Category Archives: Blog

A Blast From the Past With SCI FI Weekly

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I recently came across an old interview that Vincent Ventresca did for SCI FI Weekly, which is a section of scifi.com.  The interview is called “Now You See Vincent Ventresca, Now You Don’t.”  In it, Vince talks about his new (at the time) role on The Invisible Man. 

In addition, included in the interview is a link to a review of The Invisible Man by Patrick Lee of SCI FI Weekly.

It was fun to read these articles again.  Many websites and online articles for The Invisible Man have disappeared over the years, so it’s great to see that some material is still around for us to enjoy. 

Do Lower Ratings Equal Greater Profits?

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So I received a phone call the other night from a young woman doing an opinion poll for the Dove Foundation.  Never heard of it.  And why am I receiving this call when I’m on the National Do Not Call Registry?  Oh, they’re a non-profit organization and thus excempt. 

Now, usually, I try to get off the phone as quickly as possible with telemarketers, which is why I joined the Do Not Call Registry in the first place.  Duh.  But then I heard words such as “Hollywood” and “movies” coming out of my phone.  Okay, now that caught my interest.  So I endured listening to questions that were obviously scripted, read in a monotone voice, and sounded as if they had been repeated hundreds of times…they probably had been.  (Maybe if they gave telemarketers acting or public speaking lessons, it wouldn’t be so painful to listen to them drone on.) 

Anyway, I was asked questions such as:  Do you believe that offensive material in TV, Movies and the Internet is on the rise?  Do you want to see more wholesome family entertainment made?  And others along the same vein of thought.  I answered her questions, and asked a couple of my own.  Her explanation seemed to imply that they were creating a new way of distributing family-friendly movies directly to the customer and bypassing the traditional Hollywood distribution system.  Huh?  Non-profit?  That didn’t add up. 

In order to learn more I had to agree to have another person call me back with more info.  Well, I guess they haven’t trained their telemarketers on what to do when they call someone who is trying to make films themselves, because she quickly hung up on me when she found out. 

Still curious about this group, I did a quick search and found their website. Turns out that the Dove Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “encourage and promote the creation, production, distribution and consumption of wholesome family enterainment.”  They plan to let Hollywood filmmakers know the desires of the public by presenting their findings to studio heads, as well as the media, with the hope of influencing Hollywood to clean up its act.  So I’m not sure what that young woman was talking about because there is nothing on their website (that I could find) about a new distribution system. 

What was really interesting, though, was their Profitability Study of MPAA-Rated Movies.  According to their study, “during the last four years, the average G-rated movie was 11 times more profitable than an R-rated movie.”  They also claim that G-rated films “produced an average rate of return on investment (ROI) three times greater than R-rated films.”

This raised the question, how do they calculate ROI when many costs incurred in making a movie are usually not disclosed by studios?  According to the report, this was done by subtracting negative costs, P&A (prints and advertising), and video manufacturing costs from worldwide box office, TV, and video gross revenue.  While using this method doesn’t give us the actual profit, it does give us a relative assessment of a film’s ROI, which is viable because the same formula is applied equally across-the-board to all the films. 

Now, I’m not going to go into moral issues or artistic/creative reasons that may or may not influence the content of a film and thus its rating.  I do have a personal opinion on this subject and if I’m fortunate enough to be able to make a career out of producing films, my viewpoint will become apparent in the types of films I choose to do.  But considering this from a strictly business perspective, the study makes some good points. 

Just because G-rated movies tend to be more profitable doesn’t mean that audiences are looking for an endless bombardment of kiddie flicks.  However, according to the study, just lowering an R-rating to a PG-13 or a PG-13 to a PG can increase the audience and thus the potential profitability of a movie.

Whether the findings of the Dove Foundation have any impact on what we see at theaters remains to be seen.  Hollywood, with its deep pockets, can get away with producing fare that doesn’t always make a profit; but independent filmmakers rarely have that luxury.  A producer who hopes to make a living from making films and an investor who hopes to see a return on his/her investment should give serious thought to whether the project being developed/backed is reaching as big an audience as possible.

Mike McCafferty in a Dodge Nitro Commercial

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Are you one of those people who mute the TV during commercials?  Or maybe you run to the kitchen for a snack?  Well, maybe you’ll want to stick around and try watching commercials now because you might catch a glimpse of Mike McCafferty in a commercial for the Dodge Nitro. 

Mike gets blown “up.”  But don’t worry.  No Mike McCaffertys have been harmed in the making of this commercial.

If you don’t want to wait and would prefer to watch it now, head on over and watch it on YouTube. 

To Boldly Film Where No One Has Filmed Before

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Mike McCafferty in Star Trek Parody

Here’s a fun little no-budget short that Mike McCafferty and company shot recently called Fry’s Trek.  It’s a Star Trek parody filmed at a sci-fi themed Fry’s in the LA area.  (Why can’t we have themed Fry’s in the Bay Area?)  It’s been getting quite a bit of attention over at YouTube with over 20,000 hits to date.  Even Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek:The Next Generation and had a guest role on The Invisible Man, linked to the video on his blog.

As usual, Mike nails the role of Captain Kirk.  And do you recognize the character of Matt Fry?  Yep, that’s Jason Makiaris, who had a guest role on The Invisible Man as Dr. Murav. 

It’s fun to watch these guys try to keep in character even as they are being kicked out by security.  Ah, the joys of guerrilla filmmaking. 

Fry’s Trek

The Ovations Are Starting to Roll In for “Death of a Salesman”

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An email just popped into my inbox from Eddie Jones.  Eddie has asked me to share the first review of Death of a Salesman with all of you.  It’s a great review.  If there is any way you can make it to one of his performances, I highly recommend that you go. 

Eddie Jones Shines in the Timeless Drama: Death of a Salesman
By Padma Sahgal

Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” brings back to the Westside theater, the angst, the desperation, the tragedy, and the hope in the life of Willy Loman. This is a powerful production – bound to make audiences stop and think – just as it did in 1949, when it first premiered on Broadway – about the proverbial American Dream and take stock of their own hopes and aspirations.

The test of a true classic, this story of a day in the life of an aging salesman is timeless, it’s about Everyman, anywhere on this planet.  Set in the middle of the last century, Loman returns home to Brooklyn after a failed business trip. He is sixty-one years old, desperate to make sense of his life. He has been taken off salary and put on straight commission. He is unable to support his loyal, suffering wife, or explain to his two grown sons why things went so wrong. He wants so much to help them to make a success of their own lives. He agonizes over whether he brought them up the right way. Set as foils to his failings, are his brother Ben, who reaped a fortune in the diamond mines in Africa, and Bernard, his neighbor’s son, who has become an attorney, while his sons – Bernard’s contemporaries, are still trying to find themselves.

Eddie Jones is a powerful Willy Loman. His portrayal is moving as he slips in and out of reality, with flashbacks and shares the ramblings of his mind. He has that rare rapport with his audience – only great actors are cabable of. It is obvious he comes from a rich and accomplished career that encompasses Broadway, film and television. Most recently he was seen as Marty Goldberg in the independent film, “Fighting Tommy Riley”.

Anne Gee Byrd is utterly natural as Linda, forever trying to cover up for her husband’s shortcomings, especially in the powerful monologue in which she defends Willy.

Aaron McPherson as Happy, Ivan Baccarat as Biff and Jeremy Shouldis as Bernard are altogether believable, each turning in a fine performance.  The award-winning director of the play, Bob Collins, has made the most of the intimate atmosphere of the Odyssey Theatre. The small stage seems to be the perfect setting for the “kitchen sink” drama. The audience becomes part of the very lives of the protagonists as they struggle to make sense of their existence. The past and the present time as it juxtaposes between scenes is masterfully executed.

The relevance of the play in today’s context is aptly summed up in Collins’ note to the audience, “We are all living under great myths. The Enron scandal is just one illustration of this. Like all great art, “Death of a Salesman” remains fresh because it stirs the humanity in all of us, and, as in all great art, its truths cannot go out of fashion”.

“Death of a Salesman” has a limited engagement at the Odyssey Theatre, located at 2055 South Sepulveda Blvd., through Dec. 15. Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m. For ticket information call 310-477-2055.