Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
I LOVE BETTY WHITE!!! GRAM THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!!! Betty White dressed as Santa Claus on Craig Ferguson. She is one funny old broad!!! http://ping.fm/qPGwN
Monday, December 21, 2009
Boutique Agencies for You to Know
Boutique Agencies for You to Know
Boutique Agencies for You to Know
By Heather Langone and Simi Horwitz
JULY 30, 2009
Boutiques agencies are smaller, specialized groups, servicing a specific group of actors for highly focused industry needs. Back Stage searched high and low for the 10 boutiques all actors should be aware of—and we ended up with 11 spectacular ones.
LOS ANGELES
Domain Talent
9229 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 710,
L.A., CA 90069
Submissions by industry referral only
Gabrielle Krengel is partner and talent agent at Domain Talent, which opened its doors just four years ago. The agents represent clients theatrically. "We maintain a small client list (under 90 actors) of actors who are highly respected in the industry in TV, film, and theater," says Krengel. "Due to the size of the list, we offer very focused and specialized attention to clients' needs. Our breakout talent of the year is Jane Lynch ('Glee,' 'Julie & Julia,' 'Post Grad')."
Greater Vision Artists Talent Agency (GVA)
8981 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 101,
L.A., CA 90069
Submissions by referral only
"It's quality over quantity," insists Geneva Bray, owner and agent at GVA. The agency has been in business for 14 years, and it tries to keep its client list under 100. Says Bray, "This year alone we had a client on 'Lost' become a series regular and another client book a series regular on 'Trauma.' So I would say you can do anything. All you need is a phone, passion, and a belief in what you're doing." Other notable successes include Eva Longoria's role on "Desperate Housewives" and Masi Oka's role on "Heroes."
Greene & Associates
190 N. Canon Drive, Ste. 202,
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 550-9333
Submissions by industry referral only
Greene & Associates is a full-service agency that includes a youth division. The agency opened 15 years ago and maintains fewer than 75 clients. Owner-agent Michael Greene advises, "The most important action an actor can take is to continue to grow as an artist. Stay in class even if you book a series or feature. There are a few TV and film casting directors that do the best work. Once they know you, they remember. Make sure that when you get in front of them, you do great work. Our job is to develop new artists and help make the right choices for our more established artists. We represent a small group, guide them to do quality work, read everything to filter out all the not-so-great stuff, and find projects that matter."
Paul Kohner Agency
9300 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 555,
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Pearl Wexler, owner and president of the Paul Kohner Agency, wants to keep the details of her agency's operations under wraps, but reveals a bit about its philosophy: "It's not about how many people book pilots. It's about caring and longevity in an actor's career."
Momentum Talent and Literary Agency
9401 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 501,
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
www.momentumtal.com
Industry referrals preferred but all submissions accepted
Momentum's motto of "Work twice as hard, be twice as good, and be twice as nice" has served it well since it spun off from the Beverly Hecht agency in 2006. Owner-agent Garry Purdy heads a team of five who represent a range of talent from Emmy and Golden Globe winners to a list of new talent for development. Current clients include leads on feature films such as MGM/Lakeshore's remake of "Fame," as well as series regulars on shows such as "Glee." A full-service agency, Momentum is a member of the Association of Talent Agents and was nominated in 2008 by the Talent Managers Association for best youth theatrical agent.
SDB Partners
1801 Avenue of the Stars, Ste. 902,
L.A., CA 90067
Ro Diamond, executive and partner at SDB Partners, who has been an agent for more than 20 years, highlights some of the successes SDB has enjoyed in 2009: "Alexa Vega and her sister Makenzie Vega both got series—'Ruby and the Rockits' and 'The Good Wife.' Jessalyn Gilsig booked a starring role in 'Glee.' Chris Pine's success in 'Star Trek' was followed by a brilliant play, 'Farragut North.' He will also star opposite Denzel Washington in the Tony Scott film 'Unstoppable.' I'm so blessed to work with the most wonderful partners: Susie Schwarz, Louis Bershad, and Steven Jang. We have so much respect for each other's opinions, so we are able to brainstorm every major decision that is presented to our clients. The play Chris is doing wouldn't have happened without Susie, 'Star Trek' wouldn't have happened without Steven, and Kaley Cuoco wouldn't be on 'Big Bang' without me. We love what we do, and it shows in our clients' successes."
NEW YORK
Douglas, Gorman, Rothacker &
Wilhelm (DGR&W)
150l Broadway, Ste. 703,
New York, NY 10036
Jim Wilhelm, owner of Douglas, Gorman, Rothacker & Wilhelm, says the agency's four full-time agents represent 130 theater, film, and television actors at all levels of experience, though the agency has an interest in developing talent. Among its clients: 2009 Tony Award winner Alice Ripley, Lea Salonga, Douglas Sills, Lynn Cohen, Kathleen Chalfant, Ron Raines, and Andrea McArdle. Most recently, DGR&W found work for Lauren Kennedy in "Vanities" and Montego Glover in the Broadway-bound "Memphis." Cold submissions usually do not prove fruitful even if the actor has compelling credits, training at prestigious institutions, and/or "drop-dead gorgeous looks," Wilhelm says. As for reels, actors should include only "actual work they were hired to do."
Carson Organization Ltd.
419 Park Ave. South,
Ste. 606,
New York, NY 10016
The Carson Organization's 150 clients have been cast in a range of projects—including "Spring Awakening," "Shrek," and the national tour of "Mary Poppins." Client Brynn Williams has a featured role in the Broadway-bound "Bye Bye Birdie." Georgi James has been cast in the late Horton Foote's "The Orphans' Home Cycle," an upcoming Off-Broadway production. Agency owner Barry Kolker, who views cold submissions, is attracted to actors with significant credits and those who've studied with well-known teachers. He's also drawn to actors who look "like the series regulars on 'Gossip Girl.' " He will not consider unsolicited reels; but should he express interest, the reels must feature real snippets of paid work, not monologues, he says: "It can be 30 seconds or even one line on 'Law & Order.' "
Andreadis Talent Agency
119 W. 57th St., Ste. 711,
New York, NY 10019
Barbara Andreadis' 50 clients have appeared in such films as "Inside Man," "Confessions of a Shopaholic," and "Public Enemies." Four had roles in the Broadway play "Irena's Vow." Andreadis regularly attends audition showcases at, for example, Actors Connection. Any client she takes on must be serious about his craft and speak in full sentences, she says. Andreadis is most likely to look at cold submissions if the agency is in the market for a particular talent, such as male dancers. Reels must be solicited. Her clients include Roberta Wallach and Karen Lynn Gorney.
Kolstein Talent Agency (KTA)
247 W. 38th St., Ste. 1001,
New York, NY 10018
Kolstein Talent Agency boasts 170 signed clients who have booked "West Side Story," "The Phantom of the Opera," and the tours of "Lion King" and "Wicked." On TV, agency actors have appeared on "In Treatment" and "The Closer," and clients' film credits include "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Public Enemies," and the remake of "Bad Lieutenant." Owner Naomi Kolstein says she goes to the theater every night—though many of her clients come on board through recommendations—and also views cold submissions. Actors interested in legit stage work should ideally have performed in theaters with name recognition. An articulate cover letter that shows an understanding of the industry is a big plus, she says. Owner-agent Jeremy Zall says about the importance of professionally done headshots that highlight an actor's strong points, "If you're a character actor, I want to see personality in the headshot."
Peggy Hadley Enterprises Ltd.
119 W. 57th St., Penthouse North,
New York, NY 10019
Peggy Hadley Enterprises casts its estimated 60 to 70 clients in all media except commercials, says owner Peggy Hadley. Her clients have booked such shows as "Shrek," "Lion King," "Grease," and "Fiddler on the Roof." A former actor, Hadley says she is highly sensitive to the feelings of her performers. Hadley often finds clients through cold submissions, though "the picture has to jump out at me." She's also drawn to "interesting skills, such as actors who play musical instruments or are good at gymnastics." She considers unsolicited reels, and these need not feature snippets from paid work. Hadley is open to seeing "monologues and scenes." Cover letters to her must be brief. "And don't try to be funny," she says. "That's the kiss of death."
Boutique Agencies for You to Know
By Heather Langone and Simi Horwitz
JULY 30, 2009
Boutiques agencies are smaller, specialized groups, servicing a specific group of actors for highly focused industry needs. Back Stage searched high and low for the 10 boutiques all actors should be aware of—and we ended up with 11 spectacular ones.
LOS ANGELES
Domain Talent
9229 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 710,
L.A., CA 90069
Submissions by industry referral only
Gabrielle Krengel is partner and talent agent at Domain Talent, which opened its doors just four years ago. The agents represent clients theatrically. "We maintain a small client list (under 90 actors) of actors who are highly respected in the industry in TV, film, and theater," says Krengel. "Due to the size of the list, we offer very focused and specialized attention to clients' needs. Our breakout talent of the year is Jane Lynch ('Glee,' 'Julie & Julia,' 'Post Grad')."
Greater Vision Artists Talent Agency (GVA)
8981 Sunset Blvd., Ste. 101,
L.A., CA 90069
Submissions by referral only
"It's quality over quantity," insists Geneva Bray, owner and agent at GVA. The agency has been in business for 14 years, and it tries to keep its client list under 100. Says Bray, "This year alone we had a client on 'Lost' become a series regular and another client book a series regular on 'Trauma.' So I would say you can do anything. All you need is a phone, passion, and a belief in what you're doing." Other notable successes include Eva Longoria's role on "Desperate Housewives" and Masi Oka's role on "Heroes."
Greene & Associates
190 N. Canon Drive, Ste. 202,
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 550-9333
Submissions by industry referral only
Greene & Associates is a full-service agency that includes a youth division. The agency opened 15 years ago and maintains fewer than 75 clients. Owner-agent Michael Greene advises, "The most important action an actor can take is to continue to grow as an artist. Stay in class even if you book a series or feature. There are a few TV and film casting directors that do the best work. Once they know you, they remember. Make sure that when you get in front of them, you do great work. Our job is to develop new artists and help make the right choices for our more established artists. We represent a small group, guide them to do quality work, read everything to filter out all the not-so-great stuff, and find projects that matter."
Paul Kohner Agency
9300 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 555,
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Pearl Wexler, owner and president of the Paul Kohner Agency, wants to keep the details of her agency's operations under wraps, but reveals a bit about its philosophy: "It's not about how many people book pilots. It's about caring and longevity in an actor's career."
Momentum Talent and Literary Agency
9401 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 501,
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
www.momentumtal.com
Industry referrals preferred but all submissions accepted
Momentum's motto of "Work twice as hard, be twice as good, and be twice as nice" has served it well since it spun off from the Beverly Hecht agency in 2006. Owner-agent Garry Purdy heads a team of five who represent a range of talent from Emmy and Golden Globe winners to a list of new talent for development. Current clients include leads on feature films such as MGM/Lakeshore's remake of "Fame," as well as series regulars on shows such as "Glee." A full-service agency, Momentum is a member of the Association of Talent Agents and was nominated in 2008 by the Talent Managers Association for best youth theatrical agent.
SDB Partners
1801 Avenue of the Stars, Ste. 902,
L.A., CA 90067
Ro Diamond, executive and partner at SDB Partners, who has been an agent for more than 20 years, highlights some of the successes SDB has enjoyed in 2009: "Alexa Vega and her sister Makenzie Vega both got series—'Ruby and the Rockits' and 'The Good Wife.' Jessalyn Gilsig booked a starring role in 'Glee.' Chris Pine's success in 'Star Trek' was followed by a brilliant play, 'Farragut North.' He will also star opposite Denzel Washington in the Tony Scott film 'Unstoppable.' I'm so blessed to work with the most wonderful partners: Susie Schwarz, Louis Bershad, and Steven Jang. We have so much respect for each other's opinions, so we are able to brainstorm every major decision that is presented to our clients. The play Chris is doing wouldn't have happened without Susie, 'Star Trek' wouldn't have happened without Steven, and Kaley Cuoco wouldn't be on 'Big Bang' without me. We love what we do, and it shows in our clients' successes."
NEW YORK
Douglas, Gorman, Rothacker &
Wilhelm (DGR&W)
150l Broadway, Ste. 703,
New York, NY 10036
Jim Wilhelm, owner of Douglas, Gorman, Rothacker & Wilhelm, says the agency's four full-time agents represent 130 theater, film, and television actors at all levels of experience, though the agency has an interest in developing talent. Among its clients: 2009 Tony Award winner Alice Ripley, Lea Salonga, Douglas Sills, Lynn Cohen, Kathleen Chalfant, Ron Raines, and Andrea McArdle. Most recently, DGR&W found work for Lauren Kennedy in "Vanities" and Montego Glover in the Broadway-bound "Memphis." Cold submissions usually do not prove fruitful even if the actor has compelling credits, training at prestigious institutions, and/or "drop-dead gorgeous looks," Wilhelm says. As for reels, actors should include only "actual work they were hired to do."
Carson Organization Ltd.
419 Park Ave. South,
Ste. 606,
New York, NY 10016
The Carson Organization's 150 clients have been cast in a range of projects—including "Spring Awakening," "Shrek," and the national tour of "Mary Poppins." Client Brynn Williams has a featured role in the Broadway-bound "Bye Bye Birdie." Georgi James has been cast in the late Horton Foote's "The Orphans' Home Cycle," an upcoming Off-Broadway production. Agency owner Barry Kolker, who views cold submissions, is attracted to actors with significant credits and those who've studied with well-known teachers. He's also drawn to actors who look "like the series regulars on 'Gossip Girl.' " He will not consider unsolicited reels; but should he express interest, the reels must feature real snippets of paid work, not monologues, he says: "It can be 30 seconds or even one line on 'Law & Order.' "
Andreadis Talent Agency
119 W. 57th St., Ste. 711,
New York, NY 10019
Barbara Andreadis' 50 clients have appeared in such films as "Inside Man," "Confessions of a Shopaholic," and "Public Enemies." Four had roles in the Broadway play "Irena's Vow." Andreadis regularly attends audition showcases at, for example, Actors Connection. Any client she takes on must be serious about his craft and speak in full sentences, she says. Andreadis is most likely to look at cold submissions if the agency is in the market for a particular talent, such as male dancers. Reels must be solicited. Her clients include Roberta Wallach and Karen Lynn Gorney.
Kolstein Talent Agency (KTA)
247 W. 38th St., Ste. 1001,
New York, NY 10018
Kolstein Talent Agency boasts 170 signed clients who have booked "West Side Story," "The Phantom of the Opera," and the tours of "Lion King" and "Wicked." On TV, agency actors have appeared on "In Treatment" and "The Closer," and clients' film credits include "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Public Enemies," and the remake of "Bad Lieutenant." Owner Naomi Kolstein says she goes to the theater every night—though many of her clients come on board through recommendations—and also views cold submissions. Actors interested in legit stage work should ideally have performed in theaters with name recognition. An articulate cover letter that shows an understanding of the industry is a big plus, she says. Owner-agent Jeremy Zall says about the importance of professionally done headshots that highlight an actor's strong points, "If you're a character actor, I want to see personality in the headshot."
Peggy Hadley Enterprises Ltd.
119 W. 57th St., Penthouse North,
New York, NY 10019
Peggy Hadley Enterprises casts its estimated 60 to 70 clients in all media except commercials, says owner Peggy Hadley. Her clients have booked such shows as "Shrek," "Lion King," "Grease," and "Fiddler on the Roof." A former actor, Hadley says she is highly sensitive to the feelings of her performers. Hadley often finds clients through cold submissions, though "the picture has to jump out at me." She's also drawn to "interesting skills, such as actors who play musical instruments or are good at gymnastics." She considers unsolicited reels, and these need not feature snippets from paid work. Hadley is open to seeing "monologues and scenes." Cover letters to her must be brief. "And don't try to be funny," she says. "That's the kiss of death."
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Justice Postponed
http://blog.cleveland.com/earlyedition/2007/06/indictment_in_1998_rape_slayin.html
Indictment in 1998 rape, slaying
Posted by James Ewinger June 29, 2007 19:34PM
Categories: Metro
A Summit County grand jury indicted a man Friday for a 1998 slaying and child rape that put an innocent man in prison for seven years.
Earl Mann
A dogged campaign by the wrongfully convicted Clarence Elkins and his family to find the real killer paid off with a multicount capital murder indictment of Earl Mann, 34, who is serving 10 years in prison for raping three girls.
Elkins who had served his time in the same prison as Mann, slipped authorities one of Mann's discarded cigarette butts to test for DNA. That and other evidence eventually led to Mann being charged with the killing of Judith Johnson, Elkins' mother-in-law and raping Elkins' 6-year-old niece the same night.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh's office will seek a death sentence. The charges include two counts of aggravated murder, three counts of rape, attempted murder and aggravated burglary charges.
Elkins, who was convicted in 1999 and freed in 2005, said Friday that the indictment was little consolation for his seven years in prison and the ordeal that his family endured.
"I'm angry. At the same time glad they're doing the right thing," he said.
Elkins said he still does not understand why the state took years to indict Mann when "it didn't take them maybe a couple of hours to come after me."
Clarence Elkins
He said he favors the death penalty -- in general, and for Mann in particular -- and will attend the trial.
"I can't wait to have this person held accountable," Elkins said. Mann has been in prison since 1999, serving a 10-year sentence for the rapes.
Elkins and his supporters have pointed to Mann since 2005.
The scales finally tipped his way when tests on the cigarette butt showed that Mann's DNA matched DNA from a vaginal swab from Johnson as well as the girl's underwear and a hair from her nightgown.
Prosecutor Walsh would not discuss the evidence Friday, but said investigators have been building the case against Mann since his name first surfaced in 2005. She identified him last year as the primary suspect in the slaying.
She said Friday's indictment was no rush to judgment, because Mann's current sentence does not lapse until 2009.
Told of the indictment, Elkins' sister-in-law, Cindy Elkins said, "It's about time. What took them so long?"
Walsh said the challenge was for prosecutors and investigators to prove to themselves that Elkins was innocent, then to continue a separate campaign to build an air-tight case against Mann.
Melinda Elkins, estranged wife of Elkins, is the one who developed the Mann theory.
She wondered why the girl who was raped ran to a neighbor's house and the neighbor did not call police. The neighbor was Mann's girlfriend.
By the time Melinda Elkins started weighing evidence, she discovered that by then Mann was serving the sentence for raping three girls.
In a letter to The Plain Dealer last year, Mann maintained his innocence in the slaying.
The charges that Walsh announced include the same death-penalty specifications that Elkins faced when a jury convicted him in 1999.
But that jury spared Elkins' life, by convicting him of a lesser form of the offense, consigning him to life in prison.
No arraignment date has been set for Mann because authorities have to move him from Lucasville prison.
The case began with the strangulation of Johnson, 59, in Barberton. Elkins was arrested within days, and convicted less than a year later.
He lost his first appeal in 2000, failed to get a new trial in 2002 after the little girl who was raped recanted her story that Elkins did it. In 2003, the 9th Ohio District Court of Appeals denied him a new trial.
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COMMENTS (2)Post a comment
Posted by swampfox111 on 07/08/07 at 11:38AM
Here are the facts: 22% of our 2.3 million inmates(largest in the world)...... are innocent-No system is perfect but I suppose we have the best one.....So that tabulates to approximately 506,000 innocent
inmates across our Nation......Mr. Elkins I'm grateful you are free!
Let me see....do these so-called professional's who convicted Mr.
Elkins keep their career's at his expense.....go figure..
THX
Inappropriate? Alert us.
Post a comment
Posted by Meltemi on 12/24/07 at 1:23PM
I have read and watched this story unfold with complete horror. It is amazing what lengths prosecutors, detectives, those in power, go to not to admit fault. They should be stripped of their position and placed in prison themselves. They are utter parasites. I fully support Mr. Elkins and send my sincerest well-wishes to him for having suffered so. Let's support him further by demanding monetary compensation. A couple of hundred thousand, per year falsely imprisined is a good start.
Indictment in 1998 rape, slaying
Posted by James Ewinger June 29, 2007 19:34PM
Categories: Metro
A Summit County grand jury indicted a man Friday for a 1998 slaying and child rape that put an innocent man in prison for seven years.
Earl Mann
A dogged campaign by the wrongfully convicted Clarence Elkins and his family to find the real killer paid off with a multicount capital murder indictment of Earl Mann, 34, who is serving 10 years in prison for raping three girls.
Elkins who had served his time in the same prison as Mann, slipped authorities one of Mann's discarded cigarette butts to test for DNA. That and other evidence eventually led to Mann being charged with the killing of Judith Johnson, Elkins' mother-in-law and raping Elkins' 6-year-old niece the same night.
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh's office will seek a death sentence. The charges include two counts of aggravated murder, three counts of rape, attempted murder and aggravated burglary charges.
Elkins, who was convicted in 1999 and freed in 2005, said Friday that the indictment was little consolation for his seven years in prison and the ordeal that his family endured.
"I'm angry. At the same time glad they're doing the right thing," he said.
Elkins said he still does not understand why the state took years to indict Mann when "it didn't take them maybe a couple of hours to come after me."
Clarence Elkins
He said he favors the death penalty -- in general, and for Mann in particular -- and will attend the trial.
"I can't wait to have this person held accountable," Elkins said. Mann has been in prison since 1999, serving a 10-year sentence for the rapes.
Elkins and his supporters have pointed to Mann since 2005.
The scales finally tipped his way when tests on the cigarette butt showed that Mann's DNA matched DNA from a vaginal swab from Johnson as well as the girl's underwear and a hair from her nightgown.
Prosecutor Walsh would not discuss the evidence Friday, but said investigators have been building the case against Mann since his name first surfaced in 2005. She identified him last year as the primary suspect in the slaying.
She said Friday's indictment was no rush to judgment, because Mann's current sentence does not lapse until 2009.
Told of the indictment, Elkins' sister-in-law, Cindy Elkins said, "It's about time. What took them so long?"
Walsh said the challenge was for prosecutors and investigators to prove to themselves that Elkins was innocent, then to continue a separate campaign to build an air-tight case against Mann.
Melinda Elkins, estranged wife of Elkins, is the one who developed the Mann theory.
She wondered why the girl who was raped ran to a neighbor's house and the neighbor did not call police. The neighbor was Mann's girlfriend.
By the time Melinda Elkins started weighing evidence, she discovered that by then Mann was serving the sentence for raping three girls.
In a letter to The Plain Dealer last year, Mann maintained his innocence in the slaying.
The charges that Walsh announced include the same death-penalty specifications that Elkins faced when a jury convicted him in 1999.
But that jury spared Elkins' life, by convicting him of a lesser form of the offense, consigning him to life in prison.
No arraignment date has been set for Mann because authorities have to move him from Lucasville prison.
The case began with the strangulation of Johnson, 59, in Barberton. Elkins was arrested within days, and convicted less than a year later.
He lost his first appeal in 2000, failed to get a new trial in 2002 after the little girl who was raped recanted her story that Elkins did it. In 2003, the 9th Ohio District Court of Appeals denied him a new trial.
Print | Permalink (Learn More)
Share: Reddit | Digg | del.icio.us | Google | Yahoo | What is this?
COMMENTS (2)Post a comment
Posted by swampfox111 on 07/08/07 at 11:38AM
Here are the facts: 22% of our 2.3 million inmates(largest in the world)...... are innocent-No system is perfect but I suppose we have the best one.....So that tabulates to approximately 506,000 innocent
inmates across our Nation......Mr. Elkins I'm grateful you are free!
Let me see....do these so-called professional's who convicted Mr.
Elkins keep their career's at his expense.....go figure..
THX
Inappropriate? Alert us.
Post a comment
Posted by Meltemi on 12/24/07 at 1:23PM
I have read and watched this story unfold with complete horror. It is amazing what lengths prosecutors, detectives, those in power, go to not to admit fault. They should be stripped of their position and placed in prison themselves. They are utter parasites. I fully support Mr. Elkins and send my sincerest well-wishes to him for having suffered so. Let's support him further by demanding monetary compensation. A couple of hundred thousand, per year falsely imprisined is a good start.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Happy Birthday to my sweet, little Desi dog. He's 12 years old!!! Soon he'll be a teenager and then I'm really gonna have my hands full:) http://ping.fm/TVMW5
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
OK - I am finally admitting it! I LOVE Lady Gaga! She's a cross between Madonna, David Bowie, Grace Jones & Marilyn Manson! Total FREAK! http://ping.fm/6KXoo
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Journal Entry - 11/21/09
After many months of keeping this blog I've finally decided to write a personal blog entry.
For the most part, I have kept this blog as a way of virtual "scrap-booking." I get ideas, or want to remember certain images or performances and post them on this blog so I can go back to them later on whenever I feel the need.
I haven't really blogged about what it's been like to work as a "Background Artist" aka "Extra" on the many film and television productions I have been lucky enough to book beginning back in March of 2009.
My first background job out of the box back here in New York was back in March 2009 on the original "Law & Order" which is now in its 20th Season. I walked into Central Casting New York, registered, had a digital photo taken and the senior casting director, Ali Mehri, walked in the room and asked if I was free on Monday for "Law & Order." I enthusiastically replied "Absolutely!"
I had done background acting before in LA but really thought it was beneath me. I also didn't want to get pigeon holed as a background actor because I was planning on being a "star" or at least a principal player. However, years of struggling and working many B jobs including a 5 year stint at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City combined with the worst economy I've ever seen, brought me to the realization that earning money in a legitimate way is my bottom line.
While this is definitely not the career I have always dreamed of and expected to have, it has been paying the bills for now. Occasionally, I do have to supplement with unemployment insurance when I don't book enough gigs. It is completely ironic that with 10+ years working as an Executive Assistant in corporate America, I can't even get an office job as a temp and I have to rely on background acting work to pay the rent. Who would have thunk it???
This past week I worked an night shoot on "Ugly Betty" from 3 pm until 3 am on location in Washington Square park. I was nervous about running into my former classmate Vanessa Williams. I know Vanessa would be nice but I would really feel like a loser working as a background actor next to her Emmy nominated performance as Wilhelmina Slater. Luckily I didn't have to cross that bridge. Vanessa had worked the shoot the night before. The night I worked it was just America Ferrera and the actor who plays her boyfriend.
I actually enjoyed working on "Ugly Betty." The 2nd 2nd AD (Background Actor Director) was a very cool guy named Kenyan. He was easy to work with and it was really kind of nice to be shooting outside in Washington Square Park. There were so many dog owners walking their pets that night. Several dogs stopped and let me pet them. It was almost like the dogs sniffed me out! They knew I was a dog owner and lover myself. One owner had to literally drag his dog away from me. The dog just wanted me to keep petting him. That kind of made me feel good. Dogs always have that kind of affect on me. They are very loving animals.
I stayed awake by drinking numerous cups of coffee and doing my best to eat healthy snacks like nuts, fruit and cheese. Craft services (also known as "Crafty") is one of the BEST parts of working on set. They set up a table of delicious and nutritious snacks and sometimes completely irresistible decadent snacks. It's definitely hard to stay disciplined when there is a piece of cheesecake, pumpkin pie or freshly made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. THOSE are especially my weakness. I justify by thinking to myself "well I don't smoke or drink and I have to relieve the stress somehow." Eating the on-set treats seems like a semi-healthy coping mechanism. Although my waist and belt size can't seem to figure out how to maintain a consistent length which is appropriate for film and television work.
Now it's true that there are all different sizes on TV but in general to look the best on camera it has been pretty well established that thin or SUPER thin is the best size to be. I have only been thin for small windows in my life when I spent a lot of time dancing. My senior year of college I was a dance minor and the 3 plus hours of ballet, jazz and tap daily really helped me to easily maintain a 28-30" waist size. After I graduated, I continued to take dance classes so I was thin for several years probably right up until the year 2000. It's been about 9 years since I have been an average waist size of between 28" - 32." I'm older, I don't take dance class every day and I haven't been to the gym in several months because I can't afford it. I also had to stop running because of a stress fracture.
I digress. I am barely seen on camera anyway. My job generally consists of doing "crosses" while the camera shoots the principal actors and passes by me very quickly. Occasionally, when it does linger on me for a second or two, which is an enormous amount of screen time for a background actor, I can hit pause on my DVR and get a screen grab. This season I have been able to be seen on "Gossip Girl" as the Health Inspector for Chuck Bass' new club and "White Collar" as a CSU FBI guy.
I also have been working pretty consistently on "Mercy"as a Hospital Administrator. This is NBC's new drama about nurses which I believe the network would like to have replicate the success of ER. It shoots in a studio in Secaucus, New Jersey. It's not very far from midtown Manhattan but the production doesn't have a shuttle bus from NYC to NJ yet like "Law & Order: SVU" does. We have to take the NJ Transit to the Secaucus train station and then a shuttle picks us up and brings us to set.
Although I have worked background on four episodes which is about a dozen days of actual shooting I have not had any screen or on-camera time like I have on the other shows. Most of the other recurring background cast has actually had their own close-ups at one point or another. It's okay. I didn't get into background acting to get a close-up or even necessarily be seen on camera. I just needed to pay the rent and I since I've been paying my SAG union dues since 2001, it was time to let the union card work for me.
The most memorable experience I have had thus far was working as a stand-in for Paul Shultze on "Nurse Jackie." Stand-ins read and run through the lines and blocking (staging) while the camera and lighting crew set the shot up. The actor then is free to work on their hair, make-up, lines and/or just relax before they actually film the scene. I have onl done stand-in work a handful of times so I was a little nervous. But I have decent amount of experience as an "speaking" actor which started back in high school. So I felt relatively comfortable doing the scene when the director called action for 2nd Team. 2nd team is the official term that stand-ins are referred to on set. The principal actors are referred to as "1st Team." There is generally a 2nd Team rehearsal for the camera before the principals aka 1st time rehearse and then shoot the scene.
It's great practice and I was really excited. Since there were only a couple of lines I was able to quickly memorize them and copy what I saw Paul Schultze doing. The 2nd AD called "Action," I did the scene and then the 2nd AD called cut. Paul Shultze said "That was almost too good!" I was kind of embarrassed and didn't really know if he was being a dick and belittling me or just trying to be funny. I went back to my first mark to wait for the next rehearsal. Paul came out and introduced himself and said, "I really meant that. That was really good." I was SCHOCKED! Not only because of what he said but the fact that he actually went out of the way to introduce himself to me. It is VERY VERY VERY rare that a principal actor even speaks to a background actor let alone introduce themselves and pay them a compliment. I just said "Thanks man. I was just copying what you did."
The other really awesome experience was when I worked as a stand-in on "Wall Street 2" with Oliver Stone.
TBC . . .
For the most part, I have kept this blog as a way of virtual "scrap-booking." I get ideas, or want to remember certain images or performances and post them on this blog so I can go back to them later on whenever I feel the need.
I haven't really blogged about what it's been like to work as a "Background Artist" aka "Extra" on the many film and television productions I have been lucky enough to book beginning back in March of 2009.
My first background job out of the box back here in New York was back in March 2009 on the original "Law & Order" which is now in its 20th Season. I walked into Central Casting New York, registered, had a digital photo taken and the senior casting director, Ali Mehri, walked in the room and asked if I was free on Monday for "Law & Order." I enthusiastically replied "Absolutely!"
I had done background acting before in LA but really thought it was beneath me. I also didn't want to get pigeon holed as a background actor because I was planning on being a "star" or at least a principal player. However, years of struggling and working many B jobs including a 5 year stint at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City combined with the worst economy I've ever seen, brought me to the realization that earning money in a legitimate way is my bottom line.
While this is definitely not the career I have always dreamed of and expected to have, it has been paying the bills for now. Occasionally, I do have to supplement with unemployment insurance when I don't book enough gigs. It is completely ironic that with 10+ years working as an Executive Assistant in corporate America, I can't even get an office job as a temp and I have to rely on background acting work to pay the rent. Who would have thunk it???
This past week I worked an night shoot on "Ugly Betty" from 3 pm until 3 am on location in Washington Square park. I was nervous about running into my former classmate Vanessa Williams. I know Vanessa would be nice but I would really feel like a loser working as a background actor next to her Emmy nominated performance as Wilhelmina Slater. Luckily I didn't have to cross that bridge. Vanessa had worked the shoot the night before. The night I worked it was just America Ferrera and the actor who plays her boyfriend.
I actually enjoyed working on "Ugly Betty." The 2nd 2nd AD (Background Actor Director) was a very cool guy named Kenyan. He was easy to work with and it was really kind of nice to be shooting outside in Washington Square Park. There were so many dog owners walking their pets that night. Several dogs stopped and let me pet them. It was almost like the dogs sniffed me out! They knew I was a dog owner and lover myself. One owner had to literally drag his dog away from me. The dog just wanted me to keep petting him. That kind of made me feel good. Dogs always have that kind of affect on me. They are very loving animals.
I stayed awake by drinking numerous cups of coffee and doing my best to eat healthy snacks like nuts, fruit and cheese. Craft services (also known as "Crafty") is one of the BEST parts of working on set. They set up a table of delicious and nutritious snacks and sometimes completely irresistible decadent snacks. It's definitely hard to stay disciplined when there is a piece of cheesecake, pumpkin pie or freshly made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. THOSE are especially my weakness. I justify by thinking to myself "well I don't smoke or drink and I have to relieve the stress somehow." Eating the on-set treats seems like a semi-healthy coping mechanism. Although my waist and belt size can't seem to figure out how to maintain a consistent length which is appropriate for film and television work.
Now it's true that there are all different sizes on TV but in general to look the best on camera it has been pretty well established that thin or SUPER thin is the best size to be. I have only been thin for small windows in my life when I spent a lot of time dancing. My senior year of college I was a dance minor and the 3 plus hours of ballet, jazz and tap daily really helped me to easily maintain a 28-30" waist size. After I graduated, I continued to take dance classes so I was thin for several years probably right up until the year 2000. It's been about 9 years since I have been an average waist size of between 28" - 32." I'm older, I don't take dance class every day and I haven't been to the gym in several months because I can't afford it. I also had to stop running because of a stress fracture.
I digress. I am barely seen on camera anyway. My job generally consists of doing "crosses" while the camera shoots the principal actors and passes by me very quickly. Occasionally, when it does linger on me for a second or two, which is an enormous amount of screen time for a background actor, I can hit pause on my DVR and get a screen grab. This season I have been able to be seen on "Gossip Girl" as the Health Inspector for Chuck Bass' new club and "White Collar" as a CSU FBI guy.
I also have been working pretty consistently on "Mercy"as a Hospital Administrator. This is NBC's new drama about nurses which I believe the network would like to have replicate the success of ER. It shoots in a studio in Secaucus, New Jersey. It's not very far from midtown Manhattan but the production doesn't have a shuttle bus from NYC to NJ yet like "Law & Order: SVU" does. We have to take the NJ Transit to the Secaucus train station and then a shuttle picks us up and brings us to set.
Although I have worked background on four episodes which is about a dozen days of actual shooting I have not had any screen or on-camera time like I have on the other shows. Most of the other recurring background cast has actually had their own close-ups at one point or another. It's okay. I didn't get into background acting to get a close-up or even necessarily be seen on camera. I just needed to pay the rent and I since I've been paying my SAG union dues since 2001, it was time to let the union card work for me.
The most memorable experience I have had thus far was working as a stand-in for Paul Shultze on "Nurse Jackie." Stand-ins read and run through the lines and blocking (staging) while the camera and lighting crew set the shot up. The actor then is free to work on their hair, make-up, lines and/or just relax before they actually film the scene. I have onl done stand-in work a handful of times so I was a little nervous. But I have decent amount of experience as an "speaking" actor which started back in high school. So I felt relatively comfortable doing the scene when the director called action for 2nd Team. 2nd team is the official term that stand-ins are referred to on set. The principal actors are referred to as "1st Team." There is generally a 2nd Team rehearsal for the camera before the principals aka 1st time rehearse and then shoot the scene.
It's great practice and I was really excited. Since there were only a couple of lines I was able to quickly memorize them and copy what I saw Paul Schultze doing. The 2nd AD called "Action," I did the scene and then the 2nd AD called cut. Paul Shultze said "That was almost too good!" I was kind of embarrassed and didn't really know if he was being a dick and belittling me or just trying to be funny. I went back to my first mark to wait for the next rehearsal. Paul came out and introduced himself and said, "I really meant that. That was really good." I was SCHOCKED! Not only because of what he said but the fact that he actually went out of the way to introduce himself to me. It is VERY VERY VERY rare that a principal actor even speaks to a background actor let alone introduce themselves and pay them a compliment. I just said "Thanks man. I was just copying what you did."
The other really awesome experience was when I worked as a stand-in on "Wall Street 2" with Oliver Stone.
TBC . . .
Vanessa Williams on Ugly Betty's Wilhelmina Slater: 'My favorite role of a lifetime' | EW.com
Vanessa Williams on Ugly Betty's Wilhelmina Slater: 'My favorite role of a lifetime' | EW.com
Vanessa Williams on Ugly Betty's Wilhelmina Slater: 'My favorite role of a lifetime'
by Michael Slezak
Categories: Bitchery, EW Exclusive Video, Television, Things That Are Classy, Ugly Betty, Ugly Betty Bites
Wilhelmina Slater may be the only Ugly Betty character on EW’s list of TV’s Best Bitches (do check it out in the issue on newsstands right now), but for Vanessa Williams, who’s scored an Emmy nomination in each of the show’s first three seasons, bringing the ferocious editrix to life is hardly a solo effort. “The comedy comes from what’s on the page for sure,” she says. “Our writers are brilliant. I never know what’s going to come out of my mouth. And the people I get to play with are amazing!”
Williams says she especially enjoys when Willy is bantering with loyal sidekick Marc (Michael Urie) or baring her claws at rival Claire (Judith Light). “This season we’ve had some great stuff with Wilhelmina and Claire going back and forth, which is always tasty, because it’s two women of a certain age. Willy is basically calling Claire a corpse on a daily basis, and Claire retorts with ‘You scheming, conniving bitch,’ which is the reality,” Williams says with a hearty chuckle. And although the show’s writers have allowed us to see the softer side of Wilhelmina — through her failed romances, her rocky relationship with her father, her struggles to connect with her daughter — the woman never loses her beastly edge. “We’re about to shoot a scene, I think it’s for episode 11, and I’m tempting Becki Newton’s character with all this couture, luring her like the evil queen in Snow White,” says Williams. “I say to her, ‘Amanda, Amanda…it is Amanda right?’ After four years, she still doesn’t realize it’s her name!”
Of course, four seasons into Ugly Betty’s run, Wilhelmina often doesn’t need to say a single word to strike terror into the hearts of her underlings. “A lot of the stance, the carriage, and the facial expressions are where the real power lies. That’s what makes Wilhelmina great,” says Williams.”Sometimes it’s just a look or a sigh or a roll of the eyes or a turn of the back, and that’s weighted enough. It’s been my favorite role of a lifetime, and I truly enjoy coming to work every day.”
Check out bonus footage below of Williams during her photo shoot with Glee’s Jane Lynch and The Good Wife’s Christine Baranski to learn about the actress’s favorite Ugly Betty zinger, the reaction shot she most enjoys delivering, and the secret to surviving in Wilhelmina’s super-pointy, spike-heeled shoes. And for more on Ugly Betty and TV’s best bitches, check out Michael Ausiello’s latest Betty scoopfest, Tanner Stransky’s weekly rundown of the show’s best dialog, and bonus quotes from Mandi Bierly’s interview with The Vampire Diaries‘ Ian Somerhalder. (Yep, we’ve placed his deliciously evil Damon Salvatore right alongside Wilhelmina in the TV Bitch Hall of Fame.)
Vanessa Williams on Ugly Betty's Wilhelmina Slater: 'My favorite role of a lifetime'
by Michael Slezak
Categories: Bitchery, EW Exclusive Video, Television, Things That Are Classy, Ugly Betty, Ugly Betty Bites
Wilhelmina Slater may be the only Ugly Betty character on EW’s list of TV’s Best Bitches (do check it out in the issue on newsstands right now), but for Vanessa Williams, who’s scored an Emmy nomination in each of the show’s first three seasons, bringing the ferocious editrix to life is hardly a solo effort. “The comedy comes from what’s on the page for sure,” she says. “Our writers are brilliant. I never know what’s going to come out of my mouth. And the people I get to play with are amazing!”
Williams says she especially enjoys when Willy is bantering with loyal sidekick Marc (Michael Urie) or baring her claws at rival Claire (Judith Light). “This season we’ve had some great stuff with Wilhelmina and Claire going back and forth, which is always tasty, because it’s two women of a certain age. Willy is basically calling Claire a corpse on a daily basis, and Claire retorts with ‘You scheming, conniving bitch,’ which is the reality,” Williams says with a hearty chuckle. And although the show’s writers have allowed us to see the softer side of Wilhelmina — through her failed romances, her rocky relationship with her father, her struggles to connect with her daughter — the woman never loses her beastly edge. “We’re about to shoot a scene, I think it’s for episode 11, and I’m tempting Becki Newton’s character with all this couture, luring her like the evil queen in Snow White,” says Williams. “I say to her, ‘Amanda, Amanda…it is Amanda right?’ After four years, she still doesn’t realize it’s her name!”
Of course, four seasons into Ugly Betty’s run, Wilhelmina often doesn’t need to say a single word to strike terror into the hearts of her underlings. “A lot of the stance, the carriage, and the facial expressions are where the real power lies. That’s what makes Wilhelmina great,” says Williams.”Sometimes it’s just a look or a sigh or a roll of the eyes or a turn of the back, and that’s weighted enough. It’s been my favorite role of a lifetime, and I truly enjoy coming to work every day.”
Check out bonus footage below of Williams during her photo shoot with Glee’s Jane Lynch and The Good Wife’s Christine Baranski to learn about the actress’s favorite Ugly Betty zinger, the reaction shot she most enjoys delivering, and the secret to surviving in Wilhelmina’s super-pointy, spike-heeled shoes. And for more on Ugly Betty and TV’s best bitches, check out Michael Ausiello’s latest Betty scoopfest, Tanner Stransky’s weekly rundown of the show’s best dialog, and bonus quotes from Mandi Bierly’s interview with The Vampire Diaries‘ Ian Somerhalder. (Yep, we’ve placed his deliciously evil Damon Salvatore right alongside Wilhelmina in the TV Bitch Hall of Fame.)
Friday, November 20, 2009
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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Monday, November 9, 2009
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GO YANKEES-SEND PHILLY PACKING!!! I GOT A FEELIN' THAT 2NITE'S GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT!!! & IT IS:) http://ping.fm/j5Lk5
Made In Heaven - Theatre Mania review
Reviews
Made in Heaven
Reviewed By: Barbara & Scott Siegel · Nov 3, 2009 · New York
Matthew Bondy, Alex Anfanger,
Kevin Thomas Collins and Maia Madison
in Made In Heaven
(© Carol Rosegg)
Matthew Bondy, Alex Anfanger,
Kevin Thomas Collins and Maia Madison
in Made In Heaven
(© Carol Rosegg)
If you think that one show about conjoined twins was all the theater market could bear, think again. Move over Side Show and make way for Made in Heaven, a deliciously dicey sex comedy in which two conjoined brothers share one penis and two different sexual orientations, now at the Soho Playhouse after a summer run at the Midtown International Theatre Festival. Jay Bernzweig's writing is broad, oftentimes vulgar, but it's also genuinely funny and consistently inventive. The result, under Andrew Shaifer's light direction, is 90 minutes of frolicsome fun.
The play begins with brothers Max (Kevin Thomas Collins) and Benjie (Alex Anfanger) waiting for Jessica (Maia Madison), the woman to whom they intend to propose marriage. Max, in particular, is full of joy at the prospect of this relationship working out, while Benjie is quick to point out all of the obvious obstacles. Finally, right before Jessica is to arrive, Benjie decides to come out of the closet. Max is stunned. How in the world could Max not have known? Well, that's part of the comic conceit of the entire piece.
The twist and turns of the plot all center on the conflicting desires of all four characters -- including "gay for pay" hustler Gilbert (Matthew Bondy) -- but the playwright keeps the motor running so smoothly throughout so that each new wrinkle, while perhaps not unexpected -- and perhaps even occasionally contrived -- still manages to be funny. And like a Marx Brothers movie, if you don't laugh at one joke, you'll laugh at another.
Made in Heaven is pointedly silly, but it has a lot of heart and four characters that are all rich in their comic potential. What's more, that comic potential is fully realized by some extremely zesty, even inspired, performances. Anfanger is comically adorable as the gay twin with a winsomely innocent yet comically exaggerated sexual desire. Collins is a wonderfully madcap actor who is out-and-out hilarious at physical comedy. Meanwhile, Madison gets to toss off her own fair share of comic lines with a ferocious quality, and Bondy plays his role with so much comic bravado that he almost steals the show.
Made in Heaven
Reviewed By: Barbara & Scott Siegel · Nov 3, 2009 · New York
Matthew Bondy, Alex Anfanger,
Kevin Thomas Collins and Maia Madison
in Made In Heaven
(© Carol Rosegg)
Matthew Bondy, Alex Anfanger,
Kevin Thomas Collins and Maia Madison
in Made In Heaven
(© Carol Rosegg)
If you think that one show about conjoined twins was all the theater market could bear, think again. Move over Side Show and make way for Made in Heaven, a deliciously dicey sex comedy in which two conjoined brothers share one penis and two different sexual orientations, now at the Soho Playhouse after a summer run at the Midtown International Theatre Festival. Jay Bernzweig's writing is broad, oftentimes vulgar, but it's also genuinely funny and consistently inventive. The result, under Andrew Shaifer's light direction, is 90 minutes of frolicsome fun.
The play begins with brothers Max (Kevin Thomas Collins) and Benjie (Alex Anfanger) waiting for Jessica (Maia Madison), the woman to whom they intend to propose marriage. Max, in particular, is full of joy at the prospect of this relationship working out, while Benjie is quick to point out all of the obvious obstacles. Finally, right before Jessica is to arrive, Benjie decides to come out of the closet. Max is stunned. How in the world could Max not have known? Well, that's part of the comic conceit of the entire piece.
The twist and turns of the plot all center on the conflicting desires of all four characters -- including "gay for pay" hustler Gilbert (Matthew Bondy) -- but the playwright keeps the motor running so smoothly throughout so that each new wrinkle, while perhaps not unexpected -- and perhaps even occasionally contrived -- still manages to be funny. And like a Marx Brothers movie, if you don't laugh at one joke, you'll laugh at another.
Made in Heaven is pointedly silly, but it has a lot of heart and four characters that are all rich in their comic potential. What's more, that comic potential is fully realized by some extremely zesty, even inspired, performances. Anfanger is comically adorable as the gay twin with a winsomely innocent yet comically exaggerated sexual desire. Collins is a wonderfully madcap actor who is out-and-out hilarious at physical comedy. Meanwhile, Madison gets to toss off her own fair share of comic lines with a ferocious quality, and Bondy plays his role with so much comic bravado that he almost steals the show.
"Made In Heaven" Website Review Clips
Made in Heaven
"A HUGE SUPPLY OF LAUGHS!"
- Associated Press, 3 November 2009
Read Jennifer Farrar's full review here.
"A GENUINELY FUNNY FARCE ... hilarious dialogue and inspired physical comedy. Adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "brotherly love"!"
- New York Post, 3 November 2009
Read Frank Scheck's full review at www.NYPost.com.
"A DELICIOUSLY DICEY SEX COMEDY ... genuinely funny and consistently inventive."
- TheaterMania, 3 November 2009
Read Barbara & Scott Siegel's full review at www.TheaterMania.com.
"A HUGE SUPPLY OF LAUGHS!"
- Associated Press, 3 November 2009
Read Jennifer Farrar's full review here.
"A GENUINELY FUNNY FARCE ... hilarious dialogue and inspired physical comedy. Adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "brotherly love"!"
- New York Post, 3 November 2009
Read Frank Scheck's full review at www.NYPost.com.
"A DELICIOUSLY DICEY SEX COMEDY ... genuinely funny and consistently inventive."
- TheaterMania, 3 November 2009
Read Barbara & Scott Siegel's full review at www.TheaterMania.com.
"Made In Heaven" Associated Press Review
wpix.com /sns-ap-us-theater-review-made-in-heaven,0,4454468.story
WPIX
Theater review: 'Made in Heaven' adds Siamese twins to a love quadrangle _ and get laughs
JENNIFER FARRAR
Associated Press Writer
11:48 AM EST, November 3, 2009
NEW YORK (AP) — A different twist on the eternal search for emotional fulfillment is provided by Jay Bernzweig in his new off-Broadway comedy, "Made in Heaven."
Brothers Max (Kevin Thomas Collins) and Benjie (Alex Anfanger) are conjoined adult Siamese twins, who share all major organs from the waist down.
On the eve of "their" engagement to their girlfriend Jessica, a cheerfully delusional, insecure woman (played with polished humor by Maia Madison,) Benjie confesses to Max that he's actually gay.
Sweetly naive Benjie has also selected his first gay date, from a catalog of male escorts, and the already-farcical humor increases with the arrival of Matthew Bondy as the handsome stud-for-hire, Gilbert.
Anfanger's wide-eyed, boyish face is perfect for his innocent character, while Collins has a more cynical appearance, displaying a wonderful range of expressions to suit every fresh revelation as the unusual love quadrangle progresses.
Bondy's part requires him to frequently stand around onstage wearing only briefs. While Gilbert is crass and opportunistic, downright lewd at times, Bondy's gym-toned attributes don't detract from his comedic timing or his ability to convey an occasional, if fleeting, thoughtful side to Gilbert.
Bernzweig has laced the script with humorous one-liners. When Max tries to tell Ben that Gilbert is nothing but "a bisexual Ken doll," the smitten Ben retorts, "Beauty has its own brains." There's also a lot of explicit sexual talk and cursing, although the actual sex, while frankly discussed, takes place offstage or underneath a blanket.
Director/producer Andrew Shaifer keeps the action moving pretty quickly, as the four characters experience overlapping sexual pairings during a monthlong trial of their relationships.
The affairs suffer from all the expected complications, particularly around the physical and emotional issues that the brothers must deal with. There are several sight gags, some of them almost tasteful. The three-legged twins do some hilarious comedic maneuvering, especially when one unconscious, flopping brother must be hauled around by the other.
Both Gilbert and Jessica become inconsistent in their commitment, while Max, who loathes Gilbert, tries to persuade both Ben and Jessica to operate with more self-respect. The power of brotherly love is definitely tested, but with a huge supply of laughs along the way.
"Made in Heaven" is in a limited run at the Soho Playhouse through Sunday, Jan. 3.
WPIX
Theater review: 'Made in Heaven' adds Siamese twins to a love quadrangle _ and get laughs
JENNIFER FARRAR
Associated Press Writer
11:48 AM EST, November 3, 2009
NEW YORK (AP) — A different twist on the eternal search for emotional fulfillment is provided by Jay Bernzweig in his new off-Broadway comedy, "Made in Heaven."
Brothers Max (Kevin Thomas Collins) and Benjie (Alex Anfanger) are conjoined adult Siamese twins, who share all major organs from the waist down.
On the eve of "their" engagement to their girlfriend Jessica, a cheerfully delusional, insecure woman (played with polished humor by Maia Madison,) Benjie confesses to Max that he's actually gay.
Sweetly naive Benjie has also selected his first gay date, from a catalog of male escorts, and the already-farcical humor increases with the arrival of Matthew Bondy as the handsome stud-for-hire, Gilbert.
Anfanger's wide-eyed, boyish face is perfect for his innocent character, while Collins has a more cynical appearance, displaying a wonderful range of expressions to suit every fresh revelation as the unusual love quadrangle progresses.
Bondy's part requires him to frequently stand around onstage wearing only briefs. While Gilbert is crass and opportunistic, downright lewd at times, Bondy's gym-toned attributes don't detract from his comedic timing or his ability to convey an occasional, if fleeting, thoughtful side to Gilbert.
Bernzweig has laced the script with humorous one-liners. When Max tries to tell Ben that Gilbert is nothing but "a bisexual Ken doll," the smitten Ben retorts, "Beauty has its own brains." There's also a lot of explicit sexual talk and cursing, although the actual sex, while frankly discussed, takes place offstage or underneath a blanket.
Director/producer Andrew Shaifer keeps the action moving pretty quickly, as the four characters experience overlapping sexual pairings during a monthlong trial of their relationships.
The affairs suffer from all the expected complications, particularly around the physical and emotional issues that the brothers must deal with. There are several sight gags, some of them almost tasteful. The three-legged twins do some hilarious comedic maneuvering, especially when one unconscious, flopping brother must be hauled around by the other.
Both Gilbert and Jessica become inconsistent in their commitment, while Max, who loathes Gilbert, tries to persuade both Ben and Jessica to operate with more self-respect. The power of brotherly love is definitely tested, but with a huge supply of laughs along the way.
"Made in Heaven" is in a limited run at the Soho Playhouse through Sunday, Jan. 3.
"Made In Heaven" NY Post Review
Joined in matrimony
By FRANK SCHECK
Last Updated: 4:31 PM, November 3, 2009
Posted: 12:12 AM, November 3, 2009
Even Alfred Kinsey might have been shocked by "Made in Heaven." This new comedy about conjoined twins linked by a part of the male anatomy adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "brotherly love."
The results are better than you'd expect. While Jay Bernzweig's comedy doesn't exactly inspire comparisons to Oscar Wilde, it's a genuinely funny farce that you'll only mildly disrespect yourself the next day for having liked.
Max (Kevin Thomas Collins) and Benjie (Alex Anfanger) seem to have adjusted to their condition pretty well, and are even planning on proposing to their zaftig, adoring girlfriend, Jessica (Maia
Madison).
There's only one slight hitch to the hitching: Benjie, as he's only recently accepted, is gay.
Jessica is barely fazed. "It's not like there's nothing to work with," she points out.
The problem then arises as how to satisfy Benjie's needs. He's already figured that out, having selected a male hustler from the ads in a gay magazine.
When Gilbert (Matthew Bondy) arrives for the assignation, he's only slightly nonplussed by the circumstances. But, despite a further complication that won't be revealed here, the foursome are soon living together in an arrangement that makes Noel Coward's "Design for Living" seem positively quaint.
It's all much funnier than it should be, thanks to the often hilarious dialogue and the inspired physical comedy from Collins and Anfanger. Wearing a single pair of oversize pants as if they've been sharing them forever, the two are particularly riotous in the scene in which Benjie is forced to fling his drugged, unconscious brother around like a rag doll.
Is "Made in Heaven" made in heaven? No. But it's a genuinely silly, entertaining romp that fits perfectly in the funky confines of the SoHo Playhouse.
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By FRANK SCHECK
Last Updated: 4:31 PM, November 3, 2009
Posted: 12:12 AM, November 3, 2009
Even Alfred Kinsey might have been shocked by "Made in Heaven." This new comedy about conjoined twins linked by a part of the male anatomy adds a whole new meaning to the phrase "brotherly love."
The results are better than you'd expect. While Jay Bernzweig's comedy doesn't exactly inspire comparisons to Oscar Wilde, it's a genuinely funny farce that you'll only mildly disrespect yourself the next day for having liked.
Max (Kevin Thomas Collins) and Benjie (Alex Anfanger) seem to have adjusted to their condition pretty well, and are even planning on proposing to their zaftig, adoring girlfriend, Jessica (Maia
Madison).
There's only one slight hitch to the hitching: Benjie, as he's only recently accepted, is gay.
Jessica is barely fazed. "It's not like there's nothing to work with," she points out.
The problem then arises as how to satisfy Benjie's needs. He's already figured that out, having selected a male hustler from the ads in a gay magazine.
When Gilbert (Matthew Bondy) arrives for the assignation, he's only slightly nonplussed by the circumstances. But, despite a further complication that won't be revealed here, the foursome are soon living together in an arrangement that makes Noel Coward's "Design for Living" seem positively quaint.
It's all much funnier than it should be, thanks to the often hilarious dialogue and the inspired physical comedy from Collins and Anfanger. Wearing a single pair of oversize pants as if they've been sharing them forever, the two are particularly riotous in the scene in which Benjie is forced to fling his drugged, unconscious brother around like a rag doll.
Is "Made in Heaven" made in heaven? No. But it's a genuinely silly, entertaining romp that fits perfectly in the funky confines of the SoHo Playhouse.
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Monday, November 2, 2009
The Yanks are 1 game away from winning the World Series. I can't believe I fell asleep at the top of the 9th after Damon's stolen bass! http://ping.fm/fMuXU
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NY Productions | BackStageMom
NY Productions | BackStageMom
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FEATURE FILMS: CURRENTLY SHOOTING
69 Love Stories (replacing the previously announced production, V), an anthology film featuring 69 versions of the same story with 69 different couples. Directed by Marc Lafia. Shooting began in mid-May and continues through the summer. Principals and background: V Films, 191 Sixth Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217, Attn: Irena Rogovsky.
*NEW The Back-up Plan, a romantic comedy. Directed by Alan Poul. Shooting July 17–24. With Jennifer Lopez and Alex O’Loughlin. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
The Bounty (akaThe Bounty Hunter), an action film about a bounty hunter hired to track down his ex-wife. Directed by Andy Tennant. Shooting from June 15 through late summer in New York and Atlantic City. With Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Boy Wonder, a drama about a young man seeking his mother’s killer. Directed by Michael Morrissey. Shooting June 15–July 20. With Caleb Steinmeyer, Bill Sage, Tracy Middendorf, Zulay Henao, and James Russo. Principals: No further casting. Background: Extra Mile, Inc., 150 W. 28th St., Ste. 1601, NYC 10001.
A Couple of Dicks (aka A Couple of Cops), a comedy. Directed by Kevin Smith. Shooting June 1–Aug. 10. With Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Principals: No information available. Background: Amerifilm Casting, 151 First Ave., Ste. 225, NYC 10003.
Dance Film Sequel, the latest installment in a dance movie franchise. Director TBA. Shooting through July 22. Principals: No information available. Background: Comer & Gallucio Casting, 440 Ninth Ave., Ste. 24, NYC 10001 or candgcasting@gmail.com.
*Going the Distance, a romantic comedy about a long-distance relationship. Directed by Nanette Burstein. Shooting July 14–Sept. 13. With Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. Principals: No information available. Background: Central Casting New York, 875 Sixth Ave., 15th fl., NYC 10001, Attn: Todd Feldman.
*NEW The Instant Messenger, a romantic suspense adventure. Directed by Felix Pena. Shooting July 11–Aug. 1 in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Principals: No further casting. Background: motosisfilms@yahoo.com. No pay.
*Just Wright, a romantic comedy about a physical therapist who falls for a basketball player. Directed by Sanaa Hamri. Shooting through Aug. 21. With Queen Latifah. Principals: No information available. Background: Kee Casting, P.O. Box 3175, Guttenberg, NJ 07093.
Morning Glory, a comedy about an old-school TV anchorman who joins a morning show. Directed by Roger Michel. Shooting June 1–Aug. 15. With Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, and Diane Keaton. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Remember Me, a romantic drama about young lovers whose relationship is threatened by family tragedies. Directed by Allen Coulter. Shooting June 15–Aug. 3. With Robert Pattinson, Pierce Brosnan, Emilie de Ravin, and Chris Cooper. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
UPCOMING FEATURE FILMS
2 Taryn Atkins Projects,a drama about how the decisions people make dictate their lives and a drama about a young woman with internal struggles. Both shooting in summer 2010. Principals and background: TCA Productions Inc., Attn: Casting Dept., 125-28 Queens Blvd., Ste. 610, Kew Gardens, NY 11415. Include two headshots showing different looks. For more information, go to www.tcaproductionsinc.com. Some pay.
*NEW Asabiyyah, a dramatic action feature set in the future. Directed by Jeff Bonistalli. Shoots late July to mid-September in Connecticut. Principals and background: JBonistall@aol.com. Also seeking staff: production, lighting, sound hands. Some pay.
Broken Souls, an indie thriller. Director TBA. Tentative start date of July 20. Principals and background: brokensoulsmovie@gmail.com. Some pay.
* NEW Bushwick, a drama about a detective investigating the murder of a runaway teenager. Directed by Luis Landivar. Shooting Aug. 1–14. Principals: Casting@landvariedinternational.com. Background: Not casting. For more information, visit www.landvariedinternational.com.
The Darkroom, an independent drama. Directed by Paul Rothman. Shooting begins in late summer, mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Principals and background: Close Up Pictures LLC, 172 Fifth Ave., Box #67, Brooklyn, NY 11217, Attn: Casting Director. Possible pay for some roles.
*Dr. G., an indie feature. Directed by Tony Greer. Shooting begins in early August. Principals and background: tonyfilms@yahoo.com. Seeking the following principal roles only: African-American female, 30–35; African-American male, 30–35, fit and toned. Producer states: “Simulated sex scenes will be carefully choreographed and shot in a professional manner.” For more info, go to www.tonyfilmsltd.com. Deferred pay.
*NEW Eat Pray Love, a drama based on the best-selling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert. Directed by Ryan Murphy. Shooting in New York Aug 2–28 (also shoots in Italy, India, and Bali). With Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, and Richard Jenkins. Principals: No information available. Background: Central Casting New York, 875 Sixth Ave., 15th fl., NYC 10001, Attn: David Waldron.
*The Familia, a Latino mob love story. Directed by Emilio Rosa and Juan Shamsul Alam. Shooting begins later this year on Long Island. With Rosa, Tito Puente Jr., Santo Alam, Jaime Tirelli, Angel Salazar, Rick Borgia, and Steven Bauer. Principals and background: tainorosafilms@aol.com. For more information, visit www.tainorosa.com or www.thefamilia.us. Deferred pay.
*NEW Get Him to the Greek, a comedy set in the world of pop music. Directed by Nicholas Stoller. Shooting July 23–Aug. 2. With Rose Byrne, Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, and Elisabeth Moss. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
*NEWSex and the City 2, a comedy. Directed by Michael Patrick King. Shooting begins in mid-August. With Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Chris Noth. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Untitled Cybil Lake Project, a feature film. Shooting begins Aug. 10. Principals and background: Cybil Lake, c/o Benjamin James, 900 Broadway Ave., 2nd fl., NYC 10003. For more information, go to www.thecybillakeshow.com. No pay. Also seeking a producer.
*Untitled Stephen Padilla Feature, about four political strategists who meet to discuss the 2008 presidential election. Shooting begins in July and continues for a month. Principals: A Family Affair Films, 305 Columbus Ave., #54, NYC 10023. Seeking the following role only: male, early 50s, Caucasian, sneaky, cynical, partisan political animal. No pay. Background: Not casting.
TV IN PRODUCTION
Boardwalk Empire, a series for HBO about the rise of Atlantic City in the 1920s. Shooting pilot through July 21. The series is expected to begin shooting in September. With Steve Buscemi, Stephen Graham, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Pitt, Vincent Piazza, and Michael Shannon. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011. Men must be willing to have their hair cut short; women must have at least shoulder-length hair.
The Good Wife, an hourlong drama for CBS about the wife of a politician who returns to her law practice after her husband goes to jail. Shooting from July 15 until early 2010. With Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth. Principals: No information available. Background: Kee Casting, P.O. Box 3175, Guttenberg, NJ 07093. Note: AFTRA project.
Gossip Girl, an hourlong drama for the CW about young socialites, based on the novels by Cecily von Ziegesar. Shooting from June 29 through March. With Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Taylor Momsen, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Matthew Settle, Kelly Rutherford, and Jessica Szohr. Principals: Bowling/Miscia Casting, 349 Broadway, 3rd fl., NYC 10013. Background: Central Casting New York, 875 Sixth Ave., 15th fl., NYC 10001.
*NEW Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,an hourlong NBC drama. Shooting July 6–April 5. With Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, Ice-T, Connie Nielsen, Stephanie March, B.D. Wong, Michaela McManus, and Tamara Tunie. Principals: Jonathan Strauss, Lynn Kressel Casting, Pier 62, Room 304, West 23rd Street and Hudson River, NYC 10011. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Royal Pains, an hourlong comedy for the USA Network about a physician treating the rich and fashionable. Shooting through mid-August. With Mark Feurstein. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011. Seeking AFTRA members only.
*NEW Ugly Betty, an hourlong dramedy for ABC. Shooting for Season 4 begins July 14 and continues through April 16. With America Ferrera, Eric Mabius, Tony Plana,, Ana Ortiz, Becki Newton, Mark Indelicato, Judith Light, Michael Urie, and Vanessa Williams. Principals: Geoffrey Soffer, Silvercup Studios East, Stage C, 34-92 Starr Ave., 2nd fl. studio, Long Island City, NY 11101. Background: Comer & Gallucio Casting, 440 Ninth Ave., Ste. 24, NYC 10001 or candgcasting@gmail.com.
DAYTIME DRAMA
All My Children (ABC). Judy Blye Wilson (casting director), Robert Lambert (associate, under-fives and background), 320 W. 66th St., NYC 10023. Send headshots, résumés, post cards.
As the World Turns (CBS). Mary Clay Boland (principals), LaMont Craig (under-fives), Kate Martineau (background), 1268 E. 14th St., Brooklyn, NY 11230. Send headshots and résumés.
Guiding Light (CBS). Rob Decina (casting director), Alison Goodman (associate, under-fives), Jill Creighton (assistant, background), 524 W. 57th St., Ste. 5320, NYC 10019. Accepts post cards and showcase invitations. Series is slated to end production in September.
One Life to Live (ABC). Julie Madison (casting director), Victoria Visgilio (associate), Sheryl Baker-Fisher (assistant), 157 Columbus Ave., 2nd fl., NYC 10023. Send headshots and résumés or post cards only.
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FEATURE FILMS: CURRENTLY SHOOTING
69 Love Stories (replacing the previously announced production, V), an anthology film featuring 69 versions of the same story with 69 different couples. Directed by Marc Lafia. Shooting began in mid-May and continues through the summer. Principals and background: V Films, 191 Sixth Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217, Attn: Irena Rogovsky.
*NEW The Back-up Plan, a romantic comedy. Directed by Alan Poul. Shooting July 17–24. With Jennifer Lopez and Alex O’Loughlin. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
The Bounty (akaThe Bounty Hunter), an action film about a bounty hunter hired to track down his ex-wife. Directed by Andy Tennant. Shooting from June 15 through late summer in New York and Atlantic City. With Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Boy Wonder, a drama about a young man seeking his mother’s killer. Directed by Michael Morrissey. Shooting June 15–July 20. With Caleb Steinmeyer, Bill Sage, Tracy Middendorf, Zulay Henao, and James Russo. Principals: No further casting. Background: Extra Mile, Inc., 150 W. 28th St., Ste. 1601, NYC 10001.
A Couple of Dicks (aka A Couple of Cops), a comedy. Directed by Kevin Smith. Shooting June 1–Aug. 10. With Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Principals: No information available. Background: Amerifilm Casting, 151 First Ave., Ste. 225, NYC 10003.
Dance Film Sequel, the latest installment in a dance movie franchise. Director TBA. Shooting through July 22. Principals: No information available. Background: Comer & Gallucio Casting, 440 Ninth Ave., Ste. 24, NYC 10001 or candgcasting@gmail.com.
*Going the Distance, a romantic comedy about a long-distance relationship. Directed by Nanette Burstein. Shooting July 14–Sept. 13. With Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. Principals: No information available. Background: Central Casting New York, 875 Sixth Ave., 15th fl., NYC 10001, Attn: Todd Feldman.
*NEW The Instant Messenger, a romantic suspense adventure. Directed by Felix Pena. Shooting July 11–Aug. 1 in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Principals: No further casting. Background: motosisfilms@yahoo.com. No pay.
*Just Wright, a romantic comedy about a physical therapist who falls for a basketball player. Directed by Sanaa Hamri. Shooting through Aug. 21. With Queen Latifah. Principals: No information available. Background: Kee Casting, P.O. Box 3175, Guttenberg, NJ 07093.
Morning Glory, a comedy about an old-school TV anchorman who joins a morning show. Directed by Roger Michel. Shooting June 1–Aug. 15. With Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, and Diane Keaton. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Remember Me, a romantic drama about young lovers whose relationship is threatened by family tragedies. Directed by Allen Coulter. Shooting June 15–Aug. 3. With Robert Pattinson, Pierce Brosnan, Emilie de Ravin, and Chris Cooper. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
UPCOMING FEATURE FILMS
2 Taryn Atkins Projects,a drama about how the decisions people make dictate their lives and a drama about a young woman with internal struggles. Both shooting in summer 2010. Principals and background: TCA Productions Inc., Attn: Casting Dept., 125-28 Queens Blvd., Ste. 610, Kew Gardens, NY 11415. Include two headshots showing different looks. For more information, go to www.tcaproductionsinc.com. Some pay.
*NEW Asabiyyah, a dramatic action feature set in the future. Directed by Jeff Bonistalli. Shoots late July to mid-September in Connecticut. Principals and background: JBonistall@aol.com. Also seeking staff: production, lighting, sound hands. Some pay.
Broken Souls, an indie thriller. Director TBA. Tentative start date of July 20. Principals and background: brokensoulsmovie@gmail.com. Some pay.
* NEW Bushwick, a drama about a detective investigating the murder of a runaway teenager. Directed by Luis Landivar. Shooting Aug. 1–14. Principals: Casting@landvariedinternational.com. Background: Not casting. For more information, visit www.landvariedinternational.com.
The Darkroom, an independent drama. Directed by Paul Rothman. Shooting begins in late summer, mostly in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Principals and background: Close Up Pictures LLC, 172 Fifth Ave., Box #67, Brooklyn, NY 11217, Attn: Casting Director. Possible pay for some roles.
*Dr. G., an indie feature. Directed by Tony Greer. Shooting begins in early August. Principals and background: tonyfilms@yahoo.com. Seeking the following principal roles only: African-American female, 30–35; African-American male, 30–35, fit and toned. Producer states: “Simulated sex scenes will be carefully choreographed and shot in a professional manner.” For more info, go to www.tonyfilmsltd.com. Deferred pay.
*NEW Eat Pray Love, a drama based on the best-selling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert. Directed by Ryan Murphy. Shooting in New York Aug 2–28 (also shoots in Italy, India, and Bali). With Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, and Richard Jenkins. Principals: No information available. Background: Central Casting New York, 875 Sixth Ave., 15th fl., NYC 10001, Attn: David Waldron.
*The Familia, a Latino mob love story. Directed by Emilio Rosa and Juan Shamsul Alam. Shooting begins later this year on Long Island. With Rosa, Tito Puente Jr., Santo Alam, Jaime Tirelli, Angel Salazar, Rick Borgia, and Steven Bauer. Principals and background: tainorosafilms@aol.com. For more information, visit www.tainorosa.com or www.thefamilia.us. Deferred pay.
*NEW Get Him to the Greek, a comedy set in the world of pop music. Directed by Nicholas Stoller. Shooting July 23–Aug. 2. With Rose Byrne, Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, and Elisabeth Moss. Principals: No further casting. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
*NEWSex and the City 2, a comedy. Directed by Michael Patrick King. Shooting begins in mid-August. With Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Chris Noth. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Untitled Cybil Lake Project, a feature film. Shooting begins Aug. 10. Principals and background: Cybil Lake, c/o Benjamin James, 900 Broadway Ave., 2nd fl., NYC 10003. For more information, go to www.thecybillakeshow.com. No pay. Also seeking a producer.
*Untitled Stephen Padilla Feature, about four political strategists who meet to discuss the 2008 presidential election. Shooting begins in July and continues for a month. Principals: A Family Affair Films, 305 Columbus Ave., #54, NYC 10023. Seeking the following role only: male, early 50s, Caucasian, sneaky, cynical, partisan political animal. No pay. Background: Not casting.
TV IN PRODUCTION
Boardwalk Empire, a series for HBO about the rise of Atlantic City in the 1920s. Shooting pilot through July 21. The series is expected to begin shooting in September. With Steve Buscemi, Stephen Graham, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Pitt, Vincent Piazza, and Michael Shannon. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011. Men must be willing to have their hair cut short; women must have at least shoulder-length hair.
The Good Wife, an hourlong drama for CBS about the wife of a politician who returns to her law practice after her husband goes to jail. Shooting from July 15 until early 2010. With Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth. Principals: No information available. Background: Kee Casting, P.O. Box 3175, Guttenberg, NJ 07093. Note: AFTRA project.
Gossip Girl, an hourlong drama for the CW about young socialites, based on the novels by Cecily von Ziegesar. Shooting from June 29 through March. With Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Taylor Momsen, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Matthew Settle, Kelly Rutherford, and Jessica Szohr. Principals: Bowling/Miscia Casting, 349 Broadway, 3rd fl., NYC 10013. Background: Central Casting New York, 875 Sixth Ave., 15th fl., NYC 10001.
*NEW Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,an hourlong NBC drama. Shooting July 6–April 5. With Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, Ice-T, Connie Nielsen, Stephanie March, B.D. Wong, Michaela McManus, and Tamara Tunie. Principals: Jonathan Strauss, Lynn Kressel Casting, Pier 62, Room 304, West 23rd Street and Hudson River, NYC 10011. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011.
Royal Pains, an hourlong comedy for the USA Network about a physician treating the rich and fashionable. Shooting through mid-August. With Mark Feurstein. Principals: No information available. Background: Grant Wilfley Casting, 123 W. 18th St., 8th fl., NYC 10011. Seeking AFTRA members only.
*NEW Ugly Betty, an hourlong dramedy for ABC. Shooting for Season 4 begins July 14 and continues through April 16. With America Ferrera, Eric Mabius, Tony Plana,, Ana Ortiz, Becki Newton, Mark Indelicato, Judith Light, Michael Urie, and Vanessa Williams. Principals: Geoffrey Soffer, Silvercup Studios East, Stage C, 34-92 Starr Ave., 2nd fl. studio, Long Island City, NY 11101. Background: Comer & Gallucio Casting, 440 Ninth Ave., Ste. 24, NYC 10001 or candgcasting@gmail.com.
DAYTIME DRAMA
All My Children (ABC). Judy Blye Wilson (casting director), Robert Lambert (associate, under-fives and background), 320 W. 66th St., NYC 10023. Send headshots, résumés, post cards.
As the World Turns (CBS). Mary Clay Boland (principals), LaMont Craig (under-fives), Kate Martineau (background), 1268 E. 14th St., Brooklyn, NY 11230. Send headshots and résumés.
Guiding Light (CBS). Rob Decina (casting director), Alison Goodman (associate, under-fives), Jill Creighton (assistant, background), 524 W. 57th St., Ste. 5320, NYC 10019. Accepts post cards and showcase invitations. Series is slated to end production in September.
One Life to Live (ABC). Julie Madison (casting director), Victoria Visgilio (associate), Sheryl Baker-Fisher (assistant), 157 Columbus Ave., 2nd fl., NYC 10023. Send headshots and résumés or post cards only.
http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/13/dominick-dunne-buried-near-his-connecticut-home/
http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/13/dominick-dunne-buried-near-his-connecticut-home/
Hi Beth,
I literally just finished watching the documentary "Dominick Dunne: After the Party." It was very interesting and very well done. I really felt as if it gave the viewer a true insight into the real Dominick Dunne.
I don't know if you're aware of this but at the very end of the film there is a shot of you whispering into Dominick Dunne's ear. It's very intriguing and I wish I were a fly on that ear.
I know that there really isn't anybody that can "replace" Dominick Dunne as host of his show "Power, Privilege and Justice." However, I do hope that the TruTV Network finds a way to keep the show on the air.
Perhaps they can have a rotation of hosts such as yourself, Jean Casarez, and some of the current and former TruTV anchors. Former anchors Rikki Kleiman and Catherine Crier instantly come to mind.
I have admired your excellent reporting first on Court TV and now TruTV since the very beginning. Keep up your excellent work!
All the best to you!
~ POI
Hi Beth,
I literally just finished watching the documentary "Dominick Dunne: After the Party." It was very interesting and very well done. I really felt as if it gave the viewer a true insight into the real Dominick Dunne.
I don't know if you're aware of this but at the very end of the film there is a shot of you whispering into Dominick Dunne's ear. It's very intriguing and I wish I were a fly on that ear.
I know that there really isn't anybody that can "replace" Dominick Dunne as host of his show "Power, Privilege and Justice." However, I do hope that the TruTV Network finds a way to keep the show on the air.
Perhaps they can have a rotation of hosts such as yourself, Jean Casarez, and some of the current and former TruTV anchors. Former anchors Rikki Kleiman and Catherine Crier instantly come to mind.
I have admired your excellent reporting first on Court TV and now TruTV since the very beginning. Keep up your excellent work!
All the best to you!
~ POI
Saturday, September 12, 2009
5 Signs Your Husband Is Gay | Lifescript.com
5 Signs Your Husband Is Gay | Lifescript.com
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5 Signs Your Husband Is Gay
By Matthew Kayser
One of the worst fears you have as a married woman is to one day find out that your husband is gay. Regardless of society’s level of acceptance of homosexuality, the thought of your spouse being gay is one that brings sadness and disappointment. No woman wants to discover that her husband is gay.
With that said, some women will attest to the relief that comes from finding out their spouse is gay after enduring a long and painful marriage. Still, the news tends to be devastating to women, particularly women who have raised a child with a gay spouse.
If you have a suspicion that your husband is gay, the following information will help you determine if your suspicions could be correct. First, we will discuss why you need to know if he is gay or not. Next, we will review some of the many signs that might be an accurate indicator of his homosexuality.
Why do you need to know if you have a gay husband?
While some people have argued that a marriage can survive with one heterosexual spouse and one gay spouse, the majority of research points in the opposite direction. There are certain instances of women discovering that a husband is homosexual and still accepting him as a spouse. This is seen particularly in a scenario where children are involved. The wife wants to keep the family together, no matter what. The need for the children to have their father around and the desire to model a traditional family is often so overwhelming that some women place their mental health and emotional wellbeing at risk.
This is the most complicated part of this discussion. First of all, it is important for you to realize that you should never assume that your husband is gay. There may be several signs that point in that direction, but until you know for sure, do not assume. You will be putting unnecessary strain on you and your family.
Let’s look at some of the signs that may indicate your husband prefers men. Remember that effeminate qualities in a man do not necessarily mean that he is gay. So it is wise to rule out some of the stereotypes often associated with gay men, such as having a lisp or carrying himself a certain way.
Another sign people often associate with a man being homosexual is his tendency to be overly sensitive or caring. It is somewhat ironic that most wives would love to have a spouse who is emotional and caring, yet it is automatically assumed that a man is gay when he expresses these traits. It isn’t fair to equate a man who is gentle, caring and emotional with a man who is homosexual.
Now that you have heard this disclaimer, let’s go over the signs that are reliable and that have withstood the test of time. One thing to look for is extreme homophobic behavior. If your husband turns almost militantly angry when confronted by someone who is gay, it may indicate that your husband is gay. This doesn’t make sense at first, but a deeper analysis will explain why.
People often lash out at those who embody traits they do not like about themselves. If someone is frustratingly shy, they may grow furious when seeing someone struggle to express him or herself. They are in fact empathizing with that person, but it does not come across that way.
If your husband continually makes “gay” jokes, or has revealed a certain amount of rage towards homosexuals or homosexual behavior, let that be a warning sign to you. Of course, he may just be very much opposed to the gay lifestyle. But at least consider the possibility.
It is now easier than ever to gain access to all types of pornography. Because it is also possible to track what people are viewing, it is widely considered a risk to view online material that is considered inappropriate in one’s particular setting. If your husband has consistently viewed homosexual pornography, remember that he probably would not be doing it if he did not enjoy it. It is simply too risky an activity to merely “check out”.
Your husband may also be receiving an inordinate amount of phone calls from men. If they are men you do not know or men that your husband does not willingly bring to your attention (such as an old friend from high school who happened to get in touch with him), be concerned.
Guys typically do like to hang out with each other unless it is in a group setting. Too much alone time with one man is a sign that perhaps your husband is gay. At the very least, you can suspect that he is involved in a level of intimacy with his male friend that he should be saving for you. Trust your instincts in this situation. If you really feel as though something strange is going on, there is probably a legitimate reason.
Another sign that may suggest you have a problem on your hands is if your husband suddenly loses sexual interest in you. If he is difficult to arouse or seems to be on another planet mentally during intimate moments, look into it. Communication is an essential element when trying to discover the truth. Of course, you can always ask your spouse why he appears to be distant during these intimate times.
Be careful not to approach your spouse in an accusatory manner, despite how worried you may be that he is gay. If he does not offer an explanation that is believable, search deeper. You have every right to probe because it is your future and your family’s wellbeing on the line.
Hopefully, you have the means and the fortitude to handle the situation with grace and dignity. People make mistakes. If your husband made the mistake of marrying you when he knew he was gay, you will eventually need to forgive him.
This is especially true if you have children. You want to demonstrate to them how to handle difficult situations and there is perhaps no better opportunity to do this than when you are discovering the truth about their father. If you have suspicions, remember that the above signs are usually good indicators that your husband is gay.
How's Your Sex Life?
For some of us, regular sex is as necessary as breathing; others don't mind an occasional dry spell. Where you fall on the nookie spectrum has a lot to do with just how passionate you are about making whoopee. Find out how much you really want it with this libido quiz.
Copyright © 1998 – 2009 – www.LifeScript.com – All rights reserved.
Shared via AddThis
5 Signs Your Husband Is Gay
By Matthew Kayser
One of the worst fears you have as a married woman is to one day find out that your husband is gay. Regardless of society’s level of acceptance of homosexuality, the thought of your spouse being gay is one that brings sadness and disappointment. No woman wants to discover that her husband is gay.
With that said, some women will attest to the relief that comes from finding out their spouse is gay after enduring a long and painful marriage. Still, the news tends to be devastating to women, particularly women who have raised a child with a gay spouse.
If you have a suspicion that your husband is gay, the following information will help you determine if your suspicions could be correct. First, we will discuss why you need to know if he is gay or not. Next, we will review some of the many signs that might be an accurate indicator of his homosexuality.
Why do you need to know if you have a gay husband?
While some people have argued that a marriage can survive with one heterosexual spouse and one gay spouse, the majority of research points in the opposite direction. There are certain instances of women discovering that a husband is homosexual and still accepting him as a spouse. This is seen particularly in a scenario where children are involved. The wife wants to keep the family together, no matter what. The need for the children to have their father around and the desire to model a traditional family is often so overwhelming that some women place their mental health and emotional wellbeing at risk.
This is the most complicated part of this discussion. First of all, it is important for you to realize that you should never assume that your husband is gay. There may be several signs that point in that direction, but until you know for sure, do not assume. You will be putting unnecessary strain on you and your family.
Let’s look at some of the signs that may indicate your husband prefers men. Remember that effeminate qualities in a man do not necessarily mean that he is gay. So it is wise to rule out some of the stereotypes often associated with gay men, such as having a lisp or carrying himself a certain way.
Another sign people often associate with a man being homosexual is his tendency to be overly sensitive or caring. It is somewhat ironic that most wives would love to have a spouse who is emotional and caring, yet it is automatically assumed that a man is gay when he expresses these traits. It isn’t fair to equate a man who is gentle, caring and emotional with a man who is homosexual.
Now that you have heard this disclaimer, let’s go over the signs that are reliable and that have withstood the test of time. One thing to look for is extreme homophobic behavior. If your husband turns almost militantly angry when confronted by someone who is gay, it may indicate that your husband is gay. This doesn’t make sense at first, but a deeper analysis will explain why.
People often lash out at those who embody traits they do not like about themselves. If someone is frustratingly shy, they may grow furious when seeing someone struggle to express him or herself. They are in fact empathizing with that person, but it does not come across that way.
If your husband continually makes “gay” jokes, or has revealed a certain amount of rage towards homosexuals or homosexual behavior, let that be a warning sign to you. Of course, he may just be very much opposed to the gay lifestyle. But at least consider the possibility.
It is now easier than ever to gain access to all types of pornography. Because it is also possible to track what people are viewing, it is widely considered a risk to view online material that is considered inappropriate in one’s particular setting. If your husband has consistently viewed homosexual pornography, remember that he probably would not be doing it if he did not enjoy it. It is simply too risky an activity to merely “check out”.
Your husband may also be receiving an inordinate amount of phone calls from men. If they are men you do not know or men that your husband does not willingly bring to your attention (such as an old friend from high school who happened to get in touch with him), be concerned.
Guys typically do like to hang out with each other unless it is in a group setting. Too much alone time with one man is a sign that perhaps your husband is gay. At the very least, you can suspect that he is involved in a level of intimacy with his male friend that he should be saving for you. Trust your instincts in this situation. If you really feel as though something strange is going on, there is probably a legitimate reason.
Another sign that may suggest you have a problem on your hands is if your husband suddenly loses sexual interest in you. If he is difficult to arouse or seems to be on another planet mentally during intimate moments, look into it. Communication is an essential element when trying to discover the truth. Of course, you can always ask your spouse why he appears to be distant during these intimate times.
Be careful not to approach your spouse in an accusatory manner, despite how worried you may be that he is gay. If he does not offer an explanation that is believable, search deeper. You have every right to probe because it is your future and your family’s wellbeing on the line.
Hopefully, you have the means and the fortitude to handle the situation with grace and dignity. People make mistakes. If your husband made the mistake of marrying you when he knew he was gay, you will eventually need to forgive him.
This is especially true if you have children. You want to demonstrate to them how to handle difficult situations and there is perhaps no better opportunity to do this than when you are discovering the truth about their father. If you have suspicions, remember that the above signs are usually good indicators that your husband is gay.
How's Your Sex Life?
For some of us, regular sex is as necessary as breathing; others don't mind an occasional dry spell. Where you fall on the nookie spectrum has a lot to do with just how passionate you are about making whoopee. Find out how much you really want it with this libido quiz.
Copyright © 1998 – 2009 – www.LifeScript.com – All rights reserved.
Friday, September 11, 2009
I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script
in Featured, Movies, Protest
Wednesday, Sep. 9 2009 @ 10:00PM
We know you've been working very hard on your screenplay, but before you go looking for some professional feedback, you might keep in mind the following piece by A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson.
JoshOlson.jpg
I will not read your fucking script.
That's simple enough, isn't it? "I will not read your fucking script." What's not clear about that? There's nothing personal about it, nothing loaded, nothing complicated. I simply have no interest in reading your fucking screenplay. None whatsoever.
If that seems unfair, I'll make you a deal. In return for you not asking me to read your fucking script, I will not ask you to wash my fucking car, or take my fucking picture, or represent me in fucking court, or take out my fucking gall bladder, or whatever the fuck it is that you do for a living.
You're a lovely person. Whatever time we've spent together has, I'm sure, been pleasurable for both of us. I quite enjoyed that conversation we once had about structure and theme, and why Sergio Leone is the greatest director who ever lived. Yes, we bonded, and yes, I wish you luck in all your endeavors, and it would thrill me no end to hear that you had sold your screenplay, and that it had been made into the best movie since Godfather Part II.
But I will not read your fucking script.
At this point, you should walk away, firm in your conviction that I'm a dick. But if you're interested in growing as a human being and recognizing that it is, in fact, you who are the dick in this situation, please read on.
Yes. That's right. I called you a dick. Because you created this situation. You put me in this spot where my only option is to acquiesce to your demands or be the bad guy. That, my friend, is the very definition of a dick move.
I was recently cornered by a young man of my barest acquaintance.
I doubt we've exchanged a hundred words. But he's dating someone I know, and he cornered me in the right place at the right time, and asked me to read a two-page synopsis for a script he'd been working on for the last year. He was submitting the synopsis to some contest or program, and wanted to get a professional opinion.
Now, I normally have a standard response to people who ask me to read their scripts, and it's the simple truth: I have two piles next to my bed. One is scripts from good friends, and the other is manuscripts and books and scripts my agents have sent to me that I have to read for work. Every time I pick up a friend's script, I feel guilty that I'm ignoring work. Every time I pick something up from the other pile, I feel guilty that I'm ignoring my friends. If I read yours before any of that, I'd be an awful person.
Most people get that. But sometimes you find yourself in a situation where the guilt factor is really high, or someone plays on a relationship or a perceived obligation, and it's hard to escape without seeming rude. Then, I tell them I'll read it, but if I can put it down after ten pages, I will. They always go for that, because nobody ever believes you can put their script down once you start.
But hell, this was a two page synopsis, and there was no time to go into either song or dance, and it was just easier to take it. How long can two pages take?
Weeks, is the answer.
And this is why I will not read your fucking script.
It rarely takes more than a page to recognize that you're in the presence of someone who can write, but it only takes a sentence to know you're dealing with someone who can't.
(By the way, here's a simple way to find out if you're a writer. If you disagree with that statement, you're not a writer. Because, you see, writers are also readers.)
You may want to allow for the fact that this fellow had never written a synopsis before, but that doesn't excuse the inability to form a decent sentence, or an utter lack of facility with language and structure. The story described was clearly of great importance to him, but he had done nothing to convey its specifics to an impartial reader. What I was handed was, essentially, a barely coherent list of events, some connected, some not so much. Characters wander around aimlessly, do things for no reason, vanish, reappear, get arrested for unnamed crimes, and make wild, life-altering decisions for no reason. Half a paragraph is devoted to describing the smell and texture of a piece of food, but the climactic central event of the film is glossed over in a sentence. The death of the hero is not even mentioned. One sentence describes a scene he's in, the next describes people showing up at his funeral. I could go on, but I won't. This is the sort of thing that would earn you a D minus in any Freshman Comp class.
Which brings us to an ugly truth about many aspiring screenwriters: They think that screenwriting doesn't actually require the ability to write, just the ability to come up with a cool story that would make a cool movie. Screenwriting is widely regarded as the easiest way to break into the movie business, because it doesn't require any kind of training, skill or equipment. Everybody can write, right? And because they believe that, they don't regard working screenwriters with any kind of real respect. They will hand you a piece of inept writing without a second thought, because you do not have to be a writer to be a screenwriter.
So. I read the thing. And it hurt, man. It really hurt. I was dying to find something positive to say, and there was nothing. And the truth is, saying something positive about this thing would be the nastiest, meanest and most dishonest thing I could do. Because here's the thing: not only is it cruel to encourage the hopeless, but you cannot discourage a writer. If someone can talk you out of being a writer, you're not a writer. If I can talk you out of being a writer, I've done you a favor, because now you'll be free to pursue your real talent, whatever that may be. And, for the record, everybody has one. The lucky ones figure out what that is. The unlucky ones keep on writing shitty screenplays and asking me to read them.
To make matters worse, this guy (and his girlfriend) had begged me to be honest with him. He was frustrated by the responses he'd gotten from friends, because he felt they were going easy on him, and he wanted real criticism. They never do, of course. What they want is a few tough notes to give the illusion of honesty, and then some pats on the head. What they want--always--is encouragement, even when they shouldn't get any.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to tell someone that they've spent a year wasting their time? Do you know how much blood and sweat goes into that criticism? Because you want to tell the truth, but you want to make absolutely certain that it comes across honestly and without cruelty. I did more rewrites on that fucking e-mail than I did on my last three studio projects.
My first draft was ridiculous. I started with specific notes, and after a while, found I'd written three pages on the first two paragraphs. That wasn't the right approach. So I tossed it, and by the time I was done, I'd come up with something that was relatively brief, to the point, and considerate as hell. The main point I made was that he'd fallen prey to a fallacy that nails a lot of first timers. He was way more interested in telling his one story than in being a writer. It was like buying all the parts to a car and starting to build it before learning the basics of auto mechanics. You'll learn a lot along the way, I said, but you'll never have a car that runs.
(I should mention that while I was composing my response, he pulled the ultimate amateur move, and sent me an e-mail saying, "If you haven't read it yet, don't! I have a new draft. Read this!" In other words, "The draft I told you was ready for professional input, wasn't actually.")
I advised him that if all he was interested in was this story, he should find a writer and work with him; or, if he really wanted to be a writer, start at the beginning and take some classes, and start studying seriously.
And you know what? I shouldn't have bothered. Because for all the hair I pulled out, for all the weight and seriousness I gave his request for a real, professional critique, his response was a terse "Thanks for your opinion." And, the inevitable fallout--a week later a mutual friend asked me, "What's this dick move I hear you pulled on Whatsisname?"
So now this guy and his girlfriend think I'm an asshole, and the truth of the matter is, the story really ended the moment he handed me the goddamn synopsis. Because if I'd just said "No" then and there, they'd still think I'm an asshole. Only difference is, I wouldn't have had to spend all that time trying to communicate thoughtfully and honestly with someone who just wanted a pat on the head, and, more importantly, I wouldn't have had to read that godawful piece of shit.
You are not owed a read from a professional, even if you think you have an in, and even if you think it's not a huge imposition. It's not your choice to make. This needs to be clear--when you ask a professional for their take on your material, you're not just asking them to take an hour or two out of their life, you're asking them to give you--gratis--the acquired knowledge, insight, and skill of years of work. It is no different than asking your friend the house painter to paint your living room during his off hours.
There's a great story about Pablo Picasso. Some guy told Picasso he'd pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, "One million dollars, please."
"A million dollars?" the guy exclaimed. "That only took you thirty seconds!"
"Yes," said Picasso. "But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds."
Like the cad who asks the professional for a free read, the guy simply didn't have enough respect for the artist to think about what he was asking for. If you think it's only about the time, then ask one of your non-writer friends to read it. Hell, they might even enjoy your script. They might look upon you with a newfound respect. It could even come to pass that they call up a friend in the movie business and help you sell it, and soon, all your dreams will come true. But me?
I will not read your fucking script.
Josh Olson's screenplay for the film A History of Violence was nominated for the Academy Award, the BAFTA, the WGA award and the Edgar. He is also the writer and director of the horror/comedy cult movie Infested, which Empire Magazine named one of the 20 Best Straight to Video Movies ever made. Recently, he has written with the legendary Harlan Ellison, and worked on Halo with Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp. He adapted Dennis Lehane's story "Until Gwen," which he will also be directing. He is currently adapting One Shot, one of the best-selling Jack Reacher books for Paramount.
©2009 Josh Olson. All rights reserved.
in Featured, Movies, Protest
Wednesday, Sep. 9 2009 @ 10:00PM
We know you've been working very hard on your screenplay, but before you go looking for some professional feedback, you might keep in mind the following piece by A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson.
JoshOlson.jpg
I will not read your fucking script.
That's simple enough, isn't it? "I will not read your fucking script." What's not clear about that? There's nothing personal about it, nothing loaded, nothing complicated. I simply have no interest in reading your fucking screenplay. None whatsoever.
If that seems unfair, I'll make you a deal. In return for you not asking me to read your fucking script, I will not ask you to wash my fucking car, or take my fucking picture, or represent me in fucking court, or take out my fucking gall bladder, or whatever the fuck it is that you do for a living.
You're a lovely person. Whatever time we've spent together has, I'm sure, been pleasurable for both of us. I quite enjoyed that conversation we once had about structure and theme, and why Sergio Leone is the greatest director who ever lived. Yes, we bonded, and yes, I wish you luck in all your endeavors, and it would thrill me no end to hear that you had sold your screenplay, and that it had been made into the best movie since Godfather Part II.
But I will not read your fucking script.
At this point, you should walk away, firm in your conviction that I'm a dick. But if you're interested in growing as a human being and recognizing that it is, in fact, you who are the dick in this situation, please read on.
Yes. That's right. I called you a dick. Because you created this situation. You put me in this spot where my only option is to acquiesce to your demands or be the bad guy. That, my friend, is the very definition of a dick move.
I was recently cornered by a young man of my barest acquaintance.
I doubt we've exchanged a hundred words. But he's dating someone I know, and he cornered me in the right place at the right time, and asked me to read a two-page synopsis for a script he'd been working on for the last year. He was submitting the synopsis to some contest or program, and wanted to get a professional opinion.
Now, I normally have a standard response to people who ask me to read their scripts, and it's the simple truth: I have two piles next to my bed. One is scripts from good friends, and the other is manuscripts and books and scripts my agents have sent to me that I have to read for work. Every time I pick up a friend's script, I feel guilty that I'm ignoring work. Every time I pick something up from the other pile, I feel guilty that I'm ignoring my friends. If I read yours before any of that, I'd be an awful person.
Most people get that. But sometimes you find yourself in a situation where the guilt factor is really high, or someone plays on a relationship or a perceived obligation, and it's hard to escape without seeming rude. Then, I tell them I'll read it, but if I can put it down after ten pages, I will. They always go for that, because nobody ever believes you can put their script down once you start.
But hell, this was a two page synopsis, and there was no time to go into either song or dance, and it was just easier to take it. How long can two pages take?
Weeks, is the answer.
And this is why I will not read your fucking script.
It rarely takes more than a page to recognize that you're in the presence of someone who can write, but it only takes a sentence to know you're dealing with someone who can't.
(By the way, here's a simple way to find out if you're a writer. If you disagree with that statement, you're not a writer. Because, you see, writers are also readers.)
You may want to allow for the fact that this fellow had never written a synopsis before, but that doesn't excuse the inability to form a decent sentence, or an utter lack of facility with language and structure. The story described was clearly of great importance to him, but he had done nothing to convey its specifics to an impartial reader. What I was handed was, essentially, a barely coherent list of events, some connected, some not so much. Characters wander around aimlessly, do things for no reason, vanish, reappear, get arrested for unnamed crimes, and make wild, life-altering decisions for no reason. Half a paragraph is devoted to describing the smell and texture of a piece of food, but the climactic central event of the film is glossed over in a sentence. The death of the hero is not even mentioned. One sentence describes a scene he's in, the next describes people showing up at his funeral. I could go on, but I won't. This is the sort of thing that would earn you a D minus in any Freshman Comp class.
Which brings us to an ugly truth about many aspiring screenwriters: They think that screenwriting doesn't actually require the ability to write, just the ability to come up with a cool story that would make a cool movie. Screenwriting is widely regarded as the easiest way to break into the movie business, because it doesn't require any kind of training, skill or equipment. Everybody can write, right? And because they believe that, they don't regard working screenwriters with any kind of real respect. They will hand you a piece of inept writing without a second thought, because you do not have to be a writer to be a screenwriter.
So. I read the thing. And it hurt, man. It really hurt. I was dying to find something positive to say, and there was nothing. And the truth is, saying something positive about this thing would be the nastiest, meanest and most dishonest thing I could do. Because here's the thing: not only is it cruel to encourage the hopeless, but you cannot discourage a writer. If someone can talk you out of being a writer, you're not a writer. If I can talk you out of being a writer, I've done you a favor, because now you'll be free to pursue your real talent, whatever that may be. And, for the record, everybody has one. The lucky ones figure out what that is. The unlucky ones keep on writing shitty screenplays and asking me to read them.
To make matters worse, this guy (and his girlfriend) had begged me to be honest with him. He was frustrated by the responses he'd gotten from friends, because he felt they were going easy on him, and he wanted real criticism. They never do, of course. What they want is a few tough notes to give the illusion of honesty, and then some pats on the head. What they want--always--is encouragement, even when they shouldn't get any.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to tell someone that they've spent a year wasting their time? Do you know how much blood and sweat goes into that criticism? Because you want to tell the truth, but you want to make absolutely certain that it comes across honestly and without cruelty. I did more rewrites on that fucking e-mail than I did on my last three studio projects.
My first draft was ridiculous. I started with specific notes, and after a while, found I'd written three pages on the first two paragraphs. That wasn't the right approach. So I tossed it, and by the time I was done, I'd come up with something that was relatively brief, to the point, and considerate as hell. The main point I made was that he'd fallen prey to a fallacy that nails a lot of first timers. He was way more interested in telling his one story than in being a writer. It was like buying all the parts to a car and starting to build it before learning the basics of auto mechanics. You'll learn a lot along the way, I said, but you'll never have a car that runs.
(I should mention that while I was composing my response, he pulled the ultimate amateur move, and sent me an e-mail saying, "If you haven't read it yet, don't! I have a new draft. Read this!" In other words, "The draft I told you was ready for professional input, wasn't actually.")
I advised him that if all he was interested in was this story, he should find a writer and work with him; or, if he really wanted to be a writer, start at the beginning and take some classes, and start studying seriously.
And you know what? I shouldn't have bothered. Because for all the hair I pulled out, for all the weight and seriousness I gave his request for a real, professional critique, his response was a terse "Thanks for your opinion." And, the inevitable fallout--a week later a mutual friend asked me, "What's this dick move I hear you pulled on Whatsisname?"
So now this guy and his girlfriend think I'm an asshole, and the truth of the matter is, the story really ended the moment he handed me the goddamn synopsis. Because if I'd just said "No" then and there, they'd still think I'm an asshole. Only difference is, I wouldn't have had to spend all that time trying to communicate thoughtfully and honestly with someone who just wanted a pat on the head, and, more importantly, I wouldn't have had to read that godawful piece of shit.
You are not owed a read from a professional, even if you think you have an in, and even if you think it's not a huge imposition. It's not your choice to make. This needs to be clear--when you ask a professional for their take on your material, you're not just asking them to take an hour or two out of their life, you're asking them to give you--gratis--the acquired knowledge, insight, and skill of years of work. It is no different than asking your friend the house painter to paint your living room during his off hours.
There's a great story about Pablo Picasso. Some guy told Picasso he'd pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, "One million dollars, please."
"A million dollars?" the guy exclaimed. "That only took you thirty seconds!"
"Yes," said Picasso. "But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds."
Like the cad who asks the professional for a free read, the guy simply didn't have enough respect for the artist to think about what he was asking for. If you think it's only about the time, then ask one of your non-writer friends to read it. Hell, they might even enjoy your script. They might look upon you with a newfound respect. It could even come to pass that they call up a friend in the movie business and help you sell it, and soon, all your dreams will come true. But me?
I will not read your fucking script.
Josh Olson's screenplay for the film A History of Violence was nominated for the Academy Award, the BAFTA, the WGA award and the Edgar. He is also the writer and director of the horror/comedy cult movie Infested, which Empire Magazine named one of the 20 Best Straight to Video Movies ever made. Recently, he has written with the legendary Harlan Ellison, and worked on Halo with Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp. He adapted Dennis Lehane's story "Until Gwen," which he will also be directing. He is currently adapting One Shot, one of the best-selling Jack Reacher books for Paramount.
©2009 Josh Olson. All rights reserved.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Writer and Director Michael Patrick King makes his big-screen debut with Sex and the City, the movie
Writer and director Michael Patrick King in Los Angeles.
Bed Fellow
After decades in TV, writer and director Michael Patrick King makes his big-screen debut with Sex and the City, the movie.
By Christine Lennon
Photograph by Sian Kennedy
April 2008
It’s been said that New York was so essential to Sex and the City that it functioned as the HBO megahit’s fifth lead character. If that’s true, then Scranton, Pennsylvania, hometown of the show’s executive producer, Michael Patrick King, also deserves a spot on the credits list. As a boy, King had the unusual hobby of staging elaborate theatrical productions in his front yard. “I’d cast all of the neighborhood girls in these shows,” he says. “My mom would be leaving the house and she’d say, ‘Don’t you pull out all of the old dresses in the attic and put on a show again!’ And the door would close, and that’s exactly what I’d do. The show was calling me!”
Those neighborhood girls didn’t know it back then, but even without the pink cocktails and designer wardrobes, they were King’s prototypes for Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte. And four years after the TV version’s series finale, King is bringing the ladies back. The movie version of Sex and the City, which he wrote and directed, hits theaters in May.
“In the beginning, it was Darren and I in the room, saying things like ‘What if she said, ‘Up the butt’?” says King, recalling his earliest Sex and the City brainstorming sessions with the show’s creator, Darren Star. “‘Mrs. Up-the-Butt!’ When I wrote that, I was like, ‘Nobody ever wrote lines like this.’ There was no template for the series, and there isn’t one for the movie, either.”
Sex and the City is not, of course, the first television show to make the jump to the big screen, but most of the others have been lowbrow comedies (think Starsky & Hutch) or nostalgic spoofs (The Brady Bunch). “I guess The X-Files is the only one with the original cast, but how do you compare this with that?” says King, a fit, salt-and-pepper-haired extrovert who lives in Los Angeles with his boyfriend of six years.
In this case, lack of precedent seems only to have increased expectations. Gossip blogs tipped the public off about the film’s location schedule and hundreds of fans showed up to watch shoots. Add to that the high financial hopes—DVDs of the series have netted more than $300 million—and the fact that this is King’s first feature film, and the stakes couldn’t be much higher. “The first-time director thing is just another label somebody puts on you,” says King, who directed 10 episodes of the show and wrote 16 of them. “The real pressure, for me, is I have these four characters that people care about and know so well. There’s a lot of expectation about what these women should be doing.”
King, 53, moved to New York as a 20-year-old college dropout in order to pursue an acting career. When that didn’t pan out, he started doing stand-up, eventually working the comedy club circuit alongside Ray Romano and Jerry Seinfeld. After a young HBO executive named Carolyn Strauss caught his act, she encouraged him to write sitcom scripts for the fledgling Comedy Central. That eventually led to a job on Murphy Brown. “I joined the show the year the Dan Quayle thing happened,” says King, referring to the then vice president’s 1992 condemnation of Brown’s single-parent lifestyle. “It was a smart, smart place. I remember staying up at night thinking, ‘I’ve got to get my mind to think faster.’”
In 1997, after Murphy Brown had ended, Strauss came calling again, this time recruiting King for Sex and the City, which was just getting off the ground. King instantly felt comfortable with the raunchy subject matter, but the saltier bits of the show came as a shock to his conservative Irish Catholic mother, who complained that one episode left her so embarrassed that she couldn’t even watch it in front of the dog. “And the dog’s a girl!” she added.
Fortunately, the rest of the world was less squeamish: The series won 11 Emmys and eight Golden Globes and was an unqualified international hit. But by 2004 the buzz had dimmed a bit. Samantha was on the mend from breast cancer, Miranda was sponge-bathing her senile mother-in-law, and Carrie was ending a puzzling love affair with Mikhail Baryshnikov to pick up with Mr. Big—again. It seemed that the time had come for the ladies of Sex and the City to hang up their Manolos and for Kim Cattrall, who had spent much of the series naked, to put on some clothes. “When Michael and I decided to end the show, we thought we had told the best stories we could,” says Sarah Jessica Parker. “If he didn’t think he could make the show great anymore, I didn’t want to do it.”
But King had a few Sex stories left in him after all. While he and Parker were in Paris filming the series finale, they started talking about the possibility of doing a full-length feature, and King wrote an outline. “It was a romp,” remembers Parker. “It reminded me of one of those Bob Hope–Bing Crosby buddy movies.”
The film, however, hit some snags: Contract negotiations with the cast fell through, and rumors of tension (mainly that Cattrall wasn’t cooperating) were all over the gossip columns. King claims such stories were “blown up in the press beyond belief” but does admit that “the first time around, Kim said, ‘I don’t know if I want to be Samantha again right now.’”
Not one to sit around waiting for the phone to ring, King jumped straight into another project, directing the mock reality series The Comeback, which he cowrote and cocreated with Lisa Kudrow. The show, in which Kudrow starred as Valerie Cherish, an aging TV sweetheart who’d do anything to stay in the spotlight, was well reviewed, but audiences seemed to find Valerie’s desperation just too cringe-inducing. “It was ahead of its time,” says King, with obvious disappointment, of the series, which lasted only one season. “But there were people who loved it. One day I got a call from David Bowie. He was going out of the country and wanted to know what happened to Valerie.”
King didn’t have too much time to wallow. In 2006 Parker finally decided to throw her weight behind the Sex and the City film, and King, feeling his original outline no longer worked, came up with a new script. “Of course, he went off and wrote a five-hour movie,” Parker says, laughing. “He always goes big. He’s got an ego that way.”
Returning to the world of Carrie and company, says King, feels like a homecoming: “I love these characters. They were always alive for me.” And though he’s tight-lipped about the film’s plot, he’s happy to share the underlying message. “One of the themes is that your 20s become 40s, and you’re still whoever you are,” King says, in a rare moment of quiet reflection—which he quickly turns into a modified stand-up routine, unwittingly demonstrating that the generalization applies to himself. “Only two things change when you get older: the energy in your voice and the time of night you feel it’s appropriate to call someone. In your 20s, people call at 2 a.m. and yell, ‘Are you up?’ into the answering machine. Now, someone calls after 8 p.m., and my boyfriend is like, ‘Who is that? Who could be calling at this hour?’”
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Monday, September 7, 2009
Paula Radcliffe's training routine
Paula Radcliffe's training routine
Athletics: Paula Radcliffe's gruelling training routine makes her slightly comic, but you still have to marvel at her, says Peta Bee.
There is little you can do but marvel when you watch Paula Radcliffe run. At her bouncebackability, her tunnel vision, her ferociousness and her sweetness. At her laborious running style and her relentless speed. And at how long it must take her to get ready in a morning because, hell, she must be one high-maintenance chick.
From what has been made public of her pre-race routine, Radcliffe gets up, has a bowl of porridge (scientists says it's low glycaemic index) and a sports drink (energy-boosting) before putting on her running kit (ultra-lightweight, heat-dispelling), a Breathe Right nasal strip (increases airflow to the lungs), two adhesive back straps (supports the muscles around her spine), a pair of compression socks (reduces muscle vibration in the calves), specially designed Nike trainers (prevents soreness in the legs), a titanium necklace (wards of stress fatigue and improves blood flow) and sunglasses.
Not that it ends there. When it's over she has an ice bath (heals microscopic tears in muscle fibres), a massage (removes waste products and lactic acid from her legs), rubs on some emu oil (the elixir made from fatty tissue on the emu's back has potent healing properties), drinks a glass of bright green wheatgrass juice (full of nutrients), has a handful of vitamin supplements, eats some ostrich meat (low in fat, high in iron) and, finally one assumes, sits down. It would be no surprise if she chose a chair that cooks her dinner while working on the acupressure points in her feet.
What is happening to Radcliffe is nothing new. There is a point along the continuum of celebrity, be it that of sports stars or otherwise, where a dalliance with odd behaviour becomes troublingly all consuming and when, on the image front at least, things start to veer downhill. Usually, it is a progression so subtle that you barely notice the transition from acceptable to somewhat questionable. But let's just say it is the stage before Jacko went completely wacko, between him having the occasional facial tweak to him adopting a chimpanzee and moving into an oxygen capsule.
David Beckham reached this place after the sarong and before the second tattoo. The Williams sisters are well and truly there. Tiger Woods is on his way. And so, it seems, is Radcliffe. We could forgive her the socks, nose plasters and even the emu oil as endearing eccentricities. But the back support and titanium neckwear were steps too far. Even, it seems, for the adoring fans who log on to her official website.
Apparently they watched in bewilderment as she lined up for the 10,000 metres final in Helsinki adorned with her technological trinkets and tried to make out what exactly it was she was wearing around her neck. A bicycle lock got the majority vote. But there were undertones of exasperation in their chat-room exchange as they pondered what might come next and calculated how much quicker she might run if she ditched the lot. But there can be no turning back.
Withdraw into a world where you devote more and more attention to less and less and eventually all that remains to focus on is yourself. Such self-absorption is necessary to some extent in sport, particularly in individual events like Radcliffe's which require singlemindedness in the extreme. But retreat too far from the ordinariness of daily life, as she appears to have done, and there is the risk that you begin to lose perspective of what's normal and what's verging on crackpot.
When experts in alternative medicine were consulted by the BBC to comment on Radcliffe's Helsinki performance-enhancers they concluded that not one of the props she used had a scrap of clinical evidence to support them. They could offer only a psychological boost to someone who believed that they work, the university researchers said. After Athens she consulted a naturopath who held metal rods over items of food to determine which she should exclude from her diet. As a result she has cut out wheat, dairy, gluten, tomatoes, coffee and grapes.
She now eats wheat-free pasta the night before a race. How Hollywood. It is a slippery slope to celebrititis, and Radcliffe, the nation's darling, appears to be on it. Come back Paula, before it's too late.
© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 8/21/2005
Athletics: Paula Radcliffe's gruelling training routine makes her slightly comic, but you still have to marvel at her, says Peta Bee.
There is little you can do but marvel when you watch Paula Radcliffe run. At her bouncebackability, her tunnel vision, her ferociousness and her sweetness. At her laborious running style and her relentless speed. And at how long it must take her to get ready in a morning because, hell, she must be one high-maintenance chick.
From what has been made public of her pre-race routine, Radcliffe gets up, has a bowl of porridge (scientists says it's low glycaemic index) and a sports drink (energy-boosting) before putting on her running kit (ultra-lightweight, heat-dispelling), a Breathe Right nasal strip (increases airflow to the lungs), two adhesive back straps (supports the muscles around her spine), a pair of compression socks (reduces muscle vibration in the calves), specially designed Nike trainers (prevents soreness in the legs), a titanium necklace (wards of stress fatigue and improves blood flow) and sunglasses.
Not that it ends there. When it's over she has an ice bath (heals microscopic tears in muscle fibres), a massage (removes waste products and lactic acid from her legs), rubs on some emu oil (the elixir made from fatty tissue on the emu's back has potent healing properties), drinks a glass of bright green wheatgrass juice (full of nutrients), has a handful of vitamin supplements, eats some ostrich meat (low in fat, high in iron) and, finally one assumes, sits down. It would be no surprise if she chose a chair that cooks her dinner while working on the acupressure points in her feet.
What is happening to Radcliffe is nothing new. There is a point along the continuum of celebrity, be it that of sports stars or otherwise, where a dalliance with odd behaviour becomes troublingly all consuming and when, on the image front at least, things start to veer downhill. Usually, it is a progression so subtle that you barely notice the transition from acceptable to somewhat questionable. But let's just say it is the stage before Jacko went completely wacko, between him having the occasional facial tweak to him adopting a chimpanzee and moving into an oxygen capsule.
David Beckham reached this place after the sarong and before the second tattoo. The Williams sisters are well and truly there. Tiger Woods is on his way. And so, it seems, is Radcliffe. We could forgive her the socks, nose plasters and even the emu oil as endearing eccentricities. But the back support and titanium neckwear were steps too far. Even, it seems, for the adoring fans who log on to her official website.
Apparently they watched in bewilderment as she lined up for the 10,000 metres final in Helsinki adorned with her technological trinkets and tried to make out what exactly it was she was wearing around her neck. A bicycle lock got the majority vote. But there were undertones of exasperation in their chat-room exchange as they pondered what might come next and calculated how much quicker she might run if she ditched the lot. But there can be no turning back.
Withdraw into a world where you devote more and more attention to less and less and eventually all that remains to focus on is yourself. Such self-absorption is necessary to some extent in sport, particularly in individual events like Radcliffe's which require singlemindedness in the extreme. But retreat too far from the ordinariness of daily life, as she appears to have done, and there is the risk that you begin to lose perspective of what's normal and what's verging on crackpot.
When experts in alternative medicine were consulted by the BBC to comment on Radcliffe's Helsinki performance-enhancers they concluded that not one of the props she used had a scrap of clinical evidence to support them. They could offer only a psychological boost to someone who believed that they work, the university researchers said. After Athens she consulted a naturopath who held metal rods over items of food to determine which she should exclude from her diet. As a result she has cut out wheat, dairy, gluten, tomatoes, coffee and grapes.
She now eats wheat-free pasta the night before a race. How Hollywood. It is a slippery slope to celebrititis, and Radcliffe, the nation's darling, appears to be on it. Come back Paula, before it's too late.
© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 8/21/2005
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Paula Radcliffe's 'bionic' kit
BBC NEWS
Paula Radcliffe's 'bionic' kit
by John Hand
BBC News
Knee-length socks? Check. Nasal strip? Check. Titanium necklace? Check.
Britain's newly-crowned world marathon champion Paula Radcliffe wears a remarkable array of accessories when she competes in major races.
To assess whether such devices really help or are just gimmicks, ahead of the marathon BBC News spoke to three experts: athletics coach Fred Wooding, sports scientist Nick Morgan and Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine.
Click the links below for their views on Radcliffe's kit.
SUNGLASSES
For more than a decade, Radcliffe has worn specially shaped sunglasses for most of her distance races, only discarding them if the conditions are particularly wet or cloudy.
Fred Wooding, a coach for 40 years and now president at Radcliffe's home athletics club in Bedford, said: "She likes to be 100% prepared for any eventuality on the road. This would alleviate the problem of dust coming up off the road in a marathon."
Sports scientist Nick Morgan of the Sports Injury and Human Performance Centre at Lilleshall, said: "Sports science would see no great benefit in wearing sunglasses. But Paula has got to concentrate on every fine detail during her race and if it helps her do that, then it can only be a good thing."
Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsular Medical School at Exeter University, said: "Some people are sensitive to sunlight so controlling this can only be a good thing."
NASAL STRIP
Marketed to help breathing among endurance athletes, there was a phase in the 1990s when they were commonly seen on the noses of Premiership footballers but they have since fallen out of fashion. But Radcliffe has persevered in wearing hers.
Fred Wooding: "Paula has always dealt well with having asthma and really believes this helps her breathing. I don't doubt for a minute that it does."
Nick Morgan: "There is not an awful lot of sports science to back it up. It helps you take in a lot more air through the nose. But it's one thing taking the oxygen into your body and another to utlilise it effectively. Over the course of a 26-mile run, most people would be able to take in enough air through their mouth."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "Intuitively it does make sense but I'm not sure how much help it is. You need the extra air in your lungs, not just your nose."
TITANIUM NECKLACE
This bemused Radcliffe's fans when she first wore it during the 10,000m final in Helsinki, with one visitor to her website describing it as looking like a bike lock.
Afterwards, Radcliffe explained the Japanese-developed device - widely used by baseball players - was designed to improve blood circulation and reduce muscle stress, but she chose not to wear it for the marathon.
Fred Wooding: "I did wonder what it was when I saw it but I knew that Paula would be confident it was helping her. It looked a bit big on her neck so I am sure she would have tried it out in training first."
Nick Morgan: "It is important to keep the muscles relaxed. If you're very tense throughout an event, you end up expending waste energy. If you keep doing that you are going to have problems, either a performance detriment or injury."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "There is no evidence that it works. We have just completed research on neck pain and saw benefits from some devices but not titanium."
BACK STRAPS AND EMU OIL
Radcliffe has been wearing two see-through straps on her back to support muscles around her spine. She is also a keen exponent of emu oil after using it to speed up the healing of cuts and bruises sustained in a collision with a cyclist during a training session in 2003.
This elixir, made from oil taken from the fatty tissue on an emu's back and recommended by fellow athlete Sonia O'Sullivan, helped Radcliffe get fit in time to win that year's London Marathon.
Fred Wooding: "Paula would have a good team of physios who would know the best way to protect her and she would always follow their advice."
Nick Morgan: "Emu oil was a new one to me but anything that can safely help speed up recovery is key for endurance athletes, who need to be able to get back into a solid training routine."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "We have found no evidence that emu oil helps heal cuts. But sportspeople are very sensitive people and if they have a belief that a remedy helps them, then as long as it does not have any adverse side effects, that is a benefit in itself."
SPECIALIST WATCH
This is a straightforward piece of equipment but distance athletes are divided as to whether it is worth wearing a watch to monitor running times during events. Radcliffe is firmly in the camp who chooses to wear one at all times.
Fred Wooding: "Paula would be fully aware of where she wants to be time-wise at any stage of the race."
Nick Morgan: "A watch means she can check she matches her ideal times for the various splits. She is phenomenal in her ability to run an evenly-paced marathon."
COMPRESSION SOCKS
Radcliffe has worn these knee-length socks for many years to support her calf muscles. And her kit is completed by a pair of specially designed trainers, which complement the contours of her feet and offer extra padding.
Fred Wooding: "The socks would be an important aid to blood circulation over a long race. There would be a danger of a pooling of lactic acid and it is a fact that these would help her. As for her shoes, Paula would be wearing a pair that would both give her sufficient grip whatever weather conditions she faces and also plenty of padding to compensate for the fact that she's going to be repetitively pounding her feet for 26 miles."
Nick Morgan: "Actually a build-up of lactic acid is not likely to be a problem for a marathon runner. The socks would help blood flow but they would be even better in aiding her recovery after the race. And a good pair of trainers is essential - I'm sure hers will be designed precisely because every millimetre would have an effect on her running gait."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "Some people have a tendency for their legs to swell up due to venous insufficiency and these socks would help control this. For someone running 26 miles, swollen legs would be heavy legs and that would be no good thing."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/4136018.stm
Published: 2005/08/14 14:16:51 GMT
Paula Radcliffe's 'bionic' kit
by John Hand
BBC News
Knee-length socks? Check. Nasal strip? Check. Titanium necklace? Check.
Britain's newly-crowned world marathon champion Paula Radcliffe wears a remarkable array of accessories when she competes in major races.
To assess whether such devices really help or are just gimmicks, ahead of the marathon BBC News spoke to three experts: athletics coach Fred Wooding, sports scientist Nick Morgan and Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine.
Click the links below for their views on Radcliffe's kit.
SUNGLASSES
For more than a decade, Radcliffe has worn specially shaped sunglasses for most of her distance races, only discarding them if the conditions are particularly wet or cloudy.
Fred Wooding, a coach for 40 years and now president at Radcliffe's home athletics club in Bedford, said: "She likes to be 100% prepared for any eventuality on the road. This would alleviate the problem of dust coming up off the road in a marathon."
Sports scientist Nick Morgan of the Sports Injury and Human Performance Centre at Lilleshall, said: "Sports science would see no great benefit in wearing sunglasses. But Paula has got to concentrate on every fine detail during her race and if it helps her do that, then it can only be a good thing."
Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the Peninsular Medical School at Exeter University, said: "Some people are sensitive to sunlight so controlling this can only be a good thing."
NASAL STRIP
Marketed to help breathing among endurance athletes, there was a phase in the 1990s when they were commonly seen on the noses of Premiership footballers but they have since fallen out of fashion. But Radcliffe has persevered in wearing hers.
Fred Wooding: "Paula has always dealt well with having asthma and really believes this helps her breathing. I don't doubt for a minute that it does."
Nick Morgan: "There is not an awful lot of sports science to back it up. It helps you take in a lot more air through the nose. But it's one thing taking the oxygen into your body and another to utlilise it effectively. Over the course of a 26-mile run, most people would be able to take in enough air through their mouth."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "Intuitively it does make sense but I'm not sure how much help it is. You need the extra air in your lungs, not just your nose."
TITANIUM NECKLACE
This bemused Radcliffe's fans when she first wore it during the 10,000m final in Helsinki, with one visitor to her website describing it as looking like a bike lock.
Afterwards, Radcliffe explained the Japanese-developed device - widely used by baseball players - was designed to improve blood circulation and reduce muscle stress, but she chose not to wear it for the marathon.
Fred Wooding: "I did wonder what it was when I saw it but I knew that Paula would be confident it was helping her. It looked a bit big on her neck so I am sure she would have tried it out in training first."
Nick Morgan: "It is important to keep the muscles relaxed. If you're very tense throughout an event, you end up expending waste energy. If you keep doing that you are going to have problems, either a performance detriment or injury."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "There is no evidence that it works. We have just completed research on neck pain and saw benefits from some devices but not titanium."
BACK STRAPS AND EMU OIL
Radcliffe has been wearing two see-through straps on her back to support muscles around her spine. She is also a keen exponent of emu oil after using it to speed up the healing of cuts and bruises sustained in a collision with a cyclist during a training session in 2003.
This elixir, made from oil taken from the fatty tissue on an emu's back and recommended by fellow athlete Sonia O'Sullivan, helped Radcliffe get fit in time to win that year's London Marathon.
Fred Wooding: "Paula would have a good team of physios who would know the best way to protect her and she would always follow their advice."
Nick Morgan: "Emu oil was a new one to me but anything that can safely help speed up recovery is key for endurance athletes, who need to be able to get back into a solid training routine."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "We have found no evidence that emu oil helps heal cuts. But sportspeople are very sensitive people and if they have a belief that a remedy helps them, then as long as it does not have any adverse side effects, that is a benefit in itself."
SPECIALIST WATCH
This is a straightforward piece of equipment but distance athletes are divided as to whether it is worth wearing a watch to monitor running times during events. Radcliffe is firmly in the camp who chooses to wear one at all times.
Fred Wooding: "Paula would be fully aware of where she wants to be time-wise at any stage of the race."
Nick Morgan: "A watch means she can check she matches her ideal times for the various splits. She is phenomenal in her ability to run an evenly-paced marathon."
COMPRESSION SOCKS
Radcliffe has worn these knee-length socks for many years to support her calf muscles. And her kit is completed by a pair of specially designed trainers, which complement the contours of her feet and offer extra padding.
Fred Wooding: "The socks would be an important aid to blood circulation over a long race. There would be a danger of a pooling of lactic acid and it is a fact that these would help her. As for her shoes, Paula would be wearing a pair that would both give her sufficient grip whatever weather conditions she faces and also plenty of padding to compensate for the fact that she's going to be repetitively pounding her feet for 26 miles."
Nick Morgan: "Actually a build-up of lactic acid is not likely to be a problem for a marathon runner. The socks would help blood flow but they would be even better in aiding her recovery after the race. And a good pair of trainers is essential - I'm sure hers will be designed precisely because every millimetre would have an effect on her running gait."
Professor Edzard Ernst: "Some people have a tendency for their legs to swell up due to venous insufficiency and these socks would help control this. For someone running 26 miles, swollen legs would be heavy legs and that would be no good thing."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/4136018.stm
Published: 2005/08/14 14:16:51 GMT
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