I really liked the movie and I liked the people behind the movie even more. I really wish the PR folks had approved my photog’s press pass. Unfortunately I had to interview and shoot video at the same time, and sadly, I did not excel at this. See my Blair Witch style Red Carpet videos, below!

Weather Girl stars Tricia O’Kelley (The New Adventures of Old Christine) as a professional weather girl who finds out her anchor and boyfriend played by Mark Harmon, (NCIS) is cheating with his co-anchor. She has a melt down on TV and loses her relationship, career and home in one fell swoop. She then has to move in with her younger brother. (For some strange reason I really relate to this storyline, ha ha.) If you live in LA, go see the film! It will be playing at the Laemmle Sunset 5 beginning July 10th.

I got to talk with the stars as well as the film’s director and writer, Blayne Weaver. My favorite interview? Jane Lynch (Best in Show.) Jane played the lesbian dog trainer in one of my all time favorite films, Best of Show. She is unquestionably one of the best female comics around.

“Blayne isn’t a name, it’s an appliance,”
Jon Cryer as “Duckie”, Pretty in Pink 1986

This week I had the pleasure of talking to Blayne Weaver, the director and writer of Weather Girl, a film that is due out later today. The premise is a weather girl finds out that her boyfriend is cheating with a co-worker, and decides to air their dirty laundry on live TV, resulting in the loss of her relationship, home and career. The release timing is right on–in this economy, I’m sure a lot of people will relate to the story.

Blayne originally moved to LA when he was 19 and attended UCLA. He started out as an actor, and like many other successful writers, started writing to create work for himself. Today, he has a company called Secret Identity Productions, that he runs with Brandon Barrerra. The two guys are childhood friends from Louisiana, and have done a few projects together, including their first film, Outside Sales, which resulted in them selling their house to finance the project. He told me he ended up waiting tables at The Village Idiot for the next two years, and still recommends it as a great hang out.

I ask about the company name and I get a funny story about one of their initial projects, where they both had to dress in tights the whole time. Blayne also adds that he was a fat kid and that the cool director persona is kind of like his secret identity. This guy is not at all what I expected! When I ask him if he knows his star rating is up 6% on IMDB, we both laugh when he says yes.

Anyway, Blayne’s not waiting tables any more. This week, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Weather Girl has been picked up for home video by Screen Media Films and for television by Lifetime, which plans on airing the pic in October. Blayne told me that the project is now officially profitable and that nothing will make him happier than signing the back end checks for actors who put their faith into the project. Popular actors in the film include Mark Harmon (NCIS), the male lead, Jane Lynch (40 Year Virgin, Best in Show) who plays Tricia’s boss, and Jon Cryer. (Two and a Half Men) A fun fact about Blayne’s working with Cryer is that apparently when they first started working together, the actor called to apologize for making the director’s life miserable as a child with his character, Duckie’s memorable unfavorable statement about the name, Blayne, in the John Hughes film, Pretty in Pink.

Blayne’s star is Tricia O’Kelley, (The New Adventures of Old Christine) who worked with him before in Outside Sales, so he probably thought he knew her pretty well. Then she revealed that she was pregnant when shooting was getting started for Weather Girl. She didn’t want to tell anyone, so Blayne didn’t either. When a scene came up where she was supposed to rough house with an actor who was playing her brother, they just brought in a stunt person. Apparently Tricia was afraid the crew would think she was a prima donna though, so she started to confide in some of the females on the set. Finally, just about everyone knew, and Blayne laughed that he was probably the only one keeping the secret.

They shot Weather Girl in Seattle, which was the first time Blayne had ever been. “I wanted to give this romantic comedy a completely different feel.” When they got up there with the crew, though, it was sunny, beautiful weather and he actually had to obtain a rain machine for one scene.

He gushes over producer Steak House, who he talks about as a key player in the production. He says,“We hit it off” after he originally hired her as a line producer, and she became “irreplaceable immediately.” Ultimately she got much more involved as a producer, including interviewing potential crew, and even taking over firing one individual when it had to be done.

Blayne’s a disciplined writer, and says he works daily, “usually with coffee, pizza and eventually wine.” He feels lucky, especially when he drove into Westwood yesterday and even though he’s stressed out all the time, emphatically told me “I love my job.” I asked him about a life work balance and he laughed “there is no such thing.”

The budget for the film is supposed to be $500,000.00 and the P&A budget for this film is a paltry $60,000.00 (so far). Blayne seems to think their Internet marketing has helped build a grassroots momentum and we discuss Facebook, MySpace and of course, Twitter. I tell him I’d like to see more tweets, and as I’ve pointed out before, since they had 8 followers last time I checked, I have to think that tweeting more will help build a larger fan base. Blayne is fun to talk to, and is as warm and open as an old friend. I think fans would definitely enjoy following his tweets in his continued successful journey in the biz.

I am scheduled to be on the Red Carpet tonight for Weather Girl at the LA Film Festival tonight. LA residents, it will be playing at the Laemmle Sunset 5 beginning July 10th. Like most fans, I look forward to seeing the stars and team behind the film, especially Blayne.

Everyone has heard of Twitter, but even those of us using Twitter are still really just learning about how to maximize this social media platform. I joined Twitter in March, 2007 and I am pretty sure one of the only other persons out there at the time was my friend John Dvorak @therealdvorak. Today, John wrote a great story for CBS Marketwatch, “Social networking: No sale! Commentary: These networks are for schmoozing, not selling.”

Well, maybe, maybe not, John.

A year after I joined Twitter and promptly forgot about it, I started to hear from my friend that she was using the technology to keep up with coworkers and friends as she traveled back and forth between two cities for work. And so I revisited my Twitter page with a renewed interest.

For the past year, it has been kind of wild to see the phenomenon grow and grow. As MySpace buried Friendster, Twitter seems to be overtaking Facebook as the current online rage as more and more people sign up to share their thoughts – in 140 characters or less. Really, this reminds me of The Webby Award guidelines, for the past several years now winners’ acceptance speeches could only be 5 words or less – founder Tiffany Schlain probably deserves credit for this one.

It wasn’t really until recently that I started to fully comprehend the magnitude of the situation. In December, I learned that my brilliant mentor and friend @howardlindzon actually built a business using Twitter – now I was really intrigued. How can people profit from Twitter? In his case, @stocktwits and the stocktwits.com web site was designed for day traders and investors to share information about stocks in real time. Today they have around 77,000 followers.

Now, I realized that a filmmaker could be building an audience that someday might choose to help get the word out about their films. I was still really just scratching the surface though. Honestly, until a few weeks ago, I was just posting my tweets and monitoring Tweet Deck groups, but it hadn’t clicked for me.

Then I decided to blog about the upcoming LA Film Festival, and started to research the movies and filmmakers at the event. This is where it came full circle. Almost immediately, @jason_pollack was on my radar. This director’s film, The Youngest Candidate was getting a lot of buzz, but most of it was from Jason himself, sharing tidbits, developments, and even helping fellow Tweeters understand the platform. The film is a documentary that follows four of the youngest political candidates in the U.S., I believe a few are eighteen years old.

It’s from Jason that I finally understood the concept of hashtags. This is simply chosing a nickname or phrase for your project or conversation – in his case #tyc – for his film’s name. If people start to include a hashtag in their tweet, it allows you to build and monitor a group that is discussing that topic or term.

Jason has built up an audience of approximately 53,495 (and growing) Tweeters so far. He is by far, one of the most sophisticated Twitter user in the film festival group and yet, his tweets are all over the place. But his fans love him for it, and when he asks us to retweet, we do, in full force. Retweeting (RT) or repeating someone else’s tweet, is one of the highest forms of a complement after choosing to follow someone on Twitter. Jason regularly asks his fan base to spread the word, and it’s working. Or is it? Ultimately, Jason is looking for a distributor for his film. If the buzz can go from the fans to reach the executives – will that get him a deal? And will his film sell tickets?

Other films that are playing with Twitter include Paper Heart, a hybrid film – half documentary, half comedy played by Charlene Yi and Michael Cera. I’ve noticed that they seem to take turns tweeting for the film and take ownership and sometimes personalize their tweets “Char” or “NJ” for the director Nick Jasenovec. Char posts a lot of random, funny tweets that illustrate her comic style and help us get to know her a little better, a perfect strategy for a docu-comedy like theirs. There’s even a crazy fan pretending to be Michael Cera on Twitter. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say, can the real Mike start tweeting soon? So far, Paper Heart has about 1,312 followers.

Here’s a few more of the LA Festival films that are tweeting. If I have missed you tweet me @launchflix and we’ll do a follow up. But ask yourself, how did we miss you – are you using hashtags, fans, and other related Twits to stand out? Maybe you should.

We Live in Public is a documentary about the story of the Internet’s revolutionary impact on human interaction as told through the eyes of internet pioneer and visionary Josh Harris. Both the film @WLIP and the filmmaker, Ondi Timoner, @onditimoner have Twitter accounts that keep fans posted about the films travels and awards. Ondi Timoner happens to be the first and only two time Grand Jury Prize winner in Sundance history. (WLIP has 138 followers and Ondi has 2608 followers)

Passenger Side @passengerside is a film about two brothers (Adam Scott, the male nurse from Knocked Up plays a lead) with a tumultuous relationship who go on a road trip in LA looking to score drugs. Their tweets might be funnier if they had the characters – like the brothers – tweeting. (316 Followers)

Dear Lemon Lima follows an awkward Alaskan teen as she discovers her Yup’ik heritage while rallying her fellow students to compete in her school’s Snowstorm Survivor competition. @dearlemonlima is the official account, and it seems like the main character is twittering which could prove to be a great strategy to attract their demographic. (71 Followers)

Harmony and Me is a bracingly intimate portrait of a bright guy and his buddies making their way in an increasingly disaffected world. @Harmonythemovie (102 Followers)

Weather Girl is about a Seattle weather girl who finds herself with no job, no boyfriend and no apartment. @WeatherGirlFilm (8 followers)

The LA Film Festival themselves are tweeting, both the festival @lafilmfest as well as the PR Director, Elise Freimuth, @elis_f. (LAFF has 2276 followers)

So, any guesses who will be my first official interview for the LA Film Festival?

Our Motion Picture Tax Incentive Program is in jeopardy of being cut due to the state’s budget deficit. Ironically, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) says we were just one of the top 5 states to watch by the motion Picture Association of America along with Utah, New Mexico, Michigan, and Connecticut! The primary reason we made the list was our tax incentives.

We need to come together as a community and voice our objections and concerns. Please assist the Arizona Film & Media Coalition, Inc. (AFMC) in this effort. If our program is killed, we will no longer be on a level playing field to even be considered for films in Arizona from other states including California.

Forward the letter below (via email if you like), filling in your local reps/senators name, etc. and your personal introductory paragraph (first paragraph). Be sure to type your name at the end of your letter. An example is below. To find your local senators and representatives, please click on the link below.

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp

On this page, go to # 2 and click where appropriate. In the upper right-hand corner, you can enter in your address and zip to find your voting district. After you have found your district number, look to the upper left-hand part of the page. In green text, click on the option “Click here for a list of State Senators and Representatives”. A new page should pop up with a grid of contact info. Scroll through the names that correspond with your district # which you just found. Their listing should have their name and email address. Be sure to enter their name and address the email to their email address when creating your form email (my example below). Be sure to type your name at the end of your letter.

Please feel free to share this with other members in the entertainment industry – your students, fellow actors, production personnel, etc. Together we can make a difference! Let our voices be heard! If you have any questions, please contact Alexandria Ballesteros at alexandria@greattalents.com or the President of AFMC, Noel Paynter, at: npaynter@wnpplc.com.

Example:
June 12, 2009

Senator

Arizona State Senate

1700 West Washington

Phoenix, AZ 85007

RE: Motion Picture Tax Incentive Program

Dear Senators,

I make my living in productions depending on the projects that come to Arizona. The influx of tax incentive program nationwide should be an indicator of how competitive our industry is and how important it is for our state to maintain and continue our current Mopic program. I hope you’ll take the time to read the information below and attached and weigh the facts to see that our program does benefit the state of Arizona now and will continue to do so on and into the future.

The film industry in Arizona has a long history of contributing to a vibrant economy by providing high-paying jobs and leaving production dollars in urban and rural communities while promoting the grandeur of our state. This law was passed to help revitalize an industry that had witnessed a 60% reduction in revenue over a 10 year period. This is on a constant dollar basis not adjusted for inflation.

During this 10 year period many states had passed incentive programs that put Arizona at a disadvantage in being able to attract motion pictures. A trend that continues and is accelerating.

Currently MOPIC is in the fourth year of a five-year program. The program has worked as intended by attracting productions that would not have filmed in Arizona in the absence of the incentives. These projects have injected over $100 million dollars into the Arizona economy. This has helped to expand local businesses, induced companies to open offices in Arizona and created jobs in a very tough business environment.

The Commerce Department has released a report for the 2008 MOPIC program. The motion picture industry, while appreciative of their effort, thinks the report is narrow in scope and incomplete. The Commerce report does not include items and inputs that would have a material effect .

The industry has hired ESI to review the Commerce report and prepare an independent report to add items and change incomplete data that will show the true impact of the program. ESI is a very reputable research firm that the Department of Commerce has contracted to provide industry reports in the past.

Some of the flaws in the 2008 Commerce MOPIC report are:
- It does not account for the increase in NON-Qualified dollars and thusly the tax revenue that has come in to Arizona as a result of the program. This has under-reported the impact of the program by 29%

- It significantly under counts the number of employees paying taxes in Arizona as a result of the program. The DOC report found 730 total jobs while the ESI study found 2049 total jobs.

- It does not emphasize that $100 million dollars would not have been spent in the state in the absence of the program.

- The fiscal impact to the state according to the ESI report is $<837,279> NOT the $<6,324,023> as reported by Commerce.

The report by ESI includes these and others items that will provide a more complete picture of how the MOPIC program is impacting the State of Arizona.

It must also be stated that a number of areas that may have reduced the fiscal impact of the program to the general fund were not included because of the eminent vote on the State budget. Two very significant items not included are the impact of out-of-state hires (cast & crew) and payroll taxes paid and the taxes generated by the transfer of the tax credits from the time they are issued until they are redeemed.

These two items may end up showing that the program has a positive impact on the general fund.

It must be stated that the program when enacted was designed to help the film industry recover from a devastating fall in local production. It was further intended to help Arizona compete against other states that have passed incentive programs that put Arizona at a competitive disadvantage.

The program has had a very positive effect on the Arizona film community. Production dollars have risen by approximately 300% from 2005, the year preceding the enactment of the program. This has lead to expansion of existing companies and the creation of new jobs.

This has happened while the film industry has injected …dollars into the Arizona economy.

The film and production business is a multi-billion dollar industry. With our professional crew members and talent, diverse locations, spectacular weather and proximity to California, we should be a logical destination for film productions. The film incentive program has allowed Arizona to begin rebuilding the infrastructure, production personnel and reputation to attract motion pictures.

If the program is repealed, all of the progress the industry has made the last three years will be lost. The investments of companies and individuals that had counted on the program to help rebuild the industry could be put in jeopardy.

To add to the importance of this issue, I just learned that the entire budget of the Arizona State Film Office is now tied to the MOPIC budget. If the program is cut, the film office loses it’s funding.

I urge you to vote to keep the MOPIC program. It is good for Arizona and has a very limited impact on the General Fund.

Sincerely,

If you are looking to raising money for your production, the LA Film Festival is putting on a full day of panels and workshops at the Landmark, to discuss the current trends in film financing, production, and distribution. The list of panelists including writers Carolyn Giardina The Hollywood Reporter and Anne Thompson, Thompson on Hollywood blog, Sacha Gervasi, Director of Indie phenom Anvil: The Story of Anvil and Buzz Hays, a Senior Producer from Sony Pictures Imageworks looks amazing. You can sign up online.

The morning keynote will start with James D. Stern (CEO Endgame Entertainment) Co-producer, co-director Every Little Step, and Producer, An Education, I’m Not There.

Here are the sessions:

10:15 am The World As We Know It: Is it Over?
The independent film world is rapidly changing. With the financial credit crunch production capital has all but disappeared; the printed media that validates and serves to market films is in shambles; and the traditional distribution models are in flux. As the structures that support the film industry’s ecosystem collapse, we ask, is it all gloom and doom, or an opportunity for great change? Key players in the industry give an assessment of the current state of affairs and how they see the industry evolving.

OR

10:15 am Independent Financing Models: The Old and the New
As the global economy changes, technology advances, and the film industry adjusts, inventive new ways of finding money share the stage with some tried and proven methods of financing movies. This introductory overview includes an explanation of traditional film financing structures and terminology and gives a peek into recent experiences in financing through the internet.

12:00 noon Homegrown: Domestic Film Incentives
Local state governments continue to create competitive incentives to bring film productions into their communities —the latest being California. What is the real impact of subsidies, tax credits, and rebates on your budget’s bottom line? What productions qualify to take advantage of these opportunities? And most importantly, how do you turn soft money into cash? The panel will provide an up to date review on domestic incentives.

OR

12:00 noon Financing Clinic: Packaging Tips from the Pros
Participants in the Los Angeles Festival Fast Track Program pitch their projects to a panel of experts and get advice on how to leverage their projects’ elements into an attractive package for financiers and investors. The panelists’ specific feedback and practical advice will provide useful packaging and financing tips for all.

1:30 pm LUNCH

2:45 pm Crossing Borders: Global Film Markets
Producers, financiers, and sales agents explore the international economic crisis’ impact on the movie business and give pointers on foreign financing, pre-sales, and co-production opportunities.

OR

2:45 pm Case Studies: Taking your Film into the Marketplace
Hear independent filmmakers give a first-hand account of how they released their films. With three detailed case studies of how these films were made and found their way into the marketplace we will provide a snapshot of the independent film business in transition.

4:30 pm Digital Distribution: The Future is Here, But Where is the Money?
With the rise of social networking sites and alternative distribution platforms, technology is finally ready to deliver content on demand anywhere in the planet. Filmmakers have taken note and are seizing these tools to distribute their films and establish a direct, ongoing dialogue with their audience. As the distribution gatekeepers seem to lose their power, consumers take the driver’s seat with the click of a mouse, while content creators are still scrambling to figure out the new revenue models. Filmmakers and key players in digital distribution share their experience and provide some insight on how to monetize content on the web.

OR

4:30 pm In 3D: The Economics of 3D for Independents
The increasing number of studio blockbusters released in 3D and the recent deployment of 3D technology to the multiplex suggest that 3D films have finally come of age and are here to stay. But beyond the tent-pole film, is 3D viable for smaller budget art house and genre fare? With a group of technology experts and independent producers who have dipped their toes in the 3D world, we explore the realistic possibilities of 3D for indies.

6:00 pm Reception

Panelists include:
Stephanie Allain (Producer, Black Snake Moan)
Rick Allen (CEO, Snagfilms)
Laura Bickford (President, Laura Bickford Productions)
Peter Broderick (Paradigm Consulting)
Patrick Creadon (Director, I.O.U.S.A.)
Michael Donaldson (Donaldson & Callif)
Jennifer Dubin (Producer, Good Dick)
Stuart Ford (CEO, IM Global)
Christian Gaines (Director of Festivals, Withoutabox, a division of IMDb.com)
Sacha Gervasi (Director, Anvil! The Story of Anvil)
Carolyn Giardina (The Hollywood Reporter)
Dan Griffiths (Senior VP, Trans-Pacific Media)
Buzz Hays (Senior Producer, Sony Pictures Imageworks)
Sten Iversen (Manager, Montana Film Office)
Brian Kavanaugh Jones (CAA)
Scott Kirsner (Author, Fans, Friends & Followers)
Amy Lemisch (Executive Director, California Film Commission)
Patrick Lussier (Director, My Bloody Valentine 3D)
Trevor Macy (Co-CEO, Intrepid Pictures)
Ted Mundorff (CEO, Landmark Theatres)
Cora Olson (Producer, Good Dick)
Max Penner (CTO & Stereographer, Paradise FX_
Jean Prewitt (President & CEO, IFTA)
Irwin Rappaport (P.C.)
Wendy Reeds (International Home Entertainment Sales, Lionsgate)
Jon Reiss (Director/Producer, Bomb It!)
Hal Sadoff (Head of International and Independent Film, ICM)
Paula Manzanedo Schmit (Vice President, Film Finances, Inc.)
Bob Teitel (Producer, Notorious)
Anne Thompson (Thompson on Hollywood Blog)
Adam Yauch (Principal, Oscilloscope)

Attention filmmakers, film buffs and Phoenix and LA peeps! It’s almost time for the Los Angeles Film Festival @lafilmfest and @elise_f. (I am not sure they have created #laff as their Twitter hashtag yet but let me suggest it.) I am a LAFF virgin but I always wanted to do it in LA! Sorry. OK here’s some info and some launch flix pix. I am thrilled to report it sounds like I will be officially tweeting for the entire time from June 18-28 @launchflix Also, my beautiful special guest photog, Bubbles @csamuels13 will be with me the entire time. Say hi to us and get an invite to Bubblespalooza, a special bday celebration for none other than B herself.

Most events are $12, with the only exception of course, the fundraising workshop being the big one at $200.00. (They certainly know how to raise money.) Seriously, the fundraising panel is quite a group, I will give more details this event soon.

So for sure I’ll be at

June 18 7:30pm opening night gala
June 20 fundraising workshop 9-4pm
June 28 6:30pm closing gala

as for movies, so far my top picks are:
Robert Rodriguez: Family Man documentary Sunday June 21 from 1-3pm.

Legendary filmmaker Rodriguez, is one of my case studies in our biz plan, and I didn’t even know he had something new coming out. He will be there speaking, I’m very excited.

The 40 year old producer from San Antonio began his career with the film “El Mariachi” in 1992. The Mexican action adventure cost only $7,000 but found its way to the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the up-and-coming producer a distribution deal with Colombia pictures. He is seen in the film world as an example of how success is possible for independent filmmakers who are innovative in theme, plot, and filming techniques. He has done a ton of stuff, check out his info at IMDB.

Oops, tangent.

The other film I can’t wait for:
Paper Heart, comedy with Michael Cera (young lead in Juno) one of my favs – Wed. June 24 7pm. Follow actress Charlyne Yi on twitter @paperheartmovie

The Youngest Candidate #TYC is getting great buzz, filmmaker Jason Pollack (that’s @jason_Pollack, note the underscore) has 50K followers and is looking for distribution. I think I will talk to my friends at MarVista Entertainment and see if they can join me for the screening, maybe I can make a match there.

Here are other types of things I will be scheduling for the rest of the time.
Sunday 5pm Screenwriters CoffeeTalk at W LA Westwood Hotel
Weekdays 12:30pm lunch time discussions (free events)
Sat. June 26 either 1pm filmmaker discussion with cinematographer (free)or 1:30pm screening of Cold Souls/Paul Giamoni, the actor from Sideways and my fav, Howard Stern movie Private Parts @sternshow, stars.

I’ve been researching them and picking out the comedies, I might see:

Weather Girl June 19 7:30pm
Humpday June 19 at 10pm
Hollywood Je’taime 6/21 Sunday at 7pm
Tursistas 6/22 4:30pm
Wah Do Dem June 24 4:30pm
Mid-August lunch 6/26 4:45pm
A Mate June 28 3:30pm

Surprisingly, they don’t have any Jewish films listed this year so I guess we can’t do our heavy research. (Hey, this might be a nice opp for us in the future, filling that gap with my passion project, An Unbroken Chain: The Movie!)

Their site is a bit challenging and time consuming so check back and I’ll clean up my research and more picks. Thanks in advance to Guido, Whitney and Elise, the LAFF PR team for sending any additional info my way. There could be more, plus if I recall, there are sometimes other parties happening all week long.

One of my best friends, Pam had one of those super cool older sisters, Patti, that you would always hear about. Her life always sounded so glam. A few months ago, Pam told me that Patty’s new company was featured in Oprah Magazine.

Patti Compton had a realization that most swimsuits looked nothing like the simple, chic, comfortable clothes she wore every day as a working mother of two young boys. In 2007, she decided to design a collection that had the same spirit as the rest of her wardrobe. Muted colors and simple shapes enforce Compton’s philosophy; less is more.

POOL is a new chic, luxurious swimwear collection specifically designed for women who have “moved past the bikinis of their 20s.” Friday, June 19, Healy Bea boutique will be hosting an event to introduce Patti and her amazing swimwear collection to Phoenix from 11-4pm. Healy Bea is on 4410 E Camelback Road at 44th Street. Join me and meet Patti as she shows off her 2009 line, they will offer 10% off. You can also catch her live segment at 9:40am that morning on FOX.

And yes, I’m hoping to strike a deal for POOL to provide all the swimwear for my upcoming film, currently in development: The Adventures of Plan B!

Two weeks ago, I was supposed to attend the live taping of Lucky Break, a local talent show filmed at the Lone Butte Casino. Our friend, Jeff Lowy of Encore Creative, is a judge. Out of the blue, he called that day to ask if H or I wanted to be a judge, one of the three judges called in sick. “I’ll do it!” I said.

We got to the casino and I was impressed. It’s not bad for a local casino. (Although I haven’t been to any of the others.) But it was nice. I found one of the Lone Butte contacts and he explained the rules of the show.

Three judges give a contestant between 1-7 and the highest score could be 21 – get it, it’s a casino.. We should be aware what we are scoring and not unintentionally create a tie. We should not talk to contestants. It was pretty basic.

The other judge showed up – it was Tom Anderson, who owned a Scottsdale hot spot called Anderson’s Fifth Estate for several years before recently converting it into a gay club called Club Forbidden.

The host was the DJ of a local radio station named Chris Parker. He was pretty good at keeping things moving. We then saw ten contestants sing to Kareoke.

When Chris introduced me, somehow he labeled me a “virgin” judge which got a few laughs. Later when I messed up the name of the show – and the casino, I reminded everyone that I was the virgin. I felt like a ditz but oh well.

The music was all over the board – country, Madonna, rock, etc.

At the end we almost had a tie between a hot girl and a really talented male singer but the singer won out.

We could blow airhorns if people were really really bad. Well, one time Jeff just took it upon himself because he thought the performer was so bad. She was a really sweet, pretty girl.. with not such a great voice. And then one of the last performances was so bad that all three of us blew the airhorns. I tried to explain to the guy that it wasn’t him, it was the song.

So, all in all, it was a very exciting night! I laughed, I cried, and I really felt for those contestants. I couldn’t do it – get up and sing karaoke and be judged in front of a crowd. But, who knows, maybe someone will call in sick again and they’ll think of me.. Thanks, J for the opportunity!

Inspired Student Tattoos Survivor’s Anti- Hate Message on Her Spine

“People get tattooed because something monumental has happened in their lives. They get a tattoo to mark an event..” L.A. Ink Star Kat Von D. in the April 17, 2009 Entertainment Weekly.

“You Never Know What Effect Your Words Will Have on Some People!” tells the story of why an 18 year old Christian girl tattooed an Anti-Hate message on her spine in Hebrew – “If you absolutely have to hate, hate HATE ” was written by 88 year old Holocaust Survivor, Author and Teacher, Dr. Henry Oertelt. Henry’s book, An Unbroken Chain, My Journey Through the Nazi Holocaust in is the works to become a feature film with us at launch flix. We are sharing it in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 21.

Eighty-eight year old Henry Oertelt was liberated by General Patton’s Third Army during the Flossenburg Death March in April, 1943. He arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1949 and has spent 40 years speaking about his experiences and the importance of tolerance, political involvement, and confronting hatred. Oertelt is past chairman of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s and Holocaust education committee and recipient of JCRC’s “Volunteer of the Year” award, as well as receiving the distinguished “Eleven Who Care Honor” from KARE 11 in Minnesota in May, 2006. St. Paul, Minnesota honored him with the key to the city and proclaimed “Henry A. Oertelt Day” on April 23, 2006. You can find out more about his film project on the blog An Unbroken Chain: The Movie or join the Facebook page!

This week we went to Creative Connect at Zischke Studio in the middle of Scottsdale. If you have ever passed this eclectic gallery, I’m sure you wondered what it’s all about. Jeff Zischke, the owner and artist is a designer who has filled his home and art gallery with many unique objects and artifacts. The W, Axis/Radius and Zen 32 are among some of his local infamous design projects. He had a collection of sculptures that I assumed he created, that all were labeled with different professions – the lawyer sculpture looked like a snake, for example.

In the middle of the evening, we gathered to see our host show us his latest project. He was inspired by a fine Japanese paintbrush to see what it would be like to use a female and her hair to paint. He built a contraption, and with a few assistants, loaded a petite Japanese woman so that she hung upside down and then with the help of a crane, he dipped her hair into black paint and proceeded to paint.

It was definitely a night to remember. Thanks Dan, for all your efforts to support the creative community of Phoenix with Creative Connect. You rock.