Mike in “Operation Cupcake”!

Heads up, everyone!  Mike McCafferty will be starring in the upcoming Hallmark Channel movie Operation Cupcake!  It premieres this coming Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

We all know that Mike has a heart of gold, but here he’ll get to play the bad guy.

The movie also stars Dean Cain, Kristy Swanson, and Donna Pescow.

If you miss it, don’t fret.  Operation Cupcake will have an encore at 10:00 p.m. as well as a few other times.  Just check the new event calendar right here on Shoom Zone for the times; and don’t forget to factor in your own time zone because I’m on Pacific Time here in California.

Be sure to check out the preview video on the Operation Cupcake website page to catch a sneak peak of Mike in action.  This looks like it’s going to be a fun movie!

 

Paul Ben-Victor Interview By Aaron Stipkovich

Paul Ben-Victor’s friend, Aaron Stipkovich, sat down and talked to Paul recently about his film Should’ve Been Romeo.  It’s a wonderful interview and in it Aaron sings Paul’s praises about what a great guy he is.  For those of you who have ever met Paul, you’ll wholeheartedly agree.  The interview is about 30 minutes long and you can watch it below.  You can also read the accompanying article on And Magazine.


 

“Should’ve Been Romeo” is Premiering This Weekend!

Hey, folks, many of you have already heard the news, but for those of you who haven’t yet, I’m excited to tell you that Paul Ben-Victor’s film Should’ve Been Romeo is having its world premiere this Saturday, April 28, 2012, at the Newport Beach Film Festival!  I remember Paul talking about this movie back when The Invisible Man was airing and it is wonderful to finally get to see his dream for this project fulfilled!  And if seeing Paul act isn’t enough, Vince also has a small part in it!

So if you are in the LA area or are going to be this weekend, please take note.  The show starts at 8:00 p.m. at the Regency Lido Theatre, 3459 Via Lido, Newport Beach, CA.  There will be a party after the screening for an additional cost.

Click here to purchase tickets

Official Should’ve Been Romeo Website

 


“Bad Actress”

Bad Actress is one of Vincent Ventresca’s latest films!  If you don’t recognize the name, that’s because it has changed.  You might remember it under its previous name 818.  I blogged about it here a while ago.

Check out the trailer…

Now we all get a chance to see Vince in Bad Actress!

If you’re fortunate enough to be in the Los Angeles area, you can watch it at a special screening Wednesday, April 25, 2012, at Laemmle’s Noho 7 in North Hollywood at 7:30 p.m.  And your ticket will get you into the after party at J.E.T. Studios!

Click here to purchase tickets

If you’re not in the LA area, don’t fret.  You can still watch the movie!  Here’s how:

Official Bad Actress Website


Filming in San Francisco

Back in July I had the priviledge of listening to a presentation by Susannah Greason Robbins, the Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Commission.  The presentation was hosted by Renaissance SF, a group I belong to that is working to promote the arts in San Francisco.

In her speech Susannah talked about the state of filmmaking in San Francisco, the rebate program, and other perks and programs for filmmakers. Thankfully, her presentation was filmed, giving you the opportunity to listen to it if you are interested.  Her speech was split into two videos, which I’ve imbedded below.  Each video is about 30 minutes long.  (You can hear my voice briefly in the question and answer session near the end.)

It’s serendipitious for our feature film that I have set the story in San Francisco because, not only is it a beautiful city and conveniently close to where I am located, but, also, because San Francisco is one of only two cities in the state of California that has a rebate program for filmmakers.  If I get lucky enough to score the State’s rebate also, it could be a double win…and all without having to leave the state to get a tax rebate.

News From Julie Ben-Victor

Paul and Julie Ben-Victor

Paul Ben-Victor’s wife, Julie, has given us a heads up about a couple of projects. Here’s what she has to say:

Hey Everyone!  It’s a great week for the BV’!  Sunday is the Season Finale of In Plain Sight where I have one cute little line, and my hubbie tries his hardest to save the day…once again! Check it out on USA Network at 10 PST.  Also Should’ve Been Romeo is finally a locked picture…where I play Dr Wonder and Paul plays a grouchy actor (stretch I know…).  Starring my hubbie, Carol Kane, Ed Asner, and lots and lots of other great talent!  Stay tuned for more info on that!

So please show your support for this fantastic couple and tune in tomorrow to In Plain Sight on USA!  I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for Should’ve Been Romeo!

 

 

Here We Go With Another Contest!

What?  So soon?  Yes, and this one was completely unplanned because I’m not the one holding the contest.  Instead, I’m entering in it as a contestant!  I’ve got to tell you that I don’t enter a lot of contests because they are usually just games of chance—you put your name in and you hope they draw it.  But this contest caught my attention because it actually requires some effort and talent.

The contest is being put on by Dockers (owned by Levi Strauss & Co.) and it’s called the Wear the Pants Project.  Basically, it works like this:  Contestants compete for a prize of $100,000 to “finally do what you love.”  In 400 characters or less each contestant must enter their plan.  Then people vote for the plans.  The top 50 vote getters proceed to Round Two where they will be required to submit an essay and a combination of pictures and/or a picture and a video about their plan.  From the submissions judges will choose their top five.  Finally, people will get to vote on those top five.  The contestant with the most votes wins!  Here’s a video from Dockers explaining it:

Now, as most of you already know, my plan, my goal, my dream, is to see the cast of The Invisible Man together again in a sci-fi feature film.  No, it won’t be a movie based on the show.  I had an entertainment attorney approach NBC/Universal and, unfortunately, I couldn’t get the rights to I-Man.  But Vince and Paul both suggested to me that I pursue a film that has an original story…something where rights won’t be a problem.  The cool thing about going this route is that if you love it and want to see more, there won’t be a big studio ignoring us or telling us no.  How awesome would that be?  So, I’ve been working on this sci-fi movie project for several years now.  It’s been a steep learning curve and there have been the typical ups and downs, starts and stops that accompany a project of this sort; but I’ve never given up on this dream and I don’t plan to.  You don’t make it in the film industry if you’re the kind that gives up easily and, believe me, I can hang on like a bulldog!

Right now we’re on story number three and I really think this is the one.  We are getting very close to having a finished treatment that I can show the cast; and if they like it, I’ll be able to have my writer start the script.  Once that happens, I’ll be able to start writing the business plan.  But there’s an obstacle here and that’s money.  So far, everything has come out of my own pocket.  I estimate that I’ve spent over $15,000 up to this point on the project.  That’s a sizable amount of money for me.  I’m not a rich woman.  But nobody can accuse me of not having skin in the game.  I’m prepared to spend more, however, the last six months have left me broke.  I got hit with a lot of unexpected expenses like vet bills (when my cat got sick and died), auto repair bills (when a tire blew out and I had to replace all of them), higher than expected contest costs, and the cost of having to replace a dying computer.  It’s going to take me several months to dig myself out of this financial hole, which means that the next steps of the project may have to be pushed back until I can save up the money to pay for it, because right now I have no money to pay my writer or story analyst.

I have considered trying a crowdfunding campaign like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo where some filmmakers have successfully raised money to fund their projects, but I really like the idea of trying this contest first because it doesn’t cost anyone anything…just a few minutes of your time every day to vote and help spread the word. 

Winning $100k would be a huge boost to this project and would definitely speed things up.  I would have enough money to finish development, pay for fundraising and some marketing expenses, and probably get through most, if not all, of pre-production.  In addition, the possibility of getting publicity for the project from a company as large as Dockers would be a huge plus and could be quite attractive to investors.  It makes my head spin just thinking about how big this project could possibly get. 

I think the rewards definitely make going for this worth our while.

So here’s where I need your help.  I’m talking to everyone I know or even personally don’t know.  That means friends, family members, co-workers, fellow fans, readers of my blog, fellow filmmaking colleagues.  Everyone!  I need as many people as possible to help me out here by voting for my plan.  This is a rallying call! 

The contest started a couple of weeks ago, so we’re getting a late start.  Round One of the contest ends on March 15, so we have only one month to get ahead of the competition!  I’ve been checking out the competition and many are just putting up their entry blurb and that’s it.  Not much effort on their part and, not surprisingly, they’re not getting many votes.  However, it’s the few movers and shakers in the group that are our real competition.  I don’t know who the high scorers are yet and Dockers is supposed to be announcing it some time in the near future, but I have seen one contestant with over 600 votes already!  We have some catching up to do!  Personally, I would love to see us just blow everyone out of the water with our votes and really make the judges at Dockers take notice of us.  Do you feel the same way? 

If you do and want to help, here’s what you can do:

  • Go to  http://apps.facebook.com/dockerswearthepants/entries/14621 and click the VOTE FOR THIS PLAN button on my entry page.  You’ll have to sign up for Facebook if you are not already a subscriber and you’ll need to accept the Dockers app.  Anybody who knows me knows that I usually don’t accept apps.  But I do make a rare exception if they are from a legitimate company and they are necessary, which this is.  For those concerned, Dockers has stated that “Facebook requires that we confirm all users when it comes to building out contest applications like ours.  We’re gathering the least amount of info possible from our users and will not be accessing anyones Facebook account.” 
  • Next, please either bookmark my entry page or place a direct link to it on your desktop.  You’ll want to make it easy for you to access the page every day for the next month and vote.  You’re allowed one vote per day and it only takes a few seconds to do it, but it means so much to this competition!
  • Finally, please spread the word among everyone you know (family, friends, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, etc.) and ask them to vote daily and spread the word too.  The more, the better!  We need as many participants as possible!  There are Facebook share and Tweet buttons on my entry page.  Please use them!

That’s it!  Not terribly hard or time consuming and it doesn’t cost you a penny!

I’ll be sending out regular updates, both here on my blog and on Facebook, about the contest as it progresses.  As of this writing, I have only 17 votes, so we have a lot of catching up to do!  If you want to vote, please click on the following link.  Sometimes the app can be a little glitchy.  If that happens to you, please try again later.  And thank you for your support!

Vote for Amanda Rogers’ Plan!

Vincent in “818”

Florida fans, you’ll want to pay extra special attention to this post because you have the opportunity to be the first ones to see Vincent Ventresca’s new film 818818 will be premiering at the Miami International Film Festival on Sunday, March 6, at 9:15 p.m., and on Monday, March 7, at 10:00 p.m.

Vince plays the role of Morris Pillage in this dark comedy, described as follows from IMDb:

Alyssa Rampart-Pillage once ruled Prime Time television as the star of the hit medical drama “HMO Nurse.” But now the only work she can get is doing commercials for her husband Bernie’s appliance chain in the Valley. When Bernie has a spiritual awakening, he starts giving their family fortune to charity. Alyssa will have none of this, but there’s no reasoning with Bernie. So she kills him. Once their kids figure out Mom killed Dad, they make a vow: to stop at nothing until they bring their mother to justice. But what they don’t anticipate is that in the eyes of justice, Alyssa is still a celebrity. ‘(818)’ is about Family, Fame and the pursuit of Celebrity Justice.

To order tickets for the screening go to the Miami International Film Festival’s website.

While there isn’t anything up yet but a front page, here’s the 818 official website.

And, of course, you’ll want to head over to Facebook and watch the trailer.