Posts Tagged ‘branded entertainment’

After the success of indie film Joy and the Apocalypse, MyTV New England is teaming up with Double Midnight Productions, an offshoot of Double Midnight Comics of Manchester, NH, to announce a new feature film – The Unseen.

To be produced as part of MyTV New England’s new Independent Film Series, The Unseen will be the first comic book movie to ever be produced by owners of a comic book store. The film will also be the newest project to use the exclusive branded entertainment model developed by Christopher Murphy at MyTV New England Studios.

According to Murphy, The Unseen is slated for a limited theatrical release in Fall 2011 and an exclusive broadcast premiere on Christmas Eve with a 2-hour prime time special from 8-10 p.m. on the MyTV New England channel. The broadcast is scheduled to include the full movie, Filmmaker Q & A, cast & crew interviews and behind the scenes footage.

Co-founder of the New Hampshire Film Festival, Brett Parker, said in a press release for the new project, “We’re excited to be collaborating with Christopher on The Unseen. We’re looking to make this a fun experience, it brings together our love of film and comic books and we’re planning on making this an interactive experience for our customers!”

2006 graduate of University of New Hampshire and NH resident Michael Grosse has broken out of the Hollywood East scene as the producer of a new TV series called “Bladework.” According to NewEnglandFilm.com, the show will feature both coverage of Olympic-style fencing events and a reality TV segment in which an athlete is challenged to complete one fencing lesson per episode and compete in a tournament at the end of the season. The first episode will premiere on Friday, Nov. 26, at 8 a.m.

The new show, a collaboration with NBC Universal Sports Boston and MyTV New England, is funded by the same “branded-entertainment” model that is bringing you “Boston Ruit” this March; the innovative strategy was developed by Christopher Murphy, Film and TV Development Executive for MyTV New England. It allows several local businesses to take part in this production and be featured in episodes of the show, including the Seacoast Fencing Club in Rochester, N.H., where parts of “Bladework” will be filmed.

In an interview with Warren J. Avery, Grosse — who is an Epee coach at UNH, where he himself fenced in 2005 and ’06 — discussed the sport of fencing, which is frequently overlooked by the public eye. “The U.S. team won 6 fencing medals in Beijing—tied with Italy for the most in the world. Now is the perfect time to bring the sport to the mainstream. Robin Hood, James Bond, and Captain Jack Sparrow have been entertaining audiences with swordplay for years, but ‘Bladework’ will show the real thing in all its grace and drama. Who doesn’t love watching a good sword fight?”

“Bladework” combines two of Grosse’s passions: film and fencing. A Mechanical Engineering turned English/Journalism major at UNH, Grosse decided to pursue a minor in Cinema Studies, “mostly out of spite for having spent so much time studying linearity and mechanics. I saw cinema studies as a way to re-engage the creative side of my brain,” says Grosse.  The plan, according to Grosse, was to possibly get into documentary filmmaking someday. “My film studies courses at UNH set the foundation on which I would eventually build my film and TV career.”

After working briefly as a reporter in Gloucester, Mass., Grosse began working in independent TV production, and, in 2010, he approached Chris Murphy at MyTV New England with an idea to produce a show of his own.  ”I cannot imagine any training that would have better prepared me for producing a weekly TV series. The same process that I had learned in journalism school — and then refined as a city reporter for the Gloucester Daily Times — applies to every shoot for ‘Bladework,’” says Grosse. “How to be concise but engaging, and how to process new information quickly, prioritize details by their importance and the reliability of their source, and translate this into a narrative…I had already conquered that learning curve with a pen, so I was able to hit the ground running with a camera fairly easily.”

Some advice from an up-and-coming Hollywood East producer who, despite his success, still describes himself as a “student of the craft:”

“Don’t wait for work. If you have the drive, create. If you don’t have the drive, consider another field. If you’re broke, pens are cheap. Library cards are free and there are hundreds of years worth of books on how to write well at your disposal. A resourceful writer is hard to find and indispensable on any project. No matter what medium you use, share stories that you are passionate about. Success has a habit of following those who pursue their passions.”