Nerd Prom

My visit to Comic-Con.

Yours truly quoted in USA Today

DVDs put viewer in director's seat

By Mike Snider, USA TODAY

Even as new high definition home video discs arrive to replace DVDs, some new DVDs show signs of evolution.

Final Destination 3 and Choose Your Own Adventure: The Abominable Snowman, both out today, give viewers unprecedented control over the story line.

At several points, viewers must choose between two paths. Depending on the choices, the movies play out differently.

FILM IS IN YOUR HANDS: Play God on 'Final 3' DVD

In Final Destination 3 (New Line Home Entertainment, $30), some characters have different fatal outcomes, and several can survive the mayhem. Among the 11 unique story paths in The Abominable Snowman (Goldhil Entertainment, $20), an animated tale of three children searching for their explorer uncle, some have "very bad endings and some very good endings," says Michelle Crames, a co-producer. "This is new for kids entertainment."

Two more interactive Choose Your Adventure DVDs, The Lost Jewels and Mystery of the Maya, are planned for 2007.

Interactivity was among the most touted features of DVD when it arrived in 1997, but only a few obscure releases have allowed viewers to affect the story line. New Line Home Entertainment says Final Destination 3 is the first interactive movie to be created with the collaboration of a major studio's theatrical and DVD production teams.

"I have a feeling that we may see more interactivity on certain titles, sometimes even as just a gimmick," says Erik Martinez of DVDTown.com. "This could be a very good thing for studios."

Other interactive DVDs:

•What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole Quantum Edition (Fox, $29, out today). The three-disc set includes an expanded "quantum mode" of the 2004 film that produces a different movie each time.

•Livin' It Up with The Bratz ($20, Aug. 1) from Goldhil, the same studio responsible for the Choose Your Adventure series. The fashion dolls branch off into different scenes.

•A Nightmare on Elm Street Special Edition ($27, Sept. 26) is the 11th in New Line's infinifilm series that lets viewers opt to see additional features along with the film. "The infinifilm mode allows you to see all the special features in scene-specific context," New Line's Mike Mulvihill says.

New Line approached director James Wong before filming Final Destination 3 about the idea of alternate story lines. The studio allotted an extra $750,000 to the $25 million film budget.

"The hope is the audience will respond to this in a way to encourage us to do this again," Mulvihill says.

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Plus a link to the article on their website:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-07-24-dvd-interactivity_x.htm

Sometimes you have to roll a hard six...

I finished my draft of "We Can Be Heroes" for Kirk on Thursday night/Friday morning. Apparently his agent really likes the script now and is much more confident in sending it out to people. I am too after the fiasco that was the previous draft - when you have Mexican characters speaking in Italian = not a good thing. Still, a few production companies and producers have expressed interest in the project based off of Kirk's pitch. So now the waiting game. Anxiety is kicking into over drive but I have yet to start bouncing off the walls.

Oh and if that wasn't enough The Weinstein Company has expressed interest in our previous project "Blood Bond". They requested a PDF copy of the script that they could print off and send to the higher ups. This was Friday as well, so again, a waiting game. Crossing fingers.

Plus a good friend of mine has managed to convince the producer of this TV show she script sups for to read a sample of my work, cause it just so happens that they're looking to fill a spot and need someone with quick turn around abilities. Ahem, that would be me.

I did, after all, right a completely new draft of "WCBH" in less than two weeks.

Oh oh AND... a friend of mine from Grad. school wants to shoot a feature next year, and is looking for a writer to pen her script and (gasp) she's willing to pay. I'm meeting with her today.

As a distraction I'm getting sucked in by the genius (madness) that is R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet". Also, I've been exploring some really cool L.A. eateries and bars lately, too. It's nice to finally be able to explore L.A. a little more. I'm loving the hell out of it.

I'm getting business cards, 'cause, you know I want to be all "legit" and shit.

So... I'm really, really, really in need of an agent, because if any of these deal go through (including my treatment - human trafficking script/treatment, my wrestling movie and Californio), I want to make sure I don't get in the a$$. Thus, I'm making a list, checking it twice, of all the people who I know who might have connections/referrals to agents. Working up a query letter and then sending that puppy out.

I will put as many cliche phrases and the like in this blog as I want, cause I don't want them in my scripts.

I need an agent. I need an agent. I need an agent. I will find an agent. I will find an agent. I will sign with an agent!

Oh and the Beyond the Mat webiste.