Wednesday, June 30, 2004

 
Broadway Union Talks Break Off:
The Actors Equity union and Broadway producers have broken off talks on a new contract. The two sides couldn't even agree on who ended the talks. Equity said bargaining stalled at 11 pm 'when negotiators for producers walked out.' The League of American Theatres and Producers issued a statement just after midnight that began, 'Actors' Equity broke off negotiations...'
(from BackStage.com)

Sunday, June 27, 2004

 
Chicago's Cost of Living is the 3rd Most Expensive in the US:

Chicago's cost of living ranks number 3 after New York and LA (world wide they are numbers 12 and 27 respectively). Chicago is number 35 world wide (right after Budapest, Hungary [34] and before Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam [36]).

The Canadian cities, Toronto and Vancouver, which often double for other cities on film, are number 89 and number 96 respectively (from CNN).

Friday, June 25, 2004

 
Expensive Chaos in LA:
...how does a man with no stage training and a poor command of the English language wind up playing Hamlet in the middle of Hollywood? And what marketing genius suggested $35,000 billboards to advertise an 85-seat theater production? Yet, given such extravagant publicity, why didn’t Hamlet learn his lines? What were they thinking? All of them?
(from LA Weekly).

 
Nonprofit theaters continue to struggle:
Attendance is up and the number of productions has risen by 15 percent at nonprofit theaters nationwide over the past three years. At the same time, more than half of the country's noncommercial theater companies have been operating in the red, according to a Theatre Communications Group study, whose results were reported this week in the Chronicle of Philanthropy
(from The Boston Globe).

 
Some British say America's liveliest theatre is in Chicago:
New York's stages are in a slump. Now all America's liveliest drama is in Chicago.
Since the late 1960s, when the Off-Loop theatre movement - defined by the city's elevated railway - got under way, Chicago theatre has witnessed an astonishing boom. Today its reputation is bound up with a handful of iconic names: David Mamet, John Malkovich, the Steppenwolf Company and Second City revue, which spawned Mike Nichols, Elaine May, John Belushi and Bill Murray. No fewer than 156 theatre companies, predominantly non-profit, operate in the city. And while New York, with its suffocating commercialism, seems increasingly hidebound, it is to Chicago that the true theatregoer now avidly looks?
(from Guardian Unlimited). This sort of echos something I posted last month: Some Canadians say theatre saved Chicago.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

 
Batman Begins seeks extras:
The Warner Bros Productions Ltd., "Intimidation Game," [aka Batman 5, Batman: Intimidation, Batman: Intimidation Game] a major motion picture, is coming to town in August.
Joan Philo, extras casting director for such features as "High Fidelity, Ali, Chain Reaction," is looking for people to work as paid extras.
These are non-speaking roles. We are looking for people for one and two day shoots. These are all exterior shoots and most of them are all night shoots.
We are looking for students, all ethnic groups, for different scenes to be shot in Downtown Chicago. We are also looking for people to work with their cars.
If interested please come to our Open Casting Call
When: Thursday June 24, 2004
Where: Columbia College
1104 South Wabash [Yahoo map]
Room #502
Time: 1:00pm until 3:00pm
Anytime between these hours
*Please bring a recent color photograph of yourself (this doesn't have to be a professional shot) and if your interested in the car work (please bring a picture of your car). Also bring a pen as you will fill out a registration card.
Contact phone number: 773-509-2929
Thank you for your interest. This is going to be an amazing film!
Call ahead to confirm the time and place, and when you get there please tell them David Lawrence referred you.

Monday, June 21, 2004

 
E-mailing a script?
PDF is a good option, but converting your script into an RTF, and then e-mailing it, will preserve the formatting no matter what the recipient uses to open it (.rtf files can be opened on almost all platforms and with lots of different software).

PDFs preserve formatting too, but Adobe Acrobat costs money; the word processor you already have can probably convert your document into RTF. RTFs can also be edited, which can make them better than PDFs for a work in progress.

Sunday, June 20, 2004

 
Equity's Vote Authorizes Strike:
Over 98% of voting members favored approving a strike in the ballot count announced Monday by Election Services Corporation, the independent firm that counted the votes
(from Backstage.com). I believe the contract negotiation affects NY shows; Chicago shows aren't directly affected.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

 
The Independent feature The Promise Keeper plans to shoot here in July and August (from ReelChicago.com).

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

 

Friday, June 04, 2004

 
Chicago Community Cinema, a networking event for independent film in Chicago, meets Tuesday, June 8th, at 6:00 PM at Excalibur, 632 N. Dearborn St. (Yahoo map).

Thursday, June 03, 2004

 
Stand-in work:
Looking for the following characteristics to use as stand ins for a independent film [$75/Day].
  1. Female, late 30s, blond, curvy, 5'5" - 5'7".
  2. Male, (who will stand in for Kirkwood Smith - the dad on the 70's show) slightly bald, 5'10" - 6'0".
  3. Male, clean shaven head, slim build, 5'10" - 5'11".
  4. Male, early 20s, long blond hair, surfer/skater-type, slim build.
  5. Male, African-American, 45-55, taxi cab driver type, big build.
Please email Maria at cinemetroextras@yahoo.com or call 773-486-8048.
This is all I know about this; caveat actor.

 
Another film here this year:
The filmmakers of Griot Filmworks will return to Chicago for their first major studio production when the MGM film, 'Step in the Name of Love,' shoots here later this year
(from ReelChicago.com).