This is going to be the sloppiest, most rushed entry I’ve ever posted, but that’s because I’m so excited about what I just saw, I want to get the information to you sooner vs. later. I can edit after I publish, damnit.
There’s a show we have received several tips about– “The Lot”. We keep hearing about it because it has a desi contestant named Shalini Kantayya:
ON THE LOT, executive-produced by Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg, will give aspiring filmmakers from around the world the chance to earn a $1-million development deal at DreamWorks.
Premiering on May 22 and airing twice a week throughout the summer on FOX, this reality-competition series features a cast of undiscovered filmmakers who will compete to win the support of the show’s viewers, as their fate will be decided by a weekly audience vote…
Every week, the hopeful filmmakers will produce short films from a chosen genre, running the gamut from comedies to thrillers, dramas to romance, action to horror. They’ll have access to the best resources the industry has to offer — professional writers, cast and crew, and maybe even Hollywood celebrities. [link]
I usually don’t get home until about now, so I knew I wouldn’t get to watch it and that’s why I promptly forgot about it– until tonight, when I was channel-surfing because I’m sick and on the couch. Once I heard that of the 15 finalists, five would be featured tonight, I stuck around to see if the brown girl would be in the ring…and she was.
Despite being high on codeine and everything else in my virus-wracked system, I sat up for the first time all day because THIS GIRL IS TALENTED. No wonder they plucked her out of a pool of 12,000 applicants from all over the world.
I’m not typing that because she’s brown– she had the BEST FILM OF THE NIGHT and Michael Bay, the guest judge who directed “Transformers”, agrees with me.
Here’s the thing: there’s but a wee two-hour window in which to vote for true awesomeness (dial 1-88-Thelot-05 or click the next link to show your love online). You can vote as many times as you’d like (handy “Vote” button is highlighted in yellow) AND you can view Shalini’s 3-minute clip yourselves– I think once you do, you’ll be cheering her on as effusively as I am, though you won’t sound like a frog while doing it.
I can’t tell if you’re being facetious or not, so I’ll assume you are, rest assured, the gay twiddle factor has yet to really make a dent. I’ll let you know the next time I hear of someone getting a fabulous telecine process fee reduced.
But film is a crazy world, where image matters a helluva lot more than usual. So, it would stand to reason that attractive women (who, have a leg up in many things in general) would have this effect heightened in this world.
I haven’t heard this story, but I’m sure Night has gone through a lot of sh*t like this, which is why he’s got to hold his ground by being a bit of an asshole. While I think his privileged upbringing contributed to his success A LOT, and his last film was a huge disappointment, I give him respect for the position he’s ascended to and maintained.
I took a screenwriting class at NYU and the prof had Night as a screenwriting student back in the day who told me that he wrote 6 different drafts of “Sixth Sense”. One of those drafts was recently made into “Invisible”.
Whom does a guy have to sleep with to get some respect around here?
Umm. dude, that’s a simple case of process of elimination.
Joinging in kinda late on this thread but global sanskrit, HMF etc –
Ang Lee was supported by his wife till his movies started making money.
Every screenwriter working in Hollywood (non-desi mostly and most don’t taste success till they are well into their 30s if not 40s) has been supported by their wives while they sat at home and wrote till they sold something and started making money. They weren’t sugar mommas, just regular middle class incomes.
In India, a lot of actors, especially from theater were supported by their wives till they started making a regular income acting in the movies like Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal etc.
And for every one of those, there’s an 10 examples of the opposite. See here, I agree this is not indicative of who has it “easier” in a general sense. It’s a qualfied statement that I’m making here, but in the arena of taking financial risks, the cream clearly falls on the female, especially in a desi context.
But I must partially retract my statements in #195, according to Shalini’s bio, she calls herself a “tech head”, of course this could very well mean “girl tech-head” where finding the power button on an iMac puts you well above average. but if she knows the difference between I,B,P frames and compression vs chapter markers. We might have something here.