The 2007 Tony Nominations have been announced. Spring Awakening, an Off-Broadway musical hit that transferred to Broadway garnered 11 Tony nominations, followed by Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia trilogy, which received ten nominations. The winners will be announced at the 61st Tony Award Ceremony in New York on Sunday June 10th.
The winners of the Outer Critics Circle Awards have been announced, and Playbill has a summary of the event. Tom_Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia trilogy won six awards, the musical Spring Awakening scooped three awards, and other multiple winners were Company, In the Heights, Journey's End, LoveMusik and No Child.
Film Ireland reports that the Screen Directors' Guild of Ireland has announced that the May Directors' Club will feature John Carney and his film Once at Denzille Cinema, Dublin 2 on Thursday May 31st at 6.30pm. There will be the opportunity to schmooze over drinks (courtesy of Jameson) after the film. Seats are limited, so members of the Directors' Club should contact Yolanda Barker to book a place.
According to The Stage the classic UK horror production company, Hammer Film Productions, has been sold to Cyrte Investments. Cyrte plans to invest £25m in new productions for the big screen and television. Since it acquired the Hammer's back catalogue of 300 titles, including Dracula and Frankenstein, it plans to remake these films, possibly in the form of a Hammer TV series.
A statement issued today said: "Hammer will return to film and television production after more than 30 years with an active development programme designed to emulate the best traditions of Hammer.
"The new management plans to aggressively reinvigorate the Hammer brand for a new generation of horror-lovers, utilising web and mobile technologies, whilst retaining Hammer’s significant heritage."
Simon Oakes, who will run Hammer for Cyrte said: "Hammer is a great British brand. We intend to take Hammer back into production and develop its global potential."
Filmbase will hold an Open Day on Thursday 24th May at its premises in Temple Bar in Dublin to allow members to inspect its upgraded and expanded equipment facilities, which it obtained under an Arts Council capital grant. Staff will be on hand from 12.30 – 7.30pm to demonstrate and explain the new equipment.
The New Media Factory is running a one-page script competition open to anyone living in the border region (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Louth, Meath and Monaghan). The top 5 scripts will go into production at the end of July 2007.
The challenge is to capture and condense all the elements that make film such a popular medium into only one page.The deadline for entries is 29 June 2007.
The script must consist of two and characters: One male and one female. These characters must be racially and physically open to interpretation. If a story is unreasonably expensive to produce it may be rejected. The five most compelling stories will be selected.
Filmmakers Network.ie is having its monthly meeting this Monday, the 14th of May from 7.30 - 9.30m in Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. The focus on this meeting will be on pitching, and as usual there will be a screening of short films created by members of the group.
The Buitoni Italian Film Festival is running in the IFI in Dublin from 24 - 27 May, and will feature a selection of contemporary Italian films and documentaries. In the run-up to the festival the IFI will screen classic Italian films such as Felini's 8 1/2, and Visconti's The Leopard.
The Eye Cinema in Galway will show a small selection from the festival on 28-30 May.
Backstage's article about the change in American television viewing habits points to a fundamental shift thanks to the proliferation of DVRs, TiVos, etc.
This will have a profound effect upon revenue streams for broadcasters, as the American television networks are likely to discover in the coming weeks when they present their Fall schedule to potential advertisers.
Television has made billions based on how many people watch a show at its regular time. That idea may already be obsolete. So should the industry use DVR viewing when setting ad rates? If so, how quickly must people watch the shows -- within two days? A week? What about people who watch shows on their cell phones or on network Web sites, which Nielsen doesn't measure yet? Later this month Nielsen will begin measuring how many people watch commercials. Should those be used to compute advertising costs?Over the coming years European markets can expect the same shift in television revenue models, especially with the increase of online on-demand material.
Right now, none of those questions have answers.
However, "if we continue to do business assuming people will watch television as they always have," said NBC's Wurtzel, "it's a dead-end game."
Filmbase has announced the initial shortlist for its January 2007 short script awards, for which there were over 200 entries.
Congratulations to the nine finalists, and best of luck in the forthcoming interviews, which will whittle the group down to the lucky three.
Monomito, a Portuguese non-profit screenwriting cooperative, and the Flanders Script Academy, are running a one-week international scriptwriting workshop "aimed at training participants on how to write stories that travel successfully across national and cultural borders."
The workshop will take place in Portugal at the Arrábida Monastery located at Arrábida's natural reserve, 40 minutes drive from Lisbon, from July 15 - 21. Seminar and workshop hours are from 9am - 12.30pm, and from 2pm - 5.30pm. The course tutor is Dr. Patrick Cattrysse, co-founder of the Flanders Script Academy.
Applicants must download the application form from the web site, and send it along with their CV before June 10. The workshop is limited to 15 participants.
Cost depends on the type of lodging: €950 (private room) or €890 (double room - shared), and includes the seminars, rooms from 15 - 21 July, Internet access, three meals per day and two coffee-breaks, use of the facilities such as meeting rooms, swimming pool and guided tour to the Monastery, and transportation from Lisbon to Arrábida and back.
The Script Factory has teamed up with BBC Radio Drama to create an information day called Wireless & Boundless, on Thursday 7 June from 2-5pm at The Script Factory in Central London.
During the day, Radio 4 Drama Commissioner, Jeremy Howe, Head of BBC Radio Drama, Alison Hindell, and Producer Sam Hoyle, will illuminate the creative and practical process of writing for radio, followed by a chance to quiz them further over informal drinks. Writers attending the day will then be invited to pitch a written idea for a radio play from which 6 will be short-listed and those writers invited to attend a BBC Radio Drama Masterclass on 1 & 2 August, in the BBC HQ at Bush House in Central London, with the opportunity to make a short drama.To apply for a place send a writing CV, a short review of a radio play, and an idea for a radio play by post to The Script Factory by 24 May.
BBC Blast Northern Ireland is running a short script competition for young screenwriters, aged between 13 and 19. The winning script will be filmed and edited during the BBC Blast Festival from June 27-July under the supervision of screenwriter and film director Terry Loane (Mickybo & Me).
The script should be 6-8 minutes long, and filmable on a tiny budget over two days. Entries can be submitted by email or post, and must reach the BBC Blast NI by 3pm on Friday, May 25, 2007.
RTÉ reports on the winners of this year's RTÉ All-Ireland Drama Festival in Athlone. The big winners of the night were the Silken Thomas Players of Kildare, who won the Perpetual Trophy for their production of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart. They also scooped Best Actor (Conor O'Connell), Best Supporting Actor (Colin Malone), and Best Stage Management (Maria Finnegan).
The Stella Artois Pitching Awards will be held again during the Galway Film Fleadh (11th- 16th July), and the closing date for applications is the 15th of June.
Submissions consist of a one-page story synopsis, a logline, a completed application form, and a €25 entry fee. Five writers will be selected to make their pitch in person.
The chosen projects will be presented before a panel of industry experts and a public audience. The best pitch will receive a fantastic award sponsored by Stella Artois, worth €5,000, to be presented during the Awards Ceremony at the Town Hall Theatre.Last year's winner, Mark Wale, is a member of the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild.
The Filmbase/RTÉ Short Film Awards has changed its application process for its June 2007 intake slightly.
The deadline for the next award is 5pm on 29th June 2007, but applications will not be accepted until two weeks prior to the closing date. Therefore, the window for submissions is between 15 - 29 of June only.
Read the guidelines for applications carefully. Filmbase received over 200 entries for the previous submission period in January.
Film Ireland's 20th anniversary publication is issue 116, which is in the shops now. To celebrate, the copy is 20% larger, with extra interviews and articles, and also 20% cheaper.
Ann Thompson, deputy editor at Variety, has posted an article on how blogging is reshaping the coverage of films in Hollywood and beyond:
Many media outlets are building online traffic by giving their best-known writers blogs. While fact- and spell-checking is still de rigueur, so are more personal statements of point-of-view and opinion. On a blog, writers can get away with a heartfelt lack of objectivity that they can't inside the strictures of the newsroom. New York Post critic Lou Lumenick is one of a growing number of daily newspaper critics who are reaching out to readers via blogs. Other notables: the Boston Globe's Ty Burr, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Carrie Rickey and the Oregonian's Shawn Levy. (Some ex-print critics have developed their own online followings, including EmanuelLevy.com, HenrySheehan.com and DaveKehr.com.)In the media industry, blogging is part and parcel of the business now.
New York Magazine and Conde Nast's Portfolio just launched a rash of new culture blogs. New York Times media writer David Carr conducts video interviews for his seasonal Oscar blog, the Carpetbagger, while the Los Angeles Times' the Envelope offers party and awards coverage all year long.
LA Weekly has an article detailing an on-going investigation into the practices of the WGA in America:
The L.A. Weekly has learned that the Department of Labor has been quietly gathering evidence and testimony about the guild's payment practices for over a year -- though it refuses to confirm or deny that it is investigating. Moreover, on April 12, a 27-page ruling by Los Angeles federal District Judge Margaret Morrow appears to have granted the writers some legitimacy, by rejecting the WGA claim that, as a labor union, it could collect and hold their money -- and charge them hefty fees to boot. In sending the Richert suit back to state court, according to Hughes and Neville Johnson, the attorney spearheading the class action, Judge Morrow left the guild wide-open to charges of conversion and fraud.
RTÉ reports that the Irish feature film, Garage, has been selected for the Director's Fortnight at the 60th Cannes Film Festival.
Garage is produced by Ed Guiney and executive produced by Andrew Lowe for Element Pictures, who were involved with last year's Palme d'Or-winning The Wind That Shakes the Barley.
This is the second feature film from director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O'Halloran, who were also responsible for the award-winning black comedy Adam and Paul.
Set in the mid-west of Ireland, it tells the story of harmless misfit Josie (Shortt), the caretaker of a crumbling petrol station, and his hapless search for intimacy one summer.
The Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild is offering a one-day information session for Guild members to help them plan for the future.
It will cover health, pensions, social welfare, personal investment, savings, and wills, and the seminar will take place on Thursday 14th June. Places are limited, so early booking is essential. For more information contact info@script.ie.
Today's ScreenDaily.com reports on the Screenwriters Festival, which will be running from July 3-6 in Cheltenham, UK.
This year the festival's head, David Pearson, believes an important discussion about the nature of the film industry needs to happen, especially now that the European Screenwriters Manifesto has been established. The festival hopes to offer a platform for screenwriters to discuss their presence in the industry.
Christine Kallas, president of the European writers body FSE, believes it's time that screenwriting took its place at the heart of the film-making process.
"Writers are not looking for recognition of their role in the creation of a film. But films are still generally though of as either a producer's film or a director's film and our creativity is often not recognised."
Courtesy of The Guardian is the news that ITV plans to relaunch its web site in the coming weeks as a broadband portal.
At that time the broadcaster will also launch an on demand service via the web site that will allow viewers to watch any programme aired on ITV during the previous 30 days.
The £20m revamp of ITV.com is designed to bring broadband television into the mainstream. In addition to the catch up service, it will offer live streams of each channel, with extra content, special web-only commissions and behind the scenes footage. ITV is also digitising 20,000 hours of its archive and will offer a selection of classics like Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect, The Prisoner and Inspector Morse as well as old episodes of soaps and comedies.Earlier this week the BBC announced that it was launching its iPlayer service, which will offer a seven day catch up service. The BBC plans for an online archive also.
Director Julien Temple will visit the IFI in Dublin on Saturday 12th May at 12.30pm to present a sneak preview of his new documentary, Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. It will be followed by a public interview with Temple.
Later, the director will also introduce Glastonbuy, his documentary about the legendary music festival that was released last year.
From a report on IFTN it appears that congratulations are due to Irish writer/director Niall Heery, whose film Small Engine Repair just won two awards at the Nashville Film Festival - the Nashville Film Festival/Regal Cinemas Dreammaker Award for Best Feature and the Audience Award for Best Film.
Early this year Felim MacDermot interviewed Heery on behalf of the Guild, and you can read Heery's thoughts about writing for film on the IPSG web site.
