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November 30, 2007

Sweenie & The Plasma Factory

There is a freaky embargo on Sweeney Todd, given that it had a junket, unofficial reviews are all over the place, it was reviewed by Harry Knowles a month ago, and I (and most of my colleagues) already know what dozens of people think of the film… but I’m not supposed to tell you.

What I can/will tell you now is that there are truly shocking elements to this film that are every bit as severe as you have heard… lots of paint-thick blood and bodies smashing into the “bake room” below Sweeney barber’s chair. Depp is still likely to win the Oscar ahead of the zealously artful Mr. Day-Lewis… though a shock win of old-school love by someone like George Clooney could emerge. And I think the movie could actually work for the Geek Boys, which has been the sell by Paramount for months now. Add the Gay Men’s Chorus, committed to musicals, and the Depp Posse, and you could see $50 million in the first holiday week. The question after that will be whether it becomes High School Musical of Blood for the teens and/or Oscar bait or a quickly dismissed piffle for the adults. I still think that the real mistake, as regards awards, was waiting so long to show and release the film. (Yes, I know… it wasn’t ready! That’s why you set delivery dates for directors, sir.)

I will say that the film plays a lot better on multiple viewings. The shock of the blood and smashing corpses is diminished, the singing is less energetically picked apart, the giant lump in Sasha Baron Cohen’s pants is less “WTF,” the whole teen storyline feels less out of place, and the story structure, for me, came into much clearer focus… the film felt shorter and more to the point. It is exactly the kind of movie you see once and kinda wonder… then see again and find things in… then throw in the DVD player one more time to check out one scene, and watch the entire film again, it finally sinking in.

This is a very, very hard movie to judge objectively as someone who knows and loves the show… both knowing and loving being key. Yes, we who love it all see it through the prism of what is and isn’t reflected from that stage show, including the singing performances. Yet when Alan Rickman forces out a warble of "Pretty Women" and Burton has him with his head facing to the ceiling, in Sweeney's chair, vulnerable to the world like an animal in restraints, sweet as he has ever been, it is one of the most beautiful images of Rickman I have ever seen on film. And knowing the show… the question of whether we fill in the gaps that have been left or overload the film with the burden of more story... it's just impossible to know. But like I wrote, my sense is that on additional views, it will get simpler to see the movie and not the show.

In any case, more to come… eventually.

Posted by poland at 08:53 AM | Comments (65)

November 29, 2007

Lunch With... Marion Cotillard

The star of La Vie en Rose talks about making the film.

Posted by poland at 11:00 PM | Comments (3)

Lunch With... Todd Haynes & Christine Vachon

How did I'm Not There come together? Find out from Todd Haynes and his producer (and producer to much of the indie community), the legendary Christine Vachon.

The conversation...

Posted by poland at 10:21 PM | Comments (1)

A New WGA Direction

While hopes for a brighter week in reality next week in the negotiations is being held out and Bryan Lourd kept breaking the press blackout that existed until tonight, WGA started laying out the next round of strategy for the strike.

"The Showrunners Strike," as the first month has been called, is pretty much over. The 10 or so showrunners who crossed lines are now done with whatever was pending. Television is as dead as it's going to get until the strike ends.

The sense inside the union is that hopes for a quick end to the strike are now over. The very real threat that this strike will last until SAG negotiations are done is quickly becoming a consensus opinion. Underlying all of this is the question of when the other side wants the strike to end, because right now, there is little being offered.

The next phase is trying to have a direct effect on the movies that are currently in production... especially showrunner JJ Abrams' feature, Star Trek. (Apparently, Eastwood's The Changeling, another prime target, is hidden well enough behind studio walls that the effort to disrupt the show has been set aside.)

There are around 100 scripts that are currently considered within range of being produced at the studios in the near future. Projects do continue to fall through because "the scripts are not ready," but whether actors are actually supporting the strike of being self-preserving, using the strike as cover for dropping out of iffy projects, is unclear.

Meanwhile, The Committee of Hyphenates, the 1400 or so writer-directors who are in both WGA and DGA, are starting a serious push to get DGA to join in real support of the WGA, as SAG has done.

And as far as the press goes, there is growing sentiment amongst the ranks that the media is being effectively played by - get this - being too encouraging, therefore crushing morale when things like this week it's-gonna-happen talk or the notion that there would be real Teamster support turns out to be a dead end of nothing new. Guild members are being told not to trust any media gossip... even/especially if it makes them happy.

Personally, my favorite new adjustment by WGA is offering a set dollar amount for how little the union demands would cost the industry... just over $50 million a year. If the AMPTP had a sense of humor - a nasty one - they would just offer the union the $150 million over the three year contract as a flat rate addition to the current contract to change nothing. And if WGA had a sense of humor, they would offer to take the offer of an annual flat $250 per episode for free hourlong show streaming by making it for every 100,000 downloads... which is still only a quarter of a cent per view, which is about what the rate is for network reruns.

Every day I see the whole thing as more like another more familiar battleground... red vs blue... Democrat vs Republican. The WGA seems to be endlessly interested in talking about being righteous. And the money men just keep being about money... maybe it's not moral high ground, but it is absolutely consistent and quantifiable. The problem is, in a war of public opinion, the Republicans won, against all logic, the last two presidential races.

Michael Moore is doing a quick stop in L.A. soon... maybe he can shake things up.

Posted by poland at 10:09 PM | Comments (10)

Pointing North - The Golden Compass Review

How much do I really have to say about The Golden Compass?

I liked it.

I don’t know how much deeper I need to get into the thing.

The story takes a while to get rolling, with a whole lot of what is not being said being dead obvious to pretty much anyone who has experience reading the tea leaves of dramas, professionally or otherwise. But for me, the film was kind of a primer for a series that I will be happy to watch.

I really liked Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua. I like her daemon. The kid is charismatic in a real little movie star way. And my sense from this film, not having read the books, is that her journey is going to lead somewhere really interesting. Whereas Harry Potter always feels to me like we are going into each film to learn more about Harry’s story, this film strikes me as a series for young and old, heading toward some greater truths about human beings.

It struck me as interesting that I felt the weakest elements of the film were the grandest… big airships and landscapes announced with a blare of orchestral pomp. It was as though someone was singing along to these BIG MOMENTS in my head… “We want to be Lord of The Riiiiiiings… Please let us be Lord of the Riiiiings.” The Golden Compass is not Lord of the Rings. It’s not being nominated for Best Picture this year. (Who knows what is to come with future titles?) But in many ways, it does what it does well as well as any of the Rings pictures or other franchises. Like the first Star Wars set, it is about the characters before it is about the effects.

One effect that really does work and becomes second nature – though I am sure it was a nightmare – is the Daemons. After 20 minutes or so, seeing them with their humans is as natural as seeing a costume element. And they are kinda wonderful. The idea that they are the id of the individual – I guess that’s the idea – fills the screen with all kinds of subtext, which will make multiple viewings a richer experience. Some of the Daemon action is text, not subtext. But a lot of it won’t be read the first time through and will make more sense in perspective.

Chris Weitz, who bailed out initially when he decided he wasn’t ready to direct such a big, visual film, was right. But the humanity of Weitz, which he has shown in his other films, overcome a lot of his limitations as a visualist. So I am happy he took it on and look forward to an even more skilled director taking on future editions of the story. Think of what Cuaron did in the Potter series and you get the idea. Weitz delivered the intimacy, but Cuaron had the visual imagination to place that feeling into a huge picture.

I wish there was more of Daniel Craig, who really has a tiny role here… but he is promised as a more significant character next time around. Nicole Kidman is good, but intentionally stiff – her Daemon delivers all of the passion she is too tight to exhibit – and she is a little odd to watch in stiff mode. I am not of the group that thinks she has lost expression in real life, having seen her up close and pretty normal looking as well as in movies like Margot At The Wedding. But here, it is her character and it’s a little Madame Tussaud.

Nice to see Derek Jacobi and Tom Courtenay and Sam Elliot. Nice to hear Ian McKellan and Ian McShane.

New Line should be happy with what they’ve got. It’s probably not going to be an $800 million-plus an episode franchise, but $500 million worldwide per film seems like a reasonable expectation… and perhaps it will be more. I like Rings a whole lot, though not fanatically, and found Narnia to be for 8-year-olds... this one lives right in between for me, though it could well grow into something greater. I look forward to the next film.

Posted by poland at 09:55 PM | Comments (13)

The Theater Ate My Show!

Ever hear someone talk about a theater actor “playing to the back row?” Last night, playing to the back row only reached the front row on Broadway.

Almost exactly three months after having visited Mel Brooks’ new musical of an old movie, Young Frankenstein, in Seattle, we returned to the show on Broadway to see what changes had or had not been made. Expectations were that there would be minimal adjusting, given that a few who have seen it in both venues indicated that Mr. Brooks, Mr. Meehan (his co-writer on the book), and director Susan Stroman had not changed much from Seattle. More striking were the pans of the show coming from various corners of erudite New York.

The rough reality is… the critics are not insane or recklessly brutal. The show, which I thought was at about 80%/85% in Seattle has actually been improved in some areas. But what critics in NY could not have known, having not been to Seattle, is that the problem with Young Frankenstein is not so much the show… it’s the theater.

The rest...

Posted by poland at 02:35 PM | Comments (2)

Lunch With... The Actors Of The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

Meet Mathieu Amalric, Marie-Josée Croze, Emmanuelle Seigner, Max Von Sydow, and their director, Julian Schnabel as they discuss making this film together.

Here's the conversation...

Posted by poland at 11:23 AM | Comments (3)

Lunch With... The Diving Bell & The Butterfly Production Team

Meet screenwriter Ronald Harwood, director Julian Schnabel, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, and producer Jon Kilik, the team behind the scenes of The Diving Bell & The Butterfly as they discuss the evolution of the project, how it was shot, and how things fell together.

Here's the 30 minute conversation...

(Coming tomorrow... those who are on camera in the film.)

Posted by poland at 01:41 AM | Comments (0)

November 28, 2007

One Strike Down

Not the one most of you were hoping for...

But at the end of Young Frankenstein tonight, Roger Bart announced that the Broadway strike was over.

Ironically, tonight's performance had the worst stagehand glitches of any professsional show I have ever seen. However, on the east coast, on stage, things should be back to normal by Friday night.

Posted by poland at 07:58 PM | Comments (1)

No Variety For Young Men

Charlie Koones' exit from Variety is only surprising in that he lost the battle for the soul of Reed Business. It is more than a little ironic that the new guy is being sold as a web pro, when Charlie Koones has been pushing hard for the web-based future of Variety and associated properties.

My one daliance with Variety was over one such venture. The trouble, I found, was insane expectations for what the web could mean to the paper. It wasn't enough that Variety be the first, aside from the WSJ (and now, increasingly, the NYT) to build a great web success off of a print business. They were envisioning a web success of significantly bigger levels than any Reed brand had ever achieved, online or off.

Charlie was fighting, according to insiders, Peter Bart's old-schoolism a lot in the last year, building a web presence over Bart's not-dead body. It is possible that "the new guy" will move Variety forward in an way that suits the product.

Charlie Koones, by the view of everyone I have ever known and respected, a major builder. And Old Media is still, for the most part, crawling. If Reed was not willing to push it, it is very easy to see why Koones wanted to head into them thar hills while the gold rush is still on. And while it's not what it was, make no mistake... It's still on.

Posted by poland at 03:45 PM | Comments (1)

November 27, 2007

An Open Letter To Roger Ebert from Jeff Lipsky

Dear David,

As I sit at my desk, dressed to the eight-and-a-halves in anticipation of this evening’s Gotham Awards, I thought I’d pen a few very personal thoughts about Roger, in response to the interview with him published this morning on MCN.

I don’t know who is scheduled to introduce Mr. Ebert this evening but I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts it won’t be Louis Malle (a certainty) or Steve James, yet these might be the last two filmmakers whose “independent” films were successfully championed by Mr. Ebert. That’s not to suggest that Roger’s powers of observation, his passion for persuasion, or his love of superior independent films has waned with time or with his health travails. It’s my opinion, an opinion expressed by me quite openly at an IFC-hosted Cannes Film Festival dinner in the mid-90s, that nothing Roger writes in the Chicago Sun-Times or articulates on his Disney syndicated television show boasts the impact, the immediacy, or the efficacy of his (and the late Gene Siskel’s) voice on his erstwhile groundbreaking PBS program, addressing a highly educated, well-moneyed audience of boomers, an audience who grew up when Roger did, whose unquenchable thirst for groundbreaking motion pictures remains unquenchable, even today.

I asked Michelle Byrd a few weeks back if I could tell this story to the Gotham audience tonight. She said no, so here it is, for all the world to hear. In 1979 I assumed the reins as head of distribution for New Yorker Films. A year or so later my boss, Dan Talbot, informed me he’d made a deal to distribute his pal Louis Malle’s new, highly unusual but wildly unstylized film “My Dinner With Andre.” When I finally got to see the film I considered it little more than an exercise in oratory overkill by two extremely articulate denizens of New York’s avant-guard stage scene. But, professional that I was, I dug in my heels and, along with my very talented colleagues on W. 61st Street, set out to create a highly stylized way of selling the film to the masses. We failed. It screened at the 1981 New York Film Festival and was met with boos and walk-outs. It opened on a Saturday at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas which was booked and co-owned by Talbot. Still photography was non-existent so our key art was undistinguished and our trailer was nothing to write home about. The film’s producer, George George (who sadly passed away just last week), recruited stellar talent (Paul Simon, Joseph Papp, Jill Clayburgh) and was instrumental in working with me to produce wildly impressive radio spots, but we could scarcely afford the P&A to air them.

The initial reviews were positive but far from stellar. Initial business was moribund. The film opened in New York to well under $10,000 (at, if I recall correctly, about a $6 ticket price) and after week two Dan was ready to cry uncle. Only a last minute summit at our offices, hastily coordinated by George, attended by Dan, myself, George, Wally and Andre (Louis Malle never once participated in the publicity), forestalled what had been deemed the inevitable, premature end of the talkfest after a mere three weeks of play. That’s when, quite unexpectedly, “My Dinner With Andre” was reviewed by Roger and Gene, in mid-October. Essentially, they both called it the Best Picture of the Year, not the best independent film, the Best Picture, bar none. They sung the same refrain a week or two later, and made it official on their 10 Best episode in late December. The morning after they first reviewed the film, and without the benefit of a sou’s worth of additional advertising, the grosses, nationwide, increased by 300% (moving up from a $5,670 week at the now defunct Gateway in San Francisco to $13,359 a week later, from a $8,409 week at the now-defunct Sandburg in Chicago to $18,073). The film ran in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas for 54 weeks. On its final day, at my invitation, Roger and Gene flew in from Chicago to moderate a post-screening Q&A after the film’s last performance, with Wally and Andre. Long before advance ticket sales came into vogue that Thursday show sold out at 5 PM. Approximately three hundred people were turned away…after 54 weeks. It was an evening for the ages (I still have an audio cassette – remember those – of the panel discussion).

Everything that goes around comes around. Two years ago my second feature as writer/director, “Flannel Pajamas,” was reviewed by Roger at the Sundance Film Festival where it was a Dramatic Competition selection. About the movie Roger said, “I have seen one of the wisest films I can remember about love and human intimacy. It is a film of integrity and truth, acted fearlessly, written and directed with quiet, implacable skill. I will not forget it.” Last year I distributed a wonderful documentary that Steve James brilliantly (co)edited, “The War Tapes.”

I’ve known Roger for over two decades. He references our relationship during one of the DVD extras on Mark Moskowitz’s “Stone Reader,” another inspiring recent film I distributed. At that Cannes luncheon I challenged Roger to return to PBS to reclaim the mantle of influence, potency, and authority which he once held. I opined that Disney made him rich so it was time to leave for greener postures, intellectually speaking. But just as Alex Rodriguez remains with the Yankees, Roger remains with Disney and every independent filmmaker in the world is poorer for that. Roger may be speechless, but unlike the striking screenwriters across our land, he still wields his pen with inerrant flair, in a style that fires and fuses the imagination of filmmakers, readers, and writers across the universe. Roger, I love you. I salute you. I hope to remain friends with you for at least another quarter-century. Congratulations, now and always.

Jeff Lipsky
Co-founder October Films, Lot 47 Films

Posted by poland at 10:42 AM | Comments (24)

I've Got Spirit, How About You?

A rather odd list from the Indie Spirit crew this year. No one can really accuse the group of pandering to celebrity with its version of Best Picture…

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I’m Not There
Juno
A Mighty Heart
Paranoid Park

Or maybe it can.

Does anyone other than this nominating comittee really think A Mighty Heart belongs on this list over The Savages (nominated for Screenplay, Director, Actor, and Cinematography) or Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead or Rescue Dawn or Lust, Caution?

Can you say Angelina Jolie?

But hey, at least they didn’t jury-rig a more expensive film like There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men or Atonement or Into The Wild into the running. On the other hand… the issue of “what is an independent film?” continues with this list, the argument turned on its head, 3 of the 4 of the aforementioned in this graph surely being amongst the Top 7 or 8 indie-minded films of the year.

I think it’s great that ISP is embracing a movie like Paranoid Park, which is barely scheduled for American release, but does this list really represent “Independent Cinema” 2007?

And I have argued the other side of this for years. I have objected as the “indie” budget ceiling has risen to $20 million. But if four of your five BP nominees are going to be films with celebrity appeal and Dependent backing, the whole exercise seems like a half measure. As I have been suggesting for years, why not make a split category for films, with unlimited budgets and under $8 million? That way the big boys can slug it out for the expensive award, FIND gets all the celebrity it can swallow, and smaller, truly undersupported films can get championed with a real award.

All that said, it is kind of a relief that this could well be the year where “wins on Saturday, loses on Sunday” is not the case, since there is a very good chance that none of these ISA nominees will be nominated for Best Picture.

Still, would any film get a real benefit – non-ego – from winning other than Paranoid Park? Nope. And really, the Diving Bell nomination is a bit of a disaster for anyone still holding hope that the film will be Oscar nominated. This is a classic “it’s been loved” situation. Most have long given up on the magnificent I’m Not There getting an Oscar nod in BP. And Juno… well, that is the only one with a chance and the only one that ISPs won’t taint in any way. Still, I would still say that Oscar is a real longshot given the nature of the film.

Also... how did The Diving Bell & The Butterfly get out of the "foreign language" trap? If that's in, where is La Vie En Rose? For that matter, where is Lars & The Real Girl? (Rescue Dawn was also released by MGM.) And was Away From Her punished for being from Canada? (Once is nominated as a "foreign film," although in English.)

Anyway… the doc nominations are much, much smarter… not only than the feature list, but than the Oscar short list. The Monastery is the only film I haven’t seen in the group and the rest are all most deserving.

Crazy Love
Lake of Fire
Manufactured Landscapes
The Monastery
The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

Posted by poland at 10:10 AM | Comments (12)

Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson’s War is a perfect fit with this year’s award season. It is a wonderful, misshaped, inspired, insipid mess of a good movie.

The film has been cut, re-cut, re-shot, re-cut, etc… but that is pretty much Mike Nichols’ way of doing things on his best and worst films. But Charlie Wilson’s War feels more schizophrenic than any Nichols film I can recall. There are worse films in his filmography, definitely. Like I wrote… I like the movie. But never have I felt so much like Nichols had no idea of what exact tone he was after, from start to finish.

It’s a terrific story. Cynical, disconnected politician who drinks, drugs, and skirts gets turned into an aggressive do-gooder who really changes the world by pushing the U.S. into a covert war against the Russians. But in today’s political climate, the notion of funding a covert war in the Middle East - one which historically, by many news organizations’ perspectives, would later lead to radicalized young men and the instability that would foster the dominance in the country of the Taleban and al-Qaeda – is a heroic act… well, it’s a little too friendly to the very unpopular current President of the United States.

The rest...

Posted by poland at 12:00 AM | Comments (21)

November 26, 2007

By Request: The No Country For Old Men Thread

This is a SPOILER comment thread for No Country... it has been asked for, discussed, avoided, and fought about...

If you don't want the ending SPOILED, stay out of the thread. You are warned!!1

Posted by poland at 11:08 PM | Comments (53)

Paul Dano, Off-Broadway

Things We Want is the new show from Jonathan Marc Sherman, author of more than a half dozen off-Broadway shows. Having not seen any of the other work, it is hard to put this work into context, other than to say that you can feel from the play that it is a direct descendent of David Rabe’s Hurlyburly… for better and for worse.

The 4-person show, directed by Ethan Hawke, screams out for 4 tour de force performances, the depth of story and subtext no deeper than the individual turns of each character. This show will be very popular in acting classes, since each actor gets a big speech or two that is built to bring down the house. Unfortunately, only one performance has that effect, Peter Dinklage’s. He is stellar.

The show presents three brothers. There is Dinklage, Paul Dano (of Little Miss Sunshine and breaking out for many critics in There Will Be Blood), and Josh Hamilton, who is probably best known for his turn in Kicking & Screaming (the indie one) and for various other indie turns. The conceit is that Dano, as Charlie, returns home to the apartment he owns with his brothers… inherited when their mother followed their father (a few years later) out of the very same window that still dominates the living room. He is distraught over a lost love… or lust… or whatever. One brother (Sty, played by Dinklage) is a funny drunk, spending great effort to find and re-find his blanket and his Jack Daniels bottle (or are they the same?). The third (Teddy, played by Hamilton) is Mr. Positivity, caught up to his intestines with a self-help money-making guru.

Eventually joining this trio, rounding out the cast, is Zoe Kazan, as Stella, who Sty happens to know from his much misused 12 step group.

The rest...

Posted by poland at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

On Blanchett

Ah, the joy of the awards season...

The issue of Ms. Blanchett's intended placement in I'm Not There is at least one step more in the air than suggested to me by a very close source this weekend. In other words, I got played a little... and I was not as careful as I should have been.

At this point, things may well go that way. But frankly, the media blowback coming out of the post the other day is turning heads in various camps and where things land are in play once again.

This much is clear... Ms Blanchett's turn in I'm Not There is one of the five best performances on the year in ALL categories, male or female or dog or cat, if you were going to pick five. It is easily the current crowning achievement of her career. Cotillard, Day-Lewis, and Bardem are, to my eye, the other undeniables... not just great performances (like Swinton, Page, Wilkinson, Jones, Hoffman, Linney, Depp, Hirsch, etc, etc, etc) but singular events.

But whoever said that the political race of award season is exclusively or even primarily about the work?

Posted by poland at 01:17 PM | Comments (20)

BYOB - November 26

Running around New York today... hoping that the Broadway strike ends so I can see Brian Cox in Tom Stoppard's Rock-n-Roll tomorrow night. If not, The Gothams could await!

Here is some room for y'all to stretch.

Posted by poland at 09:25 AM | Comments (39)

Sunday Night's WGA Missive

To My Fellow Members,

I hope you all had an opportunity to enjoy Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. Having spent part of that time responding to over 400 e-mails from members, I must once again state how impressed I am with the level of involvement and engagement of our membership. It is both inspiring and invigorating for Guild leadership to feel that collective strength and let me reiterate how grateful we are for it.

As you know, tomorrow we return to the bargaining table with the AMPTP. We do so with a cautious optimism born of the sense that our strike has had a direct impact on our employers but fully aware that, until we have achieved our goal of a good contract, our struggle will continue.

Be aware that there will be a news blackout during this bargaining period. We agreed to this on a limited basis so that a deal could be made without "negotiating in the press." As such, there will be no official Guild or Negotiating Committee statements made about the content of each day's negotiation sessions. Although this will by no means keep writers from discussing the issues in any public or private forum, I must once again implore you not to rely on any information unless it comes from a Guild source. It is my intention to send another member e-mail the moment the blackout is lifted or if the parties mutually agree to an update. Thank you in advance for your patience and indulgence.

Thank you also for your continued dedication to our daily picketing schedule. In consultation with our strike captains, and pursuant to fewer TV and film projects in production, we are reducing the minimum hours of member strike support from 20 hours to 12 hours a week, starting tomorrow. Scheduled picketing of studios will take place from Mondays through Thursdays with Fridays reserved for meetings and other special events. The new hours for each location are available here.

Let me conclude by restating the continued importance of picketing. Aside from being the most visible form of business disruption for our industry, picket lines have become focal points for our Guild community. They are a very public place where writers, our sister guild and union members, area businesses, fans, politicians, and even the general public can show support and solidarity. This unprecedented support and solidarity no doubt provoked the resumption of negotiations tomorrow and it will ultimately lead to a successful resolution. We're all in this together.

Best,

Patric M. Verrone
President, WGA West


Strike Information

WGAW members: if you have NOT been contacted before Monday morning by your Strike Captain with your shift and location, report to a either a morning shift or afternoon shift at a picket line location below. Please be sure to sign in.

Picketing Locations and Schedule - Week 4

CBS RADFORD STUDIOS
Picketing Shifts: 6am-3pm (6-9, 9-12, 12-3)
4024 Radford Avenue
Studio City, CA 91604
Meeting Point: In front of Main Gate on Radford Ave.
Parking Option: Street parking around site.

CBS TELEVISION CITY
Picketing Shifts: 8am-2pm (8-11, 11-2)
7800 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Meeting Point: Genesee Ave Gate
Parking Option: Streets North of Beverly Blvd or Grove Parking Structure

DISNEY STUDIOS
Picketing Shifts: 8am-2pm (8-11, 11-2)
500 S Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California 91521
Meeting Point: Meet west of the main gate on Alameda
Parking Option: Neighborhood streets east of Disney (Parkside Dr.)

FOX STUDIOS
Picketing Shifts: 5:30am-2pm (5:30-8, 8-11, 11-2)
10201 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Meeting Point: Main Gate on Motor Ave. & Pico Blvd.
Parking Option: On Motor Ave near Cheviot Recreation Center or Century City Mall. Cheviot Hills Recreational Center Parking Lot, off Motor Ave (LA Parks and Rec) Walkable to Fox Lot.

NBC BURBANK
Picketing Shifts: 7am-4pm (7-10, 10-1, 1-4)
3000 W Alameda Ave
Burbank, CA
Meeting Point: Under the Johnny Carson sign - in the park
Parking Option: Street parking on California

PARAMOUNT STUDIOS / RALEIGH STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD
Picketing Shifts: 5:30am-3pm (5:30-8:45, 8:45-12, 12-3) - *check near date for final confirmation
5555 Melrose Avenue & 5300 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038 Meeting Point: Windsor Gate
Parking Option: Streets south of Melrose

SONY PICTURES STUDIOS
Picketing Shifts: 6am-3pm (6-9, 9-12, 12-3)
10202 W. Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
Meeting Point: Gate 5--Main Gate
Parking Option: Streets SW Corner of Studio (Culver & Overland). Culver City veterans park (across the Street From Sony Studios (Walking Distance) over 200 Parking spaces in Public Park Lot)

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Picketing Shifts: 6am-3pm (6-9, 9-12, 12-3)
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608
Meeting Point: Meet at the Metro stop on Lankershim & Campo de Cahuenga (NW corner)

WARNER BROS. STUDIOS
Picketing Shifts: 5am-5pm (5-8, 8-11, 11-2, 2-5)
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91522
Meeting Place: Gate 2-3 on Olive
Parking Option: Street parking around studio

Posted by poland at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)

November 25, 2007

Box Office

There is plenty of reason to be happy for Disney and Enchanted this weekend, but let's not lose perspective. Like Memorial Day weekend, the strongest players have been released the weekend BEFORE the holiday for years now. Harry Potter, Bond, National Treasure, and Happy Feet, in recent years, have marked the trend. Disney is really the only company that continues to use that weekend and not the weekend before as its big launchpad.

So... a great opening. But the world changing tone of some coverage requires at least one or two more weekends to become any kind of reality at all. That said, the film looks a lot more like 101 Dalmatians than Flubber, which is about where I saw it headed.

And This Christmas proves, yet again, that Sony knows how to work the niches better than anyone. Props go to Lionsgate for jumping into the Tyler Perry business, but $22 million opening Stomp The Yard, $20 million for White Chicks and Guess Who, and $16 million for You Got Served set this up. And the trick of this opening was a combination of daring as far as the release date and crossover, in terms of finding a black adult audience - like Perry's - for this film and not just serving the kids.

Posted by poland at 09:20 AM | Comments (35)

A Little Less Support In Search Of More

There is good news for the Marisa Tomeis (Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead) Amy Ryans (Gone Baby Gone), Jennifer Jason Leighs (Margot At The Wedding), Kate Winslets (Romance & Cigarettes), Emily Mortimers (Lars), Saoirse Ronans (Atonement), Ruby Dees, and other to-the-edge hopefuls in the race for Best Supporting Actress. After much discussions – weeks of discussion – and the flop of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the decision has been made to put Cate Blanchett into Best Actress for I'm Not There and not in Supporting.

The one actress who should least like to hear this is Marion Cotillard, who gives the other great transformative performance of 2007 in La Vie En Rose, but who is not quite as Academy-friendly. The question for both of these actresses and their performances is whether, for The Globes, they belong in Musical or Drama. Both films have a lot of music, but neither is a traditional musical in any way, and neither actress sings in their role… which didn’t exactly hurt Jamie Foxx in Ray.

Posted by poland at 08:49 AM | Comments (30)

November 23, 2007

Stuck In The Middle (East) With You

There is an excellent film out there suffering from a publicity problem.

The problem is that it is the Israeli nominee for Best Foreign Language Oscar and all the attention is being paid to the film that was disqualified – fairly or otherwise – from that position, The Band’s Visit.

I don’t want to get into why The Band’s Visit was disqualified, other than to say that it was absurd in process. Some have accused the makers of the new nominee of being behind the effort to DQ the other film. I don’t know. And I don’t really care. The Band’s Visit is in the able hands of Michael Barker and Tom Bernard. They love the movie. Audiences at festivals have loved the movie. It will have its day in the sun.

But the film I am writing about today is not The Band’s Visit, but Beaufort.

Beaufort. Sounds kinda French, huh?

Beaufort is the name of an Israeli army outpost at The Beaufort Castle, a crusader fort in Lebanon, that was held until the very last moments of the Israeli occupation back in 2000. The story centers around one soldier, a 22-year-old commander named Liraz Liberti. But it really is a story, like so many great war stories, about the humanity of the soldiers.

Joseph Cedar, whose first two films, Time of Favor and Campfire, were also nominated to represent Israel in the Best Foreign Language Film race, continues to get better as a filmmaker. In Beaufort, he takes strokes from many directing masters and makes a film that, except for language, would be a powerful standout in any country’s film output. There is more than a little of Kubrick’s Paths of Glory here, as the story focuses on the men in the trenches – here, bunkers – and their anticipation of what they face. There is a touch of Altman, in the darkest moments of M*A*S*H, as well as in those sardonically dry camp announcements, which in Beaufort come down to, “Incoming, incoming!” and “Impact, impact.” There is a bit of Ridley Scott from the opening title sequence, as the claustrophobic spaces that the men run through like rats in cages are a naturalistic combination of the imagery from Alien, as well as Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. And the list continues from there...

The movie, about which I don’t want to say too much in fear of giving away its secrets, is set at the very end of the Lebanese occupation after 18 years of fighting and controversy. Being stuck up there is both and honor and an embarrassment. Some ache to leave, some ache for more serious duty. But the job of the soldier is to follow orders to the best of their ability. And heroes and cowards can be found in any corner of a war zone.

The star of the film is 23-year-old Oshri Cohen, a visual combo of Jason Patric and Hayden Christensen. He plays the highest-ranking officer in the fort, at 22 almost expected to be weak – whether that weakness shows up as indecision or overzealousness - but determined to do the right thing, no matter what it is or what its context. It is a tremendous performance that will have American filmmakers trying to bring him over here in a hurry.

The story of what will be, inevitably, a retreat, has all the angst of worn out warriors stuck somewhere that makes no sense. It is all highlighted by the fact that in Israel, military service is very much a way of life. It is not a choice. Everyone, male and female, serves within age boundaries. But it is also a fine film for Americans in the Iraq era because of the ambivalence of many of the soldiers about the assignment. And in the end, war is war, dead is dead, and honor has its own context.

Beaufort’s road to Oscar attention may be controversial, but it would really be a shame for this film (distribution rights held by tiny Kino International in the US), to get overlooked in the discussion because of how it landed here. I was mixed positive on Cedar’s Campfire, a movie with some terrific performances but a tendency to get stuck in its own head. But this one, after just one viewing, really sticks with me. I have thought of it daily since screening it. And I expect to see it again and encourage others to visit it with blinders to the political football it has become. Beaufort is one of those examples of a foreign film that would really have been lost in America if it wasn’t for Oscar and that we would all been less for having missed.

Posted by poland at 05:07 PM | Comments (4)

BYOB - Post-Thanksgiving

Still flying about... but the weather in Bermuda was lovely and NY, upcoming, is cold and wet, so I gather... still, quite a lot to be thankful for...

Here's room to stretch out. I don't think we'll be obsessing on box office on MCN until Saturday, so feel free to start here...

Posted by poland at 11:37 AM | Comments (29)

The First Celebrity Ad Campaign For A Strike

The WGA continues to pursue public opinion for a strike, seemingly uninterested in making this a fight about the actual issues that are on the table. I honor those involved with this effort for their effort and passion in a good cause, but I have to wonder how any of this can change public opinion.

Writers are a class of the industry that has, after years of being told to, such low self-esteem that it is the only group I can imagine that feels that their first effort must be to let people know they exist. Of course actors need words to speak.

How about a spot where Sean Penn, screenwriter, is talking to Jeff Garlin, screenwriter, and saying, "So I get paid a 1.2% residual when my movie shows on HBO, I get paid $1.2% when my movie gets played on cable television, and while studios are making much more profit when they sell DVDs, I only get .4%? And now, those idiots want to pay that same junky rate when they stream my film on the internet, which is already more profitable than DVD because of how little it costs to deliver?" Garlin can't think of a word to say... Speechless.

I'm not trying to write ads for the WGA. They are much more talented than I. But there are real arguments to be made - like this whole strike is about $500 million a year max in a business with over $125 billion in revenues - and as much as people love the group wank, it was making me chafe from Day One.

Holly Hunter
Paula Prentiss/Dick Benjamin
Sean Penn
Jeff Garlin
The Cast of Ugly Betty
Kate Beckinsale & David Schwimmer

Posted by poland at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

Clarification On Once Song Eligibility

From one of the film's publicists -

"To clarify the eligibility of Falling Slowly as I noticed some posts on your blog - the academy rules say a song must be recorded for use in the film prior to any other usage - Falling Slowly was written by Glen Hansard for Once and the film was shot in January 2006. Unsure of whether Once would ever find a distributor or much less have a soundtrack, Glen and Marketa decided to release The Swell Season in Sept 2006 and that album has 4 songs on it that were also in Once. All the songs were recorded expressly for use in the film, but then used later on their album. Luckily, everything changed for them when Fox Searchlight acquired the film at Sundance 2007 and made it into this year's indie success."

And while a publicist is a publicist, you should know that situations like this are cleared with The Academy by studios as the process goes along, so I doubt any of this is just a defensive position. I'm sure that if this is being written for publication, that they have been cleared by The Academy on the issue.

Posted by poland at 10:58 AM | Comments (9)

November 22, 2007

Thanks

I am still thankful for the work of filmmakers. That is the redemption of This Thing We Do. So long as Julian Schnabel is out there making art films in French that Miramax is thrilled to be selling, I am thankful. So long as a script like Nancy Oliver’s for Lars and the Real Girl is out there getting made, even when the financier kinda knows that it’s going to be a hard sell, but Gillespie and Gosling and Mortimer and Schneider and Clarkson and the rest of the team make a move with a threat of sexuality into a true Capra/Sturges classic, I am thankful. So long as Tony Gilroy and George Clooney can use Bourne and Ocean’s to vault a Clooney/Swinton/Wilkinson film with Gilroy doing his best Chayefsky imitation into getting made, I am thankful.

This has been such an unusual year for film. It seems like eons ago when we were being underwhelmed by the four biggest movies of the year – four of the biggest movies ever – while finding the delights of summer in Ratatouille and Superbad and Hairspray, the three most underestimated hits going into release. (Watch as someone comments - as this runs on The Hot Blog for comments- that Hairspray didn’t gross as much as Wedding Crashers while refusing to admit that the film grossed multiples of what they expected or still tarnishing The Rat for not being as big a licensing smash as Cars, albeit a superior film in every way… still trying to tarnish great success.)

And now, in the fall, we survived the Sept/Oct of rationalization for the film/marketing failures of the early awards season before swinging into a season that, indeed, has no frontrunner… but also happens to have more real quality to choose from than we’ve had in years. And for all of the indie/studio wordsmanship, most of it is funded by major studios… the same major studios that are forcing a WGA strike over very little actual money in the scheme of things.

The rest...

Posted by poland at 07:33 AM | Comments (9)

Lunch With... Keri Russell & Kirsten Sheridan

And a month of lunches...
Amy Adams | Hal Holbrook | WGA Strike Chat 1 | WGA Strike Chat 2 | Mira Nair, Irfan Khan, Tabu & Sooni Taraporevala | Frank Langella | Javier Bardem & Josh Brolin | Ryan Gosling & Craig Gillespie | Emily Mortimer & Patricia Clarkson | David Cronenberg | Ang Lee | Tony Gilroy | Nikki Blonsky & Elijah Wood | Sarah Polley | Michael Giacchino

And coming soon... Phillip Bosco, Todd Haynes & Christine Vachon, Emile Hirsch, Sidney Lumet, John Sayles, John Turturro, the cast & production team behind The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, and a bunch more in the month to come...

Posted by poland at 07:18 AM | Comments (2)

November 21, 2007

Lumet Signs 3 Picture Deal

Another rather interesting e-mail...

Michael Cerenzie, producer of the awards favorite Before The Devil Knows You Are Dead, and producing partner Paul Parmarr today announced they have inked a three picture deal with acclaimed US director Sidney Lumet.

The first of the three movies will be Getting Out, which will start production in NYC in January 2008, and will unite the trio of Cerenzie, Lumet and Parmar.

Deal comes on the verge of the re-release of 12 Angry Men (shot 50yrs ago) and as Lumet receives the LA Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award thirty-one years after he took the organization's first two directing awards.

Posted by poland at 09:28 AM | Comments (11)

New Idea

This came via e-mail with a 5mg attachment that I can't recreate on the blog. But interesting...

November 20, 2007

Dear Broadcast Film Critic member,

We are pleased to send you a downloadable MP3 of “Falling Slowly” from the film ONCE for your listening pleasure. The film features a collection of 10 original songs written and performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova and this song is especially unforgettable.

In addition to winning the World Cinema Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and being one of the best reviewed movies of the year, the story of ONCE has also been a marvelous Cinderella story for director John Carney and the film’s two stars, Hansard (front man of the Irish rock group The Frames) and newcomer Irglova (who makes her screen debut in the film). ONCE reinvents the contemporary movie musical by letting the songs tell the story.

We hope you will take a few minutes to re-live the magic of this film through its music and give the song “Falling Slowly” consideration in the category of Best Original Song.

Sincerely,
Your friends at Fox Searchlight Pictures

Posted by poland at 09:25 AM | Comments (12)

November 20, 2007

BYOB - Another Day, Another Airport...

You know, much as I love my own voice. if I were you, I would invest some time listening to the WGA strike discussion... and Holbrook... and Adams... and another couple LWDs that are coming up this week. But that's just me. (Sadly, you'll get stuck listening to my voice again in the process, but hopefully I get out of the way of some very smart, very interesting people who have something of real value to say.)

My internet access will be spotty until the weekend. I'm sure I'll turn up a few times. But as ever, you have the floor while I am gone. Play nice and enjoy the run for the gobble gobble... even you foreigners!

Posted by poland at 08:12 AM | Comments (31)

Lunch With... Amy Adams

From a pregnant oddball savant in her Oscar-nominated turn in Junebug to the cartoon turned into a real world "princess" (not literally) in Enchanted, Amy Adams has managed to keep her head down and the ego in check. Here's a chance to spend some time, discussing her latest film, her choices, her aspirations, and why you are not likely to see her sprawled across Defamer with a NSFW tag anytime soon.

The conversation

Posted by poland at 02:59 AM | Comments (12)

November 19, 2007

WGA Strike Chat, Parts 1 & 2

The first half of a talk about the WGA Strike and the issues around it, for the union as well as for other unions. Out guests are Scott Wilson, a longtime SAG member and activist, Marjorie David, a television writer and showrunner, and Paul Haggis, feature writer, writer/director, and television veteran.

How did Haggis make so little on Crash, NetFlix's most popular rental ever? How did the WGA end up with such a lousy residual on DVD? What is the future? Who is paying for the strike already? And are the studios really robber barons?

Part 1
Part 2

Posted by poland at 07:14 PM | Comments (3)

Lunch with... Hal Holbrook

At 82 years of age, Hal Holbrook has a lot of stories to tell... and we get into them. From his early beginnings in theater, the man who got him into Twain, to the many relationships that have driven his career. But there are a lot of big surprises too, including why he identifies more with Emile Hirsch's character in Into The Wild than his own, his faith in Middle America, and his strong political passions.

The discussion...

Posted by poland at 06:36 PM | Comments (3)

A New York State Of Strike

After a day of running around The City... seeing yet another movie that is going to be very successful but about which I cannot write (the other one was a much bigger surprise... and is going to be shockingly successful, even if it gets shredded by some cranky critics who can't see the schmaltz for the aesthetic)... and spending a bit of time with the still-charmingly unassuming Amy Adams (who could end up in the movie Nine now that Catherine Zeta-Jones has dropped out... a notion which Amy not only didn't come up with, but didn't seem to think was possible)... I'm writing in a coffee shop... the natural habitat of all writers.

And...

The vibe around New York’s stage strike is strikingly different than the vibe of the primarily Los Angeles-heavy WGA Strike. There is anger. There is frustration. There are people losing paychecks that will never, ever be recovered. And in this case, the central issue is that, in the harsh bright light, the producers actually are looking for a rollback.

Basically, the union requires each Broadway theater to hire a set minimum number of people… and producers feel that number is too high.

Worse, a deal was struck over the weekend by one leader of the stage union… and was then vetoed by the guy above him.

Of course, the huge difference between these two situations is the hugeness of the corporations involved. Broadway, in spite of major investment by Disney and smaller investments from GE/NBC/Universal, MGM, New Line, The Weinstein Co and others in recent years, is still basically a mom & pop business. And shows, everyone knows, lose money all the time.

The whole David vs Goliath thing is not in play here… whether in reality or in the emotional life of this strike. (Ironically, the most expensive ticket in town, Young Frankenstein, continues to run by some rule by which its theater is not being struck, as does Mary Poppins, one of the shows from Disney.)

Call me old fashioned, but there is something charming - if that's the word - about a strike that actually shuts things down and puts real and immediate pressure on all of the players.

ADD - The Bagger, aka David Carr on a similar tack

Posted by poland at 01:01 PM | Comments (12)

November 18, 2007

3D Too Hot?

I've landed in NY and posting via iPhone is still an iffy proposition... But Beowulf's soft Saturday really struck me... Did the 3d gambit narrow the overall number?

Does it matter if it did? Will it create legginess?

The experiential story is my nephew last night, who went to the 2d when all 3d shows were sold out. He went, but how many people decided to wait for 3d?

Posted by poland at 01:11 PM | Comments (26)

November 17, 2007

BYOB - November 18

It's a travel day... and though I have figured out how to post via iPhone, I will be flying when box office numbers land. So here's some space for you.

Posted by poland at 10:14 PM | Comments (43)

Getting Out Of The Box

Two front page stories in the Wall Street Journal this weekend really caught my eye. First, there was the story of how Alex Rodriguez is on the Verge of resigning with the Yankees for more money than ever in history by taking his agent – the most powerful in the business – out of the negotiations and using relationships that he shares with Yankee management and which are respected by both sides.

Second was a story on Starbucks launching television ads for the first time… and the question of whether that is a major risk as the company moves into the future. Will a company that has thrived in an amazing way as a viral business, building a market and an empire without ever spending the marketing dollars that more companies feel compelled to, ruin it by doing what the other businesses do? By defining Starbucks in ads, will they alienate the imagination the world has expended on the company as it has grown?

These are both such HUGE lessons on breaking the mold, its benefits and dangers. And both can easily be applied to the film business. These are both major businesses. Starbucks is a multi-bullion dollar company and A-Rod is looking at a $275 million contract… almost enough to make and market a comic book movie. Both deals involve corporate culture, risks taken, and short-term failure (Starbucks sales are down slightly in the last quarter and A-Rod was told by the Yanks that after he walked on his last contract, they were out of the race to hire him, even though he wanted to stay).

If Starbucks is risking it by advertising, is movie marketing just as risky to the future of a film. Should studios be considering alternative formulas to the machine that pushes out movies each weekend? Should distribution chiefs be breaking out of the normal system to give more specialized attention to certain titles?

And as we wander through the desert of the WGA Strike, is there an answer out there that means throwing out traditional bargaining notions. In all the complexity of it, is there a simple answer that may be wrong, but which will shift the game to something that is right?

Clinging to tradition can keep a company powerful for a long, long time… and it can sink the entire ship. There is comfort in repetition. And it’s not just a posture. That comfort can be the right answer. Or it may not. Everything is always on the table in life, aside from the absolute morality of some. Or in the classic words of Ron Shelton, spoken by Rosie Perez:

“Sometimes when you lose you actually win and sometimes when you win you actually lose, and sometimes when you win or lose you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie you actually win or lose.”

Posted by poland at 06:12 PM | Comments (10)

Classic...

The self-marketing element of the WGA Strike is now in full force.

Nikki Finke has become The Blog Of Choice for people who want to get their story out... and well she should. She run anything that anyone tells her, offering no perspective but plenty of humorous bile. It's ironic that she is the darling of the writers while all the while she continues to acquire the ideas and stories of others and tagging them as "exclusive" or selling her "innovative" thoughts that she found elsewhere. But such is life.

Today, it's one of Nikki's masters, Bryan Lourd, starring as...Lord of the Strike Dance. In days past, it's tons of drama about backdoor negotiations when, in reality, the choice to come back to the table by the AMPTP has always been tied to waiting long enough for the studios to reap the fiscal benefits of a strike, i.e. force majeuring deals out of existence. There was the bullshit about Eddie Murphy walking off a production because of the strike. There was the bullshit about the Teamsters supporting the WGA by not crossing lines. There was endless hype about the guy who got hit by a car on Day One of the strike... which amazingly has not become a story about the strike as weeks and police reports have passed.

My personal favorite remains the excitement over a site that pirates music putting together a list of great songs to strike by. So... the union that is fighting to get paid for the use of their material is supposed to be pleased and amused by stealing the work of singers and songwriters? Excellent! How singularly myopic can you be? (Hint: The world record is being pushed every day in this town.)

You know... it's all just more gossip under the bridge. The writers are ANGRY and Nikki is happy to burn bridges - all the while secure that those who feed/run her column will keep doing so as long as she licks their faces like an eager lapdog when they get home from work, through off their shoes, and deeply breathe in the scent from their feet, which never stink - so it's a marriage made in heaven... and hell. Hyperbole doesn't settle strikes. But then again, words are not really the issue here. Money is. Always has been. Always will be.

Some writers I respect feel that the public relations effort in this war can play a major part in it. And indeed, if the WGA just disappeared into the woodwork, it would be easier for the studios to make it all seem like it wasn't happening and that Dave and Jay were just in reruns like usual.

Thing is, as things shake out... as real people in the WGA lower middle class and who work hard at the studios and who start having a hard time covering rent with tips, etc, etc... as things get rougher... and as the strike gets quieter and quieter... the self-promotion rises to the top. And to me, selling yourself off of the real misery of others is a great sin.

But this is Hollywood... where great sin is par for the course. We can hardly claim gossips are in a league of their own. Today, the NY Times decided to run a months-old story about DreamWorks' overtures to Universal… a story so old that Sharon Waxman, who has been off the beat for six months or so, leads the piece. And once again, The Paper of Record is being played. It is most likely that the entire piece is an effort to get everyone else off of the “DreamWorks buying Universal” scenario… which was all but confirmed as a legitimate option a few weeks ago when GE sources acknowledged that they were interested in dumping the studio and the NBC network after the Olympics. This is not mentioned at all by the NYT story.

The Times also mentions Fox as though there is a chance in hell of Team DreamWorks ever moving to that tight-pursed studio… another Geffen tactic to move the real story away from the heat of media scrutiny.

It is the first rule of journalism – especially in the heated age of the internet – to ask why a story is “breaking” when it is “breaking.” It is rarely a matter of intense reporting leading to a break. So then the question is, why does this source want this story out now?

Of course, journalists prefer not to ask themselves these questions, as they lead to answers… unpleasant answers. Worse, the might lead to a juicy story getting spiked.... as though any paper spikes juicy, if false, stories anymore.

There are two questions in the DreamWorks saga. 1. Do they feel like buying a studio or “just” being an Imagine-esque, dominant production company inside another studio? And 2. If the answer is “buy,” are they so integrated into Paramount that buying that studio and some of its cable assets from Redstone is a better option than buying NBC/Universal from G.E.?

It is no small thing that S, K, and G are heading towards retirement age themselves. It could well be that they have decided – this month – that another decade of the pressures of owning an entire studio and television assets is more than they want on their collective plates. This issue also hinges on whether S and G are feeling good about K running everything these days, as neither of the other two is a day-to-day manager. And if not, will a S,K,G & M (for Meyer) partnership work? Meanwhile, Stacey Snider seems very happy to be making actual movies again instead of being The Boss. So she would likely prefer running a boutique instead a studio.

Anyway… the beat goes on this Saturday morning as strike negotiations won’t start again until after Thanksgiving (what progress!!!) because the private planes are fueled, the botox has been shot, and beautiful places to relax are calling.

And did anyone really think Variety and the LA Times would be attacking the studios over the strike when they have so much of their annual revenues from the award season at stake? Please!

Still, everyone wants to play the frickin' hero. But be careful before you believe too easily... there's a lot of Santas out there this time of year.

Gotta lurve this town.

Posted by poland at 10:19 AM | Comments (22)

Friday Estimates by Klady - 11/17

No at terribly interesting weekend. And one with Friday numbers leaving some doors open.

Will Paramount/Zemeckis’ decision to go PG-13 on Beowulf add up to an uptick in business on Saturday… or has the 3D element made anything other than a 3D screen into an experience that audiences don’t want to bother with?

Does Bee Movie coming in at least 25% behind estimates for this second weekend mean that word of mouth has already killed the goose that laid the golden pollen? Does the combo of this and Evan Almighty make clear that wall-to-wall ad/content on a network is not a cakewalk to phenom status?

Does this inauspicious start for Fox/Walden’s new division, releasing Mr. Magorium, mean anything more than a lack of clarity in selling the movie, never finding the family sweet spot?

And on the expansion of No Country and gimpy non-event of Love-hra, here is a little perspective on the limited release movies with eight-digit ambitions since Sept 1:

Key: Title / Total Gross /Most Screens / Opening Gross /Open Screens / Date

Posted by poland at 09:25 AM | Comments (28)

November 16, 2007

Box Office Hell - Nov 16

Posted by poland at 12:46 PM | Comments (29)

The Academy Doc Short List Emerges

6:00p Update

Last night and today is the tome when The Academy lets filmmakers know whether they are on the doc short list. This entry will evolve as more informations comes in...

Already in:
Autism: The Musical
Body of War
Lake of Fire - no official website available
Nanking
No End In Sight
Operation Homecoming
The Price of Sugar
Sicko
Taxi To The Darkside
War/Dance

Next rumor at #11 - The Rape Of Europa

Amongst the "expected by many, but unheard from as of yet":
Crazy Love
For the Bible Tells Me So
I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal
Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
My Enemy's Enemy
My Kid Could Paint That
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
Primo Levi's Journey
Sharkwater
Terror's Advocate

And apparently Out are:
Darfur, Now
The Devil Came on Horseback
In The Shadow Of The Moon
The King Of Kong
Manda Bala
Protagonist
Steal a Pencil for Me
We Are Together

Posted by poland at 12:33 PM | Comments (16)

The Bella Thing

People have been humming about the success of Bella. Far too many have simply written it off as "a Jesus thing." Unfair. The film, which I still haven't seen, has been very successful as a feel good audience favorite, winning at places like Toronto, where films as edgy as C.R.A.Z.Y. and Ginger Snaps have won in the past.

Anyway... got a remarkable press release for the film today, which really offers a lot of information about the people who do love this film.

Posted by poland at 12:26 PM | Comments (5)

November 15, 2007

Sweeney Tease

The Evening With Tim Burton at Lincoln Center delivered the first real glimpses, outside of Venice, of Sweeney Todd. The choices of what to show were clearly carefully selected.

In the case of “Epiphany,” the musical number, sung mostly by Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd, it is one of the numbers where the power of an actor with Depp’s power truly overwhelms the value of the big voices that have played the role on stage.

STORY SPOILERS

The song, in which Todd thinks he has lost the object of his greatest hatred, is the turning point in the story when Todd decides that he is willing to kill everyone, as in his rage, everyone is complicit. “Even you, Mrs. Lovett, even I,” Sweeney sings. The song contains the two lines actually sung by Depp in the trailer – “I will have vengeance. I will have salvation.”

Depp manages to sing nicely and speak sings a bit of the number, but it really works because of the power of his acting.

What only fans of the show know is that the number takes place after Todd has killed a rival who has tried to blackmail him, which leads he and Mrs. Lovett into one of the four signature songs in the show, “A Little Priest.” It is this number that is likely to define the success of the film for people. The number not only brings a lightness to the proceedings, but it explains a central philosophy of the entire show.

“The history of the world, my love --
Is those below serving those up above!
How gratifying for once to know
That those above will serve those down below!”

In any case…

END SPOILERS

One of the other of three numbers shown at the Lincoln Center event was “My Friends,” which is really Sweeney’s first solo song. He participates in the now-opening “No Place Like London” (Burton & Co have removed the choral “The Tale of Sweeney Todd” except as score.), but he is more flavor to it than the main singer.

“My Friends” is the song Sweeney sings to his blades, which have been saved by Mrs. Lovett, even after Sweeney/Benjamin Barker is long gone. This is where Mrs. Lovett starts to turn the show over to Sweeney. She has the two songs setting this moment up and she gives Sweeney his blades as a form of seduction. His blades are all he has, his family thrown to the winds. When Mrs. Lovett joins him in the song, she is trying to draw him back in, after realizing that by giving him “his friends,” that she has made a mistake in her effort to seduce him.

It’s a challenging song... very emotional. And Depp brings it off with great intensity. His delivery is not as sweet and emotional as some have been in the past, but it is his characterization that varies from the others, not so much his voice.

Finally, they offered up “Johanna,” a love song sung primarily by our young male hero, Anthony, who has caught barely a glimpse of Johanna… but enough to fall in love. In this role, they hired a pretty kid, 19-year-old Jamie Campbell Bower, who sings it beautifully, if not quite as soulfully as you might hope. But man, he's pretty!

All the beautiful darkness that is so apparent in the trailer was on display, but it would have been hard to pick three songs that were less of a test of the entire project. Mrs. Lovett has four major near-solos in the show; "Worst Pies In London," "Poor Thing," "Wait," and "By The Sea." We get a glimpse of "By The Sea" in the trailer, the one image of lightness that’s been offered. Even without a lot of singing, it, like "A Little Priest," is a comic duet for Lovett and Todd that are amongst the most memorable moments in the show.

As for Mr. Depp, the big numbers as a singer are likely to be his loving duet with his enemy, Judge Turpin, played by Alan Rickman, "Pretty Women" and the aforementioned "A Little Priest" with Mrs. Lovett.

And there are the three big numbers by one-off singers in the show. Sasha Baron Cohen’s turn at Pirelli is shown quickly in the trailer, but not at this event. His song, however, has always been a bit of a staccato spoken song with big flair. Johanna has a song that I’ve never loved, but it beloved by many, "Greenfinch and Linnet Bird." And from what I understand, Pirelli’s sidekick who becomes Mrs. Lovett’s ward of sorts, Tobias, is now played by a child, described by Harry Knowles as being out of Oliver!. (For a full version of Oliver!, check out August Rush, which is dead on Oliver Twist with the twist of the birth parents being around.) The kid has one of the show’s strongest numbers, “Not While I’m Around,” another huge moment that has to deliver.

The movie starts screening in earnest in two weeks. The footage at the Burton event was truly no more than an amuse bouche. But it seemed to have done its job for the room, which is to whet the palette for the meal to come.

(Other media coverage of the event includes NY Press and Film Experience. AND The Reeler)

Posted by poland at 11:44 PM | Comments (39)

Home Is Where The Stuff Is...

A long and rewarding day today, but when I hit the homefront, a bevy of pleasures was waiting for me.

In one envelope, the Blu-ray of Superbad... a film that I felt would be cool enough from early on to go out and make a unique purchase...

But first…

The Hairspray Blu-ray is a killer package. Besides a movie that is so stylized looking exceptionally good in the high-def format, the extras are very, very clever and – I am no DVD expert – seemed innovative.

For instance, there is not only “sing-a-long” mode available for the entire film, but there is a virtual jukebox so you can jump from song to song. There is a feature called “Hairspray extensions” for six of the songs that combines the number from the movie with on-set footage, rehearsal footage, secondary camera angles, and even outtakes, splitting the frame into as many as four different images at one, each informing the viewer on how things are done. Watching Michelle Pfeiffer rehearsing in her sweats, seeing Shankman put people through their paces, the look on Travolta’s face as he is preparing to enter a scene as Edna, how the shot the number on the bus, etc… great stuff, smartly delivered.

There is another feature for two of the numbers with a choreographer teaching you how to do the dance numbers. Girls, who are so happily participatory, will be digging this feature big time. Even the audio commentary is available on video with the director, Nikki Blonsky, and the producers, done as picture-in-picture in the corner of the full frame… and the visual is not just talking heads, but all kinds of behind-the-scenes stuff, from sketches to costuming to taping the tracks, etc.

It’s not exactly film school, but I have never seen a package of extras – that also includes the normal added scenes, audio commentary, background docs, etc – that is so generous in looking at the process of the filmmaking. They don’t tell you that you are about to see how they did that crane shot… but they show it. You see Shankman directing and watching playback. There’s stuff from the table reading. It’s a rich package… the kind of material that might actually start someone on the road to actually making films themselves.

And all that is true, even if you aren’t a fan of the film.

And then there is the Superbad Blu-Ray… oh my!

The Extras DVD is “hosted” by an animation version of some of the penis drawings from the film. Curious to see the entire “Vag-tastic Voyage?” It’s here. The audition tapes of the three male leads? It’s there. (And you can identify the laughs of the guys watching off camera.) Need to see the table read? Not only is the one in 2006 there, but there is one from 2002 with Seth and Evan reading Seth and Evan. The making of the opening credit sequence dance. It’s there.

There is entire section on the foul language in the film. There is a junket interview with some guy that the producers must have hired to piss off Jonah and Michael by asking really obnoxious questions… and Jonah has a meltdown by the end, which is very entertaining. There are even voice mail messages from Jonah Hill to Michael Cera.

On the main disc, there are such unique features as the “SuperMeter,” which is your in-movie guide to all the lewd and crude lingo” in the film, counting all the profanity, sexual references, and uses of the word, “McLovin.” There is a 4 minute segment with a variety of improvs on various lines from the film… and that is before the 4 minute gag reel. And where else will you get to see an Asian guy do a Chris Walken imitation?

I am not a big Special Features guy as a rule, but these two discs really do give yo a ton of value for the money. I'm sure the Rings discs did the same for peopel who were really into Rings. But in these two discs, you have one that is really, really great about being behind the scenes and another that is loaded with so much more comedy that it really is added hours of fun.

Also, Paramount Vantage dropped Into The Wild and Margot At The Wedding on the doorstep… both of which I am looking forward to seeing again.

Finally, there was a must-get book if you are amused at all by Borat. It’s a double hardback with the ‘Touristic Guild To Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan” and when you turn it over and upside down, you get the “Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation Of U.S. And A.” Both sides are hilarious.

If you want to know the rest of the Korki Butchek story, this is the opportunity. There are some ads for Shopcity, the department store with special coupons for jewtraps and cut-rate Gypsy tears. Info on using crushed Pepsi Max cans as currency in Kazakhstan. And more.

Some of the jokes fall flat, while others shock and amuse. If you love the film, you will be happy you got this book, which both extends from the film and adds on its own.

As someone who called asked me when they heard the DVD in the background and I explained that I was watching these films, "Shouldn't you be watching some of the new stuff that is waiting on you?" The answer is, "yes." But between these two films and Ratatouille (moe on that and some other great Pixar product later), it’s like the best of summer in a great format on a big ol’ TV. A pleasure.

Posted by poland at 05:55 PM | Comments (12)

16 Weeks To Oscar - Slippin’ And Slidin’

It’s kind of crazy to have so bright a moment… such a positive look at the future of film… so many new filmmakers in the game this year… and yet, not only the WGA out on strike, but the real threat of SAG following next summer.

There is plenty of room to spread the blame for greed around. But there is only one form of greed that makes me truly happy… the greed for more quality filmmaking… in every genre, high and low, from Emile Hirsch spreading love like pollen to Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman in a romantic duet that seeks a violent end to Will Smith saving what’s left of the world to documentaries of passion and skill. I want it all.

The rest...

And the charts...

Posted by poland at 05:41 PM | Comments (33)

New Media

I'm trying this out.... Blogging from my phone.

It's not bad, but it doesnt exactly inspire verbosity. I can't add photos either.

All good things in time, but it feels like a step...

Posted by poland at 05:25 PM | Comments (2)

I Get Misty... And Not So Much In Love

I don’t understand why some very bright people are excited about The Mist.

Sure, it is about as good as the best episodes of Masters of Horror. It’s not quite on par with the best of The Twilight Zone. And I found it shockingly tacky in its direction. It’s loaded with all those little hand-held jumps and starts and 2-inch rack focus shots.

But maybe that was Darabont’s homage to Arkoff.

But in terms of depth, aside from so-far-over-the-top-you-can’t-see-them-for-the-clouds anti-Middle America, anti-Republican slander – I do so hate when filmmakers get all “us vs them” – there isn’t much to chew on.

What did strike me over and over and over again is that Darabont saw The Host at Cannes 18 months ago (or somewhere more than a year ago) and saw King’s story as the American version of the same. This is theory, not knowledge. But that’s how it feels. And it is not nearly as good as the iconic Korean politcal thriller.

Mostly, the problem is that he leaves his characters to stereotypes. But equally frustrating was that the endless building of tension – or the attempt therein – led to nothing more than the expected. And the freakin’ expected was an endless array of moments in which any movie lover knows it is time to move along. When you see the spiders come out of the guy’s mouth, I have to say… there WILL be more spiders. DUH!!!! For a bunch of heroes, these are the dumbest guys ever.

Anyway… I tried. I really tried. I respect the person who told me it was great… but it wasn’t great for me. Sometimes a decent Twilight Zone episode is just a decent Twilight Zone episode, Dr. Freud.

Posted by poland at 12:47 AM | Comments (39)

November 14, 2007

LWD - The Namesake

Director Mira Nair, screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, and actors Irfan Khan and Tabu come outside to "lunch" with David, talk about their film, as well as Bollywood, Nair's upcoming project, Shantaram, and Khan's work in The Darjeeling Limited and A Mighty Heart.

The Interview

Posted by poland at 04:31 PM | Comments (6)

BYOB - Nov 14

It's funny how even an internet project can start to feel like "real" television.

We continue to knock out Lunch With Davids that will, I am told, arrive soon... we swear. Very time consuming, but very, very pleasurable. Amongst the LWDs that are in the editing bay right now are the entire Diving Bell & The Butterfly family, Hal Holbrook and Emile Hirsch from Into The Wild, Phillip Bosco from The Savages, Todd Haynes & Christine Vachon from I'm Not There, the director of Hairspray, Adam Shankman, and more.

Right now, it's a little like a production. I've done my work. Now it's in post. Then we have to get it out to you. The team is getting better, in front of and behind the camera, each week. And tomorrow, we're shooting A Very Special LWD.

In the meanwhile, sorry if I am not as blog attentive as usual. I also missed my weekly Hot Button this morning, which I am still working on. But you all have been great in your responses to a couple of the recent posts.

And again… here is some space to run wild…

Posted by poland at 03:56 PM | Comments (58)

November 13, 2007

Gurus of Gold - 16 Weeks To Go

The chart above lists all the films and talent that got multiple votes from the Gurus on the films and people we are personally wishing might be nominated... even though they seem to be underdogs now.

Of course, this begs the question... who are your favorite underdogs?

Here's the whole chart, plus the Best Picture chart with everyone's projected, not personal, Top Ten.

Posted by poland at 02:54 PM | Comments (33)

Lunch With... Frank Langella

Langella on his current release, Starting Out In The Evening, a remarkable career in the theater and movies, and the film he had just finished shooting days before we met, Frost/Nixon.

The Interview...

Posted by poland at 01:29 AM | Comments (1)

November 12, 2007

Do You Sniffle In The Aisles?

Desson Howe's "Why We Cry At Movies?" made me think it was an interesting conversation for this room...

I cry at movies. As the years go by, I find myself tearing up at things that are not on-screen emotion, so much as when I feel the movie connecting in some unique. special way. I used to get a chill from it. Now, I find myself getting oddly and not very macho-ly weepy.

A movie can also jerk a tear or two now and again. But not as much as they once did. Now, it really is the rush of emotion when everything in a film is working... that is the most rare event in my moviegoing, movieloving life.

How about you?

Posted by poland at 05:17 PM | Comments (137)

I AM BEOCRITIC!!!!

Beowulf is not complicated.

Beowulf is not challenging.

But Beowulf is solid, stirring, exciting, unexpectedly thoughtful, and beautiful.

I find myself oddly uninterested in spinning words about this film. It is an experience that is completely self-explanatory… and you MUST experience in 3D, preferably in IMAX 3-D, assuring a big ol’ screen.

It takes about 20 minutes to really relax into the visual look of the film. But unlike some of the other films, which have had that dead eye thing, Zemeckis turns the negative on its head, making his actors – all of whom look like their digital counterparts, except for the star, Ray Winstone, and Grendel, played by Crispin Glover – more interesting for having been made electronic. Anthony Hopkins, for instance, is rotund, with large male breasts and the threat of nudity. The near-perfect Ms. Jolie is made hyperperfect here. Robin Wright-Penn is given a more Nordic face with thicker, softer facial angles.

The thing is, by the time you get to the big action beats, they may thrill, but the core of this film is simple, quality filmmaking. It is the obvious difference between Beowulf and of the films made in similar formats… Zemeckis is one of our very best filmmakers and always finds a way to tell a story in a way that connects with the audience.

Why is Zemeckis also the most underappreciated filmmaker of his era? I don't really know. It could be because his signature is not having a clear signature. He is the modern mega-movie's director's director. He does it all, from any angle, pushing technology, switching genres like used tissue, and working at an extremely high level, time after time.

In any case, in a year of films about men in search of inner comfort, Beowulf is truly the story of a man who thinks he is more than a man learning that he really is just a man. The road, however, is remarkable. It is nothing like the first act rigor of There Will Be Blood or the dry relentlessness of No Country For Old Men or the quiet angst of Michael Clayton. It is pop. But as pop goes, it's damned good pop.

I was surprised how much I liked Beowulf. I was thrilled by the ride. The weak point was, amazingly, Grendel. He was just too undefined a character. How big was he? What power did he have? What were his vulnerabilities? Zemeckis puts on a great show of the Naked Beowulf and his men fighting this monster. But it was hard to get a handle on how to root because we didn’t ever know where it was going… perhaps a positive to some. Truth is, the story is always a little ahead of us. What challenges will Beowulf face? Those of us who know the story have an idea. But it’s always a little different. (There are quite a few variations that have been offered on the story, adjusted by generation, by the way.)

It’s not the great film of 2007, but it is 300 times better than 300. I hope that's not damning with faint praise.

Posted by poland at 01:03 AM | Comments (89)

November 11, 2007

Off The Lot

Thought it was interesting... at least two studios (Fox and Paramount) are moving all guild/Academy screenings off of their lots. This will require an addition of about $25,000 a week to many studio awards screening budgets and will make quality screening rooms a major commodity... even more than normal.

This will also make it an even tougher market for indies, as the studios with money will be chasing screening opportunities - heavy on weeknights and weekend matinees - at The Grove, The Arclight, and the Landmark Pavillion and guild members will start facing, to their dismay, events at the crappier theaters rooms all over town that we all thought were no longer options that anyone would choose.

If the strike lasts into late December, things will get a lot more dramatic, as screens become even more valuable to the exhibitors who own them and the studios who have films in traditional release.

Posted by poland at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)

Sunday Estimates by Klady - Nov 11

Something about Friday....

I'm not sure what happened on Friday, but pretty much every film performed under expectations on Friday... and almost every film was stronger on Saturday and in Sunday estimates than you would expect based on Friday. I really don't know what the story is, but it is a curiosity.

At the same time, Los Angeles' AFI film festival was selling out over 90% of their shows on the weekend and about 75% during the week, a rather strong showing for the event.

Interestingly, Fred Claus opened at just about a million less than Santa Clause 3 last year and about 21% behind The Polar Express. Odds are that this film will not be as leggy as Polar and it doesn't have the excuse of being the third in a series, but this opening is not quite the disaster that people want to make it. The new trend of overstating "failure" on Friday evening, based on east coast numbers and west coast matinees and "industry expectations" which are based on weak analysis of tracking... well, it's just dumb. I'm not saying that Fred will have a huge comeback. But the idea that high 20s is the minimum for a decent opening is nuts.

In a market with no other light fare for adults, Dan In Real Life is holding exceptionally well. It's not building, particularly, but it is finding an audience that wants something in that category on Saturday night.

Lions for Lambs is simpler than people want to make that one too. It's not about Tom... it's not about Iraq... it's the idea that it's a dry polemic, which no one wants to see on any subject, is being confirmed ahead of time by the one audience, adults, who still read critics enough to find confirmation of their suspicions.

Let me just state the obvious... critics obsessing on the morality of No Country For Old Men don't understand No Country For Old Men. Some people just don't like the truth. And those people include those who LOVE movies that are too cool for school... which really means that they are too cool to actually say anything at all, other than to make the viewer think they are smart for "getting it." They like their art all of the surface also, though I prefer them to the wannabe censors. Part of the genius of The Coens is that they are stylized and actually do say something of significance in most of their films. There isn't an enormous subtext. The messages are simple. But they are profound.

Not a sensational expansion for Before The Devil Knows You're Dead. But there is still time.

Posted by poland at 10:08 AM | Comments (41)

November 10, 2007

Friday Estimates by Klady - 11/10

All three wide openers will underperform this weekend. Not much of a surprise for Lions For Lambs or P2. Fred Claus at under $20 million is a bit brutal for WB, though there was a clear indication of trouble as the ad campaign changed focus right near release, trying to make people think of it as a feelgood family film instead of A Wedding Crasher Visits The North Pole.

The No Country For Old Men opening is very, very good. However it doesn't really fit easily into any comparison this awards season. Of course, the long game is what's key, but in the short term, Across The Universe is the closest comparable opening... and No County wins that fight, and the Miramax history lesson is The Queen, last year, with $1 million on 46 screens in its third weekend of release. It seems that the studio has reconsidered the speed of its platforming, to no small success this weekend.

Posted by poland at 10:38 AM | Comments (36)

November 09, 2007

Box Office Hell

Posted by poland at 08:09 PM | Comments (20)

BYOB - Too Much

Just a note and some free space before I run off again.

This week has been relentless and the blog has suffered. On the other hand, I have no interest in being a Disposall for every e-mail that comes my way regarding the strike. God bless those who wish to position themselves so, but there is so little discussion of the real issues and so much discussions of celebrities on picket lines, alleged "secret meetings." firings that never happened, etc.

The sad part is that everyone knows that very few people are interested in a serious discussion of the issues... even less so when the strike ends.

I wish it were a lot more complicated than knowing that when WGA actually struck, the studios went into a well-planned mode of response, which will actually make about a month of the strike profitable for the studios. If you want to know why there is so little coverage of the strike in town, it's because there is no news... just more rumors and personalities. The borderline for some between gossip and news seems permanently busted.

Meanwhile, careers go on, production continues across the globe, and the story of how this strike is all about working writers making another $10k a year isn't really playing. The stakes just aren't high enough or important enough to make it a national story more important than whether you'll see a new Leno next Monday. And remember, all the talk shows combined reach less than 10% of the American population these days.

Sigh... off to another screening...

Posted by poland at 03:49 PM | Comments (48)

November 07, 2007

Interesting Angle...

Posted by poland at 12:56 PM | Comments (2)

Gurus o Gold & Gurus 2.0

Here is this week's Gurus chart and the 2.0 chart.

The major differences between the two groups is that the 2.0ers are a lot more committed to Into The Wild than the Old Schoolers. For Best Director, O.S. goes Ridley, while 2.0 sticks with Penn.

The seemingly logical balance flips on its head while the Gurus go for Brad Bird in Original Screenplay wile 2.0 goes for Paul Haggis. And in adapted, G goes for Ron Harwood and the Diving Bell while 2.0 swings it retro by embracing Aaron Sorkin and Charlie Wilson.

Of course, the new kids on the block do come up with votes for Control's script, Jason Reitman for director, and Ben Affleck's Gone screenplay...

Posted by poland at 11:59 AM | Comments (15)

BYOB - November 7

My entries are getting longer and rantier... so here is some space for you to relieve yourselves.

Posted by poland at 11:52 AM | Comments (63)

I Don’t Respond Well To Rhetoric

Day after day, hour after hour, I am finding the WGA Strike more frustrating… not because I hate strikes or I am already bored with the TMZing of picket lines with reports of what celebrity is on the line this hour – it’s not a fucking telethon! – but because I feel like I am on the outside looking in.

I believe in the idea of what the writer’s want. They deserve more and should get more. Period.

But the rhetoric of the WGA side is so full of shit that I can’t simply line up and throw my fist in the air in support.

I guess that when you get into a fight (and I rambled on in The Hot Button about it today at length), you stoop to your opponent’s level. But these are writers… my brethren… the most intellectual of media artist… people who know better.

When I look at a really well done, snappy package like United Hollywood’s Why We Fight…

… I am horrified by how much of it is, by intentional omission, a lie. It’s not an effort to seek truth. It is an effort to raise support.

4 cents is a ridiculously small amount for writers to get on the sale of a full priced retail DVD. 8 cent is no less absurd, based on the argument that it’s 8 cents of a $19 sale. But as the WGA and everyone else knows, when looking at reality, it’s not $19 the studios make versus 4 cents or 8 cents to the writer.

Why is it so hard to get to arguing that DVD brings in almost $20 billion into studio coffers (film and TV, actual returns, not retail) each year, three-quarters of which is eaten up by expenses (including production costs still against the budget after theatrical), leaving roughly $5 billion in profits. WGA writers currently get just about 1% of that profit now… not the gross, not the net… profit. And it seems fair for that to be 2%.

Would it be unfair to argue that everyone gets paid on these films and television shows up front, just like the writers, and that it would be nice for the writers to get one dollar out of every fifty of the profit on these shows and movies? Is it really so horrible for the industry unions as a group to expect 10% off the top of profitability?

But this whole 4 cents versus $19 thing just pisses me off!

And the whole idea that the crappy video rate was a rollback, generously allowed by WGA. Get out! It was a new medium. A price was set. It doesn’t matter how that was argued. The price was set. And it hasn’t risen because negotiators haven’t made that enough of a priority.

And now, here we are, as the DVD medium starts its fade, fighting over studios paying out more, when the real dirty secret on all of this is that they are selling three movies at a time for $5 on the shelves of Wal-Mart and Target… we are already in the blue light special portion of the life of DVD.

DVD revenues for film actually went down from 2005 to 2006 and TV went up slightly, but only because the libraries are being raided, so gross figures are up while units per show are dropping.

So how does the industry handle the shift to niche delivery in which all films and television are available at any time via multiple delivery systems with multiple price points? The whole financial system needs to be rethought with the goal of growth being profitable all around and no one being left out in the cold. But it is a future in which money for success, as always, will be around, but money for the relative failures will be less. (We are still in a moment when failure on broadcast TV doesn’t mean a major loss for a deficit financier, thanks to DVD sales.)

But while writers are screaming about the future, they are also screaming that the residual system should stay in its antiquated form and new media should confirm to it. If you are willing to strike for progress, how about thinking about some real progress? The attitude is like a kid trying not to get smacked for taking cookies out of the jar after midnight while he actually has the money in his pocket to buy cookies on the way home from school and to stash them so no one is controlling his cookie assets anymore.

The idea that the internet is EQUAL or within single-digit years of being equal to broadcast television in its ability to generate revenue is bullshit of epic proportions. Yes, someday, delivery systems will be completely different. But 10,000 people or 50,000 people or 100,000 people watching a TV show online is not the same as 10 million watching it in broadcast. Hell, even the significance of broadcast is being fought over by advertisers and ratings gurus, with multiple viewings being added up as though they were one viewing in an attempt to get more dollars for ads.

The future of everything but broadcast is counting specific views. WGA sticks to bargaining the same-old-same-old with bigger numbers because, in part, doesn’t want to get into the ugly business of seriously considering how well suited it is for collective bargaining. Should a movie that does lose money pay the writer residuals the same as a smash hit? How many writers are earning outside of the collective by writing while the union looks the other way? Isn’t there a better idea out there of how this union should work for everyone involved? Why aren't the showrunners paying more into the union? Why isn't it set up so all members have guarenteed health care for at least a decade after qualifying with a certain level of earnings in one year? And why is credit arbitration one of the worst experiences working writers still go through every day?

What I find so painful is that so few people want to REALLY discuss how it all works. The simple Studios = Bad, Writers = Good is not without its merits. But the irony is that The Studios have an advantage over the writers because they get to be what they really are and no one looks any more askew at them than normal… not unlike The Republican Party. And the writers, not unlike The Democrats, are forced to play games with their reality in order to appear as high minded as they want to be perceived as and get smacked hard when they get caught simply being human.

The evil studios want rollbacks... but not from the members who have the most to lose from a WGA strike, but from the writer/rpoducers who make the real money. They don't much care about paying $.005 residuals on internet views... they care about the agents who will follow up behind the union looking for 7 cents per internet view for their clients who produce the same shows. And we all know - those of us who care to know - that they will be coming. And that does start to add up to real money. And when all is said and done, will advertisers be paying 50 cents per "free" internet viewing in order to reach that audience so that it is not a money losing proposition?

No one knows. But we do know that everyone is walking into that future together... studios will squeeze and agents will squeeze back... writers will toil and feel like mushrooms... and money will, as always, change everything.

Rhetoric. Argh.

Please, WGA... sell me something I can buy without feeling used in the light of the next day. If you can sell me, you can sell the world. I want to buy. We all want to buy. Just do us all a favor and keep the WWII references to a bare minimum.

Posted by poland at 11:21 AM | Comments (12)

My...

This has nothing to do with movies, really, but I do think it is one of those major moments in the history of the internet and you can still have some experience of it.

A Finnish teen slaughtered seven at his high school. And he left his trail at YouTube. They have removed the videos and suspended the account, but in an event of "who controls the computers or do they control us?," the pages of his videos are still up.

Video names like "Natural Selector's Manifesto - Part 1" and and "Supremacy Of Self - Adolf Hitler" and "SSRI - One Pill A Day Makes You Happy..." and odes to serial killer after serial killer... horrible and fascinating.

Two days ago he posted, "Just Testing My Gun" with the informational section, "Exactly what the title says. Me shooting with Catherine :P...Sig Sauer Mosquito .22 .22LR Semi-automatic Gun Apple"

It will surely be gone soon. But the fight over the power of the YouTube medium will be going on for the next few weeks. For the moment, you can decide for yourself.

Posted by poland at 09:55 AM | Comments (1)

November 06, 2007

Press Release Of The Day

Sent out around noon today, pst

Posted by poland at 03:21 PM |