We wrapped photography on Manhattan Nocturne and I couldn't be happier. Now that the dust is settling and editing has begun, comes a chance to breathe and say thanks again to outstanding cast and crew who put so much of themselves and hard work into this movie. It all shows in the footage. I started a folder called "Happy Director" of pictures from set. The joy of shooting is best seen in my face than in words sometimes. Here's just a few snapshots thanks to our wonderful stills photographer Paul Sarkis.
CLIO WINNER!
Congrats to Mindshare Entertainment for their Clio Shortlist winning campaign for Fruttare! Great work guys. Proud to be associated with it.
NOC LOG - MN START DATE
Lot’s of people have been checking in and asking what the time table is for our feature film Manhattan Nocturne.
The schedule is as follows: We will be doing some small unit / 2 days of shooting in October. We will also be doing some casting in October for Principle Photography which starts December 1.
We are shooting union in NYC. Made in NY proud.
It’s a very exciting time here as we are starting to get into the creative fun of planning the shoot. Thanks for all the support and well wishes and stay tuned for updates!
INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS SHOWCASE!
Happy to announce that our short film The Worst Thing I've Ever Done has been officially selected into the Independent Filmmakers Showcase in Los Angeles. Screening details below if you click the image for those that want to attend.
BIG EASY!
We are so honored to announce that our short film 'The Worst Thing I've Ever Done" has been selected for the Big Easy International Film Festival in New Orleans. It will screen as part of the Drama Shorts program Friday evening April 4th.
NEW YEAR WISHES!
We are feeling very grateful as we look back on 2013 and even more excited as we look ahead to the coming year. 2013 was our best year yet, and the most creatively satisfying by far.
We really enjoyed working with a wide variety of awesome people in 2013. With our new friends at Zero Point Zero Production we are working on a top-secret show of theirs developed for the Syfy Channel, and we also helped on their show The Tim Ferriss Experiment. With our long time friends at Scratch we collaborated on another top-secret original show developed with Spike TV....ssshhhhh! Brian directed some clips for the good people at Minus L Productions and Mindshare Entertainment. We had some branded fun with Cher Lloyd and Ne-Yo for client Fruttare.
We were honored to have our original content in four different festivals: The Nantucket Film Festival and the Cape May Film Festival, ( short doc film SEA BRIGHT RISING) The New York Televison Festival (FAMILY TREE - semi-finalist at both A&E and History Channel, and CITIZENS a finalist in the NBC competition) and at The Big Apple Film Festival (THE WORST THING I'VE EVER DONE - a short noir film staring Campbell Scott and Kathleen McElfresh). We're also excited to have developed an original reality show with J.E.T. Stables (RACING HORSES) that we are currently talking to networks about. Stay tuned for updates on these.
Music creation was at an all time high with the release of the Cuban Missile Crisis EP through The Orchard on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and more, as well as great partnership with fellow writers/artists/producers Mike Sabath, Elza and Jay Levine.
Our Feature film project Manhattan Nocturne took a big step forward thanks to our great team including our new friends at Paradigm and an amazing attached cast. So looking forward to the realization of this film in 2014.
Winning a Telly Award for "CHRISTMAS IN SEABRIGHT" on VH1 was also a real treat this year. But for us, the real reward of 2013 was working simultaneously in areas of Film, TV, Branded Entertainment and Music with such incredibly talented people!
Here’s to all the creative possibilities that 2014 offers us all! We'd love to hear what you have been up to!
Warmest wishes for the New Year,
Brian and Diana
BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL!
We had a blast last night premiering the short film "The Worst Thing I've Ever Done" at the Big Apple Film Festival. Being a New Yorker, it's easy sometimes to not appreciate the New Yorkness around you, but last night I was so proud to be screening at home in the best city in the world. Whether it was the Tribeca Cinema on the corner of Canal and Varick, or that colorful festival crowd all jammed up in the lobby, it was a New York night to remember. Such a thrill to experience the film with an audience so engaged. Nothing like having strangers come up after and say how much they loved it and want to discuss it beyond the Q and A. Shout out to all the team that made the film. So fun to have most you there last night.
TWTIED IN BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL!
The short film I wrote and directed "The Worst Thing I've Ever Done" will screen as part of the Big Apple Film Festival on November 6th at 8pm. It's a suspenseful noir tale of an immigration lawyer (Campbell Scott) who pays the price for bending the rules to help a beautiful Russian woman (Kathleen McElfresh) get her green card. Come join us for the fun!
More info and g et your tickets here
SEA BRIGHT RISING IN CAPE MAY FILM FEST
Our doc short Sea Bright Rising will screen THIS SATURDAY in the Cape May Film Festival. Good to see the neighborly support of this important cause. Proud to be a part of it. More info here.
NYTVF
Today launches New York Television Festival week, and we are psyched to be attending as "Official Artists" (their words, not ours) representing our entries, Family Tree, a semi-finalist for both the History Channel and A&E Networks, and Citizens, a finalist in the NBC Drama Competition. Today Diana was treated to talks with TV vanguard Evan Shapiro, the President of Pivot.TV and cult comedy hero Mitch Hurwitz, creator of Arrested Development. Takeaway from the Industry Sages: "You are what you cannot do." Hmmm... Mull that over, and we'll be back soon with more NYTV updates.
We Won a Telly!
We're thrilled to announce that we have won a Telly Award in the category Social Responsibility for our work on the VH1 special CHRISTMAS IN SEA BRIGHT. After making the short doc, SEA BRIGHT RISING, we returned to Sea Bright, New Jersey to capture the story of Grammy winning band Train visiting the devastated town and performing for the residents and first responders. We created short pieces that ran at the top of every hour on Christmas day on VH1, driving interested supporters to SeaBrightRising.org to help. We really appreciate the partnership with VH1 on this production and are proud to share the award with them and Sean Moran of Viacom who was the initiator behind getting Sea Bright some big on air love at a difficult holiday time.
Nantucket Film Festival
On June 28th our short doc SEA BRIGHT RISING had its festival premiere at the Nantucket Film Festival. Project initiator and Producer Sean Moran, and Cinematographer Chris Scarafile and myself were in attendance as the film kicked off the Environmental Documentary Program. It was a real treat to see the film projected on the big screen with fantastic sound in the venue filled with a very attentive audience. This film continues to help raise awareness and money for the town of Sea Bright New Jersey, which is still recovering from the devastation of Super Storm Sandy. I'm so glad Sean called me up that day and said "Buddy, people need to know what's going on in Sea Bright."
Citizens Finalist at NBC
One of the shows in development here that we are really excited about here is CITIZENS. We were thrilled to learn that it was chosen as a finalist in the NBC Drama Challenge through the New York Television Festival. Whether or not NBC picks up the option, we believe strongly in this show about an immigration law firm in New York and their clients and prospective clients from all over the world desperately in need of their help. As Finalists, Diana and I will attend the NYTVF in October as "Official Artists" and meet with 50 or so TV producers, companies and execs in pitch fest. Can't Wait!
More love from NYTVF
Another TV show in development we are psyched about is TREE GUYS IN BROOKLYN (which was originally titled Family Tree, but then HBO came out with a show with that name, so we changed ours. ) First we were excited to have it be selected as Semi-Finalist at the History Channel through the unscripted pipeline at New York Television Fest, only to be more thrilled to have it be chosen as a Semi Finalist for A&E as well. This is a half hour reality doc show that is character driven in the dangerous and humorous world tree removal in the urban jungle of Brooklyn. We'll enjoy being at the NYTVF in October with this show as well.