Lovelace
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
Written by Andy Bellin
USA, 2013
In Billy Wilder’s excellent 1951 drama Ace in the Hole, which is a classic showcase of media manipulation, ambitious city-slicker reporter Chuck Tatum (played by an enthusiastic Kirk Douglas) finds himself stuck in Albuquerque, New Mexico with hopes to find that one big story that will jettison him to the big-leagues again. Tatum lucks out when he is informed about a man trapped in a cave-in and uses this opportunity to break big. When Tatum’s photographer asks why this will make a big story, Tatum responds that it’s a “human interest” subject and that if you can get readers to sympathize with the narrative then you have the reader’s attention. But, he also elaborates that a human interest story has to focus on one person; if you focus on others involved with the story,...
Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
Written by Andy Bellin
USA, 2013
In Billy Wilder’s excellent 1951 drama Ace in the Hole, which is a classic showcase of media manipulation, ambitious city-slicker reporter Chuck Tatum (played by an enthusiastic Kirk Douglas) finds himself stuck in Albuquerque, New Mexico with hopes to find that one big story that will jettison him to the big-leagues again. Tatum lucks out when he is informed about a man trapped in a cave-in and uses this opportunity to break big. When Tatum’s photographer asks why this will make a big story, Tatum responds that it’s a “human interest” subject and that if you can get readers to sympathize with the narrative then you have the reader’s attention. But, he also elaborates that a human interest story has to focus on one person; if you focus on others involved with the story,...
- 1/16/2015
- by Christopher Koenig
- SoundOnSight
Ten years ago Elsa started practicing law on the backlot of Universal Studios, in a trailer on the lot. “I began in 2005 with a lot of schlock films in the early days of digital shooting,” she told me from her Beverly Hills office where she now employs five other women attorneys and has just hired the first man. In 2005 you could make digital movies (just after “Blair Witch”) and international sales agents paid good money for them. DVDs still existed and were a relevant income stream for independent producers. For a $200,000 budget you could reap a return of $2 million even without a large theatrical release. What came out of those days was “bootstrap entrepreneurship” from producers who could produce a film digitally on a shoestring budget.
Her firm also employs a packaging and sales person, Tiffany Boyle, to consult and advise with producer and financier clients on meeting and evaluating distributors, sales agents and financiers. This is not too different from the job of producer reps, but the packaging and sales consultant can work on an hourly or take a percentage of distribution which includes legal.
“It is an enhanced legal service, not at all in competition with Submarine, Preferred Content and other indie producer reps. In fact, sometimes we place our films with them, or we work in tandem with them and even introduce our clients to them as we value what producer reps and agents bring to the table in terms of procuring offers and creating a marketplace for an independent,” she adds.
Tiffany Boyle was previously director of sales at Crystal Sky, working under head of production Benedict Carver (“Underworld”, “Resident Evil”) and head of international sales Daniel Diamond (“The Believer”). She worked in the development and sales on the company’s films, including “Doomsday”, “Big Stan” And “Bratz”.
Ramo herself was born in L.A. but grew up in San Diego as a first generation U.S. citizen. She went to Uc Riverside and as soon as she graduated from University of San Diego School of Law, she returned to L.A.
She began in royalty litigation for music and asked her first employers if she could find her own clients and proceeded to network through the film organizations in L.A. for whom she would do free transactional work. She came from a family business and is very entrepreneurial by nature.
Her expertise has been featured in numerous outlets, including Variety’s 2014 Women Impact Report, The Wrap, Forbes, and Latino Weekly. Incidentally, she is not Latino but her partner, Erika Canchola, is Mexican-American. Erika was an intern for Elsa during law school, then was hired, became an associate, and now is a partner.
Ramo has also lectured on film financing for the California Lawyers for the Arts, Film Independent, Attorney Credits, LawReview Cle,myLawCLE, and the Institute for International Film Financing.
She has been a panel and guest speaker at USC, AFI, UCLA, South by Southwest V2V, Slamdance Film Festival, the San Diego Film Festival, Digital Hollywood, Boston University School of Law, and the University of San Diego Law School. In May 2010, she was awarded an Artistic License Award along with Maria Shriver by California Lawyers for the Arts for her outstanding pro-bono work providing artists and arts organizations with legal services.
Eight years ago she moved her office to Beverly Hills. Every year her business doubles in size. She handles about 50 features a year at various stages of financing, production and distribution. At every major market she has a handful of films.
She just spoke at Digital Hollywood on a panel about women entrepreneurship. She recognizes that men and woman are different and respect for one another professionally is what makes progress possible. She began ten years ago as a young woman in an older man pool, but now she is seen less as a female and more as an equal professional. She tells her interns who are women “never give an excuse of sexism, better than putting energy in negativity is putting it into negotiating and doing your job well irrespective of your sex.”
Elsa is straightforward and outgoing, she has a self-confidence that is warm and welcoming. You want to share with her.
She also notes that the talent to produce low budget films is the same skill set which, even without money to back it, can be used for the new networks and she finds that she is succeeding at pre-selling TV series lately. She is currently legal counsel for her first unscripted doc series to Netflix Chef’s Table and finds that non-conventional serial content is hot now.”
“What is your real goal?” I asked, and she answered that she appreciates the opportunities given to her and appreciates the growth of herself and of her clients. She is also interested in “how much the indie business is changing and has always changed. Three or four years ago it was DVD, and now it is all changed to digital streams of revenue and the great thing is it will all change again.”
Content evolves in a circle. She started with offering free services and was happy to be hired. Now she gives low rates to new filmmakers; she can evaluate their talent better, she recognizes passion and talent. Sometimes it works out for her and the new talent, and sometimes it fails.
“I am always looking for emerging talent, looking at the cutting edge.” The business is constantly evolving and my biggest goal is never to ‘settle’, never to stop.”
Check out her website at www.ramolaw.com. It offers a great list of filmmaker resources as well as bios of her growing staff.
Her firm also employs a packaging and sales person, Tiffany Boyle, to consult and advise with producer and financier clients on meeting and evaluating distributors, sales agents and financiers. This is not too different from the job of producer reps, but the packaging and sales consultant can work on an hourly or take a percentage of distribution which includes legal.
“It is an enhanced legal service, not at all in competition with Submarine, Preferred Content and other indie producer reps. In fact, sometimes we place our films with them, or we work in tandem with them and even introduce our clients to them as we value what producer reps and agents bring to the table in terms of procuring offers and creating a marketplace for an independent,” she adds.
Tiffany Boyle was previously director of sales at Crystal Sky, working under head of production Benedict Carver (“Underworld”, “Resident Evil”) and head of international sales Daniel Diamond (“The Believer”). She worked in the development and sales on the company’s films, including “Doomsday”, “Big Stan” And “Bratz”.
Ramo herself was born in L.A. but grew up in San Diego as a first generation U.S. citizen. She went to Uc Riverside and as soon as she graduated from University of San Diego School of Law, she returned to L.A.
She began in royalty litigation for music and asked her first employers if she could find her own clients and proceeded to network through the film organizations in L.A. for whom she would do free transactional work. She came from a family business and is very entrepreneurial by nature.
Her expertise has been featured in numerous outlets, including Variety’s 2014 Women Impact Report, The Wrap, Forbes, and Latino Weekly. Incidentally, she is not Latino but her partner, Erika Canchola, is Mexican-American. Erika was an intern for Elsa during law school, then was hired, became an associate, and now is a partner.
Ramo has also lectured on film financing for the California Lawyers for the Arts, Film Independent, Attorney Credits, LawReview Cle,myLawCLE, and the Institute for International Film Financing.
She has been a panel and guest speaker at USC, AFI, UCLA, South by Southwest V2V, Slamdance Film Festival, the San Diego Film Festival, Digital Hollywood, Boston University School of Law, and the University of San Diego Law School. In May 2010, she was awarded an Artistic License Award along with Maria Shriver by California Lawyers for the Arts for her outstanding pro-bono work providing artists and arts organizations with legal services.
Eight years ago she moved her office to Beverly Hills. Every year her business doubles in size. She handles about 50 features a year at various stages of financing, production and distribution. At every major market she has a handful of films.
She just spoke at Digital Hollywood on a panel about women entrepreneurship. She recognizes that men and woman are different and respect for one another professionally is what makes progress possible. She began ten years ago as a young woman in an older man pool, but now she is seen less as a female and more as an equal professional. She tells her interns who are women “never give an excuse of sexism, better than putting energy in negativity is putting it into negotiating and doing your job well irrespective of your sex.”
Elsa is straightforward and outgoing, she has a self-confidence that is warm and welcoming. You want to share with her.
She also notes that the talent to produce low budget films is the same skill set which, even without money to back it, can be used for the new networks and she finds that she is succeeding at pre-selling TV series lately. She is currently legal counsel for her first unscripted doc series to Netflix Chef’s Table and finds that non-conventional serial content is hot now.”
“What is your real goal?” I asked, and she answered that she appreciates the opportunities given to her and appreciates the growth of herself and of her clients. She is also interested in “how much the indie business is changing and has always changed. Three or four years ago it was DVD, and now it is all changed to digital streams of revenue and the great thing is it will all change again.”
Content evolves in a circle. She started with offering free services and was happy to be hired. Now she gives low rates to new filmmakers; she can evaluate their talent better, she recognizes passion and talent. Sometimes it works out for her and the new talent, and sometimes it fails.
“I am always looking for emerging talent, looking at the cutting edge.” The business is constantly evolving and my biggest goal is never to ‘settle’, never to stop.”
Check out her website at www.ramolaw.com. It offers a great list of filmmaker resources as well as bios of her growing staff.
- 11/10/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Books are often the source for some of the greatest film and television adaptations, but flip the scenario and it can be said that movies and TV can also be among the greatest sources for books. Behind the scenes nonfiction offers a peak behind the curtain of the dream factory. Art books often enhance a reader’s perspective of film and television. Companion books do both, expanding a reader’s attachment and understanding of the source material while giving a glimpse into the detailed world building of its creators. This past month, three books, Guillermo Del Toro: Cabinet of Curiosities, Crazy 4 Cult: Cult Movie Art 2 and The Adventure Time Encyclopedia have each improved on the visual experience of the films and shows they celebrate.
Guillermo Del Toro: Cabinet of Curiosities
Guillermo Del Toro is one of the most imaginative filmmakers working today. He is influenced by everything from Lovecraft,...
Guillermo Del Toro: Cabinet of Curiosities
Guillermo Del Toro is one of the most imaginative filmmakers working today. He is influenced by everything from Lovecraft,...
- 11/21/2013
- by Tony Nunes
- SoundOnSight
When it was first announced that this week's "The Lone Ranger" was going to star Johnny Depp as the Native American warrior Tonto, fans around the country scratched their heads ... and not just because they were wondering what he would look like with a giant dead bird for a hat. Depp as Tonto? Really?
Depp, as it turns out, does have some Native American ancestry and was recently adopted by the Comanche nation. But his role as Tonto and the subsequent casting of William Fichtner as the Japanese villain Shredder in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" did get us thinking about one of the most insidious aspects of Hollywood's moviemaking machine: namely, their ongoing insensitivity and downright obliviousness when it comes to casting ethnic characters.
So with that in mind, here's a look at some of the most egregious examples. Because the only color that seems to matter in Hollywood is green.
Depp, as it turns out, does have some Native American ancestry and was recently adopted by the Comanche nation. But his role as Tonto and the subsequent casting of William Fichtner as the Japanese villain Shredder in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" did get us thinking about one of the most insidious aspects of Hollywood's moviemaking machine: namely, their ongoing insensitivity and downright obliviousness when it comes to casting ethnic characters.
So with that in mind, here's a look at some of the most egregious examples. Because the only color that seems to matter in Hollywood is green.
- 7/1/2013
- by Scott Harris
- NextMovie
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was responsible for creating some of the most endearing characters and writing some of the most beloved children’s stories of the 20th century. His use of rhyme, repetition, and trisyllabic meter gave his books a distinctive quality and made them easily accessible and addictively appealing. However, much like a nursery rhyme or classical fable, they are simple tales, and do not automatically translate to a ninety minute feature film. The Lorax is the latest in a growing line of Seuss’ stories that are taken, padded out and regurgitated as flabby, ponderous pictures.
The Lorax tells the tale of a twelve-year-old boy named Ted who lives in the walled city of Thneed-ville; a city of the future where everything is artificial, including the air, which is now a commodity. Ted seeks the heart of Audrey and believes that...
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was responsible for creating some of the most endearing characters and writing some of the most beloved children’s stories of the 20th century. His use of rhyme, repetition, and trisyllabic meter gave his books a distinctive quality and made them easily accessible and addictively appealing. However, much like a nursery rhyme or classical fable, they are simple tales, and do not automatically translate to a ninety minute feature film. The Lorax is the latest in a growing line of Seuss’ stories that are taken, padded out and regurgitated as flabby, ponderous pictures.
The Lorax tells the tale of a twelve-year-old boy named Ted who lives in the walled city of Thneed-ville; a city of the future where everything is artificial, including the air, which is now a commodity. Ted seeks the heart of Audrey and believes that...
- 7/24/2012
- by Adam Rayner
- Obsessed with Film
The Dark Knight Rises may be recruiting another cast member from Christopher Nolan’s Inception dream team: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is reportedly in talks to join a starry corps of actors that includes Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway and Levitt’s Inception chums Tom Hardy and Michael Caine. No word yet on who Gordon-Levitt may play, but fanboys around the Web — not yet ready to give up on the well-traveled rumor that Batman foe Hugo Strange will appear in Nolan’s third and final Bat-flick — are speculating that Gordon-Levitt will take on the role of the mad shrink whose comic book resume...
- 2/2/2011
- by Jeff Jensen
- EW.com - PopWatch
Yesterday, a new trailer was released for Paramount’s upcoming Asian remake of Ghost. I’m pretty sure most people are fairly familiar with the original 1990 Hollywood version starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, so it makes more sense to go over the differences—most of which are made glaringly obvious in the new footage.
First and foremost, genders are reversed as Nanako Matsushima is actually playing the business executive/ghost Nanami in this version. South Korean actor Seung-heon Song portrays her grieving widower, a ceramic artist named Joon-ho. In lieu of Whoopi Goldberg’s sassy scam artist turned legit medium, Oda Mae Brown, we have veteran actress Kirin Kiki—sassy factor still indeterminate. And finally, instead of receiving her poltergeist lessons from a wild-eyed subway ghost of dubious mental stability, Nanami is instead tutored by a cute little girl at the hospital.
Artistic license, or completely arbitrary changes made...
First and foremost, genders are reversed as Nanako Matsushima is actually playing the business executive/ghost Nanami in this version. South Korean actor Seung-heon Song portrays her grieving widower, a ceramic artist named Joon-ho. In lieu of Whoopi Goldberg’s sassy scam artist turned legit medium, Oda Mae Brown, we have veteran actress Kirin Kiki—sassy factor still indeterminate. And finally, instead of receiving her poltergeist lessons from a wild-eyed subway ghost of dubious mental stability, Nanami is instead tutored by a cute little girl at the hospital.
Artistic license, or completely arbitrary changes made...
- 10/2/2010
- Nippon Cinema
Greetings! This is my first Artistic License column here at Airlock Alpha, and I am very happy to be here. Usually, what you will find in this column is gaming on Tuesdays and comics on Thursdays. I have to admit to being an avid World of Warcraft player, so that will sometimes be my gaming topic, but at times I will also cover Star Trek Online, as well as other computer and platform games. Thursdays will generally have a review of some of the comics that were released on Wednesday, with particular attention to those with ties to the world of television and movies. This may include Star Trek, Buffy/Angel, Doctor Who, and other licensed properties. Sometimes, I will look at the Marvel and DC titles and characters that are being made into movies, and occasionally the major events going ...
- 4/6/2010
- GeekNation.com
The Toronto and Other Fall Festivals Rights RoundUp list looks quite sizeable for what is claimed to have been a quiet festival season. Though it's true business down, the large number of acquisitions has not been viewed as such and yet is the result of a new trend which has been sneaking up over the past few years and has now taken hold. Distributors and sales agents now acquire Before the festivals rather than during. It developed out of Cannes' prescreenings which have mostly been discontinued, and it could go so far as to change the pre-Sundance adage Not to show the film to anyone before Sundance.
This Rights RoundUp for acquisitions executives, distributors, international sales agents, investors and producers is different from my previous Rr Reports. It is no longer a report based on data and FilmFinders is out of the equation. This listing of rights acquired Before the actual festival,...
This Rights RoundUp for acquisitions executives, distributors, international sales agents, investors and producers is different from my previous Rr Reports. It is no longer a report based on data and FilmFinders is out of the equation. This listing of rights acquired Before the actual festival,...
- 9/25/2009
- by Sydney@SydneysBuzz.com (Sydney)
- Sydney's Buzz
New York -- A pair of topical indie documentaries are heading to theaters this fall.
Somerset Films has acquired North American theatrical and DVD rights to the feature "Article VI: Faith, Politics, America," Bryan Hall and Jack Donaldson's examination of the titular topics. A September New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., opening will be followed by a planned expansion to around 200 markets through November.
Artistic License Films picked up theatrical rights to Pamela Tanner Boll's "Who Does She Think She Is?" a study of five women balancing motherhood and art careers. An October New York and Los Angeles release is planned, followed by a platform rollout.
Somerset's Dean C. Hale negotiated his deal with Hall and Donaldson for Wiley Rhodes Productions and Living Biography Media. Artistic License's Sande Zeig negotiated her deal with the film's director for Mystic Artists.
Somerset Films has acquired North American theatrical and DVD rights to the feature "Article VI: Faith, Politics, America," Bryan Hall and Jack Donaldson's examination of the titular topics. A September New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., opening will be followed by a planned expansion to around 200 markets through November.
Artistic License Films picked up theatrical rights to Pamela Tanner Boll's "Who Does She Think She Is?" a study of five women balancing motherhood and art careers. An October New York and Los Angeles release is planned, followed by a platform rollout.
Somerset's Dean C. Hale negotiated his deal with Hall and Donaldson for Wiley Rhodes Productions and Living Biography Media. Artistic License's Sande Zeig negotiated her deal with the film's director for Mystic Artists.
- 8/5/2008
- by By Gregg Goldstein
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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