Film, Television and the World Wide Web.

This past Monday showbizzle.com, the digital showcase and destination website I created with my daughter Lindsey, finally re-launched.  I knew that mPRm, the Hollywood-based PR firm headed by industry veteran Rachel McCallister, had put together a fairly tight press release being sent out to various bloggers in the ‘trade press’ — many whom chose to ignore my direct attempts to contact them last Fall during our mostly abortive launch, which we ultimately scuttled.  My only hope this time around was that we would be treated fairly and not slammed for being  too Hollywood, too indy, too ambitious, take your pick. What I did not expect to find was this love-letter posted on Cynopsis Digital .

~ WEBSITE OF THE DAY ~

” Father and daughter team Charles and Lindsey Rosin go public with Showbizzle.com today, an intimate little site that documents Lindsey’s efforts to break into the entertainment biz. It’s the home for a breezy twentysomething cinema verite web series about Lindsey and her cohorts’ struggles to break into screenwriting, acting and directing. The show (think Swingers with a feminine point-of-view, a larger cast and a lower budget) looks entertaining and should be required viewing for kids thinking of moving out to LA LA land to chase their dreams of stardom as it delves into the frustrations of being on the outside looking in. But the show is meant to be the sugar coating for the site’s more practical features designed to provide resources to struggling amateur actors and filmmakers. For instance Lindsey’s Dad Charles, a veteran writer/producer whose credits include Northern Exposure and Beverly Hills 90210, will tap friends such as TV director David Semel to provide video primers featuring no nonsense advice about how to position the camera, run a set and direct actors. There’s also a requisite social networking component, encouraging users to form a community and share their stories. Too many of the entertainment-themed web series are nothing more than exercises in celebrity navel gazing. Showbizzle is refreshing in its honesty, its wary-but-not-jaded tone and its genuine desire to help others to succeed.”

Yay for the home team. I immediately forwarded this review via e-mail to our inner-circle. I heard back from almost everyone almost immediately, but my longtime agent did not reply until that evening with under the heading “FYI Let’s Discuss.”

After 35 years as an agent, Elliot Webb has elected to leave ICM to explore other opportunities in entertainment.  He will remain at ICM through August.  Webb began his career at ICM in 1974 and left the agency in 1983, joining Bob Broder and Norman Kurland to form the agency Broder Kurland Webb.  That successful television and feature literary agency, known in 2006 as Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann, was acquired by ICM.   Webb has worked with a very successful group of writers and directors, including Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Anna Hamilton Phelan, Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green, Barry Kemp, and other very talented individuals, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, Garry Trudeau, and Chris Carter, the creator of the enormously successful X-FILES franchise.

Elliot started being my agent in January 1981 and has, in effect, represented my interests ever since.  During that first year, Elliot would invite me to his office at the old ICM building on Beverly Blvd. to discuss my career options — but for most of the hour I would watch this aggressively confident dynamo from the lower east side work the phones, three calls at a time. It was the best show in town. See, unlike today’s crop of agents with their multiple agendas and corporate approach, Elliot constantly put himself on the line for his clients. He seemed to know when to scream, when to cajole, when to ask for a favor — and as an added bonus, when asked he was surprisingly adept at giving script notes. 

We became very good friends in those years. We’d hang out, go to ball games, go to dinner. My wife Karen and I were invited to his first  wedding and his memorable 40th and 50th birthday bashes. In those early ICM years, he and fellow agent Beth Uffner would have these wonderfully low-key swim parties in the Valley for their mostly young clients — Glenn Caron, Josh Brand, John Falsey, Karen Hall — which gave us a sense of fellowship and community that can so often be lacking in Hollywood.  So it wasn’t all that surprising when virtually all of his clients followed Elliot out the door when he opted to leave ICM to join Bob Broder and Norman Kurland in a cramped one room office above the classy restaurant Scandia on the Sunset Strip.

Unlike Mike Ovitz or other “star agents” of that prosperous era, these guys shunned publicity and never put themselves ahead of their client’s best interests. They were considered to be tough and opportunistic, but also honorable and fair. Elliot negotiated a lot of rich deals over the years — and he knows better than anyone else that the terms he carved out on my behalf during my tenure at Beverly Hills, 90210 has given me and my family years of financial security and peace of mind.

But the business changed — and changed again — so by the time ICM brought BWCS under its fold in 2006, my name (and I presume the names of many of his clients) could no longer be found on the Hot Must Have Lists…but by that time Elliot had remarried, started his family, and adapted to the role of being a consigliere to the next generation of agents. He and I had stopped hanging out long before the merger, and after awhile had fewer and fewer career oriented conversations — especially after it became clear to both of us that what passes for ICM’s ‘New Media’ Department had no interest in helping me get showbizzle off the ground.

And now that he’s leaving the big agency to “pursue other options”, I want to wish Elliot all the best and truly thank him for never losing faith in my talent and for encouraging me to “reinvent myself”…which ultimately inspired to find a way to put the show back in the bizzle where it belongs.

Hard to Have Showrunners Without Shows

Once Upon a Time - well, back in the mid 1970’s actually -Lew Wasserman, the legendary chairman of MCA/Universal and widely considered to be the most powerful Hollywood executive of his or any other era, chose Senator John Tunney, a one-term lightweight Democrat from California, to make sure that Congress closes all tax breaks for anyone investing in independently produced movies. So under the guise of closing the proverbial ‘tax loophole for the rich’, an emerging low budget film industry that was beginning to mount a serious challenge to the way the major Hollywood studios do business suddenly vanished into thin air. Poof!30 years later, I bet Mr. Wasserman is smiling down on today’s current crop of Hollywood moguls as they pull the plug on their company’s online ventures, effectively causing the dreams and ambitions of the newbies to go Poof!

Already NBC Universal, Turner, and HBO have all shut down innovative platforms after ridiculously short runs.  And the retreat from digital production only accelerated this spring with 60 Frames, the web studio tied to United Talent Agency, going belly up after blowing through 3.5 mil on 30 series in less than two years.

But it ‘s when I read that Stage 9, Disney’s digital studio, was shutting down its production unit after only airing the first of the 20 original series it produced during its initial launch in February ‘08 that I began to get curious.  I mean, even for a critical snob like me, it’s hard to believe that every one of the other 19 shows that Disney left on the shelf is unwatchable? I mean, even “The Squeegees”, a benign gang comedy built around four window washers that always seemed more  network tryout film then groundbreaking digi stuff (and which the critics sadly trashed), had moments and charm and laughs.

So what gives? Well, at first blush it is fairly obvious. There’s no market for digital entertainment. No brands vying to sponsor new shows. No way for Disney to recoup its investment. Not even close. Blah. Blah. Blah. But given that Disney has bought a stake in Hulu, and that Hulu is considering charging users for premium content, my prediction is Disney will roll out its digital inventory on Hulu with a splashy ad campaign and its own designated channel sometime in the near future…

…unless, of course, all those other Stage 9 shows really do suck - and they might.  I happen to be a big fan of the four man Handsome Donkey comedy troupe behind the unfairly maligned Squeegees,  and knowing how funny, and fresh and inventive their indy videos are (check out Funny or Die), it’s not that tough to envision digital Disney stifling creativity on all levels in the good ‘ol, kiss my ass, “Team Disney” tradition.

But what really stinks is that by keeping those 19 shows on the shelf, the young talent behind the projects can’t generate any buzz to further their careers and ambitions.

That’s why I am happy we got the chance to work with three of our Handsome Donkeys friends - Aaron Greenberg, Brendan Countee, and Adam Countee  - on a very funny three-part sketch they wrote/improvised for showbizzle, the digital showcase and destination website that re-launches Monday, June 22^nd.  Part of showbizzle’s mandate is to spot light emerging talent - and these guys are the real deal and they are worth your time. They’ll be featured @showbizzle.com on the Digital Showcase starting the week of July 6^th. And I’m here to tell you that, even if Stage 9 and Disney won’t.

 

Countdown to Showbizzle: The View from the Bunker

Starting next Monday, selected bloggers, media critics, potential sponsors, assorted friends and active members from what remains of our original social network will be invited to evaluate our new and improved website at showbizzle.com ahead of the pack.A week later, showbizzle goes live and open it up to the pack, who we define as anyone with a computer looking for a little fun. For the next 23 weeks, the pack can watch 30 different actors, performing 141 original monologues, either as a serialized weekly show that averages 15 minutes a pop, or as a series of “single” two minute videos that can be found on our characters’ landing page, about what they are doing to try to jumpstart their careers in Hollywood.

During those first 23 weeks anyone from the pack has the option to become a member of our community — which will give them the chance to actually get $$ to perform original material on our Digital Showcase.

During those 23 weeks chances are I will be where I am right now - in my bunker. Ha. No, seriously, my home office where much of showbizzle was originally hatched has become my bunker. Not that I’m complaining. It’s very nice bunker with a bathroom, and a treadmill, and a comfy couch, and an old TV. And since I often refer to myself as a “refugee from mainstream media” whenever I meet someone new at a digi conference, I think wartime imagery is apt.

See, back in the good old days before anyone thought to call “mainstream media” mainstream media,  back when I was just a show runner running shows, all I had to do was make sure that the show worked, was brought in on a budget, and that my executives felt satisfied or, at least, felt included in the creative process. Hardly a moment was spent thinking about what marketing mavens and the rest of the suits working with a corporate sales team were actually doing to fill their days. But after spending close to 18 months trying to get showbizzle off the ground, I know exactly what they do. They go to war - just like I seem to be doing these days now that I have become a full service “content publisher”.

Unfortunately, the digital entertainment war zone does not appear to adhere to any standards set by the Geneva Convention because torture seems to be permitted. Maybe even encouraged. How do I know this? Well, because I deal with a lot of foot soldiers and a few self-appointed generals, and trust me, all the landmines that existed over on the mainstream - the dashed expectations, the unreturned phone calls, the misrepresentations - take on a whole new dimension once you factor in flakey and attention deficit - not to mention a nasty and indiscriminate economy.

The digital battlefield took on a new casualty this week - Quarterlife, a content based social network built around an original “digital” series created and produced by Marshal Herskovitz of Bedford Falls  (”thirtysomething”) for NBC, sent out a letter to its community asking for donations to keep it afloat. Wonder what Marshall’s bunker looks like over there in Brentwood? Bet it has a flat screen.

Memo To Showrunners:

Yet another Reason to be Nice to Your Assistants

When Brooke, the talented young actress we cast on “South of Nowhere” (07) and showbizzle (08), asked if she could hire her young actress friend Brittany to help us promote our showbizzle college outreach this past winter, my attitude was - how soon can your friend start?

What Brooke and Brit were doing was cold calling university drama departments to let them know that showbizzle, the digital showcase and destination website I co-created with my daughter, Lindsey, was now offering 21 of our best contemporary monologues to be downloaded free of charge from our website for students to use for auditions or scene study class - with the hope that some of the more prestigious programs (BU, USC, Northwestern) would consider becoming ‘partner schools’ once they read that we would be paying their soon-to-graduate acting students real $$ to perform on our soon to be re-launched destination website as part of a national contest.

For six weeks in February and March, Brooke and Brittany would spend a few hours each day in my daughter Lindsey’s upstairs bedroom (for what my Community Manager scornfully called ‘Taco Bell wages’) munching on Subway sandwiches while trying to persuade flakey acting teachers or bitchy administrators that their students would benefit from what we were offering. B&B would then dutifully follow up with a personal e-mail and an attachment from me which explained why I created showbizzle as a digital showcase for emerging artists as an alternative to the always callous and now contracting TV and film industries…as well as a fun and creatively satisfying way for the next generation to keep their dreams and aspirations alive.

Even though it became painfully clear to all of us after a couple of weeks of indifference from the colleges that the bizzle’s good intentions and Brooke and Brittany’s attention to detail would not be rewarded in this lifetime, I didn’t immediately pull the plug because even at “Taco Bell wages” I assumed that these two struggling actresses would need all the support they could get during these fallow times.

My first inkling that Brittany wasn’t struggling quite as much as most of her Hollywood peer group was when she asked if she could take off early for an audition for the new Sandra Bullock movie. I was thrilled that she had somehow wrangled her way into seeing a big time casting director - and assumed she was chasing after a bit part. But then I found out that Brittany, who looks like she’s a spunky 14 year old from the middle of a ‘fly over’ state, recently had a recurring role as the ‘troubled neighbor girl”  on the sexy, provocative (and too short lived) CBS series “Swingtown” that debuted last summer.

And then, while I was putting together a list of pilots for my writing class at UCLA Extension, I saw a description of a show for the CW that starred someone named Brittany Robertson as a teenager who searches out her biological parents so she could become emancipated.  I immediately sent Brittany this e-mail.

Was reading the LA Times today about Lux. Is that you? If so, WAY TO GO! If not, how come someone has your name?

She sent back a sweet reply, copped to the fact that she indeed was the star of the show, and mentioned she was looking forward to finally be getting a chance to see the finished product sometime in early May.

 

Well, according to Deadline Hollywood, it appears Brittany will be too busy to help us with the relaunch of showbizzle this June. Here’s why:

“Parental Discretion Advised”, The lone midseason show The CW has picked up so far has kind of an indie-movie feel to it. It also looks like a fairly sweet and funny story about the fallout when a teenager (Brittany Robertson) seeking emancipation tracks down her birth parents (Shiri Appleby and Kristoffer Polaha), who haven’t been together since the night they conceived her. Robertson is very charming in the lead role.”

Well, of course, Robertson is “charming in the lead role.”  She’s charming in real life - much more South Carolina than Brentwood, much more soulful and instinctual than book smart. That’s why whenever anyone from one of those elitist drama schools (Yale, Brown) would be rude to her, I made a point of following up with a pointed e-mail.  Rejection I could take - but not nasty. And in both cases, to those schools’ credit, they wrote back to apologize.

Brittany originally told Brooke that she wanted to help get the word out about showbizzle because she loves the craft of acting and thought our goal of creating a community of emerging actors and performers away from the immediate pressures of the marketplace was/is worthwhile. Do I hope that Brittany still feels that way about us? Absolutely! How much would we benefit if the star of her own TV show would record a 30 second promo for us, or even perform an original monologue in the character of her choosing - or, better yet, mention to her showrunner that she knows of a wonderful young TV writer named Lindsey Rosin?

But even if Brittany is too busy and distracted to take an active part in our digital project again, I’m proud to be able to say “I knew her when”…and Brooke is still available, isn’t she?