Archive for July, 2004
Thursday, July 22nd, 2004
A press release on comedian Margaret Cho’s Web site, MargaretCho.com, explains that she has been “uninvited” to perform at a Unity 2004 event which is taking place at Avalon, this coming Monday, July 26, around the Democratic National Convention.
“The Human Rights Campaign is one of 10 GLBT groups coming together July 26 at the nightclub to ‘celebrate GLBT strength and unity.’ Asked to headline the event, Cho was preparing to preview material from her new State of Emergency tour, as part of an unpaid benefit performance. She has since been ‘uninvited’ by a spokesman for the HRC, who cited ‘a potential media firestorm,’ and referenced the recent criticism of Whoopi Goldberg’s routine at a Kerry fundraiser.
“Unity 2004 is not officially a part of the Democratic National Convention or the Kerry campaign. Not all of the groups involved in Unity 2004 agreed with the decision to rescind the invitation.”
Although Margaret Cho hasn’t yet weighed in on the incident on her own blog, a posting on the TeamCho blog from Monday does reference Linda Ronstadt’s recent ejection from a Las Vegas casino:
“Apparently, Linda Ronstadt praised Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11 onstage at the Aladdin Casino in Vegas, and the patriotic patrons flew into a drink-tossing protest. The president of the Aladdin kicked her out of the hotel. So heinous was her crime, that she was not allowed to return to her room to gather her belongings.
“There’s GOT to be more to this story than meets the eye.
“Geez, I would have at least waited until AFTER she sang ‘Desperado.’ That’s, like, my favorite song. I hope she at least got a fruit basket out of the deal.
“There’s something seriously off in this country if people are rioting at Linda Ronstadt concerts. Someone tell Barry Manilow to watch his back.”
… Read the rest
Tuesday, July 20th, 2004
This Saturday, July 24, IFP/LA will host a Film Financing Conference at the James Bridges Theater, UCLA, from 9 a.m. – 5:45 p.m.:
“The life of your film begins long before you hit the set. Before you sign your first deal, arm yourself with the knowledge necessary to ensure a successful production for your film. Designed for both the novice and seasoned producer, IFP/LA’s Financing Conference offers in-depth examination of current financing trends and opportunities for independent filmmakers-so you can take control of the life of your film!”
Ticket are $135 for the full day (includes a light lunch) for IFP/LA members; $220 for the general public. Half-day tickets are also available for $75 (IFP/LA members); $130 (general public).
For reservations call (310) 432-1222.
… Read the rest
Tuesday, July 20th, 2004
I just received the following e-mail about a new initiative called INVOLVER, which I’ve decided to pass along:
“INVOLVER is an alliance between The Knitting Factory, Music for America, various facets of the independent arts and entertainment community and a wide range of youth political organizations who are pissed off about the state of our country and who are taking action to change it. For our part we are following through with our commitment to presenting the best in live music and have begun staging a series of shows at The Knitting Factory in NYC, and in L.A. featuring such compelling & exciting acts as Slick Rick, OK Go, Pedro the Lion, and Matthew Dear to name a few. Additionally, comedian David Cross we will be hosting an all-star event of music and comedy at one of NYC’s grandest venues The Beacon Theatre during the Republican National Convention in New York. Music for America will be on hand at each event providing information on voter registration, and offering ways to take action that will make a difference and make the country work for us. But this isnt just about NYC & LA; this is an organic, ever-growing movement that takes in the entire nation…
“In the 2000 election, 17 states were decided by less than 7 percent, and of course, Florida was decided by only 537 votes. These swing states will decide the election — FL, PA, OH, NM, WI, IA, OR, NH, MN, MO, NV, TN, ME, MI, AK, WV, AZ.
“We want to list great events happening in swing states. If you are an artist, organizer or presenter in a swing state, send info to INVOLVER…
“INVOLVER does not endorse candidates or parties. We believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and offer ways that you can get involved and help make the country work for our generation.”
… Read the rest
Monday, July 19th, 2004
In conjunction with the ongoing exhibition The Big Nothing, “a constellation of music, art, film, and talks on themes of nothing, independently organized by 36 venues throughout Philadelphia, the ICA in Philadelphia presents Nothing Cabaret, Wednesday, July 21 at 7 p.m.:
“Cooked up in the spirit of the Cabaret Voltaire with a touch of ‘The Sonny and Cher Show,’ [Nothing Cabaret is] an evening of music, poetry, science, art, sleight of hand and silence, concluding with a performance by Bardo Pond and a screening of Andy Warhol’s 1963 film Sleep. The film starts around 9 p.m., runs for 5-and-a-half hours, so do the math, and bring your sleeping bag to cozy up for a summer night on ICA’s terrace.
“Warhol’s first film, [Sleep] was planned as an eight-hour-long movie, but was actually made by looping footage. The film was shot in the apartment of its star, John Giorno, in July 1963. The premiere of Sleep took place on January 17, 1964 at the Gramercy Arts Theater as a benefit screening for the Film-Makers’ Cooperative. According to the New York Post, the screening was attended by only nine people, two of whom left during the first hour.”
… Read the rest
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
When I read about filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect) and producer Callum Greene’s film about M. Night Shamalayan for the Sci-Fi Channel running into trouble over Night’s refusal to cooperate once the documenatarians discovered a “buried secret” in his past, I meant to check it out by making a call to Greene. We recently covered his last produced feature Homework in the magazine. But today I was reminded that this had slipped off my “to-do” list by this piece on CNN.com. In it, Sci-Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer described the news leak as a “guerilla marketing campaign” that went too far. Previously, the Sci-Fi Channel issued a release calling the finished doc a “disturbing expose,” and AP and various other news outlets picked up the story.
Night, it seems, was in on the hoax and was interested in blurring the boundaries between doc and fiction in his biographical portrait. But after reading the article linked above, it’s a little unclear what prompted the apology. After all, there was hardly a groundswell of rampant speculation following the original story. (In today’s tabloid-saturated times, it is a little dicey to put it out there that you have a “buried secret” in your past.) Could this admission, timed just before the broadcast of the documentary, be yet another marketing ploy to draw attention to the film?
No, it seems as if the ballsiness required to execute a guerilla marketing campaign may simply be too much for the Sci-Fi Channel’s corporate owner. The CNN story comes with a disclaimer from its parent company: “This marketing strategy is not consistent with our policy at NBC,” said Rebecca Marks, NBC entertainment spokeswoman. “We would never intend to offend the public or the press and value our relationship with both.”
The piece ends with its “smoking gun”: “Greene, a producer of Lost in Translation, shares an agent with Shyamalan.”
… Read the rest
Friday, July 16th, 2004
In the current issue of Filmmaker, producer Jeff Levy-Hinte writes a lengthy and provocative essay on the MPAA’s “War on Piracy.” Even if we weren’t the publishers of the magazine, we’d tell you that it’s a must-read. But for those who, after finishing it, may feel that Jeff’s paralleling of the “War on Piracy” with the Bush administration’s “War on Terror” is a bit over-the-top, then check out this link to an article in The Guardian, in which the true cost of that black-market copy of Soul Plane is revealed.
Writes The Guardian:
“That, essentially, is the message being promoted this week by the Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness (ITIPA), the body that represents some of the world’s largest film companies. This week it launched a 1.5m [pound] ‘public awareness campaign’ to inform people of supposed links between the ‘Del Boy’ characters who sell pirate DVDs and terrorist cells.
“Posters claiming that ‘terrorist groups sell DVDs to raise funds’ are at the heart of the campaign. Anyone renting a video will now be receiving the same message. So where is the evidence for this claim?
“The industry group cited as its chief witness Ronald Noble, secretary general of Interpol. It quoted him as saying: ‘The link between organised crime groups and counterfeit goods is well established, but Interpol is sounding the alarm that intellectual property crime (IPC) is becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups.’
So when you see that bootlegged copy of Chronicles of Riddick strewn across a mattress on Canal Street, stop and think of the consequences.
… Read the rest
Thursday, July 15th, 2004
According to a new poll released today and disseminated by MoveOn PAC, “viewership of Fahrenheit 9/11 continues to grow with 11 percent of all voters now reporting they have seen Michael Moore’s film. This is nearly double the number of viewers since the July 4th weekend, when 6 percent reported having seen the movie.
“An additional 33 percent [reportedly] intend to see Fahrenheit 9/11, which means that 44 percent of all voters in the 2004 Presidential election could be exposed to the film.
“Movie-goers and intended movie-goers represent a broad and diverse slice of the electorate and spread across the country, including the so-called battleground states. Fully 1/3 of voters who have seen or intend to see the film self-identify as Bush voters. Forty percent of movie viewers and potential movie viewers reside in battleground states, 25 percent in the ‘red’ states and 33 percent in the ‘blue.’
“The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, captured data from 1000 likely voters fielded between July 10- July 13, with a margin of error of +/- 3 points.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 71 percent of eligible voters registered to vote in the 2000 election, but only 86 percent of those who registered actually cast ballots — i.e. 60 percent or 111 million eligible voters.
If the MoveOnPAC press release is accurate, close to 20 million voters have already seen Fahrenheit 9/11.
The film had grossed just over $80 million as of last weekend — so this would represent an average ticket price of only $4.00. Given that ticket price in most major cities is closer to $10, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research’s numbers may be slightly… elevated.
If the numbers are correct, however, and 2/5 of the 33 percent of eligible voters who have indicated they intend to see the film actually do so, Fahrenheit 9/11 stands to gross something like $220-$250 million in the U.S. alone.
… Read the rest
Thursday, July 15th, 2004
Project Greenlight has announced the winner of this year’s contest, which will begin airing on Bravo in early 2005 as nine hour-long episodes. This year’s winners are director John Gulager, who will direct Feast — a Dimension project about “a motley crew of bar patrons [who] struggle to survive a hungry family of flying beasts set on consuming a human buffet” — from a screenplay by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunston.
… Read the rest
Wednesday, July 14th, 2004
Over on his The Hot Button site, David Poland’s got up one of his rambling think pieces, this time on the State of Things in the world of Internet publicity. A lot of it is comprised of his critical take on Ain’t It Cool News and the way in which both the studios and the mainstream media feed off of it. It’s a three-part article and is quite interesting in its attempt to define and argue for the specialized role of Interet publicity while also calling out the most egrigious offenders of the relaxed-sourcing, anyone-can-do-it attitude of the Web press. Check it out here.
… Read the rest
Wednesday, July 14th, 2004
Lawrence Lessig, in a “Guest Column” in today’s Variety writes:
“Robert Greenwald’s latest film, ‘Outfoxed,’ is a political documentary about Republican bias at Fox News. It is also, as the New York Times Sunday Magazine dubbed it, a ‘guerrilla documentary.’
“In addition to interviews with former Fox employees, academic studies evaluating the ‘Fox effect’ and internal Fox memos, Greenwald has used a significant number of clips from Fox News to show the bias that the slogan ‘fair and balanced’ belies.
“He had no permission to use those clips.
“Fox has called Greenwald’s use stealing. It has warned other networks that if they exploit his ‘illegal copyright infringement,’ those networks will open themselves up to similar criticism — presumably by Fox…
“If Greenwald’s use of Fox’s content is ‘fair use’ — as we plainly believe it is — then it is no more ‘stealing’ than walking across a sidewalk in front of a neighbor’s home is trespassing on a neighbor’s property.
“Copyright is property, but like all property, the rights it grants are limited. ‘Fair use’ is one such limit, constitutionally compelled, giving critics such as Greenwald the right to use a limited amount of copyrighted material without asking permission first.
“Fox claims it is ‘fair and balanced.’ Is it?
“Bill O’Reilly promised Fox viewers that he would report the news of the war [in Iraq] ‘without an agenda or any ideological prejudice.’ Did he?
“These are important questions at any time, but especially now, as the answers so dramatically affect current public policy. And they can be answered effectively only with a work that can use that the images that created the bias alleged.
“Journalists should encourage such criticism. If news networks are not as they say they are, then journalists and critics should be able to show it. If Greenwald’s argument is wrong, then let another filmmaker contradict it. Or if ABC is just as bad, then let ABC be outed, too.”
… Read the rest
