Double 19 Productions

THE (Tay) in Orlando

2011-09-30T19:51:00.001-07:00

SEATTLE - Hundreds of local parents will head to downtown Seattle this weekend for a heavily promoted kids' talent audition. According to the radio ads, the auditions are free - but be prepared to pull out your credit card. For kids, it's like a dream come true. A chance to read for commercials, walk the runway - and rub elbows with casting agents, producers and kid stars. The Cherry family on Kitsap Peninsula responded to a radio blitz last spring. "Everything was happening so fast," said parent Howard Cherry. The auditions were held by a talent competition promoter with the unusual name of "The" pronounced "Tay." The company also uses the names The Event and New York Studio Inc. It's the same company holding auditions in Seattle on Saturday. Twelve-year-old Colton Harmon of Tahuya got his mom to sign him up. "They compared him to Michael J Fox," said Amber Harmon, referring to her son's small stature which makes him look more like 7 years old than 12. At the "free" audition, all the kids got pumped at being selected to participate in a big event at Disney World in Orlando. "As a parent, you're kinda getting pumped up, too," said Howard Cherry. Tracy Cherry says the sales person they dealt with told them the kids would be in front of 50 or 60 different casting directors for music, modeling and acting. "He made us feel like this is the best opportunity, the only way to go," Tracy said. But - there's a big catch: money. Parents across the country complain of the sales pitch to participate in a competition and audition event - at a cost of $2,000 or more per child, plus air fare and lodging at in Orlando, and roughly $900 for the parent chaperone. Copies of contracts obtained by the KOMO Problem Solvers give three days to cancel, but the company keeps a $1,000-per-child registration fee. The Internet is loaded with complaints alleging deceptive marketing, high pressure and refund and billing disputes. Parents say they feel added pressure of having to make a decision on the spot in front of their kids – who want the opportunity so badly. They don’t want to disappoint their kids. “Because I love my daughters," explained Howard Cherry. "I wanted the best for them. Part of me was thinking, 'What if?' You know, 'What if one of them does have it? What if one of them makes it through or both make it through?'" But “The” defends its business as a way to help kids network and achieve their goals as performers. In response to one of two complaints filed with the state attorney general this year, “The Event" Controller Elizabeth Santana wrote: "We provide the opportunity for parents and kids to learn about the entertainment industry and to network with dozens of industry professionals (agents, managers, casting directors and producers) at world-class resorts." According to the company's marketing material, "The" is not a talent agency or casting company. "'The' hosts family-friendly competitions for the performing arts that combine professional opportunity with vacation fun and excitement at world class resorts." Participant package prices start at $1,950 for 2 showcase events as an actor, model or vocalist at the Orlando competition, and run as high as $7,900 for 10 showcase events plus what are called "celebrity intensives." Bottom line: You may think your kid has star potential - but the big picture in the "free" audition is an expensive competition event that's not free at all. "Yes, you're kids are beautiful, wonderful and talented. But just stop for a second and think," Tracy Cherry emphasized. Attempts to contact "The" and talk to a representative were met with instructions to submit all questions by email. As of this publishing, the company has yet to respond.

They change URL for every event so previous negative comments stating "THE"link to dead ends most of the time. Current live site is at http://www.the2011orlando.com

"Majors & Minors" on the HUB Network premiers tonight

2011-09-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

This is a show that I worked on as a Studio Teacher. It's called "Majors & Minors" and it premiers tonight on the HUB Network.

Is your agent licensed in CA?

2011-09-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

If you want to check to see if a talent agency in the State of California is licensed, type in the name on this website:http://www.dir.ca.gov/databases/dlselr/talag.html

You can also look up agencies that are SAG-franchised (not a requirement to be licensed, though) here:http://www.sag.org/content/find-agent

Or try the AFTRA website:http://www.aftra.com/la_agents.htm

Nick Roses & Pat O'Brien - Talent Scams

2011-08-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Roses, O'Brien Cases Prove Krekorian Act Has Teeth
By Daniel Holloway and Ivan Lopez-Muniz

http://www.backstage.com/bso/news-and-features-features/roses-o-brien-cases-prove-krekorian-act-1005312362.story

August 10, 2011

When the Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act was signed into California law in 2009, supporters hailed it as a way to protect performers—specifically children—and their families from being taken advantage of by talent representatives. It has been proved to do just that.

Since the Krekorian Act went into effect last year, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office has used it as a tool to regulate pay-for-play casting workshops, to convince Playboy Enterprises not to charge potential models to audition, and to force Central Casting in Los Angeles to stop charging photo processing fees. In those instances, some grumbled that they were being unfairly targeted for engaging in legitimate business practices. But no charges were filed. The City Attorney's Office reached out to people and institutions it felt had violated or may have been in danger of violating the law and asked them to change the way they operated. Most did, if sometimes begrudgingly.

But the last two weeks have brought a new chapter in the enforcement of the Krekorian Act. On July 28, Nicholas Roses, a former manager at Luber Roklin Entertainment, pleaded no contest to operating an advance-fee talent service and failing to file a $50,000 bond with the state. The following week, Patrick W. O'Brien of Pat O'Brien Talent Management also pleaded no contest on similar counts.

The Krekorian Act forbids talent representatives from charging fees to clients in exchange for the promise of securing employment. It also requires reps to file a bond with the state labor commissioner. Though the city had already successfully prosecuted two talent listing services under the law, Roses and O'Brien were the first talent managers convicted under it.

"These convictions send the message to talent managers and talent agents that you will be prosecuted in California if you try selling classes, photos, or websites to your clients," said Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert, who prosecuted both cases. "Hopefully, it will inspire other states to protect their actors by passing their own version of the Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act."

When he was charged in April on seven misdemeanor counts related to the Krekorian Act, Roses, 21, was a manager at Luber Roklin Entertainment, well-known for managing young performers. (He is no longer with the firm.) Roses began working in talent management in his preteen years and is by far the highest-profile defendant charged under the Krekorian Act.

In January, three parents contacted the City Attorney's Office to complain about a performers boot camp run by Roses and unaffiliated with Luber Roklin. The families claimed that they met Roses at an Ohio talent agency workshop and that he agreed to represent their children—then ages 6, 13, and 14—after advising them to relocate to Southern California and sign up for his boot camp. The cost of the training service was approximately $3,000 per child. Attempts by Back Stage to contact the complainants were unsuccessful, but according to the City Attorney's Office, the parents said the boot camp was poorly organized, it failed to provide adequate food and water, and many of the children who attended fell ill—one girl developing swollen lungs, hives, and a rash. None of the charges filed against Roses were related to the health and organizational concerns.

Roses was sentenced to three years' probation and either 90 days in jail or 45 days of community labor. He was ordered to pay $10,700 in restitution to the victims and another $2,000 in investigative costs to the city. If he pays the restitution within 11 months, the number of community labor days will be reduced to 20.

Roses is also barred from involvement with any talent training, counseling, or listing service within or outside California, as well as any camp, educational, or daycare facility that serves minors. He is, however, allowed to work as an agent or manager. He can also teach, attend showcases, and participate in panel discussions, provided he is not paid for those activities. Just days after his sentencing, Roses opened the downtown Burbank office of his new company, Total Talent Management.

In an email to Back Stage, he claimed that more than 40 of his clients have joined him at the new firm. He expressed support for the law he was convicted of violating and asserted that Lambert, his prosecutor, "has the best interests of the community in mind." He contended, however, that his boot camps and showcases "were not a scam" but rather legitimate ventures that the bulk of his clients were satisfied with.

"At the time, this law was only in effect for eight months," Roses wrote. "I did not know I was violating the law. I do not want to blame my youth for my mistake. However, I will say my lack of knowledge of this new law was the reason I was in violation; further, because of my youth it did not prompt me to look into new laws. I am just hoping that my mistake will be a lesson for any and all the legitimate talent representatives out there to know the current rules on workshops, showcases, etc."

The full text of the email Q&A with Roses, and a letter from the City Attorney's Office detailing what work he is permitted to engage in, can be read here.

In April, an Arizona woman contacted Lambert's office to complain that O'Brien had promised to represent her 15-year-old, then sold her a $3,000 photo shoot and acting class package for the child and convinced her to relocate to the Los Angeles area. After charges were filed, two other mothers contacted Lambert with similar complaints. One of them was Laura Estrada, an L.A. resident from Mexico who speaks limited English. O'Brien agreed to represent her daughter, who was 9 years old at the time. Estrada said O'Brien contacted her after she paid $200 to a talent listing service she found on the Internet. He asked her to bring her daughter in for an audition.

"He looked like a decent person," Estrada said, speaking in Spanish. My daughter "did not do very well in the audition, and he said she needed more training and photos and that she had the potential to become somebody. And I wanted to help her reach her dreams."

Using a credit card, Estrada paid O'Brien $2,799 for acting lessons and photos. Estrada claimed that O'Brien told her he would represent her daughter if she purchased the package, but soon after, he stopped returning her calls and never sent her daughter out on auditions.

Nancy West told a similar story. West said O'Brien sold her a $3,000 package of photos and acting classes for her daughter and made it clear that West must purchase the package as part of a representation agreement. She said that O'Brien then had a photographer—whom she later came to believe was the manager's wife—shoot the photos and that he cut short her daughter's acting classes. West was unemployed at the time and borrowed from her line of credit to pay O'Brien.

"My daughter changed after that," she said. "She doesn't have the drive that she used to have. I think she feels that the same thing is just going to keep happening."

Asked if he told West she needed to purchase headshots and acting classes for her daughter in order to secure representation, O'Brien said, "Absolutely not. I'm not an idiot. It's totally separate. I've been in this business for 20 years. I tell them straight up, 'You came to an audition. You're adorable. I saw 300 people. If you're one of the two or three that I want to manage, that would be great. If you have photos, great. Here's a contract.' " He added he has always kept training and photo services separate from his management agreements. "This was all done correctly."

O'Brien was sentenced to three years' probation, plus 90 days in jail or 45 days of community labor, and must pay a total of $6,000 in restitution to the three victims who came forward. (The community labor can be shortened to 20 days if the restitution is paid within 11 months.) He is barred from advertising employment opportunities or participating in any talent listing services anywhere within or outside the state. He is not allowed to participate in any seminar, camp, or educational facility, and he may not produce or develop films, television shows, or Web-based entertainment. He was ordered to shutter one of his companies, Talent Marketing and Promotions Inc., but is allowed to continue to manage performers.

"Even though I'm not taking on new clients anymore, I've got plenty of successful people," O'Brien said. "I may let 90 percent of them go and tell them, 'Good luck.' " In the future, he added, once his probation ends, he intends to return to producing.

The successful prosecution of Roses and O'Brien demonstrates that serious consequences come with violation of the Krekorian Act. Paul Krekorian, the former Democratic State Assembly majority leader who shepherded the bill's passage into law and now serves on the Los Angeles City Council, has watched as Lambert has used it to regulate aspects of the talent industry that for years went unchecked. In an email message to Back Stage, he seemed pleased with what he has seen.

"On the strength of the Talent Scam Prevention Act, the City Attorney's office has successfully brought to justice a pair of fraud artists who preyed on children and others lured by promises of stardom," Krekorian said. "These two convictions prove, once again, that if it is the goal of talent agencies to lie, cheat, and steal from those they've baited with promises of fame, we have the tools to go after them. I hope these convictions deliver at least a small measure of reprieve and hope to those whose dreams were swindled away."

Child Stars - Where Are They Now?

2011-08-11T18:16:00.001-07:00

Acting Camps and Workshops for kids

2011-08-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

I do not recommend taking classes at any camp or program that makes ridiculous claims of children booking legitimate work in show business after attending their overpriced classes. Some actors who own or associate themselves with these schools or workshops use the fact that your children recognize them from popular TV shows to cover the fact that they are offering overpriced services. A quality acting class in Los Angeles will range in price from $150 - $300 a month, for 4 classes. If you are paying more than $75 (and that's at the very high end) per 3-4 hour weekly class, you are paying too much. Most classes for kids are on the low end of $25 - $50 a class. Private acting or singing coaching will range in price from about $80/hr. to $150/hr. (which is on the high end). If you are serious about learning the skills necessary to become a working actor, do your research and stick to recommended and well-respected acting teachers and programs. The best people to ask about classes and coaching are working actors. If you don't know any, ask around because someone you know will surely know a working actor in New York or Los Angeles who can steer you in the right direction.

Julie Stevens

Young French model poses for French Vogue

2011-08-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

By KATIE MOISSE
Aug. 4, 2011

Thylane Loubry Blondeau, a 10-year-old model with a sultry stare beyond her years, had the fashion industry drooling after posing for French Vogue. But photos of the Parisian preteen, whose lanky body and gap-toothed pout bring to mind full-grown size-zero magazine cover girls, have reignited the debate over the sexualization of young girls.

Wearing makeup, high heels and haute couture, Blondeau looks a far cry from a typical 10-year-old. Even in childish smocks and cotton tees, her expressions are oddly adult -- a product, perhaps, of living half her young life in the fashion world (she reportedly hit the runway for Jean-Paul Gauthier at age 5). And some say Blondeau's grown-up beauty is giving other young girls unhealthy ideas about how they should look.

"We don't want kids to grow up too fast," said Shari Miles-Cohen, senior director of women's programs for the American Psychological Association. "We want them to be able to develop physically, emotionally, psychologically and socially at appropriate rates for their age."

<a href="http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/girl-is-10-years-old-and-a-vogue-model-does-this-cross-the-line/question-2042441/" title="Girl Is 10 Years Old and a Vogue Model: Does This Cross the Line?">Girl Is 10 Years Old and a Vogue Model: Does This Cross the Line?</a>
QuestionsView Results

French Vogue provocatively poked at this principle, running photos of Blondeau and two other tweens playing designer dress-up captioned with, "Quel maquillage à quel âge?" -- What makeup at what age? But a shot of Blondeau wearing a red dress and stilettos lying on a tiger skin rug had critics crying foul.
PHOTO: Thylane Lena Rose Blondeau appears with adult look in Parisian issue of Vogue.
ABC News
Thylane Lena Rose Blondeau appears with adult... View Full Size
PHOTO: Thylane Lena Rose Blondeau appears with adult look in Parisian issue of Vogue.
ABC News
Thylane Lena Rose Blondeau appears with adult look in Parisian issue of Vogue.
Virginia Tech on Lockdown; Earth's Two Moons? Watch Video
10-Year-Old Model Too Adult? Watch Video
Are Young Girls Being Over-Sexualized? Watch Video

"This isn't edgy. It's inappropriate, and creepy, and I never want to see a nine-year-old girl in high-heeled leopard print bedroom slippers ever again," wrote Chloe Angyal, editor of Feminsting.com.

Sexualized images can have lasting effects on the young girls who see them. An APA taskforce found that sexualization by the media affects how girls think about femininity and sexuality, promoting "appearance and physical attractiveness" as key values. It's also linked to low self-esteem, eating disorders and depression.

"The research clearly shows that the fashion industry affects girls and women's images of themselves and their self-esteem if they do not meet the industry 'image' that is currently in vogue," said Paul Miller, associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University in Phoenix. "Even the very young are quite conscious of media images of what is 'pretty' and desirable."

In a photo not affiliated with Vogue, Blondeau poses topless on a bed with a young male playmate propositioning a pillow fight. And in another, she wears hip-slung jeans and no top with beaded necklaces covering her would-be breasts.

Many in the industry have defended the work as art. Others say it crosses a line.

"Any creepy child pornographer could plead 'artistic license,'" said Miller.

Thylane Loubry Blondeau's grown-up look is creating a stir.

Blondeau is not the first mini model to stir up the sexualization debate. In 2007, a 13-year-old Dakota Fanning posed in a controversial campaign for Marc Jacobs. Now 13-year-old Elle Fanning has followed in her sister's footsteps as the face of Jacobs' Fall 2011 campaign.

The controversy extends to pint-sized pageant queens and prospective pop stars, too. A YouTube video of 8- and 9-year-olds dancing to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" spurred a similar uproar last year.

"People have always admired young ballerinas in scanty costumes, but those performances weren't explicitly sexual," Vivian Friedman, child psychologist and professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC News at the time. "There was an aesthetic that didn't remind you of being in bed."

Photos of Blondeau, some in pink tutus and others in bed, illustrate the disparity.

"[The photos] clearly create an image of the girl as an adult woman, both in the clothing, the postures and emotional content of the images," said Miller. "The message is that very young girls can be dressed and viewed as young adult women."

Another Talent Scam Conviction in Los Angeles

2011-08-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

Another Talent Scam Conviction in Los Angeles

Another Talent Scam Conviction in Los Angeles
By Daniel Holloway

August 3, 2011

Los Angeles–area talent manager Patrick W. O'Brien pleaded no contest Tuesday on two counts of violating the California State Labor Code and was sentenced to three years' probation and 90 days in jail. He was also ordered to pay a total of $6,000 to a group of three victims of a bait-and-switch talent scam he operated.

In April, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office pressed charges against O'Brien after being contacted by an Arizona mother who said O'Brien had agreed to represent her 15-year-old actor son.

After moving her family to California and purchasing a $3,000 headshot and acting class package from O'Brien, the mother became convinced that she was victim of a scam. When O'Brien refused to refund the woman her money, she filed a complaint with the City Attorney's Office. Two more victims later came on board the case after charges were pressed.

The plea deal—which also bars O'Brien from operating any talent representation services and producing or developing any onscreen entertainment—is almost identical to one reached last week with scam artist Nicholas Roses.

O'Brien is one of four talent managers prosecuted this year by Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert under the 2009 Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act.

"Annie" auditions - Equity only

2011-06-18T23:52:00.001-07:00

Annie – Equity Principal Auditions / Children’s Roles
Broadway/Production Contract
Category: Performer
Description:

Broadway/Production Contract Currently $1,653/week minimum.
Producer: Arielle Tepper Madover
Exec Prod/GM: 101 Productions, Ltd.
Music: Charles Strouse
Lyrics: Martin Charnin
Book: Thomas Meehan
Dir: James Lapine
Choreo: Andy Blankenbuehler
Mus Dir: Todd Ellison
Casting: Telsey + Company/Pat Goodwin

1st reh: Late summer/fall 2012. 1st perf/opening TBD.

Seeking (all listed roles are available; all are girls):

Annie:
Girl, 11 years old, any ethnicity. Optimistic, spunky and wise beyond her years. Has a deep-seated longing to find her birth parents, and will stop at nothing to accomplish that goal. Has a heart of gold, despite her share of mischievous situations. Any and every girl can relate to her in some way. She is honest, forthright and has a magnetic personality. Performer must have an excellent singing range, great comedic timing and excellent dance skills.

Molly:
Girl, 6 years old, any ethnicity. The littlest of the orphans. Annie takes it upon herself to take special care of Molly and act as her big sister whenever possible. Performer must have excellent singing and dancing skills.

Pepper:
Girl, 11 years old, any ethnicity. The tough cookie of the group of orphans. Performer must have excellent singing and dancing skills.

Kate:
Girl, 7 years old, any ethnicity. Almost as small as Molly. Performer must have excellent singing and dancing skills.

Tessie:
Girl, 10 years old, any ethnicity. A cry-baby. Performer must have excellent singing and dancing skills.

July:
Girl, 12 years old, any ethnicity. Quietest of the orphans. Performer must have excellent singing and dancing skills.

Duffy:
Girl, 12 years old, any ethnicity. Eldest and biggest of the orphans. Performer must have excellent singing and dancing skills.

Note from Equity: Equity Principal Auditions for adult roles will be held at a later date, as will Equity Chorus Calls. Watch for notices.

IMPORTANT: ONLY EQUITY MEMBERS WILL BE SEEN AT THIS AUDITION. Please bring your Equity card to the audition.

Company:
Broadway/Production Contract

Audition Information
When:

Equity Principal Auditions:
Thursday, June 30, 2011
10 AM - 6 PM
Lunch from 1:30 – 2:30.
Equity Monitor begins sign-up at 9 AM.

Where:

Pearl Studios NYC “500”
500 Eighth Avenue, 12th Floor
New York City

Notes/What to bring:

Please prepare a brief song from the show or in the style of the show. Bring sheet music in the correct key; accompanist is provided, but may not transpose.

Please bring a current picture & resume, stapled back-to-back.

Disney Channel open call in Austin Texas on June 4th

2011-05-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 4th
Ages 10-18
Austin, TX

http://tv.disney.go.com/disneychannel/opencall/

Kiddie Botox

2011-05-16T09:14:00.001-07:00

Breakdown Services - selling access to Breakdowns

2011-04-19T15:36:00.001-07:00

Brian Burke of The Los Angeles' Actors Collective Sentenced to 20 Days in Jail for Selling Breakdown Services' Breakdowns

PR Newswire

LOS ANGELES, April 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Breakdown Services won their second case against Brian Burke for illegally selling its Breakdowns. Burke was ordered to spend 20 days in jail. Burke was also ordered to provide Breakdown Services with the names of all parties who illegally gave him access to the company's breakdowns.

Breakdown Services receives scripts from casting directors, breaks the scripts down into the various roles, then releases the "breakdowns" to licensed talent agents so they may submit their clients to casting directors for these roles. In April of 2008 Breakdown Services filed their initial case against Burke for illegally selling its breakdowns. In October of 2009 the Court entered a judgment against Burke, awarding Breakdown Services $1.3 million in monetary damages and permanently barring Burke from selling any more breakdowns.

In May of 2010, Breakdown Services learned that someone was sending out emails offering to sell breakdowns. The actors were directed to send payments addressed to "Sam W" at a Hollywood PO Box. "Sam W" turned out to be Samantha Winkler. Winkler confessed that she had been working for Burke at The Actors Collective in Los Angeles and had been recruited by Burke to send out email solicitations and sell breakdowns for Burke using her name as a cover for him. Once this information came to light, Breakdown Services' legal counsel, Steven P. Krakowsky, Esq., commenced proceeding against Burke to have him held in contempt of court for violating the terms of the injunction.

The Court found that Burke had knowingly and willingly violated the permanent injunction on 25 different occasions. The Court imposed the maximum sentence of five days for each of the 25 separate occasions, a total of 125 days. The Court ordered Burke to be incarcerated for 20 days, the remaining 105 days to be served if Burke commits any further violations. Burke is also not allowed to access any of Breakdown Services' websites, including Actors Access.

This is the first time that Breakdown Services has filed criminal proceedings against a party illegally selling its breakdowns. Breakdown Services plans to continue doing this to ensure that people stop this illegal practice

Talent Manager scam

2011-04-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

Alleged Talent Scammer Charged in Los Angeles
8:08 PM 4/5/2011
by Daniel Holloway (Back Stage)

Charges were filed under the 2009 Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act after complaints by parents of several child actors.

Nicholas Roses, a 21-year-old talent manager based in Studio City, Calif., has been charged with multiple criminal charges in connection with an alleged talent-service scam operation that targeted minors, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

Roses and his company, Roses Entertainment Group, face seven misdemeanor counts each, including three counts of operating an advance-fee talent representation service, one count of not filing a required $50,000 bond with the state, and one count of failing to use written contracts for artists. If convicted, Roses could be sentenced to as long as seven years in jail and fined as much as $70,000.

Prosecutors learned of Roses through three Ohio-area parents who met the manager last year at a workshop in the Buckeye State. On Roses' advice, the parents and their children — ages 6, 13, and 14 — moved to Los Angeles and signed up for the manager's weeklong industry "boot camp," which took place in August and cost roughly $3,000 per child.

The parents contacted Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert, who is prosecuting the case, in January of this year to register complaints regarding the camp. The parents claimed that the camp was poorly organized, with participants as old as 62, and that Roses failed to provide adequate seating, food, water, and breaks. According to prosecutors, several children involved became ill, with one girl developing swollen lungs, hives, and rashes.

Roses is being charged under the 2009 Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act, named for current Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who authored the legislation while a member of the state Assembly. In a written statement, Krekorian said the law "has proved to be invaluable" to local prosecutors.

"The act provides the tools they need to go after fraud artists who prey on children and others who are lured by promises of stardom and fame," Krekorian said. "I applaud the tremendous work of the City Attorney's Office — and especially Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert — for once again helping to protect our most vulnerable residents and restoring hope to those whose dreams were swindled away."

New shows on The Hub network

2011-03-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

New, original series on The Hub for 2011-2012: (in alphabetical order)

"The Aquabats Super Show" (Hub Original Series)

From the creators of "Yo Gabba Gabba" comes this quirky comedy adventure show featuring the popular rock band The Aquabats. A hybrid of concert footage, live-action skits and animation, the Aquabats battle evil with music and superhero powers unlike any seen before. The Aquabats are a touring band with five albums currently released. Produced by FremantleMedia Enterprises and The Magic Store.

"Blythe Loves The Littlest Pet Shop" (Hub Original Series, working title)

Inspired by the beloved "Littlest Pet Shop" brand, Blythe moves to the city and discovers that her new apartment is where her neighbors' pets come to play when their owners are away. In this animated series, Blythe befriends the pets and introduces them to a world of adventures just outside their door. Produced by Hasbro Studios.

"Clue" (Hub Original Miniseries)

Inspired by the iconic family game brand, this live-action series features six teens who are brought together when they believe they've witnessed a terrible crime. As a team, they discover conspiracy theories and cover-ups dating back centuries! They must work together to solve one mystery, only to realize that they may have opened a Pandora's Box. Produced by Hasbro Studios.

"The Game of Life" (Hub Original Series)

The live-action family game show "The Game of Life" will be presented in an entirely new way as each family team gets a chance at the iconic spinner and hops in the car for a one-of-a-kind journey through a larger-than-life virtual world. Hosted by comedian Frank Nicotero (co-host of "The Sharon Osbourne Show," "Street Smarts," and Yahoo! TV's "Primetime in No Time"). Produced by Hasbro Studios.

"Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters" (Hub Original Series, working title)

In this animated series inspired by the wildly popular trading card game, "Duel Masters," a 14-year-old boy discovers a secret world in which mind-blowing creatures rule! These creatures harness special powers that if unleashed, could destroy the world as we know it. It is up to the boy to master his abilities in the ancient art of Kaijudo to protect their world and his own. Produced by Hasbro Studios.

"Majors & Minors" (Hub Original Series, working title)

This groundbreaking reality series follows 16 talented young performers as they are mentored by the biggest and most established artists in the music industry. While no one is ever voted off, one lucky "star-in-the-making' will claim the final prize of a recording deal with the RCA/Jive label group and an opportunity to be featured in a cross-country concert tour. Among the musical artists already scheduled to participate are Leona Lewis, Jordin Sparks, Sean Kingston and Ryan Tedder (of One Republic). From Evan Bogart, the songwriting hit-maker for music stars Rihanna and Beyonce, and top TV producers Tim Bogart and Gary A. Randall, the series is produced by The Boardwalk Entertainment Group in partnership with Sony Music's RCA/Jive Label Group and BMI.

"Rescue Bots" (Hub Original Series, working title)

Inspired by the iconic "Transformers" brand, a group of Autobots, too young to protect humanity alongside Optimus Prime and his team, are partnered with a close-knit human family of first responders. Together, they learn teamwork and heroism alongside their new human friends in this animated series produced by Hasbro Studios.

"Scrabble Showdown" (Hub Original Series)

The world's most popular word game comes to life in this new game show in which families use teamwork to solve a variety of word games and puzzles that test their speed, spelling and vocabulary for points and prizes. The live-action series is hosted by Justin Willman ("Hubworld," Food Network's "Cupcake Wars"). Produced by Hasbro Studios.

"Secret Millionaire's Club" (Hub Original Series of Specials)

The Hub will air four half-hour specials of Warren Buffett's "Secret Millionaire's Club," a new animated series created by one of the most successful investors in the world. Warren Buffett is a secret advisor to a group of kids who learn about business and how the world around them works. Through a series of adventures, kids learn basic business principles, and discover that the most valuable investment they can make is an investment in themselves. Created in partnership with and voiced by Mr. Buffett himself. Produced by A Squared Entertainment and Andy Heyward, former CEO of DIC Entertainment.

New acquisition

"Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grade?"

From Mark Burnett, "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" is an atypical game show that measures adults' lack of knowledge - as revealed by how much they've forgotten since grammar school. Jeff Foxworthy hosts the half hour as grownups find themselves in a classroom setting, revisiting their youth, as they tackle subjects they were taught years ago ranging from art to geography and math to social studies. The live-action series premiered on FOX in 2007 followed by all-new episodes in syndication. 309 half-hour episodes have been acquired by The Hub. Distributed by Twentieth Television.

Returning series with new episodes on The Hub for 2011-2012: (in alphabetical order)

"The Adventures of Chuck & Friends" (Produced by Hasbro Studios)

"Animal Mechanicals" (Produced by Halifax Film, a DHX Media Ltd. Company)

"Dan Vs." (Produced by Film Roman in association with The Hatchery, LLC)

"Family Game Night" (Produced by Hasbro Studios)

"My Little Pony Friendship is Magic" (Produced by Hasbro Studios)

"Pound Puppies" (Produced by Hasbro Studios)

"R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series" (Produced by The Hatchery, LLC, in association with Front Street Pictures)

"Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures" (Produced by American Greetings Properties)

"Transformers Prime" (Produced by Hasbro Studios)

"The WotWots" (Produced by Pukeko Pictures LLP)

THE HUB is a multi-platform joint venture between Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) and Hasbro, Inc., (NASDAQ: HAS) with a goal of entertaining, enlightening, empowering and educating children and their families. The cable and satellite television network features original programming as well as content from Discovery's library of award-winning children's educational programming; from Hasbro's rich portfolio of entertainment and educational properties built during the past 90 years; and from leading third-party producers worldwide. The Hub lineup includes animated and live-action series, specials and game shows, and the network extends its content through a robust and engaging online presence, www.hubworld.com. The Hub rebranded from Discovery Kids on October 10, 2010, and reaches approximately 60 million U.S. households. The Hub logo and name are trademarks of Hub Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.

You can visit The Hub on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/hubtvnetwork

Rebecca Black on "The Tonight Show"

2011-03-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Black interviewed by Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show."

Rebecca Black video backlash

2011-03-18T20:11:00.001-07:00

A good lesson in what can happen when you post videos online. Be prepared for the good and the bad. I guess it's a quick lesson in celebrity - you can get just as famous for being untalented as you can for being talented. Once you ask for fame, don't be surprised if people come out of nowhere to criticize your talent.

Watch "Life After Tomorrow" on Hulu

2011-03-04T15:07:00.001-08:00

THE (TAY) Modeling and Acting Scam in Alaska

2011-01-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

Please beware of this company. You should never pay the kind of money they charge for classes and photos. They are NOT connected with Disney or any legitimate casing offices in Los Angeles or New York. Don't waste your time or money.

THE (TAY) Acting and Modeling Scam

2011-01-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

PORTLAND, Ore. – A talent scouting company that recently made a stop in Portland offers to help child actors for a hefty price but a local casting director says payment upfront is a red flag.

Parents say the company, THE, pronounced “TAY,” is also using the Disney name to lure families in, but Disney says it is not affiliated with the company.

Remi Lapira and his 8-year-old daughter recently heard the company’s ad on the radio, and the company’s website features two actors, Anna Maria Perez from the movie “Fame” and Disney’s “Camp Rock 2” and David Deluise from Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place”.

THE’s staff members invited his daughter back (to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Portland) for a second audition to make it to Florida.

“They were talking to my daughter and said, ‘Hey, you did a wonderful job,’ and my daughter was like, ‘Well, I don’t know how I did a wonderful job if these people weren’t even paying attention, they were playing with the lights.’ And that’s where it kind of (threw) me. I was like, ‘Whoa, red flags. What’s going on here?’” Lapira said.

He said THE wanted him to pay $4,900. The company also offers packages as high as $7,900.

Portland casting director, Lana Veenker who has a long resume, including work on the movie “Twilight,” said payment upfront is a red flag.

“If we were to do an open casting call for a real project, there’s never any money asked for from the parents or the kids,” she said.

KATU News called THE at its Delaware offices but a company representative said no one at the company would do an interview unless the questions were submitted in writing.

“I’m concerned for the parents who are actually shelling out that kind of money, because they think Disney is going to be the one taking them,” Lapira said.

Both Lapira and Veenker are frustrated because the company’s name makes it difficult for parents to find information about it on the Internet – typing “the” into Google returns everything.

SAG Payment Plan for new members

2011-01-21T16:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.sag.org/initiation-fee-loans-now-available-new-members

New Screen Actors Guild members are now eligible for low-interest rate initiation fee loans when joining the Guild.

A SAG Initiation Fee Loan from the member-owned AFTRA-SAG Federal Credit Union lets you make up to 24 monthly payments with interest rates discounted .50% from standard Credit Union loan rates. You can also get an additional .50% discount when you set up an automatic monthly payment from a Credit Union account.

For example, on a $2,335 loan amount and 24 month term with a fixed rate based on creditworthiness (including automatic payment discount), payment amounts will be:
$107.67 / month with 9.90% APR fixed (A Credit Rating)
$109.85 / month with 11.90% APR fixed (B Credit Rating)
$113.15 / month with 14.90% APR fixed (C Credit Rating)

A SAG Initiation Fee Loan is also available to current members who are assessed a difference of initiation fee. This may result when working in an area where the initiation fee is higher than the amount previously paid, as described on the back of the SAG Membership Application.

Applying Is Easy
To qualify for a SAG Initiation Fee Loan, you need to join or be a member in good standing of the AFTRA-SAG Federal Credit Union. It’s fast and easy to apply simultaneously for a SAG Initiation Fee Loan and Credit Union membership online at aftrasagfcu.org. You can also send an email to loans@aftrasagfcu.org, fax a request to (818) 260-9485, or call (800) 826-6946 for more information.

They Do the Work, You Get the Benefit
A check to cover your initiation fee and the first semi-annual basic dues payment will be made payable from AFTRA-SAG Federal Credit Union to Screen Actors Guild within 72 hours — faster if needed!

The Small Print
This is a fixed rate loan. Your interest rate and corresponding annual percentage rate (APR) will be based on your creditworthiness. Not all applicants will qualify for the best rate of 9.90% APR. The APR on the loan is .50% higher without Automatic Payment, which for the 9.90% APR example would be 10.40% APR. The maximum loan term is 24 months. Maximum loan amount is $2,500. Monthly payments are required. Loan disbursement checks are made payable to the Screen Actors Guild. Minors are not eligible for this program, however parents or guardians of Coogan kids may qualify for membership and can apply for a personal loan through ASFCU.

SAG members in good standing are eligible to apply for this loan product through AFTRA-SAG Federal Credit Union with the exception of individuals who reside in New York who are not existing members of the ASFCU. Such individuals may inquire about loan products from Actors Federal Credit Union at (212) 869-8926; outside NYC: (800) 2- ACTORS (800-222-8677).

Sony Launches Online Casting Call Service

2010-11-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Sony Launches Online Casting Call Service

Taylor Tracey in "Santa's Christmas Wish"

2010-11-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

Congrats to client, Taylor Tracey, who will be appearing in the Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre show, "Santa's Christmas Wish."

SANTA'S CHRISTMAS WISH Show Dates: 11/25/2011 - 12/27/2011. Our 26th Christmas spectacular is sure to please adults and children alike. Remember to make your reservation early, as seats fly faster than Rudolph!

Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre
455 West Foothill Boulevard
Claremont, California 91711

https://secure.calcomputer.com/candlelightpavilion/ReserveTickets/form.asp?ID=171

ACT, THE and John Robert Powers scams!

2010-09-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Beware of companies like ACT (now renamed THE) and John Robert Powers. They are not real casting companies and will only take your time and money.

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/video/18485603/index.html

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/video/18494106/index.html

http://www.insideedition.com/n...d-acting-school.aspx

Talent: The Casting Call competition

2010-09-03T00:14:00.000-07:00

Alloy Entertainment, a division of Alloy Media + Marketing, and Jive Records have joined forces in a search for the next teen sensation. The contest from the hit makers behind The Vampire Diaries and Jordin Sparks provides contestants with the opportunity to win a lead role in Alloy’s newest web series, Talent, and receive a recording contract with Jive Records, whose roster includes Usher, Britney Spears, Pink and others.

Girls between the ages of 16 and 24 can upload their singing audition on www.thetalentshow.com now through September 28 for a chance to be considered for Talent: The Casting Call, a reality web series that will ultimately determine which talented singer will appear in the Alloy Entertainment original web series, Talent, airing in early 2011.

Throughout the contest, fans everywhere can rate the auditions to ensure their favorite contestants are top ranked. Each week, one standout performer will be featured in the coveted “Spotlight of the Week” position.

On October 6th, 20 semi-finalists will be announced who will vie for six exclusive spots to participate in Talent: The Casting Call. The six finalists will use their music and acting craft to stay alive throughout the reality series to become Alloy Entertainment and Jive Records’ top Talent. The winner will head to Hollywood for a lead role in Talent the scripted web series and receive a recording contract with Jive Records.

Talent, based on the Alloy book of the same name from The New York Times bestselling author Zoey Dean, tells the story of a young woman whose dreams of becoming a singer are dashed and rises from that disappointment by helping an unlikely girl become a superstar. Talent: The Casting Call and Talent, the web series will be distributed via AlloyTV (www.alloytv.com), a premium, multi-platform digital entertainment network.

YOUR CHANCE AT STARDOM IN THREE EASY STEPS:
1) Choose a song from the song list. Record and upload one song or multiple songs on the list provided. Only one video upload per song will be accepted.
2) Submit your audition video!
3) Vote! Get your friends and family to vote for you by sharing your audition video on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

Please refer to the Official Rules for complete details.

Another modeling agent scam in Nevada

2010-08-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

"Despicable Me" voiceover recording session

2010-07-04T13:05:00.001-07:00

Really cool footage from the "Despicable Me" voiceover recording session.

Aaron Goldstein shoots short film, "Six Women"

2010-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Congrats to client, Aaron Goldstein, who just completed the short film, "Six Women." Aaron's character got to swim in a pool for several hours, which happens to be one of Aaron's favorite activities.

Unschooling on "Nightline"

2010-06-05T00:52:00.001-07:00

Casting Workshop Crackdown

2010-05-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Casting Workshop Crackdown

L.A.'s deputy city attorney targets violators of new law.

By Daniel Holloway

May 12, 2010

California has changed the way many casting directors do business in the state, leaving some scrambling to comply with a new law they don't yet fully understand.

In January, the Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act went into effect. The bill—which garnered support from the Walt Disney Co., the Motion Picture Association of America, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Screen Actors Guild, and other industry players—was signed into law last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger amid fanfare that it would help give prosecutors the tools they need to target talent-search scams disguised as auditions. Supporters emphasized that many such scams are aimed at young performers and their parents.

"Everyone thinks that their child is beautiful," Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, the former state Assembly majority leader who authored the bill, told Back Stage in November. "Once a child's dreams are taken advantage of by one of these wrongdoers, it's extremely difficult for a parent to try to resist the lure that if they just invest a little money in these services, their child will have their dreams fulfilled."

But L.A. Deputy City Attorney Mark Lambert, a driving force behind the law, made clear last month that he sees the Krekorian Act as a more complex tool that he and other prosecutors can use to address a wider range of unseemly—and now illegal—practices. Lambert drafted and mailed to more than 200 people a 13-page letter signed by City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich explaining the new law and the penalties that violation can bring. The letter was targeted specifically at casting professionals known to participate in private casting workshops.

"We received a lot of complaints from actors about the workshops," Lambert said. "We tried to find as many casting directors and associates [as we could] that were listed with the workshops, whose names were in advertisements for the workshops, to let them know that this law applies to casting workshops and to make sure they're complying with the law if they're going to take part in them."

Pay for Play

At issue is whether casting workshops qualify as paid—and thus illegal—auditions under the new law. According to Lambert, a casting workshop, properly run, is legal and qualifies as a "training service." Instructors must post a bond with the state and follow rules for contracts, fundraising, and recordkeeping. But based on his conversations with actors who have contacted his office, Lambert believes that some casting professionals involved in workshops have misrepresented themselves and taken advantage of their clients.

"Actors feel that they can't be seen by casting directors and associates unless they pay to go to the workshops," Lambert said. "The advertisements they see all portray that to a large extent. One actor, for instance, reported that they were told by the casting person there that they looked at the clients from the workshops first for acting jobs. They're complaining that it's a pay-to-play system and they can't be seen unless they pay. Most actors don't have money, and this would be tolerated in no other profession."

Pam Dixon of Pam Dixon Casting is president of the Casting Society of America. She and a delegation from CSA met with Lambert last week at his office in the hope of clearing up what she characterized as widespread confusion among casting professionals over the Krekorian Act. She said CSA and Lambert's office have formed a committee with the intent of creating guidelines for casting workshops. The last known set of guidelines was issued in 2002 by the state's Labor Commission.

"What we're trying to do is establish some guidelines so that everyone knows what the law really is," Dixon said. "I think there has definitely been some confusion. The letter didn't specify exactly what was going on." But Dixon added that CSA and the City Attorney's Office agree that standards must be set and adhered to when it comes to workshops and who participates in them.

"In terms of being fair to the people attending the workshops, it should be someone who is credible to teach," she said. "One of the things [Lambert] brought up is that sometimes an assistant who has worked in an office for a week is teaching. So I think there need to be guidelines as to who these workshops are hiring."

Another of Lambert's concerns is the practice of having actors leave their headshots and résumés with the casting professional teaching the workshop. This, according to Lambert, qualifies the workshop as an audition and is illegal under the new law. On this point, Dixon agrees as well. "There are some people that do teach how to do a résumé, what is a good headshot and what isn't," she said. "As a result, they might be using the headshot during instruction, but they need to give it back at the end."

Fair Warning

The Screen Actors Guild threw its weight behind Krekorian's bill as it made its way through the legislative process last year. Zino Macaluso, SAG's national director and senior counsel for agency relations, said that how the law is enforced is up to the City Attorney's Office. But, he added, the guild's core concern remains the same.

"We want these entities that provide these services to essentially tell the truth about what they're doing," Macaluso said. "You're free to participate in a program hosted by a talent training service, but it has to be bonded; it has to use specific contracts; it has to tell you up front that it's not going to get you representation and that this is not an avenue for employment opportunities. Most importantly, how it communicates with you has to be honest and not misleading. If it complies with the bulk of those concerns that the guild has on behalf of its members—indeed, on the behalf of performers everywhere, especially children, who are falling into these gaps more and more—then our efforts in helping to pass this landmark piece of legislation will all be worth it."

With the Krekorian Act on the books for four months and counting, Lambert is plenty satisfied with the new legal tool at his disposal. He said his office is already "actively working to investigate and prosecute" several offenders, though he can't yet reveal the details of those cases.

"The notice has gone out, and we're at a point where we think no one really has an excuse not to comply," Lambert said. "The way that we're trying to proceed is to get the notice out, complaints in, and then start investigating them. It's working just as we had hoped."

Performers who believe they have been victims of a talent or casting scam should contact the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office at atty.talent@lacity.org.

Interview with former child actor, Fred Savage

2010-05-11T10:41:00.001-07:00

Really helpful 3-part interview with former child actor/now director, Fred Savage, ("The Wonder Years") on the SAG website (http://www.youngperformers.sag.org/)

Stagedoor Manor profiled in "Theatre Geek" book

2010-05-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

I attended Stagedoor Manor for 3 summers as a teenager and was also recently interviewed for this book. Stagedoor is a magical place that brings together kids who all have the same love of theatre and performing.

Documentary about actors and auditioning

2010-04-20T10:16:00.001-07:00

Check out this new documentary being made about actors and auditioning, called "Showing Up."

http://www.showingupmovie.com/clips/

Getting Your Child Into Show Business on Today Show

2010-04-15T17:45:00.001-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"Glee" audition online

2010-03-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

Check out the online auditions for "Glee"

http://www.myspace.com/gleeauditions

Screenwriting programs

2010-03-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

Go to http://celtx.com/download.html for a free piece of screenwriting software (though like many of these you can get something that adds loads to the process, but don't likely need to get started) and provides a program that allows you to create a script format right away. There are many other pluses to the free version as well.

Here are sites that provide free information/tutorials:
http://www.screenwriting.info/
http://www.uncleanarts.com/writing/tutorial/tutorial_index.htm
http://screenwriting.tumblr.com/
http://www.screenwritingbasics.com/

There are many sites out there that give you information about writing that
first script. Many of them are free. Look them over before spending any
money, and then if you feel like you need to take a more formal course
you'll have some idea of what you want.

Best advise is get Celtx, or find a template for your writing program (Word
or Openoffice or whatever) and start writing.

Pilot Season 2010

2010-03-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

This letter is making the rounds in Hollywood and has a lot of actors and agents talking. It's called "2010 Pilot Season - The "Name" Game Rules," and it's by James J. Jones, owner of The Premiere Talent Group.

2010 Pilot Season – The “NAME” GAME RULES

As Marc Hirschfield recently said in the Hollywood Reporter, “I think this is probably the most competitive pilot season in about eight years ….” (HR, March 9, 2010). There are fundamentally three reasons for this being one of the most competitive pilot seasons on record:

1. Market Competition I: Film Stars Flock to Pilots

2. Market Competition II: Limited Number of Projects

3. Market Competition III: Complications of “Second Positioning” on Pilots

MARKET COMPETITION I:

TOP LEADING MEN/WOMEN OF FILM – TV DOING 2010 PILOTS

The 2010 Pilot Season has been marked by yet another strong paradigm shift in the industry. Film Stars are coming over to Pilot TV in droves. Dustin Hoffman (who hasn’t done TV since 1967) is just one of many FILM stars or film’s leading men/women who have found their way over to Pilots. Here is a non‐comprehensive list of a few who have:

Dustin Hoffman (Luck)

Dermot Mulroney (Rockford Files)

Jon Voight (Midlands)

Claire Forlani (Episodes)

Forrest Whitaker (Criminal Minds II)

Sam Shepard (Tough Trade)

Beau Bridges (Rockford Files)

Tom Selleck (Reagan’s Law)

William Shatner (Shit My Parent’s Say)

Nick Nolte (Luck)

Eugene Levy (Hitched)

Virginia Madsen (Scoundrels)

Mary Steenburgen (Southern Discomfort)

Treat Williams (Boston’s Finest)

Donnie Wahlberg (Burgess/Green)

Keri Russell (Wilde Kingdom)

Brittany Snow (Kindreds)

Kathy Bates (Kindreds)

Charles Dutton (Uncle Nigel)

Stephen Rea (Chaos)

Brian Keith (Midlands)

Janeane Garofalo (John Wells Untitled)

Scott Caan (Hawaii Five‐O)

Rob Morrow (Truth)

Robert Patrick (Edgar Floats)

Jason Biggs (True Love)

Dennis Farina (Luck)

Brian Dennehey (Criminal Minds II)

Adam Arkin (Who Gets the Parents)

Zeljko Ivanek (The Event)

Jason Ritter (The Event)

Ben Chaplin (Kindreds)

Swoosie Kurtz (Mike and Molly)

Carey Elwes (Tough Trade)

Neal McDonough (Scoundrels)

Lea Thompson (Uncle Nigel)

Bill Pullman (Nathan vs. Nurture)

Gary Cole (Uncle Nigel)

Ashley Tisdale (Hellcats)

Damon Wayans (Happy Endings)

That coupled with the sheer volume of NAMED TV actors who also are signing up for Pilots increases the competition even further for non‐NAMED actors. Here again is a NON‐COMPREHENSIVE listing of established TV leading men/women who have signed on with Pilots:

Micheal Chiklis (No Ordinary Family)

Debra Messing (Wright vs. Wrong)

James Belushi (Defenders)

John Schneider (Back Nine)

Leah Remini (Defenders, Takes a Village)

Jimmy Smits (Wilde Kingdom)

Sarah Chalke (The Freshman)

Kristin Kreuk (Hitched)

Matt LeBlanc (Episodes)

Donald Faison (The Odds)

Blair Underwood (The Event)

Michael Imperioli (Detriot 187)

Jane Kaczmarark (Who Gets the Parents)

Jeri Ryan (Body of Evidence)

Jerry O’ Connell (Defenders/Rex is not your… )

Jean Smart (Hawaii Five‐O)

Allyssa Milano (Hall Pass)

Skeet Ulrich (Untitled John Wells)

Dylan Walsh (ATF)

Jay Harrington (Nature vs. Nurture)

Ana Ortiz (True Blue)

Tom Cavanaugh (Edgar Floats)

Eric Close (Chaos) Daniel

Dae Kim (Hawaii Five‐O)

Poppy Montgomery (True Blue)

Wayne Knight (No Ordinary Family)

Elisha Cuthbert (Happy Endings)

Traylor Howard (Dana Gould Project)

Kellie Giddish (Chase)

Kurtwood Smith (Hitched)

Laura Prepon (Awkward Situations for Men)

Nicolette Sheridan (Ant Hines‐Untitled)

Becki Newton (Love Bites)

Katee Sackhoff (Richard Hatem‐Untitled)

Will Arnett (Untitled Mitch Hurwitz)

Laurie Metcalf (Strange Brew)

Jere Burns (Strange Brew)

Julie Benz (No Ordinary Family)

Christina Applegate (Hall Pass)

Goran Visnjic (Boston’s Finest)

Molly Parker (Quinn‐Tuplets)

Tony Hale (Awkward Situations for Men)

Rob Morrow (The Whole Truth)

As an agency, PTG has seen strong positioning of our actors for Series Regular roles. We have had 44 actors go out for Series Regulars in these pilots. That is a very strong showing. However,I have spoken with many of my peer agency owners, and we all have had the same experience this pilot season: we have concluded that most of these auditions are what I call ‘insurance auditions.’ Insurance if the actors who been offered the role do not take the role.

I have pitched to at least 50 CDs this pilot season who all said something along the lines of ‘yes, this client might be right‐on for the role, but the studios/networks are saying STAR NAMES ONLY, and we have an offer out.’ This goes for both my ‘named’ and heavy ‘working actors.’ And for the rest, unfortunately, the days of developmental and semi‐working actors getting a shot at a series regular or recurring role on a pilot are long gone (please see below in market competition II).

MARKET COMPETITION II:

THE CONTINUED DECREASE OF PILOT WORK

Unfortunately, the days of shooting hundreds of pilots are long gone. This paradigm shift occurred due to the WGA strike which allowed studios/networks to restructure how they do business in developing and producing new shows. Shooting a pilot is a very expensive proposition, and now the number of pilots are limited to those which have a great chance of getting a green light or have already been green lit for the fall season. In short, last year there were 69 pilots and this year 83 (including pilot presentations). This year the market will probably end up at around 65‐70 real pilots shot.

SIDENOTE: Furthermore, the WGA strike also allowed the studios/networks/cablers to provide for pilots year round instead of the primary pilot season as we had all come to know and expect. The good news is more pilots to come throughout the year;. The bad news is that the exclusivity provisions are no longer in place so named actors can do multiple pilots a year if they so choose, instead of being limited to one during traditional pilot season and thereby opening up roles for other non‐named actors. In short, more competition with Top Named actors!

Doing the Math: So, if you calculate that there are 70 pilots being shot this year, with an average series regular cast of 5‐7 (some shows are going to as low as 4 series regulars to save costs), we are talking between 350 and 440 ‘job openings’ in Hollywood this pilot season for top roles. Above, I have already listed 85 roles taken, and that was far from an exhaustive list. To complicate things even more, many strong series recurers and established TV actors with heavy credits from TV shows are vying for the 250‐300 roles that are left. For example, everyone formerly on ER has found a pilot. Finally, what I am hearing from CDs is that even named actors and VERY STRONG working actors are doing Guest Stars on these pilots. So again, the days of a developmental or semi‐working actor finding a spot on a Pilot is highly unlikely.

MARKET COMPETITION III:

SECOND OPTION POSITIONING

To make matters worse, some actors with current shows are doing pilots as second position. For example, Allyssa Milano, who is currently on Romantically Challenged, has signed on for Hall Pass as a second option. Kyle Bornheimer, also on Romantically Challenged, has signed on for the Bays/Thomas Project. Rob Morrow, of Numbers fame, is currently second positioning on “the Whole Truth.” The entire lead cast of Better off Ted also was confronted with this opportunity. The show, not performing highly in the ratings, found each one of these actors being offered and accepting second options on pilots.

While this has gone on for years in Hollywood, the rise of competition for named actors/actors currently on TV has led many Casting Directors of Pilots to aggressively pursue currently employed actors. Also a few actors such as Jerry O’Connell have been able to do two pilots as exclusivity provisions did not apply. Again, this just shows that there is a strong demand for named actors/actors on TV, and the networks and studios want established names to push for advertising money up front.

SIDENOTE: Do not forget, the Up‐Fronts, while again having gone through a paradigm shift of their own, are still an imperative positioning place for networks. And network executives obviously feel that TOP NAMED actors will allow them to secure as much Up Front advertising dollars as possible. We are talking billions of advertising dollars committed at these Up‐Fronts and it seems as though NAMED actors are what is selling that ‘Up‐Front’ dollar right now.

Final Thoughts from James J. Jones*

I send this pilot report to my clients in order for them to fully understand the business nature of this – the 2010 Pilot Season. While the trickle down nature of this pilot season (top named stars getting series regulars, top working actors getting series recurers/guest star, guest stars doing co‐stars, etc) is fairly bleak for developmental and semi‐working actors, it is not permanent. The prospects for scripted television on both cable and networks, as well as the increase in new media and feature film production bode very well for the actor. For my developmental and semi‐working actors, please be realistic about your expectations and focus on your craft and getting me the marketing materials I need to do my job. For my ‘named’ and heavy working actors, please understand the level of competition, and be patient… breakthroughs are undoubtedly coming for what should be a vibrant 2010. In short, hang on – work your craft – and stay positive! Good things will happen!

*James J. Jones is the owner of The Premier Talent Group. PTG is a SAG‐Franchised Talent Agency offering representation for commercial and theatrical actors. This report was written on March 21, 2010. ©

IMDb to Add Web Series Category, So What's a Web Series?

2010-03-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

IMDb to Add Web Series Category, So What's a Web Series?

IMDb to Add Web Series Category, So What’s a Web Series?
by Marc Hustvedt on March 19th, 2009

Amazon-owned IMDb, the mega-database for all things entertainment, has been skirting the issue for a while, but this week let out hints that it will finally be adding a new category for original web series and one-off web videos. Veteran web series creator Casey McKinnon (Galacticast) reports on her blog with news out of Austin’s SXSW Interactive conference that IMDb founder and managing director Col Needham states that the company is in fact preparing to add the separate categories for online content.

McKinnon posed the question to Needham on a panel at the conference, and reports, “the answer is a resounding yes. In the second or third quarter of this year (anytime between April 1st and September 30th), IMDb will roll out the ability to tag a submission as either a web series or an individual (one-off) online video.”

The lack of a separate category has led a number of web series to don the “TV Series” moniker, with some even getting listed as short films. The TV Series makes sense for most episodic web series, allowing separate credits by episode or season. Some creators however, found the only way ‘in’ to the exclusive listings was through presenting their series as a film and referencing obscure film festival appearances.

McKinnon even raised this issue a year and half ago while writing for The Guardian, asking why IMDb didn’t have “more appropriate categories created for submitting a web series.” She went to say that IMDb was essentially asleep at the wheel while Wikipedia was “blasting forward” in terms of becoming the repository of web series listings.

Getting listed in the database, which has become the entertainment industry’s de-facto crediting service, espouses a degree of validity on a project and its creators. The issue has been building up steam in the web television world lately. David Nett, creator of the GOLD, a clever web series about a tabletop RPG gaming team, recently vented his frustrations about the inconsistent listing policy at IMDb. “No listing on IMDb is nearly tantamount to not appearing on Google, he wrote. “It’s not that you don’t exist without it, but without it you exist far less.”

Nett unsuccessfully tried to add his series to the database only to receive a rejection notice citing it did not meet the site’s admission standards. What are these murky standards? “Substantial, verifiable viewership” was on list, which boils down to mean view counts. Not only will IMDb not say what that view count threshold is, but it’s oddly a standard that isn’t held for the million-plus films in the directory.

With the Angels creator Mary Feuer expressed a similar story when trying to get her Strike.TV-released series admitted. What struck her in particular was the lengthy amount of time the company deveotes to rejecting an entry, often sending multiple reasons for rejection. The view count rejection, she notes, only looked at the trailer on YouTube and didn’t consider the handful of other sites—Strike.TV, Joost and KoldCast TV—that the show was on.

Another requirement according to IMDb is coverage by “significant mainstream press,” which according to Nett, “the main sources of editorial for the burgeoning web television movement – Tilzy.TV, NewTeeVee, and Tubefilter – are not yet considered by IMDb to be significant mainstream press, largely because those news outlets are online-only.” Hmm. Did the Seattle Post Intelligencer just lose its ‘mainstream’ status by going online-only?

A third reason often cited is that the series must be “notable enough to have its own Wikipedia page.” This appears to be a passing of the buck to the anonymous admins over at the community knowledge dump.

The challenge still exists of course, as to how to filter content so that the database doesn’t erode into a useless repository of vanity. IMDb needs to completely redesign its vetting system, perhaps bringing in third parties like TubeMogul to verify viewership and distribution or even the editorial coverage of, dare we say, Tubefilter. We like to think we’re pretty good at sorting out what a web series and what’s not.

Noticeably missing from IMDb: Rocketboom, Tiki Bar TV, After Judgment, With the Angels, Something To Be Desired.

MOVIES & TV SHOWS ONLINE

2010-03-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

WHERE TO FIND YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES & TV SHOWS ONLINE

ABC.com Video Player
Amazon Video on Demand
Blockbuster Online
Bravo Videos
Cartoon Network Video
CBS Video
Comedy Central Video
Crackle
Criterion Online
The CW Video
Discovery Channel Videos
Disney Video
Epix
EZTakes
Fancast
Film Fresh
Fox on Demand
FX Networks Video
Hulu
iMDb Video
iTunes
Jaman
Jaroo
Joost
MovieFlix
MTV Video
myLifetime Video
NBC Video
Netflix Watch Instantly
Nick.com Videos
PBS Kids Go! Video
PlayStation Store
Road Runner Video Store
Roxio CinemaNow
Showtime Previews
SlashControl
Sling
South Park Episode Player
Superpass
TBS Videos
TheWB
TNT DramaVision
TV.com Video
TVLand Video Player
USA Network Full Episodes
VH1 Full Episodes
WebMovieNow
Xbox Live Marketplace
Zune Video

Corey Haim - another dead former child actor

2010-03-11T18:14:00.000-08:00

ACT ads on the radio - beware

2010-03-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

Important story about the ACT scam.

http://www.insideedition.com/news.aspx?storyID=4074

Nightline story about kids in show biz

2010-03-03T09:09:00.001-08:00

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/star-search-9994520

Distribute Your Film Yourself

2010-02-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2010
NY Times
Declaration of Indies: Just Sell It Yourself!
By MANOHLA DARGIS

LAST November inside a conference room at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, a film consultant named Peter Broderick was doing his best to foment a revolution. Mr. Broderick, who helps filmmakers find their way into the marketplace, was spreading the word on an Internet-era approach to releasing movies that he believes empowers filmmakers without impoverishing them economically or emotionally. Mr. Broderick divides distribution into the Old World and New, infusing his PowerPoint presentation with insurgent rhetoric. He has written a “declaration of independence” for filmmakers that — as he did that afternoon — he reads while wearing a tricorn hat.

In the Old World of distribution, filmmakers hand over all the rights to their work, ceding control to companies that might soon lose interest in their new purchase for various reasons, including a weak opening weekend. (“After the first show,” Mr. Broderick said, repeating an Old World maxim, “we know.”) In the New World, filmmakers maintain full control over their work from beginning to end: they hold on to their rights and, as important, find people who are interested in their projects and can become patrons, even mentors. The Old World has ticket buyers. The New World has ticket buyers who are also Facebook friends. The Old World has commercials, newspapers ads and the mass audience. The New World has social media, YouTube, iTunes and niche audiences. “Newspaper ads,” Mr. Broderick said, “are mostly a waste of money.”

The 200 filmmakers inside the conference room laughed, soaking up Mr. Broderick’s pitch as if their careers depended upon it, which perhaps they do. Independent filmmaking has never been for the faint of heart. But the consensus is that the past few years have been especially brutal. Sales have slowed, deal prices have dropped, and most of the major studios have retreated from the independent scene, closing or scaling back divisions like Warner Independent Pictures and Paramount Vantage, which released the kinds of movies that win critical hearts and awards. And good films are going unsold. Given the changes and downsizing, these might seem like worrisome times for movie lovers as well. After all, if these companies disappear, how do we find the next great American independent filmmaker, the new Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson 2.0?

For consultants like Mr. Broderick and filmmakers like Jon Reiss (the documentary “Bomb It”) the answer lies in self-distribution, in filmmakers doing it themselves or, more accurately, doing it themselves with a little or a lot of help from other people, including consultants like Mr. Broderick and Richard Abramowitz. Last year Mr. Abramowitz, a film-industry veteran who runs an outfit in Armonk, N.Y., called Abramorama with one full-time employee (him), helped shepherd Sacha Gervasi’s documentary “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” about a 1970s metal band and its rebirth, into a success, with almost $700,000 at the North American box office. Consultants guide filmmakers on every angle of distribution. They can simply offer advice, but can also develop a marketing strategy, book theaters and collect the money.

If the D.I.Y. drumbeat has grown louder in recent years, it’s not only because the major studios have backed away from the independent sector. That’s a factor, but there are other issues involved, among them that the economic barriers to filmmaking have never been lower. Martin Scorsese once said that John Cassavetes’s first feature, “Shadows,” shot in the late 1950s with a 16-millimeter camera, proved to filmmakers that there were “no more excuses,” adding, “If he could do it, so could we!” Still, even in the glory years of the new American cinema movement, from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, when the major studios appeared more open to original voices, Cassavetes had to self-distribute his 1974 masterpiece “A Woman Under the Influence,” which he did successfully, pulling in $6 million domestically.

Inexpensive digital cameras and editing software have lowered the barrier for filmmakers even further. Yet even as the means of production have entered into more hands, companies — large and small — continue to dominate distribution. Hollywood’s historical hold on resources and the terms of the conversation have made it difficult for an authentic alternative system to take root in America. The festival circuit has emerged as a de facto distribution stream for many filmmakers, yet the ad hoc world of festivals is not a substitute for real distribution. And then there’s the simple fact that there are independent filmmakers who do not fit inside the Hollywood (and Hollywood-style) distribution model and do not want to. For some stubborn independents D.I.Y. distribution has at times been either the best or only option.

In 1992, the year before Disney bought Miramax Films, thereby initiating the indie gold rush, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky became a model for true independence when they distributed their own documentary “Brother’s Keeper” (1992) to substantial critical and commercial success. In the years since, those entering self-distribution have included emerging talent like Andrew Bujalski (who initially sold DVDs of his 2005 film “Mutual Appreciation” online) and established filmmakers like David Lynch (who released his 2006 movie “Inland Empire” in theaters himself). As self-distributed movies have found levels of critical or commercial success or even both, others have followed, including “The Talent Given Us,” “Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037,” “Ballast,” “Helvetica” and “Good Dick.”

Some self-distributed titles find their audiences with help from consultants, while others make their way into the marketplace with the help of consultants and companies that take a fee, rather than a percentage of the profits and all the distribution rights. Innovative strategies abound. Mr. Broderick is an advocate of what he calls hybrid distribution, which, as he has put it, “combines direct sales by filmmakers with distribution by third parties.” Thus filmmakers hold on to their sales rights and sell the DVD retail rights to one buyer and the video-on-demand rights to another and so on — rather than handing them all over to one distributor, as has been traditional. This allows filmmakers to reach audiences directly while controlling their own work and destinies, at least in theory.

The new D.I.Y. world is open-source in vibe and often execution. Participants refer to one another in conversation and on their Web sites and blogs, pushing other people’s ideas and projects. (On his Web site, peterbroderick.com, Mr. Broderick even posts discount codes for other people’s books.) But these new-era distribution participants are not engaging in blog-rolling. By sharing information and building on one another’s ideas, they are in effect creating a virtual infrastructure. This infrastructure doesn’t compete with Hollywood; this isn’t about vying with products released by multinational corporations. It is instead about the creation and sustenance of a viable, artist-based alternative — one that, at this stage, looks markedly different from what has often been passed off as independent cinema over the past 20 years.

Although D.I.Y. has become shorthand for this new movement, a more complex idea of the filmmaker-audience dynamic is emerging (Mr. Reiss calls it “a sea change”), partly as a response to the shifts in the industry, though also in reaction to the changes in the audience or more specifically audiences. Although some viewers still enjoy the ritual of going out to see movies, others don’t want to experience their entertainment in a theater, preferring to immerse themselves in a media-saturated world across a variety of platforms. “My son,” Mr. Reiss said, speaking by phone from Los Angeles, “consumes media on his computer and his iPod, and he will occasionally go out to a movie theater.” He tries to encourage his son, who’s 13, to go to the movies, but finds it tough. “He would rather interact with media on his computer than anywhere else.”

One of the buzzy ideas in D.I.Y. is transmedia, a word borrowed from academia, in which stories — think of the “Star Wars” and “Matrix” franchises — unfold across different platforms. “Star Wars” helped expand the very idea of a movie, because it involved a constellation of movie-related products, from videogames to action figures, all of which become part of the understanding and experience of the original, originating work. This isn’t just about slapping a movie logo on a lunchbox or a screensaver: it’s about creating an entertainment gestalt. As the theorist Henry Jenkins writes, “Reading across the media sustains a depth of experience that motivates more consumption.” In other words, you can sell one ticket to a moviegoer or enlist fans into media feedback loops that they in turn help create and sustain.

It might seem counterintuitive that D.I.Y. independents are borrowing a page from the George Lucas playbook. But only if you forget that Mr. Lucas is the most successful independent filmmaker in history. 20th Century Fox distributed the first “Star Wars,” yet Mr. Lucas kept the sequel and merchandising rights. “If I make money,” he said when the movie was released, “it will be from the toys.” The new generation of D.I.Y. filmmakers might not be pushing toys on their Web sites (though I’d like to see an Andrew Bujalski action figure), but they do peddle DVDs, posters, CDs, books and — much as Spike Lee did before them — are getting hip to selling themselves alongside their art.

The downside to this new D.I.Y. world is that filmmakers, who already tend to expend tremendous time and effort raising money, might end up spending more hours hawking their wares than creating new work. “I struggle with this all the time,” Mr. Reiss said. But artists who want to reach an audience are rarely if ever really free of the marketplace, and filmmakers working in the commercial arena tend to be even less so. For Mr. Reiss and other do-it-yourselfers, the most important thing is to reach their audiences, any which way, niche by niche, pixel by pixel, in theaters or online. “This is the other voice of film,” Mr. Reiss said with urgency, “and if this dies, all we’re left with is the monopoly.”

Film Development Process

2010-02-23T09:13:00.001-08:00

The ABCs of Film Development - reprinted from YourIndustryInsider.com

The development process is the term for the steps a project goes through at a film studio or production company from the idea phase through the shooting script. There are a million intricacies to this process so this explanation will be very basic.

1) If a project is bought at the idea phase (without a script), a writer has pitched it to potential buyers and there might have been a "bidding war," depending upon what the project is (based on a bestselling book or previous hit movie) and what talent (director, actors, etc.) is attached. [Note: A pitch is never bought by a studio or production company by an unproduced writer without serious A-list attachments and heat. Even then, it's a longshot and they will likely bring in a more established writer or writers after the newbie writer delivers a first draft.]

2) If a project is bought as a script, the path it takes to the studio or production company varies, but usually it has gotten attention and good buzz on the tracking boards (online discussion groups where development assistants and junior execs communicate about material circulating in town) and has been considered by multiple buyers. [Note: A script sale by an unknown writer without any talent attached to the project is very challenging. That is one of the reasons that agents are so hesitant to take on what are commonly referred to in the business as "baby writers," no matter their actual age.]

3) Even when a spec by a new writer doesn't sell, if it is really good, it can serve as a calling card around town and possibly get the writer rewrite assignments on projects a studio or production company is developing internally, either from scratch or from a script where the writer is no longer working on it. [Note: Most scripts do not get through the mainstream development process with the original writers on them from beginning to end. Studios and production companies like to bring in established writers with known 'specialties,' such as being good at dialogue or character development, when a script needs work in a particular area or areas.]

4) A pitch or script usually comes into the studio with a producer/production company attached.* When a writer finishes a draft of a script, it goes to the producer/production company for feedback first, at which point a rewrite might be done, and then to the studio's lower-level development executives (or higher level, depending upon how far along in the process the script is and how high-profile the project is) will read it and give feedback. [Note: To a new screenwriter, one of the challenges of going through the development process is knowing who to listen to when doing a rewrite, as you can often get conflicting notes from the various people giving input.]

[*NOTE: If a producer/production company has its own financing and either has distribution in place for all of its films OR if the producer/production company is willing to make the movie and pursue distribution once it has the final product completed, then the studio is taken out of the equation and the producer/production company is the buyer and the only one(s) providing feedback on drafts.]

Creating Your Acting Reel

2010-02-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

To get copies of any episodic TV show or TV movie, contact Julie Stevens (double19productions@gmail.com) a few days in advance of airing and she will record it for you. She can also edit the episode and add it to your acting reel. Don't have a reel yet? Julie can help you film some scenes or monologues and edit together a short reel.

If you would need a copy of a soap opera or game show, please contact Dave Manship at Edit Plus - (818) 380-0126.

http://www.editplus.tv/

Or you can go to Actors Access and click on the button called "Air Check" and place your order that way.

Pilots ordereds for 2010-2011

2010-02-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

The CW
2010-11 pilot orders

(w) = writer  (d) = director  (ep) = executive producer

DRAMAS
Betwixt >CBS TV Studio/Warner Bros. Elizabeth Chandler (w, ep), Paul Stupin (ep) SYNOPSIS: Revolves around "changelings" in an urban setting who are responsible for saving humans from evil; based on novel of the same name.

Hellcats (presentation) > Warner Bros. TV/CBS Studios/Tom Welling Co. > Kevin Murphy (w, ep), Tom Welling (ep) > Ensemble show set in the world of competitive college cheerleading; "Election" meets "Bring It On."

Untitled Amy Holden Jones (presentation) > Warner Bros. TV/CBS Studios > Amy Holden Jones (w, ep), Hayden Panettiere (co-ep) > Aspirational, sexy freshmen class at Harvard Medical School embark upon the biggest challenge of their lives, seen through the eyes of a young woman who is both excited and intimidated by her surroundings.

Nikita > Warner Bros. TV/Wanderland > Craig Silverstein (w, ep) McG (ep), Peter Johnson (ep) > Update of "La Femme Nikita" where Nikita has gone rogue, and a new Nikita is being trained to replace her.

The Wyoming Project > Warner Bros. TV/CBS Studios > Amy Sherman-Palladino (w, ep), Dan Palladino (w, ep) > Family soap set on horse farm in a small town in Midwest or Rockies.

ABC pilot orders

DRAMAS
187 Detroit ABC Studios TEAM: Jason Richman (w, ep), Todd Hoberman (ep), David Lieberman (ep), Jeff Nachmanoff (d) SYNOPSIS: A real but humorous look at Detroit's top homicide division as seen through the cameras of a fictitious documentary crew. CAST: Jon Michael Hill (Det. Damon Washington), Aisha Hinds (Lt. Maureen Mason)

Body of Evidence  > ABC Studios > Chris Murphey (w, ep), Chris Murphey (ep), Matt Gross (ep) > A procedural that centers on a brilliant and tenacious medical examiner whose background as a neuro surgeon gives her a unique and refreshing crime-solving perspective at the ME's office -- one that often puts her at odds with just about everyone who crosses her path.

Cutthroat > 20th Century Fox Television  Michele Fazekas (w, ep), Tara Butters (w, ep) > A one-hour dramedy about an ambitious single mother who finds that running her own international drug cartel is perfect training for navigating the cutthroat world of Beverly Hills high society.

Edgar Floats > Warner Bros. Television  > Rand Ravich (w, ep), Far Shariat (ep) > About a police psychologist who becomes a bounty hunter.

Generation Y > ABC Studios  > Noah Hawley (w, ep), Warren Littlefield (ep), Henrik Bastin (ep), Peter Magnasson (ep), Martin Piersson (ep) > A documentary-style scripted dramedy that follows a disparate group of former high school classmates, tracking their paths during the past 10 years and the events that have shaped their lives. > Michael Stahl David (Steven), Keir O'Donnell (Kenneth)

Matadors > Sony Pictures Television  > Jack Orman (w, ep) > Two long-feuding families battle against each other as one populates the Chicago District Attorney's office and the other manages the most influential private law firm in the city.

No Ordinary Family > ABC Studios  > Jon Feldman (w, ep), Greg Berlanti (w, ep), Morgan Wandell (ep), Dave Semel (d, ep) > Strange things begin to happen when your typical American family suddenly finds themselves with new "abilities." Navigating how to deal with being "super" is only part of the story -- after all, they are still a family. > Michael Chiklis (Jim)

Off the Map > ABC Studios  > Jenna Bans (w, ep), Shonda Rhimes (ep), Betsy Beers (ep) > Three doctors, each anxious for a fresh start, leave the comfort of the states to work at an isolated tropical clinic, where they face exotic and unusual medial challenges as well as their own personal ones. > Martin Henderson (Ben), Enrique Murciano (Manny)

The Whole Truth  > Warner Bros. Television  > Tom Donaghy (w, co-ep), Jerry Bruckheimer (ep), Jonathan Littman (ep), Tom Donaghy, KristieAnn Reed (co-ep), Alex Graves (d) > A legal show that has a unique alternative narrative structure that shows both the defense and prosecution sides equally and keeps the audience guessing and shifting allegiances on guilt or innocence until the final scene. > Eamonn Walker (Senior assistant district attorney Terence "Edge" Edgecomb), Sean Wing (Chad)

True Blue  > ABC Studios > Jon Feldman (w, ep) and Chris Brancato (w, ep), Bert Salke (w, ep) > A group of San Francisco homicide detectives reunite to solve the murder of one of their own, in the process reviving old passions, rivalries and friendships.

Untitled Richard Hatem project > ABC Studios > Richard Hatem (w), Bert Salke (ep), Chris Brancato (ep), Gary Fleder (d, ep) > A female detective teams with a disgraced ex-cop to solve crimes and untangle the conspiracy that sent him underground.
 
COMEDIES
Awkward Situations for Men > Warner Bros. Television > Jeff Filgo (w, ep), Jackie Filgo (w, ep), David Heyman (ep) > A relatively famous British on-air personality moves to America with his wife, only to discover that his everyday behavior clashes with American values and constantly gets him into trouble. Inspired by the anecdotes in Danny Wallace's book "Awkward Situations for Men." Cast: Danny Wallace (Danny), Tony Hale (Will), Matt Letscher (Bob), Laura Prepon (Meg)

Freshmen (multicamera) > 20th Century Fox Television > Greg Malins (w, ep), Arianna Huffington (ep) > An ensemble show about three first-year members of Congress who live together in a row house in Washington. > Sarah Chalke (Nancy)

Funny in Farsi (single-camera) > ABC Studios > Nastaran Dibai (w, ep), Jeffrey B. Hodes (w, ep), Barry Sonnenfeld (d, ep)  > Based on the novel "Funny in Farsi" by Firoozeh Dumas, her memoir about growing up in the 1970s in Newport Beach as an Iranian immigrant. > Maz Jobrani (Kaz), Hrach Titizian (Uncle Mo), Marjan Neshat (Nancy), Kendra Jain (Julie), David Gore (Chip), Sarah Shahi (adult Julie/voiceover)

Happy Endings  > Sony Pictures Television > David Caspe (w), Jamie Tarses (ep), Joe Russo (d), Anthony Russo (d)  > After a couple breaks up at the altar, they and their group of friends must figure out how to maintain their friendships.

How to Be a Better American (single camera) > ABC Studios > Steven Cragg (w, ep), Brian Bradley (w, ep) > A father embarks on a journey to be a better person and drags his family along kicking and screaming.

It Takes a Village (single camera) > ABC Studios > Casey Johnson (w, ep), David Windsor (w, ep), Mark Gordon (ep), Deb Spera (ep)  > Two exes and their new significant others join forces to raise their 15-year-old boy.

Mr. Sunshine (single camera) > Sony Pictures Television > Matthew Perry (w, ep), Alex Barnow (w, ep), Mark Firek (w, ep), Jamie Tarses (ep), Thomas Schlamme (d, ep) > The self-involved manager of a second-rate sports arena who begins to re-evaluate his life on his 40th birthday.  > Matthew Perry (Ben), Allison Janney (Crystal), Andrea Anders (Alice), Nate Torrence (Roman)

Untitled Couples Project (fka Untitled Shana Goldberg-Meehan Project) (multicamera) > Warner Bros. > Shana Goldberg-Meehan (w, ep) > Revolves around two sisters at different stages in their romantic relationships: One is in a happy, long-term relationship but isn't married; the other gets pregnant and winds up quickly marrying her new beau. > Joanna Garcia (Mia), Jennifer Finnigan (Maddie)

Untitled Dana Gould Project (multicamera) > Warner Bros. > Dana Gould (w, ep), Tom Lassally (ep), Dave Becky (ep) > A guidance counselor at a local high school and father to two young children is caught between his father's old-school parenting beliefs and his wife's very progressive ideals. > Dana Gould

Wright vs. Wrong (single camera) > Sony Pictures Television > Stephanie Weir (w, ep), Mitch Hurwitz (ep), Eric Tannenbaum (ep), Kim Tannenbaum (ep) > With the help of her eclectic staff, a driven conservative pundit tries to maintain her public persona despite being faced with her own vulnerabilities.

Who Gets the Parents (multicamera) > ABC Studios > Joe Port (w, ep), Joe Wiseman (w, ep) > Three adult siblings deal with the unexpected fallout of their parents' later-in-life divorce.

Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid (multicamera) > ABC Studios > Howard Morris (w), Jenny Lee (w), Elliot Webb (ep)  > A new couple, having both survived failed marriages, is determined to get it right this time. Based on the book "Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid," by Howard Morris and Jenny Lee.

CBS pilot orders 2010-11

DRAMAS
ATF  Sony Pictures TV TEAM: Michael Dinner (w, d, ep), Sarah Timberman (ep), Carl Beverly (ep) SYNOPSIS: An ATF agent hunts down the most dangerous criminals while trying to balance life as a dad to his teenage daughter who has re-entered his life.

Chaos > 20th Century Fox TV > Tom Spezialy (w, ep), Brett ratner (d, ep) > A group of rogue CIA operatives combat bureaucratic gridlock, rampant incompetence and political infighting. CAST: Freddy Rodriguez (Rick)

Criminal Minds spinoff (planted spinoff) > ABC Studios/CBS Studios > Chris Mundy (w, ep), Mark Gordon (w, ep), Ed Bernero (ep), Deborah Spera (ep), Richard Shepard (d) > Revolves around a new group of profilers, led by Cooper (Forest Whitaker), who work outside the FBI bureaucracy. > Forest Whitaker (Cooper), Matt Ryan (Mick), Beau Garrett (Gina), Michael Kelly (Prophet)

Defenders > CBS Television Studios > Niels Mueller (w, ep), Kevin Kennedy (w, ep), Carol Mendelsohn (ep), Joe Gantz (ep), Harry Gantz (ep), Davis Guggenheim (d, ep) > Two charismatic and fiery Las Vegas defense attorneys go to the mat for their clients.

Hawaii Five-0 > CBS Television Studios > Roberto Orci (w, ep), Alex Kurtzman (w, ep), Peter Lenkov (w, ep) > Updated take on the original series centered on an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police headed by Steve McGarrett and answerable only to the governor. > Alex O'Loughlin (Steve Garrett), Daniel Dae Kim (Chin Ho Kelly)

I Witness (rollover from last year) > CBS Television Studios > Trey Calloway (w, ep), Pam Veasey (w, ep) > A detective/professor uses her psycho-physiological skills to solve crimes.

Untitled Burgess/Green project > CBS Television Studios > Mitchell Burgess (w, ep), Robin Green (w, ep), Leonard Goldberg (ep) > Multigenerational show revolving around a family of cops in New York.

The Quinn-Tuplets (presentation) > CBS Television Studios > Mike Kelley (w, ep), Giyora Yahalom 9ep), Oren Jakobi (ep), Yona Wiesenthal (ep), Eilon Ratzkovsky (ep), Arik Kneller (co-ep), Chris Kelley (w, p) > Follows the personal and professional lives of the Quinn quintuplets -- five adults whose lives were documented and broadcast since childbirth; based on an Israeli format

The Odds > Warner Bros. TV/Silver Pictures > Jeff Wadlow (w, ep), Joel Silver (ep), Ian Biederman (ep), Beau Bauman (p) > Buddy cop show set in Las Vegas where the cops are just as outrageous as the crimes they solve.

Untitled Medical drama  > Warner Bros. TV/John Wells Prods. > John Wells (ep), Hannah Shakespeare (w, co-ep) > A mobile medical team travels the U.S. helping those in need get through life-or-death medical crises.

Untitled Redlich/Bellucci > Sony Pictures Television/CBS Television Studios > Ed Redlich (w, ep), John Bellucci (w, ep), Sarah Timberman (ep), Carl Beverly (ep) > A female NYPD detective possesses the special ability to remember everything -- although a gift in her job, it's also a curse in her personal life.
 
COMEDIES
Untitled Ant Hines project (presentation) > Sony Pictures Television > Ant Hines (w, ep), Larry Charles (d, ep), Eric Tannenbaum (ep), Kim Tannenbaum (ep), Mitch Hurwitz (ep) > British low-life moves to LA to reconnect with his daughter who is a teen celebrity.  > Paul Kaye

Hitched (multicamera) > Warner Bros. TV/College Hill Pictures > Josh Schwartz (w, ep), Matt Miller (w, ep) > Ensemble centered around a newlywed couple, their extended family and friends.

Livin' on a Prayer (multicamera) > 20th Century Fox Television > Carter Bays (w, ep), Craig Thomas (w, ep), Kourtney Kang (w, ep), Joe Kelly (w, ep), Pamela Fryman (d) > Ensemble centered around an unmarried couple and their friends in Pittsburgh.

Mike and Molly (multicamera) > Warner Bros. TV/Chuck Lorre Prods. > Chuck Lorre (ep), Mark Roberts (w, ep), James Burrows (d) > Ensemble centered around a couple who both struggle with overeating. > Billy Gardell (Mike), Katy Mixon (Victoria), Reno Wilson (Carl)

Open Books (multicamera) > Warner Bros. TV > Gail Lerner (w, ep), James Burrows (d) > About a female book editor and her circle of friends and their romantic entanglements. > Laura Benanti (June)

Untitled Tad Quill (multicamera) > CBS Television Studios  > Tad Quill (w, ep) > About the widowed father of a 12-year-old son who is re-entering the dating world.

Team Spitz (multicamera) > Sony Pictures Television/CBS Television Studios > Bill Martin (w, ep), Mike Schiff (w, ep), Eric Tannenbaum (ep), Kim Tannenbaum (ep), Mitch Hurwitz (ep), Peter Principato (ep), Paul Young (ep) > Ensemble centered around a bombastic high school football coach. > Rob Riggle

True Love (multicamera) > Sony Pictures Television/CBS Television Studios > Matt Tarses (w, ep), Jamie Tarses (ep), Pamela Fryman (d) > Ensemble centered around four friends in NYC, two of them falling in love and the other two not so much -- at least for now. > Minka Kelly (Kate), Ashley Morris (Connie)

NBC pilot orders 2010-11

DRAMAS  
The Event > UMS TEAM: Nick Wauters (w), Steve Stark (ep) SYNOPSIS: A thriller with a unique storytelling device and multiple points of view about a regular guy fighting his way through the mysterious circumstances of a larger conspiracy.

Chase > Warner Bros. TV/Jerry Bruckheimer TV > Jennifer Johnson (w, ep), Jerry Bruckheimer (ep), Jonathan Littman (ep) > An action-packed game of cat and mouse between a team of U.S. Marshalls and the most wanted criminals they hunt.   

Undercovers > Warner Bros. TV/ Bad Robot > J.J. Abrams (w, d, ep), Josh Reims (w, ep), Bryan Burk (ep) > After a few years in retirement, a domesticated husband and wife are reactivated as agents for the CIA. Working together for the first time, they discover new aspects of their past while rediscovering their passion for each other. CAST: Boris Kodjoe (Steven), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Samantha), Carter MacIntyre, Gerald McRaney, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Ben Schwartz.  

Love Bites  >UMS Working Title Films > Cindy Chupack (w, ep), Timothy Bevan (ep), Eric Fellner (ep), Shelley McCrory (ep) > An hourlong romantic comedy.

  Rockford Files > UMS/Carousel > David Shore (w/ep), Steve Carell (ep) > An updated version of the successful 1970s NBC series about Jim Rockford, a roguish private eye who takes on the dangerous, quirky and unpredictable cases no one else will.  

Prime Suspect > UMS > Hank Steinberg (w, ep), Erwin Stoff (ep) > Based on the award-winning BBC series, "Prime Suspect" follows a fearless female detective as she investigates complex mysteries in a politically-loaded big city.  

Kindreds  > Warner Bros. TV/David E. Kelley Prods. > David E. Kelley (w, ep) > Follows a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer and his group of misfit associates as their lives bring them together to form an unconventional kind of law practice.  

Untitled John Eisendrath  > UMS/ Conaco > John Eisendrath (ep, w), David Kissinger (ep) > Will tackle topical issues through the eyes of an ex-justice trying to change the law.  

The Cape > UMS/BermanBraun > Tom Wheeler (w, ep) Gail Berman (ep), Lloyd Braun (ep) > A former cop is set up as a criminal and becomes a masked hero to clear his name and reunite with his son.

COMEDIES  
Beach Lane (multicamera) > UMS/Broadway Video  > Paul Simms (w, ep), Lorne Michaels, Marci Klein > A celebrity author is hired by an irresponsible millionaire heir to run his struggling small-town newspaper in the Hamptons. > Matthew Broderick  

Untitled Adam Carolla (single-camera) > UMS/BermanBraun > Jon Pollack (w, ep), Kevin Hench (w, ep), Adam Carolla (w, ep), Jimmy Kimmel (ep), Gail Berman (ep), Lloyd Braun (ep) > A contractor embarks on rebuilding his life after a divorce, helped by his friend/roommate and his teenage daughter.  > Adam Carolla  

Nathan vs. Nurture (multicamera) > Sony Pictures TV  > Moses Port (w, ep), David Guarascio (w, ep)  > About Griffin Birk, an overachieving heart surgeon who reunites with his birth father and underachieving brothers 35 years after his adoption.  

Outsourced (single-camera) > UMS > Robert Borden (w, ep), Ken Kwapis (d, ep), Tom Gorai (ep), David Skinner (ep), Alex Beattie (co-ep) > An office comedy about a recently demoted manager of a novelties company who is shipped off to India to manage a ragtag group of customer service reps.   

Perfect Couples (single-camera) > UMS > Scott Silveri (w, ep), Jon Pollack (w, ep), Andy Ackerman (d, ep) > A romantic comedy revolving around three couples, all with varying definitions of relationship perfection.   

The Pink House (multicamera) > UMS/Stuber > Rick Wiener (w, ep), Kenny Schwartz (w, ep), Scott Stuber (ep), Quan Phung (co-ep) > About the friendship between two guys who take a risk and move out to LA to begin the next chapter of their post-college lives.   

The Strip (multicamera) > UMS/Principato-Young > Tom Lennon (w, ep), Ben Garant (w, ep), Peter Principato (ep), Paul Young (ep) > About a former child star turned Hooters-style bar owner on the outskirts of Las Vegas. > Tom Lennon, Ben Garant, Cedric Yarbrough (Mr. Maurice), Dave Holmes (Dave), Natasha Leggero (Natasha)  

This Little Piggy (multicamera) > ABC Studios  > Stephen Cragg (w, ep), Brian Bradley (w, ep)  > A father of two's dream for a peaceful household is shattered when his under-employed sister and materialistic brother move in.  > Erinn Hayes (Sarah)

Fox pilot orders 2010-11
  
DRAMAS
Breakout Kings > 20th Century Fox TV TEAM: Matt Olmstead (w, ep), Nick Santora (w, ep), Gavin Hood (d, ep), Peter Chernin (ep), Katherine Pope (ep) SYNOPSIS: An action-packed investigative show pairing a team of U.S. marshals with a group of convicts on work furlough as they race against the clock to apprehend recently escaped prisoners before they disappear forever. CAST: Laz Alonso (Charlie)

Code 58 (summer series) > Fox Television Studios > Matt Nix (w, ep), Tim Mattheson (d), Mikkel Bondensen (ep)  > An action-packed buddy-cop show about two mismatched outcasts in the police department who are clawing their way to the middle.  > Colin Hanks (Jack), Bradley Whitford (Dan), Diana Maria Riva (Lt. Anderson), Jenny Wade (Liz)

Midland > 20th Century Fox TV > Kyle Killen (w, ep), Marc Webb (d), Chris Keyser (ep), Amy Lippman (ep), Chris Weitz (ep), Paul Weitz (ep) > A subversive soap that follows a polygamist juggling two very different lives and two wives, set against the backdrop of the greed and corruption of Texas oil and power industries.  > Jimmy Wolk (Bob/Robert)

Pleading Guilty (cast-contingent) > 20th Century Fox TV > Jason Tracey (w, co-ep), Jon Avnet (d, ep), Hart Hanson (ep), Peter Chernin (ep), Katherine Pope (ep) > A legal thriller based on the book "Pleading Guilty" by Scott Turow about embezzlement, bookmaking, offshore banking and the politics of a high-powered law firm.

Ride-along > 20th Century Fox TV > Shawn Ryan (w, ep), Charles McDougall (d), Marney Hochman (ep) > A rogue cowboy cop and Chicago's first female police chief vow to clean up the streets by any means necessary, even when it means taking on the city's dirty and historied political machine.

Worthy (penalty plus two additional scripts) > 20th Century Fox TV > Davey Holmes (w, ep), Jake Kasdan (d), Gavin Polone (ep) > A subversively comedic look at an aspiring politician who gets sucked into a world of crime and larger-than-life characters after he accidentally kills a low-level thug in a powerful local gang.
 
COMEDIES
Bob's Burgers (animated) (series order) > 20th Century Fox TV > Jim Dauterive (w, ep), Loren Bouchard (w, ep) > Follows a family who runs a burger joint where anything can happen. > H. Jon Benjamin (Bon), John Roberts (Linda), Kristen Schaal (Louise), Dan Mintz (Tina), Eugene Mirman (Gene)

In Security (single-camera) > Sony Pictures Television > Adam F. Goldberg (w, ep), Seth Gordon (d, ep) > An office comedy about a cute but slighty awkward guy who joins a digital security firm; amongst the oddball group of geniuses, he finally finds a place he can fit in. > Bret Harrison (Cameron)

IRS aka Tax Men (single-camera) > 20th Century Fox TV/Imagine TV  > Brent Forrester (w, ep), Ron Howard (ep), Brian Grazer (ep), David Nevins (ep) > Workplace show following IRS employees who fight to overcome hatred while providing an important and vital government service. > David Krumholtz (Spencer)

Keep Hope Alive (single-camera) > 20th Century Fox TV > Greg Garcia (w, ep), Mike Fresco (d) > A man raises his child as a single-parent while living with the parents who made him the screwed-up adult he is today. > Lucas Neff (Jimmy), Martha Plimpton (Virginia), Garret Dillahunt (Burt), Cloris Leachman (Maw Maw), Olesya Rulin (Sabrina)

Most Likely to Succeed (multicamera) > 20th Century Fox TV > David Walpert (w, ep), Adam Bernstein (d), David Nevins (ep), Brian Grazer (ep) > About a young ensemble of friends living in Seattle who, for a variety of reasons, have not lived up to the promise they showed in high school. > Kathryn Hahn (April)

Nevermind Nirvana (multicamera) > 20th Century Fox TV  > Ajay Sahgal (w, ep), Scott Ellis (d) > Sonny's traditional Indian parents move into his garage in an attempt to exert control over him.  > Utkarsh Amdubkar (Raju), Harish Patel (Arjun)

Untitled Carvey/Feresten Sketch Show (presentation > Dana Carvey (ep), Spike Feresten (w, ep) > Sketch comedy > Dana Carvey

Strange Brew (multicamera) > Warner Bros. TV > David Kohan (w, ep), Max Mutchnik (w, ep), James Burrows (d) > A family that owns a small but successful regional brewery struggles with working and living together.

The Station (single-camera) > 20th Century Fox TV/Red Hour Films > Kevin Napier (w, ep), David Wain (d), Ben Stiller (ep), Stuart Cornfeld (ep), Jeremy Kramer (ep) > A covert CIA operative and his workmates are embedded in a South American country and must navigate their mission to install a new dictator in this banana republic with its own unique set of challenges. > John Goodman (Ted), Justin Bartha (Eric), Rob Huebel (Hank), Carla Gallo (Andrea), Jordan Peele (Joe), Jose Zuniga (Sherman)

Traffic Light (single-camera) > 20th Century Fox TV > Bob Fisher (w, ep), Chris Koch (d), Adir Miller (ep), Avi Nir (ep), Ran Telem (ep), Elad Kuperman (ep) > Revolves around three male friends in different stages of relationships; based on the Israeli series.

Practice Makes Perfect

2010-02-17T17:05:00.001-08:00

Check out this story about training vs. natural talent.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/video?id=8718494

AT&T and Verizon discounts

2010-02-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

If you are with AT&T Wireless and have the Unlimited plan, go to an AT&T store and tell them you want the "new" Unlimited price plan. It is $69/month instead of $99/month. The discount only affects your monthly service plan, not your data or texting plans. Even so, that is 1/3 off the original price. However, you have to ask. It's not an automatic switch.

It gets even better! If you are a member of SAG (or any AFLCIO union)
tell them you want the "union discount" which is an additional 18%
off.

Remember, you can only do it in an AT&T store, not over the phone. They have to make a copy of your union card and your drivers license in person, which then has to be "sent to headquarters." They consider SAG to be part of the AFLCIO.

AFTRA members can get an AT&T discount here: http://www.unionplus.org/cell-phone-wireless/att-wireless

For Verizon customers, they did the exact same thing with their Unlimited plan. It was also reduced from $99 to $69. If you're with Verizon go to your
nearest Verizon store and change your plan!

The Youth Market

2010-02-03T17:47:00.001-08:00

The Youth Market
By Frederick Levy

October 29, 2009

The following is an excerpt from “Acting in Young Hollywood” by manager Frederick Levy, Back Stage Books, 2009.

“Hannah Montana.” “High School Musical.” “iCarly.” The youth market is taking Hollywood by storm. As such, there’s never been a better time for aspiring kid and teen actors to break into show business. And for those young actors who already have a foot in the door, now is the time to capitalize on the success of this youth revolution and take your career to the next level.

But the youth market includes more than kids and teens. In today’s entertainment industry, 30 is the new 20, and as long as you look and play younger than you are, you could be a part of young Hollywood also. And, like kids and teens, you could also be highly in demand.

This Is Our Youth

As our clients at Management 101 grow older, some move on to adult roles while others hold onto their youthful looks and continue to play characters that are much younger than the actors truly are. For the purposes of this book, I have defined the youth market as anyone under 18, or anyone over 18 who plays under 18.

Of course, if you are over 18, you must be realistic about the age range you play. Some actors, like Jason Earles, the 32-year-old man who plays Jackson Stewart, the teenage brother of Miley Stewart on Disney Channel’s hit series “Hannah Montana,” looks like a real teen. But not every 32-year-old can pull that off.

Sometimes producers choose to cast everyone older, so it doesn’t matter if an actor truly looks like a teen as long as every other actor on the show appears to be the same age. Take the original “Beverly Hills, 90210,” for instance. Luke Perry was 25 when he took on the role of teenage bad boy Dylan McKay. But because most of the other actors playing teens on that show were also older, producers were able to get away with it.

You’re probably thinking, why would producers want to cast older actors to play younger? Wouldn’t they want to keep things more realistic? The answer is simple: An adult can work more hours than a child. And the older the child, the more hours he can work….

[S]uffice it to say, the older you are, and the younger you can play, the more opportunities will come your way. This doesn’t always bode well for young people who look older than they really are. In fact, teenage girls have a particularly difficult time finding work once they go through puberty. While they may look all grown up, they can’t work as many hours as an actual adult. So they’re too old to play children and too costly to be hired for the older roles when there’s someone who is 18 or older who can easily play the part.

“At some point, know you will catch up and look your age,” sympathizes Jamie Malone, a manager and owner of MC Talent. “The best advice is don’t try to look older. If you’re tall, don’t wear heels. If you’re busty, invest in a minimizer bra. Don’t wear things that accentuate your curves.”

It’s one thing to look older naturally, but it’s a whole other ballgame when you make yourself look older with makeup and clothes. And, not to pick on the girls, but this pertains mostly to them. Dress your age…or younger. If Dad wouldn’t want you wearing a particular outfit to school, then you probably shouldn’t be wearing it to auditions. Low-cut blouses and hiked-up skirts will only make you look older, and in a business where youth is currency, you’re short-changing your career.

Likewise, clean faces are key. Most kids do not wear makeup, and neither should you. If you think you need to apply makeup to make you look younger, then chances are you’ve moved beyond the youth market.

“Girls need to learn to work with what they’ve got by not adding any component such as makeup that would make them look even more mature,” notes Julie Fulop, a commercial and theatrical agent with AKA. “They need to look at the age of the character they are reading for and incorporate that into their makeup choices.”

“Makeup should only enhance your beauty, not cover it up or distract,” adds Malone. “Less is more. A little mascara is all you need. Blend in skin flaws with a natural product. Stay away from heavy eyeliner.”

If things are slow because of how you look at a certain age, then take this time to work on your craft. “Youth and innocence has to come from within, so if you already look older than you really are, then you need to study and do some coaching on being youthful,” says Michelle Lewitt, a casting director with the Casting Company. “Alison Lohman played a 14-year-old when she was close to 22, I believe. Yes, she looked young, but if she didn’t have the acting chops to actually pull off a 14-year-old’s demeanor, she wouldn’t have been cast no matter how young she looked.”

Variety

They say that variety is the spice of life. That adage has never rung truer than in today’s Hollywood, especially when it comes to the youth market. More than ever, networks and studios strive to promote diversity in the projects they make and in their casting choices.

Diversity comes in many different forms. It goes far beyond race and gender to include culture, body type, and sexual orientation. No matter where you fit in the mix, opportunities abound for you on the silver screen.

Many of the major networks have diversity initiatives. Some, like CBS and ABC, have annual showcases where minority actors are given an opportunity to perform scenes in front of the professional casting community. Other companies are developing projects specifically for, or to include roles for, underrepresented groups.

No one is more in the forefront of the diversity movement than the youth networks. Just look at a project like Disney Channel’s original movie “The Cheetah Girls One World.” The film’s stars are Adrienne Bailon, who has Ecuadorian and Puerto Rican roots; African American actress Kiely Williams; and Sabrina Bryan, who is a biracial mix of Mexican and Caucasian. Aspiring actors who look at the TV screen can feel certain, regardless of your background, there is a place for you.

Ever-Changing Market

The landscape of the youth market is ever changing. The talent pool is constantly growing older, and fresh, new actors are constantly entering the gate. But the players are continually changing as well.

When I was a kid, PBS was the only children’s network around. Child and teen stars dominated the major networks in family shows like “The Facts of Life,” “Growing Pains,” and “Life Goes On.” Nickelodeon and Disney were just getting off the ground.

Today, Nick and Disney are the major games in town with lots of original programming featuring young talent. At the same time, we can count on one hand the number of children who are series regulars on major network shows.

“There are not a lot of [network] shows with big roles for kids anymore,” says veteran agent Judy Savage. ” ‘Two and a Half Men’ is just about the only one. Back in the ’80s, there were 20 to 30 shows with young people in them. The last five years, there have been very few [network] pilots with kids. But it is changing again, and we’re seeing more network pilots with kids this year. Also, kids are starring in films and making a lot more money than before.”

One thing is for sure: For the past decade, kids have dominated cable TV. This shift seems logical, as a larger dial can support not only programs aimed at young people but also entire networks geared toward them. “There’s been a boom in recent years,” says Melissa Berger, a talent agent with CESD. “Big business has recognized how much money is to be made there with kids and tweens, and there are lots more projects out there that are geared toward the young talent.”

But manager Bryan Leder of Bryan Leder Talent sums it up best: “As long as there are families on TV and in the movies, there will continue to be jobs in the youth market.”

Making smart decisions on social networking sites

2010-02-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

Actor Screw-Ups on Social Networking Sites
Being a Twit on Twitter, A Farce on Facebook, A Loon on LinkedIn and a Moron on MySpace.
By Paul Russell

June 28, 2009
“Kevin Kemperer is doin’ Brittany in the hot tub.”

Sadly the only thing fictional about the sentence prior, pulled from a Facebook status, is the user’s name; Kevin Kemperer. His “doin’ Brittany in the hot tub,” whether true or not, was only known to the user who posted the Facebook status and by Brittany.

I have a lot of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace friends. I’m gigged out by digital detente. About one percent of my computerized companions are 3D friends: i.e., people I actually call friends in the real world. An additional quarter of the techno-byte buddies are people I’ve met or worked with on occasion; acquaintances. Leaving the rest of the 74 percent of the thousands who Friend, Link, Space and Tweet me as strangers who I only know of by their statuses that stream by in a flood on my laptop screen.

Most of that 74 percentile deluge flowed to me. I know it’s not because of my sapphire eyes, curly locks or sexual preference (damn). I know full well that when I confirm or accept the invites from strangers to become a virtual friend that it’s my work as a director, casting director and/or author that’s being exploited. I’m being networked. I have no qualm or complaint about that. That’s part of this business. It’s a vital survival component for success that anyone in any business should constantly be doing. As long as they befriend business buddies in a professional manner.

If you’re going to network on social internet sites you would do yourself a professional service by creating two profiles. One for your true friends and family. Another to represent your career. Keep your contacts separate and relative for each profile.

I’m often amused and remain amazed about the number of inappropriate “statuses” streaming on my newsfeeds from the people who are using me as a professional networking connection. Some things are never meant to be witnessed. Like Rush Limbaugh repeatedly jumping naked on a bed.

Below is a sampling from a recent quick glance of Facebook and Twitter statuses better left un-texted. If you recognize any of them you can thank me for not revealing your name which I have replaced with “Anonymous.”

“Anonymous fuck my life.”

“Anonymous ain’t gonna go and act a fool and be the lead story on the nigga news? Neva me sucka, I’ll never be your lover, I’d rather make you suffer. You stupid motherfucker.”

“Anonymous thinks there is nothing better than belting out songs that make the neighbors want to complain!”

“Anonymous is burnt as a lobster and totally depressed as hell that Chandler has left her forever (crying of course)”

“Anonymous is extremely frustrated…”

“Anonymous’ back is surprisingly tight after yesterdays climbing, and longing for a back massage”

“Anonymous’ headache is gone and I cleaned my own bathroom like a big girl.”

“Anonymous is not good at this hope thing, but desperately needs to know so she can move on with her life. So the question is to act or not? Will either choice help for the better or worse? Or has fate already decided? Really… this is torture!”

“Anonymous has never been so humiliated by someone who calls her his best friend”

“Anonymous is generally displeased.”

“Anonymous is Dear Best Buy, thanks for ruining my fucking day by accusing me of being a criminal. Why would I try to shop lift a 5 dollar DVD!?!?!?

TMI folks (too much interconnection). And too much information for me and other people you’re networking with professionally to know. Way too much.

The current constant connection fad of passive aggressive communication via keystrokes is in overdrive. Online social networks can be great tools (of which a later blog on successful exploitation will be forthcoming). But for now; the lesson here is to keep your private thoughts just that. Private. With possible exceptions contained to family relations and reality friends.

If you still doubt about blindly proliferating inappropriate prose to the masses think about this. If you were applying for a school, employment at a Fortune 500 company or keeping in contact with your grandparents via a social internet web site would you advertise to them and the world you were “doing Brittany in the hot tub”? If so, then you’re narcissism challenges that of Paris Hilton’s. Get offline. Get help.

Paul Russell’s career as a casting director, director, acting teacher and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, and Broadway. He is the author of ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor. For more information, please visit www.PaulRussell.net.

Julie Stevens interviewed in "Celebrity Parent Magazine"

2010-02-03T17:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.celebrityparentsmag.com/2009/09/celebrity-parents-exclusive-life-after-tomorrow-filmmaker-julie-stevens.html

Celebrity Parents Exclusive: “Life After Tomorrow” filmmaker Julie Stevens

How did you become involved in Annie?
I got my start in the Third National Tour of Annie. Rosanne [Sorrentino] was Annie and I was Tessie. I had gone to New York for the day with my mom to meet with a modeling agency. They took one look at me, with my dark hair and dark eyes, and told my mother I was too ”ethnic-looking,” which I guess was not considered marketable at that time. We were a bit disappointed, but decided to make the most of the day in New York.

As we were walking through the theater district, we passed by the stage door of the theatre where Annie was playing. The security guard wasn’t there so I walked right through the door and wound up in the wings during an understudy rehearsal. The Stage Manager noticed us standing there and asked if he could help us and I said, “I want to be in Annie!” He asked me to come onstage and sing “Happy Birthday,” which I did and then he told me to come back at 6:00. As it turns out, I crashed a third callback for the show! I didn’t make the cut that time, but three months later, I went on another Annie audition and ended up getting cast as Tessie. After 6 months on tour, I returned home and then a year later, I was offered the role of Pepper on Broadway.

Having played both Tessie and Pepper, was there one role you liked more than the other?
When I was Tessie in the Third National Tour, I was a very popular orphan with the audience! Martin Charnin, the Director, gave me a lot of Molly’s lines, so I felt like I really stood out. I really enjoyed playing Tessie.

When I was offered the role of Pepper in the Broadway cast, I was one of the oldest children, so it felt right to play that role. I had a good time playing Pepper. It was fun to throw Molly around! Actually, those two roles fit me perfectly at the time that I played them. It was a nice transition to go from playing Tessie to Pepper.

Why did you decide to make Life After Tomorrow?
I was inspired by the desire to reconnect with the girls personally. I wanted to find out what had happened to them. That morphed into, “Hey, I have a scanner! I’ll put some photos, playbills and programs together and get them online!” Annieorphans.com was really meant to just be a personal site, consisting of a list of the names of the girls that had appeared in the stage and film versions of Annie. I figured that people might do a web search for their name and end up on my site, which is what ended up happening.

Up until then, I hadn’t talked about Annie in a long time. Suddenly, fans started writing to me via the website and they seemed to consider me an expert on Annie! I quickly realized that there is a huge fan base that loves Annie now as much as they did back in 1977.

What happened after you launched the website?
After reconnecting with some of the girls online, we decided to have a real get-together in person. The first official reunion was held at the ice cream parlor, Serendipity, in NYC, and about a dozen girls showed up. It was so fabulous to see some old friends and reconnect. I have a broadcast journalism background, so I decided to videotape the reunion and casually interview the girls, “just for fun”. The next year, I coordinated another reunion in Philadelphia and then one in Los Angeles.

After hearing the girls’ stories — some of them truly heartbreaking — I shared them with a friend who happens to be a producer. She thought the stories were amazing, and encouraged me to do something with them. We talked about how it had all the elements of a documentary so I put together a proposal and started sending it around to people in the industry that might be able to help me get it made. The journey began there, and it just all fell into place. I ended up meeting my partner on the film, Gil Cates Jr., through a personal friend and he helped us secure the financing to make the film. It rarely happens that way or that easily, but this time it did. I was very lucky that people responded to the story and were already familiar with the iconic show.

What makes Annie so magical for so many people?
There’s something about her optimism that speaks to people. In the play, Annie is going through a rough time, just as our country is now. The song, “Tomorrow,” speaks to it; it’s so powerful. There’s something about that song that makes people smile and feel that there’s hope. Annie is truly a magical show.

What was your own life like after tomorrow?
It was difficult. You don’t fit in with your friends anymore because you don’t have anything in common with them. It’s hard because you have something that you’re good at, and you want to keep doing, but your friends don’t want to admit that they’re curious about it, so they become jealous and mean.

Annie was an incredibly popular show during its original run from 1977-1983. Not every community theater could produce it back then because the rights were not available. The only way you could be in Annie was to go to New York to audition for the professional production. Kids came from all over the country. So to have that kind of experience — from the rave reviews, to people telling you how wonderful you are — it sets the bar very high. It makes you crave and want it all the more. Fame is an alluring thing. You can feel like a failure when you can’t duplicate it. Many of us tried to continue in show business after Annie, but there weren’t a lot of roles available for pre-teen or teenage girls. There weren’t the kid shows there are today, like Shrek, Billy Elliot or Mary Poppins. For many of us, the auditions stopped when we hit puberty.

Did you find it cathartic to make the documentary?
Yes, I got to see how the other girls transitioned out of it. For many of us, it was our first real job. Some of the girls can look back on it fondly and accept it for what it was. It was harder for those, like myself, who wanted to continue to have a career in show business but couldn’t find work. Most went back to school and enjoyed being a “normal” teenager.

What do you want viewers to take away from Life After Tomorrow?
I would hope that any parent watching the film would see it as a cautionary tale and think carefully before putting their child into an adult career at an early age. Once a hobby turns into a career, the child will be thrust into a completely different arena. Competing on a professional level required discipline, training, determination and talent. It is also very costly for a family because a child in show business needs headshots, lessons and trips to NY for auditions and all of that costs money that the child may never make back. Parents have to prepare their children for success and disappointment so that their self-esteem isn’t wrapped up in their career accomplishments. Show business is fickle and kids who are a hot commodity one year will be a has-been the next. I hope my film at least illustrates how challenging it can be for a young person to deal with having a career so young and how important good parenting is in order for children to be able to come away from the experience with their sense of self intact.

What is your life like today?
I still continue to work as an actress and singer in film/TV but I will always love theatre and do it when I have the time (sadly, it doesn’t pay well enough to be able to do it for a living). I live in Los Angeles now and am an acting coach for kids in film and television. I also do consulting and Internet coaching. I’ve been an on-set Studio Teacher for 16 years, responsible for the education and welfare of child performers working in TV shows and film in Los Angeles. I also teach Annie workshops, where I coach kids for the audition process.

I’m also developing more projects as a director and producer and am hoping to begin shooting a new documentary next year! It will continue the theme of child actors, since I know the subject so well, but this new film will explore the issue of their education, or lack thereof.

Are you still auditioning?
I am still pursuing it for myself. I love acting and performing.

Since you are so involved with Annie, do you think you would try out for another role in the show, like Miss Hannigan?
I think so! I definitely have a fondness for the show. In the same way I was a good Pepper and a good Tessie, I would be a good Miss Hannigan. But I always pictured her as a much older woman! So yes, I would try out for Miss Hannigan, but much, much later in the future!

For more information on Life After Tomorrow, please visit www.lifeaftertomorrow.com. To learn more about Annieorphans, please go to www.annieorphans.com.

Personal Branding

2010-02-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

Personal Branding 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand

by Dan Schawbel

In the past few years personal branding has been discussed exhaustively throughout the Net. The difference between today and over ten years ago when it was first mentioned by Tom Peters, is the rise of social technologies that have made branding not only more personal, but within reach.

From the corporate brand (BMW), to the product brand (BMW M3 Coupe) and down to the personal brand (car salesman), branding is a critical component to a customer’s purchasing decision. These days, customer complaints and opinions are online and viewable through a simple search, on either Google (Google) or through social networks. There is no hiding anymore and transparency and authenticity are the only means to survive and thrive in this new digital kingdom.

Many people think that personal branding is just for celebrities such as Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, yet each and every one of us is a brand. Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others. As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make these celebrities or corporate brands appeal to others. We can build brand equity just like them.

We can also have just as much presence as most startups and mid-size companies and products. Social media tools have leveled the playing ground and have enabled us to reach incredible heights, at the cost of our time. Today, I want to share the personal branding process, so you can start to think about what face you want to show to the world and how you want to position yourself for success!

1. Discover your brand
The single biggest mistake people make is that they either brand themselves just for the sake of doing it or that they fail to invest time in learning about what’s in their best interests. The key to success, and this isn’t revolutionary, is to be compensated based on your passion. In order to find your passion, you need a lot of time to think, some luck and you need to do some research online to figure out what’s out there.

Brand discovery is about figuring out what you want to do for the rest of your life, setting goals, writing down a mission, vision and personal brand statement (what you do and who you serve), as well as creating a development plan. Have you ever been called intelligent or humorous by your peers or coworkers? That description is part of your brand, especially if you feel those attributed pertain to you. To know if you’ve discovered your brand, you need to make this equation equal:

Your self-impression = How people perceive you

Before you enter the next step in the personal branding process, you’ll want to select a niche, whereby you can be the master of your domain. For example, Joel Comm has mastered the Google Adsense niche and brands himself using his name, and Brian Solis owns the social media PR niche with his PR 2.0 blog (under his name). When I say domain, I mean an area where there aren’t many competitors and literally, your online domain name. Once you sort this all out, now it’s time to create your brand.

2. Create your brand
Now that you know what you want to do and have claimed a niche, at least in your mind, it’s time to get it on paper and online. The sum of all the marketing material you should develop for your brand is called a Personal Branding Toolkit. This kit consists of the following elements that you can use to highlight your brand and allow people to easily view what you’re about:

1. Business card: It doesn’t matter if you’re a college student, CEO, or a consultant, everyone should have their own business card. The card should contain your picture, your personal brand statement (such as Boston Financial Expert), as well as your *preferred* contact information and corporate logo if necessary.

You can create your own business card and share it through your mobile phone using mydropcard.com or rmbrme.com. On the web, BusinessCard2.com is a great social network for creating and distributing your person business card.

2. Resume/cover letter/references document: These are typical documents that you need for applying for jobs and when you go on interviews (something over 2 million job seekers will be doing as we speak). Be sure to prioritize each document with information custom to the target position. Take your resume online and add social features to it to make the ultimate social media resume, promoting your personal brand to the world and making it shareable.

3. Portfolio: Whether you use a CD, web or print portfolio, it’s a great way to showcase the work you’ve done in the past, which can convince someone of your ability to accomplish the same results for the future. Figdig.com and carbonmade.com are social networks for people who want to show off their creative skills to the world.

4. Blog (blog)/website: You need to own yourname.com or a website that aligns with your name in some fashion. Depending on who you are, how much time you have on your hands and if you can accept criticism, you should either start a blog or stick with a static homepage. Those who blog will have a stronger asset than those who don’t because blogs rank higher in search engines and lend more to your expertise and interest areas over time.

5. LinkedIn profile: A LinkedIn (LinkedIn) profile is a combination of a resume, cover letter, references document and a moving and living database of your network. Use it to create your own personal advertising, to search for jobs or meet new people.

6. Facebook profile: Over 160 million people have profiles, but almost none of them have branded themselves properly using this medium. Be sure to include a Facebook (Facebook) picture of just you, without any obscene gestures or unnecessary vodka bottles. Also, input your work experience and fill out your profile, while turning on the privacy options that disable the ability for people to tag you in pictures and videos (allowing people to see the ones tagged of you).

7. Twitter profile: Your Twitter (Twitter) profile should have an avatar that is carved out of your Facebook picture and used in your LinkedIn profile. You need to use a distinct background, fill out your profile and include a link to either your blog or LinkedIn profile. Twitterbacks.com, developed by internet mogul Jim Kukral, has templates you can use to sculpt your very own Twitter background (Photoshop skills not included). Twitbacks.com is another solution that also lets you promote your Twitter profile.

8. Video (video) resume: A video resume is a short video of you talking about why you are the best for a specific job opportunity. You get about a minute or so to communicate your brand and are able to send the link, once you upload it to YouTube (YouTube), to hiring managers.

9. Wardrobe: Your personal style is tangible and is extremely important for standing out from the crowd. Select clothing that best represents you because it will be viewable through your pictures/avatars online, as well as when you meet people in reality.

10. Email address: Don’t overlook your email address as not being a significant part of your toolkit. Most people use email over all social networks and when you connect with someone on a social network, you are notified via email, so get used to it. Your email address poses a great opportunity for your brand. I recommend using gmail because of the acceptance of Google and since GTalk (Gtalk) allows you to form tighter relationships with others. For your address, use “firstname.lastname@gmail.com.”

What’s next?

After you spend the time on these parts of your personal branding toolkit, it’s time to showcase it to the world, especially your target audience. Don’t be fooled by the myth that if you build it, they will come. Unless you’re the luckiest person on earth, you’ll have to actually communicate everything you’ve created to others.

Mary Peeples books "White Christmas"

2010-02-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

Double 19 Productions congratulates Mary Peeples on booking the role of Susan Waverly in “White Christmas” at Peach State Summer Theatre.

http://www.valdosta.edu/psst/2010Season.shtml