Broadband Jungle Blog

Book Trailer: Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict

A new viral video we created in support of my most talented wife's upcoming follow-up to the best-selling Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict.

Thank you to an incredible team that worked and supported us on this trailer:

Jane's Scene Readings
Arabella Field
Arabella is an accomplished stage and film actress and frequently guest stars on your favorite TV series with way too many credits under her belt to mention. She co-stars in the upcoming motion picture releases Paper Man and Flying By.

Music
Paul Haslinger, Composer, Producer
The track was pulled from one of Paul’s solo cd’s. Check out Paul’s recent spectacular soundtracks for Underworld: Rise of the Lycons and X-Men Origins: Wolverine - the video game.

Piano
Sigrid Trummer
Germaine Tailleferre Piano Concerto D-Dur, Edition Frauentöne Vol. 1
Sigrid just completed solo piano tour across the US and Canada that brought her to Chicago, Washington, Montreal and Ottawa.

VO
Mehran Azma
An accomplished graphic designer and indie musician with The Lost Libraries, Mehran got drafted as a voice over artist and narrator for this project.

VO recordings
Silvia Ryder @ Starfish Records
Get the excellent new CD Chinese Leftovers by houseband Sugarplum Fairies.

Photography Courtney’s bedroom
Elissa Merola
Quintessential Silver Lake photographer, new media artist and decorator

Animation, visual & sound effects, editing and other wonders
Dave ‘The Rave’ Emmendorfer
Dave is an incredibly accomplished editor and animator and pulled out all the stops for this trailer. We still don’t quite know where the space shuttle entered the picture but it’s beyond brilliant.

Written & produced
Thomas Rigler

Digital Hollywood Content Summit May 5 - Discount Registration

Just announced: Full Agenda. Click Here.
Special Discount Registration Fees for the Content Summit.
All-Event - Digital Hollywood Ticket - Per Person
Covers all-events all days - seatiing is first-come-first served
$95 - Under-Employed, Layed-Off, Part-time
$135 - Self-Employed Production, Technology or Start-Up (Non-VC Funded)
$75 - Students (in groups of 5 or More - See instructions below)
$300 - Technology or Entertainment Startup- (VC - Corporate Funded)
To Register Online - Click Here

Artnet: Thomas Hoving "My Eye"

A fantastic art clip on online auctions resource Artnet produced by NewArt TV's Robert Knafu featuring the infectiously enthusiastic Thomas Hoving. In this episode the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art reviews the Ralph Albert Blakelock show at the National Academy.

I learned more about the passion for creating art in this 97 second clip than in many articles and long-winded docs elsewhere. Who knew that the often institutionalized Blakelock had to resort to cutting his own hair to make brushes!! Hoving is a natural, a true discovery as a host and interpreter of the arts to a mainstream audience. Deserving of a very large audience.

Digital Hollywod Content Summit

Our Gerber Rigler Executive Consulting brainchild has hatched in collaboration with Digital Hollywood and is ready to fly:

The inaugural Digital Hollywood Content Summit takes place on Tuesday, May 5 at the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica during the Spring '09 conference of Digital Hollywood.

Click HERE for full agenda.

Tim Kring, creator of NBC's hit series "Heroes" will participate in a keynote conversation and various film, television and new media organizations are presenting panels.

Among them the AFI Digital Content Lab, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, ASIFA Hollywood, the IDA, the WGA and others about to come on board.

During a series of panels on Tuesday, May 5 we're planning to take content creators in our industry through the creative process: Development, Funding, Production, Distribution, Animation, Cause-driven social marketing, and the re-invention of the studio model for the new media age.

Summit Produced by: Gerber Rigler Producing and Executive Consulting for Digital Hollywood

Summit Pricing:
$135 regular, $95 for Affiliate members (Tuesday, May 5th Only)
Digital Hollywood Pass - Full - 4 Day Pass - Includes the Summit - $685 - Regular - $585 for Affiliate Members

To Register - Click Here.

Here's a quick tease for what's in store.

The Amazing Line-Up:
David Gale, SVP New Media, MTV Networks; Danila Koverman, Director, HBOlab at HBO; Alexis Rapo, Vice President, ABC Digital Media; John Gilles, Vice President Media & Entertainment, Method; Suzanne Stefanac, Director, AFI Digital Content Lab; David Norton, VP Brand Integration, Ladder Up Media; Mark Vega, Partner/IP Steward, Omelet; Josh Bycel, Co-Executive Producer, Psych (USA Network); Adam Armus, Co-Executive Producer, Heroes (NBC); Jacob Rosenberg, CTO Bandito Brothers; Laura Nix, Director/Producer, Felt Films; John Hamburg, Writer/Director, I Love You Man & Along Came Polly; Adam Drucker, Casting Producer, A&E’s Intervention, Amazing Race; Scott B, Director / Cinematographer, Vortex, LA Coroner; Eva Orner, Academy Award winning producer, Taxi to the Dark Side; Jeffrey Tuchman, Emmy & Peabody Award winning filmmaker, Jamison Tilsner,! Co-founder, The Streamy Awards; Adam Chapnick, President, DocWorkers; Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Writer/Director, The Garden; Rick Allen, CEO, SnagFilms; Peter Yared, CEO, iWidgets; Steve Savage, Co-principal, New Video; Eddie Schmidt, President of the board, IDA; Dave Vamos, Founder, Six Point Harness Studios; Aaron Simpson, Founder, Cold Hard Flash, Lineboil.com; Jorge Gutierrez, Creator “El Tigre,” Nickelodeon; John Andrews, SVP, Klasky Csupo, ka-chew!; Antranig Manoogian, President, ASIFA Hollywood; Glasgow Phillips, Writer, South Park, Kung Fu Panda; Micki Krimmel, Founder Sugar Packet, Inc, Mickipedia.com; Robert Bahar, Filmmaker, Made in LA; Melissa Fitzgerald, Actor & Filmaker, The West Wing, Voices of Uganda; Marc Morgenstern, Executive Director, Declare Yourself; Juan Devis, Director of Production, KCET New Media; Charles Annenberg Weingarten, Founder, Explore.org; Brian Sirgutz, President, Causecast

Interactive Emmys - 2009 Call for Entries

Presidential Redesign: Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov

YouTube embeds from the White House homepage? Obama's cracking new media team didn't lose a second and relaunched what appears to be a cleaned up and user-friendly WhiteHouse.org while the nation was watching the inauguration this morning.

Mark Hefflinger reports for Digital Media Wire:

"The official website of the president, Whitehouse.gov, experienced a dramatic makeover at 12 P.M. ET today, just as Barack Obama was being sworn in and giving his inauguration speech.

The redesign features some of the same interactive elements that were present on Obama's campaign website, including a place where people can sign up for email updates from the President and his administration, an "Agenda" section that lists the administration's positions on major issues, and a new White House blog."

Macon Phillips, Director of new Media (!!) for the the White House expands on the newly established  White House Blog: 

'A short time ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and his new administration officially came to life. One of the first changes is the White House's new website, which will serve as a place for the President and his administration to connect with the rest of the nation and the world.

Millions of Americans have powered President Obama's journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the internet to play a role in shaping our country's future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration's efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement.

Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration's online programs will put citizens first.'

According to Phillips, the White House's new media efforts will revolve around the following:
Communication, Transparency, Participation.

Sounds like any other successful social networking community out there trying to connect...
Fantastic to have not only Our Guy in office, but also to finally have our guys in the office.

I Met The Walrus - John Lennon interview gets animated

Very Short List this week selected a beautifully animated short that came with an even better backstory: The news today, oh boy!

"Thirty-nine years ago, a 14-year-old named Jerry Levitan managed to talk his way into John Lennon’s Toronto hotel room. Impressed by the kid’s chutzpah, Lennon obliged him with a five-minute chat that covered war, peace, and the newly arrived Bee Gees."

Five minutes doesn't sound like much had not Lennon been at the top of his game that day in 1969: Not only did he treat the teenage Levitan with utter respect, he managed to casually share clever insight with remarkable precision. As we listen to Lennon's enlightened thoughts about the powers of non-violence & humor and the peaceful action they generate, time stands still, stretching a few moments into one lasting profound experience.

Thanks to the young reporter who taped the conversation, we can now share this personal memory with him:

"Last year, Levitan teamed up with filmmaker Josh Raskin to make “I Met the Walrus” — a charming animated film that turns Lennon’s thoughts into concrete images. The results are trippy but cogent, and no less interesting than what the Beatle had to say. Lennon himself would have loved it."

Barry Diller talks Boss

A few well articulated words from one of the great old tigers in the entertainment world: Barry Diller in an interview with Shira Ovide of the Wall Street Journal.

Particularly impressive how excitable Diller remains, how well he understands the completely different dynamics of the Internet world compared to film and television. Ending up with 1.3 billion in cash after the IAC breakup might also do its part.

Read the full length interview here, right next to the video player on a very handsome UE by the way.

 

Goodbye, Mary - viral marketing parody

Any limits to which social marketers are willing to go?
Slate V recently posted this very clever spoof a a viral marketing campaign gone insanely wrong.

'Goodbye Mary' was produced by filmmaker Scott Blaszak and stars the brilliant Ryan James as Marc, the kind young man and part-time actor hired to promote the motion picture release of 'The Women.'

And promote he does - by selecting Mary, a perfect specimen of the target audience, picking her up in the gym and subsequently starting a real-life relationship with the unsuspecting subject. As the viral campaign nears its end with the release of The Women last Friday, Mark needs to say goodbye to Mary. He's all half-baked apologies that he's leaving behind as a video message on Mary's computer before posting them on YouTube, but what can you do? Hilarious.

The clip is produced in the very simple, skillful style of ubiquitous video confessionals: One long uninterrupted shot, simulating a webcam pov and revealing Mary's tidy apartment in the background.

My favorite part of this excellently written spot: The surprise trip to Prague was the head of marketing's idea. Very cool stuff.

Aaron Sorkin comeback kid

The Onion recently announced a new passion project by my most favorite screenwriter since  Paddy Chayefsky: West Wing, Studio 60 and Sports Night creator Aaron Sorkin was to enter production for a return of the 'The West Wing - The Santos Administration' as an animated series, finally without any of the restrictions he had to endure on Network television.

"The costs of live-action production restricted me to a set only slightly larger than the actual White House and an ensemble cast of under 15 actors. But animation technology will enable us to provide fans with extended 40-minute walk-and-talks, digitally compressed dialogue for faster delivery, and a cast of over 70 main characters. My vision will finally be presented in its truest, most uncompromised form."

A few days later, Aaron Sorkin actually did start a new project, this time in the form of a Facebook group. The group doesn't appear to be just another fan page, but almost the exact opposite: In preparation for a movie Sorkin is to pen about Facebook's founders for Sony Pictures and producer Scott Rudin, the author decided to learn about Facebook users in their natural habitat and parachuted straight into the community.

Within hours, the floodgates opened and die-hard West Wing fans started to crawl Sorkin's wall in an attempt to seize the opportunity to finally ask all the questions we had about Toby, Josh and President Bartlet. No idea how long poor Sorkin's going to keep up answering fan mail online, but so far he's been incredibly courteous, taking the time to provide lengthy answers to even lengthier questions and adulations. And even handle snide comments from former West Wing staffer Joshua Molina.

No coincidence probably for both announcements to fall during the week the Democratic  National Convention rumbled through the country: While wiping surprise tears  from my cheeks during Al Gore's speech I recalled how big a part in the healing, possibly mental survival of liberal-minded viewers The West Wing played during the early years of the outgoing administration:

Giving us episode after episode of Super-President Bartlet in the White House, surrounded by his wise-cracking, un-intimidated  gang of invincible advisers kicking Republican butt was nothing short of creating an alternate reality for the traumatized majority of liberal voters in this country. We even got Martin Sheen re-elected in one of the most memorable campaigns ever, and that in-spite of MS and Stockard Channing dangerously looming over him...

Taping every single episode of these first three pre-tivo seasons to vhs, The West Wing for a while stood in for my only interaction with everyday politics. In my house, The West Wing and Aaron Sorkin were king. (And oh, how much did we want Studio 60 to succeed, especially since it took place in my own industry...).

Can't wait for his treatment of the Facebook generation, even though it should probably be a series of interactive low-budget webisodes instead of a flush studio picture, but hey, we'll take what we get from the master.

The West Wing's premiere on NBC and the start of The Sopranos on HBO, both in the fall of 1999, could be viewed as the beginning of what Robert McKee calls the Golden Age of Television. That's simply how good television drama had become all of a sudden. And the bar still stands.

Here the credit sequence of act 1 of The West Wing's pilot episode:
It's a nice morning Mr McGarry. - We'll take care of that in a hurry, won't we Mike?