Digital Bin:

nyfablog:

New York Film Academy hosted a casting session this week at the Abu Dhabi campus for a short film produced by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission. The Abu Dhabi Film Commission plans to shoot the film for one day at New York Film Academy’s campus.

New York Film Academy Abu…

(Source: nyfa)

nyfablog:

2011 proved women can be just as powerful, funny, and smart in Hollywood without taking their clothes off. Look at some the top releases of 2011:

Comedy? BRIDESMAIDS - Ranked in the top 20 most financially successful films of 2011, this hilarious all-female ensemble film led by Kristen…

(Source: nyfa)

The WGA has announced the nominees for its 2012 awards.  The Original Screenplay category rewarded films that leaned toward comedy, while the Adapted Screenplay features a number of Oscar Best Picture frontrunners.

The awards will be announced Feburary 19.

The complete list of nominees in all three categories is below:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Studios

Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni; Fox Searchlight

Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody; Paramount Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemming; Fox Searchlight

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian; Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, originally published by Norstedts; Columbia Pictures

The Help, Screenplay by Tate Taylor; Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett; DreamWorks Pictures

Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan; Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick; Paramount Pictures

Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin; Based on the book by Michael Lewis; Columbia Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Better This World, Written by Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega; Loteria Films

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Written by Marshall Curry and Matthew Hamachek; Oscilloscope Pictures

Nostalgia for the Light, Written by Patricio Guzmán; Icarus Films 

Pina, Screenplay by Wim Wenders; Sundance Selects

Position Among the Stars, Script by Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich, Leonard Retel Helmrich; HBO Films

Senna, Written by Manish Pandey; Producers Distribution Agency

Another way a good movie can get screwed is when a studio loses confidence and tries to sell it as something that it isn’t. The 2009 film Adventureland, which I didn’t produce but admired,was a thoughtful coming-of-age story set in the late eighties that, though funny, was more romantic and emotional than broadly comedic. Yet Miramax decided to market it as the director Greg Mottola’s follow-up to his hugely successful prior film Superbad. The trailer packed in clips of physical and off-color humor from the movie, combining it with swoosh and whip-crack sound effects, and downplaying anything deep or poignant. The result was that not enough adults were made interested in seeing it and the juveniles who did go were disappointed that it wasn’t what they thought it would be. I’ve never seen this marketing tactic work on a movie: You can’t succeed by fooling the audience. 

Choosing a release date is not an exact science and often difficult, given how many movies are in the marketplace at any one time. Part of what made the release of Drop Dead Gorgeous so disappointing was that New Line had chosen a great date, opening up against a horror film called The Haunting and the children’s offering Inspector Gadget, neither of which were competing for the same audience as our film. I did not have this luxury when it came to one of the best movies I have produced, Stir of Echoes, which Artisan (the distribution company that eventually merged with Lion’s Gate) decided we should open against another horror film, Stigmata, in September of 1999. Stigmata had a bigger ad spend and was coming out in more theaters, but that wasn’t even our biggest threat: Buena Vista’s blockbuster The Sixth Sense — which, like Stir of Echoes, was about a boy seeing ghosts — was still in 2,800 theaters across the country on our opening day. Our film had been finished and ready for exhibition much earlier in the year, but Artisan’s distribution executives were certain that September was the best time for a horror film. When director David Koepp and I heard this, knowing that the Bruce Willis starrer was coming, we asked for a conference call with the studio and tried to get them to exhibit Stir in the spring. We expressed our apprehension that The Sixth Sense had the bigger star and Buena Vista would outspend us two to one, so it would be advantageous to come out earlier and not be the second “kid sees ghost” movie of the year. The executives told us that they had heard The Sixth Sense was really bad and would surely bomb, and not to worry about it. Obviously, things didn’t work out as they predicted … though Stir of Echoes did do well enough to warrant a direct-to-DVD sequel. Of course, it didn’t do well enough to pay me a cent of my deferred compensation nor profit participation. And, in case you’re wondering, I was paid nothing on the sequel, either.

After selling an untitled pilot a year and a half ago, Kahn began work on the outline for what would become “He’s Fuckin’ Perfect.” McKay read it, gave her notes, and then suggested she write the spec herself. “He told me, ‘The outline is really strong and you’ll have more creative control, so just do it.’ “

He also gave her another piece of advice. “He said, ‘When you pay your $13 and sit down in a movie theater, what do you want to see? That’s what you write. Not what you think is gonna sell. Not what you think is gonna be big. Write what you want to see.’ “

Execs like to emphasize the lifestyle when they list the reasons for shooting a production in Singapore, but the government has been spending heavily to give the tropical city-state a strong technical appeal as well as offering various financial incentives to film there.

Indeed, its facilities have lured some big names, including the Jim Henson Co. and LucasFilm Animation. The latter set up LucasFilm Animation Singapore in 2004.

Many shingles in Singapore are also willing to co-produce.

Singapore is also southeast Asian HQ for the BBC, HBO and MTV, and offers a range of production and post-production services to HD and 3D content creation.

It offers ancillary support services for projects, such as completion bonds and collection accounts, or other aspects related to its solid legal system. Sometimes that system can be too solid, but the government has promised a light touch when dealing with the bureaucratic issues that sometimes arise.

As the nature of the biz in Asia becomes more focused on mainland China’s booming market, Singapore touts the fact that Mandarin is one of its official languages, and Chinese culture is strong in the city-state, putting it in a good position to exploit the growing Chinese market.

And its Indian, Malay, Chinese and Western population means it offers an easier intro to the biz in these markets.

Singapore’s lavish film funds are well-known in the Asian biz and since 2003, the Media Development Authority has set aside $179 million for making movies.

But the take-up on the funds has always been slightly underwhelming, and there was confusion about the 46 funds on offer, so in September, the MDA revamped its slate of media funds to streamline the number of programs on offer, better reflecting the development of the industry.

“Sandcastle,” which bowed in 2010 Cannes Critics’ Week, took advantage of local funds, and was produced by local shingles Infinite Frameworks, Zhao Wei Films, Akanga Film Asia.

Singapore is also building Mediapolis @ one-north, a state-of-the-art media park offering soundstages, digital production and post-production as well as broadcast and distribution facilities.

Mediapolis @ one-north will cover 47 acres and serve as a catalyst for film, TV, animation, vidgame and emerging new-media production. First tenant will be local shingle Infinite Frameworks, which has expertise in computer graphics and vfx, which is building two visual effects soundstages for film and television on three acres.

Ganeless: Exactly. All of those millennials. So it is How do we develop this two-way conversation? TV has been so traditionally a one-way medium. We’ve been successful in a few of our shows, Tosh notably and Colbert notably, where he can get the Colbert Nation to do things like sponsor the speed-skating team or name a bridge after him in Hungary because he asks them to and they want to be a part of whatever he’s doing. How do we evolve that conversation or that process not just for singular talent driven shows like those but for scripted shows. Because that is how hits will be sustained over time. I still believe it’s all about hits because without them none of this matters.

10. Inside Comedy
Premier Date: Thursday, Jan. 26 at 11 p.m. EST
Network: Showtime
Staring: David Steinberg, Steve Carell, Chris Rock, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld

This new half hour comedy documentary series from the creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm has Steve Carell commemorating the inspirations and influences of modern comedians by capturing never-before-heard anecdotes about the idols that have inspired comedians from Ellen to Seinfeld. And guess what, it looks to be… funny.

In 1974, when Colbert was 10, his father, a doctor, and his brothers Peter and Paul, the two closest to him in age, died in a plane crash while flying to a prep school in New England. “There’s a common explanation that profound sadness leads to someone’s becoming a comedian, but I’m not sure that’s a proven equation in my case,” he told me. “I’m not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so.” He added, in a tone so humble and sincere that his character would never have used it: “She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that’s directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us. What she taught me is that the deliverance God offers you from pain is not no pain — it’s that the pain is actually a gift. What’s the option? God doesn’t really give you another choice.”

One result of his father’s death is that Colbert stopped making much of an effort in school. “Nothing seemed that important,” he said. “What was the cudgel over your head?” By high school he had become dreamy and nerdy, spending all his time reading science fiction and playing Dungeons and Dragons, and his friends were all the same way. “Socially, we were out in the hinterlands,” he said. “Living in the social mud huts.” But during junior year he happened to say something that made people laugh, and pretty soon he had become the school wit. It was around that time that he started Frenchifying his name. “I was probably still Colbert to a lot of people,” he said, pronouncing the T, the way the rest of his family did. “But in my mind I was coal-BARE.”

Yes, competition is storming out of every device and connection, and consumers have choices and leverage they never dreamed of. But network television continues to waltz along, attracting advertisers in big numbers. Cable had a great year, and media octopuses like Time Warner and News Corporation continue to find plenty of profits. Big media companies still rely on huge, well-entrenched assets that include brands, distribution and capital.

But even if the sky is still aloft, there are visible, portentous cracks appearing. The inertia that has kept consumers from bolting from traditional content providers is beginning to erode as a new generation remakes media in its own image. Device companies and search outfits are intent on manufacturing their own content. And the migration of movies, music and video to the cloud could change the weather in a hurry.

Even as some of the old truisms in media still obtain — content wears the crown and strong brands break through clutter — a few new rules are taking shape.

There are no easy ways to repair our entire election system. But I believe that a large degree of fairness could be restored to our campaigns if we level the TV playing field. And given the television industry’s huge stake in paid political advertising, it (and the Supreme Court) would surely resist limiting campaign ads, as many European countries do. With so much campaign cash floating around, there is only one attractive remedy I know of: double the price of political commercials so that every candidate’s purchase of TV time automatically pays for a comparable slot awarded to an opponent. The more you spend, the more your rival benefits as well. The more you attack, the more you underwrite the opponent’s responses. The desirable result would likely be that rival candidates would negotiate an arms control agreement, setting their own limits on their TV budgets and maybe even on their rhetoric.

But how could we enact such a double-fee-for-fairness rule?

Ideally, Congress would make it a law, calling it a tax for democracy and daring the Supreme Court to strike down a scheme that actually produces more speech. But would incumbents in Congress really vote to give their challengers a fairer shot? Probably not.

So the next best thing would be for the Federal Communications Commission to use its power over the airwaves and the TV spectrum to impose the double fee scheme. It would be an economic revival of the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time Rule that once governed political expression on the air. Congress struck them down and could again object, but now it would be visibly undermining a conspicuously fair reform.

That failing, we might still be able to shame the television industry into adopting the idea without compulsion and finally acknowledging its pivotal influence in our democracy. Our communications are controlled by so few media corporations it shouldn’t be difficult to target them with focused demands for such a reform. The TV companies would have to cope with a few tricky administrative details—how to define “comparable” time and how to deal with third-party or fourth-party candidates. But the main idea seems to me sensible, workable, and self-enforcing.

Fairness, anyone?