If you are already working as a writer, even if you’re not supporting yourself in that field yet, you’ve probably heard the argument of specialist versus generalist. In simple terms, a specialist is a writer who focuses on a narrow area of expertise. In other words, he or she specializes in a certain subject. The generalist, on the other hand, takes a more expansive view of things and writes on whatever subjects come along.

If your goal is to be a professional writer now or in the near future or even just to make some part-time money as a writer, you need to decide where you intend on finding work and how you’ll get it. Are you going to look everywhere and accept just about anything of interest? Then you’re a generalist. Or are you going to narrow your sites and concentrate on certain topics? That’s a specialist.

You can decide to generalize or specialize based on your personality, your whim, or the circumstances, but it is sounder business (and writing is a business) to make a conscious choice.

So which is the better choice? The answer may surprise you.

On the surface, it would appear that a generalist can earn more simply because he or she is more open to work from all sources. After all, if you specialize in a narrow field, you are immediately limiting the number and types of assignments for which you’ll qualify.

However, a generalist can have a tough time finding work! It can be harder for a generalist writer to land assignments than a specialist, simply because the specialist can sell his or her expertise in the field.

For instance, I specialize in medical writing. That immediately precludes me from a lot of writing assignments. However, when medical writing jobs come up, I have a very focused portfolio of previous articles and projects to present. I know the lingo. I have a lot of contacts in the field. My references are great; in some fields, I have references that my editors often know personally or know about.

In some situations, I can wow a potential customer by showing him examples of my writing and past projects that track very closely to what he is asking me to do. This kind of calling card is very powerful. When you know the lingo, know the turf, and can prove you can handle the job, it is hard to lose out on an assignment.

If a generalist were to apply for the same writing gig at the same time, I’d blow the generalist out of the water.

By the same token, if the writing assignment were on raising kids, I’d be on even footing with the generalist, if I bothered to apply at all.

In terms of landing a job, there is really no scenario where the generalist has the edge over the specialist.

Now you could argue that the generalist can make it up with volume. After all, a generalist is free to pursue just about any writing assignment that comes along. He can write about raising horses, traveling to Iceland, or how to buy your first home. I’m limited to medical.

But medical is actually pretty broad! If you specialize, don’t hesitate to specialize in a “big” field. I once knew a woman who embarked on a writing career with the most narrow specialization I’d ever heard of. She was going to write solely about 19th century German immigrants to Fayette County, Texas. Okay, she didn’t make much of a career out of that, but that’s a great example of getting over-zealous with specialization! She might have succeeded had she specialized in writing about Texas. Or about writing about 19th century historical subjects.

Specialists need to keep a specialty that’s focused but not so narrow that there are only one or two potential jobs that come along in a year. Medicine is a great specialty. It includes cardiology, pediatrics, the healthcare crisis, patient advocacy, geriatrics, dermatology, and just about anything else you can think of that involves health. Plus there are lots of businesses in this field and I write a lot for business as well as for publishers.

Other great specialties might be real estate, business, politics, or music.

Once a generalist and a specialist have landed assignments, the specialist has another edge. Specialists already know the basics in their field. As a medical writer, I know the lingo and the research methods. The projects that I work on rarely require me to do much general research, read too many articles, or even look up new words and terminology. I have a lot of contacts in certain fields, so I’m not always scrambling to get some good interviews or fabulous quotes. I don’t have the queasy feeling that generalists sometimes get when they’re writing about a subject they don’t know.

This isn’t to say a generalist cannot do a good job. But it takes longer. As an example, let’s assume I were to tackle an assignment on how to grow roses on the Gulf Coast; since I am no gardener, this would cause me to have to do a lot of general background researc. I could probably do a decent job on the article, but I’d need a lot of time and lot more effort than a person who specialized in writing about gardening topics (and who likely had already done some articles already on roses and gardening in extreme climates).

Specialists get good at snowballing one assignment into another. A patient pamphlet on breast cancer can become a springboard for my suggestions to do a pamphlet for breast cancer patients’ families, particularly kids of women with breast cancer. I could then take that same body of research and pitch some newspaper or magazine articles on the ramifications of breast cancer for the whole family. This might lead to some articles for cancer patients’ websites. And I might be able to approach a pharmaceutical company that makes a drug for breast cancer patients and show them the body of work I’ve done and be able to work on projects for them, like patient education slides or the script for a take-home DVD.

That’s not an exaggeration. Specializing allows you to get in deep into a subject and then see how one topic and one assignment flows naturally into another.

Specialization makes it easier to get assignments, faster to complete assignments, and helps to keep generating assignments. The fact is, specialists are usually kept busy full-time just managing the assignments that businesses, customers, and editors bring to them, because they are well known in their field; specialists eventually get to the point that they rarely sell their services. A specialist can spend more time writing and less time selling his services; a generalist, on the other hand, almost always has to do a lot of marketing to stay afloat.

But many writers balk at the idea of specialization. I’ve even heard people say that the reason they wanted to write in the first place was in order to do lots of new things. They fear that specialization will put them in a rut. There iis a bit of truth to the rut argument. Medical writers are rarely asked to review movies, write about designer hand bags, or cover the scandal of executive compensation in major businesses. So what if you want to be more of a Renaissance man or woman and write of many things?

You can try multiple specialties. In this method, you take the best of both worlds of specialist and generalist. You pick two or three subjects that interest you. Don’t pick too many more than that or you’ll lose focus. Then you develop depth in them so that you get some expert-level status.

You can pick art, business, and home renovation. Or medicine, travel, and childcare. Or whatever two or three topics grab you. Ideally, they should be far removed from each other, since you can dilute your specialty by playing it too wide. For instance, I write about medicine but I don’t ever write about alternative medicine. Why? If my medical editors knew I was writing about acupuncture or other therapies they might not approve of, it would make me seem less of an authority.

So if you’re going to write about business, don’t write about “get rich quick” businesses as well as the Fortune 500. If you’re going to write about travel, don’t write stories about “everybody is out to gyp you” and then write stories about cruises and hotels. If you write about losing weight sensibly, don’t also write about “lose 10 pounds overnight” miracle pills. You need to establish not only a specialty but some boundaries for that specialty.

Some writers with multiple specialties actually use different names for each field, but that is probably not necessary. If you work in two very different specialties, you’ll not see a lot of overlap in terms of editors or experts, so there is no need to go cloak-and-dagger.

But if you are interested in writing as a business, specialization is the more profitable angle. You’ll develop extensive and impressive credentials, have a Rolodex full of very important contacts, and recycle your body of work into multiple assignments much more efficiently than a generalist!

Please take a moment put away any initial thoughts of the way you think a real movie director should sound and act doing their job. It’s tough not to want to emulate directors you respect both in style and attitude.

I learned that during the independent film shoots for Consignment and In With Thieves that were produced under the flag of Slice Of Americana Films.

Drug Dealing, Money, & Power. Consignment deals with the drug trade that thrives at the street level. This fast-paced urban movie erupts into 14 on screen murders. In this business you don’t go legit. You just go.

The soundtrack highlights tracks from up and coming East Coast & West Coast artists that include Custom Made Recordings, Ayreon The Don, Malice & Da Commission and Street Squad Entertainment. Consignment is being released November 13, 2007 by Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. one of the premiere distributors of independent cinema. Consignment will be distributed under their urban label.

In With Thieves is the intense story of a Cuban cartel that practices their own version of Santeria, an African based crime group that deals in blood diamonds, ruthless Albanian gangsters, and a tough American burglary crew. This film was completed July 2007 and is represented by Mark Bosko of The Bosko Group.

We are currently in pre-production for our third film. Stash Spot is a furious urban action film. Rival criminals fight to find a fortune in cash ripped-off during a drug deal gone bad. When the stick-up artists responsible turn up dead, a bloodbath erupts as each vicious criminal makes their ruthless play to locate the money.

Urban movies are on the rise in popularity with viewers. This can be seen in the exploding direct to video market where urban movies have carved out a very respectable following.

Who can forget how hardcore of a director Robert Rodriguez looked on the cover of ‘Rebel without A Crew’. Rodriguez’s story inspired guerrilla filmmakers everywhere that they could shoot an ultra-low budget action movie like ‘El Mariachi’ that was entertaining, while giving the finger to the traditional way of getting a movie done.

Quentin Tarantino is a cool as they come. His style is often ‘borrowed’ from because he knows how to tell a good story using pictures. Tarantino has creative influences like all directors who grew up watching movies. The difference is Tarantino turned those influences into his own unique style.

There are many more directors who make great movies and look cool doing it I didn’t mention for the sake of brevity. There’s even more directors who’s personalities and colorful nature keep them in the publics even if they haven’t had a hit movie in years. The cult of personality is a real factor in the world of movies. It can keep some directors working or at least in the media eye until they can turn out a good movie. In Hollywood that may work, but on the true independent side of filmmaking your image won’t get you anywhere unless you can make entertaining movies.

Instead of wasting your energy to create a colorful image and developing your own cult following like a rock star. Focus on learning what a director does and has to deal with during a movie shoot. You don’t want to be all style and no substance. Craig Brewer, Charles Dutton, Damon Dash, Sid Kali, Hype Williams, John Singleton, The Hughes Brothers, Mario Van Peebles, and Kasi Lemmons had to prove themselves by making sharp urban films before anyone knew who they were or cared.

It takes more than deciding where the camera goes to be a director, especially when you’re directing an indie film where you won’t have the luxury of sitting in video village cut off from all the other production gyrations going on. I’ve wrangled cable, broke down equipment, dressed sets, and a dozen other jobs as ‘director’ on indie film shoots. It’s not glamorous, but it gets the job done.

General rules of thumb that will help you become a stronger director.

A strong grasp of the entire process it takes to make a film is important. There’s different departments that work together to bring a film together. The camera department, sound department, make-up/wardrobe department etc. You need to know what they do and how to maximize their efforts to help achieve your creative goal as a movie director. On big budget film shoots the departments are very distinct and well supported. Knowing how to best utilize your team comes from understanding how these departments work. On indie shoots more often than not the departments blur together out of necessity. During the shooting of the urban movie Consignment we had one person with an assistant doing key hair and make-up while also heading the wardrobe department. These two departments were put together because I knew how they worked and how to bring them together to keep the production moving.

You should learn basic camera shots, angles, and moves. Know what a medium shot is. Know what a reverse-angle shot is. Know what a dolly shot is. Know what a two and three shot are. Pick up ‘Film directing Shot By Shot’ by Steven D. Katz’. It can provide the technical foundation you will need as a director to help your creative vision come to life. Keep in mind their is only so much you can learn from books. When you get on set you’ll hear terms for shots, like ‘cowboy guns’ and ‘cowboy no guns’ not covered in a book. It’s a medium shot from the waist up no guns to thigh up guns. People will yell ‘Wolf!’ which means stop. “Flying in (insert film gear here) means bringing in. No shame in asking what a term means when you do not know. Ignorance is not bliss on a urban film set.

I was a grunt production assistant (PA) acting as a human stop signing controlling traffic with another PA. I got called on the walkie we were rolling and to not let any cars through. I gave the hand signal to the other PA, production had limited walkies, that we were rolling. He nodded knowingly for two takes. During the middle of the third take he let a motorcycle roar through killing the take and getting us both chewed out. I later asked if he missed the signal, he told me he had no idea that signal meant rolling. He never worked on a film before. Asking what the signal meant would have saved us being chewed out.

That story ties into how crucial communication is when your making an urban action movie. You have to be clear to with everyone involved in your film about what you’re going to do, what you need, and what you’re looking for them to do. People look for this, they expect this from a director. Don’t leave cast and crew guessing about what you want. There’s never enough time or money to play that game during production. Communication runs two ways. Make sure people can ask you questions if they’re not clear on something you said. What might make total sense to you can be lost in the translation as it goes out to the troops.

Accept you’re not always going to make the right call on every shot. You’re never going to be totally happy with the way some scenes turned out. You’ll always want to go back and re-shoot certain scenes again. Fight through it. It might not seem like it during crazy times of filming, but if you have paid attention to the details you will have shot yourself a movie at the end of production. Trust your instincts. I was a nervous wreck after CONSIGNMENT was in the can. I could barely sit down with the editor Tim Beachum to watch the raw footage because my neck and back were seized up with stress.

Sure enough a couple of the camera moves I chose for a few scenes did not turn out like I had envisioned. A few of the calls I made as a director just didn’t work. I was a mess, editor Tim Beachum was surprisingly relaxed about it all and talked me down from the proverbial ledge. I was positive the urban movie Consignment was doomed. What saved the day?

A tip I got from an old school Director of Photography (DP) I listened to before shooting. No matter what kind of amazing camera move you want to experiment with to shoot a scene grab at least one take of a master or a standard three shot for coverage in case your wonder shot goes to hell. Turns out the coverage I thought was never going to use because surely my awesome camera moves would work. Some didn’t. The extra coverage I grabbed did end up covering my ass in post.

The editor had enough coverage from those few takes to cut the film together without losing continuity. I had spent three or four takes on what I thought were the coolest shots only to end up using the basic takes that worked. The other side of the coin of that is some of the shots I had taken chances on worked beautifully. Nothing like hearing an editor say, ‘that was a real pretty shot’ or ‘loved the way you shot that scene’. So if it all goes to hell with your experimental shots have at least a little standard coverage to get you through. If it comes down to time. Plan ahead to give yourself a take or two with the shot you really want and a take going by the book for coverage

Having a solid sense of how to tell stories using moving pictures and thinking about how a scene will cut together before you yell ‘Action!’ is a smart. It gives you much more flexibility as a director to be creative, take chances, and experiment with a scene. Knowing the basics how to cover a scene allows you to bend the rules.

Avoid being a paranoid and insecure director. Yes, you have to keep firm control of the shoot because a film directed by committee doesn’t work, but there is a fine line between control and paranoia fueled by insecurity. It can quickly turn into on of those possessive relationships where it all goes bad quickly if you go along with it.

I was working on a shoot film in Los Angeles with a director that was wired pretty tight. He asked me once if any of the cast or crew said things about him behind his back. Of course they did. That’s what people do. Of course I lied like people do in that situation and said no. He was completely convinced that one of the actors were forgetting their lines on purpose to undermine him and the DP was just waiting to hijack his movie all together. He was wrong. They were talking about what an absolutely paranoid hard on he was.

It all came to ahead when a camera shot wasn’t working after numerous takes and the director went off into one of the most colorful profanity laced fits I had ever seen. I mean for a fit it was a beauty to watch. Arms flailing, a prop glass being thrown against the wall like a child, and everything else you expect from a person who lost control. “Why isn’t this working?” was the last thing he yelled. The 1st A.D. smartly told everyone to take five while things cooled on set.

The director got himself back together and we took another take that didn’t work. We were losing daylight and had a lot of other scenes to shoot to make the day, so the DP suggested a way the shot could work, by using a different camera position and move to get the action the director wanted. Right on cue, the paranoid director completely over reacted. He told the DP to piss off he. He was the director and wasn’t going to let him hijack his movie. The DP cooly said, “stop being so insecure. I’m here to make your movie, not mine.” The director blew off the suggestion without a second thought. He never got the shot he wanted to work and scraped the scene from the final cut. Who knows if the DP’s suggestion would have worked? It would have made sense to try it considering the other shot wasn’t working.

It was a different story on another shoot all together. A friend of mine was directing his first feature. He didn’t have a lot of money, but he brought on a DP with a resume an arm long and for the lead this hot B list actress that had some slasher movie credits. He invited me out to visit the set. My friend was a director with energy and drive to spare. He knew exactly what he wanted from everybody on the set. He gave the DP detailed notes, his shot sheet, and they had already gone over in detail the story-boards my friend drew up himself before shooting began. My friend was in total control.

I was looking over his shoulder into the monitor during the crucial shooting of the final scene of the film. He had the actress in this amazing bikini being chased by a knife wielding killer. After the first take there was a problem. The actress ran slower than the actor playing the killer. On the next take he told the actress to speed it up and the actor to slow it down. Still didn’t work. My friend watched the playback with the DP. Then asked the DP what he thought would work to get the shot. The DP got the shot to work by changing the blocking and moving the camera. My friend got the shot and the ending he wanted because he was secure enough as a director to utilize his DP, not neutralize him.

Those two experiences really gave me some perspective on getting through directing a movie. During CONSIGNMENT I ran into a major problem that threatened to cost us shooting a crucial murder scene. We had been working all night and instead of chasing daylight we were trying to beat it. We had a shooting scene that had to be shot before the sun came up, we had about an hour of night left, and there was no option to push the scene. We were losing that location for good after we wrapped. After a couple less than stellar takes I turned to my DP Royce Dudley. We have to make this work, we can’t lose this scene I said. I took the actors through a last minute rehearsal without rolling on the camera to see if I could cover the scene a different way. Royce stood back like he did sometimes watching. After the walk through rehearsal he said, “I can get your scene” and he did. Thanks Royce!

On the IN WITH THIEVES shoot I brought back an actor from CONSIGNMENT I really enjoyed working with named Jerome Hawkins.

I write and direct my own movies, so I get really involved in not only the action, but that the lines are delivered the way I want them. So here we are shooting a scene, when Jerome tells me he’s really feeling adding something to a line, keep in mind this movie is my baby, but I felt his vibe. I gave him one take to run with it his way. The line he added to close the dialogue was great. We added it to the script and kept it in the movie. Did I feel he was under-minding me? No. I was secure enough as a director to let an actor I respected contribute creatively to the movie.

These last couple of stories might seem to go against what I said about not directing by committee, taking chances that don’t always work, and keeping control of your movie. I still feel that a movie can’t get done right when you have a weak director who listens to everyone on what their movie should end up looking like. I still feel you can’t be afraid to take chances on shots that don’t end up working. I still feel you have to keep control of your movie. It’s one thing to be overly paranoid about someone hijacking your movie, but it’s equally destructive to you as a director to cave in when someone is trying to tell you how to do your job as a director.

You also don’t want to become so completely narrow minded that you can’t brainstorm with your key production personal to problem solve, work creatively with your DP to see your vision materialize, allow your talent to spread their wings from time to time in a scene, or see when you need to be open minded enough to change the way you’re shooting a scene so that it can work. You surrounded yourself with a good team let them help you make your movie. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well it takes a production team to make a movie.

it will always be your overall vision behind the way a movie will turn out, but being open to collaboration with your cast and crew creates a more positive set. You don’t want mindless robots going through the motions. You want fired up people eager to lend you all their talents to make your movie rock. Don’t let your ego get in the way of you seeing the big picture.

Some myths I do not buy into about being a director.

You’re not a real director if you don’t shoot on film. Once you’ve completed a shoot on any format you’re a real director.

A director needs to know how to light scenes. The more you know about any aspect of film production the better, but if you don’t know about lighting a scene you can still direct. What I do is make notes on the look, feel, and mood I see in my head for each scene. I pass that along to the DP so we can discuss how to make it happen. I also like to suggest to the DP DVD’s to rent with scenes I feel lighting wise are close to what I’m going after. Your DP is the master of light. He’ll deliver the lighting set ups you need.

The director needs to know how to run the camera. Not true. It’s very possible you will never touch the camera once during a shoot. I myself for the most part watch through a monitor. I do look through the camera after the DP has set the frame for the shot, but I rarely run it.

It’s easier to direct a low budget indie movie than a mainstream Hollywood movie. Wrong. Directing a low budget indie or a Hollywood blockbuster both have their own challenges for a director to numerous to list. In the end you still have to be able to tell a good story using pictures. It’s never easy.

A director sits in video village all day while everyone else works. I wish that was true. A director has to be on top of everything going on during shooting. They deal with the actors, check with camera and sound to make sure there were no problems with the take, and put out a dozen other fires that pop up.

Some ideas I do buy into as a director.

Never let anyone give your actors direction or notes, unless they are coming directly from you. You’re the director It’s your role and your role alone to work with actors to get the performances you want. No one else should ever be allowed to work with the actors. One time I was on a roof looking at a scene. I didn’t like the way the blocking was playing out, so I walkied the 1st A.D. some directions to pass along to the actors. That’s as far as I felt comfortable having people work with talent.

It’s your set and you should be the only one to yell CUT! I had an actor once in the middle of the take turn to the camera and say cut because they flubbed a line. It wasn’t their call, it’s not anyones call but the director. They were warned and when it happened again they were released from the movie.

The director is the driving force behind a movie. Nobody is going to care as much about your movie as you do. You have to keep everyone pumped up and on track to finish a movie. You want your passion for what you’re shooting as a director to be contagious on the set.

A director needs to be able to be secure enough to listen and collaborate with cast and crew. This is not directing by committee but having the leadership ability to fully maximize everyone’s talents. Your movie can only turn out better because of it.

You have to be a cheerleader and a salesmen. When things are not going well on set you need to be able to keep morale up. After a rough day of shooting I let everyone know what a great job they were doing and how excited I was by the dailies I looked at each night. I had to keep them excited about the movie now, not when they would get paid a week later. The next toughest thing is keeping people going after you’ve hit 12 hours. You have to sell them on your ability as a director to not only finish the movie, but turn out a good one that people will want their names attached to in the credits. You would be surprised how many people worked on a movie for credit only and the movie never got done or turned out terrible. Let them know you’re not that director. If they stick with you and dig a little deeper you will put out a good film.

You want to gift your best friend a special gift that will be a memorable one then go for movie posters. You must be knowing your friend’s choice for movies, so look for the movie posters of his/her choice and gift it on any day you like to make it a really special and memorable day. You can even write a small message for your beloved friend and express your feelings for him/her.

The backside of the poster can be used to sign and write messages that express your feelings in the best way. Look for exclusive posters that will make your friend go gaga over it. Poster galleries and online poster sites can be the best place to look for the movie posters. One can come across original and reasonable records of movies at the galleries and online poster collections.

Movie posters of any era you want, you will surely find them if you do a thorough research work. If your friend is really fond of a movie that is yet to be released then you can surely present a poster of that movie. One can find movie posters of the movies that are yet to be released along with the vintage movie posters at some of the most popular galleries and online poster companies.

Presents are always special in our life specially when someone close to us gifts them. Some expressions often remain unsaid that can be best depicted through gifts and movie posters can one such gift that can express your emotions in the best way. Try expressing your feelings through these posters by gifting them to your dear ones on any occasion.

Look for the most exotic yet affordable movies posters that will bring a million dollar smile on the faces of the loved ones.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Nanny McPhee – 4 Stars (Excellent

Bless yourself by renting “Nanny McPhee” and sharing it with your children at home, not in the movie theater. Do this because this film is all about home and your children might relate better in the comfort of their own home. Nanny McPhee is an excellent film with a wonderful message for all children to recognize and understand.

In an entertainment world full of trashy and violent video games with movies to match that dwell on murder, rape, sex, drugs, alcohol, filthy language, broken relationships and crummy morals, Nanny McPhee is everything good about movies for children. You and your children can watch this film without fear of unpleasant and unwanted garbage rooted in sensationalism for ratings and greed.

When finished watching, you can thank the uncompromising excellence of British actress Emma Thompson and British director Kirk Jones for the incredible excellence of Nanny McPhee. I watched this film and went to bed wondering if it was as good as I thought it was. I watched it again the next night and did not wonder again.

Thompson-who has won 2 Academy Awards for Best Actress (Howards End in 1992) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Sense and Sensibility in 1995), and 2 BAFTAs for Best Actress (Howards End and Sense and Sensibility)-wrote the screenplay for Nanny McPhee. BAFTA is the equivalent of the American Oscars, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Kirk Jones (not to be confused with the American rapper and actor Kirk Jones) is a gifted writer and director with great work that has not been properly recognized. Combine Emma Thompson with Kirk Jones and you have the formula for a winning production.

In 1998 Jones wrote and directed his first feature film “Waking Ned Devine” with a budget of $3 million that grossed $90 million worldwide. I believe Jones should have two Oscars and probably would if it were not for the fact that Hollywood’s voters are too busy pawing each other and posing for pictures to correct their near-sightedness.

Until a comedy is made that is better than Waking Ned Devine it shall remain my favorite comedy of all time.

If it sounds like I am gushing over Nanny McPhee, I am. There are so many good lines in this script I would not dare to recount them here. Watch the movie and enjoy the experience of listening carefully.

Nanny McPhee the movie is named for a governess (Emma Thompson) who uses magic to rein in the behavior of 7 out-of-control children of recently widowed Mr. Brown (Colin Firth).

Mr. Brown must answer to his Aunt Adelaide (Angela Lansbury) who has been financing his family’s livelihood and now commands him to marry within the month or she will cut off his sustenance. His bratty children have a genuine fear of losing their father should he marry the widowed Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie).

The children, who collectively have driven away 17 consecutive nannies, are led by their older brother Simon (Thomas Sangster). All 6 of the younger children-Tora (Eliza Bennett), Lily (Jennifer Rae Daykin), Eric (Raphael Coleman), Sebastian (Samuel Honywood), Christianna (Holly Gibbs) and Baby Agatha (Hebe Barnes and Zinnia Barnes)-face the same fate as Simon.

Enter Nanny McPhee with her magic and old-fashioned discipline that makes the children aware of their behavior, and soon the children become models of what to do and when to do it.

Beyond the obvious endearments, what makes this film excellent is two huge but subtle elements.

One is the guts of the writer and actress Emma Thompson who creates a character for herself that is repugnant upon first sight. She has two huge warts on her face and an enormous tooth cascading down over her lower lip. Nanny McPhee will repel you upon first look. Thompson’s acting skills allow her to be perfectly relaxed and confident despite her appearance. Her make-up was done by designer Peter King.

The other element is the discovery by the children that when they learn a major lesson, one of the warts disappears, and eventually through model behavior by the children, Nanny McPhee becomes better and better looking.

In many such films as this-the “Sound of Music” with Julie Andrews comes to mind-the nanny only influences the children. In Nanny McPhee, the children also become powerful agents for positive change, empowering them in the process. Never underestimate the insight and brilliance of Emma Thompson, the writer or actress.

A tip of the hat to Angela Lansbury in her role as well. Lansbury is a living legend who never goes out of character as Aunt Adelaide. From Broadway to Hollywood to television and back, Angela Lansbury is a British national treasure.

Nanny McPhee is based on the “Nurse Matilda” books by Christianna Brand. Emma Thompson said it took her 9 years to write the screenplay; it took her 5 years to write her Oscar-winning Sense and Sensibility.

Trust me when I say that Nanny McPhee was worth the wait and then some. Watch Nanny McPhee and learn with your children some important lessons in human nature.

The same Australian acting techniques that launched the careers of Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman can be sampled when the Australian Institute of Dramatic Arts offers several sessions in selected cities, including Hollywood, through January 10. Tucson Slow Food and Film Festival is an extended weekend of classic food films, culinary events and cultural discussions that combine screenings of feature films, documentaries, shorts and animation with panel discussions about the cuisines, cultures and traditions shown on the screen, along with culinary events at restaurants, all happening in Tucson, through January 11. For the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab, writers selected through a year-round staff search/outreach receive feedback and help with their projects at the Park City facility from January 9-14.

The Slamdance Film Festival, running this year from January 15-23 in Park City, is best known for its annual film festival. But Slamdance will now also serve as a year-round showcase for the discovery of new and emerging musical talent, in addition to the recently formed online venture with INDIEROAD.NET, a website created by a team of veteran entertainment and business executives to address the lack of robust distribution options available to promising new talent in the independent film field. From January 15-25, Sundance Film Festival, organized by actor Robert Redford in 1981, continues its festival, held primarily in Park City, and dedicated to the support and development of emerging screenwriters and directors of vision, and to the national and international exhibition of new, independent dramatic and documentary films. The International Film Festival Rotterdam offers a quality selection of worldwide independent, innovative and experimental cinema and visual arts, and will be running this year, January 21 through February 1.

Interaction is encouraged for audience members during the run of the Children’s Film Festival Seattle, to sharpen their critical eyes through workshops with professional actors, directors, writers, technicians, and producers, during the run of the festival from January 23 to February 1. Göteborg International Film Festival, opening January 23 through February 2, functions as a meeting place for the Nordic film industry and has become an integral link for new Nordic film, hosting about 200 specially invited buyers, distributors and festival representatives from all over the world. Steve Seskin and Pat Pattison will present a Hollywood Songcrafting Seminar in Los Angeles, January 24 & 25, sharing their knowledge and passion for writing songs. Honoring excellence in the field of animation, Annie Awards will be presented in the categories of animated theatrical feature, television production, television commercial, short subject and video games, and the people who have worked in these areas, January 30 in Westwood.

The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the “Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events” page at actorschecklist.com/news.html. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor’s Checklist podcast blog at actorschecklist.com/loudblog, a great place to get your iPhone, ipod or Apple TV download from. The Free Home Video Showcase at actorschecklist.com/video now serves as an archive for all past video presentations. This month on video you will again see an interesting array of performing artists from the indie sector on video. Newly introduced this month to The Actor’s Checklist website is Google Friend Connect technology where visitors may now sign in with their Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account. You are encouraged to explore the entirety of the site for instances of Google Friend Connect deployment, including its use on the news page at actorschecklist.com/news.html. Happy New Year to all from The Actor’s Checklist!

It is an involved process, from the development of a story idea to commissioning the writing of a cutting-edge script, and further to filming, editing and delivering a finished product. For achieving this, a movie production company in India must adopt and master a myriad technologies and techniques. Moreover, it must have its creative fundamentals firmly in place to ensure that the product features differentiated content and is suitable for the designated audience.

Thanks to the country’s increasingly globalized business platform, there is immense scope for a creative and market-attuned movie production company in India today. The Indian film industry – both in the advertising and entertainment sectors – now rivals in scope and scale anything that the West has to offer. Bollywood has reached a level of glamour and international interest that only Hollywood could previously boast of. Indian television is a major revenue-spinner that drives a number of retail and entertainment markets.

If it has the correct staff and technological soundness, the field of opportunity is limitless for a movie production company in India today. However, the challenge is daunting – uncompromising expertise in motion picture production, mastery over the latest television software and advanced marketing capabilities for effective film distribution, promotion and IPR Marketing are de rigueur. The company must have complete mastery in ad film production and be able to create corporate films that meet the highest international standards. Further, no movie production company in India is complete without the capacity to handle live events and special projects as value-added services.

Movie production is a refined science with exacting protocols to ensure the right product is delivered within specified time-frames. The entire process is basically five-fold. At the development stage, the company develops or commissions a script and adapts it into a suitable basis for a film. Then comes the pre-production process, wherein the company harnesses it resources for the actual shoot by hiring a cast and crew, selecting a location and putting up sets.

In the ensuing production stage, the film crew records the raw elements of the film and graduates it into the post-production stage. Here, the editing process takes place and appropriate visual and audio elements such as music and special effects are incorporated. This invariably involves the use of computer-graphic visual effects. In the case of an ad or corporate film, the product is then delivered to the client. If the film is a commercial venture, the company’s sales and distribution division ensures that it reaches theatre and/or DVD distributors for dissemination to the general public.

Yes, these are exciting and challenging times for any movie production company in India. As the market for quality movie making expands in the country, more and more companies are rising to occasion.