Friday, October 30, 2009

Party at Kodak, Hollywood -- Project:Involve



Film Independent put on a wonderful kick-off party for me and the other Project:Involve fellows at Kodak's Hollywood Headquarters. Hollywood Reporter and Variety, the top entertainment-trade publications, wrote about our party!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Me 2.0: Branding yourself online



"The basic idea of personal branding is to promote yourself as having certain values, skills or expertise -- your brand -- so that if someone needs that expertise, they'll come to you first," Professor David James states.


(article from CNN, photo from Getty Images)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ebert reviews Jackson's "This is It." (4 Stars)

















"This is it," Michael Jackson told his fans in London, announcing his forthcoming concert tour. "This is the final curtain call." The curtain fell sooner than expected. What is left is this extraordinary documentary, nothing at all like what I was expecting to see.

Continue reading 
(article and picture from Chicago Sun-Times)

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Awesome Filmmakers' Party

Filmmakers involved with FIND's Project:Involve spent a wonderful evening at Paul Yoo's Venice home. It was a real team effort as people brought foods, drinks, and desserts. Paul was a superb host and grill-master. The atmosphere was chill and welcoming.

Everyone was friendly and cool. I really enjoyed getting to know everyone better!

 
(first photo courtesy of Nori Takei)



Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Workshop with the Director of Zombieland

Ruben Fleischer, the director of Zombieland, spoke to me and other Project:Involve fellows in depth about his career, experience as a first-time studio director, his extensive prep work on projects. For Zombieland, he gathered hundreds of reference photos and video clips from 200 of his favorite movies!!

He is down-to-earth and open to share. I learned a lot from his talk -- both in terms of the nuts-and-bolts and the right attitude to have. For a young writer-director like me, they are invaluable.

I feel even more MOTIVATED than before!

Big shout-out to FIND, Francisco, and Jane for making this happen. Also to Nori Takei for taking this photo.


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Film Independent's Filmmaker Forum - overview

As a Project:Involve fellow at Film Independent, I attended its Filmmaker Forum this weekend at the DGA, the walls of which are decorated with photos of directors I admire. At the event, I spoke to John August (writer of Corpse Bride and Big Fish), producer of Juno, COO of Lionsgate, top agents, trailblazers of digital media, and socially conscious docu-filmmakers. I also heard producers of The Last Emperor and Little Miss Sunshine speak.

Unexpectedly, I ran into my directing teacher at UCLA, an ex-co-worker who's a wonderful line producer, and my high school classmate who's a smart, knowledgeable casting director of Inglourious Basterds. How funny? What a small world!



(photo courtesy of Lisa Stacilauska, fellow P:I comrade)