I'm sure you've heard all about it by now, but today, Pitch Perfect, the hot, rotten-tomatoes highly rated film by Penn film producers Elizabeth Banks (C'96) and husband Max Handelman (C'95, AEPi) comes out!

If you recall, in an interview she did promoting the film, Liz had referenced a Penn a capella group from her time at Penn that she thought was "the most amazing version" she's ever heard in her life.

On a related Penn alum note, Melisa Kirkup (C'01), Universal Pictures marketing director shared a 60-second lip-dub Pitch Perfect video her team produced, featuring the hit Nicki Minaj song “Starships”!

Check it out after the jump!

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Recently, Liz Banks (C'96) has stepped behind the camera to produce a new film called "Pitch Perfect" (based off of this book) with her Penn alum producer husband Max Handleman (C'95, AEPi), all about competitive collegiate a cappella groups.

After the jump, find out which a capella group Liz references from her time at Penn in an interview she just did with Entertainment Weekly...and listen to the great song this group did that she said was "the most amazing version" she's ever heard in her life.

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Over the years I've featured brilliant, high quality viral hits from producer Jake Avnet (C'05, Co-Chairman of Undergraduate Film Advisory Board, Founder of the Lecture Series, "Talking Film").

We're talking awesone films about Trojan condoms, a very NSFW short with Scott Baio, a film with the real Jersey Shore cast, and another NSFW film about "love needing a hand."

Jake just launched "NEW ROMANCE", a new video you MUST watch which has all the cheesiness of "Saved By the Bell" combined with the horror of the Final Destination films.

After the jump, check out the video and find out how Jake got to do this short for Warner Brothers!

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(l to r): Scott speaking with Ricky Mabe while shooting in the Canadian Rockies

Over the past few years, I've covered the horror and documentary works of director and producer Scott Glosserman (C'99, Friars).

After the jump, preview the latest film he has directed and produced which airs tonight on MTV and learn how he is franchising!

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Jody and her husband Marc

Several years ago, I did a story about film producer Jody Girgenti (C'98) and how her film (you may have heard of) was hitting the festival rounds.

Since then, Jody has produced content for NBC Digital Studios, CourtTV, corporate clients, worked as a commercial producer, and is still focused on film.

This Friday, Jody's latest film premieres with music from Duncan Sheik!

After the jump check out a clip from the film, listen to the great soundtrack, and find out Jody and her husband got Duncan Sheik on board!

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In case you missed it, recently, Todd Lieberman (C'95, Mask and Wig, AEPi) was featured in a New York Times article about how he and his producing partner David Hoberman are producing the next Muppet movie installment due out this November (remember when we shot THIS video while he was on the Muppet set?).

After the jump, learn more about the film's fun plotline, how much it cost to produce and other Penn alumni who been a part of Muppets film history!

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Earlier this week, I covered THIS Penn alum's 7 Oscar nominations for producing The Fighter.

Turns out he's not the only Penn alum in the game this film award season!

After the jump learn about another Penn Producer's Oscar nominated film (also from the same Class of 1995 that Todd is from)

And it's this alum's second time at the Oscars!

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It's not often that DT wins out exclusive interviews over Oprah, The View and Entertainment Tonight, but we did this time while we visited film producer Todd Lieberman (C'95, Mask and Wig, AEPi) on his Hollywood Muppets movie set.

While the Muppets movie isn't due out until Thanksgiving 2011, the real news is about Todd's 6 Golden Globe nominated film The Fighter which comes out today.

After the jump, watch the video Todd shot for DT and the Penn community and learn more about why people gasp when they hear how long The Fighter took to make.

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Last week, Nicolas Cage was interviewed on Craig Ferguson promoting his film, Sorcerer's Apprentice.

During his interview, Nic talks about his experience great white shark diving with the film's (Penn alum) executive producer.

After the jump, find out who Nic was talking about ...and other Penn alumni who have been affiliated wtih Craig Ferguson.

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Another great video from Matt Johnson (C'99, Mask and Wig, Phi Kappa Sigma) ...and on this Thanksgiving Day, he wants to teach you how to do the newest dance craze, The Turkey Jerky!

Matt edited this "Apple Sisters" video together and is also the announcer in it as well!  (you can actually see Matt in his other viral sensation as "Mike Schwartz" HERE)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and remember to turkey jerk!



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To kick off our Winning Women Week, Round 2 series, I've got a good follow-up story....

While she didn't win $350,000 for her film in THIS contest (although came very close), Kristin Fairweather (Penn Grad '01, Masters in Government Administration, Alumni Relations) is still a winner...

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Some exciting entertainment tidbits from our alumni film producers...

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Some recent juicy Penn Hollywood alumni tidbits for y'all...

Click HERE for the scoop!

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• Elizabeth Banks (C'96) has signed on for a potentially recurring role on ABC's critically-praised new fall sitcom, "Modern Family". More HERE

• Todd Lieberman (C'95) will be producing a film based on the comic book "Alibi". More HERE

• Speaking of Liz and Todd above, have you seen the new poster for their upcoming film Surrogates?

• "Harold and Kumar" creators Jon Hurwitz (W'00) and Hayden Schlossberg will be directing the comedy "One Night Stan".   Per The Hollywood Reporter, '"Stan" plays out a scenario about which many men fantasize on the cusp of marriage. When Stan learns his fiancee, Julie, has had more sexual partners than he, he gets her blessing for one night to play catch-up. Unfortunately, his plans for a sex buffet don't come together quite the way he had hoped."'
  

...Actually, Jon will be working on this project with Mike Karz (C'89, W'89), another Penn alum who will be in part producing the film.

My past "Hollywood Bits and Pieces" posts HERE

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I've got another Penn alum filmmaker you all should keep your eye on who produced 2 viral hits I want to share --one a funny commercial for "Trojans2Go" and the other which brilliantly combines a Talking Heads song with the film American Psycho!

Last year, I did a post about how Jake Avnet (C'05, Co-Chairman of Undergraduate Film Advisory Board, Founder of the Lecture Series, "Talking Film") won two prestigious grants for one of his films.  Since then, Jake has co-founded his own production company called ENEMY Incorporated with director David Green whose focus is on commercials, music videos, and viral content, as well as film and television production.

As mentioned above, Jake sent me two great films his company has produced. And they're really creative and well done!

Click HERE to watch them!

Trojan2Go Commercial -"Sri Lanka": Watch this guy travel the globe in the name of love! (reminds me of my undergrad film).   I'm sure our Penn alum sexologist and Trojan spokesperson would approve!

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A semi-NSFW cover of the Talking Heads Song "This Must Be the Place" laid over shot-by-shot re-enactments from American Psycho.  ...Tell me that the star of this video, Miles Fisher (Harvard alum), doesn't look like Tom Cruise?!

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Kristin Fairweather (Penn Grad '01, Masters in Government Administration, Alumni Relations) is in the running for winning a  $350,000 production grant and a guarantee of a premiere at next year’s LA Film Festival. ...and they need your vote!

Once producer Kristin and writer/director Jenny Deller found out they were one of the top 10 semi-finalists in the Netflix Find Your Voice competition, they were tasked with creating the above 3-minute short that reflected the feature in style or theme. 
 
Tasked with shooting a 3-minute short they decided against doing a traditional trailer and shot a stand-alone script called "Save the Future" that we bill as "a companion piece" to the feature length film (and recent Nantucket Film Festival screenplay award winning) Future Weather.  If they are selected as the winner of the Netflix contest then they get the funds to shoot the feature.

"Save the Future" Netflix Short description:
In Deller's 3-minute companion short for the Netflix competition, FUTURE WEATHER's protagonist reimagines a day in her life as a public service announcement, blurring the lines between family struggles and fear of environmental apocalypse.

 Future Weather Feature logline:
Future Weather, is a coming-of-age tale about a 13-year-old environmentalist. Central to the stories of three rural women, is the gifted but lonely Laduree, an aspiring conservationist whose experiments to save the planet from global warming are destroyed when her single mom runs away to find herself.

Check out the film above.  It really is a beautiful piece of work!

Help Kristin get to the final phase of the contest by VOTING HERE or voting within the video module above! (voting ends July 5)

Find out why Kristin left her career in Politics and how she got started in entertainment HERE

Other Penn alumni who followed their passion and changed careers HERE

On an environmentally related note, check out all my posts about Penn going green HERE!

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Move over Terminator, another high tech film is coming out this Fall and it looks really cool.

Last week I posted my review (and photo with Betty White!) of Todd Lieberman's (C'95, Mask and Wig, AEPi) The Proposal premiere. (Incidentally, it opened on Friday...go out and support Todd!)

Now Todd, as well as co-producers Max Handelman (C'95, AEPi) and Elizabeth Banks (C'96) have recently released a trailer for their hot new futuristic film The Surrogates. The story is as follows:

"FBI agents (Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell) investigate the mysterious murder of a college student linked to the man who helped create a high-tech surrogate phenomenon that allows people to purchase unflawed robotic versions of themselves - fit, good looking remotely controlled machines that ultimately assume their life roles - enabling people to experience life vicariously from the comfort and safety of their own homes. The murder spawns a quest for answers: In a world of masks, whos real and who can you trust?"

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After co-writing, producing and directing the clever horror movie Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Scott Glosserman (C'99, Friars) is soon to complete his next project (as a producer and co-director) and it has to do with a different type of horror - — me, you, and thousands of other users taking over responsibilities for Britannica and The World Book.

In his documentary Truth in Numbers?, Scott takes us on the journey about the phenomenon that Wikipedia has become.

Per Scott,

"The question of whether you and I should be charged with canonizing the sum of human knowledge or whether that should be left to the scholars/experts really intrigues me. I think it’s safe to say that we’re among a populist revival era right now and nowhere is that more acutely reflected than on Wikipedia. If knowledge is power and history really is written by the winners, then Wikipedia, already the second most widely read publication in human history, clearly demonstrates this power shift towards "The People". The documentary tries to explore implications of that, among other things."

Check out his trailer above!

Catch Up!: More of my posts about Penn alumni:

• Documentary Film producers
• Film producers! (all)

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This past Monday, I attended the Hollywood premiere of Producer and good friend Todd Lieberman's (C'95, Mask and Wig, AEPi) film The Proposal at Hollywood's El Capitan Theater.  (Photo to right (l to r): Todd and I)

Before I get to the actual Hollywood "scene" of this premiere, I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie and it feels good to know that a guy I call one of my best friends is glowing at the response of having a hit movie on his hands.  The casting was right on the money with Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, and Betty White (plus a great scene stealer from "The Office"'s Oscar Nunez). Not only were there many funny scenes due to the pleasantly awkward tension between Bullock's and Reynolds' characters, but there was some great heart to the film as well. Definitely a great date movie. 

Here's a good summary summary of the movie (per Yahoo Movies):

"When high-powered book editor Margaret faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she's actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew, who she's tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. With an impromptu wedding in the works and an immigration official on their tails, Margaret and Andrew reluctantly vow to stick to the plan despite the precarious consequences."

Now onto the afterparty...

Some highlights included catching up with other Penn alumni including Todd's wife Heather (Zeegen) Lieberman (C'94, SDT), and actress Elizabeth Banks (C'96) and her husband and film producer Max Handelman (C'95, AEPi).

And then I saw a bunch of celebs, but decided to approach only two.  And before I tell you what I said, I fully acknowledge the awkwardness in my attempt at conversation with some of these celebrities, yet in the following 2 cases, I felt the need to approach them:

• I said hello to Jesse James and complimented him on how well he performed in this past season's "Celebrity Apprentice". He was very nice and thanked me. While his wife Sandra Bullock was right beside him in another conversation, I decided to save my "you were great in the movie" comment and walk away with my dignity.
• I had to say hello to "Golden Girl" Betty White. She was extremely nice and approachable and I thanked her for all the years of laughter she brought to me (I know this sounds really cheesy, but it was sincere). She was very gracious and agreed to take a picture with me.

The Proposal hits theaters on June 19.

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Executive Film producer Todd Lieberman (C'95, Mask and Wig, AEPi) just released this new very funny viral video to help promote his upcoming film The Proposal, which debuts June 19.

While Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are very funny in this video, it's the very naughty Betty White who steals the show. Check out the video above to see what I'm talking about!

Todd tells me that "The thing that surprises me most about this movie is not the amount of laughs that are in it but how emotional is plays. It truly is one of those movies where you laugh...and you cry."

Catch up on all the high profile films Todd has done and is doing HERE

More Penn film producers here

Check out my other Funny Friday posts here!

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Last January I wrote a post on how Dave Baronoff (C'99, L'02, Mask and Wig) went from lawyer to producer for JJ Abrams.

I am happy to report that Dave is doing extremely well.  This year, not only was Dave the Associate Producer of THIS popular movie, and has appeared on the cover of Ad Age, but come this weekend, you'll see his name taking up the whole screen under the "Associate Producer" credit at the end of the new Star Trek film.

In an interview Dave did earlier this week with a Philly newspaper, Dave tells us why everyone's going to like Star trek:

'“I liked ‘Star Trek’ (growing up), but I was never obsessed with it,” says Baronoff, admitting he was more of a “Star Wars” guy. “What’s amazing about this process is I’ve been converted. What J.J. and the writers have done is to create a new way into the franchise and taken characters beloved by so many and found a way for the rest of us to connect with them.”'

On Monday night I was fortunate enough to see an advance screening of the new Star Trek movie and it was really great. If you like JJ Abrams other works including Cloverfield, "Fringe" (you'll see similar title treatments and special effects in the movie), "Lost" and "Alias", you'll also love this movie for its attention to contemporary story telling and character development. You'll also appreciate the clever incorporation of some of your favorite Star Trek classic lines. Be sure to check out the movie when it comes to theaters this Friday!

Read an interview Dave did earlier this week with a Philly newspaper HERE

Learn more about Dave and his journey in Hollywood
(great for anyone considering a career change or career in Hollywood)

On a related note, if you haven't seen the documentary Trekkies, you must see this to truly understand the Trekkie culture out there!  You'll be amazed!

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