KnoxvilleFilms.com

I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down is being shot in various locations around Knoxville, TN

From WBIR:


Full story here.

From IMDB:

Abner Meecham flees the nursing facility in which his son has convinced him to live and returns to his Tennessee farm to live out his days in peace. Upon returning home, Abner discovers his son has leased his precious farm to an old foe and his redneck family. This sets up a ruthless grudge match between Abner and Lonzo Choat, the white-trash patriarch, each man rightly claiming the land as his own and each refusing to leave. Finding no help from his son and haunted by recurring visions of his dead wife, Abner resorts to his own methods of reclaiming his life.

I have been involved in this project for the last couple of weeks but have not posted anything until I got an OK from the producers. Now that it is on Live At Five I can (at least) give you the news version.


I am working with the Locations Department. We have been shooting on a rural farm. It is an idyllic location (chigger bites aside). Part of my duties in Locations is keeping the land owners happy. I was chatting with them last week and we realized that, in all likelihood, we were not-so-distant relatives that had never met or known of one another. That night I called my mom to find out how close our family connection might be and found out that my great-grandmother shared the same surname as their family and that both families had come from Cades Cove (now part of The Great Smoky Mountain National Park). When we parted, we were calling each other "cousin".

This story is still unfolding. My mom will be coming to the set to meet their family and share genealogical data. I have found all of this terrifically interesting and exciting. It has also helped make things go more smoothly with the film crew and the land owners family.

As I learn more I will be keeping you up to date. Also, I hope to be able to give more detail about the film soon. Having signed an NDA, I don't want to be considered a security threat.

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We received this from Dave Nichols:

“Raising money for tires (2), repair hole in floor board, misc. weather stripping around doors and windows, and maybe a paint job...


The site is still in placeholder form but does have a donation link. There will be Preservation Pub T-Shirts for larger donations when we figure out the final design and costs.”

Please visit bernadettesbug.com and help support the people that helped to make Downtown Knoxville a thriving Mecca of the arts, the West's.

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Just how screwed up is the Knoxville production community? From the looks of this Metro Pulse article by Mike Gibson, I would have to say--it's still pretty screwed up.

The article is a nice overview of the make-up of the production community itself and it paints a picture of the problems encountered by the East TN Film Commission and the problems facing the TN Film Incentives.

Unfortunately, rather than pointing towards ways the community is working together to make things better, the article focuses more on old divisions between television and film. Once again, the "it's a television town and movies are just a circus" angle rears its ugly head. In the article, Gibson does a good job of unearthing the disappointing lack of unity still present amongst us.

Last I checked, we were a community of television producers, independent filmmakers, screenwriters, documentary filmmakers, regional theater production, actors, animators and designers all living together happily from a very diverse pool of clients.

Can't we all just get along?

I suggest we can, and to that end I am proud to announce the creation of Knoxville Films 2.0. For the last two years, Knoxville Films has been the pet project of yours truly and our original four founders. This week, we formed a new Board that we'll be announcing soon. The purpose of this board is to promote our three core goals:

1) To continue to produce and promote Knoxville video content and to maintain a robust web presence.

2) To continue to promote local film and arts festivals (like the Secret City Film Festival and Circle Modern Dance) and to investigate the creation of a new Knoxville Film Festival.

3) To create a fund for local filmmakers to assist in the production of independent films and documentaries by both established and emerging local filmmakers.

We can not accomplish all of this by ourselves and we look forward to the ongoing support from the Knoxville production community. In addition to the board, we will be seeking out producers, directors, musicians, photographers, writers, actors, and anyone who would like to help us promote this cause.

We still believe that Knoxville is a creative hot bed of talent that the rest of the world should stand up and take notice of. Maybe two years from now, the Metro Pulse can write a very different article about our community. If not, it wont be for lack of trying on our part.

What do you think? Leave us a comment and let your voice be heard.

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Even if you didn't make it to the Marble City 10-Hour Film Festival last weekend, you can still see the winning video submissions on the MetroScope. The winners this year were better than ever--proof positive of the hotbed of talent present in Knoxville!

Don't take our word for it, scoot over to the MetroScope and check them out!

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On-location for 1800-TV CREWS interviewing Bobby Brown. Bobby was hysterical and a joy to work with.

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Creative Workshops for Creative People.

During the summer of 2008, Pellissippi's Media Technologies program is partnering with our Business and Community Services department to offer a series of exciting hands-on workshops for creative professionals who want to expand their skills in graphic design, digital photography, and video editing.

These all-day, non-credit summer workshops are taught by our experienced professionals with hands-on, real-world projects. Lunch is available on your own. For workshop descriptions and to register please visit bagwellcenter.org, or call 865.694.6663.

Workshop Titles
InDesign CS3: Getting Your Feet Wet

InDesign: Diving Deeper

InDesign: Speed and Efficiency Tools

Photoshop CS3: Getting Started

Final Cut Pro: An Introduction

Final Cut Pro: Intermediate and Advanced Concepts

Final Cut Pro: Suite Integration

Visit www.bagwellcenter.org for more information.

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Extras needed for the next Rootclip! Come downtown @ 10am Saturday and be a scared, running civilian in the next starter clip for the upcoming competition on Rootclip.com.

Team Rootclip is shooting the next starter clip (a.k.a. "rootclip") this Saturday in downtown Knoxville. For the shoot we need a bunch of extras to run across the scene, possibly looking scared/hurried. We'd love to have your help!

If you're going to be around this weekend and would like to help out, meet us on Market Square at 10am on Saturday wearing whatever clothes you'd feel comfortable running a short distance in (don't wear running clothes though, we want everyone in normal clothes).

We're looking for at least 15 extras. Old, young, male, female, black, white, whatever. If you have any friends that would be interested, please forward this on to them. If you have kids, feel free to bring 'em. Thanks! Hopefully, we'll see you on the square at 10am!!

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This Saturday, visit our booth at Farmer's Market at Market Square and pre-register for the film festival. This is a one-day only special where teams can register for $35 instead of $50. Space is limited to only 30 teams, so register now!

The 4th Annual Marble City 10 Hour Film Festival is Saturday June 21st, starting at 8am on Market Square in downtown Knoxville. Space is limited so register now!

June 21: The 4th Annual Marble City 10 Hour Film Festival!

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Heading out for First Friday? You'll find a listing of participating galleries and businesses at KnoxvilleFirstFriday.com

Be Careful!
While you're out and about, be aware - the city has re-routed some streets around Market Square. Streets that were one way are now two way, so exercise caution walking and driving. Further information, with maps of the changed streets, can be found here.

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The latest blow to the East Tennessee production community could have the longest repercussions. As production continues to fall off, we have now lost our local film and television commissioner, Michael Barnes. Barnes played a pivotal role in helping to secure the TN Film Incentives which are already being considered for the state chopping block.

I worked closely with Mike on various projects for most of the duration of his term as Commissioner and both myself and all of Knoxville Films will be very sad to see him leave. Without a full time commissioner, the East Tennessee production community will have no representation at the state capitol. This also leaves out of state productions no central office to help coordinate production with. If we lose ONE MOVIE as a result of this, many freelancers will lose significant money in what is already a down year.

Knoxville Films would like to wish Mike all the best in his future endeavours. He will be missed.

For the full story check out the Metro Pulse story by Mike Gibson.

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Film’s stars Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson to attend

On Tuesday, June 24, Regal Entertainment Group will host the Tennessee Benefit Screening of New Line Cinema and Walden Media’s action adventure film Journey to the Center of the Earth at Regal Cinemas Pinnacle Stadium 18. Proceeds from this advance screening will benefit Variety – The Children’s Charity of Eastern Tennessee. A limited number of tickets will be available to the public. Tickets for general admission to the event go on sale exclusively at Pinnacle Stadium 18 at 9:00AM on Friday, June 6 for $50 each.

Two of the film’s stars Brendan Fraser (The Mummy films, Crash) and Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia, Zathura) will attend the Tennessee Benefit Screening of Journey to the Center of the Earth, along with the film’s director Eric Brevig, an Academy Award-winning visual effects veteran.

Guests at this year’s event will be treated like stars with a catered reception compliments of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar including a selection of their signature appetizers from their nationally acclaimed menu. Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar is located at the Pinnacle Lifestyle Center directly across Parkside Drive from Pinnacle Stadium 18. The reception will be held at the cinema as guests enjoy live music before Fraser and Hutcherson walk the red carpet and greet the crowd. Beer, wine, and an assortment of other beverages will also be available. After the red carpet reception attendees will have the honor of being some of the first moviegoers to view the new family adventure film in RealD 3D.

Movie Trailer:


Variety – The Children’s Charity is a multi-million dollar philanthropic organization that spans the globe with 50 chapters in 14 countries, improving the lives of children through creative fundraising efforts, well-placed donations with exceptional children’s charities, and through its own charitable programs. With the help of volunteers and sponsors, Variety – The Children’s Charity continues its mission to provide lifesaving and life-enriching assistance to children in need on the local and international level. The local chapter of Variety was founded in Knoxville by Regal Cinemas in 2001 and since then has generated more than $1.5 million to assist children in East Tennessee.

Journey to the Center of the Earth stars Brendan Fraser as a science professor, whose unconventional hypotheses have put him on the fringe of the academic community. But on an expedition in Iceland, he and his teenage nephew (Josh Hutcherson), accompanied by their beautiful local guide (Anita Briem), stumble upon a major discovery that launches them on a thrilling journey deep beneath the Earth’s surface, where they travel through never-before-seen worlds that bring them face-to-face with surreal and unimaginable creatures, stretching the bounds of the visionary scientist’s own imagination.

New Line Cinema and Walden Media present Journey to the Center of the Earth starring Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem (The Tudors). The film marks the big screen directorial debut of Academy Award-winning visual effects veteran Eric Brevig (Total Recall, Pearl Harbor). The screenplay is by Michael Weiss and Jennifer Flackett & Mark Levin. Charlotte Huggins and Beau Flynn are the producers, with Toby Emmerich, Brendan Fraser, Mark McNair and Tripp Vinson serving as executive producers.

Journey to the Center of the Earth will be released on July 11 in theatres nationwide and in RealD 3D where available. This film has been rated PG by the MPAA for “intense adventure action and some scary moments.”

For event information, please contact Dena Pinsker at (865) 925-9906.

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Notorious rapper Bobby Brown will be spending his summer in sometimes-scandalous Cocke County, Tenn., to shoot a new CMT reality show.

Production begins June 9 in Cocke County for a series starring Brown with "Gone Country" co-stars Carnie Wilson and Maureen McCormick.
The series will be a loosely scripted program revolving around celebrities running a country bed and breakfast, according to a story in the Newport Plain Talk.

FULL STORY FROM KNOXNEWS.COM

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Knoxville Films is proud to present episode 1 of "Walking History with Jack Neely", now available on METROSCOPE.

"Walking History" combines images of East Tennessee with the unequaled historical knowledge and story-telling ability of Jack Neely.

For those unfamiliar with Jack's work, here is his bio from metropulse.com:

Born in Japan during the reign of the Emperor Hirohito, Jack Neely is a UT graduate and, among other things, a former truck driver, piledriver-crew supervisor, Egyptian museum guide, and criminal-defense investigator. After six years as an editor for for humor, fiction, and other magazines published by Whittle Communications, he worked as a freelance journalist. In 1992 Metro Pulse debuted his column, “Secret History.” Since then, the column has won several awards, including the East Tennessee Historical Society’s “History in the Media” award and the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists’ First Place award in the newspaper columns category. He has been a staffer for the paper since 1995, and is now associate editor of that weekly, as well as a monthly humor columnist for Knoxville Magazine. Neely has also worked as a consultant and project writer for various historical and cultural projects, including the BBC's 1995 and 2007 audio documentaries about James Agee, and Knoxville's live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion (1999). He has lectured on journalism, history, architecture, music, and literature at UT, Maryville College, and other institutions. His work has appeared in several collections, including Secret History: Stories About Knoxville, Tennessee (1998) and From the Shadow Side (2003). He wrote the text for the photographic book, The Marble City, published by UT Press in 1999, and in 2006 Webb School published his book about Robert Webb’s founding of the school, A Splendid Instinct. He has contributed essays to recent collections like Cumberland Avenue Revisited, Knoxville Bound, and Agee Agonistes. He's currently at work on three books, including a soon-to-be-published history of Knoxville's Market Square.

Despite Knoxville's various well-known nicknames; Big Orange Country, K-town, Rocky Top, Knox Vegas; and its less well known (but well deserved) ones; Marble City, Underwear Capitol of the World; our region's historical importance cannot be understated.

"Walking History" is a tour through the streets and times of Knoxville as could only be conducted by Jack Neely. His knowledge of not only the events themselves but back-stories and little known facts bring our city's history to life.

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Saturday, May 31, 2008
1-3pm
Knoxville Center Mall

Please support the Damon & Stella Foundation for Mental Health by stopping by and making a donation!

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ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

Save $10 on Entry Fees for the
The 4th Annual Marble City 10 Hour Film Festival!

www.marblecityfilmfestival.com

Saturday June 21st, starting at 8am on Market Square in downtown Knoxville. Space is limited so register now!

Filmmaking teams will compete to produce a three-minute film based on a genre drawn at random the morning of the festival. They then have 10 hours to complete the film on a story of their choice, in the style of their genre, while also weaving three elements into the film’s story in a creative and cohesive manner.

Sounds complicated, but it's really easy and fun-ask those who have competed in the last 3 years events. The Genre is a new addition which provides assurance that everyone starts on the same day. Categories of genre will be posted on the website as well as in the registration info.

Films submission will be accepted between 6-7pm at the Bijou. Rules will be posted in advance and provided in the entry registration package.

Film Screenings will be at the Historic ( and haunted!) Bijou Theatre, beginning at 7:30pm until all have been shown. Public admission is offered for $7 a ticket.

Cash Prizes and trophies will be awarded in both a General and Student category and are as follows:

General - 1st $500, 2nd $350, 3rd $200
Student- 1st $200
Also, the audience has a chance to vote for their favorite. The Audience Favorite will also receive one of our cool trophies.

Entry fee is $50 per team in advance, $60 day of festival. We suggest keeping your filmmaking team to 8 members or less for efficiency, but it’s your team, do what you want.

Kick Off Party

Don’t forget this special event!
Please plan to attend our Kickoff Party June 20, the night before the Film Festival, from 6-9 at the World Grotto on Market Square, downtown Knoxville.
Cover is $5. Food will be provided.

Come and network, talk trash and strategize against other filmmaking teams. You’ll definitely want to make plans to come, because ONE of the THREE elements to be contained in the 3-minute film will be revealed. You’ll have a leg up on other competitors who’ll have to wait to get all three elements the next morning!

For more details and to register, go to www.marblecityfilmfestival.com
The site will be continuously updated to the Festival date.

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May 21, 2008- Macville Productions, Inc (www.macvilleproductions.com) and Think Tank Services (ThinkTankServices.biz) present "RED One Day", hosted by Digital Media One.

Come Saturday June 7th to Digital Media One in west Knoxville to see, touch, and play with the new RED One Digital Cinema Camera. You will finally get to play with the camera that started the 4k digital cinema revolution. Doors open at 9:00 AM. The first workshop at 9:30 will be "Get to Know the RED", where the basic RED features and how best to shoot with it will be explained. "RED in Post" will be at 11:00. It will cover post-production workflow and how best to edit/color correct the RAW footage.

Matthew Rogers of Macville Productions, Inc. and John Fairstein of Think Tank Services will be on hand to answer any questions about the RED and explain rental packages they are offering.

Seating is limited to 25 people per session. Please RSVP to matthew@macvilleproductions.com with your name and what sessions you would like to attend. If there is enough demand, an additional session of each workshop will be offered in the afternoon.

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Congratulations RIVR!!

RIVR Media, a Knoxville based production company, made Realscreen’s Global 100 list on March 7th, 2008 – the annual listing of the top 100 independent production companies
working in non-fiction.

The list was culled from broadcaster ratings: so ultimately it’s the audience that put
RIVR on this list. The top broadcasters from around the World gave Realscreen their
top-rated non-fiction shows from 2007 and Realscreen pared back to the producers of
each of those shows, and from that they created the list.

Agents, broadcasters and consultants have all used this list to find the brightest talent in
the industry, so it is a great achievement and it can be a great opportunity for business
development.

You may find Realscreen’s Global 100 list and press at www.realscreen.com

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(Nashville) The Association for the Future of Film and Television (AFFT) recently announced their formation and plans to begin a membership drive across the state for individual members and corporate partners.

“An organization of this kind is vital to the growth and well-being of the film and television industry in Tennessee,” said Jan Austin, former Deputy Director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment & Music Commission as well as founder and Executive Director of AFFT. “The industry has never had an organization like this to represent them and to work on their behalf at the legislative level. In this climate of relentless competition nationwide for film and television projects, it is imperative that we make every effort to keep our state and it’s entertainment industry attractive to potential projects.”

The Association for the Future of Film and Television will focus on three goals:

1. To affect legislation in the State of Tennessee that benefits the film, television and video production industries and those associated with it.

2: To inform and educate those in the film, television and video production industries about proposed, active or unsuccessful legislation affecting the industry.

3. To promote the common interests of the industries at the legislative level.

“We expect to use funds raised through memberships and corporate underwriting to drive the Association and to hire a lobbyist to help with our efforts within Tennessee’s General Assembly,” says Roger Hodges, Executive Producer of Firefly Film & Video of Nashville and President of AFFT. “AFFT is also forming a political action committee (PAC) to support state and local candidacies of those who are supportive of our industry in general and of our individual efforts.”

The Association requires that two Directors from each of four areas – East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, West Tennessee and Chattanooga – serve on the Board. The Board of Directors for 2008 – 2010 are as follows:

East Tennessee: Michael Samstag (Knoxville Films); Juanell Walker (Talent Trek Agency)

Middle Tennessee: Gael Armstrong (Ground Zero Post); Scott Hallgren (Scootman Music Productions)

West Tennessee: Pam Branham (Younger Associates); Rod Starns/Jonathan Epstein (Running Pony Productions)

Chattanooga: Bob Hotchkiss (Cornerstone of America): Dave Porfiri (Mindflow Media, LLC)

A one-year membership in AFFT is $25.00. Membership is open to everyone in the film and television industry as well as anyone who is interested in the future of the industry. For more information about or to join the Association for the Future of Film and Television, please visit the website at www.affttennessee.org or call (615) 797-4333

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Enter your email address to subscribe to the Knoxville Films daily email blast for a chance to win two tickets to the advanced screening of Son of Rambow!

If you already subscribe to the daily email and wish to enter the contest, just send an email to RAMBOW CONTEST with CONTEST in the subject line.

The screening will take place at Regal Riviera Stadium 8 on May 14 at 7:30pm. Contest winner will be chosen at noon on May 13.



CLICK HERE for more information about Son of Rambow.

(Tickets courtesy of Paramount Vantage and Shakefire.com)

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