Exclusive: Sugar23 has brought in industry vet Sally Ware to serve as a producer and manager on behalf of the company.
Ware joins from Industry Entertainment, where she repped both actors and filmmakers while packaging projects for film and TV. She started her career working for casting director Donna Isaacson on Joel and Ethan Coen’s The Hudsucker Proxy, and then spent three years in the Feature Casting department at 20th Century Fox working on such films as Nicholas Hytner’s The Crucible and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. She then moved to New York and joined Gersh, where she spent the next 13 years as an agent in the talent department representing both emerging and well-established talent across film, television, and theatre.
Clients making the transition with Ware include actors Zosia Mamet (Girls), Mark Feuerstein (Royal Pains), Mickey Sumner (Snowpiercer), Will Harrison (Daisy Jones and The Six), Logan Polish...
Ware joins from Industry Entertainment, where she repped both actors and filmmakers while packaging projects for film and TV. She started her career working for casting director Donna Isaacson on Joel and Ethan Coen’s The Hudsucker Proxy, and then spent three years in the Feature Casting department at 20th Century Fox working on such films as Nicholas Hytner’s The Crucible and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. She then moved to New York and joined Gersh, where she spent the next 13 years as an agent in the talent department representing both emerging and well-established talent across film, television, and theatre.
Clients making the transition with Ware include actors Zosia Mamet (Girls), Mark Feuerstein (Royal Pains), Mickey Sumner (Snowpiercer), Will Harrison (Daisy Jones and The Six), Logan Polish...
- 2/7/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Challenges are plentiful when making a short film, says A.M. Lukas, whose short “One Cambodian Family Please for My Pleasure” was selected as a finalist at TheWrap’s 2019 ShortList Film Festival. What matters is how you handle those challenges — a lesson she learned first-hand.
“I had $80,000 and then I lost it; I had Emily Mortimer, and I was about to get on the plane to Fargo, and then we lost Emily; and then we got Emily back. So it was just completely insane every step of the way,” Lukas said in a panel with other ShortList filmmakers Thursday night at the W Hotel Hollywood. You can watch a video clip above of the conversation moderated by TheWrap’s awards editor Steve Pond.
“It’s letting it all happen and then solving each problem,” Lukas said, sharing wise advice from “The Graduate” director Mike Nichols. “You can never know what the film is actually gonna be.
“I had $80,000 and then I lost it; I had Emily Mortimer, and I was about to get on the plane to Fargo, and then we lost Emily; and then we got Emily back. So it was just completely insane every step of the way,” Lukas said in a panel with other ShortList filmmakers Thursday night at the W Hotel Hollywood. You can watch a video clip above of the conversation moderated by TheWrap’s awards editor Steve Pond.
“It’s letting it all happen and then solving each problem,” Lukas said, sharing wise advice from “The Graduate” director Mike Nichols. “You can never know what the film is actually gonna be.
- 8/23/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
It’s hard to imagine a more tortured route to the screen than the one taken by writer-director A.M. Lukas with her short film “One Cambodian Family Please for My Pleasure,” one of the finalists in TheWrap’s 2019 ShortList Film Festival.
Lukas wrote the screenplay, which was based on her own upbringing as part of an immigrant family in Fargo, North Dakota, as a way to get into the AFI directing program for women. AFI liked it well enough to take her to lunch and tell her so, but they didn’t admit her.
Years later, the Tribeca Film Festival gave her a grant to make the film as part of a competition aimed at increasing the number of female directors — but before she could start production, she became ill and had to stop. Tribeca gave the money to somebody else.
Also Read: 2019 ShortList Film Festival Finalists Announced: Watch and Vote for the Winner!
Lukas wrote the screenplay, which was based on her own upbringing as part of an immigrant family in Fargo, North Dakota, as a way to get into the AFI directing program for women. AFI liked it well enough to take her to lunch and tell her so, but they didn’t admit her.
Years later, the Tribeca Film Festival gave her a grant to make the film as part of a competition aimed at increasing the number of female directors — but before she could start production, she became ill and had to stop. Tribeca gave the money to somebody else.
Also Read: 2019 ShortList Film Festival Finalists Announced: Watch and Vote for the Winner!
- 8/8/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
TheWrap on Wednesday announced the 12 finalists for its eighth annual ShortList Film Festival, including stories from around the world about immigration, sex workers, adoption and the first person to introduce the Hula Hoop to the Us.
Online viewing and voting launches today on ShortListFilmFestival.com and runs through August 21, 2019.
This year’s selected films have won awards at festivals including Sundance, SXSW, La Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Aspen Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival among a number of other prestigious festivals. The films and filmmakers come from the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, China, Switzerland and elsewhere around the globe.
Also Read: 'The Driver Is Red,' 'Magic Alps' Take Top Prizes at TheWrap's ShortList Film Festival 2018
In addition to the lineup of festival winners, the ShortList also features up-and-coming filmmakers from top film schools across the country. The 2019 student films come from four schools: UCLA, University of Texas at Austin,...
Online viewing and voting launches today on ShortListFilmFestival.com and runs through August 21, 2019.
This year’s selected films have won awards at festivals including Sundance, SXSW, La Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Aspen Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival among a number of other prestigious festivals. The films and filmmakers come from the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, China, Switzerland and elsewhere around the globe.
Also Read: 'The Driver Is Red,' 'Magic Alps' Take Top Prizes at TheWrap's ShortList Film Festival 2018
In addition to the lineup of festival winners, the ShortList also features up-and-coming filmmakers from top film schools across the country. The 2019 student films come from four schools: UCLA, University of Texas at Austin,...
- 8/7/2019
- by TheWrap Staff
- The Wrap
The Bentonville Film Festival (Bff) announced final additions to their programming which includes the world premiere of the Netflix film Good Sam starring Tiya Sircar. The fest, which was co-created by Geena Davis and champions inclusion in all forms of media, has also added spotlight screenings of Gurinder Chadha’s Sundance Springsteen hit Blinded By The Light from New Line Cinema as well as Stx’s animated feature UglyDolls. Now in its fifth year, the festival kicked off May 7 and continues through May 11 in Bentonville, Ark.
Based on the book by Dete Meserve, Good Sam explores what happens when a mysterious good Samaritan (aka “Good Sam”) leaves $100,000 cash on seemingly random doorsteps. TV news reporter Kate Bradley (Sircar) sets out to discover Good Sam’s true identity and motive, turning her personal life upside down. Kate Melville directs from a script by Meserve and Teena Booth. Good Sam will screen...
Based on the book by Dete Meserve, Good Sam explores what happens when a mysterious good Samaritan (aka “Good Sam”) leaves $100,000 cash on seemingly random doorsteps. TV news reporter Kate Bradley (Sircar) sets out to discover Good Sam’s true identity and motive, turning her personal life upside down. Kate Melville directs from a script by Meserve and Teena Booth. Good Sam will screen...
- 5/8/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Amazon’s big buys at the Sundance Film Festival no longer seem like the clear threat to traditional film distribution that they seemed to be a few years ago — and even the idea that streaming services are dangerous feels dated.
That was the key takeaway from TheWrap’s panel “Innovation in Indie Film: From Content Creation to Discovery,” presented Monday at the Sundance Film Festival by ChooseATL and Thea.
“The streaming services are good and as distributors. It’s fuzzy how you put movies out,” said Van Toffler, CEO of Gunpowder & Sky. He noted that Sundance “is much more diverse this year with the comedies and docs, and it’s more diverse to make content now because there are so many buyers and companies that have their own streaming platforms — it’s a good time to make stuff.”
Also Read: Sundance Shocker: Big-Money Acquisitions Take Indie Film Market by...
That was the key takeaway from TheWrap’s panel “Innovation in Indie Film: From Content Creation to Discovery,” presented Monday at the Sundance Film Festival by ChooseATL and Thea.
“The streaming services are good and as distributors. It’s fuzzy how you put movies out,” said Van Toffler, CEO of Gunpowder & Sky. He noted that Sundance “is much more diverse this year with the comedies and docs, and it’s more diverse to make content now because there are so many buyers and companies that have their own streaming platforms — it’s a good time to make stuff.”
Also Read: Sundance Shocker: Big-Money Acquisitions Take Indie Film Market by...
- 1/29/2019
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
A.M. Lukas’s short, One Cambodian Family Please For My Pleasure, based on a true story, was produced for Refinery29’s Shatterbox series and has won awards at Edmonton International Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival and Scad Savannah Film Festival. It plays Sundance beginning January 24 in Shorts Program One. Here, writer/director Lukas tells the story of the perilous song-and-dance that occurred when her star, Emily Mortimer, had to bail out of the film at the last minute — and the lessons learned from the experience. After reading, check out the short itself below. It’s a sticky September day in […]...
- 1/24/2019
- by A.M. Lukas
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
A.M. Lukas’s short, One Cambodian Family Please For My Pleasure, based on a true story, was produced for Refinery29’s Shatterbox series and has won awards at Edmonton International Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival and Scad Savannah Film Festival. It plays Sundance beginning January 24 in Shorts Program One. Here, writer/director Lukas tells the story of the perilous song-and-dance that occurred when her star, Emily Mortimer, had to bail out of the film at the last minute — and the lessons learned from the experience. After reading, check out the short itself below. It’s a sticky September day in […]...
- 1/24/2019
- by A.M. Lukas
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
When Refinery29 premiered its Shatterbox Anthology in August of 2016, the new program was anchored by a forward-thinking concept: to “create short films that redefine identity, imagination, and storytelling through the female lens.” In their first “season,” they made a dozen films with a dozen female directors. Now, they’ve unveiled their second series of short films from female directors, including new offerings from Yara Shahidi, Gillian Jacobs, Jessica Sanders, A.M. Lukas (aka Anna Martemucci), Allana Harkin, Gilly Barnes, Ivy Agregan, and Janine Sherman Barrois.
Alongside partner TNT, the second season of Shatterbox (as its known these days) kicked off with a Tiff screening earlier this month, but the full series is already available online for interested viewers. This second season consists of 8 wide-ranging short-form films helmed by female directors, from a new take on “The Red Balloon” to a timely story about immigration and even a wild digital tale about viruses gone crazy.
Alongside partner TNT, the second season of Shatterbox (as its known these days) kicked off with a Tiff screening earlier this month, but the full series is already available online for interested viewers. This second season consists of 8 wide-ranging short-form films helmed by female directors, from a new take on “The Red Balloon” to a timely story about immigration and even a wild digital tale about viruses gone crazy.
- 9/18/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Turner’s TNT, in partnership with Refinery29, today announced the world premiere and digital release date of season two of the Shatterbox, the film series that gives female storytellers a platform to create short films that redefine identity, imagination and storytelling with a female perspective.
The latest collection (see the list of films below) debuts Saturday, Sept. 8, across TNT’s digital platforms. To mark the launch, the films will get an exclusive screening at the Toronto Film Festival, with a presence at Refinery29’s experiential event “29Rooms New York” (September 6-9 and September 13-16).
The film series also will be promoted through Shatterbox’s new ad campaign “You Don’t Know the Half of It,” which attempts to raise awareness about gender disparities in Hollywood. The ad campaign begins on TNT social and digital platforms Thursday, Sept. 6, and will play during the private fest screening.
TNT and Refinery29 are planning...
The latest collection (see the list of films below) debuts Saturday, Sept. 8, across TNT’s digital platforms. To mark the launch, the films will get an exclusive screening at the Toronto Film Festival, with a presence at Refinery29’s experiential event “29Rooms New York” (September 6-9 and September 13-16).
The film series also will be promoted through Shatterbox’s new ad campaign “You Don’t Know the Half of It,” which attempts to raise awareness about gender disparities in Hollywood. The ad campaign begins on TNT social and digital platforms Thursday, Sept. 6, and will play during the private fest screening.
TNT and Refinery29 are planning...
- 9/6/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
No one said the name “Donald Trump” at the annual Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program kickoff luncheon, held this afternoon at New York City’s Locanda Verde restaurant. But they didn’t need to. As Jane Rosenthal, the Executive Chair of Tribeca Enterprises (and co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival) greeted the crowd with an enthusiastic cry for her fellow “nasty ladies!” to welcome each other, it was clear that the group, composed of leading female actresses, directors, writers, producers, casting directors and costume designers, was already on the same page.
Now in its second year, the Through Her Lens program is a three-day workshop that “aims to balance industry support, artistic development and funding for new and emerging U.S.-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films.” This year’s group consists of five filmmakers, who will each pitch their project to...
Now in its second year, the Through Her Lens program is a three-day workshop that “aims to balance industry support, artistic development and funding for new and emerging U.S.-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films.” This year’s group consists of five filmmakers, who will each pitch their project to...
- 10/25/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Tribeca Enterprises and Chanel have announced today the second annual Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program, which brings together industry support, artistic development and funding to assist and help new and emerging U.S.-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films.
The program has selected five emerging female filmmakers to receive project support, and take part in master classes, one-on-one mentorship and peer-to-peer sessions during a three-day session at the end of this month. At the end of the program, each of the filmmakers will pitch her project to a jury of industry experts, and one filmmaker will be awarded full financing to produce her short film. The four other projects will each be awarded grant funds to continue the development of their films.
Read More: Filmmaker Anna Martemucci Wins First-Ever Female-Focused ‘Through Her Lens’ Grant
“We share with Chanel the goal to bring...
The program has selected five emerging female filmmakers to receive project support, and take part in master classes, one-on-one mentorship and peer-to-peer sessions during a three-day session at the end of this month. At the end of the program, each of the filmmakers will pitch her project to a jury of industry experts, and one filmmaker will be awarded full financing to produce her short film. The four other projects will each be awarded grant funds to continue the development of their films.
Read More: Filmmaker Anna Martemucci Wins First-Ever Female-Focused ‘Through Her Lens’ Grant
“We share with Chanel the goal to bring...
- 10/20/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Anna Martemucci’s One Cambodian Family Please For My Pleasure has received $75,000 at the inaugural Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program.
Julianne Moore and Patricia Clarkson were among the jurors attending the closing reception on Wednesday.
Martemucci’s pitch centres on a young mother living in hardship who helps a refugee family. The filmmaker will also receive production support from Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to make her short film.
Tribeca Enterprises and Chanel partnered on the initiative.
Julianne Moore and Patricia Clarkson were among the jurors attending the closing reception on Wednesday.
Martemucci’s pitch centres on a young mother living in hardship who helps a refugee family. The filmmaker will also receive production support from Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to make her short film.
Tribeca Enterprises and Chanel partnered on the initiative.
- 10/29/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Read More: Tribeca and Chanel Launch Emerging Writer-Director Program for Female Filmmakers The inaugural "Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program" came to a close last night with the announcement of their first-ever grant recipient: "Hollidaysburg" director Anna Martemucci for her short "One Cambodian Family Please for My Pleasure." The intensive three-day workshop hosted seven female filmmakers who pitched new projects to a jury made up of actress Patricia Clarkson, writer/director Mary Harron, producer Mynette Louie, writer/director Rebecca Miller and actress Julianne Moore. As the winner of the program's first grant, Martemucci will receive $75,000, along with production support from Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to bring her short film idea to realization. Penned by Martemucci, "One Cambodian Family Please for my Pleasure" is a story about "a young mother living in the...
- 10/29/2015
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Tribeca Enterprises and Chanel launched on Thursday the Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program.
The three-day initiative in support of Us-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films will take place from October 26-28.
The programme will focus on seven rising filmmakers with project support, masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship and peer-to-peer sessions.
They are: Numa Perrier (Jezebel); Roja Gashtili and Julia Lerman (The Last Shift); Vera Miao (Ma, pictured); Anna Martemucci (One Cambodian Family Please For My Pleasure); Christina Voros (Valentine); and Kat Coiro (Wig Shop).
The three days will climax with a pitch presentation before a jury where one filmmaker will be awarded $75,000 to make her film with the support of Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to produce the project.
The leadership committee for the inaugural year includes jurors Patricia Clarkson, Mary Harron, Mynette Louie, Rebecca Miller and Julianne Moore.
Mentors are Anna Boden, Debora Cahn, Leslye Headland, Donna Gigliotti, [link...
The three-day initiative in support of Us-based female writers and directors of short-form narrative films will take place from October 26-28.
The programme will focus on seven rising filmmakers with project support, masterclasses, one-on-one mentorship and peer-to-peer sessions.
They are: Numa Perrier (Jezebel); Roja Gashtili and Julia Lerman (The Last Shift); Vera Miao (Ma, pictured); Anna Martemucci (One Cambodian Family Please For My Pleasure); Christina Voros (Valentine); and Kat Coiro (Wig Shop).
The three days will climax with a pitch presentation before a jury where one filmmaker will be awarded $75,000 to make her film with the support of Pulse Films and Tribeca Digital Studios to produce the project.
The leadership committee for the inaugural year includes jurors Patricia Clarkson, Mary Harron, Mynette Louie, Rebecca Miller and Julianne Moore.
Mentors are Anna Boden, Debora Cahn, Leslye Headland, Donna Gigliotti, [link...
- 10/22/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
I think it's a cool idea.
Chris Moore, the producer of Good Will Hunting (1997) and many other major films, had an idea to make a television show following two directors who create a film from the same original script. In a world of many disgusting "reality" premises, this one promises to be genuinely interesting and informative of the creative process. And so, for the most part, The Chair (2014) delivers on that promise. They choose Shane Dawson, a YouTube grinder who makes daily, whacky videos for his 10 million subscribers, and Anna Martemucci, a screenwriter with whom the show's producers have made films in the past. So, the show brings a level of meta-realism in the two paths to the director's chair: popular band-wagoning and semi-justified favoritism. Incidentally, at the end of the series they "America" vote for their favorite and the winner gets $250,000.
Read more...
Chris Moore, the producer of Good Will Hunting (1997) and many other major films, had an idea to make a television show following two directors who create a film from the same original script. In a world of many disgusting "reality" premises, this one promises to be genuinely interesting and informative of the creative process. And so, for the most part, The Chair (2014) delivers on that promise. They choose Shane Dawson, a YouTube grinder who makes daily, whacky videos for his 10 million subscribers, and Anna Martemucci, a screenwriter with whom the show's producers have made films in the past. So, the show brings a level of meta-realism in the two paths to the director's chair: popular band-wagoning and semi-justified favoritism. Incidentally, at the end of the series they "America" vote for their favorite and the winner gets $250,000.
Read more...
- 6/13/2015
- by Jason Ratigan
- JustPressPlay.net
Hey, Emmy voters: Isn't it time for a makeover in the Best Reality-Competition Program race? What better way to shake up this stale category than to nominate Starz's riveting new "The Chair"? The premise pits two aspiring filmmakers against each other by forcing them to direct two separate movies from the same script. The contestant/directors -- Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci -- are given creative freedom with an indie budget, all the while being filmed by a TV documentary crew. -Break- Let's peek inside Starz's Fyc Emmy campaign mailer: 'Outlander,' 'The Missing' ... At the end of the season, the competition aspect comes into play as fans must watch both films and vote for their favorite. We won't spoil who wins the $250,000 prize, but the two films couldn't be more different from each other. Dawson takes a riotous teen-com approach with his version, titled "Not Cool," while Martemucc...
- 5/4/2015
- Gold Derby
Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress -- at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. The Genderton Project Tweetable Logline: An Lgbt gender-reversing comedy series that's like "The Hours" meets "Portlandia." Elevator Pitch: "The Genderton Project" is a cross-dressing comedy series (3 short films = 1 pilot) in which the genders are reversed. Men will be played by women and women will be played by men but everything is played straighter than a shot of bourbon. The series explores a host of themes through three intertwining stories: in 1963, a housewife decides to kill herself when her husband ignores her delicious birthday cake. 1996, a bar mitzvah'd boy is gifted a hooker by his father. In 2015, the same boy is now a gay man headed to a gay wedding weekend.
- 4/16/2015
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Stars: Philip Quinaz, Alison Fyhrie, Chris Manley, Victor Quinaz, Chris Manley, Anna Martemucci, Brian Shoaf, Mary Grill | Written by Philip Quinaz, Victor Quinaz, Anna Martemucci | Directed by Victor Quinaz
Breakup at a Wedding shows Vic (actually director Victor Quinaz) as he captures the events that happen around the wedding between Phil Havemeyer (Philip Quinaz) and Alison Jones (Alison Fyhrie). Being the type of videographer that goes super in depth, Vic captures everything, including Alison having a massive panic attack and telling Phil in supposed privacy that she wanted out; she couldn’t go through with the wedding. Together, they decide to have the wedding anyway but not sign the marriage contract, so that everyone thinks they’re married why legally they’re not. However, Phil is more than reluctant about this, and hatches a plan to end up married.
This is one of those discs I get every now and...
Breakup at a Wedding shows Vic (actually director Victor Quinaz) as he captures the events that happen around the wedding between Phil Havemeyer (Philip Quinaz) and Alison Jones (Alison Fyhrie). Being the type of videographer that goes super in depth, Vic captures everything, including Alison having a massive panic attack and telling Phil in supposed privacy that she wanted out; she couldn’t go through with the wedding. Together, they decide to have the wedding anyway but not sign the marriage contract, so that everyone thinks they’re married why legally they’re not. However, Phil is more than reluctant about this, and hatches a plan to end up married.
This is one of those discs I get every now and...
- 11/12/2014
- by Nicky Johnson
- Nerdly
Shane Dawson has quite a bit to thank his fans for. The insanely popular YouTuber (he boasts over 12.6 million subscribers across three channels) won $250,000 after his fans voted his film Not Cool as the winner of Starz’s reality TV series The Chair. The ten-episode series documented the independent filmmaking progress of its two contestants -- Dawson and filmmaker Anna Martemucci -- as they produced their own versions of the same script penned by Dan Schoffer. Starz released the episodes online to its subscribers, and asked viewers to vote on their favorite film. Martemucci’s film Hollidaysburg and Dawson’s Not Cool debuted on digital platforms, with Dawson’s creative vision hitting the #5 spot on iTunes within hours of its release on September 23, 2014. Starz announced Dawson the winner after the voting was tallied on Saturday, November 8, 2014. And that’s when the criticism started coming in. According to Variety, New York...
- 11/10/2014
- by Bree Brouwer
- Tubefilter.com
Starz's "The Chair" competition yielded two completed films, "Hollidaysburg" and "Not Cool," that were released a week apart by Starz in theaters and reviewed by The New York Times. It was utterly predictable which rookie director would make the better low budget movie. Producer Chris Moore chose two wildly different contestants, YouTube sensation Shane Dawson and Nyu screenwriter Anna Martemucci ("Breakup at a Wedding"). The ten-part one hour unscripted original documentary series, which started airing on September 6, finally reached its reality show finale, with $250,000 going to the winner. More material will eventually post online at The Chair Channel on Vimeo, on Starz.com and via social media. The measure here was a panel of professionals who watched the two movies and voted on the best film but it also mattered who scored the best with a preview audience filling out surveys; and how many bought tickets at...
- 11/9/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Starz competition “The Chair” would seem like a lucky leap for contenders Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci over the challenges aspiring filmmakers must deal with before getting a film financed. But as the process was shot and televised, the two had to deal with an incredible amount of public scrutiny. Dawson was named “The Chair's” winner during Saturday's finale episode. But, things had become especially contentious as the show's fans clashed on social media and the show's executive producers Zachary Quinto and Neal Dodson publicly shared their dislike of Dawson's movie “Not Cool,” on the show and in a guest blog on.
- 11/9/2014
- by Jethro Nededog
- The Wrap
Starz's terrific reality series "The Chair" — in which two first-time filmmakers are picked to direct their own take on the same script — just concluded, with an hour looking at the premieres of both films and with the winner of the $250,000 prize being announced. I spoke with Chris Moore — the "Project Greenlight" alum who dreamed up the series and served as a backer and producer of both the show and the films — about the results of the contest, the transparency of the project, Zachary Quinto (whose production company helped fund both films) hating one movie so much that he took his name off it, and more, coming up just as soon as I identify all the TCA members shown on camera... So, as pretty much everyone — with the possible exception of Chris Moore himself — figured going in, Shane Dawson's gross-out comedy "Not Cool" ended up beating Anna Martemucci's "Hollidaysburg" for the grand prize.
- 11/9/2014
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
“The Chair” contender and YouTube star Shane Dawson feels that comments made by executive producers of the Starz competition, Zachary Quinto and Neal Dodson, and supporters of his competitor Anna Martemucci and her film “Hollidaysburg” were unfair and unprofessional. “I knew this was going to happen,” Dawson told TheWrap of Team “Hollidaysburg's” “hate campaign,” as he described it. Last week, TheWrap posted a guest blog from Dodson which detailed his extreme dislike for Dawson's movie “Not Cool” and why he felt that “Hollidaysburg” should win the competition. And last Saturday's episode showed Quinto's disgust with Dawson's film. He and Dodson ultimately.
- 11/8/2014
- by Jethro Nededog
- The Wrap
With an overwhelming number of interesting scripted TV shows to choose from, I make almost no time for reality television anymore. The one exception of late has been Starz's "The Chair," which follows two directors — YouTube comedy star Shane Dawson and New York indie screenwriter Anna Martemucci — as they each attempt to make their first film, using the same script. Chris Moore, the central figure of the terrific "Project Greenlight," is the man behind this filmmaking experiment (even as old buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are producing a "Greenlight" revival for HBO), and one of the most interesting things about the series is how transparent it is about the process. There's been talk about how Anna got her spot because she and her husband are tight with some of the projects financiers, how the entire show (which was produced on spec, with Starz getting involved later) is often short...
- 10/10/2014
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
Starz's first reality series, "The Chair," is halfway through its terrific first season. Shot documentary style, the visually striking show follows two directors, Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci, who produced theatrical films based on the same script. When it was first announced, the show seemed like a revival of HBO and Bravo's exceptional "Project Greenlight," which lasted three seasons and followed first-time directors making movies while being mentored by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The show made a star out of their "Good Will Hunting" producer, Chris Moore, thanks to his acerbic but genuine demeanor, and his forthright but honest criticism. Moore created "The Chair," and shortly after Starz announced the show last spring, HBO revealed that it would revive "Project Greenlight" with Affleck and Damon. As it turns out, Moore told me that he actually tried to resurrect "Project Greenlight." "That whole thing fell apart and didn't happen because of lawyers,...
- 10/6/2014
- by Andy Denhart
- Hitfix
On September 23rd, Shane Dawson's first feature-length film, Not Cool, arrived on iTunes. As soon as the film became available, Dawson told his followers to go buy it, and off they went. Within hours of its release, Not Cool has zoomed up the iTunes movie charts, reaching the #5 position. Not Cool tells the story of a former prom king, played by Dawson, who returns home for his first Thanksgiving break since leaving high school. During his break, he is reunited with a former classmate (Cherami Leigh), who has little love left for her hometown. Lisa Schwartz, Dawson's real-life girlfriend and a fellow YouTuber, co-stars. Not Cool was created by Dawson as part of The Chair, an unscripted Starz TV series about the independent filmmaking process. Dawson and filmmaker Anna Martemucci were given the same script and each asked to adapt it into a feature film. Martemucci's version, Hollidaysburg, is also set to debut.
- 9/24/2014
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
The existence of Not Cool can be blamed on the Starz reality show The Chair, where two first-time feature directors took the same original screenplay, about a group of high school friends reconnecting while home on Thanksgiving break, to create two very different films -- this one helmed by YouTube personality Shane Dawson (and the other being Anna Martemucci’s not-bad Hollidaysburg).
Unsurprisingly, Dawson sticks with what he knows: outlandish, cheap gimmicks that capture our attention for all the wrong reasons. It’s shock value (drugs, sex, bodily fluids, and a lot of yelling) over any semblance of cleverness.
Its shout-outs to social media (Twitter! Facebook!) and trending topics (hashtag! selfie!) are geared to appeal to the millenni...
Unsurprisingly, Dawson sticks with what he knows: outlandish, cheap gimmicks that capture our attention for all the wrong reasons. It’s shock value (drugs, sex, bodily fluids, and a lot of yelling) over any semblance of cleverness.
Its shout-outs to social media (Twitter! Facebook!) and trending topics (hashtag! selfie!) are geared to appeal to the millenni...
- 9/24/2014
- Village Voice
Project Greenlight, a competition that gave first-time filmmakers a shot at making a feature film, was simply a great show for movie fans. Even if the movies that came out of the program weren't the single greatest achievements in cinema ever made, the process of watching newbies go through the filmmaking grinder was an illuminating one. Well now Chris Moore, one of the creators of Project Greenlight, is back with a similar behind-the-scenes filmmaking show called The Chair on Starz. This time around two first-time filmmakers, Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci, are given the chance of making it big, only the twist is that they both have to direct their versions of the same original screenplay, Dan Schoffer's How Soon Is Now. If that sounds a bit confusing, don't...
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- 9/20/2014
- by Peter Hall
- Movies.com
Starz's reality program “The Chair” might as well be called “Auteur Theory.” The cable network's first reality show, from “Project Greenlight” producer Chris Moore, features two filmmakers working to make their own movies using the same budget, same location, and the same script — a coming-of-age comedy called “How Soon Is Now.” Also read: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Now Accepting Submissions for ‘Project Greenlight’ The first, from a young filmmaker named Anna Martemucci, became a sweet comedy called “Hollidaysburg.” A clip of it is above; here's the synopsis: ‘Hollidaysburg’ is a coming-of-age comedy about finding love, and the thrilling first moments of adulthood.
- 9/15/2014
- by Jordan Zakarin
- The Wrap
Whether it’s a small indie flick or a summer blockbuster, making a movie isn’t easy. First you need an idea, then a script, money, and lots and lots of people to fill all the roles—both on camera and off. In its first original unscripted series, Starz gives viewers a front-row seat to this complicated world in The Chair.
The premise is simple enough: Two aspiring filmmakers are given the chance to make their first feature film with the help of executive producer Chris Moore, who you might remember also produced the late Project Greenlight. What makes The Chair...
The premise is simple enough: Two aspiring filmmakers are given the chance to make their first feature film with the help of executive producer Chris Moore, who you might remember also produced the late Project Greenlight. What makes The Chair...
- 9/7/2014
- by Jake Perlman
- EW - Inside TV
Billed as “an original filmmaking experiment,” Starz’s engrossing new docuseries The Chair, from Project Greenlight’s Chris Moore, examines what happens when two aspiring young filmmakers are each given the same shoestring budget, the same script and the same Pittsburgh location and asked to make wholly original theatrical releases. Mentored by the amiable Moore, his co-executive producer actor/producer Zachary Quinto and others, excitable YouTube superstar Shane Dawson and sensitive indie filmmaker/actor Anna Martemucci display fascinatingly disparate constitutions and sensibilities on their way to creating works that will, through multiplatform viewer voting after each film debuts, earn one a $250,000 prize. “What … Continue reading →
The post Zachary Quinto and Chris Moore talk The Chair on Starz appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
The post Zachary Quinto and Chris Moore talk The Chair on Starz appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
- 9/5/2014
- by Lori Acken
- ChannelGuideMag
Have you ever wondered how a movie would have turned out if it had a different director? Starz's new documentary reality show, The Chair, answers that question through a contest worth $250,000. Instead of using well-known or established directors, the series follows two first-time directors as they bring to the same script to life for the big screen.
The Chair was created by Chris Moore who previously produced another film contest series, Project Greenlight, for HBO. He selected two directors with almost as opposite of experience as possible for this project, Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci.
The Chair was created by Chris Moore who previously produced another film contest series, Project Greenlight, for HBO. He selected two directors with almost as opposite of experience as possible for this project, Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci.
- 9/5/2014
- by editor@buddytv.com
- buddytv.com
As reality TV approaches its 15th year of post-Real World maturity, the genre has a wide range of programs, from the stupid and scripted to the artful and insightful. Amid the clutter--this fall will see many new and returning reality TV shows on cable and broadcast--there are many highlights. Here are six things worth watching. Survivor and Amazing Race swap players and twists "Survivor" (Sept. 24) is on a streak: there's been season after season of solid, unpredictable game play along with a continued commitment to high-quality storytelling and production. Executive producer and host Jeff Probst, and the network, will try to keep that streak going by returning to last fall's Blood vs. Water format, which worked well, and by ditching the mostly loathed Redemption Island and replacing it with Exile Island. But they've also made some questionable casting decisions. John Rocker, the former baseball player best known for his bigoted ranting,...
- 9/2/2014
- by Andy Dehnart
- Hitfix
September 6th, Starz will debut The Chair, an unscripted TV series co-starring YouTuber Shane Dawson. The first episode of The Chair will air at 11 Pm Est, but for fans who can't wait that long to see Dawson in his new role, Starz will go online to offer the first five episodes of its new show earlier that day. The Chair will follow Dawson and filmmaker Anna Martemucci as they both attempt to direct their own adaptations of the same script. The ten-episode series will chronicle this filmmaking process through its two stars, with fan voting ultimately determining whether Dawson or Martemucci takes home the $250,000 prize. In order to watch the first five episodes online, viewers will need a Starz account, which will allow them to access The Chair via Starz Play and Starz On Demand. According to August 2013 data, Starz has approximately 29 million subscribers in the United States. This "online...
- 8/29/2014
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
Starz is going behind the scenes of filmmaking with its first unscripted competition series The Chair.
The 10-part documentary project follows two first-time feature-film directors as they separately attempt to craft a movie from the same original script. The competitors are Shane Dawson, who's built a huge online following via Twitter and his three YouTube comedy channels, and Anna Martemucci, an Nyu film school graduate and independent filmmaker.
Read More >...
The 10-part documentary project follows two first-time feature-film directors as they separately attempt to craft a movie from the same original script. The competitors are Shane Dawson, who's built a huge online following via Twitter and his three YouTube comedy channels, and Anna Martemucci, an Nyu film school graduate and independent filmmaker.
Read More >...
- 8/28/2014
- by Robyn Ross
- TVGuide - Breaking News
Fall means a new batch of reality TV; check out descriptions of new reality series. The Chair Starz Premieres: Sept. 6 Airs: Saturdays at 11pm Billed as “an original filmmaking experiment,” two aspiring young filmmakers are each given the same shoestring budget, the same script and the same location and asked to make wholly original theatrical releases. Mentored by Moore, actor/producer Zachary Quinto and others, excitable YouTube superstar Shane Dawson and sensitive indie filmmaker/actor Anna Martemucci display fascinatingly disparate constitutions and sensibilities on their way to creating works that will, through multiplatform viewer voting, earn one a $250,000 prize. Fake … Continue reading →
The post Fall TV shows 2014: New reality series premiere dates, times and previews appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
The post Fall TV shows 2014: New reality series premiere dates, times and previews appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.
- 8/27/2014
- by Kellie Freeze
- ChannelGuideMag
"The Chair" is many things. Dreamed up by producer Chris Moore, it's two indie movies directed by rookies, YouTube sensation Shane Dawson and Nyu screenwriter Anna Martemucci ("Breakup at a Wedding"), which will be released in theaters by Starz. It's also a ten-part one hour unscripted original documentary series, which starts airing on Starz September 6. And it's a reality show competition with $250,000 going to the winner. And more material will eventually post online at The Chair Channel on Vimeo, on Starz.com and via social media. Remember "Project Greenlight"? The HBO reality TV series, produced by Miramax, Sean Bailey and "Good Will Hunting" producers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore, showed audiences the nuts and bolts of indie filmmaking. A decade later Moore dreamed up another idea. "The Chair," more than a gladiator event for directors, he says on the phone, is part of his continuing quest "to show people how.
- 8/15/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
As the most expensive art form, it’s difficult to experiment with filmmaking in the way that the new Starz show The Chair does. Produced by Zachary Quinto, Neal Dodson and Corey Moosa, the program obsessively watches as two aspiring filmmakers turn the same script into different films. The closest cousin to this kind of semi-scientific meddling might be Michael Haneke remaking his own Funny Games. Or maybe Lars von Trier forcing Jorgen Leth to remake one of his short films in The Five Obstructions. Or maybe we can consider this as another in a long list of remakes that just so happens to take place simultaneously so that we can’t say which film is the “original.” Maybe I’m overthinking this (I am), but it’s exciting. Tinkering and deconstructing cinema is almost always fun, or at the very least interesting, for the audience — especially when the filmmakers themselves look to be losing their minds...
- 7/15/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
In Starz’s competition series The Chair, two filmmakers are given the same script and the same budget—then challenged to make two different movies. Last week, we caught a glimpse of YouTube star Shane Dawson’s trailer, Not Cool, which featured a some broad humor. Today, we’ve got the new trailer for Anna Martemucci’s Hollidaysburg and some explanations from the director herself as to why she took her film in a more relaxed direction.
“I set out to make a classic teen sex comedy,” Martemucci said, noting she tried to include elements she hadn’t seen before,...
“I set out to make a classic teen sex comedy,” Martemucci said, noting she tried to include elements she hadn’t seen before,...
- 7/14/2014
- by Jackson McHenry
- EW - Inside TV
On Friday, July 4, YouTube viewers with a penchant for sight gags and parody were able to celebrate much more than the anniversary of the independence of the United States. That’s the day Shane Dawson released the first trailer for his upcoming major motion picture, Not Cool. The YouTube star turned burgeoning Hollywood player who is in possession of no less than a collective 12.1 million YouTube subscribers (across his ShaneDawsonTV, ShaneDawsonTV2, and Shane channels) and a development deal for a workplace comedy with NBC made the feature on a $900,000 budget as part of an as-of-yet-unaired Starz original series dubbed The Chair. The competition program pits Dawson against up-and-coming filmmaker Anna Martemucci. As the premise goes, both contestants were given the same screenplay and the same six-figure budget and then told to make their own independent movies. Dan Schoffer penned the screenplay for both versions of the flick. In Dawson’s iteration,...
- 7/7/2014
- by Joshua Cohen
- Tubefilter.com
In Starz’s competition series The Chair, two filmmakers are given the same script and the same budget—then challenged to make two different movies. YouTube star Shane Dawson is one of those directors. The trailer for his movie delivers just the sort of comedy his fans might expect, with sight gags aplenty. But Dawson also tells EW that he also tried moving away from his typical mode of comedy, using the feature film timeframe and budget to focus more on his characters.
Using a screenplay by Dan Schoffer titled How Soon is Now, Dawson’s take (which has been...
Using a screenplay by Dan Schoffer titled How Soon is Now, Dawson’s take (which has been...
- 7/4/2014
- by Jackson McHenry
- EW - Inside TV
Shane Dawson is already make waves in traditional media through a comedy project he sold to NBC. Now, it looks like the popular YouTuber may come to premium cable, too. Dawson is one of two stars on The Chair, a Starz reality series where he will trying to make the best possible adaptation of a film called How Soon Is Now. The Chair will run for 10 episodes and will pit Dawson against Anna Martemucci, a filmmaker who previously earned praise for her film Breakup At A Wedding. Both Dawson and Martemucci will adapt the same material (a script about students who return home for their first Thanksgiving since leaving for college) and both will receive mentorship from a group that includes actor Zachary Quinto; however, the final creative decisions will be up to the two directors themselves. The winner, determined by fan voting, will take home $250,000. This may seem like an unfair advantage for Dawson,...
- 4/11/2014
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
Not only is the idea behind Starz new effort, The Chair, one that makes for a rough road as a show, it’s one that has only a theoretical draw insofar as gaining an audience, and who the target demographic might be. The show will follow two hopeful directors as they each make their own version of a film based on the same script.
Zachary Quinto, and several others, will serve as mentors during the process, which will provide some draw, but as these directors take us through the process of creating a coming-of-age film, does anyone actually want to be a part of that? Sure, the idea sounds good, but it’s hard to tell what the show really looks like, and whether or not watching the behind-the-scenes effort of… who knows what, is really going to draw a crowd.
I guess we’ll find out.
One Screenplay. Two Films.
Zachary Quinto, and several others, will serve as mentors during the process, which will provide some draw, but as these directors take us through the process of creating a coming-of-age film, does anyone actually want to be a part of that? Sure, the idea sounds good, but it’s hard to tell what the show really looks like, and whether or not watching the behind-the-scenes effort of… who knows what, is really going to draw a crowd.
I guess we’ll find out.
One Screenplay. Two Films.
- 4/11/2014
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
The Starz Network is teaming up with Project Greenlight producer Chris Moore on its first unscripted series, The Chair. The filmmaking docuseries will pit two up-and-coming directors against one another as they work to bring the same script to the big screen. The film in question is a coming-of-age comedy called How Soon is Now, about a group of college freshmen coming home for Thanksgiving. The two filmmakers are Shane Dawson, a successful YouTube comedian with over ten million YouTube subscribers, and Anna Martemucci, who wrote and starred in the indie film Breakup at a Wedding. This battle of film-school archetypes will be overseen by a team of mentors, including Star Trek and American Horror Story star Zachary Quinto. Sounds promising, but it will be hard to top Project Greenlight, the show that not only introduced the world to Shia Labeouf, but also gave us Ben Affleck’s glorious Chris Moore impression.
- 4/11/2014
- by Anna Silman
- Vulture
Starz has announced its first unscripted series, and independent filmmakers may want to tune in. "The Chair" will follow two independent filmmakers as they try bring their directorial debuts to the screen, with the audience voting which will be awarded $250,000 for their project. The two filmmakers are Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci. Dawson is best known for his YouTube comedy channels, which boast more than 10 million subscribers and almost 1 billion views. Martemucci, meanwhile, wrote and starred in the independent film "Breakup at a Wedding." Both directors will adapt "How Soon is Now," a coming-of-age feature chronicling the first homecoming on a Thanksgiving weekend by a handful of college freshmen, written by Dan Schoffer and produced by Josh Shader. The filmmakers will have their say in rewrites, casting, hiring of crew, and the title of their respective films. The series is created by "Good Will Hunting" and "Project Greenlight" executive producer Chris Moore.
- 4/10/2014
- by Max O'Connell
- Indiewire
Starz is taking a seat at the unscripted table. The premium cable network has picked up its first original unscripted project, The Chair, a docuseries exploring the filmmaking process. Emmy-nominated Project Greenlight producer Chris Moore created the 10-episode competition series that will follow two directors through the process of bringing their first feature to the screen. The series will premiere in the fall on Starz. First-time filmmakers Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci will separately adapt How Soon Is Now, a coming-of-age feature-length comedy that chronicles the first Thanksgiving homecoming weekend for a handful of
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- 4/10/2014
- by Lesley Goldberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fourteen years after he greenlighted Project Greenlight at HBO, Chris Albrecht has picked up a followup as Starz‘s first original unscripted series. The pay cable network will air the 10-episode The Chair, created by Project Greenlight executive producer Chris Moore. The competition documentary series follows two directors through the process of bringing their first feature to the screen. The up-and-coming directors, Shane Dawson and Anna Martemucci, are provided with an identical screenplay How Soon Is Now, which they must craft as their own film using the same budget and filming in the same city. The series documents the creation, marketing and theatrical release of both adaptations, which will also air on Starz. Both directors are given the same budget, and both versions use locations in the same city. Through multiplatform voting, the audience will determine which director will be awarded $250,000. The series just wrapped principal photography in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
- 4/10/2014
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Chris Moore, the executive producer of Oscar-winner Good Will Hunting and HBO’s Project Greenlight, is back with a new filmmaking competition series with a twist. The Chair, which Starz has ordered as its first original unscripted series for 10 episodes to air in fall 2014, follows two directors as they take their first feature film to the big screen. The catch: Each director is provided with the exact same screenplay to transform into his or her own distinct movie.
Both finished films will air on Starz and in theaters, with the winner of the $250,000 prize being determined by viewers’ digital voting and ticket sales.
Both finished films will air on Starz and in theaters, with the winner of the $250,000 prize being determined by viewers’ digital voting and ticket sales.
- 4/10/2014
- by Stephanie Robbins
- EW - Inside TV
Oscilloscope Laboratories has released the first poster for their comedy which tells of Alison (Alison Fyhrie) who, on the eve of their wedding, gets cold feet and decides to break up with her fiancé Phil (Philip Quinaz). But rather than face the embarrassment of calling off the ceremony, Alison suggests to Phil that they proceed with a sham wedding. Phil is more than game to try, secretly hoping that a surprise gift he has for Alison will ultimately change her mind. Yet once the guests begin to arrive, more complications ensue than either of them could have ever imagined - even if they did know their wedding was bullshit. Also in the cast are Mary Grill, Damian Lanigan, Michael Lidondici, Chris Manley, Anna Martemucci and Brian Shoaf.
- 6/4/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
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