Casting and News: Show Business Weekly

Energize your film career with Red Bull

IFC teams up with popular drink to produce Web series

IFC wants to give your filmmaking career wings. The local cable outfit is teaming up with the energy drink Red Bull to create original, scripted shows for the Web. Late last week, the two companies announced the creation of IFC’s online hub Media Lab Studios, which has already begun soliciting pilot and trailer ideas through the network’s Web site. Red Bull will be integrated into the winning submission.

The new venture marks IFC’s third collaboration with the popular energy drink, the first two being for non-scripted projects. “We’re extremely excited to partner with Red Bull once again to not only present their brand in an engaging and non-traditional way, but also to provide a platform to a deserving independent filmmaker,” said Alan Klein, senior VP of integrated partnerships for IFC.

news-showbusinessweekly.com

To solicit ideas for the project, IFC’s Media Lab has launched its “Call-to-Action” challenge. Filmmakers are asked to submit four-minute videos or trailers that explore what happens when the rest of the world goes to sleep and a new set of rules, attitudes and possibilities open up. The first phase of the project will be supported with on-air and online promotions as well as a dedicated “micro-site.” IFC will debut the new series this summer on both IFC.com and RedBull.com. The sites will also feature runner-up pilot submissions, as well as outtakes and “making of” footage.

The IFC/Red Bull partnership marks the latest in so-called branded entertainment — a growing trend in which companies utilize the Internet to promote their brands with the help of the independent filmmaking community. Highly recognizable brands such as Heinz Ketchup, Kraft Singles and Frito-Lay have all launched similar contests in recent years. Last year, two viewer-created commercials for Frito-Lay’s Doritos aired during Super Bowl XLI.

The submission deadline for IFC’s “Call-to-Action” challenge is March 31. For information and eligibility requirements, check out www.ifc.com/medialab. -Christopher Zara

Minority Report: The Great White Way will soon look a little less white. Three new Broadway shows are set to open with predominantly minority casts this season, while two additional productions will feature African American leads in roles that are traditionally played by white actors. Leading the trend is the new musical In the Heights, which was a surprise off-Broadway hit last year. The show, set in the uptown neighborhood of Washington Heights, features an almost entirely Latino cast. Meanwhile, the revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will sport a mostly black cast, as will the new musical Passing Strange. Producers are hopeful that the shows will attract a more diverse group of ticket buyers to Broadway.

Apollo’s Last Call for Cash: The famed Apollo Theater has launched a major fund-raising effort for what it hopes will be the final phase of its recent renovations. Last week, the nonprofit Apollo Theater Foundation announced that it needs to raise $47 million to double the size of the Harlem venue’s lobby, as well as to upgrade its third-floor performance space, making it partially visible from the street. According to the foundation’s president, Jonelle Procope, the Apollo also hopes to immortalize the names of legendary music performers on bronze plaques in front of the theater. The Apollo Foundation has already spent $37 million in earlier renovations, which included a restoration of the theater’s famous marquee.

INSIDE INK
By John Rowell

SCOTTISH PLAY

How much do you know about the seedy underworld of nightlife in Glasgow, Scotland? Well, Studio Dante’s latest production Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters is sure to enlighten us with its dark story, recounting drag-queen Bernice Hindley’s accounts of drug-fueled escapades, prostitution and club violence. Told in a shocking yet darkly funny stream-of-consciousness style, the show introduces a full cast of characters all played by one quick-changing actor named Russell Barr, who also happens to be the author (so some authenticity is guaranteed, I’d say). Michael Imperioli directs, and performances are up and running at Studio Dante on West 29th Street, now through Feb. 16. Visit www.studiodante.com.

BLUE PERIOD

It’s no accident that a show called The Blue Flower is a hybrid of many theatrical elements: music, lyrics, videography, artwork and storytelling. A production of Prospect Theater Company, The Blue Flower follows the lives of four friends and lovers, in a show that encompasses voluptuous music and fanciful silent films, and sends the audience on a passionate ride down the twisted rails of history, from pre-war Paris to the battlefields of WWI, the Weimar Republic, 1950s New York, and the present day. That’s a lot of time traveling, but Award-winning composer Jim Bauer (in collaboration with Ruth Bauer) is sure to create an intricate and enthralling theatrical collage — or, hybrid. Will Pomerantz is the director, and performances begin Feb. 2 at the West End Theatre (at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew.) www.ProspectTheater.org.

APPLICATION TIME

I’d be remiss not to remind all you playwrights, producers and performance artists out there of a couple of great upcoming opportunities. First up, The Princess Grace Foundation-USA announces the availability of Theater and Playwriting Awards for the 2008 Princess Grace Awards, with postmark deadlines of March 31. The Foundation is dedicated to identifying and assisting emerging artists in theater, dance and film, and the awards take the form of scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships. For more information, log on to www.pgfusa.org... And even though we’re in the dead of winter, it’s not too early to think about one of New York’s greatest summer events, The New York International Fringe Festival, the largest multi-arts festival in North America. This year’s festival, the 12th annual, is now accepting applications for participants in all genres — theater, dance, puppetry, performance art, multi-media, etc., and separate FringeAL FRESCO and FringeJR (children’s programming) applications are also available. All applications are due on Feb. 14 (feel the love) and are available online at www.fringenyc.org.

INTO THE WOODS

The urban woods, that is, where four interconnected New Yorkers are to be found Hunting and Gathering, which is the title of Brooke Berman’s new play that takes a look at four young NY’ers attempting to find their place in love and romance without compromise. The play asks the same central question that we all ask on a daily basis: Do you have to be a predator to survive? Oh, it’s all so…animalistic! Yet the very human (and very talented) cast includes such up-and-coming actors as Mamie Gummer, Michael Chernus, Jeremy Shamos and Keira Naughton. The director is Leigh Silverman. Performances have just begun at Primary Stages, with opening night set for Feb. 3. Visit www.primarystages.com. Grrrrrrr…

Thrill of the Hunt: Mamie Gummer takes a trip to the urban woods in Hunting and Gathering.

THERE WILL BE YOUNGBLOOD

It’s festival time again at Ensemble Studio Theater, where Thicker Than Water 2008, a festival of new plays and musicals from emerging playwrights, is set to begin performances on Feb. 3. Thicker Than Water is the signature production on the E.S.T. Mainstage for Youngblood, E.S.T.’s highly acclaimed company of emerging playwrights under 30. Youngblood provides peer support, artistic guidance and production environments for a new generation of theater artists, and the festival aims to collect the best of the group’s work into an eclectic evening of theater. For more info and a complete schedule of performances, visit www.youngbloodnyc.org.

AROUND TOWN

Performance Lab 115 presents the world premiere of Paul Cohen’s Cherubina, a dark comedy based on a true story about Elisa Ivanovna, a frustrated poet and crippled school teacher in 1913 Russia. Alexis Poledouris directs; performances run Feb. 1-23 at The Sanford Meisner Theater. Visit www.thecherubina.com... LaMaMa is currently presenting North, a world premiere Audio-Visual, Genre-Spanning Show that combines theater, rock music and dance — hybridizing pre-1700 classical pieces, original music and post-1960s pop. (!) Performed by Heather Christian & The Arbornauts, the show runs through Feb. 2. Visit www.lamama.org... And The Classical Theatre of Harlem & Harlem Stage present their collaborated-upon version of Trojan Women, adapted and directed by Alfred Preisser, now through Feb. 10. The show marks the first co-production of the two Harlem-based theaters, and performances take place at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse, 150 Convent Ave. at West 135th Street. Check out www.harlemstage.com.

SHORT CUTS
By Sarah Ricard

THE BOURNE IDENTITY

Whether or not its concurrence with Black History Month is just a

Bourne Again: The Museum of the Moving Image remembers the pioneering filmmaker St. Clair Bourne with a retrospective of his work.

coincidence, on Feb. 10, the Museum of the Moving Image will present a tribute to St. Clair Bourne, a prominent African American filmmaker and activist, who died this past December. St. Clair Bourne was a prolific filmmaker whose 40+ films presented an inside look at African American culture and politics. His subjects included Paul Robeson, John Henrik Clarke, Gordon Parks, Amiri Baraka, Langston Hughes and the making of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” His filmmaking career began at “Black Journal,” the country’s first black public affairs show, and from there, Bourne formed his own independent production company, Chamba Mediaworks, through which he produced projects for HBO, PBS, NBC, BBC and National Geographic. The tribute will include a selection of clips from Bourne’s films and a panel discussion with critics and scholars, such as Black Enterprise columnist George Alexander, author/poet Esther Iverem, New York Press critic Armond White, and Clyde Taylor, Professor of Africana Studies at NYU. For more info, visit www.movingimage.us.

ITUNES MOVIE RENTALS: WHAT’S THE DEAL?

The day after Apple announced that it would be offering feature-length movies for rent via iTunes, companies like Netflix and Blockbuster felt the impact with falling stocks. But how much will this really impact the movie rental business? Shortly after the news, Macworld’s Peter Choen published a “First Look” editorial on the pros and cons of iTunes movie rentals, which are much more like pay-per-view rentals than renting a DVD — you have 24 hours to watch your movie and it comes without extra features. Also, for now, the selection is far more limited than your local video store, although Apple hopes to have as many as 1,000 titles by the end of February. In terms of logistics, whether you’re using a Mac or a PC, make sure that you have iTunes 7.6 and QuickTime 7.4 to run rentals. Once a file is downloaded, it can be transferred to an iPod, iPhone or Apple TV, but files downloaded through Apple TV cannot be transferred to any other device. (The good news for HD fans is that an HD-ready AppleTV is on its way, and HD rentals will be available through this device.) Some glitches still need to be ironed out. For instance, it takes quite a few minutes to download a movie, so if you’re interrupted and have to resume your download at another time, your clock has already started ticking. The bottom line? According to Cohen, iTunes movie rentals aren’t for everyone (especially folks who enjoy movies on their home media system), but for those who just want a premium flick on the go, “the new service is surprisingly robust and easy to use.”