Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
T.I. – I’m Back
T.I. – I’m Back
he is back. One emcee/mc goes to jail and another takes over. I still would avoid jail at any cost but as one of the comments said he sounds hungry as hell. After having some mexican last night without my maduros(i am still pissed about it) and then going to Queens and getting smacked with a left hook on video games, it is nice to wake up to some aggressive hip hop. Do ya thang.
Btw Mad Decent should sign Brik Mason. no joke. SXSW is coming up. Get ready.
he is back. One emcee/mc goes to jail and another takes over. I still would avoid jail at any cost but as one of the comments said he sounds hungry as hell. After having some mexican last night without my maduros(i am still pissed about it) and then going to Queens and getting smacked with a left hook on video games, it is nice to wake up to some aggressive hip hop. Do ya thang.
Btw Mad Decent should sign Brik Mason. no joke. SXSW is coming up. Get ready.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
What happens after you become famous
Jeff Cohen a.k.a. Chunk from The Goonies
He was Chunk. You know who we mean. For our culturally illiterate readers who grew up on Big Love-style polygamist compounds, we'll just say that in 1985, Richard Donner (of Lethal Weapon fame) directed the greatest adventure movie starring an obese child in the history of cinema. That film was The Goonies and that obese child was Chunk, whose epically humiliating Truffle Shuffle gave an entire generation of husky children a reason to swim with their t-shirts on.
After the Spotlight:
He grew up to be a big-shot Hollywood attorney.
Many child stars ride out their one shtick until they're septum-deep in a bucket of Bolivian Marching Powder, but Cohen avoided child star purgatory. He dropped the acting (and the weight) and attended UC Berkeley, where he rode out his one shtick to campus fame: Cohen ran for Student Body President on the platform "Vote for Chunk" and performed the Truffle Shuffle at Cal football games.
After obtaining his undergrad, Cohen attended UCLA Law and later founded his own media law firm, which is sadly not named Chunk, Sloth & Associates.
In 2008, Cohen was named one of The Hollywood Reporter's Top 35 Executives under 35. We assume Cohen entered law to defend the less fortunate of the world (or at least greater Los Angeles). After all, the Truffle Shuffle basically set fat kids' civil rights back 20 years.
He was Chunk. You know who we mean. For our culturally illiterate readers who grew up on Big Love-style polygamist compounds, we'll just say that in 1985, Richard Donner (of Lethal Weapon fame) directed the greatest adventure movie starring an obese child in the history of cinema. That film was The Goonies and that obese child was Chunk, whose epically humiliating Truffle Shuffle gave an entire generation of husky children a reason to swim with their t-shirts on.
After the Spotlight:
He grew up to be a big-shot Hollywood attorney.
Many child stars ride out their one shtick until they're septum-deep in a bucket of Bolivian Marching Powder, but Cohen avoided child star purgatory. He dropped the acting (and the weight) and attended UC Berkeley, where he rode out his one shtick to campus fame: Cohen ran for Student Body President on the platform "Vote for Chunk" and performed the Truffle Shuffle at Cal football games.
After obtaining his undergrad, Cohen attended UCLA Law and later founded his own media law firm, which is sadly not named Chunk, Sloth & Associates.
In 2008, Cohen was named one of The Hollywood Reporter's Top 35 Executives under 35. We assume Cohen entered law to defend the less fortunate of the world (or at least greater Los Angeles). After all, the Truffle Shuffle basically set fat kids' civil rights back 20 years.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Spend money to make money
o Permalink
o
By LARRY ROHTER
Published: January 3, 2010
A new fee levied on movie and television production companies filming inside some municipally owned buildings in New York City is drawing complaints from the entertainment industry, which argues that the charge of $3,200 accompanying each permit is excessive and could drive productions elsewhere.
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Shows filmed in New York like “Ugly Betty” (from left, Michael Urie, America Ferrera and Becki Newton) could be affected by a new location fee for using some popular city-owned buildings.
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City officials say the fee affects only a small number of locations and is fair compensation for expenses they incur in processing permit requests and providing staff, like electricians. But entertainment industry representatives, citing declining revenues from DVDs and advertising, say the new measure sets a worrisome precedent at a difficult moment. “Our concern is that this could start a domino effect among other city agencies, which could make filming in New York cost-prohibitive,” said Vans Stevenson, senior vice president for state affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America, a trade group financed by the major studios. “What’s to stop the parks and sanitation departments or police stations or hospitals from instituting similar fees? We are living in a time when production costs and budgets are very tight, and these kinds of charges can make a difference in terms of the decision process.”
The fee, which went into effect just before Christmas, applies to 54 buildings operated by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, including courthouses familiar to viewers of television series like “Law & Order.” Mark Daly, a department spokesman, said there were 190 requests to film in those buildings in 2009.
Had the fee been in effect all year long, it would have generated a little more than $600,000 for the city.
Besides the popular “Law & Order” franchise, which has been shooting in New York since 1990, and at the moment consists of three shows, other series that have filmed in department buildings and will be subject to the new fee include, Mr. Daly said, “Gossip Girls,” “Ugly Betty” and “The Good Wife.” The buildings most requested by production companies, he added, are the columned Supreme Court Building at 60 Centre Street in Manhattan, Brooklyn Borough Hall and the Supreme Court building in Jamaica, Queens.
Despite calls for a sliding scale that would allow makers of commercials, videos and television pilot episodes to pay less and would exempt student filmmakers altogether, the fee applies to all productions. That is because “in terms of staff time spent arranging and reviewing permits, the basic administrative costs are the same, regardless of the size of the production,” Mr. Daly said.
John Johnston, executive director of the New York Production Alliance, a trade group that represents local craft unions, production and service companies and soundstages, said: “This one fee is not going to destroy the film business in New York. But it’s an irritant, and it does hurt the independents” who have much smaller budgets than Hollywood studios or television networks. “This is a highly mobile industry,” he added, “and history has shown that when it’s more advantageous to move to adjacent states, that’s what happens.”
Producers are also complaining about the lead time now needed to process permits. The city initially planned to require applications be filed a week in advance, which was reduced to four days after protests. But that is still slower than many California municipalities and is particularly problematic for commercials, which often involve a very short turnaround time.
The new charge in New York City, which producers say is already the most expensive shooting location in the nation, is one that rival cities either do not have at all or that they have chosen to keep at a minimal level. Chicago, for example, where “The Good Wife” is set but not filmed, makes police stations, schools, airports and even City Hall available to production companies without any permit or administrative fee unless the building is no longer in use, in which case there is a $250 opening charge.
“Revenue is tough to come by these days, and our office has also heard from other departments within government that this is an opportunity to create revenue,” said Richard Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, a city agency. “When you’re dealing with an industry that is not necessarily impoverished, you can see the tendency to want to take advantage of that. But this is such a competitive business, and thus far we’ve been able to maintain a balance that allows us to offer services at low or no cost whenever possible.”
New York officials at the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting appear skeptical of arguments that the new measure will reduce the city’s competitiveness. Julianne Cho, an associate commissioner, said that while New York’s system “is different from the way other cities work, the big picture is that we are the only city offering free police assistance,” in addition to free permit processing and free use of one-of-a-kind exterior locations, which she said could save a large production company up to $19,000 a week compared with Los Angeles shoots.
In a written statement Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of the film office, also noted that New York City offered a 5 percent tax credit to production companies, “the only one of its kind administered by a city in the U.S.” (That is on top of a 30 percent credit from New York State. Tax credits of up to 42 percent are available in other parts of the country but through state governments.) However, the city has recently proposed scaling back that credit by 1 percent a year for television series, meaning that it would expire after five years, a move that Ms. Oliver said was “designed to incentivize new television production.”
That take-it-or-leave-it attitude in part reflects the shifting economics of film and television production. Until recently companies that might bridle at the new charge might have transferred productions to Toronto, which has often doubled for New York, or to Vancouver. But over the last eight years the value of the Canadian dollar has risen from 62 cents to the United States dollar to parity or even above, and that has eroded part of Canada’s cost advantage and attractiveness.
In view of the current economic downturn, entertainment industry representatives say they are not opposed to a charge for the use of municipal buildings. But they question how the city arrived at the $3,200 figure and say that and other aspects of the new fee have unnecessarily complicated a heretofore cordial relationship that, in their estimate, generates about $5 billion a year for the local economy.
“Any fee should be reasonable and more accurately mirror the cost of using a particular space,” Mr. Stevenson said. “Many local jurisdictions and states waive fees altogether, and we believe that $3,200 is an exorbitant rate that will only serve to discourage motion picture and television location production in New York’s public buildings.”
o
By LARRY ROHTER
Published: January 3, 2010
A new fee levied on movie and television production companies filming inside some municipally owned buildings in New York City is drawing complaints from the entertainment industry, which argues that the charge of $3,200 accompanying each permit is excessive and could drive productions elsewhere.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Patrick Harbron/ABC
Shows filmed in New York like “Ugly Betty” (from left, Michael Urie, America Ferrera and Becki Newton) could be affected by a new location fee for using some popular city-owned buildings.
Blogs
The Carpetbagger
The
Carpetbagger
Your guide to the news and the nonsense of awards season. Join the discussion.
Go to Awards Season
City officials say the fee affects only a small number of locations and is fair compensation for expenses they incur in processing permit requests and providing staff, like electricians. But entertainment industry representatives, citing declining revenues from DVDs and advertising, say the new measure sets a worrisome precedent at a difficult moment. “Our concern is that this could start a domino effect among other city agencies, which could make filming in New York cost-prohibitive,” said Vans Stevenson, senior vice president for state affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America, a trade group financed by the major studios. “What’s to stop the parks and sanitation departments or police stations or hospitals from instituting similar fees? We are living in a time when production costs and budgets are very tight, and these kinds of charges can make a difference in terms of the decision process.”
The fee, which went into effect just before Christmas, applies to 54 buildings operated by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, including courthouses familiar to viewers of television series like “Law & Order.” Mark Daly, a department spokesman, said there were 190 requests to film in those buildings in 2009.
Had the fee been in effect all year long, it would have generated a little more than $600,000 for the city.
Besides the popular “Law & Order” franchise, which has been shooting in New York since 1990, and at the moment consists of three shows, other series that have filmed in department buildings and will be subject to the new fee include, Mr. Daly said, “Gossip Girls,” “Ugly Betty” and “The Good Wife.” The buildings most requested by production companies, he added, are the columned Supreme Court Building at 60 Centre Street in Manhattan, Brooklyn Borough Hall and the Supreme Court building in Jamaica, Queens.
Despite calls for a sliding scale that would allow makers of commercials, videos and television pilot episodes to pay less and would exempt student filmmakers altogether, the fee applies to all productions. That is because “in terms of staff time spent arranging and reviewing permits, the basic administrative costs are the same, regardless of the size of the production,” Mr. Daly said.
John Johnston, executive director of the New York Production Alliance, a trade group that represents local craft unions, production and service companies and soundstages, said: “This one fee is not going to destroy the film business in New York. But it’s an irritant, and it does hurt the independents” who have much smaller budgets than Hollywood studios or television networks. “This is a highly mobile industry,” he added, “and history has shown that when it’s more advantageous to move to adjacent states, that’s what happens.”
Producers are also complaining about the lead time now needed to process permits. The city initially planned to require applications be filed a week in advance, which was reduced to four days after protests. But that is still slower than many California municipalities and is particularly problematic for commercials, which often involve a very short turnaround time.
The new charge in New York City, which producers say is already the most expensive shooting location in the nation, is one that rival cities either do not have at all or that they have chosen to keep at a minimal level. Chicago, for example, where “The Good Wife” is set but not filmed, makes police stations, schools, airports and even City Hall available to production companies without any permit or administrative fee unless the building is no longer in use, in which case there is a $250 opening charge.
“Revenue is tough to come by these days, and our office has also heard from other departments within government that this is an opportunity to create revenue,” said Richard Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, a city agency. “When you’re dealing with an industry that is not necessarily impoverished, you can see the tendency to want to take advantage of that. But this is such a competitive business, and thus far we’ve been able to maintain a balance that allows us to offer services at low or no cost whenever possible.”
New York officials at the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting appear skeptical of arguments that the new measure will reduce the city’s competitiveness. Julianne Cho, an associate commissioner, said that while New York’s system “is different from the way other cities work, the big picture is that we are the only city offering free police assistance,” in addition to free permit processing and free use of one-of-a-kind exterior locations, which she said could save a large production company up to $19,000 a week compared with Los Angeles shoots.
In a written statement Katherine Oliver, the commissioner of the film office, also noted that New York City offered a 5 percent tax credit to production companies, “the only one of its kind administered by a city in the U.S.” (That is on top of a 30 percent credit from New York State. Tax credits of up to 42 percent are available in other parts of the country but through state governments.) However, the city has recently proposed scaling back that credit by 1 percent a year for television series, meaning that it would expire after five years, a move that Ms. Oliver said was “designed to incentivize new television production.”
That take-it-or-leave-it attitude in part reflects the shifting economics of film and television production. Until recently companies that might bridle at the new charge might have transferred productions to Toronto, which has often doubled for New York, or to Vancouver. But over the last eight years the value of the Canadian dollar has risen from 62 cents to the United States dollar to parity or even above, and that has eroded part of Canada’s cost advantage and attractiveness.
In view of the current economic downturn, entertainment industry representatives say they are not opposed to a charge for the use of municipal buildings. But they question how the city arrived at the $3,200 figure and say that and other aspects of the new fee have unnecessarily complicated a heretofore cordial relationship that, in their estimate, generates about $5 billion a year for the local economy.
“Any fee should be reasonable and more accurately mirror the cost of using a particular space,” Mr. Stevenson said. “Many local jurisdictions and states waive fees altogether, and we believe that $3,200 is an exorbitant rate that will only serve to discourage motion picture and television location production in New York’s public buildings.”
Saturday, January 2, 2010
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