ACCORDING TO RELIABLE SOURCES, one of the A-List L.A. directors, who came here for the Leo Burnett/Olympic Committee shoot last week, got into a bit of trouble at the wrap party at a local club and ended up in the ER.
It seems the director got into an altercation with the club management over the tab. Things got heated and an altercation with the bouncer ensued.
The bouncer removed the director from the premises. Because of a neck injury that the dust-up might’ve caused, the director was rushed to Northwestern Hospital.
When he saw the ER was crowded, as it usually is in the middle of the night, he got on his cell phone to expedite his treatment, so the story goes.
The director called the production manager and ordered him to phone the police sergeant who’d been on the shoot earlier in the day, and order him to to pull strings to move to the front of the line for immediate treatment.
That didn’t happen, of course, because the cop either would have 1) laughed and gone back to sleep, or 2) hung up the phone and gone back to sleep.
THE SATURDAY TRIBUNE ran a nearly full page story in the business section by Wailin Wong about our issue with Leo Burnett and the 2016 Chicago Olympic Committee’s hiring.
If you missed the print story, you can catch it online where, so far, nearly 50 persons have commented on the story. And see the many additional comments to BackTalk, including one from a crew person who worked 21 straight hours on one of the L.A. director’s shoots.
THE ILLINOIS LOTTERY is stirring up concern among spot houses as it’s set to consider proposals in April for production of its spring batch of commercials.
One producer said, “The Illinois Lottery has definitely abused, or should I say their agencies have abused, the rules of using an Illinois corporation in the past. I am an Illinois corporation, but I think it would be violating the spirit of the law if an out-of-town production company used my company through which to run a production.”
Last winter, the Lottery administration outraged home grown spotmakers when it tapped the Chicago corporation of a local rep, who in turn pulled in her New York guys to execute the $500,000 package.
THE WAIT IS OVER to see “The Merry Gentlemen,” the indie feature that shot here in 2007 and marked the directorial debut of star Michael Keaton.
It screens April 7 at the Midwest Independent Film Festival at the Century Landmark Theatre at 7:30 p.m.
The screenplay was written by DraftFCB creative exec Ron Lazzeretti. He had been an award-winning director of commercials, a feature and acclaimed shorts when he co-owned Two Olives production house.
BUSINESS IS OKAY in general and for many companies that the Reel talks to. However, 90 day payables is the new black, say business owners who are struggling to meet their payables obligations to their suppliers, and so on and on.
LEGENDARY GEOGE LUCAS will be honored at the Gene Siskel Film Center annual fundraiser June 13 at the Four Seasons Hotel. He will receive the Center’s Visionary Award for Innovation in Filmmaking. Guest host is actor, writer/director,
Jon Favreau.
LOCAL 476’S MARK HOGAN says he is cautiously optimistic about the possibility of four or five Hollywood studio features heading our way in the foreseeable future.
One “definite maybe” (as former IFO director Ron Ver Kuilen used to say) is “United States,” which will be Angela Bassett’s the directorial debut. She and her husband Courtney Vance will produce under their Bassett/Vance Productions. The movie could get underway here this summer.
These potential movies are the result of the recent Hollywood sales jaunt made by Hogan, IFO’s
Betsy Steinberg and Teamsters Local 727’s John Koley. No features have shot here since “Public Enemies” wrapped last June, besides low-budget “Polish Bar,” currently in production.
COLUMBIA COLLEGE holds its second annual Industry Night, a.k.a. Job Fair May 14 whereby the creative community is invited to meet new grads at a series of networking receptions. Industry Night runs along with Columbia College’s Manifest Urban Arts Festival May 15, and is part of the school’s commencement weekend.
“REMEMBERING PHIL,” written by Chicago native Michael J. Katz and co-produced with director Brian Smith screens as a fundraiser for the Anixter Center and Camp March 22 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
The comedy stars Nicholas Turturro, Christina Murphy and another Chicago native, Dan Castellaneta , the voice of Homer Simpson.
OSCAR WINNER PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN illuminates Chicago next year for his theatrical directing debut at the Goodman Theatre. The play is a world premiere from Chicago playwright Rebecca Gilman.
THE LATEST WEBISODES of “FilmFellas,” Steve Weiss’ roundtable discussion with indie filmmakers, carries the title of “Mumblecore and More.” In webisodes 5 to 8, hear conversations with Joe Swanberg (“Kissing on the Mouth”) Susan Buice (“Four Eyed Monsters”) and Kris Williams (“Young American Bodies”).
