Leatherheads Trailer

This is the Leatherheads Movie Trailer. I was fortunate to have worked on this romantic football comedy directed and starring George Clooney...I will be interested to see how this trailer may become virally marketed on Facebook and how they use digital technology such as YouTube. It comes out April 2008 in the US.

My best holiday present - Leatherheads Trailer with George Clooney

Here is the trailer from the movie Leatherheads which I was an extra as a sideline photographer, sideline reporter, and fan. Leatherheads stars George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, and John Krasinski. I was fortunate to have worked on the film on 3 different locations, 3 different roles (costumes), including one which I was in an old time athletic club uniform...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45lgqAYH3pQ

My Jen-Zen Journey on Facebook

Back in May 2007, I joined facebook and by July, I had started a separate blog called www.facebookenthusiast.com for promoting my services as a facebook marketing expert.

Within facebook, I have started to gain clients who are part of the creative community. This includes authors and musicians.

Last week, I began to develop marketing strategies for the release of an independent novel which is a magical romance. The author, Julie Ann Shapiro, is relatively young, yet prolific in the writing of short stories and "flash novels".

This week we began to promote her first novel called "Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries" We began to promote the book both inside and outside of facebook including looking for tie-ins with shoe companies and retailers.

We also will be pursuing other media outlets for possible development of the book and other stories which could be developed into film or television projects.

This is already a fun and rewarding journey as I learn about the marketing of fiction in the new world of electronic publishing and its intersection with social networks.

Here is a link to the page within Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6708563066

Gospel Hill - First Listing in NY Times

Just got an alert this morning for Gospel Hill's official listing in the NY Times movie list. This link will be great for tracking the film's progress for its anticipated mid-2008 release.

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/450784/Gospel-Hill/overview

Hopefully, I will be seen for a few seconds in the movie with a scene where Danny Glover is giving an impassioned speech.

Leatherheads - George and Renee in W Magazine

Conde Nast's W Magazine has a cover of George Clooney and Renee Zellweger. This is a nice little article that was coming out with the promotion of Leatherheads.

Here is a link to the article.

Leatherheads (which I was an extra (sideline photographer and reporter) in and hope not to be on the cutting room floor)... was to premier on Dec 7, 2007. Now it will be released for April 4th in time for some of the Easter/Passover/Spring Break time.

Leatherheads is a fun screwball comedy for the whole family.

Starring You is helping others reach for the stars

I have been working with Marta Tracy, author of Starring You with some promotion in social networks such as facebook and linkedin. Marta recently appeared on Small Business on MSNBC. Click here to see the segment

Marta was recently on a panel discussion on emerging technologies at her alma mater, Boston College. Marta and I collaborated on the development of the powerpoint portion of the presentation on emerging technologies as part of my executive coaching practice.

We anticipate bringing this presentation into businesses and to other venues including a webinar series.

RZA - Gospel Hill Mention

Here is a mention of one of the musicians, composers, actors, RZA in the film Gospel Hill, where I was an extra and on the set with Julia Stiles, Danny Glover, Angela Bassett and Adam Baldwin.


http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=17984§ionId=54

The film is scheduled for release in mid-2008.

BBC Radio Crossing Continents - Bill Law

I took some time off this summer to step away from technology and to recharge my "batteries". One of my friends, Bill Law, is a reporter for BBC radio and has been drawn into some of the most cutting edge reporting from the Islamic world.

As we departed in August, Bill said he would be heading to Pakistan. Over the last few days, Pakistan is now a major story with the return of Prime Minister Bhutto.

I had started to write this article and just a few minutes ago, it was reported that there was a bombing near her motorcade.

It does remind you how the BBC covers teh world and how important it is to get reporting first hand from the front lines.

Leatherheads Opening Moved to April 4, 2008

According to the Universal Pictures website and articles in the Hollywood Reporter, George Clooney's movie Leatherheads is moving from the December 7, 2008 release date to April 4, 2008. The move was due to an extremely busy schedule for the George Clooney with the movie Michael Clayton (Warner Bros), filming and his recent motorcycle accident.

The good news is that the trailers for Leatherheads will be heavily promoting the movie during the winter holiday season. Leatherheads is is intended to bring in a large audience with its romantic comedy and football themes. Just speculating here, but it looks like the DVD release would come right in the middle of the 2008 football season.

Well, in any event 2008 will be an interesting time as both films, I worked on will be out in theaters in mid-2008.

Starring You! - Do you want to appear on TV as an expert?

Over the last few years, I have spent time reconnecting with others in entertainment and media. One of the people I recently reconnected with was Marta Tracy. The last time Marta and I met in person, she was working in the production department at Home Box Office.

Now Marta has had a tremendous career including being part of a team which launched E! Entertainment television. Marta's passion has been working in the fashion world. She has helped to book guests on shows such as Tyra and Ellen.

In fact, Marta recently worked with a company which was launching a new line of jewelry. She worked with the creator and owner to prepare for a television appearance. Once the appearance on a national talk show happened, the companies sales increased by over 50% within a few months. This is incredibly powerful to an entrepreneur, author, musician, fashion designer or other person with a product or service.

This book is also of interest to bloggers, podcasters, and internet television producers who may want to learn some new tips and tricks.

The trick...if it was so easy everyone would be on a talk show. Marta has co-written a book called Starring You! which gives real world advice given her decades of experience in the field. The book includes excerpts from well known celebrities - The good, the bad and the ugly.

Marta's expertise, credibility and access to other producers gives her the unique ability to help others realize their dreams. Marta's book is worth a look.

On Facebook, we have also put together a "Discussion Group" in which we eventually will be promoting a teleclass.

(Note:If you are not a facebook user yet, then this is another way to promote yourself. You can find more information on this on my other blog called www.facebookenthusiast.com)

Charlie Rose: June 8, 1995

This is an older version of Charlie Rose with discussions of media and impact on society. Rachael Worby, leading female conductor discusses her life dream to become a conductor in the foot steps of Leonard Bernstein.

Leatherheads Group on Facebook

If you worked on the movie Leatherheads, I have set up a group on Facebook where we can meet and share experiences and keep in touch.

Here is the link to the group.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2428741877

Integrating Media into Social Networks

The shift has been happening for a few years with MySpace leading the pack with the integration of media within social networks. Facebook is now gaining momentum with applications which allow members to list magazines, books, and music which they prefer on their profiles.

The music applications iLike even integrates into iTunes and YouTube where members can share music they like and recommend and their friends can listen to it and purchase the music from iTunes.

This is an important trend further adding to the viral natural of the internet and the way music becomes distributed. The question will be how do musicians and music publishng companies continue to keep up with these trends.

Will this trend mean that international music tastes will become more prevalent or will music become more like McDonalds, with heavier influences from larger global music publishing companies.

Does this trend mean that a listener will also personalize their music and music tastes so they receive only that music which matches up with their tastes.

What role with traditional media critics have in influencing recommendations.

If you are an publisher in media, how will you embrace these changes? What roles will you take reach your audience?

We live in interesting times.

Official Still Photo From Leatherheads

 

George Clooney, John Krasinski and Renee Zellweger in the Speakeasy for Leatherheads

The On Ramp to Leatherheads Marketing

I happen to love marketing and public relations and the entertainment industry, so I am very excited to see the beginning of Universal Pictures starting to drip out the marketing for the Leatherheads movie.

In May, George Clooney, was in Oceans 13 and had a segment on Jay Leno's Tonight show where Leatherheads got a brief mention.

In mid June, John Krasinski, of "The Office" was the featured star in the movie "License to Wed".

Now this week, USA Today, had a still photo on its website of what looks like the "Speakeasy" scene in the Leatherheads movie with the three stars, Clooney, Krasinski and Renee Zellweger.

I continue to monitor the Universal Studios website to see when the movie trailers will be available. It looks as if Leatherheads is "on deck" to have its own website launched. My predication is that it will be up and running with the start of the NFL pre-season and that NBC (who is the sister company of Universal) will start promoting Leatherheads on its Sunday Night Football broadcast, since Leatherheads is a fictionalized account of the era when professional football was first organized.

This marketing will build to a crescendo around Thanksgiving when all the games are on and the most important NFL games of the week will be on Sunday Night on NBC.

Since Leatherheads has a few "fictional" teams, we may also see merchandising of sweatshirts, leather helmuts, and other movie paraphanalia.

And don't forget Universal Studios during the holiday season as well.

Leatherheads seems to be perfectly positioned for an exciting and creative promotional cascade over the next few months.

The Simpsons and Me

Well, the Simpson Movie is about to be realeased this week and my home town of Springfield, NJ was in the running to host its world premiere. USA Today ran a contest to have each Springfield in the United States send in a video to let the producers know why their Springfield was the one where the Simpson's live.

My home town of Springfield, NJ had advertised for people to meet at my high school for the filming of the video. I was watching ABC's World News tonight last week and we were one of 3 Springfields featured on the story.

After the votes were compiled Springfield, VT was declared the winner to host the premiere. They had a guy rolling a giant donut down a hill in their video.

All the other Springfields will also have the movie shown at a special screening. Funny thing is, my Springfield doesn't even have a movie theatre.

Hmmmm....now that's something Bart Simpson may have to change.

Excerpt from Dickinson Magazine - Summer 2007
"Tangled Up in the New 'Net"

Such social-networking sites have exploded in the last five years. They range from “placeblogging” sites, where neighbors share gossip about the latest mugging, the new playground or house on the block, to broader, more long-distance networks, such as YouTube, where people share videos; LinkedIn, which connects employers and job seekers; and MySpace and Facebook, where users can create personal profiles of themselves, including photos and a “friends list” of those allowed to visit and post on their sites.

Andy Kaplan ’79 is a longtime entrepreneur in social media who has been in the forefront of several technology waves, beginning in the early 1980s. As a financial analyst at HBO, he sent the first spreadsheet electronically through a modem—then considered nothing short of miraculous. Later he helped popularize many forms of mass distribution, such as blast faxes.

Now from Charlotte, N.C., he runs his own company, eWarrior, which equips businesses for the world of social media. He helps transform companies so that they can compete in the modern marketplace, where Web 2.0 is increasingly important, by advising them about a variety of Web-based strategies and tools for pricing, selling and promoting their products.

“There are so many tools that companies can use to their competitive advantage,” says Kaplan. “For example, they can meet ‘connectors’ through a large professional and personal network such as LinkedIn, send personalized phone and video messages instead of e-mail to their customers or promote their products through blogging.”

Launching Facebook Enthusiast Brand

This is my 3rd day on Facebook and I have already realized how much this application is going to impact our lives. Facebook is passing eBay in daily usage and is on the growth curve to possibly catch up to Google one day.

In May, Mark Zuckerberg announced at his developers conference some incredible facts:
1) Facebook is growing by 100,000 users a day worldwide
2) Ten percent of Canada is on Facebook
3) Facebook is currently 60% non-college age and is projected to be 75% by year end.

With that in mind and a community growing quickly, I have decided to launch today a new brand called the "Facebook Enthusiast". With this brand, we have set up a group within Facebook with this name and an accompanying blog of the same name. Facebook Enthusiast

I look forward to meeting you on Facebook one day.

Facebook - My first 24 hours

Okay, I have to admit it. It was a lot of fun playing on Facebook. After a few years of LinkedIn, Facebook feels like a party. It leads to deeper relationships much more quickly and is not about your resume. It is really about relationships. I admit, I believe you must need a sense of humor and perhaps be somewhat liberal and creative in your thinking to really understand facebook.

What I think Facebook does extremely well in the "adult" world is to appeal to a demographic which LinkedIn sore misses, "The Creative Class". This class is not about recruiters and jobseekers and vc's. It is about creatively connecting with each other in ways, I could have believed to understand.

As much as there are 3 degrees of separation, somehow on day 1, I have become "friends" with Michael Moore, who I admire for his newest movie Sicko. His e-mail address happened to be in my address book, so when I first set up my profile in Facebook, it asked me if I wanted to invite people from my address books. I was able to go in and select people to invite to connect. It turned out that Michael Moore was in my address book. So instead of sending him a long and boring, why do I want to connect, once connected, I "sent him a drink"...yes, there is an add on that allowed me to send him a drink of my choice, in this case. a glass of champagne to toast his new movie. Also, as part of Facebook, you see what groups and other activities people are involved with so you can also join. There was a group for his movie Sicko, so I joined that. I also saw a group called "I love Michael Moore"....Do you know how I found out about it?...I was looking at my profile screen on LinkedIn and saw that Michael Moore (my Friend) had just joined this group. It was right there on my screen.

For an example: (click on the image below of my friends status updates)



This is somewhat voyeuristic, however, we have a real way to take a peek into other peoples lives. From this screen some friends are traveling by train into London, going to the gym, sleeping off a party, or finishing a project. Another, as found a new band to be a guest for her podcast.

A friend from New Orleans has invited me to join her humor club and also sent me a "bite" to become a "Zombie". Again, a funny way to say to someone, let's connect and have some fun while we are doing it.

To me, day one on Facebook has been a blast and actually has in some very unique way, helped me to become better friends or deepening relationships, by showing more of my life and personality online.

SNL -- Weekend Update iPhone Special

Steve Jobs talking about the iPhone.