Mr. Magorium or Beowulf?

If you're looking to watch a movie this week, you may want to check out my reviews of MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM and BEOWULF here:

www.movieeditor.com

As a freelance journalist, I've made many successful pitches lately. I'm writing for more than a dozen publications now. I just wrote my first story for VARIETY'S BELOW THE LINE. That's an interview with UGLY BETTY showrunner Silvio Horta. I have another cover story coming up in LINUX JOURNAL, this time about the Paramount film THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES. My LIONS FOR LAMBS cover story in the MOTION PICTURE EDITORS GUILD MAGAZINE is now online if you want to read that. Find that under the 'Filmmaking' tab. I'm writing a couple articles for WRITERS DIGEST next.

Here's my first published humor article, poking fun at writer-producers:

http://movieeditor.com/humor.html

Hope you get a laugh from it. I'm a writer-producer myself. Many people assume I'm a member of WGA, but actually I'm not. Because I'm not a union member, non-signatory scripted projects are still open to me. And, I'm fortunate to have an agent who also reps reality shows, so I can pitch those too. Unfortunately, my big budget projects have been kept on hold the past six months in anticipation of the writers strike.

Don't forget to check out Gabrielle's articles under the 'Book Reviews' tab. She reviews new books every week for the newspaper BRITISH WEEKLY. To make it easier to find our story clips, I took the past two days organizing the MovieEditor.com website. Enjoy! By the way, I do all the website maintenance myself for MovieEditor.com and ScreenPlayLab.com.

ScreenPlayLab Thanks Fox SVP Chris Aronson...

Thank you Twentieth Century Fox SVP of domestic distribution Chris Aronson! Chris spoke on studio distribution of such hit films as THE SIMPSONS MOVIE. He gave a great presentation. If you weren't there, you really missed it. This was our first event at the magnificent downtown Los Angeles Theatre, with its soaring six-story lobby. We had over a hundred people in the audience.

RUGRATS Director Speaking on Nov 19th...

Presented by Animation Army, Emmy Award-Winning Animation Creator Ron Noble as part of the Animation 21 Lecture Series. Includes screening of 'Living With Ridalyn' and 'Hope Springs Eternal'. Ron will talk about production process on these films as a one man studio. Also, he will talk about life as director on big shows like Rugrats and where he thinks the future of independent animation will go vs. big studio animation. Monday November 19, 2007, 6:30PM, The Big Room, The Art Institute of California, 2900 31st Street, Santa Monica.

Robin Rowe Hosting Radio Talk Show HOLLYWOOD CALLING on Nov 27th...

I'm launching a new talk show where you can call in to ask questions about show business, whether you're a writer, actor, filmmaker or anyone who wants to know more about the biz. Join us live for this call-in talk show that's recorded for broadcast. The way it works is up to 100 people can call in to participate in the telephone conference call live, then the show is edited and broadcast later. I don't know yet if it will be on AM, FM, XM Satellite or the Internet. This is the pilot episode. Tuesday, Nov. 27th, 2007, 6pm to 7pm. FREE with RSVP at www.ScreenPlayLab.com.

Jim McCaffree in CARPOOLERS airing Tuesday, Nov 27...

Congratulations ScreenPlayLab member Jim McCaffree! Jim is one of dozens of ScreenPlayLab members who signed with an agent after a ScreenPlayLab member referral. In fact, it was Gabrielle and I who referred him to our own agent, Karl Sanger. Jim participates in many of our ScreenPlayLab readings. We look forward to seeing him in an upcoming episode of CARPOOLERS. By the way, ScreenPlayLab speaker Marsh McCall is an executive producer on the show. He was the showrunner on JUST SHOOT ME. When Marsh spoke to us back in April he didn't know what his next show would be. CARPOOLERS is a production of ABC Studios.

Patty Guggenheim Signs with Agent...

Congratulations ScreenPlayLab member Patty Guggenheim! I met Patty a year ago at the Friar's Club at a producers event hosted by Gary Shusett's Sherwood Oaks Experimental College. I was there as a panel moderator. Patty wasn't there as a speaker or guest. She was a waitress. Patty had only moved to Hollywood the week before and was picking up some temp work. It was obvious she was an actress. When I asked Patty about that, she said she'd worked on Comedy Central's 'Showbiz Show with David Spade' and on a show with National Lampoon. Within a couple weeks she had a meeting with my agent, Karl Sanger. It took a while, but now signed.

Call for Entries: The Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship...

Nickelodeon is offering writing fellowships in live action and animated television to writers with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Participants will have hands-on interaction with executives writing spec scripts and pitching story ideas. The program, developed to broaden Nickelodeon’s outreach efforts, provides a salaried position for up to one year. The next submission period runs from January 2 to February 28, 2008. Submission rules:

www.nickwriting.com

We recently had Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship director Karen Kirkland as a speaker at ScreenPlayLab. If I can summarize an hour talk, send Karen a killer half-hour spec comedy script of a popular show like MY NAME IS EARL. Nickelodeon's outreach program seeks talented unknown writers looking for their first big break. FREE.

Join Jeff Gund's Info List...

Jeff Gund is a musician who started a little email list to tell his friends about parties and job openings. It keeps growing and growing. I remember when the Gund List was a Hollywood secret, that you only got on the list if someone referred you to Jeff personally. It's now called the Info List, and you can register for free on Jeff's website:

www.infolist.com

What's ScreenPlayLab?

ScreenPlayLab is more than 2,200 filmmakers, actors and screenwriters creating upbeat mainstream films and television. ScreenPlayLab presents weekly events providing an opportunity for aspiring artists to learn how Hollywood works and to meet executives. More than three dozen actors and many writers have signed agent representation after being referred though other members. There are no membership dues and events are free. To join send an email to info@ScreenPlayLab.com with the subject 'Subscribe'.

Love you guys!