For What It's Worth

Twittering the Emmys from the Orchestra Seats

While it's possible this could be a spectacularly bad idea (or just an ignorable one), I thought I would take my new found semi-knowledge of Twitter and try to Tweet from this year's Primetime Emmy telecast.

This will be my 13th straight Primetime Emmy show that I've attended. I got to go for four years as the "Writers" peer group Governor of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, then I got elected Chairman/CEO and actually appeared on three of them. Besides the obvious service aspect of the job, the other great perk of the Academy chairmanship gig (besides sitting with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks one year, and introducing Walter Cronkite another) has turned out to be the lifetime awards show tickets. Jackie and I go every year and we love the going, even when the show is sometimes off.

During the commercial breaks, however, while you're going to the bathroom or fixing a new plate of nachos, we usually sit more or less silently. You don't usually know who you're sitting next to, plus you really don't want to be too vocal in your opinions. Tweeting seems like the perfect pastime to avoid boredom and to occupy the mind.

 

If you're Twitter savvy, I invite you to join me and follow by clicking on the link above. Help me answer the age-old question: "If an ex-Chairman tweets from the Emmy theater and no one receives, did he make a sound?" So, if you're game, follow, re-Tweet and comment as you see fit.

 

 P.S. A few years ago, I put together a photo album from my time as Chairman of ATAS that I'd like to share. It was an eventful time, 2001-2003. As you might recall, the Emmys had to be postponed twice after 9/11, something that happened on my watch, the month after I got elected.

Technocalypse Now? What's Your Take?

 The End of Showbiz As We Know It... 

I've been thinking a lot about the end of the world lately. Not the end in a "2012" kind of way, but the end of the world in an "end of the world as we know it" kind of way. 

A few months ago, I was asked to give the keynote speech at the "What is Film?" conference sponsored by the University of Oregon that takes place in Portland next Friday and Saturday, November 6 & 7 at the new Turnbull Center. After some thought, the title of my speech hit me, "Technocalypse Now?" 

So let's get out the dictionary, shall we, and create a new word...

Technology. The application of science and engineering, especially to industrial or commercial objectives that interrelate with life, society and the environment.

Apocalypse. A prophetic disclosure or revelation of cataclysm that brings universal or widespread destruction or disaster to life and society.

This means that when we put the two words in a super-collider to see what they create together, we get something like:

Technocalypse. The cataclysmic destruction of the entertainment industry through the creation of digital products that undermine and destroy the economic models that show business was based on.

 

Although I've got a pretty spiffy presentation digitally simmering on my computer (using Mac's "Keynote" program), the more I work on this talk, the more I realize there are multiple answers to the question "Technocalypse Now?"

There is no doubt whatsoever that people are suffering during this disruption. I know or have heard of plenty of people who used to be high-level types in Hollywood who have kicked it in and moved on to try something else. Everything's in flux, downsizing is going on all over the place, and anybody who tells you they know exactly how it's all going to shake down is simply lying. There are educated guesses, informed theories, and wishful thoughts. There are few hard facts.

As I get down to the last days, I'm filling in these hi-tech digital slides with some pithy content from reading, researching and thinking. I'd love for readers, in and out of the Hollywood game, to be part of that process by posting their own thoughts about what's going on and how it's going to shake down.

The Emmy Postponements of 2001

I'll always remember October 7, 2001 but not the way you might think.  It was a Sunday morning and we were about to do the Emmy Awards that day.  As the newly elected chairman/CEO of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, I'd already been involved -- as my first challenge in office -- with the first cancelation ever of an Emmy broadcast.  When the September 11 attacks happened, it had been a no-brainer to immediately postpone the planned September 16 show.  I was putting on my running shoes, about to go for a quick spin to settle the nerves in anticipation of speaking to a worldwide audience of 90-million people that day, when the phone rang.  The voice on the other end said, "Turn on your TV."

Bryce Zabel, ATAS CEO; Les Moonves, CBS President; Don Mischer, Emmy Producer (Photo by Mathew Imaging, Craig Mathew)

I turned on the TV in my home office and it was immediately apparent that America was at war in Afghanistan and that the Emmys probably weren't going to happen that day either.  That photo above is the news conference that would be held hours later to postpone the Emmy Awards a second time!  Even though I've been a CNN correspondent, this was the largest group of cameras I'd ever seen in a single location.  The rule of thumb, of course, is that if you come to cover a story and the story's not happening, cover the reasons the story isn't happening and that story becomes your new story.

That morning we went through the motions or, as they like to call it, we did our "due diligence" and called nominees, agents, managers, network executives, everybody we could think of.  It became clear that not only was the nation's attention focused on the beginning of war, post 9/11, but the very people we would expect to come to the Emmys were having grave doubts.  They did not want to be seen as thinking that getting an award was as important as an issue of life-or-death.

So we gave over three-thousand gourmet dinners to homeless shelters, told the limo drivers not to come, asked the stars to put their tuxes and gowns back in the closets and told the media we'd think about what our future plans were.

The next day I appeared as a guest on "Politically Incorrect" and got in an argument with Bill Mahrer who said we should have just done them anyway.  My feeling was (and is) that you don't want to be the host of a party that nobody wants to come to and that having the Emmys that day would have done serious damage to the Academy.

As it turned out, the third time was the charm.  We did the Emmys on November 4, 2001 with Ellen DeGeneres hosting and going up against the seventh game of an exciting World Series.  The whole show probably gets an asterisk in the history books.

Eight years later, I've been out of the Academy for years, moving on with my life, and a thousand nominees have come and gone.  The war in Afghanistan is still with us.

Let's be glad that President Obama and his team are practicing their "due diligence" even as we speak.

So What If He's a Great Director?

Lee Goldberg is a working screenwriter, novelist and blogger who writes regularly on A Writer's Life.

Roman Polanski drugged, raped, and sodomized a 13-year-old girl and then fled to Europe to avoid imprisonment. If his name was Tyrell Washington, and he was black, and did everything Polanski did except direct movies, people would be thrilled that he was arrested. But because Polanski is an Oscar-winning director, we get abhorrent comments like these:

France's culture minister Frederic Mitterrand also criticized the U.S. "Seeing him alone, imprisoned while he was heading to an event that was due to offer him praise and recognition is awful," he said. "He was trapped. In the same way that there is a generous America that we like, there is also a scary America, and that has just shown its face."

In Germany, there was also support for the director. The Berlin Film Festival demanded Polanski be freed. "The Berlinale protests the arbitrary treatment of one of the world's most outstanding film directors," the fest said in a statement. "We declare our deep respect for Roman Polanski and we demand his immediate release."

The German Film Academy also condemned Polanski's detention. Academy presidents Senta Berger and Guenter Rohrbach said in a joint statement: "The German Film Academy finds it revolting that Roman Polanski has been arrested for an act committed more than 30 years ago."

I'm the father of a 14-year-old girl, maybe that's why I find all this anger over the arrest of a child rapist disgusting and infuriating. I don't care if he's made good movies. Why?

Because Roman Polanski drugged, raped and sodomized a 13-year-old girl...and fled the country rather than go to jail for his horrible crime. 

What is truly "revolting" is the defense of this criminal and the stunning hypocrisy that it represents. 

Remembering Swayze: My Dirty Dancing Story

Charlotte Safavi is an Iranian-American journalist who writes for numerous publications, including the Huffington Post. 

Everyone has a Dirty Dancing story. This is mine. In the mid-80s, a year out of Oxford University and a year into an investment-banking career at Manufacturers Hanover in London, I decided to dance. I quit my job, packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles. I wanted to cut a rug in Hollywood.

My first job was at Triad Artists, Inc., one of the principal talent agencies at the time. Among a large roster of clients, they represented a young actor called Patrick Swayze, best known for his ensemble character work in films The Outsiders andRed Dawn, and for his television part in the miniseries North and South. He was about to start shooting his first movie as a leading man--Dirty Dancing--for an indie film company called Vestron Pictures.

Like 'Baby' Houseman (Jennifer Grey's character in the movie), I was seduced. My Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze's role of a lifetime) was Hollywood. The town dirty danced to a different beat and it did not take much to be smitten. As I shimmied up the ranks, from delivering scripts in the mailroom to getting on a desk as an agent's assistant (sort of a glorified secretary), I made the metamorphosis from agent trainee to motion picture literary agent.

After my promotion, my old boss Joe Rosenberg took me out on the town to introduce me to the players. The first breakfast I had at the famous Polo Lounge in The Beverly Hills Hotel was with Joe and Steve Reuther. At the time, Steve worked at Vestron Pictures and Dirty Dancing was his baby.

Even Jay Leno Needs An Insurance Policy

We all know how much NBC has riding on its debut of "The Jay Leno Show" in primetime.  You can read all about it in, like, a billion places.

Now, however, the truth can be told.  In the ultimate conspiracy theory, NBC had Jay cloned years ago to protect its comedy investment in case the unthinkable happened.  And now, as the new show prepares to go on-the-air, that investment gets his big break.  Or break-out, as it were.  You'll see.

It's "The Adventures of Jay Clone," a short video that stars Jonathan Zabel as "Junior" and Don Most as "Doc."  Did we mention there's a rubber chicken and a Leno mask?

The Adventures of Jay Clone - watch more funny videos

The video was directed by USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate Kareem Dimashkie.  Jonathan Zabel played Young Jay and Jay's Son in nearly a dozen "Tonight Show" appearances in the Clinton Years.  Trained in improvisation, Jonathan now lives and works in the heart of Silicon Valley.

"The Adventures of Jay Clone" was just picked by eGuiders as its "Featured Comedy Pick for the week of September 14 to 20."  It's also, as you can see, on "Funny or Die."  We hope, if you like it, that you'll visit that site, vote for it as "Funny" and list it as a "Favorite."  Thanks!

Run, Junior, Run!

The Adventures of Jay Clone on Vimeo

Back in the Clinton Years my oldest son, Jonathan, played Young Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" about a dozen times. Now he's a USC film school grad (who just got a new job working for a major videogame company up in Silicon Valley) and he and his director buddy Kareem Dimashkie (with a throw-in by Jackie, me and our friend Don Most) put this video together in anticipation of the new "The Jay Leno Show." 
"The Adventures of Jay Clone" is based on the concept that Jay Leno was cloned by NBC years ago as an insurance policy to protect its comedy investment and now his young copy -- who's never had a date, driven a car or gone Jaywalking -- escapes to discover the real world and live out his genetic predisposition to comedy!

It stars Don Most as "Doc" and Jonathan Zabel as "Junior." You no doubt remember Don Most for his portrayal of Ralph Malph on the sitcom "Happy Days," something that's given him worldwide fans ever since.
This version of "The Adventures of Jay Clone" is hosted on Vimeo and can be watched in HD by clicking on the screen rather than just hitting play and watching it through this blog. Sometimes there are some streaming issues, but the quality is very good.

When Tomorrow Is Now

This essay by Jared Zabel is an entry in the L.A. Youth essay contest

Even the future will be the present someday. It’s never too early to start planning, something that’s true for people, businesses and even countries. Ten years from today, I’ll be in my twenties and – based on the way the world looks as we start 2009 – it will be the time to be alive and making a difference. I can’t wait.

In a world running out of oil, food, money and even fresh drinking water, there is one precious resource that may soon be more abundant than any time before in human history – hope.  Barack Obama just got elected president of the United States by talking about this resource.  He inspired millions to start thinking that tomorrow – no matter what our problems may be – can actually be better than today.

President Obama is on to something big here.  If enough people believe they can make a difference, they can become a force for change that will spread throughout their lives, their homes, and across every border on the planet.  If, as Gandhi said, we all need to “be the change you wish to see in the world,” then it’s time to get started.

READY TO BELIEVE: Free MP3 of Obama Fight Song!

Last January, while we were still on strike as members of the Writers Guild of America, my wife Jackie and I sat down in a Los Angeles coffee shop with our good friend, musician Cherish Alexander.

Before the coffee was cold, we decided, improbably given the time frame -- as a couple of striking screenwriters and a singer-composer -- to write, produce and distribute the song you'll soon hear.  It happened over a five day period and we released it immediately before the California primary.

So far, "Ready to Believe" has cumulatively had its video versions viewed close to 100,000 times on YouTube.  Plus, it's available on iTunes.  You, however, don't have to buy it in the closing days of the 2008 campaign.  We want you to download it for free and to send it to your friends.

It was written to stand-up for Barack to the Clinton campaign's charges claiming he wasn't ready for the presidency.  We find that the need for this song is as solidly right-on today as it was last February (only Clinton is on the team now and the argument's being made by John McCain).  It needed rebuttal then, and it needs rebuttal now. 

Please give it a listen.  Click the link below to just hear it.  Otherwise,right-click to actually... we'll say it again... download "Ready to Believe" for free.  Again, you have our express permission to download it and to give it away. 

Download_Ready_to_Believe_Song.mp3

Some have asked for a PDF of the actual lyrics.  Here you are:

Download_Ready_to_Believe_Lyrics.pdf

Here's the You Tube version:

Please also visit the web-page of singer-composer Cherish Alexander (http://www.cherishalexander.com/ready_to_believe/) where all the goodies are also available.  She and fellow producer Damian Valentine did an awesome job with this project as you can hear for yourself.

We know the hour is late but if you support Barack Obama, we'd urge you to join us and expose as many people as you can to this song.  Especially Obama volunteers.  We've received a good deal of email from campaign workers who thought it was like an anthemic "fight song" for the cause.  That's certainly what we intended it to be.

Remember to vote.  Even if the polls say he's ahead, you have to vote.  Take nothing for granted. 

Still fired up and ready-to-go for Obama!

Cherish Alexander, Jackie Zabel, Bryce Zabel

Get That Blimp Out of My Airspace!

My director pal, Lev Spiro, just sent me an email exchange that has to rank as one of the funniest pieces of unintentionally hilarious writing by a bureaucrat that I've ever seen. Apparently, Lev had written Goodyear yesterday complaining that their blimp was noisily circling his house for four hours.  Here's the response he got today:

Dear Lev,
I do apologize for the recent fly over of your neighborhood last evening. While flying at a safe and legal altitude, it is not our intention to upset anyone whose residential area we are flying over.  We  were working on a television show and I do not expect that we will be flying again in that area for some time, and certainly not for a prolonged period. Again, please except (sic) my apology for any incontinence (sic).
Sincerely,
Bob Urhausen
Airship P.R. Manager

Here is the reply Lev sent back:

Dear Mr. Urhausen,
Since I make my living as a television director, I can only conclude that karma is a bitch.  It hadn't occured to me that the blimp was for a production, but that makes sense. Rest assured, the blimp may have been inconvenient, but it did not cause me any incontinence.
Cheers,
Lev L. Spiro

Thank God for Goodyear that they've got the able Bob Urhausen on the public relations front.  He'll make sure the company looks good!