EXCITING TIME TO BE IN ATLANTA’S
Home Grown PRODUCTION COMMUNITY
November/December 2007 www.ozonline.tv
WILL PACKER TYLER PERRY PAMELA PEACOCK RICHARD SAMPSON
We know what keeps you up at night. That’s why Georgia offers a film community that can maximize your budget like no other Southern location. Because we’re a nationally recognized production center, everything you need from pre-pro to post is right here. Plus a brand new set of tax incentives will allow you to put even more of your budget on the screen. Come to Georgia and rest easy. Contact the Film, Video and Music Office at 404-962-4052. Visit georgia.org. Put your dreams in motion.
THE
RECORDING
ACADEMY
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The GRAMMY® Awards captures the world’s attention one night of the year, while The Recording Academy works year-round providing educational funding and one-of-akind music events designed for high school students throughout the countr y, taking a leadership role in protecting and advocating for artists rights along with providing critical assistance to members of our community in need.
Add your voice to ours. Become a member of The Recording Academy. Together, we are the voice of music.
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OZ CET ER A BETSY APPLEBY JOINS KILGANNON Betsy Appleby recently joined Kilgannon as supervisor, brand management. Appleby will be the day-to-day contact for Attorneys Title Insurance Fund, Bank of Atlanta and Partnership Against Domestic Violence. Previously, Appleby held several marketing positions at SunTrust Bank; the most recent of which was vice president, retail line of business project manager. Prior to that, Appleby was Atlanta region marketing manager, and she also served as marketing planner, corporate marketing services. Prior to joining SunTrust in 1999, Appleby was associate production manager/sales coordinator for Catspaw Productions,
EXCELLENCE FOR INFINITEE Infinitee, Inc. received four awards from the annual Communicator Awards 2007 Print Media Competition. Infinitee was awarded two awards for excellence in communicating business-to-business objectives and another two awards for distinction in communicating brand value for business-to-consumer audiences. Infinitee won Awards of Excellence for their Corporate Leasing Brochure for The Avenue, a retail division of Cousins Properties, located in the metro-Atlanta area, and the 25th Anniversary table-top book celebrating the development and growth of Tanger Outlet Centers. Infinitee also took home Awards of Distinction for Tanger’s Corporate Leasing Brochure and Fresenius Medical Care Magazine Outsert.
an Atlanta-based audio production company. She began her career at Custer Gamwell Communications, an Atlanta-based public relations firm.
ROBOT CHICKEN INVADES BAD STUDIO BAD Studio was once again tapped by Adult Swim to design DVD packaging, menus and an online advertising for season two of the Emmy Award-winning Robot Chicken. The show, targeted to adult males 15-40, is a wild ride of traditional stop-motion animation that skewers celebrity and pop culture. Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim in-house creative department designed the initial DVD cover concept and sample menu page. These were approved by Seth Green and Matt Senrich, creators of Robot Chicken, then handed off to BAD Studio. From there, BAD Studio finalized the outer DVD cover, designed all of the internal components of the DVD package and created 24 DVD menus. The outer slipcase of the packaging uses several specialty printing techniques - dull and gloss UV coatings and
red metallic foil. The simplicity of the outer package, along with these special printing techniques help it stand out on a typically busy store shelf.
For the DVD menus, show creators wanted to have the look of Frank Miller’s Sin City movie. BAD Studio used hi-res studio photography for
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the puppets combined with screen grabs of backgrounds and hand made textures to give them a gritty feel. The online ad campaign presented its own set of challenges. Though Flash is a powerful tool for adding video content to web sites, limitations in file size for online advertising make it nearly impossible to use video content for that format. A workaround needed to be found. “Instead of using straight video, which uses about 15 frames per second for the web and eats up a lot of memory, we built an animated jpeg using every tenth frame,� says Bad Studio’s Scott Banks “In the end we had better image quality and a smaller file size.� Once the animation issue was solved, the ad was produced in 2 versions and 12 sizes to run on over 20 different web sites.
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OZ CET ER A POGO POUNCES ON PROJECTS Pogo Pictures directors have been staying busy with a slew of projects. Director/DP Steve Colby was commissioned by Birmingham ad agency Luckie Co to shoot two spots showcasing all that Mobile Bay has to offer while director Zach Freyer captured family antics on the white sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, AL. Director Angel Traverso teamed with JWT Atlanta on a 3-day shoot for Ford Trucks. The series of spots explore Auburn, Alabama and feature Auburn Tigers football coach Tommy Tuberville and Jordan-Hare Stadium. Director/DP Steve Colby teamed up with GSD of Austin, TX on multiple spots for AT. Shot on location in Los Angeles, the spots feature real people interviews and an eccentric “speedy” woman preparing for a party.
Cashman Katz tapped director Zach Freyer for a third Connecticut Lottery campaign. The 4-spot package was shot on location in Atlanta and included everything from a sneaky secret Santa to knights dining in armor. Colby also captured the beauty of one of the largest developments in the country. The Woodlands covers nearly 30,000 acres with over 120 parks. Two :30’s and a long form 5-minute film finished in HiDef were lensed outside of Houston, TX. Finally, Traverso shot a three spot campaign for supermarket chain WinnDixie with Hispanic agency Zubi Advertising in Miami, FL. Two spots chronicle the irresistible temptation of outdoor summer grilling while the third spot celebrates Hispanic Heritage month.
TUBE-BALL
screen. Shot in 1080i using a DVCPRO-HD, the silhouetted action shots range from a quarterback snap and catch to a quick juke past a camera. With the challenge of only standard definition
stock football footage to work with, the 1080i green screen elements, combined with motion graphics, provided the basis for this gritty spot finished in HiDef. Rounding out the post process, TUBE’s Greg Partridge completed sound design on the :30 spot with grunts, punts and crowd applause.
Spots from TUBE’s work for Cox Communications.
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Grant Design Collaborative’s president and creative director Bill Grant was a keynote speaker for a conference focusing on the growing importance of branding in the Asian marketplace. Entitled “From Good to Great – The Key Role of Brand Design,” the event was held at multiple venues in Taipei and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Grant also acted as international judge for the 2007 Taiwan Design Award for Visual Communication. The conference focused on critical business/design issues, including how brand design enhances the value of business, brand-building communication protocol, the process of brand building from start to finish, myth-breaking assumptions, and how companies select a suitable design partner.
SALLOT NABS HIGH HONOR
TUBE recently collaborated with Dean Pernaci Editorial on a broadcast spot for Cox Communications promoting football in HiDef to its digital subscribers. Chris Downs, creative director of TUBE, and Joseph Suttles, TUBE’s newest motion graphics designer, shot transition and design elements with a real life football fan dressed up in full gear in TUBE’s insert stage on green
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Lynne Sallot, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, has been awarded one of the Public Relations Society of America’s highest honors, the 2007 Outstanding Educator Award. She is a longtime member of PRSA|GA, the society’s second-largest chapter. Sallot, professor of public relations at Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Georgia, has been given numerous awards and accolades from the national society, her local chapter and many other organizations. She practiced public relations in Florida for 15 years prior to entering academia. She edited two editions of PRSA’s “Learning to Teach,” published more than 50 scholarly articles and papers on PR and teaches the subject full time at the University of Georgia. Sallot was cited as the fifth-most-productive contributor to public relations academic journals 1995-2005 in a 2005 study. In 2002, Sallot’s local chapter, PRSA|GA, awarded her its highest honor, induction into the Order of the Phoenix and into the Georgia PRSA Hall of Fame, which is housed at the University of Georgia. There are only 29 members of the Order of the Phoenix, from a chapter membership of almost 1,000. From the national society, she is accredited (APR) which designates she has been certified by PRSA after
months of study and passing a rigorous exam, and she is a Fellow, which designates invitation and induction into the College of Fellows, “the hallmark of achievement in one’s public relations career.” There are only 400 Fellows from a membership of more than 20,000. The Outstanding Educator award is one of only five individual awards bestowed by the national society annually. It recognizes excellence in public relations teaching based on contemporary, research-based knowledge of public relations and contributions to the advancement of public relations education. Sallot holds a BA in journalism from Kent State University; an M.A. in communications studies from the University of Miami, and a Ph.D. in mass communications from the University of Florida.
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OZ CET ER A BILL THOMPSON PROMOTED
Bill Thompson, Deputy Commissioner, the Georgia Film, Video & Music Office. Bill Thompson was promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Georgia’s Film, Video and Music Office. Bill Thompson joined the Georgia Department of Economic Development on November 1, 2006 as director of the entertainment division. Thompson is responsible for developing marketing and sales strategies that will grow and enhance Georgia’s entertainment industry. His expanded role includes greater responsibilities for the department as a whole, as well as the division. A communications industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in the film, video and television arenas, Thompson has worked in 28 countries on five continents and in 44 U.S. states. His clients have included television networks, Hollywood studios, advertis-
ing agencies, production companies, institutions and Fortune 100, 300 and 500 corporations. He was very involved in numerous projects during the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta and in 2005 produced several projects for the Brand Atlanta campaign, Coca-Cola and General Electric. Thompson was nominated for an Emmy award in 1998 for producing the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards show, and has won an MTV music video award, several Telly awards, a Cable Atlanta “Best Original Series” award and an International Television Association award. He is a member of numerous professional organizations including the Georgia Production Partnership, Media Communications Association International, IMAGE Film/Video Center and the Atlanta Film Festival, and Women in Film and Television. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Technology Association of Georgia’s Entertainment Industry Board of Directors. Thompson received the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year award from Georgia State University in 2001 and is a past board member of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. Thompson holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Communications from GSU.
PORSCHE UPGRADES PR TEAM Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) has added Christopher Wall to its public relations team. Wall comes to Porsche with more than 14 years of experience in media relations, marketing and sales management. In his role as manager, automotive media and product information, Wall will be responsible mainly for the development and maintenance of key media relationships, and all product related communication activities within the automotive press. With Wall’s arrival Bob Carlson’s responsibilities in the area of motor sports have been expanded. As manager, motorsports and brand heritage, he will focus on the dedicated communication of Porsche’s past and present accomplishments on and off the race track that have made the company 8
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unique within the auto industry. Tony Fouladpour, manager, corporate communications, is responsible for the areas of business and lifestyle media, social PR and internal communications. Gary Fong will continue to manage the Porsche press fleet. Together, the PR team strives to provide best-in-class service to the North American media and beyond. Prior to his arrival at Porsche, Wall served as the director of public relations and marketing for Pirelli Motorcycle Tire Company overseeing all press activities as well as distributor, dealer and sales programs. Additionally, he held various management positions spanning a nine-year career at the Yamaha Motor Corporation. Wall is a Georgia native and graduate of Kennesaw State University.
THE ART OF THE DEAL Acclaimed filmmaker Will Packer and noted indie distributor Ira Deutchman launched an innovative educational and marketing partnership with Clark Atlanta University during the Fall 2007 semester. The partnership has developed a groundbreaking marketing course centered on the upcoming theatrical release of John Sayles’ latest film “Honeydripper” starring Danny Glover. The course, taught through the School of Business Administration at Clark Atlanta, will also be offered to colleges and universities across the country, including other HBCU colleges (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). The lectures will be distributed via the internet and will be organized by marketing professor Charles W. Richardson, Jr. of Clark Atlanta. Lectures will be given by professionals in theatrical marketing and distribution and include Atlanta-based producer Will Packer of Rainforest Films. Packer, a prolific filmmaker and expert at reaching diverse audiences, is coming off the 2007 hit “Stomp the Yard.” Ira Deutchman, who
has been teaching in the Graduate Film Division at Columbia University for over 20 years, was the founder of Fine Line Features and currently heads Emerging Pictures. Said Packer ”Rather than sit around and complain about how under-served the African American audience is, it’s time we inspired a new generation to see marketing as means to that end. This could be an important step in that direction.” The seminar will provide business students with hands on experience in the art of theatrical motion picture marketing. After the lecture series, groups of students from each participating school will spend the remainder of the semester developing a marketing plan to reach local audiences. Local professors and the Honeydripper distribution team will consult and the students will implement their marketing plans alongside the national marketing effort for the film’s release.
PAXTON ON SOAPBOX Soapbox Studios recently brought in Paxton Greene as the new general manager. Greene joins Soapbox Studios with a strong background in television, video and production. After graduating from Georgia State as a film and video major, Greene landed his first job at CNN Newsstand. Following his passion for production and film, he went on to work with the WCW (now known as the WWF) as a production assistant, and continued over to Techwood, where
he spent the last 7 years working, most recently as a writer/producer for Cartoon Network Latin America. Jonathan Wolfman, co-owner of Soapbox Studios, first worked with Greene in early 2004, and began collaborating on a project in October 2006 for FOX 5’s “Wednesday’s Child.” The collaboration was a success and from there grew the partnership that led to Greene taking the lead at Soapbox Studios.
Soapbox Studios welcomes new GM, Paxton Greene.
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OZ CET ER A COFFEE ANYONE! Atlanta food photographer Iain Bagwell recently completed an unusual project for gourmet coffee company, Melitta. Working with FKQ Advertising in Tampa, Bagwell shot a series of still images that were to be animated for a TV spot airing on The Food Network.
LOWDEN LENSES PEACE ON EARTH The project called for six images to be shot on location in a home. Ricky Turner of The Screen Engine, lead animator for the TV spot, was also on set to help direct each shot. In addition to the TV usage, some images will also be utilized in print ads, outdoor, collateral/direct mail and the company’s website.
Food photographer Iain Bagwell’s work for Melitta.
Atlanta’s Scott Lowden was one of five different photographers to contribute to the Peace Corps new print campaign consisting of 14 separate ads. The campaign was created by BBDO Atlanta, and ads have been shipped to over 2,000 publications. Peace Corps’ photographer, Jason Katz, shot many of the images, and BBDO brought in the four additional photographers. Among the images chosen for the campaign was a shot Lowden took while in Peru in January of 2006. Once his image was selected from numerous shots in consideration, Lowden gladly donated it to the campaign. Bill Pauls, executive creative director, BBDO Atlanta, contacted several photographers and reviewed numerous images before making his final selection. Tamara Reynolds was one
of the photographers whose images were in consideration. Atlanta photographer Ryan Flynn also contributed an image to the campaign. In other news, Lowden was contacted by Delta creative director, Jonathan Doss, for photos for collateral and advertising pieces promoting their emergence from bankruptcy. The job called for six specific shots in airport settings such as a check-in counter and Delta’s Crown Room. However, inherent difficulties in dealing with airport security meant that locations would have to be re-created and simulated elsewhere. Lowden and his crew were in Columbus, GA working on an AFLAC shoot, so he enlisted the services of Stir Productions. The folks at Stir took Lowden’s direction and pulled everything together without a hitch.
VETERAN ACTOR DOES IT WITH CLASS Ken Feinberg is teaching classes at his Atlantic Station Studios. His courses include Demystify the Audition Process for Film & TV, Acting with Confidence in Front of the Camera, and The Feinberg Screenwriting Class. Feinberg recently finished writ-
ing his first novel, called “The Other Side of Now”, a spiritual story about life lessons in this life and 2 previous past lives. He was also on the Star Trek and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer panels at this year’s Dragon Con.
NORTH AVENUE POST CONVERTS North Avenue Post has upgraded its facility with the addition of Teranex Advanced Format Conversion. Coupled with North Avenue Post’s existing HiDef infrastructure, the
Teranex allows performance of the highest quality conversions to and from all HiDef standards as well as PAL and NTSC.
Scott Lowden’s photo was used in the Peace Corps print campaign.
MANAGE YOUR DOCUMENTS Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. has established a second branch location in the Atlanta metropolitan area which will offer Konica Minolta’s complete line of award-winning bizhub and bizhub PRO products, as well as its extensive document management and workflow solutions. “Konica Minolta based its decision to establish a second branch in Atlanta because of the tremendous growth opportunity we see in this market,” said Greg Leonard, branch general manager Atlanta
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West, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. “More than 75 percent of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta area, and the region hosts offices of about 1,250 multinational corporations. The addition of a second branch strengthens our ability to provide customers with document management solutions that will improve their businesses, while increasing Konica Minolta’s presence and market share in the region.
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Scott Lowden’s work for Delta.
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HALLMAN HAS OCTANE Veteran internet marketing professional Harry Hallman recently joined Octane
as a principal. Hallman brings 30 years of marketing and marketing communications experience, 12 of which have been spent in the internet marketing arena. Hallman will merge his consulting practice, Hallman & Associates, with Octane and add to the agency’s offerings in the development of niche based social networks, internet promotions, and! internet marketing. Hallman has held posi" tions of CEO for Photo Communications Corp., Corporate Media Communications,# an event and marketing company, and HIP, !" Inc. an internet marketing agency. "#
New Ocatane principal Harry Hallman.
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HIT THE LINKS WITH CREATIVE INK Creative INK recently launched the official PGA tour playoffs website in partnership with Turner Sports New Media. Turner Sports New Media develops and manages the PGA Tour website and enlisted Creative INK to provide the new look and feel for the official PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs web presence.
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Turner Sports New Media decided to debut a series of newly designed PGA Tour sites with the inaugural FedEx Cup Playoffs. Featuring live, streaming video, event-branded sections and play-by-play content, the Playoffs site showcases a complex and scalable design strategy. Creative INK also designed a unique look and feel for The Presidents Cup website.
Why Choose The RetroTechs as your Support Partner?
Experience: The RetroTechs team has provided professional computer support to thousands of satisfied clients over the past 17 years. Our team sees and solves every computer problem imaginable.
Dependability: Our technologies and solutions provide much more than simply monitoring your network. Our large support team enables us to respond quickly, utilizing the latest technologies in remote management or through an on-site visit.
Expertise: In addition to our hands-on experience, The RetroTechs have been certified by top industry companies, such as Microsoft, Symantec, Apple and many others. And because technology never stands still, our team is continually training to stay ahead of the curve.
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call 404-352-6210 or visit www.retrotechs.com
SEE SEE SEE EYE ACQUIRED Van Winkle & Associates, a full-service marketing and advertising firm, recently acquired graphic design firm see see eye. See see eye will continue to operate as a division of Van Winkle & Associates, Inc., with the same focus on annual report and corporate communications design. Founder and president Terry Davis will leave the firm to pursue other interests after a transition period. Co-owner and creative director Kevin Sheehan will assume additional responsibilities as
creative director of VW&A. Sheehan is a 20-year veteran of the creative and design industry whose work has been recognized for excellence nationally and internationally. See see eye vice president Lawson Cox will continue to serve as general manager. The account and design teams will remain in place under the see see eye brand, and the Company will maintain its offices at 590 Means Street in the West Midtown area of Atlanta.
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OZ CET ER A NAME CHANGE AND NEW CLIENTS
5 TEAM MEMBERS WITH IQ
After 23 years in Atlanta, The Teleproduction Group (TPG) has changed the company name to Peachtree Films Atlanta. Said TPG President/CEO, Barry Dycus, “We feel the moniker better describes our company’s vision and fully encompasses the vast spectrum of our production outlets.” Peachtree Films has recently completed projects such as the 2007
IQ Interactive recently added five new team members including John Ferguson, senior designer, Chris McIlvoy, senior developer, Brian Gorby, interactive developer, Mason Brown, junior developer, and Kay McClusky, design producer. Ferguson joins IQ Interactive as senior designer with more than 8 years of experience working for companies such as Coca-Cola, Cingular, Sony Music, Expedia, New York Times, among others. Prior to IQ, he served as a design consultant for Frog Design and Armchair Media. As senior developer, McIlvoy brings a unique background of technical programming and finance responsibility for custom development of applications; as well as managing applications and projects for an international architecture firm. Chris will lend his knowledge to clients seeking strategies and solutions.
season for the PBS series “Real Savvy Moms” shot on location nationwide and in Mexico for Morphogenix/ Matjik Creative, a show special for Lasser Productions/IFL with 2005 Playmate of the Year Tiffany Fallon, and a music video for the Tim McGraw produced band “Halfway to Hazard” for Mercury Records/ Chromazone Productions in Nashville, TN.
DANNEMAN FACES THE MUSIC Jody Danneman, president and executive producer at Atlanta ImageArts, was once again tapped to write, produce and direct the Annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards, the 29th edition. The Georgia Music Hall of Fame inducted R&B performer Usher, Southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, songwriter Mylon LeFevre, Jazz artist Freddy Cole, Dr. Bobbie Bailey, and studio pioneer Babs Richardson at the annual gala. Singer/
songwriter Johnta Austin received the 2007 Bill Lowery Horizon Award, which recognizes “up and coming” talent with significant ties to the State of Georgia. The ceremony was held at the Georgia World Congress Center in the Thomas B. Murphy Ballroom with Georgia Public Broadcasting providing the live television coverage. LeFevre, Cole, Usher and Lynyrd Skynyrd performed.
Send all your business news to Ozcetera editor, JAMES FLYNN at ozcetera@ozonline.tv. NO FAXES OR HARDCOPIES, PLEASE. All news should be submitted via email.
Gorby, interactive developer, will contribute his experience working as a web architect where he was responsible for roles from internet architecture to development to support new brand extensions. Prior to joining IQ, he worked for Paste Media Group. Brown, junior developer, and McClusky, design producer, bring passion for design and experience working in the interactive space to IQ’s growing team
John Ferguson, Senior Designer
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YATES TO CDG/LBI AS CD
Creative Digital Group, an LBi company, recently brought on Thurston Yates as SVP/executive creative director. Yates joins Creative Digital Group/LBi from Studiocom, where he served as a Creative Director and Discipline Lead. Prior to his role at Studiocom, Thurston was Regional Creative Director at Avenue A | Razorfish. At CDG/LBi, Yates is responsible for the creative vision, strategy and execution for the agency’s client engagements. 12
His more than fifteen years of agency experience includes work for national accounts such as Baskin-Robbins, CVS/pharmacy, AMG Mercedes, United Airlines, The Coca Cola Company, LG Electronics, Carnival Cruise Lines, Burger King, and Chase Manhattan Bank, among others. In other news, Creative Digital Group received industry recognition for its work, having been honored with three WebAwards from the Web Marketing Association. CDG/LBi’s award-winning work includes: “Beverage Standard of Excellence” for White Hat Brands’“Get Your Dog On” Web site, “Best Retail Web Site” for The Home Depot Home Services’ Web site, and “Best Home Building Web Site” for The Home Depot’s Roofing, Siding, Windows Web site CDG was also recognized for their work with client partner EyeWonder at the 2007 OMMA Awards for Best Video Appearing in a Banner, Pre-roll, Interstitial or In-stream Unit.
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Brian Gorby, Interactive Developer
Kat McClusky, Design Producer
VTA’S YANCEY IS GREATEST GIFT Music video director Mike Taylor chose VTA’s senior colorist, John Yancey to define the tones and ambiance for a recent project. The latest Tamika Scott video “Greatest Gift” follows her through a “day in the life” story that intertwines with
a beautiful performance piece. Shot on 35mm film, color correction was an essential part of the look for the piece. Yancey utilized power windows and slight filtering to bring the eye to the center without being heavy handed.
A PROMAX FOR WOLFF BROS Wolff Bros Post shared in the Promax World Gold award for TNT’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes. The BTS for Battlegrounds FX earned the honor under the Behind the Scenes Promotion category at the Promax Awards in New York. Avid Editor Kara
Krohn and Sound Designer Seth Cohen both worked on the project with TNT producer M.A. Glenn. In addition, Wolff Bros editors worked on Promax Award winners for Cartoon Network, Gospel Music Channel, and TBS.
MICHELE TORRES JOINS CRAIG MILLER PRODUCTIONS Michele Torres has brought her considerable marketing and production skills to both C Pictures and Craig Miller Productions in the HiDef arena. Torres is concentrating on international projects including gaming, real estate, the Christian music video genre and broadcast promotional. Responsibility includes producing HiDef programming in any language around the world.
Michele Torres, newest addition for Craig Miller Productions. In other news, Craig Miller Productions recently produced a HiDef minidocumentary for The McDonald’s Division of The Coca-Cola Company. The
program entitled “St. Augustine Marching 100: A Band Reborn” is the story of a New Orleans all-male Catholic African-American high school that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the long road back to regain its status as one of the premier marching bands in the country. This was accomplished through the help of corporate contributions and support from companies like The Coca-Cola Company. The HiDef presentation has already garnered a Bronze Anvil Award; the highest honor awarded a video presentation from the national PRSA competition. C Pictures has completed writing and directing an HiDef PSA for the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Atlanta. “Heroes” is being customized for local markets across the country and DDB Chicago is posting it for national distribution. C Pictures and Craig Mill Productions in conjunction with JBL Communications has just completed the upgrade of two HiDef Final Cut Pro Suites at their offices on Northside Drive. Along with the assets of Creative Sound Services located in the same building, the complete HiDef Post facility delivers an incredible post production package.also worked on the client side as the director of marketing and event management for the Atlanta Silverbacks professional soccer team.
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ROME INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WRAPS The 2007 Rome International Film Festival wrapped with an afternoon awards ceremony on Sunday at the historic DeSoto Theatre. The following awards were presented by the Adjudication Advisory Board chaired by RIFF Creative Programming Director Harry Musselwhite: Jury Awards: Animation: “A Garota,” Fernando Pinheiro,; American Documentary: “Monster Camp,” Cullen Hoback; International Documentary: “Born Again Buddhists,” Lian Pak, Australia and Singapore; Experimental “DVD,” Ciro Altabas, Spain; Narrative American Short: “Blue Dress,” Katie Stern; Narrative International Short: “Happy Pizza,” Shuhei Fukunaga, Japan; Narrative Feature: “Low and Behold,” Zach Godshall, USA, and; Special Jury Award: “Fully Awake: Black Mountain College,” Cathryn Davis Zommer
and Neeley House, USA. The following Audience Choice Awards were determined by ballots completed by audience members. The winners are chosen based on the highest average score, with a minimum of 20 ballots returned from unique audience members for a film to qualify. Audience Choice Awards: Best Feature: “Greensboro: Closer to the Truth,” Adam Zucker, USA, and Narrative Short: “Swimming to the Moon,” Greg Thompson, USA. In addition to awards to filmmakers and films, RIFF presented two festival awards for achievement and commitment to the Rome International Film Festival. Festival Awards: Special Achievement Award: E. Wright Ledbetter, and Independent Luminary Award: Judy Taylor.
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OZ CET ER A KITSCHY PANORAMA
BRAND BUILDERS Superhero themed promotions firm, The P.O.P. Shop took over the first floor of The Art Institute of Atlanta on September 18th to present the Brand Builders Expo, a brand boosting expo turbo-charged with creativity. The company’s entire team of marketing superheroes were on hand, along with many of their partners, helping
attendees plan for 2008, get ideas and consider holiday gifts for clients or employees. The event was open to marketing managers, agencies, business owners and buyers of printing and promotional products. Attendees received VIP Access to money saving coupons and specials, and access to The Art Institute’s Gallery.
Dinosaurs and flying saucers invaded Spring Street recently in a kitschy panorama adorning the storefront windows of Whole World Theatre. The popular theatre group needed a more recognizable space so that audiences could find the front door without circling the block five times. The formerly nondescript one-story building in the 1200 block of Spring Street in Midtown is now unlikely to be missed. “We’ve been entertaining Atlanta for 14 years now, and some folks still don’t know where we are located,” Whole World Theatre Artistic Director
Chip Powell said. “Now, when people call for directions, we can say head toward downtown on Spring Street and look for the big reptiles and UFOs on the right.” The artwork was designed by Don Patton of the Freebairn & Company advertising agency and installed by The Color Spot. But why the B-movie monster attack motif? “Random chaos,” Powell said. “That’s Whole World Theatre. We’re somewhere between T-Rex and space aliens and constantly evolving. It’s never the same show twice.”
P.O.P. Shop Superheroes Sonya Beam, Melisa Meason, Carrie Hankins, Brian Beam, Meg Gerhold, Joan Parker, and Gina Thompson
DANCE PARTY AT KANEVA Kaneva, a rapidly growing virtual world, is launching a new in-world dance game called Dance Party 3D. Kaneva believes this demonstrates the blurring of the lines between casual games, social networking, MMOs and virtual worlds...the four becoming one mainstream entertainment outlet for the masses.
Potentially the world’s largest dance game - allowing hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users to create their avatars, dance, compete in dance clubs, socialize and chat with friends - players can upload and feature their own music and create their own club playlists.
PIVOTAL DECISIONS FOR SIAGGAS Director Peter Siaggas of Spots Films teamed up with RaleighDurham based Woodbine Agency creatives Jimmy Ashworth and Dino Laurentis to direct an award-winning campaign for Piedmont Federal Bank entitled “Pivotal Decisions”. The 6 spot campaign was shot in Las Vegas. The commercials feature afterand-before visuals aimed at a younger
audience for Piedmont Federal, a long-time community-focused financial institution in North Carolina. After sweeping the 2007 local ADDY awards with 18 wins, the spots received an additional 6 Gold District ADDY awards as well as the coveted Best of Show award in the broadcast category.
(L to R) Gary Roland of The Color Spot and Milo Ippolito of ad agency Freebairn & Co. work out details of the installation Wednesday.
OKEFENOKEE COMING TO GEORGIA Georgia native, award winning director, film editor and screenwriter, John David Allen, will be shooting his next film, “Okefenokee,” in Georgia. Allen’s film brings with it a number of important names in the film business including Merchant Ivory Productions (“Howards End,” “Remains of the Day” and “A Room With A View”) and Sarah Green Film Corp (“Frida,” “Passion Fish” and “Eight Men Out”), both of whom have signed on as executive producers. “Okefenokee” is slated to begin filming in the spring. John David Allen’s films have
been seen on HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Disney and the Movie Channel. Allen has received numerous awards for his work on the local, national and international level. He was awarded a Mayor’s Fellowship in the Arts in Atlanta, and received grants from the Fulton County Arts Council and Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs in the 90’s. In other news, filmmaker James Ivory, of Merchant Ivory Productions, was this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Women in Film.
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SAVANNAH FILM FESTIVAL HONORS TWO The Savannah College of Art and Design honored two-time Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas and Emmy Award-winning journalist Charlie Rose at its milestone tenth annual Savannah Film Festival, Oct. 27–Nov. 3. Douglas received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the festival. He is known for his iconic roles in films such as “The China Syndrome” (1979), “Fatal Attraction” (1987), “Wall Street” (1987) and “The War of the Roses” (1989). He also served as a producer for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), for which he was honored with his first Oscar. Rose, the well-known broadcast journalist behind the PBS talk-show series “The Charlie Rose Show,” was honored with a Lifetime Achievement
Award in Entertainment Journalism. Previous winners of this award have included Roger Ebert, Rex Reed and Army Archerd. Additional honorees at the festival included award-winning thespian siblings Vanessa, Lynn and Corin Redgrave, who have never been honored together in the United States or their native Britain. SCAD also honored Academy Awardwinning directors Milos Forman and William Friedkin; director Brett Ratner; and actor, writer, producer and director John Sayles, who will premiere his latest film “Honeydripper” at the festival with close friend Chris Cooper and one of the film’s stars, Savannah native Stacy Keach, in attendance.
MONTGOMERY TAKES NO BREAKS Jay Montgomery Illustration in Marietta has been busy. Montgomery was interviewed on the AM 1620 Radio Sandy Springs in GA on a show called Following Your Passions. He was featured in the international e-zine NewWebPick, which has over 3,000,000 readers. In August, Montgomery signed up with a German Art Representative dieKlienert, which is forming a new USA representation. While teaching classes at SCAD-Atlanta over the summer and fall, Mont-
gomery completed numerous freelance projects ranging from program cover art for the Breeders’ Cup horse race, and marketing illustrations for Atlanta Gas Light, Shaw Carpet, Porsche and with Kenrico, a Japanese health product company to create a map the Japanese town of Shizuoka. In October, Montgomery received a special award from his alma mater, LaGrange College. At homecoming he was included on the Wall of Outstanding Alumni.
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GUILLOTINE WORKS BITCOMS minute excerpts of next week’s shows that fans can check out on the web and be “in the know” as to what the upcoming shows will be about. They are also proving to be hot new ways for advertisers to reach target audiences who can often connect directly with products and services with the click of a button. Guillotine works on Turner originals, including Kyra Due to the success of the Sedgwick in “The Closer”. Sneak Peeks, vice president of Digital Content TNT/TBS Matt Bunting The Digital Content division of TNT and also asked the team to create a series TBS Originals chose Guillotine Post to of “Bitcoms”, which are essentially four create “Sneak Peeks” for their original and a half minute synopses of sitcoms series shows. Writer/producer Belinda or “itty bitty sitcoms” as Belinda likes Lott worked with Guillotine staff editors to call them. She and the Guillotine Christo Harris, Michael Koepenick and crew cut Bitcoms for “Tyler Perry’s Michael Curtis to create Sneak Peeks House of Payne,” “The Bill Engvall for “The Closer,” “Saving Grace,” “The Bill Show,” and “The Office.” Engvall Show,” “My Boys,” “Heartland,” and “The Company.” Sneak Peeks are 4 www.ozonline.tv OZ MAGAZINE
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OZ CET ER A MCRAE ADDS 4
New Hires at Mcrae, l to r: Kelly Gathers, Donna Graziani, Mike Welton, Melanie Jones. McRae has added four new professionals to its integrated marketing team. Kelly Gathers and Donna Graziani have joined McRae as advertising account directors, Mike Welton has joined the firm as a public relations account director, and Melanie Jones has joined as a media planner/buyer. Gathers focuses on McRae’s real estate development and tourism clientele. She was formerly brand marketing manager for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, where she led the development and execution of brand-oriented marketing, promotion and communications programs.
Prior to that, Gathers was director of marketing for The Melrose Company, where she was responsible for the marketing of the company’s five communities, including Echelon, the Home of the Georgia Tech Club. Graziani represents McRae’s financial services and energy clients. A former vice president and account director for WestWayne, she led The Real Yellow Pages from BellSouth account and was responsible for strategic planning, execution, and analysis of all advertising communications including TV, radio, out-of-home, newspaper, magazine, online, direct mail, and collateral for
consumers and businesses. Graziani also is a veteran of Berlin Wright Cameron and DDB Needham, both in New York City. Welton manages public relations for McRae’s real estate clients. He is a former director of communications for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority where he developed integrated marketing programs and initiated the Turnpike Authority’s architectural aesthetics program. He also was previously manager of public relations for PriceWeber in Louisville, KY, where he managed the firm’s real estate and transportation accounts, and Sullivan Higdon & Sink
in Wichita, KS, where he represented clients in the transportation and financial services industries. Melanie Jones handles the media department’s planning, buying and strategic research. She joins McRae from PHD in Atlanta where she led TV, radio and cable negotiating in major southeast markets for clients that included Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Mercedes. She also was formerly a media buyer for OMD and a national sales coordinator for MMT, both in Atlanta.
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NEW STUDIO FOR ATLANTA WORKSHOP PLAYERS Longtime local theatrical company Atlanta Workshop Players recently opened their new Studio of the Arts in North Fulton. After 25 years in the theatre business, the AWP now has a beautiful home to call their own. AWP debuted its state-of-the-art Studio of the Arts during a Grand Opening reception. Innovative technology combined with a deluxe rehearsal space with raised dance floor, mirrors and sound system make this studio unique. The soaring space also houses a television studio which will be used for classes as well as being available for rent to visiting casting directors. Generous rooms for private classes, Atlanta Workshop Players’ offices and a kitchenette are also included. Classes will be comprised of: Hollywood Bound and Broadway Bound, AWP’s Professional Training Program for children and adults; Improv-Mania, a creative explosion of improv comedy; Theatre Production classes, and Essentials, an on-screen crash course series of workshops on the skills necessary for a successful career in TV and film. In addition to their ongoing theatre school, other AWP programs include a touring show of original musicals, intense performing arts camps, an internship program, a scholarship program and a career development program.
Students helping with the tear down to build the new studio. L-r Calli Buetow and Sierra Blaze. Photos taken by Don Ellis.
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Feldman’s Props has had the opportunity to create some fun oversized props lately including this 8ft tall x 14ft long piĂąata. The donkey piĂąata was produced for a book signing at the Catalysts Conference. The book is called “Peppermint Filled PiĂąatasâ€? and yes, the piĂąata was full of Peppermints. Other recent projects for Scott and Susan Feldman were an eight-foot tall weight for Ford and JWT Team Detroit, an oversized Birthday Cake for a corporate show and three large Santa Thrones for Santa himself. Smaller projects like a product shoot for ASV Communications and several HGTV shoots have kept the couple busy.
www.freelanceforum.org FF-oz-ad final.indd 1
Recent props fabricated by Feldman’s Props.
5/18/07 11:21:56
SEE OR BE SEEN.
Send in event photos to: artwork@ozonline.tv put “Oz scene� in the subject line for the new
Oz scene section. DEADLINE: Nov 30th for January/February 2008 issue www.ozonline.tv OZ MAGAZINE
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OZ COLUMN
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Market Talk
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By Brent Dey
Four Brains Are Better Than One
Tips for Better Brainstorming Madison Avenue powerhouse BBDO has done more than deliver legendary ads for Burger King, Pepsi and Wisk detergent. The ad agency that came up with ‘The Pepsi Generation’ and ‘Ring Around the Collar’ is also home to the often misunderstood practice of ‘brainstorming,’ which was first introduced in the late 1930s by Alex Faickney Osborn—the ‘O’ in BBDO. Contrary to popular myth, brainstorming is not an excuse to sit around a stack of empty pizza boxes and crushed soda cans telling jokes. Unstructured brainstorming can quickly devolve to unproductive gabfests and gripe sessions. Bruised egos are the most frequent casualty of an unsuccessful brainstorming bash. The goal of brainstorming is to generate as many ideas as possible. Participants who feel free to relax and joke around will come up with the sort of unconventional thought that can be paraded around later as genius—it’s the same thought behind the ‘monkey and a typewriter’ theory. Get enough people in a room and someone will come up with a masterpiece.
More Is More Remember, brainstorming is about quantity, not quality. Your goal is to leave your brainstorming session with a smorgasbord of ideas to wade through later. To create a collaborative environment, withhold critical judgments until you get to the phase of critical thinking and until then, have fun! Brainstorming is best practiced under the guidance of a skilled facilitator, but a trained professional isn’t always necessary. Good brainstorming can be done anywhere, anytime by anyone willing to follow these steps:
Define Your Challenge Be specific. A poorly designed creative challenge can lead to a lot of ideas that fail to solve your problem, and ideas that fail to solve your problem are worthless. Specific questions like, “What one improvement will motivate more people to buy our product?” take you to the heart of the matter.
Limit Your Time Sharp minds work best when they’re sharply focused. Limit the brainstorming session to 20 or 25 minutes (longer for larger groups) so participants don’t get restless. You could also give yourself an idea limit. Push for 50 or 100 ideas and then come to a stop.
Shout Out Your Ideas As participants share ideas, the facilitator should write each one on the dry-erase board or flip-chart—no matter how silly they might be. Remember, ideas generate ideas. That’s why creating an environment where ideas can be freely exchanged is vitally important.
Setting the Mood The best thing about brainstorming is that you can set the mood without dimming the lights. It’s all about relaxation and minimal distraction. A handful of Hershey Kisses™ works wonders, as do crayons, markers and paper. Beyond that, you want minimal distraction. No music. No cell phones. No instant messaging. If your client conference room is easily interrupted, take the meeting offsite. Find a hip restaurant or tapas bar that will let you meet on a slow-business afternoon. Sometimes it makes sense to bring items that stimulate discussion, but it’s best if the items relate to the subject at hand. If we were creating an ad campaign for a travel agency, I might use seashells, postcards and the scent of suntan lotion to give the participants a mental buddy pass to where the agency promises to go. If we ideate around a product, I usually begin with a general brainstorm session, and then bring out the product for more focused brainstorming. Remember, brainstorming is a collaborative effort. As it does in planning a good party, success depends on the guest list you put together. Gather participants from diverse backgrounds and encourage them to leave their egos at home. After all, you’re not looking for the ‘best’ idea while you brainstorm, you’re looking for ideas that generate more ideas. If your session goes well, your final concept will bear the fingerprints of all who were involved.
refinement on your own, let your participants drive the process. Including your group in this process gives you access to the diverse thought processes that helped you come up with your idea batch in the first place. Start by throwing out ideas that are repeats. Then, put similar ideas into similar categories. From there, you’ll want to refine your list to a final list of five. Use statements that begin with the word ‘should’ to define your criteria. For example, your idea should be cost-effective, or it should be environmentally friendly. Toss out any ideas that don’t meet the criteria. A good facilitator will ask follow-up questions to keep participants on their feet—both during the brainstorming session and during the critical thinking phase. In some circles, these qualifying questions are called cubing because they box an idea in, like a cube. DESCRIBE IT What does it look, taste, feel or sound like? COMPARE IT What ideas already exist that are similar to the idea? APPLY IT Give us a real-world example of the idea in practice. ARGUE FOR OR AGAINST IT This is the fun part. The best way to test an idea’s strength is to see if you can shoot it down.
Building on the Building-Block Basics Of course, the above techniques present ideation in its most basic form—call them the building blocks of basic brainstorming. Every ad agency has its own take on this classic process, which is good, since the process itself is often driven by personality. Since brainstorming facilitation is a personalitydriven process, it makes sense to play to your own personal strengths. What are those strengths? Why not do your own product research? Pull together a participation group, ask some tough questions and see what you get on the whiteboard.
Idea Mining With your brainstorming session complete, you’ve got ideas you can mine. If you’re not doing idea
Brent Dey is a writer, producer and creative thinker specializing in effective business communications for America’s best-loved brands. Brent’s work can be seen online at www.brentdey.com and he can be reached by dialing (404) 668-5819. www.ozonline.tv OZ MAGAZINE
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TO THE MUSIC:
But Only if there is a Sync License By Jon Lee Andersen
I sometimes think that a film or video producer acquires more licenses than an under-age college student who keeps changing schools. This article discusses the “synchronization license” or “sync license,” as the insiders refer to it, which is the license necessary to tie existing music into a film or video. Whenever you have filmed visual formats combined with musical works there is almost always a sync license involved and there could be more. The sync license is generally negotiated between the producer of the film and the publisher or publisher’s representative to authorize the utilization of the underlying work. It is similar to a mechanical license (which permits the reproduction of a work on a compact disc or other audio format) and the fees for the license usually go the publisher and/or the composer. It is worth noting that a sync license does not permit the publisher to use any specific recording of the work. If a specific recording is desired, then another license — a master use license from the recording copyright holder — must be negotiated. The sync license would permit making a new recording of the work, however. Generally the sync license will only permit the use of the work in relationship to the film or commercial, and may specify that the producer is prohibited from utilizing the work in soundtrack albums and promotional CDs separate from actual prints of the film or commercial. Fees for sync licenses, as they do for so many other things, vary widely, usually depending on the intended use of the work in the film. For example, the fees will generally be higher if the work is going to be used as a title song in a commercial or in a film. Another factor is whether the work will be used prominently or just as background music. Still other factors involved in arriving at a fee include the popularity of the work and the fame of the composer. Where the license is for student films or film festival uses, the fees structure is typically lower.
Other matters which are covered in the sync license and may be subject to negotiation are: Publicity is normally left exclusively to the producer, and therefore the publisher expressly agrees not to release any information about the film or commercial without the consent of the producer. The only caveats here are (a) the credit to be given to the publisher or composer, which usually requires something like “Musical Score by” in the opening and closing credits, and (b) a prohibition on the use of the lyrics as the title or subtitle of the film. This right can be negotiated, but it costs more.
© September 2007 Jon Lee Andersen
Artistic Control, which again is generally left exclusively to the producer, with the caveat that the producer can not make any changes to a song’s lyrics or the basic character of the musical composition and is prohibited from using any dramatic content of the lyrics as part of the film’s plot. Representations and Warranties, which are important to the producer because he wants to be sure he is getting what he pays for. The publisher will be required to represent that it owns all rights to the work and that the granting of the sync license will not infringe upon or violate the right of any other person, or of any contract to which the publisher is a party. So the next time you are sitting with a lap full of popcorn or other goodies watching the gyrations on the screen, remember:
The starlet was dressed like a mink And she moved with cat-walk like slink With the entry of Romeo Came a music crescendo Putting both audience and actors “in sync.”
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Tyler Perry (left) and Michael J. White in TYLER PERRY’S WHY DID I GET MARRIED? Photo Credit: Bob Akester.
n w o r G e Hom
By: James Flynn
EXCITING TIME TO BE IN ATLANTA’S HOME GROWN PRODUCTION COMMUNITY.
The city is home to Tyler Perry, a man who was made an empire of his own brand of storytelling. It is home to Will Packer, a man who has worked tirelessly over a decade to reach the front line of filmmaking respectability. It is home to Pamela Peacock and Richard Samson of Shadowlight Pictures, a company that represents the evolution of the city from a strong commercial and corporate market that regularly hosts large film production from outside companies, to one that also includes a vibrant and diverse hub of locally based production. These are not the only names in town. A rash of successful films — some commercially successful, some critically acclaimed, and some both — have been emanating from the city. Just this year, POP films screened “The Signal” at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews. The movie was picked up by Magnolia for $2.3 million. “The ATL,” from Atlanta music icon Dallas Austin, was released in 2006. In the stories of Perry, Packer and Shadowlight lie the underlying themes that truly articulate the Atlanta scene. Men and women have crashed the Hollywood party from unexpected places: Exploding from the stage to the big screen, crossing over from the commercial and corporate world, and fighting Hollywood indifference with grass roots marketing and sheer determination. 22
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TYLERPE RRY He’s Been Changed When Tyler Perry first came to Atlanta, it wasn’t even to make movies. He came to produce, direct and star in his plays, narratives born from his traumatic upbringing in Louisiana and his subsequent belief in God and forgiveness. His story is now well chronicled. Broke and occasionally homeless, Perry saved $12,000 and came to Atlanta to produce, direct and star in his first play, I Know I’ve Been Changed, a story born of his own experiences and recorded in a journal inspired by watching The Oprah Winfrey Show. Perry created different characters in his journal, partly to differentiate between opposing ideas in his head, partly to protect his own identity. Those characters formed the basis of I Know I’ve Been Changed, and he launched his first run in 1992. To call it a failure would be generous, but Tyler Perry was too determined to let something as trivial as failure prevent him from pursuing his dreams.
He stuck with the show, and in 1998, after six grueling years: Breakthrough! Perry staged a run of the show, first at the House of Blues and later at the prestigious Fox Theatre, and it did well . . . well enough for Perry to produce his next play, Woman Thou Art Loosed, which did considerably better in its first run than Changed had. Several successful plays followed Woman, but it is Perry’s foray into filmmaking that resonates greatest with the Georgia production community. His first feature, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, was released in 2005 and was a surprise hit — surprising to mainstream Hollywood, anyway. A movie centered on African-American characters and featuring Perry’s recurring character Mabel Simmons, a.k.a. Madea, Diary grossed over $50 million at the box office and opened number one in its first week. In an instant, a ripple was sent from Georgia, slowly building into a shock wave that erupted into Hollywood. Here was a man unknown by the moviemaking elite, filming movies for an ignored audience in a quiet southern state, and he had taken #1. Perry didn’t bat an eye. In the following three years, he released Tyler
Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion (which also debuted at #1), Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls, and Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? His films have grossed nearly $200 million and counting at the box office (Married is still in theaters), and close to $100 million more on VHS and DVD. He created a TV show, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, and a landed a contract to produce 100 episodes. All the while, he continued to produce for the stage and released a best selling book. If Tyler Perry has time to sleep, it must be in his dreams, because he can’t possibly have time in reality. While his numbers alone are staggering, it is his continued commitment to building a foundation in Atlanta that excites an already well-established community. New projects mean new jobs, new money and new opportunities. In a gesture both symbolic and literal, Perry sealed his commitment to Atlanta when he built his 70,000 square foot studio in the heart of the city. Not LA. Not New York. Atlanta. No, Tyler Perry didn’t invent filmmaking in Georgia, but he is helping to illuminate and cultivate a talented and growing production community.
ALL YOU NEED IS. . , IM LA C C A L A IC IT AND WIN CR TO MAKE MILLIONS
. ATLANTA.
Sharon Leal and Tyler Perry in TYLER PERRY’S WHY DID I GET MARRIED? Photo Credit: Alfeo Dixion.
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W I LLPACKER Do The Hustle Will Packer may not have the widespread name recognition of Tyler Perry, a drawback of not putting his name in front of all of his projects, but Hollywood finally has his number on speed dial. The front man for Atlanta-based Rainforest Films, he has been making movies for over a decade. Packer is a mover and shaker in the best of ways. Gregarious and energetic, he talks with a steady confidence and a warm smile. And he’s smart. Now, calling Will Packer smart is a bit like calling money green. It is so incredibly obvious that one almost feels silly letting it slip out. Silly or not, though, there it is; Will Packer is smart. Smart enough to garner a full scholarship to Florida A&M University. Smart enough to graduate with honors in electrical engineering. Smart enough to realize that engineering was not his true path in life, honors be damned. And smart enough to recognize a great opportunity when it came along.
While in school, Packer met another student by the name of Rob Hardy. Hardy was an aspiring filmmaker, and he showed Packer a film he had shot while still in high school. Packer saw the creativity in that little movie, and he saw an opportunity. The two of them teamed up and made a movie together called Chocolate City, a film they “kind of scraped up and begged and borrowed” $20,000 to make. The pair released the film themselves in Tallahassee, finding a multiplex that would let them show their debut on a big screen. Ambitious from the start, Packer was not content just having his movie shown. He was a businessman. “We sold merchandise and soundtracks. We really hustled this film. Tried to create our own little ancillary revenue streams, to the tune of about 100 grand.” Neither he nor his partner Hardy had studied filmmaking or business, but they knew they had the smarts and the hustle
to make it work. Before, Packer knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur. Now, he had his product and his path. “That initial success said to me ‘I think this is what I’m supposed to be doing.” Packer graduated shortly thereafter and, foregoing the engineering offers he received from prospective employers, “took a head-first leap of faith into filmmaking.” In 1996 he and Hardy moved to Atlanta, and brought with them their production company, Rainforest Films. They came to Atlanta because “it wasn’t LA or New York. We didn’t want to be another small fish in that huge pond.” For Packer it was a strategic decision. He saw an opportunity to make a name as a filmmaker in a metropolitan city with an emerging music scene; in a city that had an established production community, yet not a community “where everybody on every corner is setting up a production shot.”
Will Packer and actress Lauren London On the set of “THIS CHRISTMAS.” Photo courtesy of Sony/Screen Gems.
“That initial success said to me ‘I think this is what I’m supposed to be doing.” Their first movie produced in Atlanta was the erotic thriller Trois, with Hardy directing. Produced for around $200,000, Trois was supposed to follow up on the modest success of Chocolate City, but Packer found an uninterested audience in Hollywood. “Nobody cared. [We] got some really small offers for like 50 grand up front, then some sort of Pythagorean Theorem backend equation when we would make more money.”
drive to “each and every market, just like politicians. We were shaking hands and kissing babies and handing out flyers.” They combined this effort with a strong internet campaign, and Trois averaged about $10,000 per screen opening weekend. The following Monday Packer started receiving calls from exhibitors across the country, offering to show his movie. While it was impossible for Packer to drive to every new destination, he gladly sent the film. After all was said and done, Trois, the independently distributed movie that no distributor wanted to take a chance on, had pulled in $1.2 million at
even more significant, the film held the top spot the following week. And while it came as a surprise to many in mainstream America and Hollywood, outside of distributor Sony, it came as no surprise to Packer. He told everyone he knew that it was going to be a hit. Now with two movies in post production, This Christmas and Three Can Play That Game, Packer and Rainforest are seeking to build upon their success by cultivating movies that grasp even wider audiences. Packer is not one to be content with becoming pigeonholed, and wants to
an uninterested audience in Hollywood. Now, they were calling him. The problem was that they were only willing to fund a sequel to Trois. The energetic young filmmakers were full of new ideas for features, but they ventured forth with their Hollywood funded sequel. This began a slow steady climb for Rainforest Pictures. They continued to release original movies, with varying degrees of success. Puff, Puff, Pass, Mekhi Phifer’s directorial debut, did not fare so well. The Gospel, on the other hand, pulled in about $15 million at the box office. 2007 was a breakthrough. Rainforest released the film Stomp the Yard and took number one at the box office. Possibly
comedies, movies with heart and movies with a message. In the future, he hopes to make them all. Most importantly, he wants to make movies that resonate with audiences, and in the process create a “legacy of making films that matter to people.” With great success come great expectations, and Will Packer believes he is a man who can live up to them. Smart guy.
MAKING." M L I F O T FAITH IN F O P A E L delve into a wide array of stories. He loves AD-FIRST E H A K bombastic popcorn flicks and movies with O "TO the box office. Packer no longer found a deeper meaning, action movies and
Packer had put too much effort raising the money for Trois to accept the offers. Friends and family had given what they could, sometimes as little as $500 apiece, because they believed in the project. He did not want to let them down waiting for a return. Rainforest decided to distribute the movie independently. Packer had already begun the legwork of contacting the heads of exhibitors like Carmike and Regal during the shoot, but it was at a film festival that he made some headway. Trois was shown there, and the theaters’ response was positive. Nevertheless, there was still some hesitancy. With the rise of 24-screen multiplexes, many companies were more content to show a big action movie on seven screens than take a chance on an indie film like Trois. Packer said, “Just give me a weekend.” He lined up 19 screens in 10 different markets, from Miami to Chicago, Atlanta to Washington, DC. In true entrepreneurial spirit, he and Hardy then proceeded to
“Just give me a weekend.”
He lined up 19 screens in 10 different markets, from Miami to Chicago, Atlanta to Washington, DC. In true entrepreneurial spirit, he and Hardy then proceeded to drive to “each and every market, just like politicians. We were shaking hands and kissing babies and handing out flyers.”
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PAMELA P E A C O C K & RICHARDSAMPSON Hoping For The Same Though Tyler Perry and Will Packer have set the bar high, there is a company in town that is hoping they are next in line to reach the upper echelons of feature filmmaking. Producers Pamela Peacock and Richard Sampson of Shadowlight Pictures are currently in post production, working feverishly on their debut feature Good Intentions. Set in fictitious Myra, Georgia, Intentions is an offbeat comedy that features heists, carpools and antiquing. The pair hopes to offer a movie that is based squarely on a strong storyline, one that does not rely on slapstick for laughs. The duo of Sampson and Peacock are floating. They are completing a movie with some big-time name recognition in country singer Leann Rhymes and former teen heart-throb Luke Perry, and they know this is a golden opportunity. While it may not break them if Intentions doesn’t reach the levels of financial success they hope for, they are well aware that they could firmly entrench themselves in feature filmmaking if it does. Yet there is little fear in the two. Like every parent’s wish for their children with Hollywood dreams, the business partners have a backup plan. Their company, Shadowlight, is already well established in the commercial and corporate worlds. But you get the feeling that they did not come all this way to return exclusively to that market. Pamela Peacock studied architecture in undergraduate school at the University of Florida. Like Will Packer, she knew that her degree would not shape the direction of her career. Unlike Packer, she did not immediately turn to filmmaking. Peacock returned to UF to get her MBA and promptly entered the business world, working for consulting firm Anderson Consulting (now Accenture). Remaining in the corporate environment for over 10 years, she eventually moved to Atlanta. Meanwhile, her future partner Richard Sampson was already active in the production community. He had actually come from a production background, earning his bachelor of media arts degree at the University of South Carolina. Sampson had wanted to make movies ever since high school, though the path to his first fulllength feature film was long and winding. Columbia, South Carolina, home of USC, is not exactly a bustling production metropolis. “There was one company based in Columbia that was doing high end work and they were supposedly doing documentaries and developing movies and doing TV commercials.” He got a job interning for the firm while still a student, and then working with them upon graduation. Unfortunately for Sampson’s filmmaking dreams, the company did not stick with the documentary or feature film route for long, deciding it was too costly to develop features and documentaries, instead opting to focus only on commercial work. And so Sampson “sort of got into the commercial track, a little bit by default.” He found that the tracks of commercial production and film production often run side by side, but rarely cross. “Once you get on that treadmill, it’s amazing how segregated the film industry is. There are people who work on commercials and never work on anything else. There’s people who work on feature films who never work on commercials and documentaries, and the same across the board.”
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Richard Sampson and Pamela Peacock (top photo and right) talk with director Jim Issa. Sampson and Peacock on the set of Good Intentions
“Once you get on that treadmill, it’s amazing how segregated the film industry is. There are people who work on commercials and never work on anything else. There’s people who work on feature films who never work on commercials and documentaries, and the same across the board.” —RICHARD SAMPSON For almost two decades, Sampson rose through the ranks and traveled the world making commercials. His trek led him to Pogo Pictures in Atlanta, where he was serving as the executive producer. It was at Pogo that he first met Peacock. The consulting world had left her “sort of bored. I was on a life path. I wasn’t married, didn’t have kids, and I was doing this corporate thing, mostly in systems development. And I was craving something more creative and interesting. And I knew if there was any time to take a chance and get out there, it was ‘now’.” Peacock found some of that creative outlet at Pogo, and found a creative bond with Samson. Though she would leave Pogo to go back to the corporate world, the connection would stick. Samson went on to produce White Bitch Down for the 48-Hour Film Project. 2002 was the first year of the project, and there were six cities involved. White Bitch Down won Best of Atlanta, and then best
of the whole project. Shortly thereafter, Sampson and Peacock reconnected and formed Shadowlight Pictures. They began working on the script for Good Intentions and producing commercials and corporate videos. In 2004 they entered the 48-Hour Film Project again, which had expanded to 17 cities around the world. Their entry, Moved, swept through the Atlanta awards, winning best script, best sound design and best film. Out of 650 films in the Project, Moved was selected the best of the best. It was the second time that a Samson film had taken the whole shebang. Sensing the timing was right, Sampson and Peacock began to ramp up Good Intentions. Based on the success of the two 48-Hour films, Sampson jokingly thought to himself, “We made a 10-minute movie and in 2 days. We can probably make a feature in a week.” Flash ahead to 2007, and Good Intentions is still in post production. Peacock
and Sampson, along with director Jim Issa and editor Joe Linton, spend their days locked in an editing booth at Crawford Communications. They are working on the rough cut, with plans to step back and take a breath before finishing the film. There is a sense of excitement among the group, but like so many things in life that take long hours over long years, there is also a weariness. There is a desire to see the finished product, to sit in an audience with strangers and watch among them. There is the hope that they will laugh at the right parts, and a subtle confidence that they will. The team has been developing and crafting Good Intentions for five years, and Peacock knows they’re on the “cusp of something…wonderful.” While critical and financial success for their movie would be a blessing, they are willing to ride the wave where it takes them. They’ve come too far not to.
Staying Home While Tyler Perry, Will Packer and the Shadowlight team followed different paths to their present points, they do share some striking similarities. Like so many Atlantans, they are transplants to the city. They all seek to be great storytellers, to create characters and plots that resonate with audiences long after the first watch. And they all seek to do it in Atlanta. There is a certain fraternity and camaraderie among the filmmakers in this city, huddled together outside the bright glow of the production behemoths of New York and Los Angeles. They’ve found in this place a different kind of warmth that fuels their passions. Peacock sums it up well.
“All of these people that we either work with or are friends with or look up to, they’re all just tremendous people that we highly respect, and we want to help each other. We want this community in the entertainment world to grow and to prosper. We want to provide great opportunities for ourselves and others, and we think we can do that here.” —Pamela Peacock
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The Revolution Will Be CITIZEN JOURNALISTS CREATE THE CONTENT THAT DRIVES CURRENT TV.
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THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED.
Enter Current TV. The banning of pit bulls, Afghan heroin production, and from the category “The Current Scene,” a story about the 5th Annual US Air Guitar Championships, are all available for your education, your viewing pleasure and your critique. If YouTube is a graffiti wall, Current is a carefully curated, very hip gallery. Current consists of a symbiotic TV network and interactive website featuring “pods” of information. Imagine mini-documentaries, or a “60 Minutes” segment narrated by a field reporter at least 50 years younger than Morley Safer. Launched in August of 2005 by Joel Hyatt (founder of Hyatt Legal Services) and Al Gore (you might have heard of him), Current began as an effort to
challenge the “old white guy” domination of the media and to serve as an independent outlet for “Citizen Journalists” aged 18-34. That non-partisan newsy beginning has transformed into a profitable showcase of ideas, arts, exposes and yes, news, where showing your production skills and impressing your fellow audience members is as important as getting out a message. 30% of Current’s content is Viewer Created Content (VC2); a figure that VC2 Outreach Manager Saskia Wilson-Brown says will eventually rise to near 100%. Atlantan Gil Braum has been a part of the Current satellite system from the start, when it was briefly called INdTV. He participated in a virtual recruitment drive held through that quintessentially Generation-Y bulletin board, Craigslist.
CURRENT TV FOUNDERS: JOEL HYATT AND AL GORE
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Unfortunately, so will toilet-flushing cats and crybaby Britney fans. So if you’re looking for the revolution or anything else of substance on YouTube, you’ve got a lot of sifting to do.
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“I was applying to be a host, almost a VJ,” says Braum. But, he wasn’t looking to be the next Carson Daly or a junior Walter Cronkite. “I liked the idea of short documentaries, this was an outlet. It was the most intense application I’ve ever done. You had to fill out forms, send in a resume, write essays, videotape yourself, create a huge package.” The VJ concept was dropped,
for television,” says Braum. Looking at his profile (combustagil), he has multiple pods that have “made it”; his profile shows topics ranging from the art scene in Milwaukee to Peruvian orphans. What makes it onto Current, the site and potentially from there to TV? Well, first, it has to be, well, current. Allison Davis is a creative executive and wants to know what’s going on now. “It’s
IF YOUTUBE IS A GRAFFITI WALL, CURRENT IS A CAREFULLY CURATED, VERY HIP GALLERY. the name changed to Current TV, and original applicants as well as the greater production community were given the opportunity to make their first submission. Braum’s four-minute short was called “Business of Boom.” Produced on DVX 100 and edited on Final Cut, it focused on his other interest, the pyrotechnics industry. It was purchased and featured on the front page of the Current site for the entire month of July. Braum was hooked. “They’ve opened the doors for anyone to produce, and the best of the bunch gets bought
intuitive programming. Does this speak to our audience now, or is it a really fresh take on an older topic.” The shelf life of pods all depends on their topicality. “Last week’s coverage of a protest is just that. A pod on an emerging artist or an on-going crisis might stay in rotation for months,” Davis says. A creative executive who shepherds content producers like Gil Braum can retrieve a great pod from the archive and give it a fresh wrap. If she feels that a subject is intriguing or otherwise underrepresented, she can com-
TELEVISED BY MARTINA O’BOYLE mission a piece to be produced. The price paid for those commissions, and for the pieces that are “greenlighted” from the site to the broadcast channel, is on a per-project scale. A Georgian eager to get involved is Todd Simpson, a product of Georgia State University’s Digital Arts Entertainment Lab (DAEL). Todd Simpson got his MA in Communications in 2000, with a focus in digital media. For current students things have changed a little. Accessibility to DAEL involves an MFA in Film/Video Digital Imaging, and for the ambitious, a Ph.D. in Moving Image Studies. Simpson is nothing but ambitious. Trained at the DAEL, he became intrigued by the aftermath of the death of a Japanese rock star. Apparently the candlelight vigils that have become de riguer in the USA are not enough for the fans of this particular singer. Teens formed suicide clubs and well, fulfilled their mission. This phenomenon was not isolated, and Simpson thought this contrast in culture was worthy of a “pod”. Simpson is interested in getting this story across- regardless of the logistical difficulties in collecting video footage from Japan. His previous short documentaries have had local subjects . . . “much easier” says Simpson. He’s had to sift through internet footage and badly translated Japanese news and fan sites. Is he a citizen journalist? Simpson responds, “Anyone with a camera is.”
30% OF CURRENT’S CONTENT IS VIEWER CREATED CONTENT (VC2); A FIGURE THAT WILL EVENTUALLY RISE TO NEAR 100%. Interested in becoming a mini-documentarian? Your first step is a good story. Davis says she’s considered pods submitted with the most rudimentary of production values. “A good story is the most important thing, and nothing is off limits.”
Current TV is available in more than 50 million homes worldwide. You can catch up or get involved with Current TV on Comcast 107, Dish 196, DirecTV 366, and at currenttv.com for the rest of us. And don’t worry about that 18-34 tag, the revolution isn’t asking for ID.
!"#"$%&'%($) Once upon a time Hollywood was where
, “Hollywood” was created, and that was a very small place. Even if a film called for a snowy mountain scene, you built a hill and broke out the soap flakes, or you traveled as little as three hours away for the real thing. And to be a success, you went to Hollywood . . . it didn’t come to you. Well, things have changed in the business of show business and places like the Digital Arts Entertainment Lab at Georgia State University are making sure that business takes place in Georgia. Two years ago the legislature passed the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act (GEIIA), granting a base tax credit to qualified movie, video and gaming productions. The Digital Arts Entertainment Laboratory (DAEL) was instrumental in orchestrating support necessary to pass the legislation. The DAEL was founded in 1996 and is housed in the GSU Department of Communication in Atlanta. The facilities include digital editing suites, an insert stage with blue screen studio, permanent studio lighting infrastructure and fixtures, and an audio post production suite. They also have a multi-purpose thirty-eight seat Audience Response Theater where they display and test film, HiDef, computer video, and 5.1 Surround Sound.
With increased demand for HiDef production statewide, DAEL is ready with added HiDef production and post-production capacity. At DAEL, it’s about teaching and exploring how to do things more creatively, more efficiently, how to better use the new technologies. DAEL is well positioned to contribute to Georgia’s production growth: by replenishing the workforce to fill high-level jobs; by creating new jobs through the Georgia Entertainment Business Development incubation initiative; by supplying business with research data on potential markets for content to be available on mobile and interactive devices; and by producing media for these emerging technologies. And also, grad students like Todd Simpson (see main story) are learning a lot. DAEL is also creating content in-house, a recent example being Atlanta-based record producer Dallas Austin’s latest project. “Crank Dat” is intended to showcase Atlanta’s unique style of music and culture. This project awaits the green light from outlets such as MTV. Stay tuned!
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