Latinos In The Industry eNewsletter

November 20, 2007

NALIP Achievement Award Winners Grab PGA Nomination

The Producers Guild of America announced nominations for their top television honors, and included the ABC hit series “Ugly Betty” as a nominee for top comedy honor. Producers Silvio Horta, Salma Hayek and Jose Tamez were recognized with NALIP's 2007 Outstanding Achievement Award at our March Conference for their achievement in adapting Fernando Gaitan's Columbian novela "Betty la Fea." We will be rooting for them on February 2, when the PGA holds their Awards Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

ITVS Seeks Proposals

INDEPENDENT TELEVISION SERVICE (ITVS) seeks proposals for public TV programs which take creative risks and serve underrepresented audiences.

OPEN CALL provides completion funding for single non-fiction and animation programs (not series) that are already in production. It is their largest funding initiative with two funding rounds per year. There is no minimum or maximum funding amount, though ITVS funds should be the last money in to the project. Please note that the deadlines have changed, and the deadline for Open Call 2008 Round 1 is JANUARY 11, 2008.

Please note that as of 2008, Open Call will no longer accept live action Drama/Narrative submissions. ITVS is currently revising its policies regarding submissions in this genre. They will publicize this new policy in the coming months once it has taken effect.

The online application and guidelines are posted on their website at http://www.itvs.org/producers/opencall_guidelines.html

The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund

Dear Friends,
I'm excited to let you know about a new program I am overseeing at TFI. The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund will provide financing and production guidance to help independent filmmakers complete documentaries that promote social change through artful storytelling, focusing on issues currently neglected by the mainstream news media. The fund will provide grants totaling $80,000 to a minimum of three filmmakers in 2008. Recipients will be selected by the Tribeca Film Institute, Gucci and a selection committee of documentary filmmakers. All documentary filmmakers who have projects in production or postproduction may apply.

Submissions open February 5, 2008 and the deadline will be April 11, 2008. Recipients will be announced next summer. Please forward this information to any filmmakers and check out our website where we will post more information as it becomes available:
www.tribecafilminstitute.org/documentary

Best,
Beth Janson

Call for Entries: Butaca

Next to funding, distribution is one of the biggest challenges that our membership faces. The Internet has already changed the way music is distributed, we at NALIP hope that new Internet technologies will help our Latino/Latina Independent film and video makers distribute their work as well.

Butaca (www.butaca.tv) has announced their future launch in Q1 of 2008 of a broadband VOD site that specifically addresses and focuses on Latino Productions from the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal.

Butaca is looking to forge relationships with Independent filmmakers and other Rights Holders to distribute their work for the Internet on a non-exclusive basis. They are looking for Feature films and Shorts across all genres. Content will be offered both on a rental and on a free, ad-supported model, depending on the Rights Holders choice. In both cases, the Rights Holder will receive 50% of the retail revenues.

Butacas technology is brand new and allows individuals to watch content almost instantaneously and in DVD and HD quality using a standard broadband connection.

If interested, Veranda Entertainment, the people behind Butaca, ask you to submit an application by going to www.butaca.tv. Any questions or request for demo can be submitted to Alvaro de la Fuente at rights@butaca.tv .

American Latino TV Goes Back In Time with "Boyz Del Barrio"

AIM TV Group announced that nationally syndicated television program, American Latino TV, will present the first interview of the R&B group formerly known as "The Barrio Boyz," coming back to the music scene as "The Boyz del Barrio," in an episode airing the weekend of Nov. 24-Nov. 25.

Best known for their song "Donde Quieras Que Estes," featuring the legendary Queen of Tejano Music, Selena, the newly renamed, Boyz del Barrio once paved the way for many of today's Latin R&B crossover artists like Baby Bash and Frankie J. Returning with four of the original members, a new flavor and name to take on fans that have not forgotten them and ready for a new generation of fans.

Also in American Latino the show explores the growing influence of Latinos in Martial Arts; Bruno Irizarry who was fed up with stereotypical Latino roles in film and TV and directed his own movie, "Shut up and Do it;" Latino bridal gown designer, Lazaro Perez reveals his latest gowns; the show looks into the growth of Portuguese and Brazilians in Newark, New Jersey. Actor

On LatiNation, viewers will discover the animated side of being Latino with illustrator, David Heredia; Hearts get to racing with the sexy and famed female fitness guru, Ary Nuñez; BH LIFE Film Festival and viewers meet the woman behind some of the boldest and most recognizable brands in the world with graphic designer, Zoa Martinez; Famed songwriter and bona fide ladies man, hot musical artist Baby Bash reveals the secret behind his chart-topping success.

AMERICAN LATINO TV:
* New York - WWOR My9 Sundays @ 4:00 PM
* Chicago*** - WPWR My 50 Sunday @ 2:30 PM
* Los Angeles - KABC Saturday nights @ 1:00 AM / Sundays @ 4:00 PM (check listings)
* San Francisco - KTVU FOX 2 Saturdays @ 2:30 PM/ KICU TV36 Sundays @ 12 PM
* Houston - KTXH My20 Sundays @ 10:30 AM
* Corpus Christi - KZTV CBS 33 Late Night Sundays @ 1 AM

Go to www.AmericanLatino.tv/wheretowatch for a complete listing and more info.

LATINATION:
* New York - WWOR My9 Sundays @ 4:30 PM
* Chicago*** - WPWR My 50 Sunday @ 2:00 PM
* Los Angeles - KCAL 9 Saturday nights @ 12:30 AM
* San Francisco - KICU TV36 Sundays @ 12:30 PM
* Houston - KTXH My20 Sundays @ 10 AM
* Corpus Christi - KZTV CBS 33 Late Night Sundays @ 1:30 AM

Go to www.LatiNation.tv/wheretowatch for a complete listing and more info.

*** Note: In CHICAGO, for the weekend of Nov. 24th-25th ONLY, LatiNation and American Latino TV will air on Sunday, Nov. 25th beginning at 2 PM, instead of its regular timeslot, Saturdays at 5 and 5:30 PM, respectively.

Herb Ferrette, II
LPA Mentor Receives National Emmy Nod

Herb Ferrette, II a Mentor for the 2005 & 2007 NALIP Latino Producers Academy held in Tucson has been nominated as part of a team for a National Business & Financial Reporting 2007 Emmy in the category of - Outstanding Documentary on a Business Topic a project on which he was the editor. "Charity Begins at Home" was produced for WNET's AIR: America's Investigative Reports series which is now called Expose. The competition is across the board as robust as the National News and Documentary Emmy Competition, it included entries from all the major networks including, CNN, CNBC, Frontline and Bloomberg.

"Charity Begins at Home" profiles how a well-intentioned government program become a cash machine for businessmen bent on enriching themselves at the expense of the disabled. In 1971, Congress created a program to channel federal contracts to charities that train and employ workers who are blind or have severe disabilities. Known as JWOD (named after the law that created it, the Javits-Wagner-O'Day act), it eventually came to have a $2 billion dollar budget. But no one, it appears, was keeping track of where that money was going, until journalists from The Oregonian decided to have a look. What they found was abuse of the system and anemic oversight resulting in a massive bilking of taxpayers and precious few jobs for the genuinely disabled.

Lorena Manriquez, Fernando Romero
LPA Fellows Participate in NBPC’s New Media Institute

LPA fellows Lorena Manriquez and Fernando Romero participated in the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) New Media Institute held in Jackson, Mississippi, November 11 through 16, 2007.

NBPC’s New Media Institute is a professional development program that trains emerging and veteran filmmakers in the latest digital new media technologies. The focus for this year’s Institute was on the use of new media in local engagement. The training centered on developing new media projects for the Mississippi Blues Commissions Blues Trail and the B.B. King Museum as the practical approach to teaching new technical skills, as well as ways to create innovative engagement tools by leveraging public media and community assets.

Twenty-five producers were selected to participate in the New Media Institute this year. The workshops were geared towards independent producers looking to transform existing broadcast programs to a multi-media environment and producers looking to create original pieces for PBS.org. Through a combination of hands-on workshops, in-the-field experiments and post-production exercises, the teams covered each phase in the production of a new media project. The project platforms included vodcasts, podcasts, locative media, games, and more to be incorporated into the Blues Trail website or for exhibit in the new B. B. King Museum.

Almudena Carracedo
LPA Fellow's "Made in L.A." Wins Special Mention at Walladolid

In an awards ceremony broadcast live on Spanish national TV, LPA fellow and mentor Almudena Carracedo's documentary "Made in L.A." received a Special Mention of the Jury, "because through its treatment of a specific story it ultimately deals with a universal conflict , that of immigration and cross-cultural relations and with an eternal struggle , the exploitation of the weakest by the most powerful as well as with personal dignity and its power to transform human beings.
The film, which recently received international attention at the Morelia International Film Festival, has also won the Cine SinFin Los Angeles Chicano Film Festival's "Corky Gonzales Righteousness Award" and has been nominated for the IDA ' s Pare Lorentz Award. It'll will also screen next month at The Havana International Film Festival.

To learn more, visit Almudena's blog at www.madeinla.com/blog

"Nine" Postponed By Strike
(Variety) - The Weinstein Co. has postponed "Nine," the Rob Marshall-directed musical that was slated to start production in March with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren and Marion Cotillard. FULL STORY

"No Country" Fights The Slump
(indieWIRE) - Expanding to 148 screens, the Coen Brothers' "No Country For Old Men" continued to show signs of breaking the indie box office slump. According to estimates from Rentrak, "No Country" averaged a fantastic $20,932 and grossed over $3 million. FULL STORY

15 Documentaries Make Oscar Cut
(Variety) - War-themed films are centerstage on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' shortlist of 15 films that will compete for the five nominee spots in the Oscars' feature-length docu category. FULL STORY

IFC Closing in on Ferrara's "Go Go Tales"
(indieWIRE) - Deal in the works... IFC Films is negotiating a pact for Abel Ferrara's "Go Go Tales," a 2007 Cannes Film Festival entry that also screened this fall at the New York Film Festival. FULL STORY

Participant, State Street Partner Up for Bobby Martinez
(ScreenDaily) - Munic hired to write the screenplay about the first Mexican-American professional surfer on the world circuit. FULL STORY (Subscription required)

In Name Count, Garcias Are Catching Up With Joneses
(LBN) - Smith remains the most common surname in the United States, according to a new analysis released by the Census Bureau. But for the first time, two Hispanic surnames -- Garcia and Rodriguez -- are among the top 10 most common in the nation. The number of Hispanics living in the United States grew by 58 percent in the 1990s to nearly 13 percent of the total population.

Visit the NALIP Job Opportunities page for all the latest listings.

Associate Producer for Educational Video Series
Eyes of the World Media Group is hiring an Associate Producer for an educational video series on methamphetamine, funded by The State of California and Tom and Stacy Siebel Foundation. FULL JOB DESCRIPTION

Casting: Real Lawyers for new Hispanic Court TV Show
Latin American Production Company seeking fluent Spanish speaking lawyers for a new reality based television court show. FULL JOB DESCRIPTION

Casting: Local Hires for Feature (San Jose)
"Silicon Valley," an urban action film, is looking for local hire actors from the San Jose / Silicon Valley area for December 3-27, 2007. FULL JOB DESCRIPTION

Crew Local Hires for Feature (San Jose)
"Silicon Valley," an urban action film, is looking for local hire crew from the San Jose / Silicon Valley area for December 3-27, 2007. FULL JOB DESCRIPTION

Editor
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The Latinos in the Industry e-Newsletter is a free service provided by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) with the generous assistance of Alex Mendoza & Associates (AMA) in an “as-is” basis for the education and information of users only. NALIP and/or AMA, their principal(s), employees, agents or representatives shall under no circumstances be liable for any loss or damage, including, but not limited to, loss of profits, goodwill or indirect or consequential loss arising out of any use of or inaccuracies in the information. All warranties expressed or implied are excluded to the fullest extent permissible by law. All comments and postings, including those by the Editor, are the responsibility of those individuals posting and no endorsement by NALIP and/or AMA should be inferred. Referral links and individual e-mail forwarding are permitted. NALIP reserves the right to withdraw or delete information or to discontinue this service at any time. All quoted, linked and/or referred information, as well as all copyrights and trademarks, are the property of their respective holders, used here under license and/or “fair-use” rules. © NALIP.