I am having a load of fun watching the many Ricky Gervais interviews Brad Blanks (YouTube) did. Here are some of my fav. (Brad’s website.)
The first one got me hooked!
These three interviews are off beat but insightful.
Bonus: Love this interview with Anna Kendrick.
In the following interview, Gerard is very personable even his PA is trying to take him away. And Jen just wanted the interview to end five minutes ago! Fun to watch still.
Very funny. Campy Johnny Depp – Life’s Too Short
This nice looking film’s one trick is its 1000fps.
Dir: Tomas Mankovsky / UK / 2010
A foreboding yet strangely humorous depiction of a seemingly pointless modern day sword fight, shot at 1000fps.
It was my pleasure to interview TiVo CEO Tom Rogers when he was at the 2010 Banff World TV Festival.
In the interview, Tom and I talked about TiVo’s relationship with the advertising industry and television networks. When people are fast-forwarding commercials using technologies like DVR, television “needs to find different forms of inventory that involve different technologies as a way to present that [advertising] so that the advertising is compelling”. Tom gave the example of TiVo’s ability to pause live TV, so viewers can search and find any products appearing in a TV show (a sweater worn by an actress, a golf club used by an athlete, or any products on screen at the moment) and then turn the thought into an actionable transaction where the viewer can buy the product. TiVo is putting a lot of meta data into the TV content and movie content and in doing so, create a lot of “transaction opportunities”.
I also asked Tom When will TiVo come to Canada? And will the data collected by TiVo be transferable to Canada and other countries.
TiVo CEO Tom Rogers interview @ Banff World TV Festival 2010
Here is Tom’s Banff bio.
Tom Rogers is President and Chief Executive Officer of TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs). With a career that operates at the nexus of where media, technology, advertising and public policy come together for more than two decades, Tom brings to TiVo a distinctive blend of operational leadership and corporate strategy experience across multiple facets of the industry. Read the rest of this entry »
The wildly popular TV show Glee (imdb), with 19 Emmy nominations, has become a favourite show of mine Emmy nominees for best actress (Lea Michele as Rachel Berry), best actor (Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester), and in particular Best Supporting Actress (Jane Lynch as the mean and nasty Sue Sylvester) were a ton of fun to watch.
It was my great pleasure to meet, listen, and learn from Ian Brennan, creator/writer of Glee at the 2010 Banff World TV Festival. The following are video clips of Ian‘s Master Class and press conference.
Press conference
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The following is Ian’s bio from Banff.
Ian Brennan
Writer, Glee
“Glee marked Ian Brennan’s first foray into television writing. Brennan began his acting career in Chicago working with the prestigious Steppenwolf and Goodman Theatres. He later moved to New York to pursue other opportunities in television and film, and has been involved with off-Broadway plays at the Vineyard, Playwrights Horizons and MCC Theatres. Brennan is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago. He was inspired to write Glee – a television show about a high school show choir – after participating in his high school’s show choir that never won anything and whose director later spent time in prison.”
An intro about the session,
“Brennan was inspired to write Fox’s smash hit show “Glee” – a television show about a high school show choir – after participating in his high school’s show choir that never won anything and whose director later spent time in prison. Read the rest of this entry »
For the record.
‘MILLIONAIRE’ AFTERMATH: WHY DO STUDIOS KEEP LOSING LAWSUITS?
Wed Jul 07, 2010 @ 06:58PM PST
By Matthew Belloni
Perhaps studio execs should start volunteering for jury service.
Wednesday’s $270 million verdict against the Walt Disney Co. over profits from “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is part of a trend that should have Hollywood heavyweights worried: Juries lately are skeptical of so-called “Hollywood accounting” — and are not hesitant to award huge damages to creative types who cry foul.
Consider the evidence: A Riverside, Calif., jury of five women and four men, none of whom work in entertainment, awarded $269.4 million in damages to “Millionaire” producer Celador after only three days of deliberations — by far the largest jury award ever in a case alleging self-dealing among studio-owned entities. It unanimously endorsed Celador’s argument that Read the rest of this entry »
To us Canadians, the world famous funny comedian Ricky Gervais is Ricky Dene Gervais (watch Ricky’s acceptance speech to find out why)! 
The following is red carpet interviews with Ricky including my question to Ricky about the finale of Extras (highly recommended funny comedy).
The following is Ricky‘s speech and a brief clip after receiving his award.
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This is part of the amazing scene from Extras I love so much and a very insightful and enjoyable interview “Ricky Gervais in His Most ‘Postmodern’ Interview Ever“.
“The Cove” is a documentary I love and highly recommend. It was my pleasure to see Louie Psihoyos, Oscar Winner and director of The Cove won the Green Grand Prize at the 2010 Banff World TV Festival.
In Louie‘s acceptance speech, Louie talked about measuring a documentary’s success in terms of the people you changed. And a movie as a “Weapon of Mass Construction”, something that changes millions of people’s life. “We are not making movies, we are trying to start a movement.“
Here is the award winning trailer (yes, the trailer won award too) of the Oscar winning documentary.
The following is from the press release.
“GREEN GRAND PRIZE
Green Grand Prize: Louie Psihoyos, Oscar Winner and director of The Cove. The prize recognizes outstanding achievement in creating public awareness and understanding of environmental issues through the use of visual media. Psihoyos was selected as a result of nominations received from all around the world, honouring his tremendous impact on a global level. Dr. David Suzuki, president of the Banff Green Jury, presented the award to Mr. Psihoyos.”
The Good Wife, co-created by the husband and wife team Robert King and Michelle King, is a great TV series that I quite enjoy. It was my pleasure to attend an insightful master class by David Zucker, executive producer of The Good Wife, at the 2010 Banff World TV Festival.
David Zucker, executive producer of The Good Wife 2010 Banff World TV Festival master class
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The following is David’s bio at Banff
“David W. Zucker is President of Television for Scott Free and Executive Producer of both the hit CBS drama, THE GOOD WIFE, starring Julianna Margulies, as well as the Friday night stalwart, NUMB3RS, which will wrap its sixth season in March. He is also Executive Producer of the eight-hour limited series, THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, based on Ken Follett’s international best-seller. Read the rest of this entry »
I really enjoy the pilot of Jason Priestley‘s new TV series “Call Me Fitz“, it looks like great TV where Jason plays Richard “Fitz” Fitzpatrick, “a morally bankrupt used-car salesman whose consequence-free life is complicated by the arrival of do-gooder Larry (Ernie Grunwald), another salesman who claims he is Fitz’s conscience.“
In the following clip, you will see Jason and the show creator Sheri Elwood at Banff talking about “Call Me Fitz“.
Note: I want to add that the cool and character fitting underwear wore by Jason in “Call Me Fitz” were designed by a Canadian company (Ginch Gonch) and we first heard about the brand/business pitched on CBC TV on Dragons’ Den in 2006. It looks like the company was sold in July 2008. Anyway, good job by the PR team to get Ginch Gonch products featured.
Here is a trailer of “Call Me Fitz“.
Jason talking about “Call Me Fitz” at MIPTV.
At Banff, Sheri talked about finding “Fitz” in Jason after watching this QTV interview of Jason on the internet. I think this is a good lesson for actors/actresses as you never know how and where you will be discovered for a role.
More info:
- Cast grows for ‘Call Me Fitz’ – Ernie Grunwald among actors joining Jason Priestley in sitcom (Hollywood Reporter)
- Jason Priestley embraces role created by South Shore producer (southshorenow.ca)
Mickey Rourke - TIME Magazine 10 Questions
Lucas Martell writer/director/producer/animator spent 5 years to create Pigeon Impossible, a wonderfully told and funny story. Over 2 million views since it was posted on Nov 8, 2009. Highly recommended.
Some info about the clip.
“Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth, who both won Oscars with Charlie Kaufman for their Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind screenplay, collaborate again on this Cosmic Galerie exhibition. The All Seeing Eye opened 8 October 2005, and ran from 12 October to 3 December at the Galerie in Paris.”
Prom Night In Mississippi -> New doc by Morgan Freeman.
In 1997, Morgan Freeman offered to pay for the senior prom at Charleston High School in Mississippi under one condition: the prom had to be racially integrated. His offer was ignored. In 2008, Freeman offered again. This time the school board accepted, and history was made. Until then, blacks and whites had had separate proms even though their classrooms have been integrated for decades. PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI captures a big moment in a small town, where hope finally blossoms in black, white and a whole lot of taffeta.
[via BMD]
Quite funny. [via Chris Landreth]
Short and sort of cute.
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