Showing 161 posts tagged tv

High-res storyboard: Lady Comics: Who Needs Late Night? We’ve Got Tumblr If you ask a female comedian how social media has impacted her professional life, she will likely respond like Elaine Carroll. “Social media has made my career,” says Carroll, the 30-year-old creator of the Very Mary Kate web series, a spoof of Mary Kate Olsen’s glam life in New York. Remember just a few years back, when comedians (of any gender) relentlessly chased guest spots at the feet of David Letterman and Jay Leno? Getting a gig on late night was the ultimate career boost, but women comedians had to fight through the prejudices both professional (like infamously misogynist Letterman booker Eddie Brill) and cultural (let’s all try to forget that Christopher Hitchens essay). But the level playing field of Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr means no one gets between ambitious talent and a potentially receptive audience. All it takes is perseverance, ability, skill, and infinite patience. “Social media has essentially become my career,” says Kate Spencer, an improv instructor and writer at VH1 who blogs on Tumblr. Consider Ilana Glazer, a New York comedy writer who, when she and writing partner Abbi Jacobson didn’t make it into the improv groups they wanted at Upright Citizens Brigade, decided to take their brand of girl-centric comedy to the web. “We said, ‘Eff this, we’re going to make material for ourselves,’” enthuses Glazer, the co-creator of the Broad City web series.That was 2009. The duo now have a deal with FX. “In the old days, if you got a spot on Carson, your life changed forever,” says Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show, who blogs at the Huffington Post. “That’s not true anymore. Do we even need those shows? I don’t think we do.” Women still represent just a fraction of writers on late-night comedy programs, and they only represent 8 percent of directors of Hollywood films. Any female comic knows the comedy industry is rife with sexism. But social media has opened up ways around these traditional paths. A sampling of a dozen women comedians offered up Tumblr and Twitter presences that have become huge in the comedy world — not just as side gigs, but as major marketing tools for these ladies’ work. “Social media has done the same thing for women comedians as it’s done for other movements — it’s given women a way to know they’re not alone,” says Asie Mohtarez, a New York comedian and blogger. “What it does for me is provide daily evidence of women doing it — making weird/crude jokes (gasp), videos, and other content, which I find inspiring and freeing.” There are plenty of other examples. Late Night’s Amy Ozols and Chelsea Lately’s Jen Kirkman have become social media standard-bearers in the comedy world, getting credit for their work in the public sphere. Last year, when The Office’s Mindy Kaling set out to promote her book, she used Tumblr to do it. And Whitney Cummings combined social media and dirty jokes about Bob Saget to get a prime-time show on NBC. But for up-and-coming comics, those outlets can be even more important. “On the internet, no one can limit you, ” Glazer says. For her, that meant constant positive reinforcement of her work, and eventually, a mainstream gig. She joined the likes of author Mariam Kobras, who used her Twitter following to land a book deal she said had “no agent interference, no rejections, no waiting. Or Allie Hagan, a Washington consultant by day and comedian by night, who turned her Suri’s Burn Book Tumblr into a publishing contract. “I’ve gotten several freelance gigs based on Twitter and Tumblr, and I think that’s how a lot of people find me for live stuff,” says Julieanne Smolinski, a columnist for XOJane.com. “I’ve done a couple storytelling shows and some podcasts. I am also willing to do quinceañeras and that thing where you go to high schools and tell people not to be like you.” And, of course, Elaine Carroll of Very Mary Kate, who got a deal with College Humor after producing the series out of pocket. And then got cast on Mad Men. ”There will always be hecklers and Youtube commenter types,” Carroll says of doing comedy on the web. “But the process of something going viral is contingent on it being good. It isn’t based on gender or race or sexual orientation. If your idea is good enough (or weird enough, or contains enough cats jumping into boxes), it won’t be ignored — even if you’re a female lesbian lady woman.” As Mohtarez puts it: “My Tumblr has helped me hone my odd and sometimes dark sense of humor, and to find a little audience for it in between reblogged photos of other people’s breakfasts and titties.” - Alex Leo (Photo courtesy of Ilana Glazer, at left, with Abbi Jacobson, on the set of Broad City)

storyboard:

Lady Comics: Who Needs Late Night? We’ve Got Tumblr

If you ask a female comedian how social media has impacted her professional life, she will likely respond like Elaine Carroll. “Social media has made my career,” says Carroll, the 30-year-old creator of the Very Mary Kate web series, a spoof of Mary Kate Olsen’s glam life in New York.

Remember just a few years back, when comedians (of any gender) relentlessly chased guest spots at the feet of David Letterman and Jay Leno? Getting a gig on late night was the ultimate career boost, but women comedians had to fight through the prejudices both professional (like infamously misogynist Letterman booker Eddie Brill) and cultural (let’s all try to forget that Christopher Hitchens essay).

But the level playing field of Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr means no one gets between ambitious talent and a potentially receptive audience. All it takes is perseverance, ability, skill, and infinite patience.

“Social media has essentially become my career,” says Kate Spencer, an improv instructor and writer at VH1 who blogs on Tumblr.

Consider Ilana Glazer, a New York comedy writer who, when she and writing partner Abbi Jacobson didn’t make it into the improv groups they wanted at Upright Citizens Brigade, decided to take their brand of girl-centric comedy to the web.

“We said, ‘Eff this, we’re going to make material for ourselves,’” enthuses Glazer, the co-creator of the Broad City web series.

That was 2009. The duo now have a deal with FX.

“In the old days, if you got a spot on Carson, your life changed forever,” says Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show, who blogs at the Huffington Post. “That’s not true anymore. Do we even need those shows? I don’t think we do.”

Women still represent just a fraction of writers on late-night comedy programs, and they only represent 8 percent of directors of Hollywood films. Any female comic knows the comedy industry is rife with sexism.

But social media has opened up ways around these traditional paths. A sampling of a dozen women comedians offered up Tumblr and Twitter presences that have become huge in the comedy world — not just as side gigs, but as major marketing tools for these ladies’ work.

“Social media has done the same thing for women comedians as it’s done for other movements — it’s given women a way to know they’re not alone,” says Asie Mohtarez, a New York comedian and blogger. “What it does for me is provide daily evidence of women doing it — making weird/crude jokes (gasp), videos, and other content, which I find inspiring and freeing.”

There are plenty of other examples. Late Night’s Amy Ozols and Chelsea Lately’s Jen Kirkman have become social media standard-bearers in the comedy world, getting credit for their work in the public sphere. Last year, when The Office’s Mindy Kaling set out to promote her book, she used Tumblr to do it. And Whitney Cummings combined social media and dirty jokes about Bob Saget to get a prime-time show on NBC.

But for up-and-coming comics, those outlets can be even more important. “On the internet, no one can limit you, ” Glazer says. For her, that meant constant positive reinforcement of her work, and eventually, a mainstream gig.

She joined the likes of author Mariam Kobras, who used her Twitter following to land a book deal she said had “no agent interference, no rejections, no waiting. Or Allie Hagan, a Washington consultant by day and comedian by night, who turned her Suri’s Burn Book Tumblr into a publishing contract.

“I’ve gotten several freelance gigs based on Twitter and Tumblr, and I think that’s how a lot of people find me for live stuff,” says Julieanne Smolinski, a columnist for XOJane.com. “I’ve done a couple storytelling shows and some podcasts. I am also willing to do quinceañeras and that thing where you go to high schools and tell people not to be like you.”

And, of course, Elaine Carroll of Very Mary Kate, who got a deal with College Humor after producing the series out of pocket. And then got cast on Mad Men. ”There will always be hecklers and Youtube commenter types,” Carroll says of doing comedy on the web. “But the process of something going viral is contingent on it being good. It isn’t based on gender or race or sexual orientation. If your idea is good enough (or weird enough, or contains enough cats jumping into boxes), it won’t be ignored — even if you’re a female lesbian lady woman.”

As Mohtarez puts it: “My Tumblr has helped me hone my odd and sometimes dark sense of humor, and to find a little audience for it in between reblogged photos of other people’s breakfasts and titties.”

- Alex Leo

(Photo courtesy of Ilana Glazer, at left, with Abbi Jacobson, on the set of Broad City)

High-res theatlantic: For Kristen Wiig, an Uncharted Path From SNL to Movie Stardom When reports began circulating that Saturday Night Live scene-stealer Kristen Wiig will likely leave the show for Hollywood at the end of the current season, hardly anyone was surprised. Wiig, the thrice-Emmy-nominated mastermind behind the Target Lady, narcissist extraordinaire Penelope, and uncanny impressions of everyone from Paula Deen to Bjork, is coming off a banner year. She scored an Oscar nod for co-writing Bridesmaids, and already has six major films in the pipeline for the next two years, opposite A-listers like Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. Just last week, she emerged as a frontrunner, along with It Girls Emma Stone and Emily Blunt, for the female lead in the hotly anticipated The Thin Man remake opposite Johnny Depp. Need more convincing that this is the perfect time for Wiig to leave? New York’s Josh Wolk noticedthat the most successful SNL vets from the last two decades left the show sometime between their sixth and eight seasons, a “sweet spot” window Wiig is in now. Will Ferrell, Mike Myersb and Dana Carvey all left after seven. Amy Poehler and Phil Hartman put in eight. David Spade and Tina Fey departed after six (on-camera) years. Those who stayed beyond that—Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows—have struggled. So look out, Hollywood, here comes Wiig, right? To quote my favorite SNL creation of hers, the nerve-addled Judy Grimes, “Just kidding!” Though her Hollywood prospects look promising, a survey of history reveals that success is by no means guaranteed. Wiig is entering essentially uncharted territory. The Oscar nominee is, understandably, avoiding another television gig and shooting for the (movie) stars. On the surface, this doesn’t seem all that unusual: Ferrell, Myers, Carvey, Sandler, after all, have all gone on to hugely lucrative film careers. But they’re all men. With the exception of Tina Fey, no former female SNL cast member successfully made the transition to movie star after exiting Studio 8H. But the grosses for Fey’s two major post-SNL films, Baby Mama and Date Night, were nowhere near the stratospheric hauls of Ferrell’s or Sandler’s or Myers’ flicks. Plus, Fey more typically associated with her TV work on 30 Rock than with her film roles. The same is true for Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Molly Shannon. In fact, a survey of the post-Saturday Night Live resumes of the show’s most talented female alumni reveals that almost all of them struggled to achieve a respectable film career, many struggled to find regular work at all, and those who managed to get steady jobs found them most consistently on television. Wiig’s road to movie stardom is rockier than it may seem. Read more. [Image: AP]

theatlantic:

For Kristen Wiig, an Uncharted Path From SNL to Movie Stardom

When reports began circulating that Saturday Night Live scene-stealer Kristen Wiig will likely leave the show for Hollywood at the end of the current season, hardly anyone was surprised. Wiig, the thrice-Emmy-nominated mastermind behind the Target Lady, narcissist extraordinaire Penelope, and uncanny impressions of everyone from Paula Deen to Bjork, is coming off a banner year. She scored an Oscar nod for co-writing Bridesmaids, and already has six major films in the pipeline for the next two years, opposite A-listers like Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. Just last week, she emerged as a frontrunner, along with It Girls Emma Stone and Emily Blunt, for the female lead in the hotly anticipated The Thin Man remake opposite Johnny Depp.

Need more convincing that this is the perfect time for Wiig to leave? New York’s Josh Wolk noticedthat the most successful SNL vets from the last two decades left the show sometime between their sixth and eight seasons, a “sweet spot” window Wiig is in now. Will Ferrell, Mike Myersb and Dana Carvey all left after seven. Amy Poehler and Phil Hartman put in eight. David Spade and Tina Fey departed after six (on-camera) years. Those who stayed beyond that—Darrell Hammond, Tim Meadows—have struggled. So look out, Hollywood, here comes Wiig, right? To quote my favorite SNL creation of hers, the nerve-addled Judy Grimes, “Just kidding!” Though her Hollywood prospects look promising, a survey of history reveals that success is by no means guaranteed.

Wiig is entering essentially uncharted territory. The Oscar nominee is, understandably, avoiding another television gig and shooting for the (movie) stars. On the surface, this doesn’t seem all that unusual: Ferrell, Myers, Carvey, Sandler, after all, have all gone on to hugely lucrative film careers. But they’re all men. With the exception of Tina Fey, no former female SNL cast member successfully made the transition to movie star after exiting Studio 8H. But the grosses for Fey’s two major post-SNL films, Baby Mama and Date Night, were nowhere near the stratospheric hauls of Ferrell’s or Sandler’s or Myers’ flicks. Plus, Fey more typically associated with her TV work on 30 Rock than with her film roles. The same is true for Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Molly Shannon. In fact, a survey of the post-Saturday Night Live resumes of the show’s most talented female alumni reveals that almost all of them struggled to achieve a respectable film career, many struggled to find regular work at all, and those who managed to get steady jobs found them most consistently on television. Wiig’s road to movie stardom is rockier than it may seem.

Read more. [Image: AP]

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Track:
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Artist:
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Album:
Magnificent City Instrumentals

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A Beautiful Mine, RJD2 (Mad Men Theme)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Track:
A Beautiful Mine

Artist:
RJD2

Album:
Magnificent City Instrumentals

950 plays

A Beautiful Mine, RJD2 

High-res Filmmakers as Advocates in ‘Paradise Lost’ Series For Mr. Berlinger, the Aug. 19 proceeding that freed Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. evoked many emotions, including a sense of satisfaction that his films had helped keep their plight in the public eye and a mild anxiety that the latest installment, “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” (which HBO will broadcast on Thursday), was now mistitled. Read more —> NYTimes

Filmmakers as Advocates in ‘Paradise Lost’ Series

For Mr. Berlinger, the Aug. 19 proceeding that freed Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. evoked many emotions, including a sense of satisfaction that his films had helped keep their plight in the public eye and a mild anxiety that the latest installment, “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” (which HBO will broadcast on Thursday), was now mistitled.

Read more —> NYTimes

High-res A Family Affair as Old as Oedipus If it was not quite the “ick” heard ’round the world, there was a collective shudder that went up the spines of fans of serialized television at the moment it was revealed in the Dec. 4 episode of “Boardwalk Empire,” the Prohibition-era crime drama on HBO, that Jimmy Darmody, the aspiring young mobster played by Michael Pitt, had had an incestuous relationship with his mother (Gretchen Mol). Were that not a sufficiently chilling disclosure — one that had further ramifications in Sunday night’s season finale — some HBO aficionados may have realized that this premium cable network now has three original series, including the fantasy drama “Game of Thrones” and the comedy “Bored to Death,” that feature narratives about incest. Given the galvanic revulsion that incest yields, it tends to be a taboo subject not widely taken up in contemporary cultural works outside, say, the plays of Tennessee Williams, the fiction of William Faulkner and John Irving, and Roman Polanski’s film noir “Chinatown.” That the theme had turned up in three current shows on a single network, produced independently of one another, was a coincidence, their creative teams said, though they added that these story lines were emblematic of larger ideas on their series. Read more —> NYTimes

A Family Affair as Old as Oedipus

If it was not quite the “ick” heard ’round the world, there was a collective shudder that went up the spines of fans of serialized television at the moment it was revealed in the Dec. 4 episode of “Boardwalk Empire,” the Prohibition-era crime drama on HBO, that Jimmy Darmody, the aspiring young mobster played by Michael Pitt, had had an incestuous relationship with his mother (Gretchen Mol).

Were that not a sufficiently chilling disclosure — one that had further ramifications in Sunday night’s season finale — some HBO aficionados may have realized that this premium cable network now has three original series, including the fantasy drama “Game of Thrones” and the comedy “Bored to Death,” that feature narratives about incest.

Given the galvanic revulsion that incest yields, it tends to be a taboo subject not widely taken up in contemporary cultural works outside, say, the plays of Tennessee Williams, the fiction of William Faulkner and John Irving, and Roman Polanski’s film noir “Chinatown.” That the theme had turned up in three current shows on a single network, produced independently of one another, was a coincidence, their creative teams said, though they added that these story lines were emblematic of larger ideas on their series.

Read more —> NYTimes

  • The New York Times