Horror and comic books: chances are you love one or the other of ’em — most likely both, or why in the hell would you even be reading this? Anyway, a dude that deals in both of those fine subjects all simultaneous-like just came a-waltzin’ into the Crypt o’ Xiii. Please put your claws together for Rough House Publishing’s Derek Rook!
Famous Monsters. Welcome, Derek; please kick that corpse outta the way and take a load off! Now, please tell my faithful Coffin Club all the jucy deets about Rough House Publishing!
Derek Rook. We’re living in a golden age of nostalgia and retro pop culture and at the same time in an age where modern comic book IPs have become little more than advertisements for a much larger and profitable medium… namely movies and TV shows. I had a go around with independent publishing in the early 2000s.
Famous Monsters. Welcome, Derek; please kick that corpse outta the way and take a load off! Now, please tell my faithful Coffin Club all the jucy deets about Rough House Publishing!
Derek Rook. We’re living in a golden age of nostalgia and retro pop culture and at the same time in an age where modern comic book IPs have become little more than advertisements for a much larger and profitable medium… namely movies and TV shows. I had a go around with independent publishing in the early 2000s.
- 5/23/2016
- by DanielXIII
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
The BBC has released an official digital Doctor Who box-set via BitTorrent.
Fans can download or stream a 10-minute preview of the first 2005 episode 'Rose' and an introductory video from Peter Capaldi as a free bundle through the file-sharing network.
To unlock the rest of the full 10-episode bundle (12 including two-parters), fans will have to pay $12 (£8).
The episodes are: 'Rose', 'The Empty Child', 'The Doctor Dances', 'The Girl in the Fireplace', 'Blink', 'The End of Time', 'The Vampires of Venice', 'The Doctor's Wife', 'The Rings of Akhaten', 'The Day of the Doctor', and 'Listen'.
Those who pay will also receive five more video introductions from Capaldi, the documentary Doctor Who: Earth Challenge, and a Pdf file of the original 'Rose' script.
"Our entire mission is to get content out legitimately to as many fans as we can around the world. We're in a lot of territories, but we're not everywhere,...
Fans can download or stream a 10-minute preview of the first 2005 episode 'Rose' and an introductory video from Peter Capaldi as a free bundle through the file-sharing network.
To unlock the rest of the full 10-episode bundle (12 including two-parters), fans will have to pay $12 (£8).
The episodes are: 'Rose', 'The Empty Child', 'The Doctor Dances', 'The Girl in the Fireplace', 'Blink', 'The End of Time', 'The Vampires of Venice', 'The Doctor's Wife', 'The Rings of Akhaten', 'The Day of the Doctor', and 'Listen'.
Those who pay will also receive five more video introductions from Capaldi, the documentary Doctor Who: Earth Challenge, and a Pdf file of the original 'Rose' script.
"Our entire mission is to get content out legitimately to as many fans as we can around the world. We're in a lot of territories, but we're not everywhere,...
- 4/2/2015
- Digital Spy
Following in the footsteps of Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu, BitTorrent is developing more original content as part of its quest for legitimacy. The peer-to-peer file sharing platform, which has been trying to rid itself of its associations with piracy, has partnered with Rapid Eye Studios to produce and distribute projects via its Bundle platform, to be known as BitTorrent Originals, the company announced on its blog. Read More: Forget Piracy. Here's How BitTorrent Plans to Revolutionize Diy Distribution "Others in the original content space such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu have made great progress, but we are starting out with a big advantage: We have a larger audience than all of those platforms combined," said Matt Mason, chief content officer, BitTorrent, Inc. The first project from the new BitTorrent Originals banner will be "Children of the Machine," a sci-fi series that BitTorrent announced last year, with additional projects to be announced in.
- 2/11/2015
- by Paula Bernstein
- Indiewire
BitTorrent is getting very serious about developing original web series for its audience. In addition to BitTorrent’s recent documentary deal with Sony Pictures Classics, the company known for illegal torrenting has partnered with Rapid Eye Studios to create more video content under the title BitTorrent Originals.
BitTorrent is aiming to create programming for exclusive release through BitTorrent Bundles for 30 to 60 days before adding the content to other distribution platforms. The tech company’s VP of Communications and Brand, Christian Averill, wrote in a blog post the original content will be aimed at “a young, creative, and influential group of 14-25 year-olds,” the demographic which defines BitTorrent’s user base.
Creators who work with BitTorrent and Rapid Eye will have the choice to release their content via an ad-supported or electronic sell-through method (similar to how BitTorrent users currently pay for Bundles to access the included content). No matter which distribution model is chosen,...
BitTorrent is aiming to create programming for exclusive release through BitTorrent Bundles for 30 to 60 days before adding the content to other distribution platforms. The tech company’s VP of Communications and Brand, Christian Averill, wrote in a blog post the original content will be aimed at “a young, creative, and influential group of 14-25 year-olds,” the demographic which defines BitTorrent’s user base.
Creators who work with BitTorrent and Rapid Eye will have the choice to release their content via an ad-supported or electronic sell-through method (similar to how BitTorrent users currently pay for Bundles to access the included content). No matter which distribution model is chosen,...
- 2/11/2015
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
As part of Sony Picture Entertainment’s media blitz today to defend its decision of pulling The Interview after President Barack Obama called the move “a mistake,” Spe CEO told NPR that Sony “very much wanted to keep the picture in release” but “we don’t have any takers, neither on the video demand side nor on the e-commerce side.”
That is not exactly the case — at least one outlet has volunteered its services to release the Seth Rogen comedy, which triggered one of the biggest hacking scandals in history. BitTorrent Chief Content Officer Matt Mason told Deadline today that his file-sharing service wants to circulate The Interview. “We have reached out (to Sony) on a number of fronts,” he said. “It seems like no one else wants to touch this, but for us this about the two things we care about most: an open Internet and a sustainable future for creativity.
That is not exactly the case — at least one outlet has volunteered its services to release the Seth Rogen comedy, which triggered one of the biggest hacking scandals in history. BitTorrent Chief Content Officer Matt Mason told Deadline today that his file-sharing service wants to circulate The Interview. “We have reached out (to Sony) on a number of fronts,” he said. “It seems like no one else wants to touch this, but for us this about the two things we care about most: an open Internet and a sustainable future for creativity.
- 12/20/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
Oh, look ... it's a fist slamming into my face in slow motion. And there's another one. Yes, kids, in a move some of you may appreciate more than others it's the video montage of the Fantastic Debates featuring violence performed for your entertainment by myself, Matt Mason, Joe Lynch, Josh Ethier, Maria Reinup, Jenny Jacobi, Tim League and Ti West. Also, my wife looks far too happy when she appears in this video.Watch it below....
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[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 9/30/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Last night's Fantastic Debates were the talk of twitter (see our live tweet stream at @TwitchFilm) and all four fights were some of the best the event has seen yet. We're hoping to have some video for you in the coming days, but in the meantime, check out these awesome photos courtesy of David Hill. The order of events: 1) Josh Ethier vs. Joe Lynch - Cowboys vs. Ninjas 2) Jenny Jacobin vs. Maria Reinup - Literature adaptations 3) Matt Mason vs. Todd Brown - Bit torrent 4) Ti West vs. Tim League - Found Footage cinema...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 9/22/2014
- Screen Anarchy
In The Town That Dreaded Sundown, a copycat of the Phantom Killer who struck 66 years ago reignites the Moonlight Murders in a small Texas town. And in Horns, a man suspected of killing his girlfriend wakes up to find horns jutting from his forehead, thus bringing a little hell on Earth. These two films are among those joining the 10th anniversary celebration of Austin’s Fantastic Fest.
The Hive, It Follows, Everly, and Open Windows are also included in the recently announced final wave of programming for Fantastic Fest, which takes place September 18th-25th in Austin, Texas. We have the official press release with full details:
Austin, TX – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - “Fantastic Fest celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its biggest year yet with 80 exciting films including 22 World Premieres, 43 North American & Us Premiere screenings and 38 short films. The final wave includes Horns, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, The Hive, It Follows,...
The Hive, It Follows, Everly, and Open Windows are also included in the recently announced final wave of programming for Fantastic Fest, which takes place September 18th-25th in Austin, Texas. We have the official press release with full details:
Austin, TX – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - “Fantastic Fest celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its biggest year yet with 80 exciting films including 22 World Premieres, 43 North American & Us Premiere screenings and 38 short films. The final wave includes Horns, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, The Hive, It Follows,...
- 9/11/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Please tell me you know about Fantastic Fest. If not, this isn’t the first article you should be reading, it’s the last. Here are the final events and films that will be a part of the greatest film festival known to man.
Austin, TX – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 – Fantastic Fest celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its biggest year yet with 80 exciting films including 22 World Premieres, 43 North American & Us Premiere screenings and 38 short films. The finalwave includes Horns, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, The Hive, It Follows, Everly, Open Windows and guests Joe Lynch, Liv Corfixen & Nicolas Winding Refn, Edgar Wright, Ti West, Nacho Vigalondo, Alfonso Gomez- Rejon, and David Robert Mitchell. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
“We promised that our tenth anniversary was going to be the most deranged yet and I’m proud to say...
Austin, TX – Wednesday, September 10, 2014 – Fantastic Fest celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its biggest year yet with 80 exciting films including 22 World Premieres, 43 North American & Us Premiere screenings and 38 short films. The finalwave includes Horns, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, The Hive, It Follows, Everly, Open Windows and guests Joe Lynch, Liv Corfixen & Nicolas Winding Refn, Edgar Wright, Ti West, Nacho Vigalondo, Alfonso Gomez- Rejon, and David Robert Mitchell. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
“We promised that our tenth anniversary was going to be the most deranged yet and I’m proud to say...
- 9/10/2014
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
In 2014 Fantastic Fest celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its biggest year yet, and the final wave includes Horns, The Town that Dreaded Sundown, The Hive, It Follows, Everly, Open Windows, and lots more!
With 80 exciting films including 22 World Premieres, 43 North American and Us Premiere screenings, and 38 short films, Fantastic Fest 2014 is an event you don't want to miss! It takes place September 18-25, 2014, in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Special guests include Joe Lynch, Liv Corfixen and Nicolas Winding Refn, Edgar Wright, Ti West, Nacho Vigalondo, Alfonso Gomez- Rejon, and David Robert Mitchell.
From the Press Release:
"We promised that our tenth anniversary was going to be the most deranged yet, and I'm proud to say we've delivered on that promise," says festival founder Tim League. "Not only have we compiled our biggest slate of exceptional genre films, but the chaos we've embraced for...
With 80 exciting films including 22 World Premieres, 43 North American and Us Premiere screenings, and 38 short films, Fantastic Fest 2014 is an event you don't want to miss! It takes place September 18-25, 2014, in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Special guests include Joe Lynch, Liv Corfixen and Nicolas Winding Refn, Edgar Wright, Ti West, Nacho Vigalondo, Alfonso Gomez- Rejon, and David Robert Mitchell.
From the Press Release:
"We promised that our tenth anniversary was going to be the most deranged yet, and I'm proud to say we've delivered on that promise," says festival founder Tim League. "Not only have we compiled our biggest slate of exceptional genre films, but the chaos we've embraced for...
- 9/10/2014
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
Radius-twc’s Salma Hayek action thriller Everly will make its world premiere this month at Fantastic Fest, the genre fest announced today along with its final batch of high profile titles and filmmaker guests. Joining the Joe Lynch-directed pic in Austin will be Blumhouse and MGM/Orion’s horror remake The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Radius-twc’s Cannes horror pick-up It Follows, Picturehouse’s The Guest, and Dimension/Radius’ Daniel Radcliffe starrer Horns.
Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn will moderate the world premiere of David Yarovesky’s The Hive, while Nicolas Winding Refn will host a screening of recently restored The Astrologer and appear in his wife Liv Corfixen’s My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn, a documentary filmed during the making of Only God Forgives. Director Edgar Wright is also heading to Austin as a juror in the Next Wave film category. The annual festival...
Guardians Of The Galaxy director James Gunn will moderate the world premiere of David Yarovesky’s The Hive, while Nicolas Winding Refn will host a screening of recently restored The Astrologer and appear in his wife Liv Corfixen’s My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn, a documentary filmed during the making of Only God Forgives. Director Edgar Wright is also heading to Austin as a juror in the Next Wave film category. The annual festival...
- 9/10/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
We are three weeks away until Fantastic Fest. Kind of amazing to think about. This year, I am blessed to bring Mike Hassler with me. We will be seeing as many films as our eyeballs will see and writing as many reviews as our fingers will allow us. Take a look at the second wave announcement below and don’t forget to look at the first wave and my predictions of what might play at the fest (I didn’t fare well with the Second Wave). As before, I have included the trailers for all the films, if available, announced in this wave.
From the Press Release
Austin, TX – Wednesday, August 27, 2014 – Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the second wave of events, special guests and film programming. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
From the Press Release
Austin, TX – Wednesday, August 27, 2014 – Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the second wave of events, special guests and film programming. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
- 8/28/2014
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
Fantastic Fest 2014 kicks off September 18, and the second wave of films has been announced. Purgatory, Redeemer, Whispers Behind the Wall, Necrophobia 3D, Over Your Dead Body, and more are on the menu!
From the Press Release:
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the second wave of events, special guests, and film programming. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas, at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Get ready to be blown away by Lionsgate's latest action-packed thriller, John Wick starring Keanu Reeves, with a red carpet gala screening with Reeves and directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski in attendance. John Wick is the story of a former ex-hitman who comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the "assassin genre.
From the Press Release:
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the second wave of events, special guests, and film programming. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas, at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Get ready to be blown away by Lionsgate's latest action-packed thriller, John Wick starring Keanu Reeves, with a red carpet gala screening with Reeves and directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski in attendance. John Wick is the story of a former ex-hitman who comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the "assassin genre.
- 8/27/2014
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Be sure to check out MovieBS.com for reviews and commentary from the best film festival known to man. Here is the news release of the second wave of films and events.
Austin, TX – Wednesday, August 27, 2014 – Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the second wave of events, special guests and film programming. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Get ready to be blown away by Lionsgate’s latest action-packed thriller, John Wick starring Keanu Reeves, with a red carpet gala screening with Reeves and directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski in attendance. John Wick is the story of a former ex-hitman who comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the “assassin genre.
Austin, TX – Wednesday, August 27, 2014 – Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the second wave of events, special guests and film programming. Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Get ready to be blown away by Lionsgate’s latest action-packed thriller, John Wick starring Keanu Reeves, with a red carpet gala screening with Reeves and directors David Leitch and Chad Stahelski in attendance. John Wick is the story of a former ex-hitman who comes out of retirement to track down the gangsters that took everything from him. With New York City as his bullet-riddled playground, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a fresh and stylized take on the “assassin genre.
- 8/27/2014
- by Jeff Bayer
- The Scorecard Review
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the second wave of events, special guests and film programming.
Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Fantastic Fest is going all out with celebratory events and special programming, including: Fantastic Debates will pack a serious punch this year. Fantastic Fest's long-running showcase of verbal/physical combat is being amped up by a call to battle from Matt Mason Chief Content Officer for BitTorrent, Inc. Mason is placing an open call to all fighters to tackle the debate of whether BitTorrent.com is a valuable tool for creative artists or a playground for theft. In addition to the torrent debate, there will be a full undercard settling a range of topics with right hooks and sharp tongues alike.
The post Fantastic Fest: The Second Wave of Films Revealed!
Fantastic Fest 2014 takes place September 18-25th in Austin, Texas at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.
Fantastic Fest is going all out with celebratory events and special programming, including: Fantastic Debates will pack a serious punch this year. Fantastic Fest's long-running showcase of verbal/physical combat is being amped up by a call to battle from Matt Mason Chief Content Officer for BitTorrent, Inc. Mason is placing an open call to all fighters to tackle the debate of whether BitTorrent.com is a valuable tool for creative artists or a playground for theft. In addition to the torrent debate, there will be a full undercard settling a range of topics with right hooks and sharp tongues alike.
The post Fantastic Fest: The Second Wave of Films Revealed!
- 8/27/2014
- by Ryan Turek
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Open Road’s Jake Gyllenhaal starrer Nightcrawler will close the 10th annual Fantastic Fest in its U.S. premiere and Keanu Reeves will drop by for a gala screening of Lionsgate’s John Wick, organizers announced today. The rising genre film fest held September 18-25 in Austin, TX will open with the previously announced Tusk from Kevin Smith.
Also unveiled today along with a second wave of programming is a centerpiece bout in the Fantastic Debates, in which filmmakers, critics, and celebs engage in discourse at a podium before taking it to the boxing ring to determine the ultimate winner. This year, BitTorrent’s Chief Content Officer Matt Mason will take on a challenger to duke it out over whether the file sharing platform is a valuable tool or an enabler of piracy.
Related: Kevin Smith’s Horror-Comedy ‘Tusk’ To Open Fantastic Fest 2014
This year’s festival marks the grand...
Also unveiled today along with a second wave of programming is a centerpiece bout in the Fantastic Debates, in which filmmakers, critics, and celebs engage in discourse at a podium before taking it to the boxing ring to determine the ultimate winner. This year, BitTorrent’s Chief Content Officer Matt Mason will take on a challenger to duke it out over whether the file sharing platform is a valuable tool or an enabler of piracy.
Related: Kevin Smith’s Horror-Comedy ‘Tusk’ To Open Fantastic Fest 2014
This year’s festival marks the grand...
- 8/27/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
Falling Skies' family melodrama is never its strongest suit, and this week's episode is chock-full of it...
This review contains spoilers.
4.10 Drawing Straws
Falling Skies works best when it's blasting aliens and having fun with its sci-fi, or when it dabbles in horror elements to try to be creepy. The Mason family drama is not the show's strongest suit, though it has worked at times in the past. This week, however, the Mason squabbling throws a spanner into the works and detracts from some very good special affects on the beamer ships. Lexi travels to the Dianetics commercial lava world, overhears an alien plot, and destroys some valuable alien hardware in her return to the good side, but we spend much more time listening to people bicker than we do watching Lexi turn good and kill some fish heads
Tom bickers with Anne about his inability to let anyone else be the hero,...
This review contains spoilers.
4.10 Drawing Straws
Falling Skies works best when it's blasting aliens and having fun with its sci-fi, or when it dabbles in horror elements to try to be creepy. The Mason family drama is not the show's strongest suit, though it has worked at times in the past. This week, however, the Mason squabbling throws a spanner into the works and detracts from some very good special affects on the beamer ships. Lexi travels to the Dianetics commercial lava world, overhears an alien plot, and destroys some valuable alien hardware in her return to the good side, but we spend much more time listening to people bicker than we do watching Lexi turn good and kill some fish heads
Tom bickers with Anne about his inability to let anyone else be the hero,...
- 8/27/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Ron is fully on board with Falling Skies' return. Here's his review of the season 4 opener...
Review
This review contains spoilers.
4.1 Ghost In The Machine
Falling Skies has one real hallmark as a television show: it is relentlessly positive. It seems that no matter what you do to the Mason family and all their friends, everyone's super positive about how things are going to work out pretty much one hundred percent of the time. Sure the folks of the Second Mass might find themselves getting ambushed by an Espheni assault team, separated from one another by some sort of giant laser fence that turns people into paste, and kidnapped and herded into an internment camp/ghetto combination within the ruins of Charleston, but hey, as long as there are Masons around, everything's probably going to work out for the best.
Fortunately, there are a lot of Masons, because...
Review
This review contains spoilers.
4.1 Ghost In The Machine
Falling Skies has one real hallmark as a television show: it is relentlessly positive. It seems that no matter what you do to the Mason family and all their friends, everyone's super positive about how things are going to work out pretty much one hundred percent of the time. Sure the folks of the Second Mass might find themselves getting ambushed by an Espheni assault team, separated from one another by some sort of giant laser fence that turns people into paste, and kidnapped and herded into an internment camp/ghetto combination within the ruins of Charleston, but hey, as long as there are Masons around, everything's probably going to work out for the best.
Fortunately, there are a lot of Masons, because...
- 6/23/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
1. Net Neutrality: Earlier today, the FCC launched a process to establish new net neutrality rules, sending out a proposal for public comment. Matt Mason, BitTorrent Chief Content Officer, writes about why Hollywood should defend an open Internet. Read his guest post here. 2. Storyworlds: "Every single story has the opportunity for some kind of narrative extension," writes Senior Digital Content Strategist for Itvs, Karim Ahmad, the creator and producer of "Futurestates," in his story about why filmmakers need a storyworld. Read Ahmad's story here. 3. Amazon: Amazon jumps into original children's programming with three new original series premiering this summer. Ben Travers writes about the news here. 4. "Blue Mountain State:" Now that its Kickstarter campaign officially wrapped earlier today, it's official: the third most funded film on Kickstarter -- and the highest funded non-celebrity film project is "Blue Mountain State," which has managed to raise $1.9M (surpassing...
- 5/15/2014
- by Paula Bernstein
- Indiewire
Earlier today, the FCC launched a process to establish new net neutrality rules, sending out a proposal for public comment. "I will not allow the national asset of an open Internet to be compromised," FCC's Chairman Tom Wheeler said, during a meeting which was interrupted several times by protesters demanding protections for the open Internet. The proposed new rules would allow Internet providers to create a so-called "fast lane" for companies that are willing (and able) to pay for it. The five-member panel voted to put the plan out for public comment, along with questions about whether the FCC should tighten or loosen its proposed rules. Given that the commission set a four-month period for public comment, it's likely that this discussion and debate will continue for months. Previously, Indiewire published an Op-Ed by Dan Aronson, chief technical officer at Fandor, about why Net Neutrality matters to filmmakers. Now we...
- 5/15/2014
- by Matt Mason
- Indiewire
Mention BitTorrent and people mistakenly assume that you're talking about piracy. "We have this problem because there were so many piracy sites that used it that BitTorrent become a verb, to BitTorrent something," said Matt Mason, BitTorrent VP, Marketing. While Mason acknowledges that piracy sites use the protocol, he also points out that "Facebook, Twitter, The Human Genome Project and traders on Wall Street also use it." The BitTorrent protocol supports peer-to-peer file sharing that is used to distribute large amounts of data over the internet. The name became synonymous with piracy because the protocol is open-source and allows people to move large amounts of information. But the company is determined to change its reputation -- especially among content creators such as musicians, publishers and filmmakers. Its BitTorrent Bundle, a new file format that embeds digital storefronts inside downloads, could revolutionize Diy distribution for filmmakers, publishers and other content...
- 2/6/2014
- by Paula Bernstein
- Indiewire
In the next phase of the growing partnership between Vice Media and BitTorrent, Vice will create song bundles, short films and media with musicians for users of the file-sharing service. The two companies, who joined forces when Vice’s Ben Dietz and BitTorrent’s Matt Mason sat down at South by Southwest, previously worked together on a Madonna bundle. That bundle included a short film the pop star co-directed with Steven Klein that was available last month. Neither company would disclose which artists will take part in these initial bundles. BitTorrent has previously offered music and music videos from Public Enemy and Kaskade,...
- 10/17/2013
- by Lucas Shaw
- The Wrap
The Project: TNT’s Falling Skies
The Panel: Noah Wyle (Tom), Moon Bloodgood (Anne), Connor Jessup (Ben), “the devastatingly handsome” Drew Roy (Hal) — as moderator and Star Trek: The Next Generation alum Wil Wheaton called the actor — Colin Cunningham (Pope), “the face-meltingly beautiful” Sarah Carter (Maggie) — another Wheaton descriptor — Doug Jones (Cochise), executive producer Remi Aubuchon, and director/executive producer Greg Beeman
Footage screened: The audience was treated to a brief clip from the upcoming July 21 episode. Karen has Tom on a torture table in a creepy, alien place, not unlike the harnessing factory from season 2. The professor-turned-soldier tells Karen,...
The Panel: Noah Wyle (Tom), Moon Bloodgood (Anne), Connor Jessup (Ben), “the devastatingly handsome” Drew Roy (Hal) — as moderator and Star Trek: The Next Generation alum Wil Wheaton called the actor — Colin Cunningham (Pope), “the face-meltingly beautiful” Sarah Carter (Maggie) — another Wheaton descriptor — Doug Jones (Cochise), executive producer Remi Aubuchon, and director/executive producer Greg Beeman
Footage screened: The audience was treated to a brief clip from the upcoming July 21 episode. Karen has Tom on a torture table in a creepy, alien place, not unlike the harnessing factory from season 2. The professor-turned-soldier tells Karen,...
- 7/20/2013
- by Emily Rome
- EW - Inside TV
Throughout the third season of Falling Skies, Hal Mason has been secretly struggling with a piece of alien tech controlling his actions. The “evil Hal” storyline came to a head in tonight’s intense episode that Wil Wheaton, host of Falling Skies post-airing talk show 2nd Watch, calls “one of the most white knuckle-inducing episode we’ve ever seen.”
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read on if you do not want to find out what happened in tonight’s episode of Falling Skies, “Be Silent and Come Out.”
Falling Skies served up shocker after shocker Sunday as “evil Hal” took his own father hostage,...
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read on if you do not want to find out what happened in tonight’s episode of Falling Skies, “Be Silent and Come Out.”
Falling Skies served up shocker after shocker Sunday as “evil Hal” took his own father hostage,...
- 7/8/2013
- by Emily Rome
- EW - Inside TV
Expect the alien invasion to continue on TNT.
The cable network announced on Monday it has ordered a fourth season of "Falling Skies."
According to the network, Season 3 is averaging 5.8 million viewers each week, as they tune in to watch as Noah Wyle's Tom Mason and his sons battle the aliens.
Photos: 'Falling Skies' Season 3
Shot in Vancouver, the show stars Drew Roy as Hal Mason, Connor Jessup as Ben Mason, Maxim Knight as Matt Mason, Moonbloodgood as Dr. Anne Glass, Colin Cunningham as John Pope, Will Patton as Col. Weaver, Mpho Koaho ...
Copyright 2013 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The cable network announced on Monday it has ordered a fourth season of "Falling Skies."
According to the network, Season 3 is averaging 5.8 million viewers each week, as they tune in to watch as Noah Wyle's Tom Mason and his sons battle the aliens.
Photos: 'Falling Skies' Season 3
Shot in Vancouver, the show stars Drew Roy as Hal Mason, Connor Jessup as Ben Mason, Maxim Knight as Matt Mason, Moonbloodgood as Dr. Anne Glass, Colin Cunningham as John Pope, Will Patton as Col. Weaver, Mpho Koaho ...
Copyright 2013 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
- 7/2/2013
- by nobody@accesshollywood.com (AccessHollywood.com Editorial Staff)
- Access Hollywood
Midway through its third season (yes, we can’t believe the season is half over either), Falling Skies delivered an emotionally intense episode with tonight’s “Search and Recover.” In the newest installment of 2nd Watch, Wil Wheaton leads a discussion about the episode with Maxim Knight (Matt Mason) and executive producer-director Greg Beeman.
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read on if you do not want to find out what happened in tonight’s episode of Falling Skies, “Search and Recover.”
This latest episode of the TNT sci-fi series followed the search for Anne and baby Lexi after they’ve gone missing,...
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read on if you do not want to find out what happened in tonight’s episode of Falling Skies, “Search and Recover.”
This latest episode of the TNT sci-fi series followed the search for Anne and baby Lexi after they’ve gone missing,...
- 7/1/2013
- by Emily Rome
- EW - Inside TV
Sci-fi show Falling Skies continued its tale of alien invasion survivors on TNT tonight with an episode that had the show’s heroes suffering some losses and making some discoveries about rebels outside Charleston.
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read on if you do not want to find out what happened in tonight’s episode of Falling Skies, “Badlands.”
There was another casualty in the latest installment of the show: Crazy Lee died after suffering a wound to the head, and she said her emotional goodbyes to Pope and young Matt Mason.
In the newest 2nd Watch, the post-episode talk show for Falling Skies,...
Spoiler Alert: Don’t read on if you do not want to find out what happened in tonight’s episode of Falling Skies, “Badlands.”
There was another casualty in the latest installment of the show: Crazy Lee died after suffering a wound to the head, and she said her emotional goodbyes to Pope and young Matt Mason.
In the newest 2nd Watch, the post-episode talk show for Falling Skies,...
- 6/17/2013
- by Emily Rome
- EW - Inside TV
It’s a sunny late September day on the Vancouver set of alien invasion series Falling Skies, and director Greg Beeman is wishing there were more wind.
The cast and crew of the TNT sci-fi show are working on a long tracking shot of the Falling Skies heroes cleaning up after a battle in their home base of Charleston, where an American flag, for now, hangs limp on a pole in the center of town.
“I want that American flag to furl,” Beeman says. “Is it ‘furl’ or ‘unfurl’?” A crew member sitting next to him in video village assures...
The cast and crew of the TNT sci-fi show are working on a long tracking shot of the Falling Skies heroes cleaning up after a battle in their home base of Charleston, where an American flag, for now, hangs limp on a pole in the center of town.
“I want that American flag to furl,” Beeman says. “Is it ‘furl’ or ‘unfurl’?” A crew member sitting next to him in video village assures...
- 6/9/2013
- by Emily Rome
- EW - Inside TV
Sneak Peek more new images and footage from Season 3 of Stephen Spielberg's 'alien invasion' drama series "Falling Skies", debuting June 9, 2013.
The new season starts with a 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver',...
The new season starts with a 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver',...
- 6/2/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sneak Peek more new images and footage from Season 3 of Stephen Spielberg's 'alien invasion' drama series "Falling Skies", debuting June 9, 2013.
The new season starts with a 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver',...
The new season starts with a 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver',...
- 5/30/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sneak Peek more new images and footage from Season 3 of TNT's Vancouver-lensed science-fiction TV drama series "Falling Skies", debuting June 9, 2013.
The new season starts with a 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver',...
The new season starts with a 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver',...
- 5/10/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sneak Peek Season 3 of TNT's Vancouver-lensed science-fiction TV drama series "Falling Skies", debuting June 9, 2013 with the 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver', Jessy Schram as 'Karen Nadler', Robert Sean Leonard as 'Dr.
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason'.
He is a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver', Jessy Schram as 'Karen Nadler', Robert Sean Leonard as 'Dr.
- 5/7/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Sneak Peek Season 3 of TNT's Vancouver-lensed science-fiction TV drama series "Falling Skies", debuting June 9, 2013 with the 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason', a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver', Jessy Schram as 'Karen Nadler', Robert Sean Leonard as 'Dr. Roger...
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
The series is set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason', a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver', Jessy Schram as 'Karen Nadler', Robert Sean Leonard as 'Dr. Roger...
- 5/3/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
BitTorrent has a message for Hollywood -- we come in peace. The open-source technology that is used to share large files has become synonymous in the entertainment industry with piracy. That's a perception the San Francisco-based company is working hard to change. "There's been a misrepresentation in the media for a decade, and we know we need to rehabilitate our brand image," Matt Mason, BitTorrent's vice president of marketing, said. "One way of looking at piracy is not, 'Oh this isn't our problem,' it's, 'This is a problem in the world and...
- 4/26/2013
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
In what the La Times calls "one of the stranger plot twists in Hollywood," independent film distributor Cinedigm is teaming up with file-sharing service and Hollywood pariah BitTorrent to promote the forthcoming Arthur Newman (starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt.) The partnership is a result of Cinedigm Cmo Jill Calcaterra's belief in her audience's good will: "When you provide people with a legitimate alternative, more often than not they will take it," she said, citing iTunes. While BitTorrent is still pretty synonymous with piracy, vice president of marketing Matt Mason would prefer that filmmakers view his San Fransisco-based company as a "wonderful network of 170 million passionate consumers" of this new-found "opportunity to connect content creators with their fans." That's cool with Cinedigm, whose primary goal "is to get as many eyeballs as possible to see our films." Let's hope it works out for these two crazy kids.
- 4/20/2013
- by Delia Paunescu
- Vulture
Sneak Peek Season 3 of TNT's Vancouver-lensed science-fiction TV drama series "Falling Skies", debuting June 9, 2013 with the 2-hour season premiere episode "On Thin Ice":
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg, set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason', a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver', Jessy Schram as 'Karen Nadler', Robert Sean Leonard as 'Dr. Roger Kadar' and Gloria Reuben as 'Marina Perlata'.
"Falling Skies" was created by Robert Rodat and is produced by Steven Spielberg, set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, starring Noah Wyle as 'Tom Mason', a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the '2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment', a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.
Cast also includes Moon Bloodgood as 'Anne Glass', Drew Roy as 'Hal Mason', Connor Jessup as 'Ben Mason', Colin Cunningham as 'John Pope', Maxim Knight as 'Matt Mason', Sarah Sanguin Carter as 'Margaret', Mpho Koaho as 'Anthony', Seychelle Gabriel as 'Lourdes', Will Patton as 'Captain Dan Weaver', Jessy Schram as 'Karen Nadler', Robert Sean Leonard as 'Dr. Roger Kadar' and Gloria Reuben as 'Marina Perlata'.
- 4/7/2013
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Warning: There may be some contentious points on piracy and the future of online distribution in this article. Please feel free to comment and debate below!
I had a chance to attend the "Future of Film Summit" in Beverly Hills produced by Variety and DigitalMediaWire. The ambitious one-day event focused on "the current state of the industry, and how film and transmedia deals will be struck in the coming years." That's a pretty grand scale, but I'd have to say it delivered a good mix of traditional film perspective mixed with a suprisingly high-level group of online experts. The keynotes were given by Tom Bernard, Co-founder and Co-president, Sony Pictures Classics and by writer-director Kevin Smith (comments on the keynotes follow my conference takeaways below.)
A few takeaways from the conference:
Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors, a leading entertainment consulting firm, opened the conference with a fascinating collection of data about the general state of the film industry in terms of movie-going demographics. The most interesting part for me was that avid digital "streamers" spend the most money at traditional theaters, purchasing movies and TV shows online, and renting the same online. Hence, "Regular moviegoes not only are loyal to the cinema, they are also spending a lot of time with digital devices." (and spending money for content on these devices!)
Great news for indies, since the internet is still, for now, wide open for distribution to the savvy filmmaker. Other important points from the study:
Video is one of the top activites on smartphones (young people know this, but anyone over 30 producing content Needs to internalize this.) Full-length video watching on tablets outweighs smartphones, but the phones are growing - both in physical size and in full-length video watching habits. Tablet and iPhone users are the most likely to purchase TV and movie content on mobile.
Want to see all the exact figures and media demographics? Watch the entire 32-slide presentation and let me know your thoughts here.
If you can't beat 'em?
I was fascinated to see that the infamous BitTorrent was a headlining sponsor of the event. It definitely raised some hackles (see Tom Bernard's comments below.) Matt Mason, Executive Director of Marketing for BT, has the enviable/un-enviable job of both improving BitTorrent's image to the film industry and educating about potential areas for BT to actually become an asset to an indie film's marketing plan.
As a filmmaker/distributor I find my heart wrenched by the concept, but I'm fascinated at the possibility of torrents to empower filmmakers so I sat down with Matt and asked for some specifics. ~i.e. It's a new model...evolve or die?)
Zack Coffman: What did you think of the conference?
Matt Mason: I saw a lot of great films and projects I didn't know about and as a result, we're now working with some of those producers to help them promote their projects through the BitTorrent ecosystem. It's great to see so much positive change happening in the business. There's a sense of optimism about all the opportunities ahead and I really felt that at this event.
Zc: You are fighting very hard to change BT's image to filmmakers as a piracy enabler. Thoughts on this observation?
Mm: We are and there has been good momentum. The BitTorrent protocol is designed to move large files across the Internet; it fixes a problem inherent with the way the Internet was designed. At that time no one imagined the need for moving data as big as files are today and BitTorrent is the very best way to move large files. Much of that is personal media, such as a 20Gb video from your smart phone. Many people aren't aware of how BitTorrent is used for legitimate purposes by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Blizzard to push updates and move large amounts of data around their ecosystems.
We can't change human behavior, and piracy has been a fact of life throughout the history of media. What we can do is change the environment around piracy. We know that when Internet users are offered legitimate content from creators and publishers and the experience of getting that content is good, they will choose to interact with those content creators and reward them. We're working to create those experiences in BitTorrent, which at this point, is moving 30-40% of the world's Internet traffic everyday - more than http. We see a bright future. The music industry is coming back strong now that people are starting to really get a handle on digital - the same thing is starting to happening in film. We see only good things ahead and we're committed to being part of the solution.
Zc: Can you give filmmakers some real advice how to use BT to further their film marketing goals?
Mm: It really depends who your audience is, what you want them to do and what kind of marketing materials you're putting in front of that audience. We've had great success this year driving awareness and engagement for filmmakers. Giving someone a real, immersive glimpse into the story you are trying to tell and then giving the consumer a number of ways to interact with your story (email collection, social media, pushing them to your site) via BitTorrent has helped a number of filmmakers this year. Our key insight has been that there is no one solution, but as many solutions as there are pieces of content. Each piece of content can have a unique approach and our mission is to create a set of tools for content creators to access.
Zc: Examples?
Mm: Recently we worked with Stacy Peralta and the Bones Brigade team on their documentary that's playing now. Skateboarding’s 1990s youth revolution was a direct result of analog file sharing. Kids copying and swapping Powell-Peralta tapes made the Bones Brigade, the most famous - and the most successful - skate crew in history. Stacy Peralta’s acclaimed 2012 film, Bones Brigade: A Documentary, followed the handmade and hard-fought rise of this crew. But as a documentary about a niche sport, it faced barriers to attention and mainstream interest.
We wanted to create a 2.0 reinvention of the Diy distribution paradigm at the heart of the crew’s original success, and help generate reach and activation, beyond the Sundance and skate circuits. In partnership with Topspin Media and Stacy Peralta, we created a BitTorrent Bundle of media that gave BitTorrent users and Bones Brigade fans exclusive content from the film. The Bundle included the film’s HD trailer, graffiti stencils, artwork and music from Tommy Guerrero. Each Bundle was free for users to download. In order to unlock the content, users needed to provide an email address.
The Bones Brigade Bundle was offered to users at high-engagement touch points within the BitTorrent ecosystem: during software installation, as part of our Featured Artist program site and within the BitTorrent clients.
The result? Over one million views of the extended trailer on BitTorrent in a month (compared to 188,000 views on YouTube), over 81,000 new users driven to Bones Brigade social media properties and 185,000 fans driven to the movie's website. According to TopSpin, BitTorrent was the most potent form of marketing outside of the film's websites. They will be presenting a full breakdown of that campaign at Sundance in January.
Conference Tracks:
The conference offered two simultaneous "tracks" for the afternoon panels and while the studio production track seemed interesting and had some heavy hitters, I decided to stick with the Digital Future track.
Josh Dickey, film editor at Variety led a spirited panel entitled "Social Marketing Revolution", but he showed his digital chops by basically hijacking the gathered experts into a wider debate about various online marketing techniques. You'd expect Sony to be a leader in digital, but Elias Plishner, VP Worldwide Digital Media for Sony Pictures really had his act together and stood out by giving practical insight into how his department functions.
With a veritable army of digital team members in the back of the room, Plishner explained how every morning they create a "Digital Report Card" for every film currently in release. The report card includes the five top analytics for each marketing program: Site traffic, Buzz, Video Views, Social Activity (basically Facebook's TalkScore value), and organic search volume. All of these values are compared against a "genre norm" and followed by goals the team has set. With these numbers in hand, you could see it leading to a very efficient digital marketing effort. [Sony is really paying attention to the analytics and data that the net can provide. Every indie content creator needs to be doing this! - I'd like to see subscores of various social platforms since Fb isn't the only game in town any more.]
Discussion Point- What would be the impact of a property's score handicapped for: A) Pre-existing brand awareness B) Star power C) Marketing $ expenditure D) Film quality E) Seo F) PR intangibles. A handicap formula would be fascinating and I'd love to see its predictive value of a film's financial success vs. cost to produce/market. Thoughts?
The "Trendsetters of the New Platforms" panel featured several content producers discussing how they are using the new distribution model of the net. Afterwards, I caught up with Marc Lieberman, Head of Business Development for The Onion.
Zack Coffman: The Onion has been seeing amazing results from it's online programming. Can you please outline some of the areas you've been focusing on?
Marc Lieberman: Certainly. Recently, we've been expanding our online presence with the launch of our new daily show, 'ONNCast.' As we've done with our written content, we're taking a renewed focus on covering breaking news and timely news first and foremost.
Zc: Why do you think they've been successful?
Ml: As we saw with more timely written content, people want to watch and read our coverage of current events the very same day that these events are occurring. Even if you're a fan of some of our lesser-known competitors (The New York Times, The Huffington Post and CNN to name a few), you know that a visit to TheOnion.com will yield smarter, more in-depth reporting on the news of the day paired with our trademark attention-getting headlines. Sure, we no longer allow our writing staff time to sleep, but this is just one of the many sacrifices that true journalists must make. That, and attaining worthless college degree that renders them wholly unfit to work outside of a newsroom.
Zc: What's the overall goal for The Onion?
Ml: Since our first issue debuted 1783, the goal of The Onion has always been to shape and control the opinion of the American public. It has done so with nothing short of overwhelming success.
Though The Onion has been 'America's Finest News Source' since that time, the Internet has enabled us to also shape and control the opinion of those that live beyond our borders. Some, mistakenly, consider this part of our overall goal, but we assure you that it's merely a bi-product of our tremendous influence.
Zc: Do you actively employ Seo and Sem?
Ml: We do in terms of Seo. However, our large amount of web traffic no doubt gives us a quite an advantage over smaller sites. But, again, timely content will go a long way on search, as does our large story archive which proves the old adage, "news is cyclical."
Zc: The Kim Jong-un article was like a PR blitz for you, was it pure chance or are your writers that smart?
Ml: To be perfectly frank, we benefitted greatly from a lack of "sexy" news otherwise on the day that story broke. To clear up some confusion, our editor, Will Tracy, sent the following statement to the press:"For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."
Zc: How have you leveraged that explosion into your overall marketing efforts?
Ml: First, we actually added Will's statement to the article, and re-promoted the article through our social media channels and on our site. However, when something that does much the marketing work for you, the strategy that we employ is to not interfere with where it might go. That said, it afforded us many opportunities to be interviewed by a bevy of media sources, which is something we didn't shy away from.
Zc: The Onion has always been a beacon for independents, do you have any advice for indie film marketers out there?
Ml: Don't change your message, but be willing to change the way in which you deliver it. In this way, we were able to evolve from our print beginnings to an online presence that allows us to gain the readership of new people every day.
"The New Distribution Formula" panel dealt with changing release windows and new opportunities afforded by VOD. Tom Quinn and Jason Janego, co-presidents of Radius-twc joined Rob Sussman, Evp, Business Operations, Development, and Strategy, Epix, Jamie McCabe, Evp, worldwide PPV, VOD, Est, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Todd Green, General Manager, Tribeca Film, and Daniel Solnicki, Head of Worldwide Franchise Development, DreamWorks Animation in a discussion about new theatrical/VOD strategies; particularly focused on the day-and-date model and changing of traditional distribution windows. The discussion was frankly much too short, but it will be interesting to check in with Quinn and Janego about how Radius-twc achieved their cross-platform success with Bachelorette and watch very closely their upcoming release of Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling.
The last panel of the day was ambitiously called "Monetizing Film and Video Content in a Digital Age". It featured some big names, but ended up being a bit of a PR piece for the panelists, as they didn't really offer any concrete ideas for the jam-packed room. However, Jordan Metzner of Xsolla did try his best to explain specifically what his company does for filmmakers. "Xsolla provides in-game payment services for some of the largest video game developers and publishers in the world and can help filmmakers with our film monetization arm, called Cinify. We help film makers get on major networks as well as monetize content on their on sites using Cdn's and Xsolla as a payment solutions."
Apparently Xsolla's platform allows the viewer to watch/play a few minutes of a film/game before being asked to pony up and pay for the content. In my opinion, this is way better for indies than the other current models that ask for payment based on viewing only a trailer. I'll be curious to have a follow-up with Jason and investigate it further.
Notes on Notes:
The day's two keynotes offered some insight into filmmaking from two different perspectives.
Tim Gray, the big Kahuna at Variety sat down with industry uber-vet Tom Bernard of Sony Classics for the morning keynote and Bernard was suprisingly frank in his outlook for the future. He mentioned that Spc's audience skews older and he was concerned about that demographic aging problem. I had a chance to chat with Tom further about this conundrum and he explained that Spc films were traditionally a print media audience, but the new college of film is the internet so Spc has been acquiring more films that fit a wider demographic such as Searching for Sugarman- that has a huge online audience and huge audience of baby boomers, and Rust and Bone- a modern film, and very different than traditional foreign films which is getting a wide demographic as well.
"People determine their own DNA online," he continued saying that Spc is excited about opportunites the 'net brings because they are saving so much money by scaling back on print and "narrowcasting" on the net, resulting in their highest profit margins ever. When I asked him about his thoughts on BitTorrent being a sponsor of the show he was unequivocable on his position, "I was shocked and appalled. They are pirates and have caused huge amounts of money to be lost on our pictures. Those guys should be in jail."
Kevin Smith gave an entertaining and inspiring keynote speech, fielding questions posed by his Hollywood Babble-On co-host, Ralph Garman of Kroq. He's definitively taken some licks over the years (some self-inflicted, some not) but survives with his "indie cred" intact. His best quote of the night was a real winner, ""It's not about kissin' up, it's about kissin' down."
Smith continued, "Spend every second with your fans, connect with your audience." A proponent of crowdfunding, he said he routinely supports interesting projects and even sent some money recently to a campaign for a guy that wanted to become a glass-blower. "I just wanted to see that guy fucking do it!" exclaimed Smith, "Remember, they [media gatekeepers] need you [content creators] more than you need them."
Indies in the new film economy should worry more about online culture-building and dealing directly with their audience and less about trying to impress the gatekeepers and distributors that hold sway over the theaters and traditional media outlets.
I look forward to everyone's thoughts and comments! Have a wonderful holiday.
Written by Zack Coffman, a producer specializing in online strategy and monetization, live streaming, and Seo for film. Connect with Zack on LinkedIn and follow his film marketing tips and adventures @choppertown on Twitter.
I had a chance to attend the "Future of Film Summit" in Beverly Hills produced by Variety and DigitalMediaWire. The ambitious one-day event focused on "the current state of the industry, and how film and transmedia deals will be struck in the coming years." That's a pretty grand scale, but I'd have to say it delivered a good mix of traditional film perspective mixed with a suprisingly high-level group of online experts. The keynotes were given by Tom Bernard, Co-founder and Co-president, Sony Pictures Classics and by writer-director Kevin Smith (comments on the keynotes follow my conference takeaways below.)
A few takeaways from the conference:
Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors, a leading entertainment consulting firm, opened the conference with a fascinating collection of data about the general state of the film industry in terms of movie-going demographics. The most interesting part for me was that avid digital "streamers" spend the most money at traditional theaters, purchasing movies and TV shows online, and renting the same online. Hence, "Regular moviegoes not only are loyal to the cinema, they are also spending a lot of time with digital devices." (and spending money for content on these devices!)
Great news for indies, since the internet is still, for now, wide open for distribution to the savvy filmmaker. Other important points from the study:
Video is one of the top activites on smartphones (young people know this, but anyone over 30 producing content Needs to internalize this.) Full-length video watching on tablets outweighs smartphones, but the phones are growing - both in physical size and in full-length video watching habits. Tablet and iPhone users are the most likely to purchase TV and movie content on mobile.
Want to see all the exact figures and media demographics? Watch the entire 32-slide presentation and let me know your thoughts here.
If you can't beat 'em?
I was fascinated to see that the infamous BitTorrent was a headlining sponsor of the event. It definitely raised some hackles (see Tom Bernard's comments below.) Matt Mason, Executive Director of Marketing for BT, has the enviable/un-enviable job of both improving BitTorrent's image to the film industry and educating about potential areas for BT to actually become an asset to an indie film's marketing plan.
As a filmmaker/distributor I find my heart wrenched by the concept, but I'm fascinated at the possibility of torrents to empower filmmakers so I sat down with Matt and asked for some specifics. ~i.e. It's a new model...evolve or die?)
Zack Coffman: What did you think of the conference?
Matt Mason: I saw a lot of great films and projects I didn't know about and as a result, we're now working with some of those producers to help them promote their projects through the BitTorrent ecosystem. It's great to see so much positive change happening in the business. There's a sense of optimism about all the opportunities ahead and I really felt that at this event.
Zc: You are fighting very hard to change BT's image to filmmakers as a piracy enabler. Thoughts on this observation?
Mm: We are and there has been good momentum. The BitTorrent protocol is designed to move large files across the Internet; it fixes a problem inherent with the way the Internet was designed. At that time no one imagined the need for moving data as big as files are today and BitTorrent is the very best way to move large files. Much of that is personal media, such as a 20Gb video from your smart phone. Many people aren't aware of how BitTorrent is used for legitimate purposes by companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Blizzard to push updates and move large amounts of data around their ecosystems.
We can't change human behavior, and piracy has been a fact of life throughout the history of media. What we can do is change the environment around piracy. We know that when Internet users are offered legitimate content from creators and publishers and the experience of getting that content is good, they will choose to interact with those content creators and reward them. We're working to create those experiences in BitTorrent, which at this point, is moving 30-40% of the world's Internet traffic everyday - more than http. We see a bright future. The music industry is coming back strong now that people are starting to really get a handle on digital - the same thing is starting to happening in film. We see only good things ahead and we're committed to being part of the solution.
Zc: Can you give filmmakers some real advice how to use BT to further their film marketing goals?
Mm: It really depends who your audience is, what you want them to do and what kind of marketing materials you're putting in front of that audience. We've had great success this year driving awareness and engagement for filmmakers. Giving someone a real, immersive glimpse into the story you are trying to tell and then giving the consumer a number of ways to interact with your story (email collection, social media, pushing them to your site) via BitTorrent has helped a number of filmmakers this year. Our key insight has been that there is no one solution, but as many solutions as there are pieces of content. Each piece of content can have a unique approach and our mission is to create a set of tools for content creators to access.
Zc: Examples?
Mm: Recently we worked with Stacy Peralta and the Bones Brigade team on their documentary that's playing now. Skateboarding’s 1990s youth revolution was a direct result of analog file sharing. Kids copying and swapping Powell-Peralta tapes made the Bones Brigade, the most famous - and the most successful - skate crew in history. Stacy Peralta’s acclaimed 2012 film, Bones Brigade: A Documentary, followed the handmade and hard-fought rise of this crew. But as a documentary about a niche sport, it faced barriers to attention and mainstream interest.
We wanted to create a 2.0 reinvention of the Diy distribution paradigm at the heart of the crew’s original success, and help generate reach and activation, beyond the Sundance and skate circuits. In partnership with Topspin Media and Stacy Peralta, we created a BitTorrent Bundle of media that gave BitTorrent users and Bones Brigade fans exclusive content from the film. The Bundle included the film’s HD trailer, graffiti stencils, artwork and music from Tommy Guerrero. Each Bundle was free for users to download. In order to unlock the content, users needed to provide an email address.
The Bones Brigade Bundle was offered to users at high-engagement touch points within the BitTorrent ecosystem: during software installation, as part of our Featured Artist program site and within the BitTorrent clients.
The result? Over one million views of the extended trailer on BitTorrent in a month (compared to 188,000 views on YouTube), over 81,000 new users driven to Bones Brigade social media properties and 185,000 fans driven to the movie's website. According to TopSpin, BitTorrent was the most potent form of marketing outside of the film's websites. They will be presenting a full breakdown of that campaign at Sundance in January.
Conference Tracks:
The conference offered two simultaneous "tracks" for the afternoon panels and while the studio production track seemed interesting and had some heavy hitters, I decided to stick with the Digital Future track.
Josh Dickey, film editor at Variety led a spirited panel entitled "Social Marketing Revolution", but he showed his digital chops by basically hijacking the gathered experts into a wider debate about various online marketing techniques. You'd expect Sony to be a leader in digital, but Elias Plishner, VP Worldwide Digital Media for Sony Pictures really had his act together and stood out by giving practical insight into how his department functions.
With a veritable army of digital team members in the back of the room, Plishner explained how every morning they create a "Digital Report Card" for every film currently in release. The report card includes the five top analytics for each marketing program: Site traffic, Buzz, Video Views, Social Activity (basically Facebook's TalkScore value), and organic search volume. All of these values are compared against a "genre norm" and followed by goals the team has set. With these numbers in hand, you could see it leading to a very efficient digital marketing effort. [Sony is really paying attention to the analytics and data that the net can provide. Every indie content creator needs to be doing this! - I'd like to see subscores of various social platforms since Fb isn't the only game in town any more.]
Discussion Point- What would be the impact of a property's score handicapped for: A) Pre-existing brand awareness B) Star power C) Marketing $ expenditure D) Film quality E) Seo F) PR intangibles. A handicap formula would be fascinating and I'd love to see its predictive value of a film's financial success vs. cost to produce/market. Thoughts?
The "Trendsetters of the New Platforms" panel featured several content producers discussing how they are using the new distribution model of the net. Afterwards, I caught up with Marc Lieberman, Head of Business Development for The Onion.
Zack Coffman: The Onion has been seeing amazing results from it's online programming. Can you please outline some of the areas you've been focusing on?
Marc Lieberman: Certainly. Recently, we've been expanding our online presence with the launch of our new daily show, 'ONNCast.' As we've done with our written content, we're taking a renewed focus on covering breaking news and timely news first and foremost.
Zc: Why do you think they've been successful?
Ml: As we saw with more timely written content, people want to watch and read our coverage of current events the very same day that these events are occurring. Even if you're a fan of some of our lesser-known competitors (The New York Times, The Huffington Post and CNN to name a few), you know that a visit to TheOnion.com will yield smarter, more in-depth reporting on the news of the day paired with our trademark attention-getting headlines. Sure, we no longer allow our writing staff time to sleep, but this is just one of the many sacrifices that true journalists must make. That, and attaining worthless college degree that renders them wholly unfit to work outside of a newsroom.
Zc: What's the overall goal for The Onion?
Ml: Since our first issue debuted 1783, the goal of The Onion has always been to shape and control the opinion of the American public. It has done so with nothing short of overwhelming success.
Though The Onion has been 'America's Finest News Source' since that time, the Internet has enabled us to also shape and control the opinion of those that live beyond our borders. Some, mistakenly, consider this part of our overall goal, but we assure you that it's merely a bi-product of our tremendous influence.
Zc: Do you actively employ Seo and Sem?
Ml: We do in terms of Seo. However, our large amount of web traffic no doubt gives us a quite an advantage over smaller sites. But, again, timely content will go a long way on search, as does our large story archive which proves the old adage, "news is cyclical."
Zc: The Kim Jong-un article was like a PR blitz for you, was it pure chance or are your writers that smart?
Ml: To be perfectly frank, we benefitted greatly from a lack of "sexy" news otherwise on the day that story broke. To clear up some confusion, our editor, Will Tracy, sent the following statement to the press:"For more coverage on The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive 2012, Kim Jong-Un, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."
Zc: How have you leveraged that explosion into your overall marketing efforts?
Ml: First, we actually added Will's statement to the article, and re-promoted the article through our social media channels and on our site. However, when something that does much the marketing work for you, the strategy that we employ is to not interfere with where it might go. That said, it afforded us many opportunities to be interviewed by a bevy of media sources, which is something we didn't shy away from.
Zc: The Onion has always been a beacon for independents, do you have any advice for indie film marketers out there?
Ml: Don't change your message, but be willing to change the way in which you deliver it. In this way, we were able to evolve from our print beginnings to an online presence that allows us to gain the readership of new people every day.
"The New Distribution Formula" panel dealt with changing release windows and new opportunities afforded by VOD. Tom Quinn and Jason Janego, co-presidents of Radius-twc joined Rob Sussman, Evp, Business Operations, Development, and Strategy, Epix, Jamie McCabe, Evp, worldwide PPV, VOD, Est, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Todd Green, General Manager, Tribeca Film, and Daniel Solnicki, Head of Worldwide Franchise Development, DreamWorks Animation in a discussion about new theatrical/VOD strategies; particularly focused on the day-and-date model and changing of traditional distribution windows. The discussion was frankly much too short, but it will be interesting to check in with Quinn and Janego about how Radius-twc achieved their cross-platform success with Bachelorette and watch very closely their upcoming release of Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling.
The last panel of the day was ambitiously called "Monetizing Film and Video Content in a Digital Age". It featured some big names, but ended up being a bit of a PR piece for the panelists, as they didn't really offer any concrete ideas for the jam-packed room. However, Jordan Metzner of Xsolla did try his best to explain specifically what his company does for filmmakers. "Xsolla provides in-game payment services for some of the largest video game developers and publishers in the world and can help filmmakers with our film monetization arm, called Cinify. We help film makers get on major networks as well as monetize content on their on sites using Cdn's and Xsolla as a payment solutions."
Apparently Xsolla's platform allows the viewer to watch/play a few minutes of a film/game before being asked to pony up and pay for the content. In my opinion, this is way better for indies than the other current models that ask for payment based on viewing only a trailer. I'll be curious to have a follow-up with Jason and investigate it further.
Notes on Notes:
The day's two keynotes offered some insight into filmmaking from two different perspectives.
Tim Gray, the big Kahuna at Variety sat down with industry uber-vet Tom Bernard of Sony Classics for the morning keynote and Bernard was suprisingly frank in his outlook for the future. He mentioned that Spc's audience skews older and he was concerned about that demographic aging problem. I had a chance to chat with Tom further about this conundrum and he explained that Spc films were traditionally a print media audience, but the new college of film is the internet so Spc has been acquiring more films that fit a wider demographic such as Searching for Sugarman- that has a huge online audience and huge audience of baby boomers, and Rust and Bone- a modern film, and very different than traditional foreign films which is getting a wide demographic as well.
"People determine their own DNA online," he continued saying that Spc is excited about opportunites the 'net brings because they are saving so much money by scaling back on print and "narrowcasting" on the net, resulting in their highest profit margins ever. When I asked him about his thoughts on BitTorrent being a sponsor of the show he was unequivocable on his position, "I was shocked and appalled. They are pirates and have caused huge amounts of money to be lost on our pictures. Those guys should be in jail."
Kevin Smith gave an entertaining and inspiring keynote speech, fielding questions posed by his Hollywood Babble-On co-host, Ralph Garman of Kroq. He's definitively taken some licks over the years (some self-inflicted, some not) but survives with his "indie cred" intact. His best quote of the night was a real winner, ""It's not about kissin' up, it's about kissin' down."
Smith continued, "Spend every second with your fans, connect with your audience." A proponent of crowdfunding, he said he routinely supports interesting projects and even sent some money recently to a campaign for a guy that wanted to become a glass-blower. "I just wanted to see that guy fucking do it!" exclaimed Smith, "Remember, they [media gatekeepers] need you [content creators] more than you need them."
Indies in the new film economy should worry more about online culture-building and dealing directly with their audience and less about trying to impress the gatekeepers and distributors that hold sway over the theaters and traditional media outlets.
I look forward to everyone's thoughts and comments! Have a wonderful holiday.
Written by Zack Coffman, a producer specializing in online strategy and monetization, live streaming, and Seo for film. Connect with Zack on LinkedIn and follow his film marketing tips and adventures @choppertown on Twitter.
- 12/17/2012
- by Zack Coffman
- Sydney's Buzz
When Tom Mason returns to the 2nd Mass, not everyone is going to welcome him with open arms. Missing for over 3 months and presumed dead because he was last seen entering an alien spaceship, it is natural for the surviving humans to be a bit leery of the lost hero. In a recent press conference call, co-stars Moon Bloodgood and Colin Cunningham talked about how their characters Anne and Pope will struggle over trust issues involving the reappearance of the 2nd Mass’ former leader.
In this next season, is there going to be any major differences for your characters that we should be on the lookout for?
Moon: I would say Anne’s changes are not as drastic. I think that Anne’s relationship with Tom gets a more adult-quality to it. We definitely have our first fight and I believe that I’m allowed to say that the relationship gets consummated.
In this next season, is there going to be any major differences for your characters that we should be on the lookout for?
Moon: I would say Anne’s changes are not as drastic. I think that Anne’s relationship with Tom gets a more adult-quality to it. We definitely have our first fight and I believe that I’m allowed to say that the relationship gets consummated.
- 6/4/2012
- by Tiffany Vogt
- The TV Addict
President Obama paid his respects - and offered a shoulder to cry on - at Dover Air Force Base Tuesday as he consoled families of the 30 U.S. troops whose remains were brought home from Afghanistan. "I told him, I want you to give me my grandson back. I want him alive," Madeline Bernice Strange tells People. Her grandson, Navy Seal Michael Strange, 25, was among the servicemen killed Aug. 6 when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan - the single deadliest loss in the decade-long war there. "I told the President we never should've been there" in Afghanistan,...
- 8/10/2011
- by Sandra Sobieraj Westfall and Susan Keating
- PEOPLE.com
Fresh off scoring the fastest-rising single of his career with "Country Girl (Shake It for Me)", Luke Bryan is gearing up to release a new album "Tailgates & Tanlines". The country music crooner is set to release the CD, where the hit single appears, across the United States on August 9.
"Country Girl" peaked at No. 7 on Billboard Country Songs chart and is climbing to No. 22 on Hot 100. If the single is any indication of what the rest of the album will hold, he might reach higher peak on the U.S. album chart. His previous peak was at No. 6 (via 2009's "Doin' My Thing").
''I feel like I continue to grow in my artistry and I hope that feeling never goes away. I think being out there on the road so much and seeing what the fans want make it much clearer for me to know what to give them," Luke...
"Country Girl" peaked at No. 7 on Billboard Country Songs chart and is climbing to No. 22 on Hot 100. If the single is any indication of what the rest of the album will hold, he might reach higher peak on the U.S. album chart. His previous peak was at No. 6 (via 2009's "Doin' My Thing").
''I feel like I continue to grow in my artistry and I hope that feeling never goes away. I think being out there on the road so much and seeing what the fans want make it much clearer for me to know what to give them," Luke...
- 8/8/2011
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
With the explosive 2-hour finale looming, this is a good time to reflect back on Falling Skies’ spectacular first season. From the reveal of a third creepy alien species that may be running everything, to the fact that the Skitters may have once been humans just like us, the first season of Falling Skies has been a fantastic ride.
Initially, the series began merely as a story about a small group of survivors who were in the midst of retreating and regrouping — while they tried to find the supplies and weaponry they needed to escape complete annihilation. But it quickly turned into a tale of how these few men and woman decided to return and enact their revenge on the aliens relentlessly pursuing them.
While the mantra: ‘retreat, regroup, return, revenge’ sounded good in theory, when it was first spoken, it seemed that Tom Mason’s words were an illusory...
Initially, the series began merely as a story about a small group of survivors who were in the midst of retreating and regrouping — while they tried to find the supplies and weaponry they needed to escape complete annihilation. But it quickly turned into a tale of how these few men and woman decided to return and enact their revenge on the aliens relentlessly pursuing them.
While the mantra: ‘retreat, regroup, return, revenge’ sounded good in theory, when it was first spoken, it seemed that Tom Mason’s words were an illusory...
- 8/7/2011
- by Tiffany Vogt
- The TV Addict
Photo courtesy of Josh Madson
I was fortunate enough to spend some time interviewing Connor Jessup, who plays Ben Mason on the new TNT hit Falling Skies. We caught up about becoming an actor and what being on the show has been like for him.
This young, up and coming star, Connor Jessup is one of the stars of the hit sci fi show, “Falling Skies” produced by Steven Spielberg. The show follows a group of survivors and civilians in the aftermath of a terrifying alien attack. The story picks up 6 months after the attack on humanity with the remaining humans fighting to survive. Jessup’s character is one of the only people to be kidnapped by the aliens. With brilliant acting and natural talent, Jessup is making a name for himself as one the hottest stars to hit our televisions.
Boomtron: I’ve been watching Falling Skies, which is fantastic,...
I was fortunate enough to spend some time interviewing Connor Jessup, who plays Ben Mason on the new TNT hit Falling Skies. We caught up about becoming an actor and what being on the show has been like for him.
This young, up and coming star, Connor Jessup is one of the stars of the hit sci fi show, “Falling Skies” produced by Steven Spielberg. The show follows a group of survivors and civilians in the aftermath of a terrifying alien attack. The story picks up 6 months after the attack on humanity with the remaining humans fighting to survive. Jessup’s character is one of the only people to be kidnapped by the aliens. With brilliant acting and natural talent, Jessup is making a name for himself as one the hottest stars to hit our televisions.
Boomtron: I’ve been watching Falling Skies, which is fantastic,...
- 7/14/2011
- by Sarah Sommer
- Boomtron
Chicago – It’s the end of the world as we know it, and the ragtag resistance fighters of “Falling Skies,” starring Noah Wyle from “ER,” are defending themselves against a surprise extraterrestrial colonization of earth. Live free or die hard.
TV Rating: 4.0/5.0
Falling Skies combines 2009’s “District 9” (space alien lizards), 1984’s “Red Dawn” (kids practicing guerilla warfare) and, of course, 1996’s “Independence Day” fairly effectively, while not going too far into the philosophical and psychological damage that a nuclear war-style destruction could have on a delicate American society. Noah Wyle is excellent as a conflicted ex-Military history professor turned warrior who represents a reasonable voice among the chaos.
The series opens with a series of children’s drawings, with a youthful voice over describing the invasion of a space alien force that knocks out most of the important cities in the United States, and puts the rest of the...
TV Rating: 4.0/5.0
Falling Skies combines 2009’s “District 9” (space alien lizards), 1984’s “Red Dawn” (kids practicing guerilla warfare) and, of course, 1996’s “Independence Day” fairly effectively, while not going too far into the philosophical and psychological damage that a nuclear war-style destruction could have on a delicate American society. Noah Wyle is excellent as a conflicted ex-Military history professor turned warrior who represents a reasonable voice among the chaos.
The series opens with a series of children’s drawings, with a youthful voice over describing the invasion of a space alien force that knocks out most of the important cities in the United States, and puts the rest of the...
- 6/18/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Tom Hanks will star in a big screen adventure based on the Mattel action figure Major Matt Mason, which was a hot-seller in the 1960s. Hanks, who has a weakness for all space-related projects, will co-script and he hopes to get Robert Zemeckis to direct. At the studio pitch meeting, Hanks brought his own personal collection of Matt Mason toys! For more click here...
- 6/17/2011
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions is producing an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s award-winning 2001 novel American Gods for HBO, potentially spanning six seasons. Gaiman will contribute as executive producer and writer on the series.
The sprawling adaptation centers on the belief that gods exist because people believe in them. But, as mythology fades and American idolatry shifts in a modern age, so does the power. The book, only 480 pages, follows the cross-country adventures of Shadow, an ex-convict tasked with guarding a con man and wrapped up in an escalating struggle between the Old Gods and manifestations of newly worshiped beings (e.g. gods of computers). The book won the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction/fantasy writing. (Click here to read the first five chapters for free.)
According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO is allotting $35-40 million per season, which will span 10 to 12 episodes starting in 2013 at the earliest. By comparison,...
The sprawling adaptation centers on the belief that gods exist because people believe in them. But, as mythology fades and American idolatry shifts in a modern age, so does the power. The book, only 480 pages, follows the cross-country adventures of Shadow, an ex-convict tasked with guarding a con man and wrapped up in an escalating struggle between the Old Gods and manifestations of newly worshiped beings (e.g. gods of computers). The book won the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction/fantasy writing. (Click here to read the first five chapters for free.)
According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO is allotting $35-40 million per season, which will span 10 to 12 episodes starting in 2013 at the earliest. By comparison,...
- 6/14/2011
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
We already told you that Tom Hanks's Playtone Productions will be bringing to HBO an adaptation of American Gods, a novel series by Neil Gaiman about the question, "are you a god if no one believes in you?" But Playtone, the company Hanks named after the fictional record company in the movie That Thing You Do!, has plenty more up its sleeve that partner Gary Goetzman wanted to talk up to THR. They're developing an adaptation of the Green Day musical American Idiot, for one, but the new development is they're also making Major Matt Mason, with Robert Zemeckis in talks to direct. Hanks has actually been working on Matt Mason for at least two years, though bringing Zemeckis on board indicates they're finally ready to get the project made. Hanks wrote the screenplay with Graham Yost, but Mason isn't their invention-- he's a 60s spaceman doll from Mattel,...
- 6/13/2011
- cinemablend.com
Call it the ultimate Tom Hanks mashup. After his trip to the moon in "Apollo 13" went haywire 16-years ago, Tom Hanks is set to blast off into space once again -- in a film based on a toy. And he may re-team with the man who sent him all around the world to do it.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hanks' Playtone Productions and Universal will produce a Hanks-starring big screen adaptation of the hit 1960s astronaut toy, Major Matt Mason. To be written by Hanks and his "Band of Brothers" writer Graham Yost, the producers are working to secure "Forrest Gump" director Robert Zemeckis' behind-the-camera services.
A popular toy launched in 1966, the Astronaut hero, produced by Mattel, was based on Nasa prototypes found in Life Magazine and other sources, according to fansite MajorMattMason.net and Variety. He lived and worked on the moon in the years leading...
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hanks' Playtone Productions and Universal will produce a Hanks-starring big screen adaptation of the hit 1960s astronaut toy, Major Matt Mason. To be written by Hanks and his "Band of Brothers" writer Graham Yost, the producers are working to secure "Forrest Gump" director Robert Zemeckis' behind-the-camera services.
A popular toy launched in 1966, the Astronaut hero, produced by Mattel, was based on Nasa prototypes found in Life Magazine and other sources, according to fansite MajorMattMason.net and Variety. He lived and worked on the moon in the years leading...
- 6/13/2011
- by Jordan Zakarin
- Huffington Post
Kristin Chenoweth helped ring in the new "Cmt Next Superstar," Matt Mason. After a nationwide vote, Matt Mason from Fairland, Indiana was crowned the winner, poised to make him America.s next great country star. Matt lands a record deal with Warner Music Nashville.s Elektra imprint and will be the opening act for Cmt on tour this fall, headlined by country star, Luke Bryan and sponsored by the network. The winner.s finale performance will also run as a music video on Cmt and Cmt.com. The hour-long grand finale featured a special performance by Kristin Chenoweth and at the end of the celebration, host Thea Andrews revealed America.s vote. "It.s all very surreal. I've wanted this for so long.
- 6/11/2011
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
Cmt Awards 2011! Shania Twain spills, Biebs and Keith Urban give chills -- [Jun. 9] The Cmt Music Awards was a night to remember for sure with a list of stars so savory you could just sop ‘em up with a biscuit. The list included Big and Rich, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, Lee Brice, Colt Ford, Hunter Hayes, the JaneDear Girls, Thompson Square and Cmt's Next Superstar finalists Matt Mason and Steven Clawson (just to name a few) for performances on the Nationwide Insurance stage. In addition, the company bestowed the Nationwide Insurance On Your Side Award to country music's best new live act as determined by the fans. Nominees were Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Colt Ford, The Band Perry and Josh Thompson. Nascar driver and Nationwide Insurance customer Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed the winner, The Band Perry. The whole night was full of surprises for country music fans --...
- 6/10/2011
- by Sharleen Gamble
- Green Celebrity
TNT has released the opening moments of its new sci-fi/action series Falling Skies.
Set 10 months after an alien invasion has reduced the human race to a losing resistance force, Falling Skies stars Noah Wyle as Tom Mason, Moon Bloodgood as Dr. Anne Glass, Drew Roy as Hal Mason and Maxim Knight as Matt Mason. The series was created by Robert Rodat, screenwriter of Saving Private Ryan, and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
Even though we've been suffering from E.T. invasion overload with movies like Skyline, Battle: Los Angeles and the upcoming The Darkest Hour, I've been a fan of Rodat's concept since I reviewed the pilot episode script for Falling Skies last year. I'm hoping that the series has the same unsettling edge that the written story had.
The first episode of Falling Skies airs on TNT on Sunday, June 19.
...
Set 10 months after an alien invasion has reduced the human race to a losing resistance force, Falling Skies stars Noah Wyle as Tom Mason, Moon Bloodgood as Dr. Anne Glass, Drew Roy as Hal Mason and Maxim Knight as Matt Mason. The series was created by Robert Rodat, screenwriter of Saving Private Ryan, and is produced by Steven Spielberg.
Even though we've been suffering from E.T. invasion overload with movies like Skyline, Battle: Los Angeles and the upcoming The Darkest Hour, I've been a fan of Rodat's concept since I reviewed the pilot episode script for Falling Skies last year. I'm hoping that the series has the same unsettling edge that the written story had.
The first episode of Falling Skies airs on TNT on Sunday, June 19.
...
- 4/19/2011
- by Patrick Sauriol
- Corona's Coming Attractions
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