TV ON DVD IN BULK

I was going to take the day off but first wanted to clear up a misconception: The WGA 'DVD' issue has been going on for a few years now. It is not a case of the writers suddenly pulling the subject out of their hats to fatten their wallets.

And the 'video streaming' issue has to be dealt with now and built upon as the technology and usage grow over the years to come.

Gee, how many ways can creative people be ripped off?! And frequently by inimitably non-creative types. Let me count the ways...

The picture montage I posted above speaks volumes, I think.

For a more text based angle to the argument, not to mention evidence, check out...
http://tvshowsondvd.com/

WGA STRIKE

No doubt you have heard about the impending (or for sure) "writers' strike". If you like your television regular with new episodes then this is not an issue where you would utter, "who cares?!"

I have oodles of respect for these guys, and girls. They are, whether the typical producer would admit it or not, the people who conjure up those story ideas and full scripts; which a film crew later commits to camera. Unfortunately, writers for some reason are not held in high regard by some in the industry.

The WGA (Writers Guild of America) has fought long and hard for what benefits and remunerations they receive today.

This brings me to one of the big issues, if not the biggest: Writers want a percentage of monies accumulated from DVD sales... all those tv boxed sets account for a good chunk of all DVDs sold. And the writers get nothing. When you put down that $40 or $100 or whatever, almost none of those bills make it to the particular show's writing staff. ("Pennies")

You must understand that producers are often the least creative of staff -- this makes this whole issue rather surreal.

This is nothing short of criminal, in my books. It is time to nail this issue down. Personally, I don't care if the strike goes on for months and months as I do not watch the average television program on a regular basis, but this doesn't affect my opinion on the matter.

I read an interesting article in the Globe and Mail today; one titled, "Hollywood writers on the brink of strike"...

Producers say profits from DVDs largely offset the increased cost of production. They also don't want to commit themselves to higher payments for digital distribution at a time when business models are still uncertain.

Well, ya know what? That is not the writers' problem! It is called "the cost of doing business". You pay the writers and others what they are entitled to from the sales, then you calculate the numbers.

If you don't like an equitable arrangement, then get out! Close your doors!

Do something you have a real talent for...

Like...

MENEGON'S OP

One of my local (Toronto) filmmaking heroes is a guy by the name of Dominic Menegon. He has earned this distinction as Dom has touched a couple of the bases in his run around the ball diamond. First film I saw of his is a science fiction feature film called Crossover (1993). While obviously very low budget and a little rough around the edges -- and even in the center at times -- the fact is he made this film, with his friend John Mokedanz, and obtained a little distribution for it.

The second film I saw of his is a little WW2 epic short film entitled, First Op (1999). Actually, it is because of this film that I first met Dom; he dropped by a mutual friend's office to check in on some work that was being done for the production. (This was a couple of years before he got it finished.)

I was introduced to Dom with the note that he was making a film about a RCAF Lancaster bomber raid. Immediately I was impressed by someone who was making a film about a bombing operation, with its technical and production complications.

While First Op is dramatically crude its narrative idea is compelling enough: Will the crew survive? There is a lot of talking which makes it feel Hollywood; and not terribly authentic. Needless chatter was verboten.

Dom executed all of the visual effects. He went back to school and completed a course on Digital Imaging. While there is that video game look, circa 1999, generating these shots on computer allowed such imaginings on a tiny budget. Just a few (few) years earlier and it would have been a no go.

Dom got the film done. And that counts for a lot. He also achieved this feat without any government funding. Kudos!

Tonight, I rewatched First Op for the first time in a while. My respect is maintained.

In the summer of 1999, the CBC played First Op on their Canadian Reflections series. Previously, I had tried to pawn off my own production and the Reflections producer turned me down; so the fact that Dom sold his short to the screening series impressed me even more.

You should check these two films out if you care, like I do, about independent filmmakers who get their projects done.

I eagerly await Dominic Menegon's next endeavours...

ZOMBIES

What is scary? To me it would be mounting Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton as gate guards here at the entrance to my palace -- the palace with the storm cloud over top; the cloud eagerly ejecting lighting bolts, missing both Miss Lohan and Miss Hilton by mere inches.

Of course, I am joking. I would not want these two Halloween characters standing, however static, at my entrance. I don't need the neighbours to think...

As far as movies go, my favourites under the Halloween banner would be Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972), and Night of the Living Dead (1968). And most awesome is White Zombie (1932).

Only Night is on my video shelf, but this will go into my player this evening.

Having a corpse on either side of me as I sit on the couch munching my popcorn will make this a Halloween to remember. Now that they are both comfortable...

The doorbell is ringing...

What do Lohan and Hilton want now?

My three movie choices should have given me fair warning.

DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND

Widely considered by Outer Limits fans to be the ultimate or representative episode of the series, Demon With a Glass Hand is more than worthy of such a designation; in a series which is simply one of the greatest of all classic television shows -- right up there with I Love Lucy and All in the Family.

I saw Demon relatively late as far as my Outer Limits familiarization timeline goes. There are many good or great episodes of the series and I had plied through a fair number of them; eps like The Architects of Fear, Nightmare, and the superlative two part The Inheritors set the bar pretty darn high.

I bought Demon on VHS as luck would mar my chances of actually seeing the particular installment -- one I had heard a lot about.

The tape got a lot of play over the years... five or six times... at least. I almost immediately watched it after bringing it home. Often what happens is that you are let down somewhat when you finally watch what everybody has been going on about. But not here.

I just watched Demon again, although on my season two DVD boxed set of The Outer Limits.

Demon is outstanding. What was probably a bottle show in an already trimmed second season budget does not hurt it the least bit. Every discipline is top notch and belies the budget through something called creativity (that commodity not known to many producers today).

The immoderately talented writer, Harlan Ellison, crafted a script specifically for the series. It was his second script. The first being Soldier, which itself was adapted by Ellison for The Outer Limits from his own (1957) short story of the same name.

One small criticism levelled, by some, at the episode is the depiction of the aliens... the Kyben. The makeup and costuming is certainly minimalist -- they come off as alien, and different in a way the average television viewer is not used to seeing; the eye makeups delineate the Kyben as almost Eastern looking. (Having an actor of Burmese background, Abraham Sofaer, play the head Kyben, certainly encourages that feeling.) Sure beats forehead appliances.

Byron Haskin's direction is crisp: Everyone from star Robert Culp, sidekick Arlene Martel, and the Kyben move about the location and studio in a very definite manner as though no other choreography or stage direction is acceptable.

Culp is perfect, as is his glass hand. The man moves about in an almost cat-like fashion. Always one step ahead of any threat and able to overcome any obstacles.

Harry Lubin's score is also perfectly fitted. (Lubin is often criticized as composing his trademark melodious and lush music for what should be a dark series, but he trades it all in here for a marvellous percussive score using piano, tympani, and organ. This music makes everything feel even more off center.)

The big appeal to Demon, for me, is the way it plays like a dream. Even the way the Kyben are disposed of feels unreal.

As I now have the second season of The Outer Limits on DVD -- the well-played VHS tape is now about to go to a good cause.

Harlan Ellison also wrote what is considered by many a Trekker to be the finest episode of Star Trek...

The City on the Edge of Forever.

I detect a trend here.

TORCHWOOD

I keep asking myself, why do I play the masochist? I don't get it. It is not as though I haven't enough to do. I heard that Torchwood is good and has a ravenous following in its homeland of Great Britain. That should have been a warning -- not the fact the following is strong in Britain of all places but the 'ravenous following' part. (I thought I did learn my lesson with the new Battlestar Galactica. Heard, too, about its following... the show is awful.)

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is playing Torchwood: Friday nights at 9 p.m.

I've now seen three episodes -- missed the opening shot -- and that completes my contract with the show. In hindsight, I have given Torchwood too many chances. Yes, it is that bad. Just what are the fans going on about?

The characters are in a nether region of appeal. Are they nice people or are they bad people just trying to do a good job for humanity? Jack, the main dude, the one of square jaw and good looks, the guy we were introduced to in a Doctor Who two part episode, is the ring leader of the Torchwood Institute. Jack is not particularly likable; rather, he is unappealing.

Torchwood, the institute, is based in Cardiff, Wales... they are to investigate alien invasions and other sorts of extraterrestrial incidents. The outfit's staff is obviously under-trained; considering they are manning such a critical operation, these people, who you would expect to be crack operatives, come across at times as digital-age Keystone Cops.

Jack is forever barking orders at them -- often during yet another light-beam-style optical effect scene -- to try to get them to behave. Why does he have to do this? Is there not some "Procedures and Protocol When You Are Working For Torchwood" book? You keep smacking them in line, Jack.

What a miserable lot.

What a mess of a show. There doesn't appear to be a vision for this one.

I've been to Cardiff... lovely place. At least it was until these clowns showed up...

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE

This is one of those titles that seemed to run in high rotation at my local cinema back in the mid-1970s. Along with Dillinger, The Panic in Needle Park, and Zabriske Point, was Phantom of the Paradise. Due to my terrifically nubile nature at the time, I would have been refused admission even if I had lined up for Phantom. (I did go to see Baby Blue Marine in 1976 at this same cinema and was admitted, for some reason.)

Outside of the obvious theatrics of Phantom of the Paradise, I might not have enjoyed it anyway; the jokes would have been over my head in addition to the reality that I wasn't much into rock music -- never have been, to any substantial degree. The trailer I saw in the theatre did make the film look interesting; some memorable imagery... the electric bolt, in particular.

Now however, meaning last night when I watched it on TVOntario's Saturday Night at the Movies, my tune has changed. I've seen bits and pieces over the years but never one screening head to toe.

Although it tanked in its original theatrical release in 1974, Phantom of the Paradise became a cult item in the years after; deservedly so. Perhaps it's take on Faust was not something that would have appealed to rock heads, anyway. And would not exactly draw them into the movie houses.

Great cast: William Finley is perfect as Winslow/The Phantom, as is Paul Williams as Swan, the creepiest and smarmiest little (and I do mean 'little') record producer one could, but would never want to, meet. (The real ones are even worse, I've heard.)

Jessica Harper plays her role of Phoenix, the lovely young woman who becomes the object of the Phantom's affections, and Swan's manipulations, with the right grade of naivety. Her battle, like so many of her kind, to become a big star is convincingly drawn.

She's a flower here.

My favourite character in Phantom, especially considering he has less screen time to do his work than does the main cast, would have to be Beef; played by Gerrit Graham with flamboyance abounding.

Paul Williams also wrote the songs for real, including the tunes he thieved as part of the plot-line. He found a fair bit of success writing songs for various musical groups including The Carpenters, Three Dog Night, and superstar Barbra Streisand.

Fair success indeed.

His songs here fit the bill as they are of the style you'd expect as being 'show' music. Like Andrew Lloyd Webber but without the thieving.

I forgot to mention that Brian De Palma directed this twisted, but in a fun way, musical thriller. The same Brian De Palma who in 1976 directed Carrie and, later, Dressed to Kill among other bloody thrillers. (Until I saw his name in the opening credits, I forgot he was behind this picture.)

There is the violence you would expect from a De Palma film; so I guess it's not much of a shocker.

TV WRITING ADVICE

For those of us who have fantasized or seriously thought about pursuing a career in writing for television, there are a lot of books on the subject. Many of these are not whole books but chapters in books; with cover titles like, "How to Get into Movies and Television".

There is a book that I just finished reading last evening. I read it in just two days -- which is good considering I never have enough time for this hobby of mine -- as it was quite the page turner: A Friend in the Business - Honest Advice for Anyone Trying to Break in to Television Writing.

The author, Robert Masello, is a fairly successful writer and script editor for various television series.

Needless to say, he has the inside scoop.

What makes the read even more enjoyable is the fact that, before he moved to Los Angeles and took a stab at writing for the tube, Masello had a successful career in New York City as a regular writer and contributor to various publications such as the Washington Post, New York magazine, Elle, Cosmopolitan; in addition to writing a few novels. So his skills as a storyteller were entrenched.

And as the author says in this book, many writers of your favourite television programs are not that talented. Masello is right, I'm sure, and they probably could not write a book as interesting, funny, and thorough as A Friend in the Business.

Masello goes over just about all the experiences -- some are bizarre, to put it mildly -- that you would suffer if you became a seller of stories or scripts to tv, or were to be lucky enough to score big by being hired as staff on a regular series.

One thing I found appealing about his writing is that Masello doesn't ignore or bury the reason why writing for television can be so much fun... the money. He opens up the book by talking of the almost criminal amounts of money that he and his peers make for doing something that is more or less fun; you are after all a writer, and you are being paid good coin to do your thing. (He talks about the inequity in the writing trade, as in what the television brand get remunerated compared to those who contribute magazine articles or journalistic pieces for newspapers.)

The author does change the names of people and also titles of television series that he was a staff member on... you can see why. If you were on the inside and you wanted to tell the truth to the dreamers and practical types the real story, you would have to talk openly of those experiences. Good and bad:

People in the biz, even fellow writers who have made a dent, are helpful, or at least appear to be helpful, when you are starting out. Breaking through the clubhouse walls is difficult, but it can be done. And the WGA (Writers' Guild of America) is an outstanding union, in Masello's humble opinion.

It is positively creepy just how creepy some people can be in that business. Oh, really?!

Agents are known for not doing their jobs.

And, what, a lot of these television writers are not particularly outstanding? Ya, think?

Robert Masello's point is, there are some positive reasons for you to give it a shot if you really want to write for the form -- the rewards are wonderful; it is a hard battle, and should be in his opinion, or something isn't right, but you have a good a chance as any...

"Provided, of course, that you do have one thing, and that is... a modicum of talent." ("A modicum will do.")

Talk about, or, read about, demystification!

TV PARTY

Greg Woods lent me a copy of the documentary, TV Party (about the old television series, TV Party). I was unable to attend his ESR screening last Thursday night but wanted to see this film.

TV Party was a cable access show done out of New York City back in the late 'seventies. It ran from 1978 to, or rather, petered out in, 1982. Hosted by one Glenn O'Brien, the cable show snagged and featured some top alternative musical acts -- not hard to do when you are planted in NYC -- in addition to a lot of late night oddities.

One such oddity, as outlined in the documentary, was the 'call-in' part of any given episode. This has to be seen and heard; although anyone who has been around knows the nature of such a tradition, that is, profane callers, would not be surprised or put off by it. What does impress is the way the hosts roll with the comments, some of which are quite pointed.

While the effort was noble and genuine, I found this documentary to be more a rag tag or rough assembly of TV Party's ingredients as opposed to a nicely constructed overview and look back at what, for the time and place, was a groundbreaking television program.

There is treatment on Party's innovation, but it is perhaps the only strong and cohesive theme throughout this film.

"It is your television" is the type of call sign for any cable or community television channel and the fact is, by law, you are allowed to have access to it in order to do your own thing or speak your own voice. This provided for some experimental television; television not bound by ratings or often restrictive standards inherent in more commercial stations or networks.

Of course, those of us who worked in community television -- Disco 8 on Cable 8, anyone? -- can tell you it is never an open slate but the opportunities are there to pitch something to the controllers, nonetheless.

My big question throughout the doc was, where was the studio? The filmmakers give you absolutely no idea of the geography -- where the studio was. There is talk about certain folk hanging out on the street when the cast and crew would leave the studio but you, as a viewer, don't know where they even were; other than "the Lower East Side". (Also mentioned in the doc by one person connected with TV Party is how NYC was a different place back then; "pre-Giuliani" is how they put it.)

A simple map would have been nice; it doesn't have to be a Baedeker guide, just something.

By all means check the documentary out... it is worth seeing if you have any interest in the form of late night television. And it is good in the sense that it is about TV Party: I saw one episode of the actual show a few months ago -- again, supplied by the wonderful Greg Woods -- and it is crude in technique, rough around the edges (there are time-base problems whenever there is a camera switch), a little like water running down a hill, but always interesting and fun -- even out of its historical context.

Those of you who are into the late '70s/early '80s New York City music scene, will love it. The documentary spends a good chunk of time on the various acts, including interviews with some. (Overseas musical groups also paid a visit to the show when they were in town.)

What the documentary and the TV Party show itself make you realize is that a guy like David Letterman did not invent everything: 'Chuck the Security Guard', of the All Night Show, a live program produced here in Toronto by CFMT back in 1980-81, did a few things that Dave made famous a few years later.

It is often the underground gang who break the ground first, then dig around... and the big earth movers come in later and take all the glory.


The TV Party website is: http://tvparty.org/

JOHN SAXON

It's funny what happens when you surf the net even for just a few minutes.

Quite possibly the coolest -- absolute coolest -- man in showbiz, to me, would be actor John Saxon. While I was growing up, meaning watching a lot of television, this man was almost everywhere on the dial. His unique look imprinted into any kid's tv-sucking brain. And the name was easy to remember... I guess I reviewed program and movie credits way back then.

Leslie Nielsen was another face and name who was known to any tv junkie like me. (Of course, I was thrown for a loop when Airplane was released.)

John Saxon probably wasn't on the tube as much as I would think, even though he was always employed, it was more of a case that he was consistently so memorable; whether he was cast as a villain of the week on a regular series, or as a "good guy" in a film such as Curtis Harrington's classic sci-fi feature, Queen of Blood.

And he was great in Enter the Dragon.

There is no need to go into a credit roll here other than to say that he popped up in The Six Million Dollar Man a couple of times (one of my favourite shows in my youth) and an awful lot of shows I would have just caught a few minutes of. "Hey, it's John Saxon."

Younger folk might know him also as he had parts in a couple of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

I never have been one to watch something just because so-and-so is in it. There are exceptions, however: Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum, and John Saxon.