I had the privilege of hearing Judy Gold interview George Lopez at the 92^nd Street Y. Full disclosure: I am a BIG George Lopez fan. I discovered his TV show in reruns because my 11-year old watched it on Nick, and it became our family show. When my 11-year old had to get an MRI (for luckily nothing serious), I calmed her down by pointing out if she were George Lopez she might get her head stuck in the machine. She laughed throughout her procedure thinking of that. The MRI technician said she was the first kid who laughed during an MRI. Thank you, George Lopez!

He said a lot of funny and memorable things, many of which I Tweeted:

• On turning 50: AARP wished me Happy Birthday before any of my family members
• On taking 4-5 showers per day: I have more epsom salts than colognes
• The George Lopez Show was the greatest thing that happened to me (CCL’s note: I love it when people appreciate their success!)
• To the audience member who is still an aspiring comic at age 46 with no agent yet: You’re never too old. Continue to write and go to clubs

He talked about looking up to Freddie Prinze, Sr., and how important Prinze was to encouraging him into comedy. How’s that for another reason we need diversity in entertainment!

But my favorite line was when he answered an audience question about his driving force. Lopez grew up in a tractor house with no air conditioning – they would bring the TV outside because it was cooler to watch there. His first job paid $2/hr. He grew up around people with no drive. How then did he motivate himself and keep on motivating himself despite the slow start?

I wanted to be somebody more than I wanted to be nobody. – George Lopez

Trevor Shane is a lawyer by day and author by night. He is behind the thriller trilogy, Children of Paranoia, and its second book, Children of the Underground, has just been released. Both books are excellent (dark and sad, but thrilling), and I’m excited for the final installment in fall 2013, Children of the Uprising.

In this 20-minute audio, I talk to Shane about his four-year journey to first-time published author, about his writing process (and why he doesn’t believe in writer’s block), and how he balances a demanding day job with the creative demands of writing with being married with two young sons:

Children of Paranoia has just been optioned by CBS Films, and you can follow Trevor Shane on Twitter, Facebook, or his website.

In my latest efforts to watch at least one science fiction or horror movie a week, I picked out The New Daughter with Kevin Costner and Intruders with Clive Owen. I enjoyed both horror films and would have given both higher scores than their average 5’s in IMDB (I’m an easy scare!). Both Costner and Owen did a fine job, and I can see why each would want to play their sympathetic leading roles. But it got me thinking about celebrities in horror movies. I couldn’t lose myself in the story with such familiar faces on the screen. Should celebrities ever star in horror movies?

The producer side of me wants the celebrity. It would be such an easier sell to investors and audience. People might see your film just because Kevin Costner is in it. Or investors will fund you just because you got Clive Owen so you’re obviously serious about getting the film done.

But the creative side of me wants the unfamiliar face to go with the unfamiliar story. How creepy can it get when Dances With Wolves is in the house? As Costner unravels the mystery of what is happening to his daughter, I find myself rooting for him to use his military training from No Way Out!

Sometimes it works to have a celebrity decoy – I loved seeing Samuel L. Jackson die prematurely in Deep Blue Sea, mid-monologue no less.

But mostly it’s distracting – I would have loved War of the Worlds so much more if Tom Cruise were just Tom Doe. Of course, nobody would bankroll a $MM film with Tom DoeL

So what’s the best compromise? The New Daughter and Intruders got close, putting these charismatic stars in subdued parts. These movies also came out in 2009 and 2011 respectively, so well after the peak of either celebrity. Toning down the flash definitely helps.

A sad ending helps too. I won’t spoil it but sometimes the celebrity doesn’t save the day.

Finally, a supporting cast that I at least didn’t recognize helps to counter-balance the familiarity of the star.

What’s your preference on celebrity in horror movies? Can you get into the story with a marquee name in the lead?

I attended the 5^th Annual Film Finance Forum East today, presented by Winston Baker with Variety magazine and chock full of key players in film production, distribution, sales and financing. There was so much information, and I highly recommend catching an upcoming conference like this if you can. It was encouraging to hear the different ways movies are getting produced and funded. It was also daunting to hear how much there is to learn! There was 10 hours of substantive information and networking so too much to summarize, but here are some Tweetable quotes and highlights:

Brian de Cenzo, VP at Goldman, Sachs & Co and James Moore, CEO of Vine Alternative Investments shared an overview of the film business as an asset class:

• Brian – how do you get people to show up for stationery content in a non-stationery world? (on the challenge of theatrical releases in a world of downloadable content)
• Brian – there is a permanent structural shift from buying to renting content
• Brian – money is moving to licensing content which means more options for consumers J but lots of it is going to original programming, not moviesL
• Brian – industry dynamics should cause introspection, especially in light of increasing production costs
• Brian – getting the word out has never been less expensive
• Brian – audiences continue to show that if you give them a reason, they will come
• James – the benefits of film as an asset class: cash flow, low correlation, large opportunity
• James – lower volatility can generate higher compound returns over time

Eileen Burke, Founder of West End Capital and Advisory, James Janowitz, Partner at Pryor Cashman, Andy Kim, CFO of The Weinstein Company, and Stephen Stites, VP of Goldman, Sachs & Co talked about hybrid companies (companies who started with one service and now are offering multiple, such as producing AND distributing):

• Eileen – everyone looks at the same data, but there are so many different business models
• Andy – The Weinstein Company has moved into TV development and is looking to grow this area
• Jim – slate deals do much better with active management
• Jim – you really need to monetize with a bigger company/ studio release (though he did acknowledge some self-releases go viral)

Margaret Chu, founder of Tangram Advisors, Terrence Dugan, partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Michael Katzenstein, senior managing director of FTI Consulting, and Peter Ma, Associate at Colbeck Capital Management talked about distressed investing (referring to either financial or operational distress):

• Margaret – tentpole films have larger share and are driving box office
• Margaret – opening weekend is an increasing % of total box office. The theatrical windo is shrinking
• Mike – there is an adverse impact in physical dollars being replaced by digital dimes
• Mike – the film business is not an investment space for interlopers; it is incredibly personal, relationship-driven
• Peter – we are not investing in individuals, not one product, not just one guy; there’s a management team, a series of contracts
• Mike – growth is almost all digital, all mobile; folks will sacrifice quality of experience to watch content that their device happens to give them
• Terry – passion cuases people to hold on till it’s too late
• Peter – for the investor, take the time to understand film accounting

Vicki Cherkas of Cherkas Strategic Consulting, Jonathan Deckter, President – International Sales and Distribution  of IM Global, William French, President of Film Production Capital, Dominic Ianno, CEO of Indomitable Entertainment, Celine Rattray, Partner of Maven Pictures, Dan Steinman, Agent – Film Finance Group at CAA, and Christopher Woodrow, Chairman and CEO of Worldview Entertainment talked about single-picture financing:

• Celine – developing a film is tough; the bar is higher
• Celine – anything you take on for development needs to be easy to be made
• Dominic – if you invest in 10 films, you’ll get 1 hit, 2 break-even, and 7 will lose
• William – some films sell of international rights to pay for production and keep domestic as the upside
• Dan – if a film is using an unknown foreign sales company, it means better known companies probably passed
• Celine – on casting the lead actors: it’s so easy to make the wrong call
• Dominic – the movie starts to get made the moment you get a star
• Jonathan – under $10MM, studios won’t get involved early; for $20MM+, you want US distribution on board before production
• Dominic – production costs are higher, distribution costs are higher, there are 10 new releases each weekend
• Celine – steps to making a film: set script, director and casting; get foreign estimates (multiple bids); decide where to shoot, looking at tax rebates; look at domestic value as 10-20% of total film budget; given the budget, figure out how to produce at this amount; get a financing plan (sales advances, loans, equity), then raise the rest of the dollars needed
• Celine – foreign sales forecasts are typically accurate; domestic is much harder to estimate

John Hadity, EVP at Entertainment Partners, Aaron Gilbert, MD at Media House Capital, Keith Kjarval, Founder of United Pictures, John Logigian of consulting firm The Logigian Company, Lucy Mulloy, writer, director and producer of Mulloy Productions, and Donna Smith, President of Persnickety Productions talked about how to capitalize on the independent film business:

• Aaron – festival costs of promoting the film are covered by domestic agents
• John L. – surround yourself with people who know the business, work with quality people
• John L. – how to succeed in indie films? Be practical, nimble and tough at times
• Keith – wrangling always falls on the producer; you have the relationships with investors and the filmmakers
• John L. – the producer must sell – tell the story, share the vision
• Keith – as a producer, your job is to network – make it your business to know who people are
• Aaron – as producers, our job is to find the commercially viable project
• Aaron – the producer’s job is to educate the investor
• John H. – fundraising is so hard, sometimes people are afraid to say No to a potential investor
• Keith – post-production budget has to fit with pre-production raise
• Donna – we’re all very fortunate to work in the movie business

We are all fortunate to work in the film business. Amen to Donna’s closing words.

The Battle Below follows Derek, now a college professor, coming back to his old neighborhood. The projects are giving way to Whole Foods, the rents are insane and kids are fighting in dungeons with swords and axes for money, because there are no jobs.

Written and directed by Bruce Faulk. Produced by Caroline Ceniza-Levine and Bruce Faulk. This episode features Anton Briones, Jimmy Burke, Jasmine Carmichael, Jamahl Garrison-Lowe, Benton Greene, Carl Ka-Ho Li, Leo Kubota, Jennifer Loring, and Tania Verafield.

Did you miss an episode? Catch them all here – http://fbcfilms.com/the-battle-below/

Perhaps FBC Films is named for Bruce’s Fat Black Cat, Eba. But she’s also a Foxy Black Cat:

Why are we called FBC Films? Maybe because Bruce Faulk has a Fat Black Cat. Meet Eba:

I had the privilege of attending a Power Talk at the Barnard Athena Center between Barnard President Debora Spar and President of HBO Documentary Films, Sheila Nevins. Nevins’ projects have won 24 primetime Emmy Awards, 28 news and documentary Emmy Awards, 23 Academy Awards, and 35 George Foster Peabody Awards, including a personal Peabody in 1999. The candid and spirited discussion covered diverse topics including the film industry in general, the state of women in filmmaking, management and career advice and work/life balance issues. Here are five of my favorite takeaways:

• Great careers can be stumbled upon opportunistically.

Nevins shared that her first TV job was intended to be research, except that she saw the call for auditions, attended that instead and founder herself with a role that last three years. Since she already knew people in TV, she used that network to get to HBO where she stayed for 30 years

• You don’t know if a film will be good but you do know if you should pursue it.

Nevins focuses on whether the decision to green-light a movie is sound, recognizing that the movie itself after it comes out may or may not do well. Besides, the metric for whether a movie is a success can change. (Critical acclaim? Audience? Profits?) In deciding to pursue films, Nevins looks for a story with lasting interest since it takes 18 months before the film debuts

• Dream big, but follow what’s possible

I found Nevins’ remarks around the topic of succeeding in the film world frighteningly candid. She talked about “self-limiting” herself and credited it with her survival in the business. For example, she worked on documentaries when she wanted to do fiction, and she said she didn’t want to run a company when she in fact did. “I wasn’t going to step over the line for any passion,” Nevins said at one point when she talked about focusing on keeping her job and salary over creative pursuits.

• “I long for an off/on switch, but they don’t make it anymore”

Nevins talked about how the work hours are relentless. She referred to it as having no schedule because you are on 24/7.

• “‘Every day is a challenge, and I’m always nervous”

When asked for a time when she overcame a career challenge, Nevins declined to answer that question, saying that it implied a linearity that isn’t there – i.e., one challenge, then rest, another challenge, then rest. Instead, she talked about constantly trying to improve and not resting on her laurels. “I’m old,” Nevins confessed, “but so what? I’m good.”

The Battle Below follows Derek, now a college professor, coming back to his old neighborhood. The projects are giving way to Whole Foods, the rents are insane and kids are fighting in dungeons with swords and axes for money, because there are no jobs.

Written and directed by Bruce Faulk. Produced by Caroline Ceniza-Levine and Bruce Faulk. This episode features Anton Briones, Jimmy Burke, Jasmine Carmichael, Bruce Faulk, Leo Kubota, Jennifer Loring, Jamahl Garrison-Lowe, Benton Greene, Carl Ka-Ho Li, and Tania Verafield.

Did you miss an episode? Catch them all here – http://fbcfilms.com/the-battle-below/

The Battle Below follows Derek, now a college professor, coming back to his old neighborhood. The projects are giving way to Whole Foods, the rents are insane and kids are fighting in dungeons with swords and axes for money, because there are no jobs.

Written and directed by Bruce Faulk. Produced by Caroline Ceniza-Levine and Bruce Faulk. This episode features Jasmine Carmichael, Bruce Faulk, Jamahl Garrison-Lowe, Benton Greene, Carl Ka-Ho Li, and Tania Verafield.

Did you miss an episode? Watch Episode 2 of The Battle Below and Episode 1 of The Battle Below.