Friday, February 26, 2016

View: We Do It Together Formed by Entertainment's Best and Brightest - Taking a Step Towards Representation and Equality For Females in Front of and Behind the Camera in Hollywood


Jersey's Queen Latifah   
Should be called Finally It is Being Done?  A group of notable, talented and high-powered women and men have come together, pooling their talents to form We Do It Together, a non-profit organization with the goal of financing and producing films, TV projects, documentaries and other media "dedicated to the empowerment of women."

In order to do this, the group will raise funds from various sources which will fund a production company to produce films and other media. Sources report that their first project will be announced at Canne.

First Project Announced: Together Now

The Advisory Board for the non-profit is impressive, with women (and men) from both in front of and behind the camera. Here are just a few of the Board members noted so far in press:

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Jersey Shore's Nicole Polizzi Returns to Where it All Began with New FYI Channel Show Nicole and Jionni's Jersey Shore Flip

Nicole "Snooki Polizzi" will be taking lots
of bathroom photos in her new Jersey Shore
houseflipping show on FYI.     Photo from Facebook
Three years after Sandy there are still, sadly, Sandy houses along the Jersey Shore, houses that look like they may be used during the summer or lived in until you look closer, and you notice the blinds have not moved in years and the windows are really dirty. 

Jersey Shore's Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, along with her husband Jionni, are taking a few of these on as projects in their new show, Nicole and Jionni's Shore Flip.

Hoping to capitalize on the mesmerizing and successful trend of home  makeovers shows, they're taking on the challenge as a husband and wife team.

"His dream was to flip houses,"  Nicole told NY Live, "and we fell in love with it. "It makes sense to do it down the shore because Sandy hit. It's a good purpose. We're helping our friends."

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Interview with General Hospital and Fear The Walking Dead Flight 462's Kathleen Gati: From Port Charles to the Not-So-Friendly Skies

 By Suzanne Ordas Curry
Kathleen Gati is a Canadian actress most well known for her role as the sinister Dr. Lisa Olbrecht on the long-running daytime drama General Hospital, is now part of the immensely popular Walking Dead phenomenon. She plays Deirdre, a flight attendant on the companion series to WD Fear The Walking Dead, Flight 462.

This actress has been on stage and screen since the 80's, appearing all over the place with roles in stage and screen in Canada, the US and internationally. With her exotic European aura and her flair for European accents, she often plays . From the webseries Winterthorne to Star Wars: Clone Wars, to Meet the Fockers to Jimmy Kimmel she's got an extensive resume. On TV, she's had roles in The Mentalist, NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, 24, ER, The Practice, Bones, NYPD Blue and more. In addition to General Hospital, she had a long-standing role on All My Children and also appeared in Young and the Restless early in her career.

RHONJ Teresa Guidice to Appear in NJ at Books and Greetings: RHONJ Will be Filming at Book Signing

RHONJ fans, be a part of the show. Call Books and Greetings about how to purchase tickets. Many people purchase them prior to the event and then show up with the book.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

RHONJ Teresa Giudice's First Event in NJ: Bookends Hosts Book Signing for Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again

Hard to believe that almost a year has passed, and for us it went quickly but not so much for RHONJ Teresa Giudice. Making lemonade out of lemons as did Martha Stewart, Teresa makes her first appearance in her home state of NJ to sign copies of her new book, "Turning the Table, From Housewife To Inmate and Back Again." She will be at Bookends in Ridgewood, February 10th at 7pm.

This NJ Italian has already started her book tour with numerous appearances on television about her experience. Poised as always, I would say she handled the whole thing with grace and honesty. I have met her before as we have a mutual friend and barring discussion on what she was in for, this is one tough lady who did not let the experience get her down and has probably grown a whole lot from it.

In interviews she has said that the 'hardest part was being away from my family."  She talks about her time incarcerated and called it "hell". "There was mold in the bathroom and the showers were freezing," she added.

Friday, February 5, 2016

The Play's The Thing: Interview with WGA Award Nominated Writer of Weight: Daryn Strauss - Includes List of WGA 2016 Nominees

There's an old saying, "The play's the thing." It can't be more true, even in our modern world where anyone with a video camera can produce a video with amazing visual effects.

However, you can have a great bunch of actors,  a great director, great effects and if the words just aren't there, it won't work.

Writing is the seed of a production. Sometime the writer has the concept his or herself, builds a script around it and then shops it around. Other times there's a story in the works, and it's the screenwriter's job to tell the story with pages of dialogue.

Daryn Strauss, creator and writer of the series pilot Weight starring Emmy winner Martha Byrne, was nominated for a 2015 Writer's Guild Award for Weight (for Original Short Form New Media). This is her second nomination, having been nominated in the past for Downsized, a webseries about ordinary people getting, well, "downsized".  Daryn wrote, produced and starred in this. With a dancing background, Daryn is also at ease in front of the camera, looking I may add, a bit like a younger Helen Hunt.
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For a complete list of Nominees for WGA Awards 2016 click here:
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Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Equity The Movie Premieres at Sundance 2016 - Sold to Sony Classics Pictures

Equity, premiered at Sundance 2016 at the Library in Park City, Utah.

On a comfortably cold evening in January the theater was sold out to see this female-driven financial thriller that was sold to Sony Classics Pictures before it's Sundance audience premiere.

The movie stars Breaking Bad's Anna Gunn as a female investment banker struggling in her career who takes a company public. Her boyfriend is played by James Purefoy, The film's producers,  Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas, had starring roles aside Ms. Gunn.

All eyes were glued on the screen as the plot unfolded. Equity is a complex movie about the behind-the scenes of an IPO. There are multiple characters, distinct personalities and subplots all contributing to the eventual climax of the movie, the day the stock went public.  It's the kind of movie that needs to be seen twice to get a full understanding of the relationships of the characters and how these affect the ending. 

The movies was produced by with the help of real female investment bankers, with monetary support as well as story support. in fact, some of the producers, who are current investment bankers, have  cameos in the film. One co-producer spent hours with screenplay writer Amy Fox explaining the math behind the movie. Another co-producer spent time explaining the complex relationships females have in banking. 

After the movie ended , the Q and A was held with  Director Meera Menon, Producers Alysia Reiner and Sarah Megan Thomas, David Alan Bash, Actor Jamers Purefoy, and Screenwriter Amy Fox. 

The Q and A started with writer Amy Fox talking about the the script. "As  a writer, I always want to be working on something that means something,  that has something to say in the world, but it's not a documentary. It's gotta be a page turner, something to keep you on the edge of your seats. Otherwise it's an essay, that's not what we wanted to do, we are making a movie."

Alysia Reiner, who played Sam the compliance officer said, "I try to think that it's a stealth bomb-issuing. You like, have this really exciting thriller, and there's this stealth bomb in it, something that's changing the world for women."