Repost - Interesting on Blogs

Walt Disney Co. has acquired New York-based Babble Media Inc., a parenting site that features advice about pregnancy, child development and related topics from some 200 mommy bloggers.

The Burbank entertainment giant has been acquiring family-focused websites in recent years, as its struggling Disney Interactive Media Group seeks to build out its online offerings for parents.

Babble, launched in 2006 by husband-and-wife team Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman, attracts about 2.1 million monthly visitors -- about 483,000 of whom are women with children ages 2 to 17, according to Nielsen.

Blogs have become a vital source of information for women with children. The research firm EMarketer estimates that 54% of the 32 million mothers who go online in the U.S. every month visit blogs.

"This is an audience where there's a lot of loyal, faithful readers," said Debra Aho Williamson, an online analyst for EMarketer who wrote an October 2010 report about moms who blog. "People tend to gravitate towards certain bloggers ... and comment regularly on what they're reading. It's a very tight-knit community." 

Major media companies have been in hot pursuit of mothers. Nickelodeon plans to launch NickMom, a nightly block of programs aimed at parents, late next year. It will be accompanied by a website, Nickelodeon's ParentsConnect.com, to dispense parenting advice.

Disney has been assembling its own collection of mom-focused websites for years, to bolster its network of family-oriented Internet offerings. It acquired iParenting Media's collection of websites in late 2007, and two years later paid $23.3 million to buy Kaboose Inc., a Canadian family-focused media group.

"Disney is all about moms and kids. It's a great place for them to 'play,'" said Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors consulting group.

The latest deal, for which terms were not disclosed, Disney gains a site that was named one of the 50 best of 2010 by Time magazine. Its stable of bloggers write on a range of parenting topics. Recent contributions include "I'm Jealous of My Nanny," "20 Sleepover Party Recipes" and "How to Buy and Use a Family Camera." 

"With more than 3.9 million mom blogs in the U.S. alone, Disney Interactive recognizes and values the important and powerful role moms have taken on in new media," Brooke Chaffin, senior vice president of Moms and Family for the company's interactive media group, said in a statement.

Disney declined to comment. Babble did not immediately respond to a request for an interview.

Cold Weather In California and Other Non-Sequiturs

This just in. Venice is cold.  And I've become a warm-weather wimp.  Its still September, I am all-ashiver about how cold I'm going to be come winter-time.  I actually can see wearing some of my heavier NYC wardrobe.

Its been overcast and in the mid-sixties for the past week, and I'm bundled up like a grandmother.   Been out and about just a little bit, headed to Gold's Gym, which I joined because it was close and much nicer than the terrible and depressing LA/Marina Fitness in Marina del Rey.  Back to yoga, cardio, weight-lifting.  Slow-going getting back into shape...Also (and not helping the getting back in shape thing) went with Mike K., my neighbor and a friend from high school, to the newly-opened beer hall on Lincoln, Wurstkuche (umlauts omitted), for some snausages and litres of beer (they come in litres?? (obscure tweaked movie reference, five movie geek points for getting the reference).  It was fun, and we ran into the managers of Baby Blues, the BBQ joint across the street, checking out their new neighbors, and bought them a round for making some really wonderful BBQ very close to home.

Work has been slow this month, so I am spending too much time netsurfing and not enough time being productive.  Sound familiar.  Things have seemingly started to pick up though, and its not like I don't have things around the house (still no maid) that I could be doing more productive than playing stupid games on FB.   The games aren't even that much fun, they just provide something to do.  I had an invitation to head back to Vegas for another four or five days, but I passed, as I should be looking for more lucrative opportunities, regardless of missed fun.

Been quiet - and hence, boring blog entry.  I'll try to be more fascinating next time.

Grumps

What I'm Watching

Netflucks (the moniker that seems to be sticking to this pr-deprived enterprise) certainly makes it easy to remember - they give you a list of everything you've watched.  Without further ado...

Q&A (Sidney Lumet, amazing performances, which tends to go without saying in a Sidney Lumet movie) (not netflix btw)
Bill Cunningham New York (Richard Press) (excellent doco on NYT street fashion photog.)
Still Waiting (Jeff Balis) - cause I liked the first, your fairly standard gross out comedy, not bad, not the first though, though far better than say the Harold and Kumar sequel.  Balis, an indie producer based in LA, was incidentally the guy fired off Season two of Project Greenlight (the one with Shia LeBeof)
The Expendables (Sly Stallone) - have a client who may be in the new one, due diligence, not without its entertainment value, not exactly a rumination on existentialism, and in fairness not trying to be
Alice In Wonderland  (Tim Burton) - no doubt I am the last person in the US on the planet to see this and you all have your own opinions, but I found it pretty breathtaking, and Helena Bonham Carter rocks it out
Running the Sahara (James Moll - doco) - not bad.  Incongruous Matt Damon narration.
Hobo With A Shotgun (Jason Eisener) - Not bad, worth the watch, I think this director has a future.
and
Bronson (Nicholas Winding Refn) - Really knocked me out, as did Tom Hardy, who I met right after this film came out in the US at a pool on the roof of some WeHo hotel.  (Nice guy, wasn't very happy about how Bronson got treated by its distributor, or how he got treated.  He was already hanging with Leo and the Inception crew by then, so I imagine he got over it soon enough).  So Kubrick-like thats both its most amazing and probably most attackable attribute.  I was pretty much stopped in my tracks.  A must see.

And the Emmy Award Winners (Cave-dweller, pt. 2)

COMEDY SERIES

* Modern Family (ABC)The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Glee (Fox)

The Office (NBC)

Parks & Recreation (NBC)

30 Rock (NBC)

DRAMA SERIES

* Mad Men (AMC)Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Dexter (Showtime)

Friday Night Lights (DirecTV/NBC)

Game of Thrones (HBO)

The Good Wife (CBS)

MOVIE OR MINISERIES

* Downton Abbey (PBS)

Cinema Verité (HBO)

The Kennedys (Reelz)

Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Pillars of the Earth (Starz)

Too Big To Fail (HBO)

ACTRESS IN A MOVIE OR MINISERIES

* Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Diane Lane, Cinema Verité (HBO)

Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey (PBS)

Taraji P. Henson, Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story (Lifetime)

Jean Marsh, Upstairs Downstairs (PBS)

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOVIE OR MINISERIES

* Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Tom Wilkinson, The Kennedys (Reelz)

Brian F. O'Byrne, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

James Woods, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

ACTOR IN A MOVIE OR MINISERIES

* Barry Pepper, The Kennedys (Reelz)

Edgar Ramirez, Carlos (Sundance)

Greg Kinnear, The Kennedys (Reelz)

Idris Elba, Luther (BBC America)

Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood (HBO)

William Hurt, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

DIRECTING FOR MINISERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL

* Brian Percival, Downton Abbey (PBS)

Olivier Assayas, Carlos (Sundance)

Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, Cinema Verite (HBO)

Todd Haynes, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Curtis Hanson, Too Big to Fail (HBO)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOVIE OR MINISERIES

* Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey (PBS)

Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Melissa Leo, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Mare Winningham, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Eileen Atkins, Upstairs Downstairs (PBS)

WRITING FOR A MINISERIES OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL

* Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey (PBS)

Todd Haynes and Jon Raymond, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Steven Moffat, Sherlock: A Study in Pink (PBS)

Peter Gould, Too Big To Fail, HBO

Heidi Thomas, Upstairs Downstairs (PBS)

ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

* Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Michael C. Hall, Dexter (Showtime)

Jon Hamm, Mad Men (AMC)

Hugh Laurie, House (Fox)

Timothy Olyphant, Justified (FX)

ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

* Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (CBS)

Kathy Bates, Harry's Law (NBC)

Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

Mireille Enos, The Killing (AMC)

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men (AMC)

DIRECTING IN A DRAMA SERIES

* Martin Scorsese, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Jeremy Podeswa, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Neil Jordan, The Borgias (Showtime)

Tim Van Patten, Game of Thrones (HBO)

Patty Jenkins, The Killing (AMC)

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

* Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (HBO)

Andre Braugher, Men of a Certain Age (TNT)

Josh Charles, The Good Wife (CBS)

Alan Cumming, The Good Wife (CBS)

Walton Goggins, Justified (FX)

John Slattery, Mad Men (AMC)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

* Margo Martindale, Justified (FX)

Christine Baranski, The Good Wife (CBS)

Michelle Forbes, The Killing (AMC)

Christina Hendricks, Mad Men (AMC)

Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Archie Punjabi, The Good Wife (CBS)

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

* Jason Katims, Friday Night Lights (DirecTV)

David Benioff, Game of Thrones (HBO)

Veena Sud, The Killing (AMC)

Matthew Weiner, Mad Men (AMC)

Andre Jacquemetton, Mad Men (AMC)

DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES

* Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Jerry Foley, Late Night With David Letterman (CBS)

Gregg Gelfand, American Idol (Fox)

James Hoskinson, The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)

Chuck O'Neil, Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

VARIETY MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES

* The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)

Conan (TBS)

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO)

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES

* The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC)

Conan (TBS)

REALITY COMPETITION SERIES

* The Amazing Race (CBS) American Idol (Fox)

Dancing With the Stars (ABC)

Project Runway (Lifetime)

So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)

Top Chef (Bravo)

COMEDY SERIES DIRECTING

* Michael Alan Spiller, Modern Family (ABC)

Gail Mancuso, Modern Family (ABC)

Pamela Fryman, How I Met Your Mother

Steven Levitan, Modern Family (ABC)

Beth McCarthy-Miller, 30 Rock (NBC)

ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

* Melissa McCarthy, Mike & Molly (CBS)

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)

Laura Linney, The Big C (Showtime)

Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope (Fox)

Amy Poehler, Parks & Recreation (NBC)

ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

* Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)

Louis C.K., Louie (FX)

Steve Carell, The Office (NBC)

Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

Matt LeBlanc, Episodes (Showtime)

COMEDY SERIES WRITING

* Steve Levitan, Jeffrey Richman, Modern Family (ABC)

Louis C.K, Louis (FX)

Greg Daniels, The Office (NBC)

Matt Hubbard, 30 Rock (NBC)

David Crane, Jeffrey Klarik, Episodes (Showtime)

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

* Ty Burrell, Modern Family (ABC)

Chris Colfer, Glee (Fox)

Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men (CBS)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family (ABC)

Ed O'Neill, Modern Family (ABC)

Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family (ABC)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

* Julie Bowen, Modern Family (ABC)

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock (NBC)

Jane Lynch,Glee (Fox)

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family (ABC)

Betty White, Hot in Cleveland (TV Land)

Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Some TIFF Awards Stuff (in case you live in a cave and only have this page bookmarked)

Toronto Winners

Cadillac People’s Choice Award
Nadine Labaki-directed Where Do We Go Now?

Cadillac People’s Choice Award For Documentary
Jon Shenk-directed The Island President

Cadillac People’s Choice Award For Midnight MadnessGareth Evans-directed The Raid

City of Toronto and Astral Media’s The Movie Network Award For Best Canadian FeaturePhilippe Falardeau-directed Monsieur Lazhar

Skyy Vodka Award For Best Canadian First Feature FilmNathan Morlando-directed Edwin Boyd

FIPRESCI Prize For Special Presentations SectionGianni Amelio-directed The First Man

FIPRESCI Prize For Discovery ProgrammeAxel Petersen-directed Avalon (Sweden)

Best Canadian Short FilmIan Harnarine-directed Doubles With Slight Pepper

Ahhh, (Back In) Venice

And boy are my arms tired.

OK, sorry.

It's nice to be home.  But home is a serious mess.  To housekeeper, or not to housekeeper, that is the question.  Whether tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of multiple dust-bunnies...

You get the point.

Airplane Bloggin’: Winds of the North – Air Canada Blows

(posted from the ground)

After an eventful weekend at the Toronto Film Festival, I am approximately five and a half hours into my purportedly five hour trip back to Los Angeles (read: Venice). Air Canada, hospice to surly flight attendants and a bulwark against oppressive airline Wi-Fi, kindly let us passengers on the 10:25 flight back to LA that the flight would be “en retard” (I am not making this up, nor is my command of Ontarian French strong enough to disregard the obvious synergies) for an additional deux heures. Of course, it might have been more helpful to let us know this most valuable information more than five minutes before the original boarding time for the flight. Hey, well at least Pearson had wi-fi, Starbucks and multiple other diversions, like Woody Harrelson walking around in an orange t-shirt (inadvertently?) promoting some kind of fresh fruit juice.

Yeah, I know.

After getting in on Friday, Mario Grigorov (composer and pianist of much ability, and famed thanks to his memorable scoring of the terrific academy-award-winning Precious) cabbed it downtown to the Metropolitan, which is not to be confused with the much more tony Soho Metropolitan. Our Metropolitan was the relatively-low budget version of a downtown Toronto hotel, serviceable and residing in the less than luxurious range north of a Best Western, and well south of a Hilton, not to mention the Hyatt Regency, which serves as TIFF’s headquarters. Livable, a bit scabrous, perhaps a tad bit far from the festival’s headquarters at the Hyatt, but with running water, wifi and mostly free from (i) pests, (ii) excessive street noise and (iii) recently-updated lobby furniture (honestly, I had a nicer couch in law school). Still, they make a mean Maker’s Mark Manhattan (neat, thanks) and I ran into the ever-cool Bill Duke (Predators) in the lobby. So I’ll assign a passing grade and presume upon some lobby improvements.

After getting to the hotel and grabbing a shower, we met up with the Tunn3l team for whom I am consulting these days and headed over to Queens Quay for a beer at a nice outdoor bar, before the Brooklyn Brother’s (a TIFF title) party. Mario, Kyle, Jay, Matt and I rolled into the place where we were literally inundated with free shots, drinks, pretty decent-yet-low-cholesterol-diet-breaking-appetizers, and a live music show featuring the eponymous Brooklyn Brother’s band from the movie, led by Ryan O’Nan on guitar and guest performances by Arielle Kebbel, Jeremy Renner and Jason Ritter. Ryan directed Brooklyn Bros. as well as starred in it, and posted it at Tunn3l’s post-facility in Santa Monica. Coincidentally, he is starring in and co-writing Life, an upcoming film that was co-written by one of my very closest friends, who also happens to be named Ryan.

The sound system at the party venue was screwed, or the mixer was on two tabs of acid, I couldn’t tell which. Regardless, it made the acoustics, shall we say, challenging, and Ryan, though a gentleman, seemed rightfully frustrated. Riding on fumes by about 2AM, and despite having been playfully accosted by a cute, green-card seeking blonde Canadian waitress with a longing for Orange Country, CA, I was more than ready when we grabbed a cab back to the hotel.

Saturday morning, the Tunn3l guys (OK, I am not writing it like that anymore, fair warning) headed over to a breakfast morning. Mario and I ventured over to the Hyatt to check out all things “festive” and catch up with the guys after their breakfast. They had additional meetings and then had to deal with sleep deprivation, so Mario and I padded down some Toronto thoroughfare with a unintelligible and clearly memorable (not) name like Spirudana or something, and headed into Toronto’s very fine Chinatown. Thirty one Canadian dollars (an even swap for the greenback these days) of dim-sum later, Mario and I had to walk off the starch, sodium and various mystery ingredients, so we waddled our way back to the hotel. Mario then departed for a screening while I grabbed a nap, despite gorgeous Toronto afternoon sunshine. Plans for later were still being formulated.

Saturday night the guys (sans Mario, who attended some chic private dinner at a restaurant called Crème in Yorkville with Rob Lowe) hit the ICM party at a chic little venue, newly-opened and with the filmic name, F stop. The name made me wonder if it was a venue temporarily opened for TIFF, but apparently that’s the somewhat unfortunate name of this nicely-appointed spot. With a well-appreciated open bar and no shortage of cocktail waitresses who easily could have passed as the next crop of ICM starlets, we had a good time for a few hours enjoying the buzz of vodka and bourbon. Ryan O’Nan showed up and spilled some background on his directing debut. We made a pit stop with Jay’s friend and sometime-partner, Pat Murphy, at a middling French bistro next door before calling it a night at around 2AM once again. The Malbec was good, at least.

Sunday morning, Mario and I, reunited, headed out to find repast, with the Tunnel guys at yet another breakfast meeting. We discovered a Torontian version of Eggs Benedict, which used shrimp rather than ham. I actually ordered it inadvertently, but happily survived the experience without complaint.

Sunday, being the first full day of American football, yielded a quick stroll through the Hyatt lobby, where I reencountered a group of friendly rfilmmakers at TIFF in support of their well-reviewed South African film, Lucky. Congrats to the British director and the film’s Rochester-based producing team on their very impressive Hollywood Reporter review. I look forward to talking with them soon, as well as seeing the humanistic Lucky.

This peremptory stop didn’t last long, as kickoff loomed for the 1PM NFL games (being on EST definitely has its benefits – watching football at 10AM in California still seems an awkward endeavor to me). We headed to that bastion of American football, Wayne Gretskies (o.k., well, maybe not, but they had every game on), congregated with other American’s jonesing after the interminable NFL offseason. Even Mario joined us, though I can’t say that his Iranian/Bulgarian/Australian upbringing made him particularly interested in the outcomes of the games or in the Bloody Caesars, which I learned from another cute, California-lovin’, green-card seeking, Canadian waitress (not making this up, truly, and a brunette this time) is considered by some to be the national cocktail of Canada. After a lifetime without Clamato (best I can recall), I’ve now had a Bloody Caesar twice in the last two weeks (the first was courtesy of Cove producer Charles Hambleton in Las Vegas). The largely TIFF-laden American crowd included Kevin Iwashina of Preferred Content, Kevin Kasha (Anchor Bay) and Michael Roban (IM Global). I wouldn’t have been surprised if a few acquisitions were made right there at Gretskies back tables, amongst the poutine and the hockey sticks.

We hightailed it after the early games (sorry about your Browns, Matt, no doubt you’re sorrier about my Giants) back to the Metropolitan to prepare for Kyle’s film’s premiere, the Marc Forster-directed Machine Gun Preacher. I got stuck waiting outside for Matt Berman, producer from Brooklyn Brothers, who arrived quite late after ending his screening for his movie at another venue. We made it to our seats just before the lights went down, though, so no harm, no foul.

The movie was really well-done, with Gerard Butler going above and beyond, Michael Shannon excellent as usual, a great supporting cast and nary a dry eye in the house by the end of the screening. A packed Roy Thompson hall gave an extended standing ovation to the film at its conclusion. Congrats to everyone involvd are in order.

From there, Matt, an investor-client of his, and I killed some time at a pub near the theater before heading to meet Kyle and Jay, who had been attending the private dinner for the Preacher cast and producers. We met them outside the CAA party at bungalow 8 in some semi-seedy neighborhood on Queens W, but as I am apt to do in the event of potential door drama, I left the group rather than wait outside with the maddening throng. (I was informed this morning that I really didn’t miss much, in any event, which I’ll happily accept as the truth.) The idea of yet another party full of Hollywood agents seemed less attractive than a few additional hours of shut-eye in advance of an early morning trip to the airport for the flight home. If only Air Canada had let me know that I could have slept an additional two hours in the morning before heading to Pearson. En retard, indeed.

In any event, I’m halfway back to Los Angeles, I have an empty middle seat next to me, Mario’s wife is picking us up from the airport, and there is more NFL tonight (though my fantasy league match-up is looking less than promising after a middling-at-best Sunday). Perhaps I’ll at least get a valuable draft pick, and I will happily sleep in my own bed. It’s been a busy month or so of travel after jaunts to NYC, Vegas and now Toronto, and I am more than ready to be back in Venice by the beach for a while.

Grumps.

Airplane Bloggin’: TIFF and the Return of Grumpy O’Selznick

Well, its obviously been some time since I last wrote this blog about my experiences in the film industry and the accompanying issues in my personal life that arise out of these choices I’ve made for myself. Too much water has passed under the bridge since my last writing to really give any kind of comprehensive view of my life and work (note that life and work are, and continue to be, separate words and distinct concepts). A very brief summary of the last eighteen months of so since I posted:

• Closed up and gave up the NYC residence for good (at least that residence).
• Worked for a foreign sales company for a year, as a head of business affairs, during which time I had to deal with a manic company president and four wolf hybrids (the president often acted more like one of his wolf-pets than a person).
• Produced a family comedy I’ll refer to as “Romeo” in California, where I met a beautiful young single mother (and her infant-turned-toddler), a close friend of a now-formerly close friend-turned-enemy??, that I…
• Dated and then lived with in West Hollywood and then in Albuquerque, NM for six months (where she worked as an actress). At various moments, wonderful, awful, and almost always tumultuous, with a very bitter ending, when we split, and I …
• Moved to Venice, California at the beginning of summer, and have begun adjusting to my recovered singledom on the Westside, a very different life experience that living in Hollywood or West Hollywood.
• Traveled to India to prep a romantic drama, for which the financing fell apart, which negatively impacted a number of relationships I have in the entertainment industry, most of which hopefully can be repaired (in the business where a new paycheck fixes everything, for the most part). Thankfully my hands are clean.
• Took a consultancy with a newly-formed company doing film investment, technology development and investment, and film production, headed by a friend of mine, Kyle, in whom I have a good deal of faith, in the role of running operations and business affairs, which leads me to…

Toronto, in my capacity of a yet-unnamed position with this new company. My friend Mario is accompanying me to Toronto for its opening weekend. We’re staying at the Metropolitan Hotel and should be in the mix for a lot of interesting screenings, parties and hopefully some fun over the next three days. Mario is a well-known composer, having scored a number of well-known and award-winning films, including Precious and Taxi to the Dark Side, both of which won Academy Awards. He’s also one of the nicest people you’re going to meet, and he scored two films for me, Scott Dacko’s The Insurgents, and Lev Gorn’s short film, 10:31.

I am still a bit under the weather, having caught some bug in Las Vegas over the past week I spent there. I went to Vegas with a new friend, The Cove producer Charles Hambleton. We went to help organize and promote the Las Vegas demonstration for Celebrate Dolphin Day Japan, which was being simultaneously being recognized in fifty cities around the world. September 1 is the day that the dolphin slaughter begins again in Taiji, Japan. If you don’t know what I am talking about, I suggest you sit down and watch The Cove on Netflix and find out about this important issue. And the film, which won the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2009, is simply unforgettable and amazing.

The demonstration in Vegas was run by another new friend, Angela Shih, with her partner, Eric Conner, lending a significant hand. In true Vegas style and tradition, Angela, a server at the Wet Republic Dayclub, recruited a crew of beautiful girls from the hospitality industry to stand, bikini-clad, on the walking bridge between The Cosmopolitan and The Planet Hollywood hotels, and draw attention to the signs and the literature and well, the cause. They did a terrific job attracting attention, not surprisingly, and did so in a manner that was truly appropriate for their home city. Here are some pictures of Charles (the only guy in the posted pics) and the Vegas team. The photographer that was arranged unfortunately didn’t show, but I’d brought my camera as a back-up, and I ended up standing in for him. It was a fun assignment, and the results were passable. Angela is in the front row of the first picture, far right. More on facebook if you go to the page for Celebrate Dolphin Day Las Vegas 2011.

Pic 1

Pic 2


After the demonstration, we spent some time scouting for Charles’ upcoming television show. I won’t give away what its about, but we snuck into the restricted land controlled by the Water Authority to obtain samples for testing. There are a lot of water issues in the City That Shouldn’t Be, and we spent a few days working on that. On the last day, Angela somehow magically got us comped at Wet Republic, and we spent most of the day there being introduced to the staff. They all had a lot of respect for what Charles has achieved. Watch The Cove and you’ll see why too.

So that’s the recap, and the plane is angling down, which means we’ll be on the ground shortly, and I need to sign off. Grumpily yours (still), and welcome back.

Airplane Bloggin’: Headed to Mardi Gras

Its been blast from the past week. I got a message from the ether from Henry, a high school friend who I probably haven’t heard from in fifteen years, more or less. The joys of facebook.

And I am currently on yet another airplane headed from Atlanta to New Orleans (indirectly, coming from LA). I’ll be seeing Big Dave, little Dave , and Rob, all three friends with whom I spent the majority of my summers from later high school into college. They are all east coasters, and I haven’t seen Rob in a long time (Prolly last at someone’s wedding). Big Dave I’d see sporadically when he’d be in NYC on business (he lives in Arlington VA and works in DC). Lil Dave, when I was in NY, I’d meet for dinner from time to timr. But all three at once, at Mardi gras, in New Orleans, which is gonna be crazy because the Aints (no more) are in the Super Bowl. Should be fairly wild.

Some challenges.

I went to Mardi Gras with the Daves before. I don’t recall if Rob was with us. I know some others were. I’ve also been with my friend Stave and other law school guys. What I’d say about the trip with the Daves is that is was rather calm and maybe a bit dull compared to the trup with Steve. That was rape, pillage, debauchery. As God intended on Bourbon St. this time of year.

We’re all quite a bit older, they are all married (though I am not) and so belt size, grey hair and energy levels will be working against us. I hope that we all (me included) can muster enough energy to make this weekend something that, while worth talking about, should only be discussed in hushed voices. We’ll see, and I’ll do my best as a ringleader. I already suggested that we have a weekend-long dirty old man contest, and I think setting such goals is a good way to make these guys aspire to a higher result. (:

Incidentally, when I booked my ticket to go, I didn’t really I was booking my return on Superbowl Sunday. I think I’ll be flying while the second half is on, as I don’t land in LA until like 730PM. Its OK, I don’t really care much who wins the game (I like both QBs and that’s enough for me), but I wonder how full the flight back will be. It’s a direct, which was probably only available because….weell, what nut flies during the Superbowl.

This one, clearly.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Let you know how it went on the way back.

Grumps.

Airplane Bloggin’: Up In The Air Edition

Well, ok, so not necessarily the most specific title for a series called Airplane Bloggin’, but it is timely, no? I actually haven’t seen the movie so I don’t even really have a basis for any type of analogy. Hey, maybe I’ll get more hits on the site because of my use of Jason’s movie title.

We are on our way back from the Dances. Spent from Thursday night to this morning in Park City, and I have some observations.

1. We met with the writers from the next Slamdance horror winner. Cool guys (as well as good writers). We met with Brandon, head of the contest. Cool guy as well. Got a chilly reception (at best) from the boss, but that was expected. What can you do – I’m over it.
2. We had a place up on Woodside – and when I say up, I mean up. Woodside towers a few hundred feet over Main St. and the cabs couldn’t even get up the hill if it was snowing. A good amount of walking, and huffing and puffing, up the steps to our street, given the altitude as well. By the end though, it was fairly easy – I guess one’s body adjusts fairly well to the altitude in a short time.
3. I still have standards. Had a lay-up pickup yesterday at the gersh party at the Spur. Some drunken Salt Lake native. Physically appealing enough, but personality was a bit scary. I passed, even after she started making out with one of her girlfriends. (Guys, begin moaning wtf now).
4. I literally was in the same condo building as my friend, actress and writer Eleonore Hendricks and we knew it for three days and we didn’t manage to meet up though I sincerely believe both of us wanted to say hi.
5. The Indie movie scene is dying. That’s it for that.
6. I’m kind of over the whole Park City thing. I mean, I really like the place, geographically. But the hubbub of the festivals – I was so ready to get on our plane and go back home this morning. And this isn’t just because I was sleeping on one of the all-time worst pull-out couches in our condo living room, though that didn’t help. Thing felt like a bbq grill without the heat.
7. Agents (including sales agents) will always be agents. Scorpion and the Frog.
8. Adrienne Grenier is a nice guy, in a shaggy dog sort of way, and I mean that in a positive way. And he made a pretty good documentary.
9. Wilmer Valderama has a good handshake.
10. America Ferrara is even shorter then you though she was.
11. Ben Silverman is taller and even more hyper than you think he is.
12. Screaming at someone on the phone on Main Street at 2:30 Am is a good way to get frostbite.

That’s kinda it. E7 didn’t buy anything at the festival (though we might). We were negotiating two deals, one is going to close and the other one looks like it won’t. The best party I went to was for Dry Land. Gersh was runner up (and I also got several cute girls’ phone numbers). The worst party was Slamdances’ party at the Star Bar (too crowded, and hot, and bad ratio, and the weather outside made it such a slosh to get in). I only saw one movie. But I got to see some folks I rarely get to see, meet some new peeps, some who were very fun, and now I get to sleep in my own bed.

Grumps.

Airplane Bloggin’: Park City 2010 Edition

Airplane Bloggin’: Park City 2010 Edition

Off to Sundance and Slamdance and whatever dances are taking place this week in Park City. We took off a bit ago, and all I have to say is “thank god for valium.” The ride up and the first half hour? Not to exaggerate but awful bumpiness. Really bad. Quite frankly I cannot even remember my last smooth flight going east-west. They have all sucked.

First time going to festivals working for a distributor. This is, to be clear, not your independent producer’s film festival. This is three-four days of jammed packed screenings, meetings, drinks, coffees, massages (well maybe not). Moving a number of different agendas along, all the while dealing with multiple egos, hundreds of alternate agendas. All that stuff, actually, is business as usual.

Entertainment 7 has rented a condo right off main street, so we’re walking distance to most things, which is nice. Utah’s been dumped on with snow though, so we’ll see how long I last before buying a proper pair of boots (I have a pair of low cut Merrills I am wearings, and they’re all I have with me so far as shoes go).

I am in negotiation, wearing my biz affairs hat, in no less than three ongoing deals with three types of folks – and all that needs to continue to progress (or not) while we are on the road. I think in the next three days we can close two of these deals, and then, hopefully, I can get more focused on the movies I am producing with the Company. I don’t mind at all doing the legal stuff, but most of it can get behind me now, and I hope to spend more time over my next three months focused on making movies and not on making deals. Of course, the making of the deals permits the making of the movies.

A nice added bonus is that Ryan is flying in from NY. He’s crashing at our condo, so will get to see lots of him, presumably. He and Emilio enjoy each others company, and Ryan’s way better connected to the nightlife scene then I am, so should be very cool in addition to the mere fun of seeing him out here. Feels like eighty percent of the time we spend together we’re either in the club or a restaurant. Prolly end up to be the same story out there, lolz.

So we’ll talk to you later this weekend or when I fly back on Monday.

Grumpy O’Selznick.

PGA Noms.

LOS ANGELES (January 5, 2010) - The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the ten nominations for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures category that will advance in the voting process for the 21st Annual PGA Awards, which will take place on Sunday, January 24th at the Hollywood Palladium. The PGA also announced nominees in other categories including: the PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; the PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures; and the David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television.

The nominated films and programs are listed below in alphabetical order by category, along with producers. The producers' names listed for each nominated production are listed in alphabetical order and are not necessarily the proper order of credits:

Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures:

AVATAR (Fox)
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
DISTRICT 9 (Sony)
Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson
AN EDUCATION (Sony Classics)
Producers: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
THE HURT LOCKER (Summit)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Weinstein/Universal)
Producer: Lawrence Bender
INVICTUS (Warner Bros)
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Rob Lorenz, Lori McCreary , Mace Neufeld
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE (Lionsgate)
Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness
STAR TREK (Paramount)
Producers: J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof
UP (Disney)
Producer: Jonas Rivera
UP IN THE AIR (Paramount)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

9 (Focus)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
CORALINE (Focus)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
FANTASTIC MR. FOX (Fox)
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (Disney)
Producer: Peter Del Vecho
UP (Disney)
Producer: Jonas Rivera

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

BURMA VJ
Producer: Lise Lense-Moller
The COVE
Producers: Paula DuPre Pesman, Fisher Stevens
SERGIO
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television*:
GEORGIA O'KEEFFE
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
GREY GARDENS
Producers: David Coatsworth, Lucy Donnelly, Rachael Horovitz, Michael Sucsy
LITTLE DORRIT
Producers: Lisa Osborne, Anne Pivcevic
PRAYERS FOR BOBBY
Producers: Stanley M. Brooks, Damian Ganczewski, David Permut, Daniel Sladek, Chris Taaffe
THE PRISONER
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
TAKING CHANCE
Producers: Lori Keith Douglas, Ross Katz, Brad Krevoy, Cathy Wischner-Sola

*Special note: The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini series. The eligibility period for this category was January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009.

In November 2009, the PGA Awards announced the nominations for Television Series and Non-fiction categories.

Airplane Bloggin’ : 2010 and Back to LA

You know what really kind of pisses me off. Companies offering free this or free that, on terms so unclear or difficult to figure out that you basically don’t even want to risk trying it or bother in the first place.

Example one: Flying back and forth on Delta from LAX to MIA, there was an offer for free wi-fi for the first time that one used the new pay-wifi service Delta offers, called GoGo. You know why its called GoGo? No, neither do I.

Anyway, I saw a mention of this free offer on one of the Delta TV screens and didn’t catch the password. It was well into the first part of my trip to Miami, which was an overnight and I had great aspirations of sleeping. I think I may have even achieved them to a degree. In any event, due to the difficulty with the password being unavailable (one would think they would put it somewhere on the Delta website or something, or on GoGo’s site, but no) it seemed like using my one free trial during a long flight where I wanted to be out with the lights was not the best use of the trial. The ATL-MIA leg was short (90 minutes or so) so those legs in each direction again didn’t seem the best opportunity. I figured that I’d use it on the way from ATL back to LAX to catch up on emails, pass the time, explore Zangarmarsh (never mind). But I ended up taking an ambient on this flight, with the hope of sleeping through a decent portion of it. Hasn’t happened and so now, an hour and a half in, I am basically wide awake. There’s still that free trial, so why not. I pull out the laptop and try to log on.

Like last time I played with it for a little, it made no mention of the password, and provided no link to sign in as a free trial (I don’t know why). It also didn’t give any indication of when the free trial offer expired, though in one of the flight magazines there was a mention of “holiday season.’ Well, apparently the holiday season has completed during the weekend of New Year’s eve. I got onto a help (ya) chat with a GoGo employee who told me as much. Too late. Had they told me that from the first, perhaps I’d have given it the free try on the way to Miami. Now, I’ll not have the benefit, and they’ll have an issue getting a new customer who might not want to take it on faith that the connectoin is worth 13 bucks for a few hours. I guess I’d say that this story is unfinished, but at the moment, I find it somewhat aggravating. Now I am flying, cross country in a middle seat between two dudes (again), though the first leg I actually got an exit row, just by checking in online the night before. Very weird to end up with something that good.

But the trip itself? Hmmm. Yeah, that. It was a pretty basic week and change. As my brother and his wife were out of town in NYC, and my closest friend who typically does parties in Miami didn’t come down this year, I didn’t do a lot of nightlife. My associate producer David, from the movie My Brother, bought a 12,000 square foot penthouse on Miami Beach and I hung with him a few times, but that was pretty much it. We went out once with his gal and her friends but I left early, and we watched the football game last Sunday at the new refurbished Clevelander. Those were the primary “going out” highlights. I spent a bunch of time with my parents, much of it with us gathered around reading or doing out thing, and some more of that when Stephanie and her boys showed up. The weather was really only beach weather perhaps twice, so we did that both of those days, and we also went on a river ride out of an alligator farm that was quite tourist but pretty entertaining nonetheless and conveniently located near a very solid BBQ joint called the Pit. I was on the couch in the living room for the six or seven days Jake, Derek and Steph were in town (they got there three days after I did and left the day before), but my back is even mostly recovered by now.

In short, I didn’t even go out or make a wholehearted attempt on New Year’s Eve. Didn’t have a partner in crime and was not inclined to drop hundreds for a party where I’d know next to nobody. Writing it like that, wow, makes a lot of sense.

And now I am on ht way back to work and bills and the gym and the new apartment. It was time to go back. Was ready, despite how enticing I find the sea/sun combo in Miami. As my folks get older, these trips take on for me, a greater importance that a jaunt to a beach or a nightclub.

I live in Los Angeles now, for most of the year. With the new full time job, I will be neither in New York or Miami regulatly, That limits my interactions with my parents, and they are in good health but they aren’t getting younger. So each time is a half-life, if you will, of our time together until their gone. When you’re packing a bag full of boxer shorts and socks, it is that which gives you pause to consider what your priorities are and how you fit them all in the same basket. Its mostly why I fly across the country to see them. And it’s a very good reason, I don’t know how I am going to continue to fit all of these things in the same basket. I don’t even know if I am supposed to fit them. All I do know is that it feels like yet another pressure from another angle, something that needs doing, for good and valid reason, and even in the doing of it, it feels, as I fly back to LA with my father’s words “See you next year” ringing in my ears, insufficient. The effort isn’t enough for what its worth, and I end up feeling like I put effort into something that doesn’t go far enough to really matter.

OK. I am not writing airplane blogs on Ambien anymore. Didn’t know it had these emotional side effects. I just wanted to sleep, not write a treatise of observations about how I feel like I am failing at life. This plane ride is not nearly long enough for me to write that anyway, I’d need to fly to the moon.

That’s about all I have to say for now. The guys on either side of my seat are very much awake and I am going to choose not to make a spectacle of myself.

Talk soon.

Grumps.