A legendary talk show host employs a young scriptwriter and sparks fly in the new indie feature Late Night, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Written by and starring Mindy Kaling, and co-starring Emma Thompson, the set-up depicts them as poles apart in generation and culture, adding further twists in the comedy.
If you’ve got a winning recipe then you don’t change ingredients. Amazon’s second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel wisely kept faith with the talent in front and behind the camera which made the period comedy drama an Emmy®-winning smash.
First a short story, then a debut novel aimed at young adults, and now a feature film, The Hate U Give sprang from the experiences of Angie Thomas. The narrative incorporates incidents of young African-Americans and law enforcement, many of which are unfair and some even fatal. The novel debuted at number one on The New York Times best-seller list in February 2017, and the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Fest less than a year and a half later.
Maniac is a new Netflix miniseries based on a Norwegian dark-comedy about mental illness and pharmaceutical remedies. The project was directed by Emmy®-winner Cary Joji Fukunaga and stars Oscar®-winner Emma Stone and Oscar®-nominee Jonah Hill.
Over the last year, the industry has seen a jump in multi-camera production with more than 15 pilots ordered in 2018. The format, which gained early popularity with shows such as I Love Lucy, has remained a constant on the TV landscape but has reemerged with a more cinematic style in recent years. Tasked with creating a richer look to appeal to today’s viewers, but still facing the traditional challenges of shooting multiple camera angles and in front of a live audience, today’s shooters are adept at using advancements in technology and technique to serve their vision.
In 1978 in Colorado, undercover police officer Ron Stallworth successfully infiltrated the resurgent Ku Klux Klan. Unbeknownst to the KKK and Grand Wizard David Duke, Stallworth was the only African-American cop on the Colorado Springs force. This true story was ideal material for director Spike Lee, who turned it into BlacKkKlansman, starring John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace.
In advertising, image is everything. In today’s competitive commercial production world, cinematographers are always looking for an edge. The buzzword is often “cinematic,” and with the extremely high quality of television content, a spot must measure up or be lost in the shuffle. Makers of television content – both narrative projects and commercials – are turning to vintage glass and widescreen aspect ratios to lend their images the epic sweep of classic films.
HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 is a modernization of the classic Ray Bradbury book about a dystopian future of thought control and book burning by the big brother Ministry that stars Michael B. Jordan as a firefighter, who is doing more burning than extinguishing but begins to question authority and eventually rebels. The HBO film also stars Michael Shannon and Sofia Boutella. The film makes its television debut on HBO on May 19.
