LOTS to be found at “Lost”

Lost At E Minor is an online publication of inspiring art, photography, music, and more for creative people. Founded by brothers Zolton and Zac Zavos in 2005, Lost At E Minor is an imprint of Australia’s Conversant Media, also publishers of the country’s sports opinion site The Roar. Lost At E Minor’s worldwide team of editors and writers based in cities from Bogota, Berlin, New York, Melbourne and many locales in between report from 21st century civilization’s leading edge, providing a constant source of creative inspiration.

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Steve James: Thanks for the documentaries

Once again this year, the pre-Sundance buzz is headline news worldwide, with The Daily Telegraph asking if, at age 30, the renowned festival still has its edge. There and in widespread coverage, the latest news from filmmaker Steve James leads the way. Steve’s new Kartemquin Films feature documentary “Life Itself” executive produced by Martin Scorsese will have its world premiere at this year’s festival, and he will also be honored during a 20th anniversary Sundance screening set for “Hoop Dreams,” his very first film, which is also one of history’s highest-grossing and most-acclaimed documentaries. Steve continues breaking new ground as a director and I am definitely a huge fan. I also have much love, respect and admiration for Loretta “LJ” Jeneski of Nonfiction Unlimited, the LA-based commercial production company that has represented Steve and many of the planet’s best documentary filmmakers for commercial and creative assignments since 1995.

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Success builds for Sam Jones on and off camera

One of the many highlights of my work handling PR for Tool of North America back in 2004-2006 was having the opportunity to meet the acclaimed photographer and director Sam Jones, and handling the campaign announcing him joining Tool for commercial representation. Since then, Sam has hooked-up with RSA Films for commercial representation, while also following his passions to very impressive new heights in the fields of publishing and production.

Last year, Sam launched Off Camera as a website, magazine, television show, and podcast drawing upon his passion for the long form conversational interview, and his connections with a myriad of high-profile artists, actors, musicians, directors, skateboarders, photographers, and writers. In May, Rob Haggart – the former director of photography for Men’s Journal and Outside Magazine – ran a story about “Off Camera” on his popular website, A Photo Editor. Here is an excerpt:

Sam Jones is a go-to photographer for many magazines, studios and ad agencies when it comes to shooting actors. In over 20 years of shooting he’s noticed an unfortunate trend working for magazines. Less time; less control over wardrobe, location, heck even what side of the face you get to shoot; less choice in what to shoot with; which in his mind equals less exciting pictures. No unguarded moments or glimpses into their real lives. So, he decided to do something about it and created his own vehicle for “more” called offCamera.

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Great to know: Steven Masur

Exactly twenty-two years ago, during my employment with Ivan Tors Entertainment, I was hunkered down writing my first screenplay, which was for “Flipper: The Movie.” Delivered early in January, 1992, that script helped the firm move forward in all of its development discussions, and I was given a small sum and a contract stating that the majority of my compensation as the screenwriter was contingent upon the film being made.

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Randy Baker: On Location


Along with my mentor and dear friend Randy Baker, I am very proud to announce the release of our book, “Randy Baker: On Location” by yours truly. It’s available now in Softcover, Hardcover and Digital editions with no markup: http://blur.by/1crueUG Thank you very much for taking a look and for any support and feedback.

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Fireflies: For Those Who Suffer

For the sixth year in a row, 50 “Fireflies” will soon take to the coast of California to ride their bikes a grueling 550 miles in benefit of cancer research. They will depart San Francisco on September 27, and arrive into Los Angeles on October 2.

Cancer affects us all. Please consider helping the fight by making a donation here. Alternatively, you can view the project on Vimeo and make a “Tip Jar” donation using PayPal, where all funds will be directly transferred to the City of Hope research hospital.

Project credits for “For Those Who Suffer,”

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Trojan Horse was a Unicorn 2013

Trojan Horse was a Unicorn (THU) is a four-day Digital Entertainment Festival set for 18-21 September in sunny Troia, Portugal, promising unique opportunities to learn and network in paradise. If you’re not already planning to attend, consider putting it on your 2014 calendar. A premier event for producers, animators, game developers, concept artists, 3D generalists, VFX and CG professionals and the curious, passionate, restless and fearless, this first edition of THU will unite at least 700 professionals and students from around the world for four days of talks, demo-classes, roundtables, investment pitches, recruitment sessions, recruitment challenges and much more.

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Future forward with production studio Leviathan

As the principals of design-focused production studio Leviathan begin their fourth year in business together, their impacts are growing in virtually every dimension. While the montage featured here and at www.lvthn.com presents most of their latest large-scale visual experiences crossing all media, many new achievements are currently in the works as well.

At each new turn, projects like these for The North Face and Callaway via Factory Design Labs, for Kelley Blue Book via Doner, for Western Digital via R&R Partners, for Dodge via Union AdWorks, for HP via Designkitchen, and for musical artists Amon Tobin, Skrillex and others are leading in new directions.

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Brilliant directors: Roman Coppola

Just last August, writers around the world were invited to become part of a very tantalizing short film competition. In short, filmmaker Roman Coppola had teamed-up with Intel and W Hotels to create an original series of four short films to be written by you or me. Here are a few details that appeared with the original announcements in Portable and many other high-profile media outlets across the creative industries.

“Write a screenplay for a short film set in a W Hotel, featuring an Intel-inspired Ultrabook. Roman and a panel of judges, including Chloë Sevigny, Michael Pitt, James Ransone, Jeff Baena, and other notable filmmakers, might just choose your screenplay to be developed into a short film by The Directors Bureau! Your story awaits behind a hotel door. Submit your script by August 30th. Come make a film with us.”

The opportunity absolutely sparked a great deal of interest… but before I knew it, the winners were being announced, and the resulting films, too. Above, I’m embedding Coppola’s own contribution. Below you can also find the project’s official trailer. Enjoy!

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“Kickstarted” documentary feature gives back

From “Kickstarted” – the first documentary film for, by and about crowdfunding – comes “Funded in 60 Seconds.” This is a special series of crowdfunding tips, insights and best practices all delivered in under a minute. Help us keep making more content – and support “Kickstarted,” the first documentary about crowdfunding: http://bit.ly/KickKS