Caffeinated Clint
And they say a hobby blogging about movie and showbiz happenings won’t lead anywhere?
Don’t tell that to Alicia Malone, who finds herself regularly flown around the globe by shows like Entertainment Tonight and E! to report on such things.
Don’t tell Mandy Griffiths, who is an award-winning social media strategist that packs a room whenever she agrees to open her mouth about marketing on the net.
Drew Turney never got the memo either. He’s now one of the most in-demand Aussie exports working freelance in the US.
Davin Sgargetta? Yep, he’s out there running businesses and directing acclaimed documentaries now.
And there’s been quite a few contributors, many who were working under aliases (Gossip Monkey being one!), who are also now either writing, directing, and/or producing their own films.
And look at Ash Davies, in the space of two years she’s working in film marketing, produced a film, co-owned a magazine… and the year isn’t over yet.
Heck, even I was doing this way before I opened up a global PR firm and produced several feature films (though my biggest claim to fame, of course, will always be reporting on ABC radio on a Sunday- according to my late grandmother). The skills – like design and coding, brushing up on story-telling, and learning how to string a factoid blurb together – and contacts procured doing this thing have been invaluable. Working on ‘the other side’ also, I feel, gives me an edge as a publicist – I have the relationships, the know-how (in the least, I know what kind of pitch you’ll flat-out ignore) and the ability to easily place myself in the mindset of that journalist or publisher I hound day and night asking for coverage from. Sure, I don’t have a lot of time to pop in here now that I’m so busy running a US business, but I won’t be letting it completely go nor will I be forgetting the ol’ training ground. For a 20 year-old, it was the best self-made ‘start’ one could hope for.
Oh…
Especially don’t tell Duncan Samarashinghe that cutting your writing teeth on the web doesn’t pay off.
Duncan came to us many, many years ago – when we were first starting – to write news, reviews and talk about one of his favourite subjects, release date shuffles and changes. Then a teen living in Dandenong, Victoria, Duncan was an enthusiastic writer who juggled his Moviehole commitments with running a little blog of his own called Cinema Australia – on that, you could find his regularly updated Cinema Release Calendar. Really wise kid – beyond his years. Loved movies – that was obvious. Also seemed to have a knack for web design – knew his way around tweaking a template long before their was such a thing as ‘WordPress’. Had great taste, too. But that aforesaid enthusiasm was infectious – – as I recall he would pretty much jump straight on the computer and type stories for us, most days. Why? He enjoyed it.
When I saw Deadline’s story today – that Screen Gems is turning one of Duncan’s screenplays into celluloid – my eyes filled with swollen ducts. Couldn’t have been prouder. Rapt. To see someone who started out writing for the love of it [here at Moviehole] to now writing for some of the biggest movie studios in Hollywood… well, that you just don’t read about every day. But you know what? it’s deserved. And I’ll tell you why? This is a guy who clearly didn’t listen to anyone who might’ve said ‘you’re wasting your time’ on all that “writing stuff”, or “why would you do something you don’t get paid for?”.. he did what he enjoyed. He followed his own path. And he’s now having the last laugh. Duncan, we’re laughing along with you! Good on you, young man.
If my younger self didn’t tell you sir, thanks for helping us get Moviehole started. I appreciated it. Still do.
Here’s the Deadline story…
EXCLUSIVE: Screen Gems has acquired The Caretaker, a thriller script by Duncan Samarasinghe that was a Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting finalist two years ago. Now, it’s taking shape as a futuristic film that will be produced by Adam Rodin. Set in the future amid a violent robot uprising that pits man against machine, The Caretaker follows a lifelike female android who chooses to protect a young girl. The bond forged along the journey to reunite the girl with her missing father might be the only thing that can stem the tide of war.
The Australian scribe recently sold his horror TV pilot Unholy to The Weinstein Company with Mama helmer Andy Muschietti attached to direct. He is also writing for Occupant Entertainment Dead Island, based on the video game franchise.
Rodin most recently was a co-producer of the CBS series Extant, and he has Terrestrial set up at Lionsgate, with Interrogation nearing release with WWE Studios.
Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper and exec veep Scott Strauss are overseeing Caretaker.
The scribe is repped by UTA and Old Soul Entertainment. Rodin is repped by CAA and Energy Entertainment.
