Theatre purists want to remain steadfast to the traditional roots of theatre, shunning digital intrusion in favour of the honest actor/audience interaction that gives theatre its unique presence. Others such as Forkbeard Fantasy, Coney and Unlimited are embracing the seemingly limitless possibilities afforded by digital media.

Increasingly theatres (whether through actual desire or financial requirement) are devising new ways of attracting a more modern, tech savvy audience.  Most now use social media for marketing, with blogs on Twitter, groups on Facebook or film style trailers on You Tube. Some such as the National Theatre or Royal Opera House are turning to screening live performances to outside audiences who are perhaps fearful of the risks live theatre involves and more comfortable with this slightly more removed filmic format (its easier to walk out if you don’t like it!).

And a growing few are taking to exploring how technology can enhance the theatrical experience, often communicating with us through digital mediums, interactive websites where we meet the characters and world they inhabit before even reaching the theatre.  And sometimes, we don’t even reach a theatre…well not the type with a stage and proscenium arch many traditionalists would think of.

This week, with the help of the inspired creatives at Idea Generation, the Royal Shakespeare Company launched their own modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet on Twitter, with each character relating their part of the story over five weeks. Along the way, they’re posting soundbites and videos on YouTube, bringing Shakespeare’s teen romance to twenty-first century teenagers without asking them to set foot in an auditorium.

On April 26th, Stellar Network is hosting a panel event at The Young Vic Theatre to debate these and other pressing issues surrounding digital media in both theatre and film.  Among the six-strong panel is David Varela, a writer/producer who has worked across all four media of theatre, TV, film and online storytelling.  His talents and experience are vast, acting as apprentice to Richard Attenborough while still at university, winning numerous awards for his short films and screenplays, writing for both radio and television (including a great many projects for the BBC and Channel 4), The Hampstead Theatre, ICA and The Royal Court, producing a global adventure for Sony on the PlayStation 3, and now leading a team at nDreams in developing and running an Alternate Reality Game starring Lewis Hamilton.

David works on large cross-media projects that combine all manner of online and live media to tell stories and entertain and usually have some form of interactive element.  He draws influence from many sources, ranging from Charlie Kaufman to 42 Entertainment, Philip Pullman, Raymond Chandler, Kneehigh Theatre and 1980’s text adventures.  But his interest in working cross-media in fact started out as a result of reading the Guardian.

“I studied English at university, made shorts and wrote poetry. Then I came to London and wrote light entertainment (anything from magic shows to musicals) for a holiday entertainment company. I worked as a copywriter, writing in many different voices for many different companies. I wrote plays. I wrote screenplays. I wrote radio plays.

Then I saw an ad in the Guardian written entirely in code.  Unscrambled, it was an open call to writers, designers and creative types to work on an international murder mystery treasure hunt. It was called Perplex City. I started as an in-house writer and took on more and more production duties.  For nearly two years, I worked on this huge cross-media game creating a fictional world using audio drama and live events, fictional websites, videos, puzzles, songs, maps, text messages, board games, and just about every medium you can think of. My diverse career finally came together. It felt like I’d unwittingly trained myself for this new, peculiar job.”

As a writer/producer, David clearly loves his work and is evidently doing well.  Pointing out that he does not have to work across different media for every project (he recently wrote a ‘conventional’ play for Radio 4) his ability to work amongst many media is clearly keeping him in continuous paid work, a situation few writers can lay claim to.

Unquestionably there are some very exciting ventures and possibilities to be explored here and rewards to be reaped.  Our imaginations can be stretched in ways that a bare stage or basic set can only at times achieve.  Artists can communicate with us in many more unique ways and a new audience can be reached who may never have embraced traditional theatre.  But as these barriers are worn down and audiences old and new begin to embrace this shift in culture, questions and concerns about what this means for the future of theatre grow.  Will audiences no longer have to suspend their disbelief?  Will actors feel more like they’re on a film set than a stage?  Will conventional plays lose out to those that are more de rigueur? Will theatre companies who cannot afford these new technologies fall behind those with big budgets and friends in the right (cyber) places?

Whatever the answer, one thing is for sure; as stealthily as it did within our homes and workplace, technology and digital media is becoming an increasingly important part of theatre and its future.  We have little choice but to embrace it.  But in the same way technophobes and traditionalists must open themselves up to these new possibilities, so too must the digital theatre entrepreneurs be mindful of the conventions and devices which make theatre the great unique art form it is.  And for those who fall somewhere in the middle, approach it all with caution…. sometimes computer says no….

Leanne Davis, Actress & Stellar Network PR & Marketing Manager

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Stellar Network will be holding our Future Proof event at The Young Vic this Monday 26th April.

This blog post covers the kind of topics we imagine the theatre professionals at this event will be talking about.  There will also be very informed discussion on digital influence in the film industry: content and distribution, from 3D to digital workflows to new business models.

For more information about the panel, the format of the evening and to book tickets visit www.stellarnetwork.com/events

Read the full story below

PATHE UK AND WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT UK ANNOUNCE NEW STRATEGIC ALLIANCE IN THE UK

12th March, 2009, London – Pathé and Warner Bros. Entertainment UK (WBEUK) today announced a new strategic alliance in the UK, effective as of 13th April, that will see WBEUK distribute Pathé’s films in the UK and Ireland and the two companies will work together to identify co-production opportunities.

The announcement of this new alliance was made by Francois Ivernel, Executive Vice President of Pathé, and Cameron McCracken, Managing Director of Pathé UK, and Josh Berger, President and Managing Director, WBEUK.

As part of its natural evolution, Pathé UK will focus increasingly on the development and production of its own titles rather than the acquisition of third party films. The intention is to produce a slate of four to five English language films a year, to be supplemented by productions from Pathé France.

Moving forward, all of Pathé’s films will be distributed in the UK and Ireland by WBEUK, commencing in May with the release of Stephen Frears’ CHERI, starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend and Kathy Bates.

Pathé UK will continue to devise the marketing campaigns for the films, with WBEUK taking on the exploitation of the titles across all media outlets and platforms with the exception of the video rights, which will continue to be handled for Pathé by Twentieth Century Fox.

With respect to the increase in Pathé UK’s production activity, Pathé and WBEUK will work together to identify co-production opportunities. The two companies have already been working together for several months on THE JUNGLE BOOKS – a big budget live action version of the classic Kipling novel, the test shoot for which is currently in post-production.

Pathé recently dominated the Oscars® and BAFTA Awards this year with Danny Boyle’s multiple Oscar® winning SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, which has grossed over $243 million worldwide to date, and picked up eight Oscars® including best picture and best director, and seven BAFTA awards. The company’s recent releases also include the BAFTA winning THE DUCHESS, the period drama starring Kiera Knightly, which won an Oscar® for Best Costume, and Steve McQueen’s critically acclaimed BAFTA winning directorial debut HUNGER about Irish republican hunger striker Bobby Sands. Upcoming releases include Stephen Frears’ CHERI starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend; Pedro Almodovar’s BROKEN EMBRACES starring Penélope Cruz and Jane Campion’s BRIGHT STAR starring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish.

Warner Bros. is currently enjoying success with THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON and the Clint Eastwood movie GRAN TORINO. GRAN TORINO has grossed over $177 million worldwide to date and expected to be the highest grossing film of Eastwood’s extraordinary career.

The studio’s phenomenal hit THE DARK KNIGHT, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, has grossed over $1 billion worldwide to date, making it the top superhero/comic book movie of all time and 2008’s highest grossing film worldwide. It also earned Ledger a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar®.

For Pathé, Francois Ivernel, Executive Vice President, and Cameron McCracken, Managing Director Pathé UK, said: “To address the challenges of a rapidly evolving digital world, we felt the most rational response was to develop an alliance with a US Studio. Our relationship with Fox in terms of video distribution has always worked extremely well, so a broader alliance with a US Studio feels entirely natural – we have been approached many times over the years to create such an alliance, but none has offered such a perfect fit as Warner Bros., with its integrated approach across all distribution windows and media platforms. By our continuing management of the whole filmmaking process from development, through production to the marketing of our films, we will continue to provide a bespoke service to our filmmakers whilst also allowing them to benefit from Studio backing.”

Josh Berger, President and Managing Director of Warner Bros Entertainment UK, said “We are delighted to be entering into this strategic partnership with Pathé, one of Europe’s pre-eminent producers of quality, critically acclaimed feature films and a company we have long admired. This exciting alliance will help us both to increase our investment in the production and acquisition of films in the UK and Ireland and to use our relationships and expertise across traditional and new media channels to bring Pathe’s great films to ever more film fans.”

This strategic alliance relates to distribution in the UK and Ireland only, and does not extend to the activities of Pathé France, nor does it affect Pathé UK’s continued role as a leading international sales agents for both Pathé’s own productions and third party titles.

The Winners! Over at Screen International

Kaleem Aftab of the Independent, scathing look at the BAFTAs

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian on why Slumdog deserves an Oscar

And interestingly on why Slumdog will be one of those over rated awards films in years to come.

The LA Times on the notion of “Oscar Bounce” for those into their Box Office analysis

And for your dose of UK Box Office expertise check out Charles Gant at the Observer

And finally – the best of British claim their prizes:

]]> http://www.stellarnetwork.com/2009/02/24/baftas-oscars-and-box-office-oh-my/feed/ 0 http://www.stellarnetwork.com/2009/01/12/very-golden-globes/ http://www.stellarnetwork.com/2009/01/12/very-golden-globes/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:31:11 +0000 admin http://www.stellarnetwork.com/wordpress/index.php/2009/01/12/very-golden-globes/ Well the British independents certainly came and went at last night Golden Globes, with various awards going to our countrymen. For a full list of winners see: Hollywood Foreign Press Association website

But BIG, MASSIVE congrats go to dear friends of Stellar – Gareth Wiley (Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Producer) and Ivana Mackinnon and Gaia Elkington of Celador (Slumdog Millionaire – Production Company) for their stunning wins!

A huge thank you to Skillset, and all our speakers and attendees both.

And in case you couldn’t make it, all the presentations delivered, which looked at Legal, Financial, Marketing and Strategy Issues respectively are now available for Stellar members to view in the Community portion of the site, under Discussions, then Resources.

Our final seminar, delivered with the support of Skillset and in associationwith the Film Business Academy, is taking place this Saturday December 6th at BFI Southbank in the Delegate’s Centre.

Topics addressed will include

• Understanding the film competitive environment and your own unique resources
• Information and tips on business planning

There will also be opportunities to steer the conversation towards attendees’ unique areas of interest.

Speakers are:

Natasha Munshi – Assistant Director, Institute for Business Integrity, Wright State University
Emily Corcoran – Consultant, Film and Digital Media Exchange

The fee per seminar is £10.00 for members of Stellar Network and £60.00 for non-members. The fee includes lunch, refreshments and a pack of supplementary materials including speaker presentations, exercises and recommended resources.

Register here –

Though, am I? It’s under the guise of holiday, but I wonder if I’ve just been tunnel-festival-vision for so long that perhaps I’ve forgotten what it’s like to live the regular creative dream, hopping from job to job, occasionally surviving on cardboard and mixed nuts, occasionally spending an entire week eating at Cha Cha Moon. This conflict led to a discussion with a friend (a burgeoning and successful filmmaker) in which she cried, “I prefer to call it FREELANCE.”

It’s not about the money. Nobody’s here for it (are they?), and I’m no stranger to the intermittent pay-check. I did the working actor thing, and I definitely will again. What fascinates me more is the euphemistic approach people take. There’s something so bleak surrounding the word ‘unemployed’, it’s a word that implies waiting – and if there’s any no-no in this industry it’s waiting – for the next thing to turn up in your lap. Being ‘freelance’ is just a way of owning your shit.

I just got back from chilling my kicks up in Edinburgh on a writing assignment for the international festival, and I think I might conduct an experiment on behalf of all those sprawled on the living room floor surrounded by the Positions Vacant sections and staving off their Hollyoaks cravings by gorging on Hula Hoops. For half of the next week, whenever anyone asks what I do my answer will be “Oh, me? I’m unemployed.” For the following half the answer will be: “I’m a freelance filmmaker/writer/actor/whichever other profession takes my fancy.” On the seventh day, results will be compiled, relayed, and dissected. Late in the day. Over a cup of coffee. And the paper. Stay tuned.