Viewers beware, you're in for a scare! Earlier this year it was revealed that the sequel to 2015's Goosebumps is scheduled to haunt theaters on September 21st, 2018, and while we're still waiting to see what direction Sony takes the film franchise in its pivotal second installment, a director has now been revealed for the latest adaptation of R.L. Stine's popular horror book series.
According to multiple sources, including The Tracking Board, the Goosebumps sequel, referred to right now only as Goosebumps 2, will be directed by Ari Sandel, the filmmaker who won an Oscar in 2007 for the short film West Bank Story. Sandel more recently directed the high school comedy The Duff and the time traveling romance When We First Met. He was also previously announced to helm the live action film adaptation of the Mattel toy line Monster High, perhaps making him a good fit to bring Stine's creepy...
According to multiple sources, including The Tracking Board, the Goosebumps sequel, referred to right now only as Goosebumps 2, will be directed by Ari Sandel, the filmmaker who won an Oscar in 2007 for the short film West Bank Story. Sandel more recently directed the high school comedy The Duff and the time traveling romance When We First Met. He was also previously announced to helm the live action film adaptation of the Mattel toy line Monster High, perhaps making him a good fit to bring Stine's creepy...
- 12/12/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Sony has set Ari Sandel to direct Goosebumps 2, but the studio still hasn’t decided which of two versions in development he will film. One of the versions has a new script by Rob Lieber, and both are adaptations of different installments of the fright anthology novel series by R. L. Stine. In any case, Goosebumps 2 has an Oscar winning director at the helm; Sandel won for Best Short Film in 2007 with West Bank Story. He most recently completed When We First Met, with…...
- 12/12/2017
- Deadline
The schedule for the 25th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) has been announced and once again film goers will be offered the best in cutting edge features and shorts from around the globe. The festival takes place November 3-13, 2016.
Sliff kicks off on November 3 with the opening-night selection St. Louis Brews, the latest home-brewed documentary by local filmmaker Bill Streeter, director of Brick By Chance And Fortune: A St. Louis Story (read my interview with Bill Here)
According to Sliff, the festival will feature more than 125 filmmaking guests, including honorees: Actress Karen Allen (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Animal House), director Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep, To Sleep With Anger), winner of the Cinema St. Louis Lifetime Achievement Award; and director Steve James (Hoop Dreams).
Full information on Sliff films, including synopses, dates/time, and links for purchase of advance tickets is available on the Cinema St.
Sliff kicks off on November 3 with the opening-night selection St. Louis Brews, the latest home-brewed documentary by local filmmaker Bill Streeter, director of Brick By Chance And Fortune: A St. Louis Story (read my interview with Bill Here)
According to Sliff, the festival will feature more than 125 filmmaking guests, including honorees: Actress Karen Allen (Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Animal House), director Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep, To Sleep With Anger), winner of the Cinema St. Louis Lifetime Achievement Award; and director Steve James (Hoop Dreams).
Full information on Sliff films, including synopses, dates/time, and links for purchase of advance tickets is available on the Cinema St.
- 10/14/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Last year, Universal announced that the studio had green lit a live-action feature film adaptation of the insanely popular Mattel Monster High toy doll series. The film is hotly anticipated and is expected to be Universal.s newest franchise sensation - joining the Jurassic Park, Fast & Furious, and Back To The Future series in the studio's vault - and they have been meticulously developing the project, due out next year. And it now finally has a director. Deadline reports that Ari Sandel, director of the Academy Award-winning short West Bank Story, will assume the helm of the film which Universal presumably hopes will help resuscitate interest in the classic Universal horror monsters like Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolfman. It was previously announced that the producing team includes Josh Schwartz of Gossip Girls and The Carrie Diaries and Stephanie Savage of The O.C. and Endless Love - she wrote the script ...
- 10/24/2015
- cinemablend.com
Exclusive: Universal Pictures has found a director for Monster High, the live action film the studio hopes will add to its arsenal of movie franchises. I hear the job is going to Ari Sandel, who won the Oscar for his short film West Bank Story and followed up by directing The Duff for CBS Films. This was a big open directing assignment. This ties into Universal’s effort to defibrilate new life into its library of classic monsters that include Frankenstein, Dracula and…...
- 10/21/2015
- Deadline
The schedule for the 24th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff) has been announced and once again film goers will be offered the best in cutting edge features and shorts from around the globe.
The festival takes place November 5-15, 2015.
Sliff kicks off on November 5 with the opening-night selection, Deep Web, with director Alex Winter, who’s honored with the Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award. (Trailer)
Highlights from this year’s festival include:
The 33 Anomalisa The Assassin Brooklyn Carol I Saw the Light Krisha The Lady in the Van Legend Love the Coopers Remember Son of Saul Touched with Fire Youth
The 33
According to Sliff, the festival will feature more than 125 filmmaking guests, including honorees: actor/director Alex Winter, winner of the Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award; director Trent Harris, winner of the Contemporary Cinema Award; and director Rosemary Rodriguez, winner of the Women in Film Award.
The festival takes place November 5-15, 2015.
Sliff kicks off on November 5 with the opening-night selection, Deep Web, with director Alex Winter, who’s honored with the Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award. (Trailer)
Highlights from this year’s festival include:
The 33 Anomalisa The Assassin Brooklyn Carol I Saw the Light Krisha The Lady in the Van Legend Love the Coopers Remember Son of Saul Touched with Fire Youth
The 33
According to Sliff, the festival will feature more than 125 filmmaking guests, including honorees: actor/director Alex Winter, winner of the Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award; director Trent Harris, winner of the Contemporary Cinema Award; and director Rosemary Rodriguez, winner of the Women in Film Award.
- 10/3/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Lionsgate is bringing the surprisingly hilarious teen comedy, The Duff, to blu-ray next month and have officially announced details on when you'll be able to pick it up, and all the special features that come on the disc. Come inside to learn more.
When I went to the theater to see The Duff, I honestly didn't expect very much, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one of better teen/romance comedies that I've seen in a long while. If you missed out on it in theaters, you won't want to miss out on your chance to see it on blu-ray when it hits stores on June 9th (though digitally you can get it on May 26th). Check out all the details thanks to the press release:
Breaking down barriers and erasing labels, the smart, honest, hilarious comedy The Duff arrives on Digital HD on May 26th and will follow...
When I went to the theater to see The Duff, I honestly didn't expect very much, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one of better teen/romance comedies that I've seen in a long while. If you missed out on it in theaters, you won't want to miss out on your chance to see it on blu-ray when it hits stores on June 9th (though digitally you can get it on May 26th). Check out all the details thanks to the press release:
Breaking down barriers and erasing labels, the smart, honest, hilarious comedy The Duff arrives on Digital HD on May 26th and will follow...
- 4/20/2015
- by feeds@cinelinx.com (Jordan Maison)
- Cinelinx
1. "Fifty Shades of Gray" has as one of its editors the legendary Anne V. Coates, 89 years old and Oscar editing winner for "Lawrence of Arabia," and counts among its producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti ("The Social Network" and "Captain Phillips"). 2. "Kingsman: The Secret Service" stars Colin Firth, in his first big general audience hit since his 2011 Best Actor victory for "The King's Speech." 3. "McFarland, U.S.A." stars Oscar-winner Kevin Costner ("Dances with Wolves"), with Indie Spirit winner Niki Caro ("The Whale Rider") directing. 4. "The Duff" is the first feature from director Ari Sandel, whose "West Bank Story" won live-action short eight years ago. 5. "Jupiter Ascending" has among its producers Grant Hill (nominee for Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" and "The...
- 2/22/2015
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Thompson on Hollywood
Look at those abs! Julianne Hough shows ‘em off after an intense workout at a Studio City, California gym on Friday (September 6). She’s gotta look good for new boyfriend Ari Sandel.
The former pro (and two-time champion) on “Dancing With The Stars” has clearly moved on from her former beau Ryan Seacrest. She and Sandel became an item back in July and have been spotted at various restaurants and clubs throughout the Los Angeles area.
Sandel is the director of the short film, “West Bank Story,” which won the 2006 Academy Award in the category of Best Short Film.
The 25-year-old Hough is known for her cheery demeanor. She recently Tweeted, “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”...
The former pro (and two-time champion) on “Dancing With The Stars” has clearly moved on from her former beau Ryan Seacrest. She and Sandel became an item back in July and have been spotted at various restaurants and clubs throughout the Los Angeles area.
Sandel is the director of the short film, “West Bank Story,” which won the 2006 Academy Award in the category of Best Short Film.
The 25-year-old Hough is known for her cheery demeanor. She recently Tweeted, “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”...
- 9/7/2013
- GossipCenter
On Saturday, Julianne Hough announced she had the "best birthday ever" when she celebrated alongside Vampire Diaries actress Nina Dobrev and Maria Menounos at her Great Gatsby-themed 25th birthday party. But the former Dancing with the Stars pro may have had something else to celebrate - new love. After splitting from Ryan Seacrest in March, Hough has been sticking close to her female friends, but, on July 17, she was spotted enjoying a Pda-filled dinner with director Ari Sandel at Nobu in Los Angeles. Here are things to know about the man who may just be Hough's new flame: 1. He’s an Oscar winner!
- 7/25/2013
- by Mia McNiece
- PEOPLE.com
Ari Sandel won an Oscar in 2007 for his live-action short film "West Bank Story" and now he's attached to direct "The Duff" for CBS Films, TheWrap has learned. Josh A. Cagan ("Bandslam") adapted the coming-of-age novel by Kody Keplinger. Story follows a 17 year-old girl who believes she is the "designated ugly fat friend." She subsequently struggles to maintain her sense of identity while juggling a tumultuous home life. McG and Mary Viola are producing the high school movie for Wonderland Sound and Vision. The film will be executive produced by Vast...
- 5/17/2013
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
Vol. I Issue 10 February 2013
Join us twice weekly. Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.
As this last weekend approached I was faced with marking my Academy Award ballot. This process is always really difficult. How does one sort out the “best” film or accomplishment of five or nine in the case of the Best Picture? For me it has been over 30 years of screenings. Thousand of films. Some really great films and many not so great. I also try to think what it means to be one of the nominees. What was the off-screen story but always more importantly what their contribution was to the work and how the film compares to others. What’s great about short films is that they can be made for almost nothing by a few filmmakers without a large budget, crew or cast.
The Academy has three nomination categories for films less than 41 minutes in length: short fiction, documentary and animation. Once nominated, there are public screenings and panels to celebrate the nominated films at the Academy in Beverly Hills. A group photograph of all the nominees is taken with a large Oscar in the lobby of the Academy headquarters. It is really a wonderful experience.
It wasn’t always like that. There were no special celebrations for the short or documentary films until the l980s. While the Foreign Language films had their seminar, nothing was done for these films. We tried to remedy that in the 1980s and started the Direct Cinema receptions and screenings with UCLA, USC and, a few years later, the Ida sponsored “Docuday” and the Academy started doing an annual reception for the shorts and documentary filmmakers. Today the Academy’s evening receptions for the short films, animated features (a relatively new Oscar category) and the documentaries are annual sell-out events. The filmmakers and their works are celebrated and it has become a highlight of the Oscar week for the filmmakers and those associated with the films.
When I first became a member of the Academy the short films and animation branch was headed by a number of extraordinary talents: T Hee, Saul Bass and June Forey. These three remarkable artists represented classic Disney animation (T. Hee), fiction and narrative short films (Saul Bass), and the television and theatrical films (June Forey, who voiced hundreds of characters.)
Saul Bass articulated the branch’s membership policy, “We want them to be part of our branch.” This liberal interpretation allowed documentary filmmakers like Ken Burns as well as voice artists and creatives like Stan Friedberg (and June Forey) to be part of a group that included IMAX filmmakers as well as classic character animation directors, colorists, layout artists, producers and other key short film and animation filmmakers. The animation filmmakers represent both the studio animators and the independent animators who work globally doing personal work as well as studio work. Other governors from 1979 to the present have included Hal Elias, who served on the Academy board for 37 years and was a short film publicist for MGM among other things; Bill Littlejohn, who worked on over 90 films as an animator ranging from Charley Brown, Peanuts Christmas Specials to working with the Hubleys’; Bill Scott, who acted and wrote over a hundred animated films, and Carl Bell, who worked on over 35 films at Disney in its animation department.
Unlike most of the other branches, the Short Films branch screens all of the submitted films in 16mm and 35mm and now in Digital Cinema, in an effort to find and nominate the best short films produced in the world. The branch rules allowed films to qualify in an effort to encourage more international entries in the 1990s by taking a first prize at key festivals in addition to the method that all Academy films can use to qualify, a theatrical week long (now three day for shorts) run in a theater in Los Angeles County. Branch screenings were expanded to New York to permit more members to participate in the nomination process in the 1990s. The final short listed screenings are in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Over one-third of the branch participates in the voting. The best change took place this year, sending DVD screeners to all Academy members of the short live action and animated nominated films. While this still won’t force members to watch them, members can’t claim they can’t see them. This is not only great for the branch but great for the nominated filmmakers. Who would not want to screen their short film for Academy members?
The process of the branch for selecting Nominees has remained unchanged for years—members screen the films in a theater rather than on DVDs, which is how the Documentary branch is dealing with the flood of feature docs and their unwillingness to trust committees. Nothing beats seeing films projected on a large screen with perfect sound and that is now lost. In a two step process, a committee (self selected from the branch membership) screens the films and the 15 films with the highest scores are short listed. The short listed films are then screened again and members vote.
The current Short Film Branch governors are Jon Bloom (pictured with the 2007 nominees), a 1983 fiction short nominee, filmmaker, editor and producer who chairs the branch, animator and Disney Creative Head and multi-Oscar winner, John Lasseter, and William "Bill" Kroyer,an award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films and faculty member Chapman College.
One of the challenges for the branch is how to grow live action producing members. With the addition of feature animation to the awards and the large number of feature animation films being released, the branch would like to have the most qualified animators to become members. The number of animators grows at a far faster rate than that of the live action filmmakers since only a few live action filmmakers can qualify for membership. The commercial success of animated features, the long production schedules and the large number of animators who work in qualifying positions allows for six plus individuals per picture to be eligible for membership. With five nominees a year, the number of individuals who can play a key role in two or three features becoming eligible for membership can easily approach 30 plus individuals annually. Add in the short animation nominees and competition for the limited new slots allocated to the branch can be brutal. The talent pool of animators is both astonishingly strong and suggests that Hollywood can easily double production from the 15 or so films made annually to 25 or 30 without having to compromise on talent.
Many of the filmmakers in the branch who make their Oscar nominated or winning live action short have made or are interested in making feature length works. A number of recent nominees or winners have made that transition. The following list looks at all of the live action nominees from 2001 to 2011, using the Internet Movie Database I looked up each nominee and listed what they reported they were doing professionally. Obviously, this is not intended to show everything. In each case, I listed credits or summarized credits shown in the IMDb listing.
Some observations about 11 years of Live Action Short Film Academy Award Nominees:
There were 86 nominations (out of a possible 110) This is because in some years only three films were nominated and in some cases only one filmmaker from a film was eligible for a nomination. Non-us based filmmakers dominate this category. Despite the huge number of short films being made annually in the Us, a majority of the nominated films come from filmmakers based abroad. In part this is due to the government subsidies available, but it is also due to the strong training programs, commercial support for the short films and a rich tradition of theatrical shorts. This year (2012) four of the five films in the live action category are from Us filmmakers. This is an unusual year. Few filmmakers have more than one nomination, only a handful of the nominees have made multiple Academy worthy short films. As one might expect, many of the filmmakers have continued their film work in television, some in features. The European Oscar winners (vs nominees) have done better at snagging features after a win than have their American counterparts. Again, this is likely a function of government support for entry features. Perhaps one of the short films seem to have been turned into a feature (or television) film. Some of the short films are intended to be sizzle reels for features, but it is not clear why so few of the nominated short films have been turned into features. A number of the Oscar winners have not continued working in film. No record of future productions are shown on IMDb. It would be interesting to see what they are doing now. Two of the Oscar winners have written critically award winning screenplays, one received two Academy Award nominations for his screenwriting. None of these nominees have gone on to win Oscars in directing or producing for feature films.
The data is from the Academy and the IMDb databases.
Apologies in advance, if credits were missed or other factual errors were made. In a week we’ll be able to add this year's winner.
2001 (74th)
Short Film (Live Action) (* won Academy Award)
*the accountant -- Ray McKinnon: Two Features: Randy and the Mob 2007 and Crystal 2004 Lisa Blount: Produced these features. Copy Shop -- Virgil Widrich Gregor's Greatest Invention -- Johannes Kiefer A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa) -- Slawomir Fabicki, Two Features: Loving 2012, Retrieval 2006 (Also wrote) Bogumil Godfrejow Has shot multiple features Speed for Thespians -- Kalman Apple, Shameela Bakhsh
2002 (75th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Fait D'Hiver -- Dirk Beliën, Anja Daelemans produced Comrade Kim Goes North I'll Wait for the Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...) -- Philippe Orreindy, Thomas Gaudin Inja (Dog) -- Steven Pasvolsky Feature, Deck Dogz Joe Weatherstone, produced episodic television. Johnny Flynton -- Lexi Alexander, directed 3 features: Lifted, Punisher: War Zone and Green Street Hooligans Alexander Buono as a Dp has shot series and features *This Charming Manon (Der Er En Yndig Mand) -- Martin Strange-Hansen, Mie Andreasen produced both features, series and documentaries.
2003 (76th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) -- Florian Baxmeyer Multiple television films and series Most (The Bridge) -- Bobby Garabedian, William Zabka Mr. Zabka has appeared as an actor in numerous films and television shows Squash -- Lionel Bailliu Features: Fair Play and Denis (in post) (A) Torzija [(A) Torsion] -- Stefan Arsenijevic Directed: Lost and Found, Love and Other Crimes, and Do Not Forget Me Istanbul *Two Soldiers -- Aaron Schneider,Asc (Cinematographer numerous credits) and feature, Kiss the Girls, Andrew J. Sacks Series The Closer (98 episodes) and Major Crimes.
2004 (77th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Everything in This Country Must -- Gary McKendry Directed Killer Elite, Joseph and the Girl Little Terrorist -- Ashvin Kumar Produced and Directed features (2) and documentaries (2) 7:35 in the Morning (7:35 de la Mañana) -- Nacho Vigalondo Directed and written multiple films, series, shorts Two Cars, One Night -- Taika Waititi, Acted and directed and written multi television and films Ainsley Gardiner Nz based producer of multiple shorts, television and feature films *Wasp -- Andrea Arnold Actor, director and writer of numbers films, television programs
2005 (78th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Ausreisser (The Runaway) -- Ulrike Grote Ms. Grote has acted in over 42 programs, features, television series and films Cashback -- Sean Ellis, Director/Writer Metro Manila, The Broken Lene Bausager Producer, The Broken, Ginger and Rosa The Last Farm -- Rúnar Rúnarsson, Director/Writer Volcano, Thor S. Sigurjónsson Produced multiple features Our Time Is Up -- Rob Pearlstein, Director/Writer multiple television and a feature Pia Clemente Producer, documentaries *Six Shooter -- Martin McDonagh Writer/Director Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges
2006 (79th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) -- Javier Fesser, no other credits shown Luis Manso Produced multiple features Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) -- Borja Cobeaga Writer, multi films and television series Helmer & Son -- Søren Pilmark no other credits, Kim Magnusso Producer over 100 film, television films (4 Best Short Film Academy Award nominations) Won for Ernst & Lyset The Saviour -- Peter Templeman, no other credits Stuart Parkyn, Producer, multi-short film credits *West Bank Story -- Ari Sandel Director, one short, one documentary
2007 (80th)
Short Film (Live Action)
At Night -- Christian E. Christiansen, Directed, Features and television series Louise Vesth Producer, multi features Il Supplente (The Substitute) -- Andrea Jublin
*Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) -- Philippe Pollet-Villard Actor and director short films, a television film
Tanghi Argentini -- Guido Thys, Director, Multiple television series Anja Daelemans, nominated for 2 Short Film nominations (Gridlock, 2002) Producer/Pm various The Tonto Woman -- Daniel Barber, Directed The Keeping Room, Harry Brown Matthew Brown Produced 2 shorts
2008 (81st)
Short Film (Live Action)
Auf der Strecke (On the Line) -- Reto Caffi Manon on the Asphalt -- Elizabeth Marre, Director, Television series Olivier Pont Director, Television series New Boy -- Steph Green, Director Run and Jump Tamara Anghie Producer Run and Jump The Pig -- Tivi Magnusson, Producer Over 64 titles many short films, Dorte Høgh Writer multiple series, (Directed The Pig) *Spielzeugland (Toyland) -- Jochen Alexander Freydank Producer of multiple television series
2009 (82nd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Door -- Juanita Wilson, Director As If I Am Not There James Flynn Multiple Producer credits for over 50 titles, television and theatrical Instead of Abracadabra -- Patrik Eklund, Director, Television film and feature Mathias Fjellström Kavi -- Gregg Helvey Miracle Fish -- Luke Doolan, Multiple credits as editor Drew Bailey Multiple credits as Assistant Director *The New Tenants -- Joachim Back, no other credits shown as a director, Tivi Magnusson This is Mr. Magnusson’s first Academy Award and second nomination. See 2008.
2010 (83rd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession -- Tanel Toom The Crush -- Michael Creagh *God of Love -- Luke Matheny Feature Love Sick and multiple Television series episode Na Wewe -- Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 -- Ian Barnes, Multiple directing credits Television Samantha Waite Credits as production coordinator on multiple titles
2011 (84th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost -- Peter McDonald, Credits as actor Eimear O'Kane Credits as Producer on The Shadows and on television programs. Raju -- Max Zähle, Director, Television series Stefan Gieren Producer-Writer credit on feature film, Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur *The Shore -- Terry George, Writer Two Oscar nominations for screenplays In the Name of the Father and Hotel Riwanda Producer and director on films and television series Oorlagh George Numerous credits as Assistant on features, documentaries and television shows Time Freak -- Andrew Bowler Writer and actor in a short film Gigi Causey Production manager, producer shorts, series and films
__________________________________________________________________________________
Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz
__________________________________________________________________________________
Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
______________________________________________________________________
©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.
Join us twice weekly. Send us links to your sizzle reels and film sites.
As this last weekend approached I was faced with marking my Academy Award ballot. This process is always really difficult. How does one sort out the “best” film or accomplishment of five or nine in the case of the Best Picture? For me it has been over 30 years of screenings. Thousand of films. Some really great films and many not so great. I also try to think what it means to be one of the nominees. What was the off-screen story but always more importantly what their contribution was to the work and how the film compares to others. What’s great about short films is that they can be made for almost nothing by a few filmmakers without a large budget, crew or cast.
The Academy has three nomination categories for films less than 41 minutes in length: short fiction, documentary and animation. Once nominated, there are public screenings and panels to celebrate the nominated films at the Academy in Beverly Hills. A group photograph of all the nominees is taken with a large Oscar in the lobby of the Academy headquarters. It is really a wonderful experience.
It wasn’t always like that. There were no special celebrations for the short or documentary films until the l980s. While the Foreign Language films had their seminar, nothing was done for these films. We tried to remedy that in the 1980s and started the Direct Cinema receptions and screenings with UCLA, USC and, a few years later, the Ida sponsored “Docuday” and the Academy started doing an annual reception for the shorts and documentary filmmakers. Today the Academy’s evening receptions for the short films, animated features (a relatively new Oscar category) and the documentaries are annual sell-out events. The filmmakers and their works are celebrated and it has become a highlight of the Oscar week for the filmmakers and those associated with the films.
When I first became a member of the Academy the short films and animation branch was headed by a number of extraordinary talents: T Hee, Saul Bass and June Forey. These three remarkable artists represented classic Disney animation (T. Hee), fiction and narrative short films (Saul Bass), and the television and theatrical films (June Forey, who voiced hundreds of characters.)
Saul Bass articulated the branch’s membership policy, “We want them to be part of our branch.” This liberal interpretation allowed documentary filmmakers like Ken Burns as well as voice artists and creatives like Stan Friedberg (and June Forey) to be part of a group that included IMAX filmmakers as well as classic character animation directors, colorists, layout artists, producers and other key short film and animation filmmakers. The animation filmmakers represent both the studio animators and the independent animators who work globally doing personal work as well as studio work. Other governors from 1979 to the present have included Hal Elias, who served on the Academy board for 37 years and was a short film publicist for MGM among other things; Bill Littlejohn, who worked on over 90 films as an animator ranging from Charley Brown, Peanuts Christmas Specials to working with the Hubleys’; Bill Scott, who acted and wrote over a hundred animated films, and Carl Bell, who worked on over 35 films at Disney in its animation department.
Unlike most of the other branches, the Short Films branch screens all of the submitted films in 16mm and 35mm and now in Digital Cinema, in an effort to find and nominate the best short films produced in the world. The branch rules allowed films to qualify in an effort to encourage more international entries in the 1990s by taking a first prize at key festivals in addition to the method that all Academy films can use to qualify, a theatrical week long (now three day for shorts) run in a theater in Los Angeles County. Branch screenings were expanded to New York to permit more members to participate in the nomination process in the 1990s. The final short listed screenings are in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Over one-third of the branch participates in the voting. The best change took place this year, sending DVD screeners to all Academy members of the short live action and animated nominated films. While this still won’t force members to watch them, members can’t claim they can’t see them. This is not only great for the branch but great for the nominated filmmakers. Who would not want to screen their short film for Academy members?
The process of the branch for selecting Nominees has remained unchanged for years—members screen the films in a theater rather than on DVDs, which is how the Documentary branch is dealing with the flood of feature docs and their unwillingness to trust committees. Nothing beats seeing films projected on a large screen with perfect sound and that is now lost. In a two step process, a committee (self selected from the branch membership) screens the films and the 15 films with the highest scores are short listed. The short listed films are then screened again and members vote.
The current Short Film Branch governors are Jon Bloom (pictured with the 2007 nominees), a 1983 fiction short nominee, filmmaker, editor and producer who chairs the branch, animator and Disney Creative Head and multi-Oscar winner, John Lasseter, and William "Bill" Kroyer,an award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films and faculty member Chapman College.
One of the challenges for the branch is how to grow live action producing members. With the addition of feature animation to the awards and the large number of feature animation films being released, the branch would like to have the most qualified animators to become members. The number of animators grows at a far faster rate than that of the live action filmmakers since only a few live action filmmakers can qualify for membership. The commercial success of animated features, the long production schedules and the large number of animators who work in qualifying positions allows for six plus individuals per picture to be eligible for membership. With five nominees a year, the number of individuals who can play a key role in two or three features becoming eligible for membership can easily approach 30 plus individuals annually. Add in the short animation nominees and competition for the limited new slots allocated to the branch can be brutal. The talent pool of animators is both astonishingly strong and suggests that Hollywood can easily double production from the 15 or so films made annually to 25 or 30 without having to compromise on talent.
Many of the filmmakers in the branch who make their Oscar nominated or winning live action short have made or are interested in making feature length works. A number of recent nominees or winners have made that transition. The following list looks at all of the live action nominees from 2001 to 2011, using the Internet Movie Database I looked up each nominee and listed what they reported they were doing professionally. Obviously, this is not intended to show everything. In each case, I listed credits or summarized credits shown in the IMDb listing.
Some observations about 11 years of Live Action Short Film Academy Award Nominees:
There were 86 nominations (out of a possible 110) This is because in some years only three films were nominated and in some cases only one filmmaker from a film was eligible for a nomination. Non-us based filmmakers dominate this category. Despite the huge number of short films being made annually in the Us, a majority of the nominated films come from filmmakers based abroad. In part this is due to the government subsidies available, but it is also due to the strong training programs, commercial support for the short films and a rich tradition of theatrical shorts. This year (2012) four of the five films in the live action category are from Us filmmakers. This is an unusual year. Few filmmakers have more than one nomination, only a handful of the nominees have made multiple Academy worthy short films. As one might expect, many of the filmmakers have continued their film work in television, some in features. The European Oscar winners (vs nominees) have done better at snagging features after a win than have their American counterparts. Again, this is likely a function of government support for entry features. Perhaps one of the short films seem to have been turned into a feature (or television) film. Some of the short films are intended to be sizzle reels for features, but it is not clear why so few of the nominated short films have been turned into features. A number of the Oscar winners have not continued working in film. No record of future productions are shown on IMDb. It would be interesting to see what they are doing now. Two of the Oscar winners have written critically award winning screenplays, one received two Academy Award nominations for his screenwriting. None of these nominees have gone on to win Oscars in directing or producing for feature films.
The data is from the Academy and the IMDb databases.
Apologies in advance, if credits were missed or other factual errors were made. In a week we’ll be able to add this year's winner.
2001 (74th)
Short Film (Live Action) (* won Academy Award)
*the accountant -- Ray McKinnon: Two Features: Randy and the Mob 2007 and Crystal 2004 Lisa Blount: Produced these features. Copy Shop -- Virgil Widrich Gregor's Greatest Invention -- Johannes Kiefer A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa) -- Slawomir Fabicki, Two Features: Loving 2012, Retrieval 2006 (Also wrote) Bogumil Godfrejow Has shot multiple features Speed for Thespians -- Kalman Apple, Shameela Bakhsh
2002 (75th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Fait D'Hiver -- Dirk Beliën, Anja Daelemans produced Comrade Kim Goes North I'll Wait for the Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...) -- Philippe Orreindy, Thomas Gaudin Inja (Dog) -- Steven Pasvolsky Feature, Deck Dogz Joe Weatherstone, produced episodic television. Johnny Flynton -- Lexi Alexander, directed 3 features: Lifted, Punisher: War Zone and Green Street Hooligans Alexander Buono as a Dp has shot series and features *This Charming Manon (Der Er En Yndig Mand) -- Martin Strange-Hansen, Mie Andreasen produced both features, series and documentaries.
2003 (76th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) -- Florian Baxmeyer Multiple television films and series Most (The Bridge) -- Bobby Garabedian, William Zabka Mr. Zabka has appeared as an actor in numerous films and television shows Squash -- Lionel Bailliu Features: Fair Play and Denis (in post) (A) Torzija [(A) Torsion] -- Stefan Arsenijevic Directed: Lost and Found, Love and Other Crimes, and Do Not Forget Me Istanbul *Two Soldiers -- Aaron Schneider,Asc (Cinematographer numerous credits) and feature, Kiss the Girls, Andrew J. Sacks Series The Closer (98 episodes) and Major Crimes.
2004 (77th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Everything in This Country Must -- Gary McKendry Directed Killer Elite, Joseph and the Girl Little Terrorist -- Ashvin Kumar Produced and Directed features (2) and documentaries (2) 7:35 in the Morning (7:35 de la Mañana) -- Nacho Vigalondo Directed and written multiple films, series, shorts Two Cars, One Night -- Taika Waititi, Acted and directed and written multi television and films Ainsley Gardiner Nz based producer of multiple shorts, television and feature films *Wasp -- Andrea Arnold Actor, director and writer of numbers films, television programs
2005 (78th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Ausreisser (The Runaway) -- Ulrike Grote Ms. Grote has acted in over 42 programs, features, television series and films Cashback -- Sean Ellis, Director/Writer Metro Manila, The Broken Lene Bausager Producer, The Broken, Ginger and Rosa The Last Farm -- Rúnar Rúnarsson, Director/Writer Volcano, Thor S. Sigurjónsson Produced multiple features Our Time Is Up -- Rob Pearlstein, Director/Writer multiple television and a feature Pia Clemente Producer, documentaries *Six Shooter -- Martin McDonagh Writer/Director Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges
2006 (79th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) -- Javier Fesser, no other credits shown Luis Manso Produced multiple features Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) -- Borja Cobeaga Writer, multi films and television series Helmer & Son -- Søren Pilmark no other credits, Kim Magnusso Producer over 100 film, television films (4 Best Short Film Academy Award nominations) Won for Ernst & Lyset The Saviour -- Peter Templeman, no other credits Stuart Parkyn, Producer, multi-short film credits *West Bank Story -- Ari Sandel Director, one short, one documentary
2007 (80th)
Short Film (Live Action)
At Night -- Christian E. Christiansen, Directed, Features and television series Louise Vesth Producer, multi features Il Supplente (The Substitute) -- Andrea Jublin
*Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) -- Philippe Pollet-Villard Actor and director short films, a television film
Tanghi Argentini -- Guido Thys, Director, Multiple television series Anja Daelemans, nominated for 2 Short Film nominations (Gridlock, 2002) Producer/Pm various The Tonto Woman -- Daniel Barber, Directed The Keeping Room, Harry Brown Matthew Brown Produced 2 shorts
2008 (81st)
Short Film (Live Action)
Auf der Strecke (On the Line) -- Reto Caffi Manon on the Asphalt -- Elizabeth Marre, Director, Television series Olivier Pont Director, Television series New Boy -- Steph Green, Director Run and Jump Tamara Anghie Producer Run and Jump The Pig -- Tivi Magnusson, Producer Over 64 titles many short films, Dorte Høgh Writer multiple series, (Directed The Pig) *Spielzeugland (Toyland) -- Jochen Alexander Freydank Producer of multiple television series
2009 (82nd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Door -- Juanita Wilson, Director As If I Am Not There James Flynn Multiple Producer credits for over 50 titles, television and theatrical Instead of Abracadabra -- Patrik Eklund, Director, Television film and feature Mathias Fjellström Kavi -- Gregg Helvey Miracle Fish -- Luke Doolan, Multiple credits as editor Drew Bailey Multiple credits as Assistant Director *The New Tenants -- Joachim Back, no other credits shown as a director, Tivi Magnusson This is Mr. Magnusson’s first Academy Award and second nomination. See 2008.
2010 (83rd)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession -- Tanel Toom The Crush -- Michael Creagh *God of Love -- Luke Matheny Feature Love Sick and multiple Television series episode Na Wewe -- Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 -- Ian Barnes, Multiple directing credits Television Samantha Waite Credits as production coordinator on multiple titles
2011 (84th)
Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost -- Peter McDonald, Credits as actor Eimear O'Kane Credits as Producer on The Shadows and on television programs. Raju -- Max Zähle, Director, Television series Stefan Gieren Producer-Writer credit on feature film, Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur *The Shore -- Terry George, Writer Two Oscar nominations for screenplays In the Name of the Father and Hotel Riwanda Producer and director on films and television series Oorlagh George Numerous credits as Assistant on features, documentaries and television shows Time Freak -- Andrew Bowler Writer and actor in a short film Gigi Causey Production manager, producer shorts, series and films
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Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz
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Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).
Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.
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- 2/28/2013
- by Mitchell Block
- Sydney's Buzz
Welcome to another weekly preview of upcoming Blu-Ray releases! You may notice that we’ve implemented some design changes; sometimes a new look can go a long way.
This week, Hotel Transylvania makes Club Med look like a daycare, the Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Collection explodes onto store shelves, and a slew of Oscar winning short films get a home release.
Ready for this week’s Blu-Ray releases? Then read on.
Hotel Transylvania
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, and Andy Samberg.
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
A computer-animated comedy film directed by the creator of the totally-underrated Samurai Jack. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Plot: Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them.
This week, Hotel Transylvania makes Club Med look like a daycare, the Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Collection explodes onto store shelves, and a slew of Oscar winning short films get a home release.
Ready for this week’s Blu-Ray releases? Then read on.
Hotel Transylvania
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, and Andy Samberg.
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
A computer-animated comedy film directed by the creator of the totally-underrated Samurai Jack. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.
Plot: Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them.
- 1/27/2013
- by C.P. Howells
- We Got This Covered
Casting news continues to roll in for David Wain‘s newest comedy They Came Together, as THR reports Michael Ian Black, Cobie Smulders, and Noureen DeWulf (pictured right) will be joining Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas, Max Greenfield, and most recently Ed Helms for the romantic comedy spoof.
Wain will be directing the project, which he wrote alongside Michael Showalter. Here’s the synopsis for the film, which you can read below:
“When Joel (Rudd) and Molly (Poehler) meet, it’s hate at first sight; his big corporation is the one that threatens to shut down her quirky knick-knack store. Story, which follows their predictably on-again/off-again relationship, features rom-com staples such as the jealous ex-girlfriend, the office jerk, scary in-laws, a boring dentist, a wise dog and beautiful shots of New York City in autumn.”
Black is a longtime collaborator with Wain – making this a Stella reunion of...
Wain will be directing the project, which he wrote alongside Michael Showalter. Here’s the synopsis for the film, which you can read below:
“When Joel (Rudd) and Molly (Poehler) meet, it’s hate at first sight; his big corporation is the one that threatens to shut down her quirky knick-knack store. Story, which follows their predictably on-again/off-again relationship, features rom-com staples such as the jealous ex-girlfriend, the office jerk, scary in-laws, a boring dentist, a wise dog and beautiful shots of New York City in autumn.”
Black is a longtime collaborator with Wain – making this a Stella reunion of...
- 6/20/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Noureen DeWulf, who has a regular role as a boyfriend-shooting spoiled rich girl in Charlie Sheen's therapy group on Anger Management, which debuts on FX on June 28, has been cast in Lionsgate's They Came Together. David Wain is directing the film, which he wrote with Michael Showalter. DeWulf, who first won notice in the 2007 Oscar-winning short West Bank Story, will play the assistant to Paul Rudd, who plays a big businessman threatening to engulf the little business of Amy Poehler. On his blog, Wain calls the movie "a spoof/homage/deconstruction/love letter to Romantic Comedies." Ed Helms,
read more...
read more...
- 6/19/2012
- by Tim Appelo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
James Franco is in talks to star in MGM's big screen adaptation of the bestselling book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss. Franco would not be playing the Strauss character however, but instead the chatacter of Mystery, a master pick-up artist who teaches Neil the tricks of the trade and introduces him into the world of "the game." Some of you might recall that the real life Mystery starred in a VH1 reality series spawned by the success of the book called "The Pick-Up Artist". "Are you just another Afc ('average frustrated chump') trying to meet an Hb ('hot babe')? How would you like to 'full-close' with a Penthouse Pet of the Year? The answers, my friend, are in Neil Strauss' entertaining book The Game." So begins, the Amazon.com [1] description of The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss.
- 1/6/2012
- by Peter Sciretta
- Slash Film
Ari Sandel (West Bank Story, which won the 2006 Academy Award for live action short) made this video for Wme’s Talent Department. As you know, Wme often puts together spoofs (‘Pinkberry: The Movie’ here) for its quarterly meetings. Apa was first to forward it because it pokes fun at both Wme and CAA. Starring Maz Jobrani with cameos by Armie Hammer and Sofia Vergara and Wme agents. Genius, and not just because it mentions Deadline and me:...
- 10/27/2011
- by NIKKI FINKE
- Deadline TV
Ari Sandel (West Bank Story, which won the 2006 Academy Award for live action short) made this video for Wme’s Talent Department. As you know, Wme often puts together spoofs (‘Pinkberry: The Movie’ here) for its quarterly meetings. Apa was first to forward it because it pokes fun at both Wme and CAA. Starring Maz Jobrani with cameos by Armie Hammer and Sofia Vergara and Wme agents. Genius, and not just because it mentions Deadline and me:...
- 10/27/2011
- by NIKKI FINKE
- Deadline Hollywood
Short films can be potent little nuggets of gleeful chaos. It's a crying shame that the short form flick doesn't get enough respect -- it's the gold standard for film schools and festivals, but outside of that, they get virtually no exposure. This year's crop is particularly brutal humor -- the best examples of how you can do a lot with 20 minutes worth of film. Like the best pictures themselves, it's s nice five off of horror, comedy, drama, war, unrequited love and a whole lot of wicked, wicked youngsters. In fact, of the five there's only one that fulfills the requisite hipster black and white clown flipping a pancake piece -- and that's not even that bad. It's a damn fine batch of short films, and it'll be difficult to choose a favorite.
The Confession
For those among us who knelt our way to salvation through the Catholic sacraments,...
The Confession
For those among us who knelt our way to salvation through the Catholic sacraments,...
- 2/18/2011
- by Brian Prisco
Neil Strauss is having an awesome day. Earlier this morning, Robert Downey Jr. and Columbia Pictures optioned his non-fiction book Emergency!: This Book Will Save Your Life and now another one of his books has found a pair of writers to script an adaptation. The Wrap reports that Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, best known as the head writers on The Office and the guys that Bill Murray likes to make fun of, have been hired to write The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, based on Strauss' best seller. The non-fiction book is a controversial and somewhat disturbing look at the self-described "pick-up artist" Mystery, a Toronto-based magician who teaches ugly men how to pick up women (you may remember him from his short-lived reality series on VH1 from a couple years ago). Ari Sandel, who won an Oscar for his short film West Bank Story,...
- 10/20/2010
- cinemablend.com
I'm sure at some point while flipping through the cable stations you came across VH1's The Pickup Artist, which ran for two seasons (so far) and starred the self-proclaimed greatest pick-up artist ever, Mystery. His real name is Erik von Markovik, but in the world of pick-up artists, he goes by Mystery -- an author of several popular books, host of his own VH1 show and the guy who supposedly knows the tricks to picking up any woman at any time in any place.
Prior to the VH1 show, Mystery was also featured in a book called The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists, written by a journalist named Neil Strauss who penetrated the ultra-secretive world of pick-up artists, was mentored by an extremely dysfunctional Mystery (we're talking depression, crying fits, the whole nine yards), and went on to become what the pick-up artist community refers to...
Prior to the VH1 show, Mystery was also featured in a book called The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists, written by a journalist named Neil Strauss who penetrated the ultra-secretive world of pick-up artists, was mentored by an extremely dysfunctional Mystery (we're talking depression, crying fits, the whole nine yards), and went on to become what the pick-up artist community refers to...
- 5/27/2010
- by Erik Davis
- Cinematical
Yesterday it was reported that Academy Award-winning USC grad Ari Sandel was in talks to direct the big screen adaptation of Neil Strauss' bestselling book The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists. So I thought it would be as good a time than any to feature West Bank Story, the short film which won Sandel an Oscar in 2007 for Best Live Action Short Film. Here is some information on the short: West Bank Story is a comedy/musical short film, directed by Ari Sandel, co-written by Sandel and Kim Ray, produced by Pascal Vaguelsy, Amy Kim, Ashley Jordan, Ravi Malhotra, and featuring choreography by Ramon Del Barrio. The film is a parody of the classic musical film West Side Story, which in turn is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. The film follows the romance between the relatives of the owners of rival falafel restaurants, one Israeli...
- 5/27/2010
- by Peter Sciretta
- Slash Film
In 2005, Columbia Pictures acquired the film rights to Neil Strauss' bestselling pickup book The Game: Penetrating The Secret Society of Pickup Artists, and About A Boy director/screenwriter Chris Weitz was at one point attached to direct. The option expired, and rights returned to Strauss. Now Variety is reporting that Academy Award-winning USC grad Ari Sandel (West Bank Story) is in talks to direct the big screen adaptation for Lionsgate with Spyglass financing and Depth of Field producing. Due Date scribe Adam Sztykiel is rewriting Dan Weiss' script. For those of you who are chuckling about the idea of a handbook for pickup artists being adapted into a big screen movie, that isn't exactly the case. While Strauss' book does have informations which claim to teach men who to pickup women, the story is a first person account of Rolling Stone writer Struss' journey into the world of pickup artists,...
- 5/26/2010
- by Peter Sciretta
- Slash Film
Oscar winner Ari Sandel ("West Bank Story") is in talks to direct the dating comedy "The Game" at Lionsgate, Spyglass and Depth of Field reports Variety.
The story follows an average and unlucky in love loser who tries becoming the world's best pickup artist with the help of professional seduction experts.
Adam Sztykiel ("Due Date") is rewriting Dan Weiss' script which is based on Neil Strauss' dating-themed book. The project was originally setup in Sony in 2006.
Meanwhle Sztykiel has also sold his family-centered comedy pitch "The Fight Before Christmas" to 20th Century Fox and 21 Laps. Shawn Levy will produce.
The story follows an average and unlucky in love loser who tries becoming the world's best pickup artist with the help of professional seduction experts.
Adam Sztykiel ("Due Date") is rewriting Dan Weiss' script which is based on Neil Strauss' dating-themed book. The project was originally setup in Sony in 2006.
Meanwhle Sztykiel has also sold his family-centered comedy pitch "The Fight Before Christmas" to 20th Century Fox and 21 Laps. Shawn Levy will produce.
- 5/26/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Slowly but surely, Neil Strauss’ The Game has become a generation-defining book. A journalist who was utterly inept with women, Strauss chronicled his adventures in the community of pickup artists, men dedicated to perfecting the pursuit of the fairer sex. The book was such a mesmerizing bildungsroman that you have to believe at least some of it was invented: Strauss became a master seductionist, flirted with Britney Spears, became Courtney Love’s roommate, and bedded roughly half the women in Los Angeles. But five years after its publication, I don’t know any guy my age who hasn’t read it.
- 5/25/2010
- by Darren Franich
- EW.com - PopWatch
By Steve Pond
In many ways, the Live-Action Short category is the toughest of the three Oscar short-film categories to predict. Voters’ likes and dislikes are easier to track in the animated and documentary categories, where emotional appeal often trumps everything else; the live-action nominees tend not to be as personal, mixing light and dark, rough and polished.
Recent winners in the category have been all over the map: the blackly humorous “Six Shooter,” the heart-tugging Holocaust story “Spielzeugland,” the slick “West Bank Story,” the unbelievably ...
In many ways, the Live-Action Short category is the toughest of the three Oscar short-film categories to predict. Voters’ likes and dislikes are easier to track in the animated and documentary categories, where emotional appeal often trumps everything else; the live-action nominees tend not to be as personal, mixing light and dark, rough and polished.
Recent winners in the category have been all over the map: the blackly humorous “Six Shooter,” the heart-tugging Holocaust story “Spielzeugland,” the slick “West Bank Story,” the unbelievably ...
- 2/18/2010
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
- It couldn’t happen any other time than the middle of the night. That ringing is not a dream. There, on the other side of the line, is the voice you have tried so hard to forget while secretly longing to hear again. You’re half asleep so you can’t be sure the conversation is actually happening. She’s in town. She’s leaving tomorrow. She wants to see you. Nothing good can come of this but you can’t say no., not to her. So you drag yourself out of bed, throw on some jeans and prepare yourself to revisit every memory, good and bad, that the two of you created. It’s a scenario most can relate to and that common experience is what makes Francois Dompierre’s All the Days Before Tomorrow, a dissected history of Wes (Joey Kern), Alison (Alexandra Holden) and the space they created together,
- 9/4/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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