From HBO to New Frontier

Hi, it's Anne, with a few parting shots as I head back for LA.  I have to admit, Monday morning felt like school for me.  I was hanging out at my hotel, it was snowing outside, and I was in the mood for a lazy day in front of the fire.  But down on Main Street at the Queer Lounge, attorney and good pal Jonathan Handel was doing a panel on the Writers' Strike, its causes and effects, and prospects for a solution.   I wanted to show up for him.  So (cue the violins) I made the coffee, got up, got out, and got myself down there.  The panel was so intriguing, I was glad I did.

Onstage (from left) were Jonathan Handel, attorney and digital-media law specialist ; Writers' Guild member Howard Rodman (screenwriter of festival entry Savage Grace); and Jason Stuart, chair of the Screen Actors' Guild's LGBT committee.  Jonathan and Howard sparred on the question of why the negotiations between studios and writers had been derailed for so long.  Jonathan put it down in part to intense dislike between the negotiators for the two sides.  Howard countered that studios and writers make deals with people they dislike all the time. (Good point!)  In Howard's view, the suits have been taken aback to find that this time around, the writers weren't going to settle for business as usual.  Some of the issues in contention: writers' residuals for home video that were set way back when videos cost $99 to buy and plenty to make.  Now the content costs pennies to produce, the studios are getting much higher profits; but the writers' share has stayed unchanged since -- as Howard put it -- "George Michael was in WHAM."  Predictions?  Jonathan:  "The writers will settle by Oscar night.  Howard (darkly):  "We'll see."

GO HBO!  THE NETWORK REALLY REPRESENTS AT A LIVELY PANEL ON "WHEN I KNEW"

In a couple of hours, it was my turn to moderate a panel, on HBO's upcoming documentary "When I Knew."  It's based on the charming 2005 book by director and photographer Robert Trachtenberg, which tells around 80 personal stories not of coming out, but of something that happens long before:  The moment when you KNOW you're different. We can all relate about that moment; often it happens in childhood, and it's not even consciously sexual. Instead, person after person, in the book and in the doc, talks about "getting butterflies" or "a funny feeling."  One of my favorite moments from the film has a handsome guy remember how he was affected by TV's Grizzly Adams.  "I guess I liked bears," he says.

Robert Trachtenberg was on the Sundance panel along with World of Wonder's head honchos Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, who made the film. Rex Lee (who plays Lloyd, the long-suffering assistant in HBO's "Entourage") rounded out the group. Only at the last minute did I realize the panel would be attended by HBO vice president John Hoffman as well as Sheila Nevins, president of HBO documentary and family entertainment.  Wonderful to see that HBO is so firmly supporting this project.  Plus Sheila made incisive, not to mention hilarious, additions to the dialog in the room.  Sorry I can't show you photos of the event itself.  But take a look at this:

It's HBO's "When I Knew" video booth, one of the most popular features of the Queer Lounge.  See the little camera lens on your far left? 

Go behind the curtain, look at the lens, and this high-tech video booth lets you push a button and talk about When You Knew.  Everybody's stories get uploaded to wheniknew.com.  The booth was doing a roaring business the whole time I was at Sundance.  Even better, it will tour the country this summer, so people like you and me will be sharing When We Knew for many months to come.  As Randy Barbato told me, "For this film, the end is just the beginning."  HBO's John Hoffman elaborated: because the "When I Knew" moment is so inoffensive, so innocent, and so universal, these anecdotes are a great opportunity to promote understanding.  And the network will reach out to make sure they are seen in schools and so on.  Of all the cool things HBO has done involving the gay community, this has got to rank near the top.   

THE FINAL FRONTIER:  THE NEW FRONTIER ON MAIN

So now it's Tuesday, and I've crammed all my sweaters into my suitcase.  I have just a few minutes before my cab comes to take me to Salt Lake City and back to the day-to-day LA craziness. As always, I've Sundanced as fast as I can, but as always, I know there's something I missed.  In this case, it's New Frontier on Main -- the new-media showplace located on the meandering basement floor among the various art galleries at 333 Main.  Several people have raved to me about how affecting it is.  Do I have time to catch it?  Will I miss my cab/make my flight?  I decide to chance it, anad I head for Main Street. 

As I enter the seductive black labyrinth of New Frontier, digital trees wave their glowing leaves to welcome me.  Everywhere there's a new interactive display or visually challenging film.  There's not time to learn about them all.  But with the clock ticking, I already know the one display I mustn't miss.  In their own quiet room, off the main corridor are two interactive digital sculptures by Daniel Rozin:  Snow Mirror (2006) and Peg Mirror (2007). 

There's no describing the feeling of seeing these pieces, but here's what Rozin has to say:

"Peg Mirror comprises 650 circular wooden pieces that are cut on an angle. Casting shadows by twisting and rotating, wooden pegs forming concentric circles surround a small central camera. The mirrored image produced in this work is activated by software authored by Rozin that processes video signals and breaks up imagery geometrically, seemingly pixel by pixel."

In other words, when you approach Peg Mirror and make a gesture, it "sees" you and responds, like this:

Here's Peg Mirror as I first see it.

Now, I come closer and lift my arm.  It "sees" my shoulder, and the wooden pegs swivel to mimic my shape.  It's very…friendly, somehow.  I'm always moved to see technology used in such human ways.  But my favorite, I have to say, is Snow Mirror, housed a few feet away. 

It looks at first like a pull-down home-movie screen, full of digital static, suspended in front of a black wall.  That tiny black shape midscreen is the camera. As I walk closer, camera in hand, the "snowflakes" onscreen begin to rearrange, unhurriedly, as if they have their own tempo in mind.  And then:

There I am, waving my arm and holding my camera high.   You can see what I'm saying: "Wow!"

This ghostly image, so real but so abstract, sends a torrent of impressions through my mind.  I think how quickly things disappear.  I think of the ways in which Sundance has faded -- the plodding "Mysteries of Pittsburgh," presented this year as something fresh; the dazzling "Edward II," screened as something dated.  But I also remember the excitement on the faces of the young filmmakers who stormed Park City this week.  When they stand in front of Snow Mirror, they won't think how fleeting life is.  They'll think, I can do better than this.  And I know they'll find a way. 

    

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[mark]

Tel: 0151 637 2492 Mr Mark Vega
Flat 3
113 Rowson Street
New Brighton
Wallasey
CH45 2LZ

Karen Magee
Chief Executive Officer
PlanetOut, Inc.
1355 Sansome Street
San Francisco
CA 94111
USA

9/4/08

Dear Miss Magee,

I contacted Michael Matson at one of your magazines called Freshmen in September, 2007, and requested the return of my photo shoot that your company did not return to me and had no right to retain, after the model in it was published in a November, 1994 issue of Freshmen, as no buy out agreement was signed in relation to the photo shoot, and to make maters worse your company also printed a picture from the photo shoot which was a violation of my copyright. Michael Matson ignored my e-mails after a few months, and did not keep me updated on the status of his search for my photo shoot, which he could not locate. It was only after I uploaded a web page regarding this matter that your company took my request seriously; David Dempsey (Managing Director Specialty Publications, Inc.) then undertook to do an extensive search to locate the shoot, after searching for them they could only locate 14 cromes from the set. I have contacted him via e-mail and left messages on his answer phone, but he has failed to my e-mails or return my calls. The last time I spoke to him he was reluctant to return my cromes, and did not even give me a reason for his decision.

I have now sent David Dempsey a letter dated 7/4/08 that states the level of compensation that I require for the loss of my photo shoot. I will be taking legal action in the Superior Court to recover the funds due.

In the past I have had to deal with a number of gay owned companies, but I have never come across a company that is so badly run and amateurish in its approach to photographers. I believe this is partly reflected in the very low share price that your company is currently trading at, and could even be an indication of systemic failures of corporate governance.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Vega