ReelHeART Blogs

by Shannonn Kelly

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Four major studios: Warner Bros. Television, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox Television and CBS Paramount Network Television have canceled dozens of writers’ contracts in a possible concession that the current television season cannot be saved, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier today.

Studios typically pay $500,000 to $2 million a year per writer for them and their staffs to develop new show concepts.

With this latest development the studios save a lot of money, lose their new television season and writers, possibly, lose their homes, because really, this is a ploy for the studio executives to get rid of writers they no longer want. Really, this is all about cleaning house…

Read more

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

Normally when a Hollywood award show is on the horizon, our televisions are filled with ads, entertainment news on the fashion and stars and a whole lot of Hollywood glistz and glamor.

Then, on award night you, the television viewer could watch the brightest stars from movies and television step out in their finery on the red carpet for all the world to see and gossip about on Monday.

For the first time since 1944 when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA),  started them as a fundraiser, the Golden Globes were starless!

The Golden Globe Awards are generally the third most-watched awards show after the and Grammys and the Academy Awards , and is one of the highest honors for actors and actresses from film and television.

With the WGA Strike still ongoing, the Golden Globes were faced with actors and actresses choosing to boycott the ceremony rather than cross picket lines. Striking writers threatened to picket the Globes.

So, on Sunday January 13, 2008  the Golden Globes were held in the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel and broadcast live for a total of 31 minutes; leaving networks to fill the reamining 3 or so hours of programming with film clips and commentary and as if there were nothing better to run, an episode of —still can’t believe it: American Gladiators.

The winners of last nights Golden Globes can be viewed by clicking on this link at Variety.

I’m going to have that nap now…

written by RHIFF

Players below Gerald and Patricia Green in Bangkok Film Festival Federal Indictment

At Variety, they wondered what it took to make something into a true, four-legged industry.  With film festivals, the fitful birth of its own tradeshow was a sign, mentioned in this fest-stress article. 

Now the industry has its first major federal indictment - Gerald and Patricia Green of Film Festival Management were arrested on bribery charges.  They tried to payoff a Thai official so they could land a contract managing the Bangkok International Film Festival.

“Really?  They wanted to manage Bangkok fest that bad?”  Surely there are countless other more worthy festivals that could use some bribe cash, something other than the usual corporate payola.

But then Grady Hendrix put it in perspective:

I never met anyone who took the Bangkok International Film Festival seriously. It was an excuse for the well-connected industry folks to get flown to Bangkok, eat great food, do some shopping and go out with other people on the film festival circuit all on the Thai government’s tab. (I was never invited. Can you tell I’m a little bitter about it?)

From beginning to end it was something of a joke, with few foreign films being subtitled in Thai for local viewers and a line-up usually consisting of leftovers from other fests. It was run by a company in Los Angeles called Festival Management who seemed only to exist to run the Bangkok International Film Festival and they never seemed to do a particularly good job of it.

And yet, every year, the Thai government sunk millions of dollars into the fest.

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

For the couple of years it’s been a kick to see what’s floating around in Hollywood for the most buzzed about screenplays up for production and or option in the annual Black List list of the “Hottest Unproduced Screenplays”.

Some interesting and unusual standouts this year are

Curveball - Eastern Promises screenwriter Steve Knight’s adaptation of award-winning Los Angeles Times reporter Bob Drogin’s book Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War, about an Iraqi informant code-named ‘Curveball’ who gave “flawed information about biological weapons that the U.S. government used to justify the war in Iraq.” The book cover reads “an inside story of intrigue and incompetence at the highest levels of government.” Project is set up at Focus Features.

The Wrestler - Robert Siegel’s tale of a 1980’s-era pro-wrestler, now down and out, who decides to make a possibly fatal comeback. Darren Aronofsky will direct Mickey Rourke

Get Back - Chris McCoy comic screenplay about two die-hard Beatles fans who time travel back in time to “prevent John Lennon from ever meeting Yoko Ono, as they blame her for the Beatles’ demise.”

The Human Factor - Anthony Peckham’s (Don’t Say A Word) Nelson Mendela biopic starring Morgan Freeman. Matt Damon is in talks to star at Warner Bros

I Want To F- Your Sister - Lawyer-turned-screenwriter Melissa Stack’s high-concept comedic spec screenplay about “a young man goes to great lengths to protect his younger sister from guys just like him.” MTV Films pre-emptively bought the screenplay for $300,000 against $600,000.

Stack quit her job as a Lawyer after the sale….

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly 

ReelHeART is happy to announce Danial-DayLewis has won Best Actor for his portrayal as a shrewd oil barron in “There Will Be Blood”, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Having last seen Daniel-Day Lewis in “The Ballad of Jack and Rose” and “Gangs of New York”, it’s been awhile for both audiences and Lewis to get re-acquainted with each other.  Lewis known for his selectivity in roles, gets so deeply immersed in them, that, as a result we only see him in 2-3 films a year. 

He was known to suffer from  pnuemonia while filming “Gangs of New York”, because he wanted to stay true to the wardrobe of the day and not wear a warming coat; he lived off the land in “Last of the Mohicans” and locked himself in a cell for getting into character for “In The Name of The Father”.

Paul Thomas Anderson of “Boogie Nights”, “Magnolia” and “Punch Drunk Love” fame and two time Oscar winner has also won for Best Picture and Best Director for “There Will Be Blood”.

To read about the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and other winners visit the Hollywood Reporter.

To read a review of “There Will Be Blood”, visit Variety.

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

With all our Democratic leanings one would think we’d be hitting the theaters in droves to see “the other side of the story” when it comes to war in Iraq.

But it’s just the opposite when Hollywood looks at the latest figures for their A-list cast films that focus on Iraq:

1. “Rendition” with Jake Rendition and Reese Witherspoon -$10 million
2. “In the Valley of Elah” starring Tommy Lee Jone and Charlize Theron -$7 million
3. “The Kingdom” starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner -47 Million

Those figures leaves Hollywood and the film distributors very worried about new releases such as “Lions for Lambs” directed by Robert Redford starring Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep and Redford.

Here at ReelHeART our odds on favorite for the film to be seen and to reap ticket sales well over it’s production budget is Brian De Palma’s Venice Film Festival winning film ”Redacted”.

We think the story is hard-hitting and timely enough that despite its gut wrenching subject matter, it’s the “proven” film that movie-goers will want to see. Possibly if only for clarification of events surrounding this true life story of a 14 year old girl who was brutally raped and murdered by US soldiers.

If anything it’s the film you need to see before heading to the election polls-

Please go out to see and support “Redacted” if only because it’s extremely fact based. Something that De Palma himself is fighting against as he’s under constant pressure from his distributors to censor the ”real life” events and perpetrators names and faces in his film.

To read more about “Hollywood Films Being A Casualty of War”, click here

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

Most actors and actresses have two choices of where to go to follow their dreams. New York City or Los Angeles. Well, the same goes for writers and really anyone in the creative arts. 

A recent study on the Writers Guild of America strike suggests New York would fair better in a longer strike. With the majority of TV and film production concentrated in the West, Los Angeles has the most to lose during the strike.

According to the study, 6 out of 10 jobs in the industry are related to film and video production in Los Angeles. Whereas in New York, the number is much lower as many writers write for print and hard copy materials.

It’s an interesting study from the Beareau of Labor Statistics and you can read more about their findings by clicking here.

written by RHIFF

By Shannonn Kelly

What does the Hollywood writers still being on strike mean for you and me?

It can mean a few things:

1. You get to read more often
2. You get to actually WATCH the evening news instead of it being back ground noise
3. You get to get out of the house on evenings and weekends to
   1. Play Sports
   2. Meet Friends
   3. Research your screenplay or book
   4. See a film the way they’re meant to be seen…at a theater!
4. Or, you get to be like millions of others and hop online to watch other people creating content, other than the studios who are taking the writer’s content and publishing it themselves

By the way, point # 4 is what the Hollywood writers strike is really about-

According to Jake Coyle at Associated Press (AP): “The Writers Guild of America wants a percentage of the revenue generated online from writers’ work, but the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers claims it’s too early to know how the TV and film industries will substantially capitalize from online platforms.”

Jake has written a pretty good snapshot article at Associated Press on the surge in visitors to the Internet to be mostly entertained, beating a virtual path to sites such as YouTube, and smaller niche sites like Joey and David, MediocreFilms.com and CollegeHumor.com

There’s a lot of articles out right now on what the strike means and how it will affect other media such as book to movie deals, as well as content on TV.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we will be seeing a rash of reality shows. Keep in mind though; we’re not seeing them because reality shows don’t employ writers as erroneously stated at The Scotsman.

We’re seeing reality shows because the the majority of the content is provided by the “contestants”. The structure, tone and feel is however provided by staff writers.

These staff writers on most (if not all) reality shows are not currently covered in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) where they would get union pay and benefits.

To learn more about this distinction between writers, check out the essay by Nancy Miller in the August 2007 issue of Wired.

To go to websites other than Youtube where you can learn a thing or two and have a great web experience,  I invite you to check out three of my favorites Meta Cafe, The Daily Show and Best Documentaries.

My only upset during the strike: Law & Order running out of shows already in the can…

I would love to hear your comments and your experiences during the Hollywood Writers Strike.

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

The sale of DVDs and how much revenue it generates for the writers of any and all content appears to be the main sticking point between Producers and the Writers Guild of America.

More than 12, 000 writers will go on strike if told to by WGA as a result of Hollywood talks breaking as their contract expires. Many writers are packing up their belongings as they leave their offices and at the end of Thursday November 1, 2007.

The last Hollywood writers strike was in 1988 and the longest in history. The strike lasted for 6 months and centered around another technology at the time, VHS sales and rentals. In that strike, the writers lost.

Knowing how much they will lose this time around (writers got 5 cents on each VHS sale) as technology advances the sales of content in general, will be a sticking point and if the writers do strike this time.

So, be prepared for a much longer strike, actors and actresses without wages and a barrage of some really awful reality shows.

Read more about what others have to say on this topic in magazine such as Variety, AFP, and ABC News and Nikki Finke’s column at Deadline Hollywood Daily.

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

ReelHeART always has a hard time deciding whether we actually like Ben Affleck “The Actor”. However, we have no trouble liking Ben Affleck, “the Director”.

With his feature directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone”, Affleck has managed to do what we know he does pretty well.

We already know Ben can write. Affleck won an Oscar with co-writer Matt Damon for “Good Will Hunting”. Ben is a co-writer again (with Aaron Stockard) on the screenplay of “Gone Baby Gone” which was adapted from the Dennis Lehane novel of the same name. Lehane by the way, also penned ”Mystic River” before it too was adapted for the screen, winning Oscars for lead, Sean Penn, supporting actor Tim Robbins,  supporting actress Marcia Gay Harden and director Clint Eastwood.

Ben Affleck has also managed to do two other fairly significant things.

First: Ben has been able to further boost his 3 years and 3 days younger brother Casey Affleck’s cache as “an up and coming actor”, even though Casey’s been acting since 1990. While Casey has done some small, somewhat memorable roles in the past, this is his year.

His perfomance as Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford has Oscar buzz and now his stars aligned performance as Patrick Kenzie, a private investigator hunting for an abducted 4-year-old girl in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester is the low-fat, pure Tahitian vanilla bean extract icing on the Oscar buzz cake.

Which brings me to the second thing Affleck has done quite well.

Not born there, but growing up in Boston, Affleck knows these neighborhoods. He brings us inside the Boston that many outsiders aren’t aware of and he’s done a fantastic job. Like Scorcese, Ben makes the city of Boston a character in “GBG” as I will now call it (Think Oliver Stone’s “NBK”).

Sure, yeah, we know about the Bo Sox and their World Series Win. But here at ReelHeART, we think it will only be a short time before we hear: “Mayor Thomas M. Menino welcomes you Ben Affleck as the official mascot for Boston and here’s the key to our fine city. You did a wicked awesome job…”

To see the trailer and learn more about the film click here http://gonebabygone-themovie.com/

written by RHIFF