Lina Hal, Dorian Martin and The Road to Pitch at Sundance

WINNER OF A DIFFERENT STRAW POLL
Actress LINA HALL recently joined our cast as the mystery woman in the SPENT TV series LLA. With the next episode set to shoot the last weekend of January, cast and crew are psyched to have her aboard. Hall was recently named one of LA Theaters BEST ACTORS OF 2011 in Producer/Director/Critic Joe Straw's annual THE LAST STRAW AWARDS. Hall was recognized for her illuminating performance as screen legend Greta Garbo in the Macha Theatre production of GARBO'S CUBAN LOVER (directed by SPENT'S very own LAURA  A. BUTLER) which enjoyed an extended run late last year.  Her castmate LISA MERKIN was also recognized for her work as the manipulative socialite Salka Viertel.  Here's to Lina's continued success!

DORIAN MARTIN - ACTOR AND NOVELIST
Speaking of our series LLA,  another one of the many talented cast members DORIAN MARTIN is not only a good actor, but a novelist as well. His book RACKLE'S TUB is available now on AMAZON.
You can check out the website for the novel and also the blog.  One reviewer said "Rackles Tub grabs hold of you as soon as you start reading. It is drama, science fiction, sex, drugs, rock and roll, adrenaline... all packed into a gritty novel that holds nothing back." An amazing actor and amazing writer. Congrats, Dorian!

THE PITCH AT SUNDANCE


SPENT heads for Park City, Utah and the Sundance Film Festival Friday Jan. 20th at midnight. You read it right - midnight. We're hitting the road safari style. It's a 10 to 11 hour drive that will take us directly through Warren Jeff's polygamy territory and past the tallest thermometer in the continental US! Can't wait to share these exciting "visuals" with you guys. 


Besides seeing some fantastic films, attending some great filmmaker panels and throwing snowballs at random passers-by, we are pitching our feature project MOMS AND POPS. It's a revenge thriller, where tragedy rockets three ordinary people into an extraordinary circumstance. The script was a second round qualifier in the 2010 Sundance Screenwriter's Lab competition. So we're hoping for synchronicity's sake that pitching an almost Sundance Lab project at Sundance will bring us financing, fabulous actors and of course, distribution. Crazy huh? It almost sounds like we have altitude fever and we aren't even there yet!


In any case, the fantastic part of Sundance are the films, the filmmakers and the inspiration that comes from being around other creatives just trying to make their own dreams come true. So if we come back with a promised 1.95 million or not, we are still going to love it!


So think good thoughts for us as we're slushing through the snow in the close to zero weather, while we try to get someone, anyone to finance our project!

BOXING DAY - BRING IT ON AND SPENT STUFF FOR 2012

Your electronic Christmas presents are noisily in full use. Santa is back home at the North Pole sipping Maker's Mark while Mrs. Claus gives him the best back rub ever. Yes indeed, that holiday has come and gone and it's time to move on to the next big thing - 2012. And Boxing Day! Something the awards season feels a little bit like this year, with no clear run away winner. A real "horse" race may actually shape up for the plethora of awards shows.

A SPENT ACTOR DESERVES YOUR VOTE!
If you haven't done so yet,  please shift your attention to the right side of the blog, scroll down an itsy-bitsy bit and vote for one of our incredibly talented actors!  There are some new names reflecting some different episodes, so you may want to revisit our web site and give them a watch.

The Men of LLA - (l to r) Ben Lauter, Dorian Martin, David Holst, Robert Bell,
John Nagle and the legs of Kyle Heffner.

SOME OF WHAT'S NEW FOR YOU FROM SPENT IN 2012

We are excited about the new shows and our returning shows for Spent in 2012.

This is a very excited co-founder of Spent TV - Cary.

Can't spill the beans too much now, but we are collaborating with a talented actor on one project and dipping into the world of cooking on another. All in all, we are hoping to make your SPENT TV experience even better next year.

SUNDANCE - HERE WE COME

The Second Penny Entertainment/ Spent TV team is heading up to SUNDANCE this year to pitch our feature film MOMS AND POPS.  As we get closer to jumping in the car and getting our drive on we'll fill you in on the details and hopefully have some video of our efforts up on the blog. We are hoping to live stream on our website too. 

Till next time, be good, be bad and be creative!

LET THE AWARDS BEGIN - PLUS WHAT'S AHEAD FOR SPENT IN 2012

SAG, LAFC, BFC - ETCETERA, ETCETERA, ETCTERA

Screen actors, film critics and probably even plumbers associations have begun weighing in on their choices for best performances and best films for the calendar year 2011. Some of the the best film choices announced so far are "The Artist" (a SPENT TV favorite); "Hugo""The Descendants""War Horse" and "The Help." On the acting front, Glenn Close, George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Jean Dujardin and Viola Davis among others have garnered best acting nods.. Tomorrow the Golden Globe nominations are announced. We're so excited and wonder what trinkets Harvey bought the HFPA voters this year to insure as many nomies as possible!

We'd love to hear from you and what your personal choice is this year for best picture. So, post your choice. We'll tally the results and one of you lucky little posting buggers will win a gift card, that's right! A giftie card of your very own! Only one random posty will win. It will be very scientific you know, one of the producing partners at SPENT will be blindfolded, led to the computer and be forced to randomly stick a finger on the winning post!  So leave a comment and post your best pic pick TODAY!

LLA - MORE PICS
Our last shoot of LLA epside 2 was so much frighin' fun, we just want to keep sharing the behind the scenes love including these two:

First CORY GLUCK and JOHN NAGLE arguing about who is more of a LESBIAN LOVER at the beach.

And here's KYLE HEFFNER aka WESLEY, getting ready ready to make his move on CATHERINE BREWTON who is about to kick him to the curb for a park ranging woman played by CHARLOTTE KYLE.

MUCH FROM SPENT FOR THE NEW YEAR

Our New Year's resolution is to give you more interactive, entertaining profoundly exuberant stuff on the SPENT WEBNETWORK. So get your mouse and digits ready to watch. Our next episode of FAST TRACK, number 4 shoots in early February, but FAST TRACK 3 will be up after the first of the year. LLA #2 will be up before the first of the year and #3 shoots the end of January. As we mentioned before we've got two new series coming soon and of course this kicks off the awards season frenzy for Gina and Eric and It's JUST A MOOBIE.

NEW ACTORS---------------SO PLEASE VOTE!

We've added a new list of actors on the blog and they need your votes. If you haven't already you can watch them first on the Spent new or classic channels. 

Go to the right side of the blog and scroll to the vote box.

LLA EPISODE #2 AND THE B-STORY

LLA #2 - IN THE CAN
Yep, despite downed trees and power outages, LLA Episode #2 is kind of in the can. Our three newbie cast members JOHN NAGLE, LINA HALL and BEN LAUTER survived the taunts and hazing on set by our regulars. Thankfully, they will also joining us for future episodes!

Lina Hall's talents create a tsunami on set!

Run and gun shooting in LA can be a challenge as everyone knows and fallen trees and down power lines prompted a last minute change of location, so our two day shoot morphed into an extra day and additional pick up shots. Oddly too, our new mic and old camera were suddenly possessed on some scenes, so we had video wavy lines, orbs and static raspy audio at one point like we'd happened upon a ghost adventure reality show.

John Nagle and Cory Gluck - DATE HETERO1

All in all the weekend was hell of fun. Guest stars CATHERINE BREWTON and CHARLOTTE KYLE had us cracking up with their animated depiction of penis envy. Yep, I said it.  Too bad you missed it.

THE B-STORY #2    RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Coming off a fantastic weekend of shooting is always a high. Really who couldn't or shouldn't be grateful for being able to actually create. And I am. I'm grateful to write, grateful to direct, grateful that such amazing actors trust their talents with me. It's humbling always, overwhelming sometimes, that I get to play with such a group of talented men and women.

And of course, I should stay in the gratitude, live in the moment as all the self-help gurus and spiritualists say, but truth is I'm scared. I'm scared I'm running out of time. Yep, I a'int the disco whipper-snapper that I used to be. The six inch platform wearing party-girl who could guzzle beers till dawn and still show up for a seven am class.  And I'm not the thirty year old or forty year old I once was, at least not to the development executives, the agents and managers and the financiers who otherwise might be inclined to take a chance and give me a break. So there are days when I wake up and I am scared that my time on the planet in the life I know will run out before my dreams come true.

It's a pressure I put on myself, I know, or my knees put on me when it takes me longer to get up after a shot. But a pressure it is and a real one. When I was younger, when life got complicated and choices had to be made, there always seemed to be another tomorrow to get started on my dreams. But at fifty four,  time seems so much more precious and in my case, scarier, because the big break, my big break seems so far away and maybe, too late.

So there you have it, a little fear. A little self doubt.  But I don't throw in the towel ever. If I have learned one thing it is that I am a writer/director, I define myself by it and latecomer or not, it is what I will always be. I may be a scared, wobbly-kneed old lady dreamer, but I am still - a dreamer.

THE B-STORY AND FULL THROTTLE AWARDS SEASON BEGINS!

THE B STORY - MUSINGS BY THE OLD LADY PARTNER OF SPENT-LAURA BUTLER
I thought it would be great and deliciously self-indulgent (aren't all blogs?) to create a column within our Spent TV blog that talks about the trials and bumps of dreaming-the-dream at a non-traditional age. In my case - fifty plus. I'm not even a college grad - there I said it, much less a film school student. Did I mention I dated one once, does that count?

I'm simply a grown up little kid who never gave up the dream of winning an Oscar and sharing my stories with everyone on the big screen in that we-are-all-one, Kumbaya kind of way.

"The B-Story" I hope will make you laugh, cry and maybe even learn to hate my guts in my quest for my own golden statuette on the mantlepiece. So here's the first installment. Enjoy - or not. But be kind in your comments. I'm an old lady you know.

THE B-STORY #1  - AGE  
Yeah, yeah age. I'm not whining just pointing out that indeed there are those that believe my writing or ideas are about as relevant as an IHOP senior discount because I'm not thirty. What's fun for me, is my voice is somewhat younger than my birth years. My demeanor, too. So it's always an adventure when people talk to me over the phone and  expect a thirty to forty year old and get my fifty-plus self when we meet instead. I wish I had an iphone pic for every awkward look.

I began my real journey toward my dream when I was 41, penning my first script - THE COLUMNIST - which placed third in the American Screenwriters Association annual screenplay competition. Pretty frighin' good for a first try, or so I thought. Ha! I was naive and certainly ill-prepared when the agencies did call. I won't get too specific name wise here, cause the land of LA LA continues to be a small town, but what I will say is three agencies called and asked to read my script. One of the agencies, and yep, it was a big one, called me. Read it. And called me in for a meeting.

Lordy - I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Hollywood, Highland and that little red carpet here I come! I parked my broken down Honda in the agency's parking lot, gelled my hair and made my way up the stairs to what my naive little ass was convinced would be a fabulous meeting and a signed contract for representation.

Welp, the good thing, and I mean the only good thing (besides validated parking) was that the meeting was good. The male agent loved the script, said it was incredible writing and he wanted to read whatever else I had. He was polite, engaged and earnestly shook my hand when I left.

In that instant, that excited kid inside of me could already taste the Wolfgang Puck Governor's Ball dinner and smell the excitement of Oscar night. I had hope and I thought my dreams actually had a future. But my immediate need brought me back to reality - I had to pee. Nerves and coffee. Laura the aspiring writer needed to find the loo. And wouldn't you know it, the ladies room happened to be located in the hallway on the way to the main elevator.

Nature called and finished. I washed my hands and stood at the door towel drying my hands and heard the voices of the same-shirted agents making their way toward the elevators for lunch. I heard them laugh, talk sex, and finally pause to tie a shoelace right outside the door. The shoelace tie-yer outside the bathroom was none other than the agent I'd just met with. Funny thing was their sex talk subject suddenly changed to me.

"Too bad she's old," my shoe-tying agent said. "If she were younger and a guy, I'd have signed her. Her script is a hell of a good writing sample."

"She's that old," another asked?

"Yeah. Like forty, maybe late thirties," the shoe-typer replied.

"Oh."

Oh. OH? Oh what? I'm too old cause I might be thirty-nine or forty? I guess now at fifty-four I'd give him a heart attack I'm so old - shriveled all up, like a strawberry pop-tart in the desert.

The truth is ageism is part of the problem in Hollywood. Guilds have addressed the issue more than once. What it's meant for me personally is I must try harder, ignore it even, and avoid botox at all costs. I'm proud to be fifty four, proud to be one of those who never gave up on my dreams despite my AARP card carrying status.

I never heard back from the ageist agent again. despite my email attempts to contact him with my follow up script. But I knew I wouldn't. I did send him a final email, tho, one that simply stated this fact:

"The average age of screenwriters when they win the Oscar is 57. Here's to 57."
I signed it "No-need-to-be thirty Laura"


GOTH AND SPIRIT AWARDS
In case you haven't read, heard or seen, the Gotham Awards were handed out last night in NYC and the Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced today.  Below are partial lists of both, with links. Some great films this year, talented performances and direction. Spent TV extends it's congrats to all!

Click  here for Independent Spirt Award Nominees

Click here for Gotham Award Winners

LLA SHOOTS THIS WEEKEND
Our next installment of our webseries LLA shoots this weekend. Actors Kurt Sproul, Catherine Brewton, Charlotte Rae and John Nagle join our wonderful cast. Check back next week for some onset pix!


VOTE VOTE VOTE FOR OUR ACTORS
Check out our series and vote for your favorite Spent actor people! These hard working talents deserve the kudos, so please click and vote on the right side of our Spent TV blog page.

Leftover Stuffing

So, if you are not dodging pepper spray at the mall today, hopefully you are out taking in a bargain matinee at the local theater. It's the perfect weekend for buttered popcorn and visual entertainment. Watching movies on the computer, on a mobile apparatus or a good old fashioned TV are fine, but nothing beats the shared experience of a room full of moviegoers reacting and enjoying the same thing on screen.  This weekend, you got your Muppets, a kid named Hugo and a bunch of Bloodsuckers, not to mention a silent throwback film thats got plenty of Oscar buzz around it. So forget the sales and hit the movie palace instead.

STILL TIME TO VOTE
January 15 we hand out our very first and not the last Spent TV best actor award.  So cruise our wbenet and vote for your favorite! Now!

CHANGES A COMING
We are making some changes to the webnet, looking for more feedback from you. We also hope to introduce a new live stream segment where you can chat with us. The new year at Spent TV looks to bring some great new surprises, so stay tuned.

Holidaze!

As the day of food indulgence fast approaches, the people at SPENT TV want to thank you for tuning in to our original online programming and for your support. This year has been a challenging one for us, the economy and personal hurtles within our families have made getting our projects finished and up on the web a sometimes exhausting one. But still we prevail. And as we look forward to juicy stuffing and bourbon soaked pumpkin pie we want to thank our generous talented actors, our amazing crew, and again all youze folks for sticking with us. Next year begins a new season, with two new shows we are sure will make you laugh, cry, and want to throw things at your television sets.