretel” is meant to be more
of a children’s presentation, but Gennaro is equally excited about staging a
performance for the kids, especially at this time of year. The Parrish Street Theater also offers acting
classes under the guidance of Gennaro, who uses the Stanislavsky’s system of
acting, and he clearly enjoys his line of work. “I love working in theater,
being able to teach young people how to act, how to be in the moment.
Especially in a close up. When the lights and cameras are focused in on you,
there better be something behind those eyes”. But Gennaro seems most proud of the River Run
International Film Festival, calling it a “real family affair”. Originally
started in 1998 with his son Vincent D’ Onofrio, a successful Hollywood
actor, Gennaro has watched the festival’s auspicious growth with immense
pleasure, proclaiming it to be the number one film festival in the South
East. He routinely attends the other major festivals such as Sundance,
Tribecca and Santa Barbera, and calls the River Run International Film
Festival the major highlight of his past decade.
Mr. D’ Onofrio’s love of the acting industry is
impossible to ignore, and he would like to see more independent films being
filmed here. Gennaro believes that North Carolina should have a more robust
film industry and feels that part of the problem lies with the state’s lack
of proper tax breaks for film production. “That’s how Arizona attracts the
business it does, even though it’s so close to California. Independent
filmmakers ought to be backed by the state. Incentives are needed for local
production” Find The Light, D’ Onofrio’s repertory company
and acting school, maintains a similar local focus, clearly defined in its
mission statement by striving to bring productions to communities that have
not experienced this type of cultural event, featuring the American
playwrights of the near past, and with the goal of creating an environment to
experiment with original plays or films. For more information, please see riverrunfilm.com
or ftlreptheater.org
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Farnsworth Invention By Frank Scheck NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Aaron Sorkin's
"The Farnsworth Invention," about the bitter conflicts surrounding
the invention of television, contains both the flaws and the virtues that
have been so long evident in his work for the same medium. Intelligent and featuring plenty of witty
dialogue, it also suffers from occasional smugness and a tendency toward
clunky dramaturgy that detracts from its overall impact. Superbly acted in
this ambitious production, it certainly merits respect if not adulation.
Aaron
Sorkin The play, which has been criticized in some
quarters for playing fast and loose with the facts, concerns two fascinating
historical figures: Philo Farnsworth (Jimmi Simpson), the brilliant young
engineer who started working on the principles of transmitting pictures
through the air when he was still in high school, and David Sarnoff (Hank
Azaria), the Russian-born immigrant whose meteoric business career led to his
becoming the head of the Radio Corporation of America, or RCA. The play depicts Farnsworth's efforts to develop
his prototype despite a series of daunting technical obstacles, while Sarnoff
became increasingly frustrated with his company's efforts at solving the
problems. Eventually, both succeeded in a manner of sorts, with a
complicating factor being the involvement of a Russian scientist, Vladimir
Zworykin (Bruce McKenzie), who may or may not have stolen some of
Farnsworth's ideas.
The resulting legal struggle between the two
visionaries resulted in an essential victory for Sarnoff, who went on to take
the lion's share of the glory while Farnsworth became a nearly forgotten
figure. This complicated tale is rendered in highly
theatrical fashion, with the two leading characters offering their subjective
perspectives, which at one point includes a meeting between the two that was
entirely invented by the playwright. Ultimately, the audience is given leeway
to make their own judgment.
While there is much fascinating material here, it
is not always rendered with sufficient clarity. And while the play is quite
enthralling when dealing with the contrasting early quests of the two dogged
men, it tends to become bogged down in dense minutiae when depicting the
highly technical and legal aspects of their battle. Director Des McAnuff -- working with an abstract
set that must encompass a wide variety of locations, including even Radio
City Music Hall -- has provided a fast-paced production that ably compensates
for the occasional informational excess. The work's impact is greatly aided by the
compelling performances from its lead actors. Azaria perfectly conveys
Sarnoff's hard-driving ambition and complete conviction in his own principles,
while Simpson movingly and often amusingly portrays Farnsworth's obsessive
brilliance, as well as the vulnerabilities that helped bring about his
decline. The large ensemble cast handles with skill their
difficult assignments of portraying dozens of characters who figured in the
story, including, in one particularly fun scene, United Artists founders Mary
Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Cast:
David Sarnoff: Hank Azaria Philo T. Farnsworth: Jimmi Simpson Lizette Sarnoff, others: Nadia Bowers Pem's Father, others: Kyle Fabel Russian Officer, others: Maurice Godin Young Philo T. Farnsworth, others: Christian M. Johansen Wilkins, others: Aaron Krohn Vladimir Zworykin, others: Bruce McKenzie Playwright: Aaron Sorkin; Director: Des McAnuff; Set designer:
Klara Zieglerova; Costume designer: David C. Woolard; Lighting designer:
Howell Binkley; Sound designer: Walter Trarbach; Original music: Andrew
Lippa. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter |
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Let’s Honor a
Local Legend!
Pat Hingle's latest film, Undoing Time, we have no life
Productions and HighFall Films Hey to all, We are stirring up interest to honor one of
our greatest and local actors (North Carolina based), Pat Hingle. With
the upcoming Academy Awards in February of 2008, we thought how great it
would be if the Academy would honor Pat Hingle in life. For anyone who has
had admired his work or had the pleasure of knowing and working
with Pat, you know just how deserving he is. As many of you might know, Pat is in declining
health. Here is a man whose resume in film reads like a novel. Should we not
honor a man in life instead of in death? What a great moment it would be for
him, his family and the Academy. Please join us in our campaign to honor this
great man in life at the Academy Awards in 2008. Here is a link to the
Academy. Take a couple of minutes to express our heart felt feelings
concerning Pat Hingle. We've gotten confirmation from Filmmakers and Actors,
there has been over 200 emails sent to the Academy so far in 24 hours!
The numbers continue to grow every hour. Thank you! Please, if you
haven't done so to honor this great legend, please make time to write to the
Academy. From: Sheila Brothers, Peter Jurasik, Don A.
King, Roxanne Marchand and Suzanne DeLaurentiis ___________________________________________________________________ On the lighter side . . . HD TV broadcast
for Queen's message
The Queen's Christmas Day message will be
broadcast in High Definition for the first time this year. The prospect of
High Definition (HD) is feared by many Hollywood stars as it shows up every
blemish. Sky is broadcasting the Queen's message and Bond movie Casino Royale
in HD, which has four times the picture detail of standard definition. It is
the first year that the monarch's annual broadcast will be filmed and made
available in HD.
The Queen gave her first Christmas message on the
radio in 1952 and her first live televised broadcast in 1957. For the last 10
years, the BBC and ITN have rotated production of the Christmas message and
made it available to UK broadcasters. Sky said Buckingham Palace had agreed for the
message to be broadcast in HD, coinciding with the TV broadcast's 50th
anniversary. Sky Movies Director Ian Lewis said: "Sky Movies is very
excited to be able to broadcast two of the most popular Christmas Day TV highlights
in a way that the British Public has never seen before. Over the years, the
Queen's speech has become a Christmas institution that not only looks back on
the previous 12 months but also forward to the future. As Britain is shaping
the future of television with millions of HD-ready television sets already in
British homes, we felt that it would be appropriate to celebrate Her
Majesty's 50th Christmas Message by broadcasting it in High Definition." The speech and the film will be broadcast on subscription
channel Sky Movies HD2.
(from The Press Association)
Even lighter . . . TV team finds footprints
of Nepal's mysterious Yeti? BEIJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Television production team
members investigating the existence of the legendary Yeti -- aka
"abominable snowman" -- said Friday in Katmandu,
Nepal, they have discovered footprints that merit further investigation. The team of nine producers from
"Destination Truth," equipped with infrared cameras, spent a week
in the frigid Khumbu region where Mount Everest is located and found the
footprints on the bank of the Manju River at an elevation of 9,350 feet
(2,850 meters). One of the three footprints found is
about 1 foot (30 centimeters) long, and looks a lot like those shown in
sketches of the creature, the team said. "It is very, very similar,"
Josh Gates, an archaeologist who serves as the host of the weekly travel
adventure series, told Reuters in Katmandu after returning from the mountain.
"I don't believe it to be a bear. It is something of a mystery for
us." Sherpa porters and guides have told
stories about the wild and hairy creatures lurking in the Himalayas to
mountain climbers going to Mount Everest since the 1920s. Several teams have
searched for it and some have even claimed to have discovered footprints. But
no reputable investigator has actually seen the creature, nor has it been
scientifically established the Yeti exists. Gates said the footprints on lumps of
sandy soil, which would be sent to experts in the United States for analysis,
were "relatively fresh, left some 24 hours before we found them." Some local sherpas believe the
Himalayas are abodes of strange creatures and consider the Yeti as a
protector. Others say it is a destroyer. "There is a kind of mysterious
creature that lives in the Himalayas," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief
of Nepal Mountaineering Association in Katmandu, who hails from the Khumbhu
region. (from news.xinhuanet.com) _________________________________________________________ ERMP Floodlight
Presents: Mike Willden Consultant for Western U.S. Born in Utah in 1979, Mike Willden has had a
yo-yo child hood bouncing back and forth between living in Utah and North
Carolina. Mike lived in Utah until he was eight then moved to Gastonia, North
Carolina for one year, then back to Utah, then at 12 back to Gastonia, then
back to Utah at age 14. Then he spent two years back in North Carolina from
age 19 to 21 serving the people as a traveling missionary for the LDS church,
living in 7 different places in North Carolina in those short 2 years. Throughout his life he has always had a strong
tie to North Carolina, and a pure love of all forms of communication and art.
He has had experience in video editing, radio performance, newspaper writing,
and many other forms of communication. Currently, Mike is a student at the University of
Utah studying Communications and Education with a plan to teach
communications in High School. He is an avid film lover, attending over 30
screenings a year at the Sundance Film Festival and would rather be in the
darkness of a movie theater then anywhere else. Mike joined ERMP in 2002 as a consultant for any
ERMP projects in the western part of the United States. |
