Photo by: NBCUniversal
The biggest problems facing new sitcoms today are getting the writing to fit exactly with the actors who have to deliver the scripts, and getting through the establishment. Crowded, NBC‘s latest effort, gets through both of them in a way that is almost unprecedented. Top that off with great writing, and this is one of the best sitcoms in years.
Created by Suzanne Martin, of Hot in Cleveland and The Soul Man, Crowded is an effort that showcases avoiding the need for the convoluted establishment that drags a lot of attempts down, by simply being about the world we know. Instead of struggling to get you to play along with some gimmick, it only has to give you the characters, which leaves a lot more time to get to the comedy.
The show is about a couple who lose their empty nest as soon as their daughters graduate college,...
The biggest problems facing new sitcoms today are getting the writing to fit exactly with the actors who have to deliver the scripts, and getting through the establishment. Crowded, NBC‘s latest effort, gets through both of them in a way that is almost unprecedented. Top that off with great writing, and this is one of the best sitcoms in years.
Created by Suzanne Martin, of Hot in Cleveland and The Soul Man, Crowded is an effort that showcases avoiding the need for the convoluted establishment that drags a lot of attempts down, by simply being about the world we know. Instead of struggling to get you to play along with some gimmick, it only has to give you the characters, which leaves a lot more time to get to the comedy.
The show is about a couple who lose their empty nest as soon as their daughters graduate college,...
- 3/15/2016
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
When the fans demand your webseries get the feature treatment, that's got to mean something... right?
The wild and thoroughly crazy horror flick that made its way to feature film by way of popular demand is now available on DVD, and I have five copies to give away. If you're a fan of horror, you are going to want to check out Savage County. Check out more info below, and be sure you enter to win your copy.
When Some Restless Teenagers Decide To Play A Prank On A Backwoods Family, Boredom Quickly Turns To Paralyzing Fear
The Notorious Shocker Demanded by MTV Viewers Will Be Available to All Horror Fans On DVD on May 31, 2011
Will these kids never learn? You don’t go trespassing on strangers’ land. Especially when those strangers are mutant in-bred Tennessee lunatics with a taste for torture. Fortunately for horror fans, these kids never do learn,...
The wild and thoroughly crazy horror flick that made its way to feature film by way of popular demand is now available on DVD, and I have five copies to give away. If you're a fan of horror, you are going to want to check out Savage County. Check out more info below, and be sure you enter to win your copy.
When Some Restless Teenagers Decide To Play A Prank On A Backwoods Family, Boredom Quickly Turns To Paralyzing Fear
The Notorious Shocker Demanded by MTV Viewers Will Be Available to All Horror Fans On DVD on May 31, 2011
Will these kids never learn? You don’t go trespassing on strangers’ land. Especially when those strangers are mutant in-bred Tennessee lunatics with a taste for torture. Fortunately for horror fans, these kids never do learn,...
- 6/9/2011
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
Paper Man is one of those incredibly rare films that make me wish I could somehow get people to see it without knowing anything about it at all. It's the sort of quirky number (in many respects like such recent, indie masterpieces as TiMER, (Untitled), and especially Lovely By Surprise) that delivers much of its power by getting the chance to explain itself to you.
For those willing to take a shot based on that alone, my suggestion is that you do so, and try not to pay too much attention to the cover.
We enter the film with Richard (Jeff Daniels) being driven to a small beach community by his wife, Claire (Lisa Kudrow). It's an uncomfortable drive, which sets our tone, and we soon discover that Richard is going to live in this sleepy hamlet over the winter, hopefully in order to break his writer's block. His surgeon...
For those willing to take a shot based on that alone, my suggestion is that you do so, and try not to pay too much attention to the cover.
We enter the film with Richard (Jeff Daniels) being driven to a small beach community by his wife, Claire (Lisa Kudrow). It's an uncomfortable drive, which sets our tone, and we soon discover that Richard is going to live in this sleepy hamlet over the winter, hopefully in order to break his writer's block. His surgeon...
- 2/5/2011
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
Carl heads off to the Edinburgh International Film Festival: but what movies has he got his eye on?
It's that time of year when I grab my notepad and press pass as, for the sixty-fourth time, Edinburgh International Film Festival rears its lovely head yet again. Over the three years I've attended, I've seen many brilliant films.
There have been blockbusters like Wall-e, Stardust and Death Proof, Indie flicks with big stars like Away We Go, The Wackness and Moon, brilliant documentaries like A Complete History Of My Sexual Favours, Sleep Furiously and Bananaz, and, of course, the best in independent cinema like Breath, Lovely By Surprise and Weirdsville.
Every year I go through the festival programme and read about so many good films and watch trailers for as many as possible that I feel quite depressed. But I don't feel that way because they're bad, far from it, in fact.
It's that time of year when I grab my notepad and press pass as, for the sixty-fourth time, Edinburgh International Film Festival rears its lovely head yet again. Over the three years I've attended, I've seen many brilliant films.
There have been blockbusters like Wall-e, Stardust and Death Proof, Indie flicks with big stars like Away We Go, The Wackness and Moon, brilliant documentaries like A Complete History Of My Sexual Favours, Sleep Furiously and Bananaz, and, of course, the best in independent cinema like Breath, Lovely By Surprise and Weirdsville.
Every year I go through the festival programme and read about so many good films and watch trailers for as many as possible that I feel quite depressed. But I don't feel that way because they're bad, far from it, in fact.
- 6/16/2010
- Den of Geek
Even if you haven’t watched True Blood, you’ve seen Carrie Preston before.
Carrie has the remarkable ability to transform herself – her looks and mannerisms – in each role she does. She’s been in Duplicity and My Best Friends Wedding with Julia Roberts. Doubt, Vicky Christina Barcelona and even an episode of Sex and the City that I totally remem
ber her in. She even played Ben Linus’ (her husband, the great Michael Emerson) mother on an episode of Lost! I could go on but my fingers will get tired from all the typing.
She’s currently filming season 3 of True Blood and she took some time out to talk to me about Broadway, how she prepares for a role and yes, True Blood.
So, you’re from Georgia and you got started doing plays as a kid?
Yeah, I’m one of those, like I like to say I’m a “lifer.
Carrie has the remarkable ability to transform herself – her looks and mannerisms – in each role she does. She’s been in Duplicity and My Best Friends Wedding with Julia Roberts. Doubt, Vicky Christina Barcelona and even an episode of Sex and the City that I totally remem
ber her in. She even played Ben Linus’ (her husband, the great Michael Emerson) mother on an episode of Lost! I could go on but my fingers will get tired from all the typing.
She’s currently filming season 3 of True Blood and she took some time out to talk to me about Broadway, how she prepares for a role and yes, True Blood.
So, you’re from Georgia and you got started doing plays as a kid?
Yeah, I’m one of those, like I like to say I’m a “lifer.
- 3/3/2010
- by Lance Carter
- DailyActorMedia
You may have noticed that I've been posting in our Web Exclusives a number of first-person pieces by filmmakers discussing their distribution saga. We have already had producer Jake Abraham on distributing his film, Lovely by Surprise, and then writer/director Rob Perez on making the transition from studio distribution to Diy distribution with his nobody. The latest in our informal series is from Zachary Levy, director of the documentary Strongman. His piece, "Making our Diy Moment Matter," is a refreshingly thoughtful take on what the trend towards alternative distribution should mean for our filmmaking. Check it out, and look for more of these first-person pieces in the coming weeks.
- 10/28/2009
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In my last post on our distribution strategy for Kirt Gunn’s Lovely by Surprise I mentioned that I’d try to write a follow-up post when appropriate. It seems that time has come sooner than expected, and for one particular reason. Part of our Diy release for Lovely By Surprise has been focused on digital messaging platforms, particularly Twitter and Facebook. They have been great tools for aggregating fans and followers and keeping them informed about various topics, from trivia about our actors and crew, to release dates and special screenings. Twitter in particular has proven to be a great device for communication amongst our followers. It has also become a tool for evil, I’ve discovered. On Saturday, August 8th, one month after...
- 9/26/2009
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine_Web Exclusives
In my last post on our distribution strategy for Kirt Gunn's Lovely by Surprise I mentioned that I’d try to write a follow-up post when appropriate. It seems that time has come sooner than expected, and for one particular reason. Part of our Diy release for Lovely By Surprise has been focused on digital messaging platforms, particularly Twitter and Facebook. They have been great tools for aggregating fans and followers and keeping them informed about various topics, from trivia about our actors and crew, to release dates and special screenings. Twitter in particular has proven to be a great device for communication amongst our followers. It has also become a tool for evil, I’ve discovered. On Saturday, August 8th, one month after our...
- 8/27/2009
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine_Web Exclusives
L'amour fou against the barricades, fiction coming to life and TV's funniest gay cop are among the highlights of this week's new DVDs.
Read on for more!
One of the sleeper hits of the 2008 gay film festival circuit (and not 2007, despite what the DVD cover says) was Ma Saison Super 8 (My Super 8 Season), a rare film that puts the tumultuous events of Paris in May 1968 into a queer context.
A brash and openly gay young student fights to have his issues included in the leftist upheaval while he carries on a passionate but doomed romance with a conflicted factory worker. It's a movie that reminds us of all the gay men who were silenced during history's great moments of progressive thought. (Still waiting for the Bayard Rustin biopic.)
Lovely by Surprise matches its fictional-characters-come-to-life plot with a cast of terrific character actors, including gay thespians Austin Pendleton (Oz, What's Up,...
Read on for more!
One of the sleeper hits of the 2008 gay film festival circuit (and not 2007, despite what the DVD cover says) was Ma Saison Super 8 (My Super 8 Season), a rare film that puts the tumultuous events of Paris in May 1968 into a queer context.
A brash and openly gay young student fights to have his issues included in the leftist upheaval while he carries on a passionate but doomed romance with a conflicted factory worker. It's a movie that reminds us of all the gay men who were silenced during history's great moments of progressive thought. (Still waiting for the Bayard Rustin biopic.)
Lovely by Surprise matches its fictional-characters-come-to-life plot with a cast of terrific character actors, including gay thespians Austin Pendleton (Oz, What's Up,...
- 7/7/2009
- by ADuralde
- The Backlot
Producer Jake Abraham, well known to Filmmaker readers on account of his long tenure at InDigEnt Films, is a producer of Kirt Gunn's festival charmer Lovely By Surprise. He's taking the film out in a Diy-sort of way, and I'm going to spoil the closer of the article he's just written for us over at Web Exclusives by reprinting it here: Our release date is today, July 7th. It feels different than opening days in the past. No premiere party, no box office reports. The effects of our plan will begin to appear over the next few weeks as we see how well the promotion has worked. Yet, our job is far from over. We will continue to actively promote the film for at least the next six months, far longer than I’ve ever worked on a film when it was...
- 7/7/2009
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
There are those who would argue that the general category of fantasy/sci-fi, or even more generally "that which cannot really happen," is indeed the best and purest category of fiction there is. Sure, it has everything from meaningless fluff to masterpieces just like every category, but when it's done right, it somehow has more to say about reality than reality as a framework can manage. Whether telling a joke, using a hypothetical, or having your characters interact with mind-reading aliens, those who know how to play the game tell the truth better by lying than the truth, on its own, can be told. Whatever you may think of such a theory, it is a theory that Lovely by Surprise not only understands, it masters utterly. The story of a woman's struggle to finish a novel,...
- 6/29/2009
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
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