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.

The Independent Film Project (IFP) Phoenix sponsored a fantastic session Saturday with our attorney, Jill Ormond, of Baird, Williams and Greer and Noel Paynter of Film Production Capital, L.L.C. They each took turns speaking to the group about their areas of expertise, respectively, legalities of your film production and financing. Noel’s company offers assistance with transferable tax credits in every state, including Arizona. He spoke at length about the process in Arizona, the restrictions, etc. It sounds like the program is gaining traction but unfortunately it is only due to go until 2010 right now. You can click here to see how many tax credits are left for 2009.

Jill covered the legal issues every step of the way through forming your L.L.C. and copyright issues all the way through distribution and marketing. Jill discussed getting the right agreements in place, clearances, music rights, etc. and keeping your attorney in the loop through out the process to keep you out of trouble. Thanks, Jill for all you have done for us and all we hope to have you do in the future!

Today we are in “Two if by Sea” a cover story in the Phoenix Business Journal. Thanks Chris!

Friday, February 20, 2009
Unlikely journeys lead to creation of film businesses
Phoenix Business Journal – by Chris Casacchia

Stephanie Houser Silverman embarked on a new career in the movie business during a shipwreck odyssey in the British West Indies.

Carole Bartholomeaux’s job with a New York Times best-selling author led her to a treasure hunter in Australia.

Eventually, both established film production companies in Phoenix.

The two businesswomen took circuitous routes –– filled with tales of shipwrecks and the open seas –– to the film industry. One day, their own stories may end up on the big screen. But for now, they’re working on movies about other people, and they just struck their first major deals.

Silverman’s company, launch flix, finalized an option agreement with Minneapolis-based Lerner Publishing Group for a feature film based on the story of Holocaust survivor Henry Oertelt, author of the award-winning book “An Unbroken Chain: My Journey Through the Nazi Holocaust.”

Oertelt, a Berlin native, was 12 years old when Adolf Hitler came to power. He witnessed the devastation of Kristallnacht, “the Night of Broken Glass,” on Nov. 9, 1938, with his mother and brother. Many consider that night the start of the Holocaust, as Hitler’s troops burned and demolished Jewish businesses, homes and temples and forced the first 30,000 Jews into concentration camps.

Silverman stumbled upon the opportunity to tell Oertelt’s story onscreen during a serious travel predicament.

In September 2006, she sold her firm, launch PR, to Allison & Partners. On March 1, 2007, she embarked on a sailing trip around the world with her husband, Hayden, an avid sailor, and their golden retriever, Celis (named after a Texas beer).

But four months into their voyage, their 42-foot Fountaine Pajot Venezia catamaran, aptly named Plan B, was hit by lightning, wiping out the electrical system, radar, VHF radio and lighting.

Stranded on the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos for three months, Silverman began chronicling their mishap. She rented numerous movies from a store miles inland and read books about screenplays and the film industry in her spare time. The pair’s only real communication with family was via the Internet.

After her husband fixed the boat (the auto pilot had to be shipped back to its manufacturer in France), they continued their journey, traveling to many island nations, including St. Thomas. There, she had a chance encounter with Oertelt’s granddaughter, who told Silverman her grand­father was looking for a screenwriter.

In June 2008, the couple sold their boat in the Virgin Islands. Two months later, Silverman returned to the U.S. and opened the downtown Phoenix office of launch flix.

Oertelt’s screen adaptation is in development. The company is scouting locations in Europe and looking for talent and investors.

“My main concern is putting out a great film on the lowest budget possible,” said Silverman, who also is working on a screenplay dubbed “Plan B.”

Independent movie budgets can range from $2 million to $12 million.

We bought our Canon XH A1 video camera from BKW Corporated last year, in preparation of our first trip to meet Dr. Henry A. Oertelt, a Holocaust survivor who we are working with on on adapation of his book, An Unbroken Chain: My Journey Through The Nazi Holocaust. Recently we finished our first short from the footage we took during that trip but our editor couldn’t export the finished film to a DVD. I wanted to enter the ASU Short Film Festival and the deadline was almost up. After we called around and asked a few people, H suggested we call Jim Weingarden at BKW (pictured). We had paid for “education” when we purchased our camera, so we knew he wasn’t opposed to helping his clients. We ended up going to his office where Jim walked us through the process – twice – and helped us successfully complete our DVD and enter the contest on time. If you ever need to purchase video equipment, we highly recommend Jim. It was nice having a local contact who helped us when we really needed it rather than a faceless out-of-state Internet company. Thanks Jim! We should have the short up on the Internet very soon and will share the link then.

I was sitting at the notorious “Bean” on Sunset Boulevard today waiting for a meeting with a cool guy, another producer, when I decided to type up my notes from this event last night and share them with anyone interested in funding a film project in today’s climate.

Panelists included an investor, Bernard Kinsey, Brenda Doby-Flewellyn, president, Film Bankers International, a consultancy for introducing investors and producers, and Schuyler M. Moore, an investment banker for Strook & Strook & Lavan LLP, who has worked with Summit Entertainment, and Reliance Films. Moore wrote a book called The Biz and teaches at UCLA in addition to his day job.

Key points
• Develop a criteria for projects, Repeat that process
• Hollywood does well in a recession
• However, nobody can do well with confidence credit issues like now
• Moderator commentedIdeas Don’t Stop
• DVD sales way down
• Piracy out of control
• Skylar predicts all states will be wiped out of tax incentive programs
• What is the return on capital?
• Get someone with biz sense to partner with you
• Don’t pitch angels/investors on “greed,” (making lots of money) demonstrate they will get their money back
• Some equity outside America: India, China, Hong Kong
• mariage made in heaven – advertisers and indie film makers: pitch ad people on sponsoring your film, product placement, other tie ins. They are desperate to get their brands out and their ads are being Tivoed and fast forwarded through.
• A good line producer is really important to investors
• Get an experienced partner in the industry if you are new
• Piracy is a huge issue – DVD sales are decreasing at the rate piracy is increasing
• Pay attn. to Internet shorts, there is a huge demand for shorts, people don’t have time for full movies, time for 5, 10 minute breaks.
• Research: Go deep/wide web series and Youtube, and see what’s popular
• Watch what Apple TV is doing with films, will be like what they did with music
• Five million dollar films that need twenty five million in marketing are not money makers

Yes, it’s true. My friend and mentor Howard Lindzon, of Wallstrip.com. and Stocktwits.com fame is releasing his first book, The WallStrip Edge, on Feb. 18, 2009. Howard was my boss at my first job after graduating college and we worked together a few more times over the years. Most recently, in 2006, my PR firm, LAUNCH, represented Golfnow.com, one of Howard’s many successful investments. (The company was sold to Comcast in March, 2008.) When I returned from being off the grid on my sabbatical a few months ago, it didn’t take long to hear about Wallstrip.

Like most non-professional investors, I was hoping to get some solid investment tips from the book. Howard has a great sense of humor and the book was an easy read. Of course, although the current climate is radically unappealing, it’s still important to get the basics so that you’re ready to jump in when the time is right.

Howard shares practical ideas for new and non-professional investors to get started following trends and investing. He discusses the risks and the commitment level needed to manage your own portfolio including to do lists at the end of every chapter. He has a lot of ideas about trend following and uses examples like Crocs, Apple, and Chipotle to make his case. (Let me share my trend idea for all: privately owned Ed Hardy! Keep your eye on that brand, it’s been growing and just hit Costco.) Mid way through the book we learn Lindzon’s secret weapon – “The All-Time-High list.”

The book talks about using trends to make money. Howard starts with some basic and maybe surprising advice, “Turn off the T.V.” and explains why he will show a better, quieter and more peaceful way to invest. As on his blog, Howard freely shares stories of his mistakes through out the book.

The book is filled with gems that are pure Howard: “If you want to invest, be prepared to suck at times!” and “The market is a giant mood ring” come to mind. How says that money spent by consumers and flow from the institutions is all you need to follow to beat the market.

Through out the book he shares some of his rules:
• Never let trades turn into investments, but be willing to let investments become trades.

• Sell when you can

• don’t be a pig

• booking profits and paying taxes is fine.

• The trend is your friend.

As mentioned, each chapter is followed by a To-Do List that summarizes the information he’s shared. In fact, he devotes a whole chapter to doing homework, although contradicts himself when he later warns against doing too much homework, because the data can talk you out of any stock position. He shares four sources of information that he uses himself:

1. My own experience – am I excited, disappointed, indifferent?
2. On-line financial info web sites
3. Social networking and other web sites where I can gauge people’s involvement with products
4. A network of investors who think out loud on-line and whose opinions I trust

Most readers will be able to easily follow his ideas and suggestions. Some may even start the research and thought processes that Howard describes in order to put together a fitting plan. Personally, I felt inspired enough to log onto StockTwits.com and make a purchase after reading through the current threads on the company I chose – even in the current economy.