A Fan’s “National Treasure” Adventure

Mike McCafferty isn’t the only person I know who was in National Treasure:  Book of Secrets.  I-Man fan and I-Maniac Fan Club member Melissa Cavanaugh was also in the film.  Melissa is a big fan of National Treasure.  It’s one of her favorite movies.  So when she found out that the sequel to the blockbuster hit was being filmed in her area, she wanted to be part of the experience and so she got herself a part as an extra.  Better still, she didn’t get cut! 

Read About Melissa’s Experience as an Extra on NT2

Read Melissa’s Follow-Up Blog

Catch a Glimpse of Melissa in This Short Clip From NT2

Congratulations, Melissa!  Thanks for allowing me to share your experience with my readers.

Two Movies for Mike?

Mike McCaffertyTo get cast in a major motion picture is probably every struggling actor’s dream.  You get to rub elbows with the big guys, you get some screen time, and you get a nice paycheck too.  But what if nobody gets to see you?  What if you’re too far in the background?  What if you get cut?  That would suck, wouldn’t it?  Well, yes, and, unfortunately, this is what happened to Mike McCafferty.

Mike has parts in, not one, but two movies that were just released theatrically last Friday:  Charlie Wilson’s War and National Treasure:  Book of Secrets.  Here’s a little bit about them.

Charlie Wilson’s War

Charlie Wilson’s War stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.  It is based on the true life story of Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson.  Mike’s role in this film was more of a glorified extra.  They wanted actors with improv experience to mix in with the extras at a party.  So if you squint real hard maybe you just might catch a glimpse of Mike at the outdoor party scene…or maybe not.  

National Treasure:  Book of Secrets

National Treasure:  Book of Secrets is the sequel to the blockbuster hit National Treasure.  It stars Nicolas Cage.  This was a bigger role for Mike…a speaking role with his face projected on a huge screen right behind Nicolas Cage.  That would have been cool to see.  But, as fate would have it, he was edited right out of the film.  Perhaps you might catch a glimpse of him in the audience? 

I wish this news was better, but that’s the way things go sometimes in Hollywood.  There are no guarantees.

Better luck next time, Mike.  I’m rooting for you!

“The Invisible Man” DVD Box Art is Now Visible!

Thanks to Ed for alerting me that the box art is now out for the first season Invisible Man DVDs.  Pretty cool.  Take a look!

I-Man Season 2 DVDs

Some of you might recall that I-Man was originally shot in widescreen, but we never got to see that during its two-year run.  Now we will get that opportunity since the DVDs are in widescreen format! 

Also, Amazon.com has the DVDs listed now and you can add it to your wish list if you want or sign up for email updates. 

I can’t wait for March!

BREAKING NEWS: “The Invisible Man” is Coming to DVD!

I-Man fans in the U.S. and Canada have waited for years for the release of The Invisible Man on DVD.  Now, finally, our wait is coming to an end.  I am extremely excited (tickled pink, in fact!) to tell you that Universal Studios has announced the release of season one of I-Man as a five-DVD set!  Mark your calendars for March 25, 2008!  That’s the date when the set will go on sale.  The suggested retail price for the set is $59.98 and it includes some really nice extras:

This news comes from TVShowsOnDVD.com and can be found at http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Invisible-Man-Season-1/8634.  I also want to thank CoolB and Krys for making sure that I saw this very important news item.

Impacts and Action

I want to take off my fan hat for a moment here and put on my business hat because I think it’s important to discuss how this could impact the future of our show.  Some of you may be thinking that if the DVDs sell well, Universal might think about bringing back the show.  It’s rare for that to happen, but it’s not unheard of.  Another possibility, that is also slim but maybe a bit more probable, is that they might give us an I-Man movie.  Yet another possibility, that is more likely, is for the show to be put back into reruns.  Any of the above could happen if the DVD sales are really strong.

So here’s where I encourage you to buy, buy, buy the DVDs.  I know that they are rather pricey and I know that many of you already have copies of season one, whether it may be taped from your VCR, bootlegged, or a foreign copy.  But please buy a set or two or three anyway.  The way you show Universal that you support this show and want to see more of it is by voting with your dollars.  That’s the only language they understand.

There’s yet another reason why it is very important that DVD sales need to be strong:  because we want season two I-Man DVDs.  We’ve never had season two DVDs released anywhere in the world and this is our golden opportunity to get them here. 

Please let’s learn a lesson from the U.K. DVD experience.  To refresh your memory, Contender had released season one with the full intention of releasing season two if season one sold well.  Unfortunately, season one didn’t sell well in the U.K. and season two was never released.  It was a risky business move to begin with since the I-Man audience in the U.K. is quite small, but it was wonderful that they gave it a go.  However, the U.S. probably has one of the largest, if not the largest, audience for the show and we are the ones who really need to make a difference if we want to ever see season two on DVD.  And Canada, we need your help too.

So in light of that, here are a few things you can do:

  1. Buy a copy for yourself.
  2. Buy a copy for other people.  They make great gifts.
  3. Email as many people as you know and tell them about the I-Man DVDs.  Ask them to email as many people as they know and forward your letter to them and so on and so on.
  4. Announce the DVDs on, not just I-Man forums, but entertainment, sci-fi, and other applicable forums.  Please be respectful of any forum rules.
  5. Talk about the DVDs to everyone you meet.  The online fandom is just a very minuscule part of the total I-Man audience and many of those people might not have online access.  Case in point, one of my neighbors flipped when I told her what project I am working on.  She absolutely loves I-Man, but because she doesn’t have online access, she was totally unaware of any movie news or fan club activities.  I can’t wait till the next time I see her and tell her about the DVDs.  She is going to be so excited.   

So there are a few ideas off the top of my head.  If you have any ideas for how to promote the DVDs, feel free to share.  And if you have any cool experiences promoting the DVDs, please feel free to share those too.

And now please excuse me as I take off my business hat, put my fan hat back on and let out a big WOOHOO!!!

Speed and Angels

I love success stories.  I really do.  In a business where you constantly hear how much the odds are stacked against you, it’s encouraging to hear stories about people who have been able to beat those nasty odds.  It’s not by any means easy and the common theme in most of the stories is the need for absolutely unrelenting and tireless perseverance.  The following story illustrates that. 

I was in San Francisco last Friday evening attending a filmmakers/investors meeting.  The very first speaker was a first-time producer who was able to raise 1.5 million for his first film.  Now that’s pretty impressive on its own, but becomes even more impressive when it was revealed that his film was not a narrative but, instead, a documentary.  If you know anything about this business, you know that documentaries are notorious for being money pits.  It’s hard enough for a narrative to make any money, but even rarer for documentaries, so trying to talk an investor into parting with his money for something that has a track record of losing money is quite a feat.  

To add to this already impressive accomplishment, he was able to get theatrical distribution for his documentary.  I’m not sure if it’s getting limited or wide distribution, but it is, nonetheless, going to be shown in theaters. 

So how did he raise the funds?  Well, he found an investor willing to put up a portion of the needed funds.  It wasn’t enough to complete the project, but it was enough to get started on the project.  Documentaries often have the luxury of being able to shoot over a long period of time and, in this case, the story takes place over a period of about two years.  So they started shooting.  And while they were were shooting, the producer continued to look for the rest of the funds they would need to finish the project.  He said that over the course of those two-plus years, he must have gone to 100 to 150 different business meetings.  Remember what I said about perseverance?  This guy has it. 

As they continued shooting, he kept in contact with his initial investor, keeping him up to date on the progress of the project.  In the end, it was that initial investor who ended up bankrolling the entire project.  He believed in the project, wanted to see it completed, and decided to support it fully.

Pretty cool story, eh?  I thought so. 

The name of the documentary is Speed and Angels.  You can check it out at http://www.speedandangels.com/.