Why Postcard Marketing Sucks and What to Do About It

by Emily Grace

Let’s face it.  Postcard marketing sucks.  You may not want to hear it, but deep down you know its true.

You slap a stamp on your postcard, shuffle your manicured feet to the nearest mailbox, plant a good luck kiss on your 4×6, dump that puppy in the mail, cross your fingers and hope to the universe that your one little postcard is gonna OPEN DOORS!

You and every other actor from here to tim-buk-tukus (intentional typo, tyvm).

And that, my actor friend, is exactly why postcards suck – and suck it hard.

When it comes to postcard marketing – everybody’s doing it.

You’re stuck building relationships (if you can call them that) one person at a time. There’s only so far you can go with a limited-reach-strategy like that.

Besides, how is your little postcard – while it may be visually pleasing, filled with witticisms, laser-focused castability phrases describing your undeniable awesomeness, and possibly include a super hottie hot photo of you – how is your postcard supposed to stand out?

It can’t.  It doesn’t.  It never will. Read more

Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the Freakiness Surrounding the Filming of ‘The Possession’

Nothing makes a supernatural film scarier than when creepy things happen on set too.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, star of the new horror movie, The Possession, was more than happy to share stories of the strange events that occurred during filming.  “This happened three or four times that I’m aware of: I’ve been on movies for a long time now and I’ve never seen a 5K light explode in the middle of key scenes and this happened three or four times,” he said in an interview with NBC New York. 

“In a closed studio—without doors open or fans nearby—suddenly a gust of wind would come from nowhere…All of our props, the Dybbuk box [the box which houses the evil spirit in the film] included, were put into storage in Vancouver so we could go back if we had to and do reshoots we’d have everything there.  A week after we wrapped filming the storage unit burned to the ground and it was investigated.  It wasn’t arson, it wasn’t an electrical fire—it started from within.  That’s all I’m gonna say.” Read more

Interview: ‘For a Good Time Call…’ stars Ari Graynor and Lauren Miller

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:33 — 12.1MB)

For a Good Time Call… is a raunchy, crude and at times hilarious film that is also one of the sweetest movies about friendship that I’ve seen in a while.

The story follows former college frenemies Lauren and Katie, who, in order to stay in Manhattan move into together. Once there, the two join forces and start a phone sex business together.

The two stars, Ari Graynor and Lauren Miller (who also co-wrote the film with Katie Anne Naylon), have great on-screen chemistry and their scenes together just make you want to see more of them, especially towards the end of the film.

Lauren (who is married to Seth Rogen) and Katie wrote the script from their real life experience as college roommates and when they were searching for the perfect person to portray Katie’s alter-ego, they found the Graynor, who told me that the pair sent her a “beautiful love letter asking me to come on” to the film.

I talked to the three of them about writing the film, the 16-day shoot, bad auditions and their advice to actors. Read more

Seth Rogen on His ‘For A Good Time Call’ Cameo: “I’ve done some pretty risqué shit in movies, but I don’t think I’ve ever jerked off in a movie before”

Seth Rogen has probably set the bar of good taste back a few dozen yards in his films, but believe it or not even he has limits.  He actually ended up crossing one of those lines in his cameo in For a Good Time Call…, but as he tells New York he did it all for his wife, Lauren Miller, as twisted as it sounds.

For A Good Time Call… was produced and co-written by Miller, who also stars.  She is also just about to celebrate her one year wedding anniversary with Rogen so Miller asked her husband if he would appear in her film.  Rogen recalls, “She asked me [to do it] one night when we were getting ready for bed.  And I think I just said, ‘Yes.’… I was honored.” Read more

Listen to Lea Salonga Sing ‘The Mountain’s Heart’, A New Song from The Old Globe’s ‘Allegiance’

Allegiance is gearing up for its premiere at San Diego’s The Old Globe and ahead of the opening, the production has released a song from the upcoming Broadway-bound musical.

Listen as Tony Award winner Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon) and Michael K. Lee sing, The Mountain’s Heart.

The world premiere of Allegiance, also starring George Takei and Telly Leung (Godspell), runs at The Old Globe from Sept. 7 – Oct. 21, 2012. Read more

Watch the First Episode of NBC’s ‘The New Normal’ starring Justin Bartha, Andrew Rannells and Ellen Barkin

Here’s your chance to check out NBC’s The New Normal before it airs on September 11th.

The show, created by Glee‘s Ryan Murphy, stars Justin Bartha, Andrew Rannells, Ellen Barkin and Georgia King and is about a successful gay couple (Bartha and Rannells) who set out to find a surrogate (King) to have their baby.

Check it out below! Read more

Lennie James talks Using Accents and the One Time He’s Been “Frightened About a Job”

British actor Lennie James could teach a master class on accents, after sounding like an authentic American in shows like Jericho and Hung.

“You don’t always want the character’s voice to be too much like your own,” he told Slate.com.  “When I’m playing an American, I don’t play Lennie with an American accent.  They’re American characters who look like me, but they have different voices.  For Tony [Gates, his role in BBC’s Line of Duty] the voice was closer to mine, but I still tried to be aware of certain things that he would say in a way that I wouldn’t.”

James admits he doesn’t really choose projects depending on the country they’re representing.  “I’ve worked in the theater, television, and films.  A five-hour TV series is certainly more time than a character I’d be playing in a film.  We did four months on Line of Duty from beginning to end, and that would be a long theater run.  Also, a BBC hour is longer than an American television hour.” Read more

Trailer: ‘The Iceman’ starring Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, James Franco, Ray Liotta & Chris Evans

The Iceman follows Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) from his early days in the mob until his arrest in 1986. Appearing to be living the American dream with his beautiful wife, Deborah Pellicotti (Winona Ryder) and their children, in reality he is a killer-for-hire able to keep his “job” hidden from his family. When he is finally arrested by the feds in 1986, neither his wife and daughters nor their neighbors have any clue that he is a murderer. Why did he do it and how did he get away with it for so long?

Cast: Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder, James Franco, Ray Liotta, Chris Evans, David Schwimmer
Director: Ariel Vromen

Coming Soon Read more

Bobby Cannavale: “All I ever wanted to do is to be a working New York actor”

Bobby Cannavale is pretty much everywhere right now.  He just finished a run on Nurse Jackie, he currently has a role on Boardwalk Empire, and he will be starring in the upcoming Broadway production of Glengarry Glen Ross.

It would be hard for some actors to keep this many roles straight in their heads.  “I just took two weeks off to shoot this film, and then I have to go back and finish Boardwalk, and then I start rehearsal the day after that,” Cannavale told Vulture.  “I pretty much keep going like that.  I like living like that.  And the nine-mile walk, I do that shit in the city, that’s my little break.  I don’t need much more than that.  All I ever wanted to do is to be a working New York actor.  And I’m managing to do it.” Read more

Sutton Foster on the ‘Bunheads’ Shooting Schedule: “I’ve never been more addicted to coffee and Diet Coke”

Sutton Foster’s foray into television has been a successful one.  The two-time Tony winner’s series, Bunheads, has already been picked up for a second season.

The change from Broadway to television has been different for Foster.  In an interview with Broadway.com, she said, “I’m coming from a world of theater where every day is the same, and there’s a comfort in that.  But on TV, once you’re done with a scene, you’ll never do it again.  You’ve got 40 people staring at you with a camera and lights; there’s no time to be scared or to be like, ‘I don’t know how.’  There’s days, obviously, where I’m like, ‘I can’t do it!’  But you work through it and move on to something else.”

One of the main obstacles has been the shooting schedule, much different from a typical theater run.  “One of the biggest challenges is the exhaustion factor,” Foster said.  “They’ll be like, ‘Okay, your call’s at 5:45.’  What!? [laughs].  I’d go to bed at 8:30, then work a 15-hour day and memorize the dialogue on the show, so the biggest challenges are brain melt and exhaustion.  I’ve never been more addicted to coffee and Diet Coke.” Read more

Next Page »