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  Photos from the set of Long Time Gone

  September 22, 2011 / Articles, Videos

  Via Sierra Madre Patch: Production crews transformed the Taylor’s parking lot into a Maryland grocery store Tuesday morning as they began production on an independent film called Long Time Gone. The film stars Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Golden Globe winner Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace), and Zach Gilford of Friday Night Lights fame. Echoing sentiments expressed by the producers of the NBC web series In Gale We Trust, which also films in town, unit publicist Cid Swank said [...]

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  Yarn Bombing by Guinevere Turner

  September 21, 2011 / Articles, Creator Corner, Virals/Shorts/Music Videos

  Guinevere Turner is a Content Creator in the Content Engine network. I do a thing that is commonly called Yarn Bombing.  (And by “commonly called” I mean that no one has ever heard of it, but those who have call it Yarn Bombing).   It is the simple act of putting creations made of yarn onto objects outside – sweaters for trees are popular, cozies for bike racks, and people seem to be drawn to adorning newspaper boxes.   The aesthetic is [...]

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  Panic! At The Disco & Steampunk D.I.Y.I.P.

  September 15, 2011 / Articles, State of the Biz

  I met the Art & Media Director involved in a Steampunk recreation and performance group, The League of Steam. The League of Steam generates what I call D.I.Y.I.P. or Do-It-Yourself Intellectual Property. D.I.Y.I.P is a way content creators with a common interest can home-grow their own IP with the potential to coagulate a niche group of fans or micro audience (to be explicated in a later post). That micro audience has tremendous value for D.I.Y.I.P. because what starts as a [...]

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  SurfAid International Charity Event

  September 14, 2011 / Articles, Videos

  Last Friday Seth and Matt attended SurfAid’s annual Malibu fundraiser event. Patron was a sponsor of the event and had a totally rad HD photo booth where everyone struck impromptu poses. It basically made everyone look cool. (Not that we needed it.) It was a cool event for a great cause in a beautiful setting. SurfAid is a non-profit humanitarian organization whose aim is to improve the health, well-being and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to us [...]

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  Content Engine’s Good Omen — A Bird of Prey

  September 14, 2011 / Articles, Videos

  A hawk perched just outside the Content Engine office this morning. For about twenty minutes, the magnificent bird preened its feathers, balanced on one talon and craned its neck 180 degrees to survey the coast. Enjoy this rare, up close and personal glimpse you might only find on the Nature channel. Click to expand the pictures below.

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  The Media Entrepreneur’s Desktop

  September 13, 2011 / Articles, State of the Biz

  Here’s a screen shot of the open windows on my computer. Just a sample of the notes, images, files, projects, emails, video and other priorities currently on my mind…

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  My SXSW Panel Proposal — BE A BRAND: HOW TO BE A TRANSMEDIA CONTENT CREATOR

  September 2, 2011 / Articles, State of the Biz

  After being inspired by the thought leaders in interactive media I was exposed to at last year’s SXSW, I’ve proposed giving a presentation at next year’s SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive Festival. It will take a moment of your time to register your email and establish a password, but once you do, it’s only a click to vote it thumbs up. My talk is called BE A BRAND: HOW TO BE A TRANSMEDIA CONTENT CREATOR. You can click here to [...]

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  Social Media Strategy — Some Initial Guidelines

  September 1, 2011 / Articles, State of the Biz

  Guy Kawasaki‘s guideline for effectively using social media: provide information, analysis or assistance. I’d suggest one could add “entertainment” to that list and that’s exactly what we’re hoping to provide here, through the platform of Content Engine: information, analysis, assistance and perhaps inspiration as it all relates to entertainment, storytelling and creativity in one form or another and on as many platforms as possible. Michael Margolis posits that we all have the potential to be storytellers. Watch from 3:25 for [...]

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  Coppola on Risktaking

  September 1, 2011 / Articles, State of the Biz

  Some further inspiration from Coppola: Take risks! Fear of risk holds you back. Don’t say “no,” especially to yourself.  

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• Are you like Francis Ford Coppola?

  September 1, 2011 / Articles, State of the Biz

  Great video interview of Francis Ford Coppola. I found it inspiring — ignore the jazz track and start watching at 1:10. This particular video won’t embed, so you have to copy and paste the url: http://youtu.be/NJhTWBl4EiU Coppola was so accomplished at this stage in his life, yet it’s surprising to hear his reply to the question, “How do you think of yourself — as a director, writer, publisher, producer?” Check it out.

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  Thesps sign up for ‘Long Time Gone’

  August 30, 2011 / Articles, News

  Via Variety: “Hellcats” star Aly Michalka, model-turned-actor Travis Fimmel and “Californication” thesp Madeline Zima have joined the cast of Smokewood Entertainment’s “Long Time Gone.” “Precious” producer Sarah Siegel-Magness makes her directorial debut with the pic, which stars Meg Ryan as a woman who suffers a nervous breakdown after her cheating husband leaves her. Zach Gilford and Graham Rogers co-star as her two sons who, along with the latter’s live-in girlfriend (Amanda Crew), attempt to comfort Ryan in her time of [...]

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  Graham Rogers plans for ‘Long Time Gone’

  August 25, 2011 / Articles, News

  Via Variety: “Precious” producer Sarah Siegel-Magness has tapped Graham Rogers for her directorial debut “Long Time Gone.” Ryan toplines the Smokewood Entertainment production as a woman who suffers a nervous breakdown after her cheating husband leaves her. Rogers will play Ryan’s 18-year-old son Henry, a good-hearted stoner who has flunked out of high school and is determined to comfort her with the help of his estranged older brother (Zach Gilford, “Friday Night Lights”) and live-in girlfriend (Amanda Crew, “Sex Drive”). [...]

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