SpoutBlog » Bill

Merry Christmas from Spout

Bill — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:12:29 +0000

Every Wednesday in the Spout offices, we effectively close down to watch a movie. Movie Watchin’ Wednesday we call it…kind of cheesy, I know, but it works for us. This past Wednesday we watched It’s A Wonderful Life and a curious thing happened. Although I have personally seen this movie at least once a year for the past 30 or so, many of the people in our office had effectively avoided it or only seen clips. What a shame! This is such a fantastic film and the origin of so many tropes.

If you haven’t seen it before, now is your chance. Close your office down, gather the kids, surround yourself with your loved ones and be prepared for that warm Christmasy glow.

Merry Christmas from the team at Spout!

Flannel Pajamas

Bill — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:39:14 +0000

One of the better films I saw at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival was Flannel Pajamas. Although it did well at the festival–and even grabbed the love and affection of Roger Ebert–it hasn’t had much luck finding distribution. This is all slightly ironic, considering that the film’s writer/director, Jeff Lipsky, has made his name in film distribution.

Lipsky’s career spans everything from working with John Cassavetes distributing A Woman Under the Influence to sheparding titles like My Life as a Dog, Stranger Than Paradise and Sid & Nancy (which introduced the world to Gary Oldman) into the marketplace.

On November 15th, Flannel Pajamas finally received limited theatrical distribution and may even be playing at a neighborhood Landmark Theater near you. Take a listen to KCRW’s The Business and Claude Brodesser-Akner’s interview with Lipsky. It covers his career-jump from distributor to filmmaker, and the challenges of promoting your film in the industry. It’s a very insightful conversation with someone who knows both sides of the coin well.

People at Denver: Sylvie Moreau

Bill — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:30:07 +0000

Sylvie Moreau. What can I say? I guess I’m a little smitten (do people still say “smitten”?). She’s a talented actress (stage, TV and film), a writer, she’s very articulate…and has a French accent that makes me melt a little. At the Opening Night festivities, Dave and I hung out with Moreau and her escort for the festival, Francois Papineau (who is also an actor and Sylvie’s writing partner on the TV show Etats-humains - Human States). We caught up with them again after watching Moreau’s film, Familia. The character she plays is so complex that we spent most of the conversation focused on that role.

Starz Denver Film Festival, Spout podcast, Familia, Sylvie Moreau

People at Denver: David Gow, David Strathairn and Andrew Walker

Bill — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 06:42:16 +0000

I had the amazing opportunity to interview the director and the two stars of the film Steel Toes. I must say I was a little intimidated interviewing these guys after watching their amazingly gritty and powerful performance. I asked David Gow about the process of adapting his stage production, Cherry Docks, into a film, and how Andrew Walker and David Strathairn connected in such a powerful way on screen.

Starz Denver Film Festival, Spout podcast, Steel Toes, David Gow, David Strathairn, Andrew Walker

What we can learn from horror films

Bill — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:35:21 +0000

For part four of our series, our regular SpoutBlog writer Bill brings us this very creepily delicious Halloween day post.

This Halloween my 10-year-old son hit a milestone in his life. He was finally old enough to wander through his first haunted corn maze. Yeah, a haunted corn maze…not a haunted house. We live in a small town surrounded by big fields, so this is what we get (and we get excited for it and are very happy with it).

So, Saturday evening I loaded up the family roadster with my wife, son, and two of his friends, and we drove to the maze. Although typically mild-mannered boys, the trip to the maze dripped with male vibrato:

“I’m not going to be scared.” “We’re going to run ahead and try to scare other people.” “Dad, maybe you should get the pink glow stick.” (This is what they give people who are weak at heart or a complete sissy.) “I’m going to ditch everyone and go by myself?”

Although my wife and I did our best to build up the suspense and general sense of impending doom, the boys would have none of it. They were unbreakable.

And then we got to the maze…

By the time we arrived a short line had already formed, so we had a bit of a wait. Allowing no opportunity for scaring to go to waste, the purveyors of the maze projected horror movies onto a large screen for those of us waiting in line. The were the usuals, including the original Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Ring, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Jeepers Creepers.

Cutting to the chase (literally?), they showed only the most horrific and terrifying scenes from these films. Heads severed. Running damsels caught…and mutilated. Intestines exposed. Although showing just these short clips didn’t give these films a chance to build suspense, they certainly primed the adrenaline pumps of three 10-year-old boys.

By the time we entered the maze, all the boys needed to see were the characters–in a dark corn field, wielding whatever power they used to create mayhem in the films we had seen snippets of–and they were terrified. There was certainly no going by themselves. And they all wished aloud that they had received the pink glow sticks themselves. We spent the next 45 minutes with my wife leading the way (sure, why not sacrifice her first?), boys in the middle, and me at the end, left to whatever creature might sneak up from behind.

I gotta tell you, it was GREAT! Although Paul might argue otherwise (see his recent post), being terrified–and not just being a little scared by watiching a film–is a good thing. It provides a release that can come from no other source in our lives. But not only that, being terrified also provides some perspective. The conversation on the drive home that night was no longer about male vibrato. It was all about camaraderie. And isn’t that a lesson to be learned from ALL horror films? Don’t split up! Stick together! Help each other! And for goodness sake, don’t EVER turn around while running away from something creepy.

When we last saw our heroes…

Bill — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 03:10:01 +0000

So, a lot can happen over the course of a few months. The way time seems to speed ahead on the web (I so want to use the phrase “internet time” but people don’t use that anymore, right?…but now I am getting off track) worlds can change, industries can be destroyed and fortunes can be won and lost. Unfortunately for us, we haven’t chronicled a single bit of it…at least not the past 3 months. Thankfully, we’ve had some others kind enough to help out. What follows is a (incomplete) list of press we’ve received over the past few months. We’re certainly not media darlings, but I think the story is compelling. Thoughts?

March
8th - PR Newswire, “Spout Launches Community Website for Film With Technology to Enhance Human Experience and Interaction Online”
15th - Dallas Morning News, “Web hopefuls try starting in the middle”
20th - PR Week, “PR WEEK: Spout Launches at SXSW”

April
27th - Detroit Free Press, “Grand Rapids partners set out to change film world”
30th - The Boston Globe, “Everyone’s always been a critic — but the Net makes their voices count”

May
1st - USA Today, “Spouting off about movies”
8th - PR Newswire, “Consumers Looking Beyond Hollywood to Experience Film Says New Survey From Spout.com”
15th - MiBiz, “Spout.com for film lovers launches with far reaching, lofty goals”
28th - Grand Rapids Press, “Rick DeVos develops Web site for movie buffs”

And for a flavor of what the blogging world has said, try this or this.

Shine on you crazy diamond

Bill — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 05:56:41 +0000

Ok…I’ve about bust a gut tonight and now have 2 sites to share. The first is HowItShouldHaveEnded.com. Their tagline is, “Sometime movies don’t finish the way we’d like.” Through animation, we get to see things the way we all really wished they would have ended - from “Saving Private Ryan” to “Seven.”

The second is what you get when you take a glass-is-half-full approach to re-marketing a movie like The Shining. View it here.

Enjoy.