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Thursday, March 4th, 2010
WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL TAKE OF THE FILM COMMISSION!
TAKE ONE
Wilkommen!  Berlin comes to Memphis!

April 1st, come enjoy a little German with On Location: MEMPHIS International Film Festival, the Memphis & Shelby Co. Film and Television Commission, MemphisED, and the Memphis Council for International Visitors!

It's the one-time-only screening in Memphis of ALLE ANDEREN (EVERYONE ELSE)...a story of troubled love which won the Silver Bear Award at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival. And there's more: Memphis filmmakers Eric Swartz and Sarah Bolton will introduce their "Memphis in Berlin" webisode series. An evening of film and gemutlichkeit (good feelings). It's all part of the Memphis-Berlin Alliance for Film, sponsored by the Film Commission and MemphisED. Admission: $8 At The Door -- All proceeds to to Memphis International Film Festival.  

TAKE TWO
Free Film Crew Workshops!

Learn from the real pros: The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission/MemphisED and Malco Theatres, Inc. present "FILM CREW BOOT CAMP: HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE CHANGING WORLD OF FILM."

The informational seminar is produced by Sundance Grand Jury Prize-Winning Producer Michael (Mike) S. Ryan, and the seminar is free and open to film crew of Greater Memphis.

Topics Include:
· "How to Protect Yourself on a Low-Budget Film"
· "The Union Perspective vs. The Non-Union Perspective" (with Mike Ryan, Teamster Local 984 President/Business Manager Terry Lovan, and I.A.T.S.E.-Studio Mechanics Tennessee President, Two-time Academy Award-Nominee Peter Kurland)
· "Making Films in Memphis" (A Panel of Memphis Producers)

The event is Sunday, March 7th, from 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. at Malco's Studio on the Square in Midtown Memphis.

TAKE THREE
It's a wrap!              


At "base camp" for the movie, A FINE STEP: left to right, Teamsters Woodsa Tyler and Arthur B. Crutcher, Jr.; Costume Designer Meriwether Nichols; Memphis/Shelby Co. Film Commissioner Linn Sitler; Deputy Film Commissioner Sharon Fox O'Guin; and Film Commission Intern LaTish Jenkins (U of M)

Big congratulations to all the local crew and cast who worked on "A Fine Step" (formerly "Fandango") in February. Hollywood favorites such as Luke Perry and Armand Assante starred with local actors Amy LaVere and Hutchison student Anna Claire Sneed in the small budget feature film about the big budget Paso Fino horse breed.

Almost half the crew were local on the production that was scripted by Mid-Southerners Dennis Sonnenschein and 'Doc' Suggs.

The shoot ran more than two weeks and it was often arduous with some long and cold days, but crew and cast persevered throughout. Most of the shooting was done at "Magnolia Manor," a picturesque horse farm in Germantown owned by Dr. Mitch and Nancy Steiner. Some scenes were also shot at the Agricenter Show Place Arena.

TAKE FOUR
New Film Commission website and FilmMemphis TV up and running!

Check out the latest news on the production scene in Memphis and see our new web series: FILM MEMPHIS.TV at our new website www.filmmemphis.org
TAKE FIVE
Memphis clients take honors in Streamy Awards!

Congratulations to Commission client "$5 Cover" now nominated for Best New Web Series and Best Editing in a Web Series for the Streamy Awards.

The second annual Streamy Awards ceremony is scheduled for April 11, 2010 at The Music Box at Fonda Theater in Hollywood.

To learn more click here: www.streamys.org/awards/

 
TAKE SIX
Beat Beifuss as the Oscars enters its final week!

You want to be as cool as Jack, and claim a victory of your own? Then get cracking: You have one week left to enter The Commercial Appeal's annual "Beat Beifuss at the Oscars Contest," which gives you, the reader, the opportunity to win twenty -- yes, that's twenty -- free movie tickets to Malco theaters.

Participation requires only seconds of your time: Just go to this link, and make your predictions for the Academy Awards. And please don't tell me that you're not going to play because you don't know jack about the nominated movies, because actually watching the movies might be more of a hindrance than a help. In fact, seeing all the movies is just the sort of activity that might cause you to pick Carey Mulligan, star of "An Education," over Sandra Bullock, for example.

The Oscar ceremony takes place Sunday, March 7, so contest entries are due by 5 p.m. Friday, March 5. Good luck!


-- John Beifuss

TAKE SEVEN
Join the Commission for the Sivads of March


Coming to Memphis March 25th-28th.  Check out more here!

TAKE EIGHT
'Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island" on DVD in April

Fraternity Massacre at Hell Island -- in which Mud Island plays a key role -- is coming to video.

The locally made film - a client of the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission - will be released on DVD April 20.

Here's the trailer for the 2007 film written and directed by Mark Jones.

Click here for the film's Website.
 
TAKE NINE
'Losers Take All' shooting this summer


"We were just gonna set it in any town. In fact, the town wasn't going to be a 'character' at all. But man, I came down here, I had never been here before, and after the first meal at the Cozy Corner, I was like, 'This is my kind of town.' We realized this is the perfect place to set it."
- Producer-screenwriter Alexander Pope

Read John Beifuss' story in the CA about "Losers Take All," a movie about a fictional 1980s indie punk-pop band to be shot over 25 days this summer on a budget of about $1.5 million.

Another of the film's producers who was key to getting the film shot in Memphis is Mike S. Ryan, who worked here on "21 Grams" and "Forty Shades of Blue."

Beifuss quotes deputy Memphis & Shelby County Film commissioner Sharon Fox O'Guin as saying, "Mike is a real booster of Memphis, and he worked to help us bring this movie here."
 
AND THAT'S A WRAP!
for this month's issue of The Official Take!  To sign up for your copy, just clink the link below or email sharon@memphisfilmcomm.org.
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The Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission

Linn Sitler
Film Commissioner
click here to email Linn

Sharon Fox O'Guin
Deputy Film Commissioner
click here to email Sharon

50 Peabody Place, Suite 250
Memphis, TN  38103
901.527.8300

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Jon W. Sparks
Website Editor

FilmMemphisTV

Incentives

Production Guide

Reelscout

Gallery
Sivad
pictured:  Sivad

More news from the Film Commission:

March 5th is deadline for entries, Lil' Film Fest

FILMMEMPHIS TV goes international

Memphis rocks the Mid-South Emmys

Kudos to Audley/Treharne

"The Grace Card" in the news

"Open Five" in Filmmaker magazine

Loss of a Teardrop Diamond review

"One Came Home" trailer


VIP Memphis

Check out Linn's column, "The Movie Lady," in this month's issue of VIP Memphis magazine!