Raising Money For Indie Film Via Product Placement

Morgan Spurlock, the filmmaker who changed the way McDonald's did business, is now looking to alter the way indie films are financed.  He just premiered his new film with a strange title "POM Wonderful Presents; The Greatest Movie Ever Sold".  The film is a meta-exercise in product placement with the juice maker POM footing more than half of the film's budget.  Other sponsors include JetBlue and Hyatt Hotels.  McDonalds strangely enough wanted a piece of the action too but they were declined.

In an interesting piece in the Hollywood Reporter, Spurlock talks about his new model for making a profit on his indie film before it is even released.  The film also goes into the increasingly extensive practice of product placement in movies and television, which now starts at the writer level.  Witness the various episodes of 30 ROCK that make fun of their sponsor Snapple while also promoting the brand. Anyway, it's all food for though as indies try and figure out a way to make a buck in the New Media world.

Additional Shows For WTC VIEW Off-Bway

Big news today--we have 10 additional shows that have been added to our four-week run off-Broadway this spring at 59E59 (pictured here).  The dates remain the same, May 19-June 12, but now we have additional shows on weekends as well as shows on Tues/Wed night too! Tickets go on sale next week at their website above.

This is very exciting news for us because, the first time this was staged WTC VIEW in the Fringe, it was an extremely limited run.  We had a total of 9 scheduled performances but then we lost 2 of those to the famous Blackout of 2003.  Good timing right--a show about disaster gets its own unique utility disaster mid-run!  Oy.  Anyway, with just 7 shows that first time out we had great audience response to the show but, by the time word of mouth and reviews got out, it was over.  We had the chance to add some shows at the end that the Fringe provided but our cast, being so talented, were booked for other gigs and we had to end the run prematurely.

Anyway, now we will have a total 26 shows at 59E59 Theaters which will give audiences and reviewers plenty of time to find us this time out.  We just started our casting process this week so stay tuned for news on that front.  And if you have donated to our IndieGoGo crowd-sourcing campaign, do so TODAY....give what you can, or give what you can't :) It's the only way this show is going to happen. Thanks so much! 

A Sexy 4th Amendment Protest

Back in December, a young man in Richmond, VA decided to make a point about his 4th amendment rights.  So he went to the airport in Richmond, VA and, instead of going through a body scanner, stripper to his boxers to reveal the 4th amendment written on his naked chest for all to see.  Needless to say, the TSA was not amused.

Aaron Tobey was handcuffed and slapped with a disorderly conduct charge.  Now he's filed a civil rights lawsuit against the TSA. The initial charges were dropped since they he was merely exercising his 1st amendment rights to peaceful free speech.  The problem may be he did so in his boxers.  Not that I'm complaining....

The 50s' ARE Back...3D Movies and McCarthy-esque Hearings

On Friday, there was an unusual hearing on Capitol Hill, orchestrated by one of New York's very own congressman, Rep. Peter Hill of Long Island.  He chaired an investigation by the House Subcommitte On Homeland Security (which sounds just as creepy as the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee) on the new threat from within; homegrown Islamic terrorism.

The hearings were highly controversial and often quite contentious, with Democratic members of the committe questioning the line of questioning, as Hill and other Republicans essentially grilled Muslims about cooperating with law enforcement.  You can't deny that there are radical Muslims out there willing to do anything to cause death and destruction in the US and abroad.  However, to take American Muslim leaders and essentially question their patriotism really seems to be a step backward.  Every religion has its fanatics...including Eric Rudolph who famously set off a deadly bomb at the '96 Olympics and bombs at abortion clinics and a gay bar. Yet there were no hearings about radical Catholics and how their churches were the new crux of domestic terrorism.

An interesting statistic did come up in the hearing, courtesy of the Democratic side. An independent study by Duke University reported that American Muslims have been key in foiling 40% of terrorist plots in recent years.

To The Crowd! Nearly 1K Raised For WTC VIEW This Week

Our crowd-sourcing campaign for WTC VIEW Onstage kicked off with a bang this week.  We've raised nearly 1K since Wednesday which has been great!  We still have oh, 24K to go....but this is a great start and, as the word gets out, I'm sure we'll keep going over the next 40 days and reach our goal in April.

A lot of people have asked me recently what exactly crowd-sourcing is?  It's sorta the opposite of traditional funding, where you seek the smallest number of donors giving the largest amounts possible.  In crowd-sourcing, you farm the task out to the Internet through social-networking, emails, Twitter, etc. and try to get a large number of people giving smaller donations.  The math is basically that with crowd-sourcing, you want 1,000 people giving you 20 dollars as opposed to 20 people giving you 1,000.  So it's just as crucial to give as it is to post, like, re-tweet and share our campaign with anyone you think is interested in supporting the arts, specifically theatre in NYC.

I don't have to tell you that times are tough. They have been even tougher in the theater world, while some shows spend millions and millions of dollars (something about a spider?), new work has a tough time finding support here in the city.  Because of this, WTC VIEW will depend solely on donations, most of which are tax-deductible to make this all happen. So please, give what you can't....and if you can't give, keep spreading the word online; our link is www.indiegogo.com/wtc-view. Thanks so much and have a great weekend....

Sarah Palin Thinks Cathy Griffin Is A Bully?

You know, lately is seems that you read a headline about something Sarah Palin has done or said and you go....what?  Huh?!  Well, she's done it again this week, calling Kathy Griffin a bully.  Kathy Griffin is a stand-up comediam who makes people laugh for a living.  Where in the world does she connect this with being a bully?

The sad thing is that she chose to do this on the eve of President Obama's bullying conference at the White House today which addresses the all to real problem of real bullies in schools, which recently have lead to a rash of suicides of LGBT teens.  This issue is deadly serious.  Well, fortunately, Kathy Griffin had a great sense of humor about the whole thing as she talked about it on the Lawrence O'Donnell Show last night.  She handles herself so well in this and has a surprise answer to Sarah's challenge to "come up to Alaska" so they can have words.  Oh brother.

Like I've said before, just keep talking Sarah....

Bowery Boys Look At Manhattan & The Movies

When people think of New York and the movies, you tend to think of how the city has been featured in many classics;  from "Taxi Driver" in the 70's, to "Working Girl" in the 80's, to "Men In Black" in the 90's, and "Sex & The City" in the 'aughts.  However, NYC's movie history as a pretty backdrop runs way more than skin deep.  A lot of people forget that, long before Los Angeles became home to the film industry, it all started here in the city.  And also in New Jersey, at Thomas Edison's Black Maria (left)....America's first movie studio located in glamourous West Orange, NJ.

My favorite local history podcast, The Bowery Boys, takes a look back in their current episode to the start of the film business here in New York and all the various players, many lost to history while some including a fellow named Loew, live on today.  They provide a nearly hour-long overview of the nascent movie business as it got its start before the turn of the century and, in the 10's, started to migrate West where the light was better and the real estate a helluva lot cheaper.  A great listen if you're interested in the history of the movies.

Aaron Johnson Kicks-Ass In New REM Video

Aaron Johnson, the deceptively geeky guy from KICK-ASS, takes on a slightly different role as a dancey dude in this new video from R.E.M.  He has some pretty sweet moves as well as a very impressive Jew-fro which he knows how to work to maximum groove effect as we struts the streets of London.  It's a great little video for a great new R.E.M. song.  Enjoy!

We Need YOU To Help Bring WTC VIEW Off-Bway This May

As I previously reported here last month, my play WTC VIEW is getting its off-Broadway debut this spring at 59E59 Theaters.  To make this happen, today is the start of a 6-week fundraising campaign to raise $25K by the end of April and we need your help.

This is not a traditional fundraising campaign. The traditional model is all about finding the smallest number of large donors.  But with crowd-sourcing it's the reverse: We are looking for the largest number of small donors via social networking, with the hope that we can get 1,000 donors kicking in 20 bucks as opposed to 20 donors with a 1,000 bucks. Not many people have a cool grand lying around these days.  But a $20...or even a $10? That's a little easier to swing.  Also, since we are a fiscally sponsored project through Fractured Atlas, donations to WTC VIEW are tax deductible too.

So please check out our campaign which went live today on IndieGoGo.  I also put together a short video in which I talk about my inspiration for WTC VIEW and why I feel strongly that now is the time to bring this show to New York audiences as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11. However, the only way this is going to happen....I repeat the ONLY way....is if you give.  WTC is a small non-profit play at a non-profit theater and we are depending on these tax-deductible dontations for our production budget.  The other thing you can do, that would be a huge help, is share our IndieGoGo campaign with your Facebook friends of Twitter follows and LIKE our Facebook page as well.  The direct link is: www.indiegogo.com/wtc-view  

Thanks so much and stay tuned for more updates on the show, including casting news, and also some more videos too.

The Man Who Almost Assasinated JFK In 1960

In December of 1960, Richard Pavlick was the first disgruntled postal worker to make headlines.  It wasn't exactly the headline he was hoping for and not many people read it due to a terrible plane accident in Brooklyn that happened the same day.  Pavlick was arrested with a car full of dynamite (left) in Palm Beach, FL where President-elect Kennedy was staying.  He had been stalking the JFK and waiting for the right moment to drive into him or his house and blow him up because he thought the Kennedy's wealth had stolen the election of 1960.  He apparently came very close to do it one afternoon when JFK exited the residence but changed his mind when he saw Mrs. Kennedy and the children, because he had nothing against them.

Anyway, this is a fascinating bit of lost history I just found out about when reading a review for a new book by Jeff Greenfield called "Then Everthing Changed." The book, just out this week, serves up three fictional alternative histories of the 60's, 70's and 80's where timing changes everything and history takes a radically different course.  I am definitely planning on reading this as one of my favorite recent books was Phillip Roth's "The Plot Against America", about an alterna-30's where Lucky Lindbergh actually becomes  President and the nation sprials into neo-Facism.  Alternate history is a popular and growing genre of fiction, with other writers including new Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and Michael Chabon.