Missing: one (1) movie website creator. Please return to this address: 'scoop@corona.net'. Reward.
If you've been wondering why there hasn't been an update to CA for a week, there's actually a couple of good reasons such as: recovering from food poisoning, flying down to L.A. and having a photoshoot taken (while recovering from said poisoning -- which really cuts down on your room service bill, lemme tell you), and getting the chance to meet some of you who've been scooping me from your production bungalows, offices and executive suites. Needless to say, life's been pretty interesting this past week.
The fantastic crew at Vanity Fair selected me, Sean Jordan (ZENtertainment), Harry Knowles (Ain't it Cool) and the two co-creators of online movie review guru Mr. Cranky (who's names I'm holding back because they're targeted for death by a cyborg ninja death squad, of all things) for their upcoming ultra-cool Hollywood issue. I flew down last weekend, met the aforementioned players and we did the deed. The location of the shoot was kept under complete secrecy to prevent Garth Franklin (creator of Dark Horizons), our movie friend down under, from putting out a hit and thereby becoming the world's #1 source of insider news.
Thank yous should be said to the VF team: Sam Jones, for making us look good and keeping it a fun shoot (Sam, my man, just remember -- go with the first batch, 'k?); Daniel, Jacob and the rest of the L.A. team for making us look good before we had to go prove it to the lens; Emily, a very cool up-and-coming actress (attention casting agents: check out Puppet Master 6 this spring and then tell me she shouldn't be somewhere in Scream 3); and Morgan, Riza, and the VF troop in N.Y.C. for coordinating it all and setting me up at the Mondrian. It was coolness in extreme being a part of it.
After the gig I had the chance to meet up with some of you who've been sending me info from the city of Angels. While I won't name names since most prefer anonymity, I'd like to thank them for taking time out to say hi and talk shop. If there's one thing I've seen from my experiences running CA these past three years it's that the vast majority of Hollywood players are pretty passionate about what they are doing. From the FX guy chained to his SGI station working overtime to make the deadline to the studio suit who's trying to see this project through to the end, they may exist on different levels but they're in the same boat together. Anyway, to those 'mysterious' people -- thanks.
Now, there's one thing I'd like to ask the rest of you out there in Hollywoodland, and I think after this last trip it's a good enough time to do so. For the past three years I've had fantastic scoop feedback from all levels operating within the entertainment machine but now I feel the need to start asking for more.
First, the paragraph for those who'd contribute unofficially: I'm looking for scripts galore. I took a stack away from last weekend, and if it's showed me anything, there's hundreds of projects waiting to be made into movies. You're an agent who's client just sold the latest hot thing?? Then why doesn't it have a page on CA, huh? You've got stills of your company's summer blockbuster in their latest press release? We can scan it in now. A cool prop from the flick isn't needed anymore? I'll snap a picture of it and get it online so the filmgoers in Botswana can scope it out too. And you've got all three teaser posters from your latest creation?? Then why not show the rest of the world who reads CA them and get them as excited about seeing it as the people sitting around the office? All this kind of flies in the face of what I was raised to be -- it's impolite to ask. But someone sent me Deep Impact, and it's now on my list of the Top Ten films I want to see this year. How I'd love to say that about some other projects, but that's just not the case. I'm willing to get the info up...but it's up to you guys an' gals to send all this cool swag via snail mail to me.
Now, the studio brass, you're next. Y'know what happened this weekend that was very cool indeed? I met some of the people involved with New Line Cinema's Lost In Space film (April 3, coming soon as they say) and I'm all set to be saddled with a ton of images and info about the project, including some for their upcoming February release Dark City. Why? 'cause New Line's savvy enough to realize that 100,000 people a day just might be interested in taking a gander at what the new Jupiter 2 looks like. And they're not just doing that with me, but with other online sites like ZEN. And aside from Paramount (which gave us permission to use images from their pictures), no one else has bothered to return my calls, answer the letters I sent via snail mail or email, or generally recognize that I just may be interested in scanning in these pictures and sharing them with the other 99,999 people who walk through here each and every day. Like I said to the other group up top, I felt I may be stepping on your toes before. But if online news reporting is just too small for you -- hey, that's ok. New Line's got a load of new films in their pipeline, and my new fancy scanner is just starting to get all revved up.
Now, let me point out this should be taken as anything else than what it is: a suggestion. I love the movies. I'd love to get more info about these movies up for people to see and get excited about. That's why there's some groovy stuff for the cool independent film pages like Daybreak, Mothership, The Boy From Mercury, Starf*cker and the soon-to-be pages for Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, Phantasm 4 -- because those people sent me their info. As novelist Neal Stephenson said in his book Snow Crash (of course, do I have the movie script of it?! No, of course not) "Information wants to be free."
So enough with the plea. If you want to beat that other agent in town to the punch, here's where to send it:
I've got close to two G's worth of new email to pour through. I'll be posting scoops on and off for the next week, trying to get it all sorted out. Keep checking in every couple of days; I'll be doing my damndest to get it all up. Just hang in there 'cuz on top of all of this I've got to earn my paycheck at the day job too, which is now going towards saving up to get my hands on one of those swanky digital cameras. Of course, I'd gladly exchange banner space for one...or a zip drive...or a Jeep Forerunner...
Patrick Sauriol
Creator, Chief Content Writer & Director
Coming Attractions
...who, unfortunately, never made eye contact with Liv Tyler at my hotel while in L.A. C'est la vie.
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