Year in Review: June 2010

June was another great month filled with dance, cars, web series, and sci-fi.  It was a busy month, but one that brought lots of variety.  Check out what happened in June 2010:

1.  A fun day with Toyota talking about the PHV Prius (coming your way in 2012) with automotive radio host, Leon "The Motorman" Kaplan at the Americana in Glendale.  He's a fantastic flirt and a great guy on 790 KABC in Los Angeles.

2,  A few shots from some of my favorite June episodes of The Web Files:

Here with Cooper Harris, star/producer of Squatters:

Lizzie Beckwith of Vampire Mob is adorable and hilarious.  I think we should be BFFs.

You might recognize this photo from the top of this blog.  This was caught at the SOLO the Series premiere and I love how it catches me in action at a job that I adore.

4.  This crazy get-up was for the premiere of the XBox 360 Kinect in LA.  See all of the fun photos from the launch and why I was dressed like a choir girl.  

5. Here  with the amazing Lula Washington, choreographer of James Cameron's Avatar at the Choreographers in Media panel.  See the video and photos with a few dance legends, it truly was a highlight for a dance geek like me.  

6.  I happily flirted with James Remar of SATC at the Saturn Awards.  While I was there to cover the best in sci-fi, hey, I am a girl, I like handsome men and TV shows about fashion.  This was probably one of the strangest red carpets I have ever covered.  See how it all unfolded and what "Spock Blocking really means.

If you do watch the "Spock Blocking" short video, let me know what you think.  A little crazy, right?

Photo 2:  Courtesy of Mingle Media TV
Photo 3:  Courtesy of Agnes Magyari.
Photo 4:  Courtesy of Jonathan Nail

Behind the Scenes of SOLO the Series Red Carpet Premiere

As the days dwindle before my vacation, I want to make sure I capture all of the excitement surrounding the SOLO the Series premiere:  a packed house, lots of giveaways, and a long awaited series screening. We were back at Cinespace which has become one of the "go-to" locations for web series premieres.  You might even recognize the background from the Compulsions episode.  We were able to grab the cast right before they headed into the screening room to give us their thoughts on the series and what item they would like to have with them if they were stranded in space.  SOLO the Series, created by Jonathan Nail, follows the journey of man stranded in space after his reality show is cancelled and that is when the hilarity really begins.

We were able to interview some familiar faces to the web series landscape from Michele Boyd of The Guild to Brittney Powell and Tom Konkle of Safety Geeks: SVI.  What?  You don't remember seeing a full interview with Brittney and Tom in our episode?  I joke that they are on The Web Files every week, so I don't want to disappoint you.  Find out about their participation in SOLO the Series in this Red Carpet Closet extra:

The one person I was really excited to interview was Jay Caputo who plays Jack Spratt, the reality show producer whose behind the scenes shenanigans with the Japanese mafia get them all into trouble.  If you are a frequent reader here, you know I am an uber-gymnastics geek.  Well, Jay was on the National team as an elite gymnast, a successful NCAA athlete, and he participated in the 1992 Olympic Trials. Impressive, right?  Well, Jay was not so impressed with my excitement.  Watch my awkwardness unfold onscreen:  

As for creator, Jonathan Nail, it was exciting to watch his big night.  This show has been a long time in coming and he did a great job with the premiere.  He built on the momentum with a packed house of supporters, he offered up fantastic prizes for a raffle to help raise money for the rest of shooting season (And boy, were there some excited winners--Hello, A Good Knight's Quest table.) and belief in the project permeated the room.  I think we all felt that we want Jonathan, the cast, and the show to succeed.  This truly was Jonathan's night and his pet project.  He had a lot of support behind the scenes too with web series power couple (Okay, I just termed that, but I like it.), Allison Vanore and Rob Gokee.  I finally met Allison after months of communicating on Twitter.  After meeting her in person, I understand why she is in demand as a producer:  confident, smart, and really sharp.  So, book her now if you want to work with her, I have a feeling it is onwards and upwards with her career. Rob is familiar to many of you from our Web Files Buzz episode back in March.  He scored a majority of SOLO the Series and he is a great example of utilizing social media to market and gain new clients.  

I was also grateful to be asked to moderate the Q&A after the screening. One of the most important ideas that came up was casting in a web series.  It has been a common occurrence to cast your friends in all of the roles.  It is a great idea to band together to create new work, but sometimes you wind up with someone that may be miscast or doesn't have the acting chops of everyone around them.  Well, Jonathan Nail brought in casting director, Laurie Records, to help with SOLO.  It adds another layer of professionalism to the production and by holding auditions, you might find an actor who brings new meaning and layers to the words you have written as a creator.  It's an interesting thought, so if you are able to set aside a budget to hire a casting director, you may see your work take shape on levels you might not have realized otherwise.  I point it out because it's just another little morsel to nibble on while your next web series idea is brewing. 

I know a lot of you are waiting for the big debut of SOLO the Series and that day is coming soon. Be sure to check out Episode 1 on July 6th at WatchSolo.com.  Congratulations to the cast!  It truly was a magical night.  

Enjoy our episode, I think you will hear about a lot of different aspects to the production from shooting on the small set with Dirctor of Photography, PJ Gaynard, to playing a robot, PHAL9000, with actor, Jason Burns.  If you want a tour of the set, see our Web Files Buzz episode with Jonathan from February.  Now, check out all of the action from the red carpet premiere:

Photo #2 Courtesy of Jonathan Nail

Photo #3 Courtesy of Brittney Powell

Choose Your Own Adventure

I am here to give you choices today, I'm going to call it "Choose Your Own Adventure" Wednesday.  If you are in the mood for a little glitz and glam, check out the red carpet premiere of SOLO the Series created by Jonathan Nail and starring The Guild's Michele Boyd, Jason Burns, and Jay Caputo.  Find out what everyone would bring on their adventure if they were stranded in space:

If you are looking for something along the lines of gadgets and tech, then take a look at Episode 2 of the MoreWireLess series I hosted for Broadcom. This week's episode features Premium Sound with Bluetooth Technology. My mom even said she learned something from the premiere episode, maybe you will too!
As always, thanks for watching......

Behind the Scenes of The Web Files Buzz, Episode 1

Yes, we brought you something different this week, the inaugural episode of The Web Files Buzz. Sandra and I have been toying with this idea for awhile, but it took some time to figure out how we wanted to execute the episode. I have received a lot of questions about this format: Is this the new format of the show? Is the old format gone? The answer is "sometimes" and "no". We will do a Buzz show every few weeks to mix it up in between our longer, more formal interviews. As the web space grows, we have to grow. Viewers want us to get in depth with their favorite shows, but we do not want to forget those shows that are up and coming. So, I think the new format serves an important purpose. We had a lot of fun shooting these shorter segments and I think delivered an action packed episode.

We kicked it off with the IAWTV "For Your Consideration" Screening of The Fall of Kaden and Blue Movies, both Koldcast TV web series. I did an in depth piece on the evening which can be read here: Fall of Kaden/Blue Movies. I haven't seen the Koldcast footage yet, but hopefully, it will be released soon. The Koldcast shoot talked more about the fantastic idea to hold a IAWTV screening and it is a format now being wisely copied by others before the Streamy ballots are due. I think it will also give web series creators, Adam Leiphart and Matt Double (Fall of Kaden) and Scott Brown (Blue Movies) even more deserved face time with the IAWTV voters.

Our second segment featured one of my favorite web series stars, Brittney Powell, of Safety Geeks: SVI. We caught her in between an appearance at the Xena convention on a Saturday afternoon. If you didn't know, Brittney has quite an impressive resumé as she played Brunnhilda on the series amongst other high profile roles. Xena has a strong female following, so while we didn't shoot inside the convention, there were a lot of women running around the lobby of the LAX Marriott trying to get a glimpse of Brittney. Popular girl! Anyway, I wanted to discuss the Safety Geeks: SVI calendar since it's a great way to think outside of the box in terms of marketing their web series. The cheeky pin-up girl theme also brings Tom Konkle and Dave Beeler along for the fun. Check out the cast's calendar at Amazon: Safety Geeks Calendar.

Finally, we rounded out the episode with a visit to Jonathan Nail on the set of his upcoming show, SOLO the Series. The set was built inside his garage and we had a chance to climb inside to take a closer look. Jonathan's show has created a lot of buzz over Twitter and I am glad we were able to see what those 140 characters were all about. He also showed me the pilot after the shoot, so get ready for a comedic, sci-fi ride sometime in 2010.

It was a day for cupcake shirts and many of you asked where you could purchase my shirt after I posted the photo on Twitter. Well, it was purchased at the Union Square Christmas fair in NY by a friend of mine. She tried to track down the designer, but we were not able to find her. However, you can find similar cupcake shirts online, just google "Make cupcakes, not war". I also took a close-up photo of my crew badge. Jonathan made me an honorary crew member of Team SOLO. Let's just hope I don't get stuck in space like he did.

Be sure to check out our first episode of The Web Files Buzz here: Episode 1. It is our fastest rising show to date, so we appreciate your views and feedback. On Wednesday, we go back to our usual format with an interview with Epic Fu creators and the 2009 Streamys winners for Best Hosted Web Series, Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf.

Red carpet photos courtesy of Bernie Su of Compulsions.