Category Archives: Vincent Ventresca

Two Weeks to Go!

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Can you believe there are only two weeks left of voting for Round 1 of this competition?  Yikes!  So how are we doing?  Well, in one week we went from 40 people voting and 95 votes to 111 people voting and 341 votes!  We more than doubled the number of voters we have and we more than tripled the number of votes!  Way to go!

But the big question is, how are we stacking up against the competition?  Last week I found 33 entries with more votes than we have.  We plowed right past about a dozen or so entries that seemed to have started out pretty strong, but then fizzled out.  And we are getting very close to passing by four more.  But then I found a few more entries that were in front of us.  So as of today, there are 25 entries that I know of with more votes than us.  While it is very encouraging that we appear to be moving up, please keep in mind that I haven’t seen all the entries and have no idea how many that I haven’t seen have more votes than us.  Also, I’ve found at least three entries that started after us and have passed us by.  So we need to keep voting every single day and we need to keep finding more voters! 

To see how we stack up against the top players, here’s how the top ten entries (that I know of) are doing:

  • 3,235 votes, 706 voters
  • 1,334 votes, 299 voters
  • 1,283 votes, 156 voters
  • 1,025 votes, 269 voters
  • 958 votes, 145 voters
  • 898 votes, 111 voters
  • 895 votes, 196 voters
  • 863 votes, 181 voters
  • 722 votes, 96 voters
  • 721 votes, 151 voters

So please don’t get complacent!  We’ve got a ways to go yet!  We need every vote!

Joyce, our I-Maniac fan club president, is currently moving the fan club mailing list to a more reliable program.  So if you get an email from her, be sure you opt in.  She’ll be sending out an announcement about this contest as folks opt in.  Some of the email addresses no longer work, so if you have contact with an I-Maniac that may not be aware of this contest, please lend a hand and let them know about it.

I attended a United Filmmakers Association mixer over a week ago and was able to get a free copy of the Reel Directory, which is the Northern California version of the Hollywood Creative Directory.  Basically, it’s a directory of services and everyone in the business from audio post facilities to production equipment to stunt equipment rentals to traffic and crowd control services…virtually everything you could possibly think of and would need to make a movie.  I’ve used it to start calling around to studios and getting rental rates for the video we’re shooting.  My director is prepping for another shoot right now, but we’ll be meeting again on Friday.  I’m happy to say that my financing came through, so this video is officially green lit!

I’m also starting to get quotes from artists and will be commissioning some custom artwork as part of my submission.  Exciting stuff!

The contest requires that if I use any third party’s name, I must have a signed release from them.  This weekend, I got emails from Paul Ben-Victor, Eddie Jones, and Mike McCafferty and I talked on the phone to Vincent Ventresca on Sunday.  All these wonderful guys are very willing to sign a release so that I can use their names when entering my submissions into the contest!  Vince is contacting Shannon for me and I’m still waiting to hear from her.  Do you realize how lucky we are to have such a supportive cast?  I can’t think of another cast that would do what these guys do.    

There is still so much to do and it’s going to get crazy.  Please don’t mind me if you see me wearing a straight jacket in the near future!

Vincent in “818”

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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 818!  818 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.

Vince and Paul on “Las Vegas” Tomorrow

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If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Vincent Ventresca and Paul Ben-Victor in the Las Vegas episode “Pros and Cons,” you’re in for a treat tomorrow.  This is the episode that Greg Yaitanes directed.  When Greg read the script and saw that it called for two lifelong buddies, he immediately thought of Vince and Paul.  And, of course, Vince and Paul nailed it and really impressed the producer, among others.  This episode really shows off that great chemistry and fun that we know and love so much from The Invisible Man.

In reviewing the season one DVD of Las Vegas this is what DVD Talk had to say about the episode.

A particularly great guest appearance comes in the episode “Pros and Cons” where Vincent Ventresca and Paul Ben-Victor are reunited in a hilarious turn as lifelong buddies who return to the Montecito once a year in a special tradition. It’s one of my favorite parts of the entire series, and it is so great to see them together once again.

Vince and Paul play Elliot and Michael, two whales with an unquenchable thirst for gambling.  TNT will be airing the episode tomorrow.  There are two airings here on the west coast:  one at 9:00 a.m. and the other at 12:00 p.m.  But be sure to check the listings for your area as they may vary from mine; and don’t forget to set your DVRs.

Thanks to Ed for giving us a heads up about this!

Character #5 (Results)

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The voting has now come to a close for Character #5. I’m pleased to announce that the name that got the most votes for this character is Ethan!

Congratulations go to the winner, Carol Ward, for getting the most votes!  Carol not only named this character, but her own name will appear in the movie credits!

Character #5 (Voting Period)

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Now starts the Voting Period for Character #5!  The Judges discussed the pros and cons of each name and then voted on them.  Names were chosen by majority rule, which meant that a minimum of three votes were needed to move the names to the Voting Round.  In this round both names received three votes.  One of the names was submitted twice by two different people, but the rules say that the first person to submit a name gets the credit.  Congratulations to the two finalists who made it to this round! 

Now the naming of this character rests with all of you. It’s out of the Judges’ hands. It’s your decision.  Please take a minute to vote and show your support.  This is your last chance to vote for a character’s name!

Some reminders:

  • Be sure you are logged on to this Blog.
  • Each person gets only one vote, including the contestants who entered the contest and the finalists.
  • Enter your vote in the comments section (below) of this Blog post.
  • You have one week to enter your vote. The comments will be closed Monday, January 10, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. PT.
  • This is a popularity contest. The most popular name wins! So finalists are free to campaign if they wish.

In this round we are also including the current name of the character, Elliot, for you to vote on.  Both of the other names also start with the letter “E,” so it’s a battle of the “E” names!  Do you like the character’s current name or do you prefer one of the finalists’ character names?   You can only vote for one of them!

Elliot
Eric
Ethan

 

Character #5 (Judging Period)

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The Submission Period for Character #5 has now come to a close. I’ve closed the comments on the thread so no further names will be accepted. We again beat the number of submissions we had for our previous character with a humongous 174 submissions for this round! There was some serious competition going on here!

For the next week the judges will deliberate and choose our favorites. The finalists will be notified by email that one or more of their entries made it into the final round. If you don’t receive an email from me, your entry was not chosen. I will post the names on the Blog next Monday where everyone will get a chance to vote for their favorite!

“Should’ve Been Romeo” in Post Production

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I’ve been so busy with getting the NAME THE MOVIE CHARACTERS CONTEST under way that I really haven’t been telling you much about another cool project in the works. That project is Paul Ben-Victor’s Should’ve Been Romeo!  Should’ve Been Romeo wrapped shooting a few months ago, which means that it is now in post-production.  According to IMDb, it is scheduled to be released on April 7, 2011!

Originally, I thought that Eddie Jones was going to be in this movie because he participated in the reading but, unfortunately, his name does not appear in the credits.  However, there is another I-Man alum whose name does appear in the credits and that is Vincent Ventresca!  He plays the role of Actor #1.

Check out the second from the last name on this cast list.

Look at the third row of cast photos.  Doesn’t the seventh picture from the left look familiar?

More Should’ve Been Romeo news coming in the future!

Character #5 (Submission Period)

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The NAME THE MOVIE CHARACTERS CONTEST continues!  This post starts the Fifth Round, which is where you get to submit names for the last character in this contest.

A few reminders:

  • Be sure you are logged on to this Blog.
  • You will enter your submissions for this character only in the comments section of this Blog post below.
  • Remember, only one name per comment. But you can submit as many names as you wish.
  • Don’t forget to fill out the Entry Form if you haven’t already done so.
  • You will have one week to enter your submissions. The comments will be closed Monday, December 27, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. PT.
  • Please keep in mind that you need to follow all the rules to avoid the risk of being disqualified, so be sure you read and understand the Rules and the Terms & Conditions before entering this contest.

Character #5

The next name we need is for a character anticipated to be played by the handsome and talented Vincent Ventresca.  For this character we are looking for only a first name.  We do already have a name picked out that I’m going to submit for voters to decide upon.  I’ve posted it as the first comment below.  Can you come up with a better name?  

Here’s a short character description:

He’s a parolee who is trying to get over his troubled past.  Ironically, he works for a San Francisco security company where he gets to use the same skills that gave him the reputation as one of, if not, the best safecracker and lock expert in the country.  When a rescue mission goes sour, he accidently discovers an unusual power buried deep within him.