BRITISH PRODUCT PLACEMENT WOES

It's a tough choice:

-Earn a few extra bucks by placing a ®Pepsi (or any other huge money weilding brand you can think of) on the table in front of your leading actress

OR

- taping over the said brands in order not to sell yourself to the devil (or not place anything commercially viable on your set, which would pretty much leave it nourishment and technologically empty these days)

Personally, I love the fact that I can WATCH shows in the UK and not come away feeling like a complete failure as not only a woman but a human. Fair enough there are the adverts in between (unless you're watching a BBC channel), but I can get up and make a cup of tea (what else?!) for the three minutes it takes to educate me on what I'm missing in my life that I need, like, RIGHT NOW.

However, as a poor and lowly independent filmmaker I have to admit that I'd been yelling it from the roof tops if a big company Exec approached me with the offer of money for slotting that ®Pepsi in front of my leading actress.

I don't envy the government in it's decision making over product placement, but one thing I do know - those Brits are hard to crack.

If only there was the same money in inserting a yoga mat or granola bar into my next indie film. I'd be sorted!

FILMMAKING ON A GLOBAL LEVEL

This is definitely the time to be a filmmaker with a global outlook!

Grammy Winning - Southern Style!

So happy to hear that Zac Brown Band won Best New Artist at this year's Grammy Awards! Their song 'Chicken Fried' is the theme tune to my friend Jennifer's TV Show 'Bill Rampley's Southern Comfort', which won the award for Best Non Scripted Host or Star at the 2008 NYTVF. So many great winners for the south! Hopefully Jennifer's wish will come true - GPB will have no choice but to put it back on the airways!

It's time to go noodling again folks!

En la Cama

I can't help but wish I was more clued into the South American film industry -

Having watched and fallen in love with the 2002 Argentinian film Valentine by Alejandro Agresti, and now 2005's Chilean star En la Cama by Matias Bize I'm wondering why it took so long for me to find out about these films?

Hollywood should take some notes from both of these directors who have managed to create what would be named so-called chick flicks in the US while avoiding all the schmaltzy, condescension normally aimed at western woman and found in theaters all over the US.

Both these films have a focus on love and it's human complexity. Valentine focuses on the love between a child and his relatives and how that love, given or denied, shapes the relationships we muddle through the rest of our lives. En la Cama focuses more on the love, or connection, that can be felt between two adults (in this case strangers) and how our actions, normally products of our past history, can potentially change the shape of the future no matter how trapped we may feel.

Brilliantly acted, as an audience I was captivated by these characters' stories and rolled with their emotions. The directors shared their points of view on relationships and how they play out, and yet the endings left the audience to decide for themselves the answers to some of the questions and points raised. I was not spoon fed ideals about life or satisfied with a hollywood ending, and still left the movie feeling fuller and more complete than I have for a long time.

Definitely directors I could learn a lot from and who have a great respect for their audiences. I can't wait to see what else they create. World stand up and watch - South American film has many a great thing to say, and I think the world could use the inspiration.

Participant Media

I found this website for a company called Participant Media when I was searching through some green websites.  This company is really doing so much for the film world and the world in general by focusing on films that deal with very important social issues in the world right now - one of which is Food, Inc.

This is the kind of media company I would love to work for, focusing on meaningful films that add to the world voice rather than just creating dissonance.  Check them out!  Their social action programs center around the themes of the films allowing viewers to get involved either by learning more or by taking action online or in the local/ national arena once they have seen the films and connected with them.

The world needs more companies like Participant Media!