"Gossip Girl"

Started work at Cannery Agency again on a making-of featurette for the "Gossip Girl" Season One DVD. All I had to do was watch the first five minutes of one of the episodes to become familiar with the material and I understood the whole show. Same old "O.C." crap, blah, blah, blah.

The good news is this next week will probably be pretty busy. The delivery date for this 20 minute piece is a week from Tuesday which really isn't a whole lot of time between cutting the rough, having the producer give her changes, make those, etc. etc. I'm sure I'll at least be putting in some extra time next weekend, as well as an evening or two, which will nicely fatten my paycheck. Good. Need it.

Appalling note: Amongst the interviews I've been looking through, one of the producers says the parent company in New York owns the rights to this show has a bank of authors on their payroll. These authors write original book series that the company comes up with. Even though they certainly want revenue from the book sales first, these books in turn are completely and totally intended to become TV shows or movies. Then when they are picked up, the parent company in NYC has all the rights because they came up with the idea themselves as opposed to negotiating with an outside source. Then when the show or movie premieres, a screen credit will give the property added heft because they can say, "based on the book". Can we say 'artistically void'. Amazing. But then again these teen soap shows speak for themselves.

The 10 Coolest Cars On Film

Check out this list from Yahoo! of the slickest movie vehicles.

The DeLorean from "Back To The Future" tops the list...as it should!!! Others include The Tumbler (Batmobile) from "Batman Begins" (nice!), the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (awesome!), Herbie from "The Love Bug" (I actually thought that when I was a kid!), AND YES, the 2002 Mini Cooper from "The Italian Job"!!! Quoting from the list, "Whether you're winding your way through the streets of Turin or the subway tunnels of Los Angeles (not recommended), you won't find a groovier ride that the MINI."

That's right!!!

Back to The Cannery

Looks like I'll be heading back to Cannery Agency to work on a 15 minute behind the scenes piece for the TV series "Gossip Girl". New Wave doesn't seem to have anything yet for me. Shit. Again, this is just for the money since I don't really have interest in the content. The delivery date on this is April 7 so the project will run for one week.

But yes, it's work, don't bitch, I know.

The Dentmobile

The Dark Knight's latest viral marketing tool, "Harvey Dent for DA", has been campaigning across the country for the last week or so and unfortunately I missed the LA date by two days.

The Dentmobile is in the process of traveling to 35 cities across the US and I thought it'd be cool to check it out. But when I saw this article on firstshowing.net I immediately turned to the official site, ibelieveinharveydent.com, to check the schedule. The LA stop was last Saturday. D'OH! They do have video from the 'rallies' in several cities including LA, New York, and Philadelphia.

I really love the unique and innovative lengths Warner Bros. is going to to market the movie. Viral campaigns have really taken hold since "Cloverfield" picked up the ball and ran with it last summer. Although it's roots in film marketing go back to "The Blair Witch Project", it's use through "The Dark Knight" will certainly be considered ground breaking and industry changing. This is the one movie this summer I know, right now without any reservation, is going to be great.

In the meantime, SHOW HARVEY YOUR SUPPORT!

Where in the world is John Hughes?

Yesterday's LA Times had a nice article about Writer/Director John Hughes; his imprint on teen movies (and movies in general), inspiration for current film actors, writers, and directors, and some general head scratching about why he's nowhere to be found these days. You can read it here.

"My Life" Soundtrack

I've added a new feature you can find over in the right column. It's under the header "New Tracks On My iPod..." and will showcase new albums and tracks I'm downloading and placing in my current 'heavy repeat' playlist. Kind of like a soundtrack to my life right now. Below each album artwork (click for larger image) you'll also find a link to the iTunes Store location where you can sample and buy if you like what you hear. Enjoy!

Wrapped at New Wave...for now

Last week I completed that project with New Wave Entertainment. It was a featurette about the history the "The Mummy" (from Boris Karloff to Brendan Fraser) for the new two movie set for "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns". This is in conjunction with the third film being released this summer.

I still have that sense of 'wow, I'm here' while working at New Wave. Probably because it is one of the very top DVD, print design, and trailer post houses in the industry. Basically all of their clients bring top movie projects. Example: Cannery Agency works on projects like "Van Wilder 2: The Rise Of Taj" and "Bratz: The Movie". New Wave undertake movies like "The Departed", "Batman Begins", The Harry Potter films...do I need to go on?

I diI did my song and dance once more about wanting a staff position there. Although I knew things had just shifted a bit in the company with some layoffs a few months before. Sam, the post production coordinator, did say things were going to get pretty busy in April and May and I'd more than likely be back in a few weeks. Woohoo! I love the sound of that! Plus if they have enough work for me through those two months they might just keep me around going into the summer. May is always when things pick up in the industry and has me working straight through until at least October, sometimes November.

The New Wave gig lasted only 5 days but was enough to keep me going, as those paychecks finally start rolling in now. I was off all last week, but the phone did ring today from The Cannery. They have another gig for me working on a DVD featurette for the TV series, "Gossip Girls". Not really my thing, but its money, and something that could nicely hold me over until New Wave comes back with more work. However I did get in touch with them first today to make sure they weren't about to call me for anything next week. Obviously I'd rather be over there cutting a major studio film project. Waiting on word back.

Viewing issues

I've recently been made aware that some of you cannot see all of the banners at the top of this blog. The reason being you're viewing the site with Internet Explorer.

Unfortunately there is a bug in IE that causes problems when accessing custom designs like mine. Click here to see how the top should look. If you're missing any part of the content shown in this snapshot, than please use either the Safari (if you're on a Mac) or Netscape Navigator browsers. This will allow you to see the blog as I designed and intended it to be viewed.

I'm still trying to find a code that will bypass Internet Explorer's bug. When I do I will let you guys know.

New B-52's album

The B-52's are releasing their first studio album in 16 years on March 25th. All I have to say is "HERE COMES A BIKINI WHALE!!!!" The new single and title track, "Funplex", really rocks and was an instant download click for me. I've also pre-ordered the album on iTunes. Can't wait! Click the iTunes button below to be taken directly to the album's store location. Yes, I found a new toy for the blog.

I am constantly amazed at the accessibility and ease of sampling and buying music and video through iTunes...and online in general for that matter. And the mere fact that I carry my entire music collection around in my briefcase and car never fails to continuously make me bow to the almightly technological advances we now enjoy on a daily basis.

Steve Jobs, you are a Golden God.

New movie links

To your right you'll find a couple of my new favorite movie site links, as well as the obvious industry trades.

Firstshowing.net has trailers, release schedules, high-rez 1-sheet art, and movie news that oft times highlights stories the others don't give enough attention to. movietrailerland.com pretty much says it all, focusing full force on current and upcoming trailers.

I really enjoy the trades, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, not only for the breadth of information they provide, but the 'non-fluff' entertainment news I prefer. Considering the fact that I pretty much dispise most of the so-called 'Hollywood news' shows and Entertainment Weekly these days. So pardon me while I tangent for a moment...

Shows like E! News and the like have degraded into 'the gossip show'. What the stars are wearing when they go on vacation, who they're dating and dumping, how they get caught doing stupid stuff, blah, blah, blah! This is what I mean by 'fluff'. Sure, a lot of fans out there drink that shit up like there's no tomorrow. They can do that all they want...without me. Entertainment Weekly on the other hand has been really pretentious in recent years. They praise entertainment icons as their favorites and then rip them to shreds. Especially classic movies, tv shows, and music that we all love. 'Wasn't that band from the 80's the best?! Incredible sound that will live forever........despite the cheesy lyrics and cheap-o video idea concocted by the band..."

HEEEEEEEEEYYY???!!!

I found myself saying that word quite loudly while reading pretty much every issue more and more. Maybe those so-called cheesy lyrics and cheap-o video were also pretty iconic to me and a lot of other people, MR. ASS! After years of subscribing to ET I finally said "no thanks, bye-bye!".

So getting back on point...I love the trades.

Also added a link to the official "Iron Man" movie site.

Call from New Wave Entertainment

Just got a call from New Wave Entertainment. They asked if I was available next week for three days starting on Wednesday. Yay! Yay, yay, yay! This couldn't have come at a better time since I just completed those projects at Cannery Agency. I knew New Wave would be calling again once we got into the pre-Spring time.

Not sure what I'll be working on but hey...It's New Wave! It has to be cool!

End of work at The Cannery

Looks like this will be my final week at The Cannery. It's been a pretty hectic few weeks completing "The Other Boleyn Girl" DVD, a promotional piece for "Shutter", and the featurette for the new "Speed Racer: The Next Generation" animated series.

Starting last week I began burning updated copies of my reel and will start printing resumes and cover letters over the next couple of days. Since last May I've been keeping a regular 3-4 month schedule of sending reels and resumes out to mostly trailer houses. I'm still sifting through post houses that handle DVD content. A lot of the time those listings are under 'general post houses' and you have to read the fine print to decifer exactly what type of projects they undertake. Even though my focus is on getting into more trailer houses, I would like to broaden work on the DVD front.

"Back In Black"

I've had AC/DC's "Back In Black" in my head for the last week ever since the new "Iron Man" trailer hit the web. The song, of course, plays over the opening. Downloaded the track last night.

BRING ON "IRON MAN"! Let the summer superhero juggernauts begin!...O.K. so the summer movie season doesn't officially start for two more months. HURRY UP!!!

"The Other Boleyn Girl" complete

My work on the DVD for "The Other Boleyn Girl" has finished and been approved by the studio. They only had one shot change but were very happy overall with my cut. The name of the featurette I was working on is called "To Be A Lady". As sort of a project completion for me, I went to see the film at The Arclight tonight. Certainly I had to watch it a month ago to cut the piece, but wanted to see the final version on the big screen.

This past week with an extremely tight turnaround, I cut a featurette for the DVD of "Speed Racer: The Next Generation", a 60-minute animated feature that sets up the new NickToons series of the same name. Here's a hi-rez version of the cover artwork. This is being produced by Lionsgate and has no connection with Warner's and The Wachowski Brothers live action movie opening in May. Still, the project had me working some crazy hours over the course of the last six days, including a double shift on Thursday; in at 8:30am, done at 1:30am the following morning. Plus I put another extra day in on Saturday. I slept until 11am this morning just trying to catch up on sleep.

Waiting to find out what I'll be working on this week, since the post coordinator at Cannery Agency initially said I'd be needed from four to six weeks. Been there now for three and a half.