A Self Made Starz Web Exclusive

Okay… You have the look, the talent and the ability. Now you’re wondering how to take yourself to that next level and start pocketing some real dollars in exchange for your time. Okay, ladies and gentlemen. These tips will make the difference between the ones that book the commercials, secure the contracts, and get the lead in the videos as opposed to the ones who never seem to make the cover page, get a call back or are always playing the background. Pay attention.

Prove Your Versatility by Constructing a Diverse Portfolio: 10-15 Pictures with a variety of looks using several photographers with different styles in clothing that fits. Be sure to include full length photos, as well as a head shot, beauty shot and a couple of black and whites. (*Hint- be sure to research the photographers before scheduling the shoot. Most photographers have online portfolios. It is best to go with professional photographers, but if you’re low on cash, consider going with an amateur photographer. This can be a benefit to both you and the photographer in helping you build both your portfolios and they may even do it for free! **You may want to steer clear of photographers that ask you to take nude shots.)

Consider Creating a Comp Card: This is the model’s business card. (*Hint: Do not have any specific agency do your cards or they will put their logo’s on them. Have them printed by one of your photographers or a print studio, instead.)

Don’t Forget to Bring Your Personality: Contact agencies ahead of time to schedule an appointment. Find out if they are having an open call. And when you show up, be sure to SHOW UP! Arrive punctually. Bring a full body shot as well as a head shot. They do not have to be professional shots. They can also be reprints. Most importantly, make sure that you’re personality shines. Don’t be phony, or it will be obvious. Just be your very best self and leave them with an impression. You want them to remember you.

Some final tips:

Preparation is key. Prepare before your photo shoots in a full length mirror trying out different looks and poses.

Punctuality shows professionalism. Remember…time is money.

Do your homework. What type of model do you want to be? Commercial, high-fashion? You will have to plan your looks, which agencies you contact and possibly your diet, around this.

Don’t get got. If you contract an agent, they should ask for no upfront fees. They get paid a percentage by the jobs that they get you. (Usually about 20%.)

Build Relationships. Business relationships are important no matter what field you enter, but especially in entertainment. You’ll get more jobs if you build a good rapport with photographers, agents and clients. Don’t be afraid to use www.selfmadestarz.com to contact photographers, promoters and anyone else you think can help you in the future. That’s what we’re here for.

If you’re serious about modeling and want to learn more about how to break into the biz, check out:

Break Into Modeling for Under $20 by Judy Goss and How to Become a Successful Commercial Model by Aaron R. Marcus in the Store link under the books category.

The company, which last year moved its manufacturing operation to Stratford, has reached an agreement to sell its entertainment division to private equity firm Marwit Capital of Newport Beach, Calif., for $24.5 million, including the assumption of $16 million in debt.

The division operates 10 theatres and 69 screens in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Wyoming.

“To continue to grow both our display and entertainment divisions from an investment stand point is a challenge,” said Michael Mulcahy, Trans-Lux president and co-chief executive officer, in a statement. “This sale will allow us to further reduce long-term debt and focus our efforts on our core display business, where we believe we can present a clear investment case and get better results for our shareholders.”

Jesup & Lamont Securities Corp., which has an office in Stamford, acted as financial adviser for Trans-Lux.

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Since inception, MvixUSA’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions has put the company at the forefront of digital entertainment industry. With a versatile line of audio and video products for use at home, on the road and in business environments, MvixUSA caters to customers who value quality, style and a technology-enabled lifestyle. In the recent past, Mvix Media Centers has received accolades from many well-known and respected reviewers across the world. Recently it own the “Editor’s Choice – Must Have” award from reputed technology review site TweakTown.com and was declared one of the “10 Hottest Linux Powered Gadgets” by TheHottestGadgets.com

For more information, visit www.mvixusa.com or call 1-866-310-4923 (ask for digital signage solution group).

Business enquiry:
Mike Mallon
4229 Lafayette Ctr Dr Suite 1700
Chantilly, Va 20151 (USA)
Phone: (866) 310 4923 Ext.

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The campaign will be unveiled in September issues of fashion, entertainment and lifestyle magazines and the commercial will debut on MTV later this summer. Kohl’s also will incorporate the Candie’s campaign into their back to school creative.

Fans can listen to Hayden’s first single, “Wake Up Call” exclusively at www.candies.com and www.kohls.com/inspire (streaming only) beginning July 17. The single will be available for download on iTunes beginning August 5. The single is being released by Hollywood Records.

Hayden Panettiere will be continuing her role as the spokesperson for the popular junior brand through the holiday season.

About Iconix Brand Group, Inc.

Iconix Brand Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ICON) owns, licenses and markets a growing portfolio of consumer brands including CANDIE’S (R), BONGO (R), BADGLEY MISCHKA (R), JOE BOXER (R) RAMPAGE (R) MUDD (R), LONDON FOG (R), MOSSIMO (R) OCEAN PACIFIC(R), DANSKIN (R) ROCA WEAR(R), CANNON (R), ROYAL VELVET (R), FIELDCREST (R), CHARISMA (R) and STARTER (R).

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How about the music and entertainment industry? Any changes you noticed? They change daily. How about the oil business, the airlines and others? Okay, you have the point. Either the business, technology, people and economies change or something shifts. For those shifts any jobseeker or person who intends to have a long career must embrace change.

Now for a healthy outlook on your career path I recommend you:

1. Accept Change. To open a door to a new career jobseekers must focus on accepting change as reality. So look at the ways you have learned and enjoy learning. Express this in achievements and keywords in your resume and career marketing materials. Be ready to respond swiftly to the needs of corporations by offering different aspects of your background. No longer are resume just dry ways to demonstrate your employment during high school, college, through internships, military or other experiences.

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Penelope Cruz is the sultry Spanish star who finally gets some respect in Hollywood thanks to a string of high-profile roles. The 34-year-old actress takes the August 2008 cover of W Magazine. On avoiding celebrity gossip: “I try not to go on the Internet and read about myself. It’s a guaranteed way to get angry for no reason. You start looking at yourself from the outside, from the wrong place. And everything is out of proportion. The good things, the bad things-everything. I think it’s disgusting. It’s dangerous and nasty, and bad for our society in so many ways. And it’s getting worse every day. It affects me directly, but I really believe that this culture of gossip affects our society on a much deeper level, on an ethical level. It’s what kids see and hear every day, and it will affect future generations in ways that we cannot even imagine.” On never dishing out any personal revelations in the press: “I never talk about my private life to journalists.

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Andy B’s held its grand opening June 19 of a new family entertainment center located in the former Riverlanes building, 8711 S. Lewis Ave.

Tulsans who frequented Riverlanes for bowling might not recognize the place. The facility has undergone an extreme makeover with new high tech “boutique” lanes beneath a 100-foot wide music video display and high quality, upholstered seating in the lane areas. These are known as the “VIB” (Very Important Bowler) lanes. Two private bowling suites can accommodate up to 20 people. A 4,000-square-foot game room features 45 of the latest and greatest video and redemption games.

Also added is an indoor go-kart track that will please any member of the family with single-seaters, double-seaters and even scaled-down versions for the younger family members.

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Both of these knockout supporting actors are so much more than stagehands, giving career-defining performances worthy of every award LA theatre has to offer. The fact that I was the one who originally turned DeLorenzo on to the work of Cassady, who received my TicketHolder Award in 2003 for his LA stage debut in Shyness is Nice at Alliance Rep, is a great joy to me personally, especially since both of them thanked me profusely for the prophetic introduction once again at the Shipwrecked! opening night reception. Hopefully, it is a collaboration that will continue to conjure great things for a long, long time to come.

Beyond all it has going for it, Shipwrecked! is quintessentially subtitled An Entertainment: it is perfectly suited to distract us during our long hot Los Angeles summer as it deservedly showcases the world-class imaginations and artistry of DeLorenzo, his actors and designers to a larger audience, while gloriously reinventing the talents of Margulies, who is obviously nowhere near the pinnacle of what is bound to become a lengthy and diverse playwriting career.

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Y’know, the handy little crutches you lean on when a social situation starts to get awkward. “Jesus. Is that girl looking over here? Maybe I’ll just check the old phone for missed alerts and knock out a game of Zuma until she looks away. Whew. That sucked.” I, too, succumbed to the cell phone about two years ago, and I have to say the little bastard is as addictive as constantly checking my Facebook account, which I can now do with my cell phone, making the whole thing the electronic equivalent of a speedball. And you know what? When I feel anxious in a social situation, I pull the thing out and start reading old text messages as if I’ve found the alternate ending to The Count of Monte Cristo. “C U L8r.”"WTF, mofo? Lol!”"BFF! B their n 5.” Oh, it’s good stuff of high literary value, especially when the outside world is scaring the piss out of me – but it’s also a weak move by someone who should really just grow a pair and start a conversation with another human.

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Robert Greenblatt (Producer) Robert Greenblatt is currently President of Entertainment for Showtime Networks Inc. where he is responsible for programming development, acquisitions, and scheduling of all Showtime channels. Current original series hits include “Weeds,” “Dexter,” “The Tudors,” “Californication,” “The L Word,” “Brotherhood,” “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” “This American Life,” “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” and Tracey Ullman’s “State of the Union.” New series for the coming season include Diablo Cody’s “United States of Tara,” starring Toni Collette and produced by Steven Spielberg. A project starring Edie Falco has just completed production, and a pilot created by Tim Robbins goes into production in the fall of 2008. Prior to Showtime, Greenblatt was an award-winning producer of over a dozen series on various networks including “Six Feet Under,” for which he was awarded the 2002 Golden Globe for Best Television Drama Series.

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Plus a quick look into their possible career paths for the near future.

Hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach used a radio show, “Sports Chat” to relay to the boxing world that he thinks a fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao should be made, and that Pacquiao would win, via KO. “When I trained Oscar he was having trouble pulling the trigger and he’s a little bit slow. If Stevie Forbes can hit him as easily as he did, I know Pacquiao will knock him out.” This revelation comes about in a time where neither Pacquiao nor De La Hoya have officially signed down to an opponent for their next fight. Speaking further on the purposed fight, Roach acknowledges the size advantage DLH holds. “We need a long training camp just to work on the styles of how to beat him because he’s a bigger guy be he does have trouble pulling the trigger now.

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And in this century, we should be enlightened enough to stop sacrificing animals for the sake of entertainment.

A horse was euthanized at the Stampede last week after being injured in the chuckwagon races. Every time this happens, the old myths are trotted out as a reason for perpetuating this kind of thing.

The first myth is that it’s part of our western heritage. The fact is chuckwagon races are part of the Stampede’s tradition, but not Alberta’s history. Guy Weadick originated the chucks, but they didn’t exist in the world of real ranchers. In the decade that I’ve worked at the Herald, I have been involved with numerous historic projects that required substantial amounts of research in the Herald’s own archives as well as poring over the diaries, letters and journals of early Calgary settlers.

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He is also a member of the Asian singing sensation Fahrenheit together with Calvin who also appears in Romantic Princess.

They follow other Asian superstars who were brought to the Philippines by ABS-CBN, like Lee Dong Wook from My Girl, Eugene from Save the Last Dance for Me and Wonderful Life, and Jerry Yan together with other F4 members and Meteor Garden leading lady Barbie Zhu.

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)

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Probably not social-networking Web sites. They may provide entertainment for people with time on their hands, but have shown little ability to improve productivity, create substantial numbers of jobs, or earn a profit.

Elkus’ answer is that innovations must be grounded in science and technology if they are to help rebuild the national economy. He also believes that if the U.S. is to stay at the cutting edge of developments, it has to have a stake in each stage of the innovation supply chain—including manufacturing. “Innovation is based on an ongoing infrastructure of knowledge and experience in both product development and manufacturing,” he writes in his preface. “When the infrastructure goes away, innovation goes with it.”

Elkus knows what he’s talking about.

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Forty-six percent have reduced the number of times they eat out and 45 percent cut back spending on entertainment.

“Cuts of essential items such as food and medication should be of immediate concern to seniors’ families,” said Chris Irons, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Lafayette serving seniors in Clinton, Montgomery, Tippecanoe and White counties.

“Other reductions in spending can lead to less obvious issues,” he said. “One of the biggest problems that we see is senior isolation, which has been magnified with the high price of gas.”

When seniors’ families live a distance from their loved ones, or when Boomer children are busy trying to make ends meet themselves, an older adult can get in trouble very quickly, said Irons.

“That’s why it’s so important that someone look out for the well-being of seniors to ensure they are safe in their homes and eating properly, taking their medications, and able to maintain their appointments and social life,” he said.

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Magna Entertainment Corp., Frank Stronach’s horse racing company, said Wednesday it sold its Great Lakes Downs property in Muskegon, Mich. to The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians for $5-million cash, minus customary closing adjustments.

The property, located on about 85 acres, was a racetrack MEC had previously closed in November 2007 after incurring operating losses. MEC said the net sale proceeds of about $4.5-million have been used to partially repay the company’s bridge loan with a subsidiary of MI Developments Inc., MEC’s controlling shareholder.

In May, MID, the real estate arm of Mr. Stronach’s business empire, offered MEC $30-million worth of new financing and extended repayment terms on another $180-million. MEC has been struggling to sell assets and cut its debt.

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They also believe using orangutans as entertainment undercuts public perceptions of conservation efforts.

Orangutans in the wild are on the brink of extinction, and they argue that efforts to save them are not helped by an ape in a dress.

“There’s no doubt that apes in entertainment has a negative impact on conservation attitudes and conservation action,” said Dr. Robert Shumaker, the sanctuary’s director of orangutan research. “I don’t think it’s appropriate, and I’m very pleased we’re working to end that.”

Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife, which is not affiliated with the actor Steve Martin, donated the orangutans to the Great Ape Trust after talking with Shumaker. The company, believed to be the sole provider of orangutans in Hollywood, will no longer provide the great apes for use in entertainment and has given all of its eight orangutans to the Iowa sanctuary.

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“She often said it was a dream come true for her and wanted to travel the world with her career,” the Barbara Coultish agency said. “She told us that she was happy in Shanghai and enjoyed the agency, the city and her roommates.”

Others in Shanghai’s modeling world said they thought the murder wasn’t connected to O’Brien’s work, but they worried about the risks to aspiring models drawn to the city’s growing fashion scene.

“So many agencies send girls here without really knowing,” said Marion Dorel, a former model from France who spent 13 years in the business in China. “Be careful, clients can ask for weird things — to sleep with them, to sleep with their clients, to go to karaoke. Of course you can say ‘no,’ but it’s not a nice situation.”

One Shanghai casting call asked for models to strip to their underwear and jump on a trampoline while being filmed, said Jeremy Stockton Johnson, a fashion photographer who said he also has been asked if models are available to strip at parties.

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MUMBAI: Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Big Entertainment (RBE) is in the final stages of negotiations with Hollywood’s iconic director Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks, according to a source close to the development. A deal is expected to be announced within the next one month, and will entail producing 30 movies across a four-year period.

The deal size is expected to be $1.5 billion and RBE will own close to 50% in DreamWorks once the transaction is concluded, the source added. When contacted, a Reliance-ADAG spokesperson offered “no comments” as his response. DreamWorks will invest the entire $1.5 billion in film production and it will have equal amounts of debt and equity, i.e. around $750 million each. RBE is the internet, media and entertainment arm of R-ADAG.

A Wall Street Journal story dated June 19 had said R-ADAG could invest between $500 million and $600 million by way of equity.

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Hermanos Herrera, a Fillmore band that has gained national attention, has been added to the entertainment lineup of the Ventura County Fair.

The band will appear Aug. 3 as part of the fair’s Dia de la Familia entertainment, opening for Los Tigres del Norte. The fair runs July 30-Aug. 10 in Ventura.

Hermanos Herrera — five brothers and their younger sister — performs a variety of traditional Mexican musical genres, including son huasteco, son jarocho and norteño. The group has appeared on national television programs.

For more information on the fair, call 648-3376 or visit http://www.venturacountyfair.org.

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She eventually moved to Colorado Springs and after five years as a copy editor became the entertainment editor at The Gazette. A combination of factors led her to quit the newsroom for the nonprofit world.”I was afraid of eventual burnout,” she said. “I was also working toward my master’s degree (in public administration from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.) When this opportunity came along, it was like everything came together at once, just showing me which direction to go.”Already a regular in the Springs art world from her time at The Gazette, she found the switch from observer to advocate refreshing.”You don’t have to keep up that barrier of involvement,” she said.

TAKE ON THE SCENE: “It’s on the upswing and has been for several years,” Edmondson said.”I’m really excited by the new, younger generation of artists and arts administrators who have emerged,” she said, citing Jessica Hunter Larson at Colorado College, Christopher Lynn at UCCS, Bettina Swigger of COPPeR, Delaney Utterback at KRCC (91.5 FM), the Edifice Gallery and the Rocket Room.”There’s a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done attitude,” she said.

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Sony Computer Entertainment chief Kaz Hirai has unveiled a new PS3 service today. Entitled Life With PlayStation, it’s a worldwide news and weather application, allowing users to browse location-based information using a 3D globe display. Imagine Google Maps mixed with Wii’s news and weather channels and you get the picture. Speaking of Wii, Hirai has already caused consternation among Nintendo fans by claiming, “It’s only the PS3 that can provide such a unique experience.”

However, it seems the generic news service is only the start of the Life story. Quoted on Next Gen, he adds, “In the future, we’ll build a system that can virtually present stored photos or movies according to recorded time and place, allowing users with their friends and family to enjoy them visually in chronological order”.

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In today’s age of fast progress and in a generation with smart and savvy individuals who want to make sure they accomplish as much in their time by multitasking, newspapers are competing against time and machine communications such as with computers and the internet. Much of the extra time in the general demographics of newspaper article readers is now spent online. What the major threat here is that newspapers have to compete against time spent online versus time spent with a traditional newspaper and what value the consumer places against both. In other words, people need to be attracted more to one or the other to choose which one they will use for their source of information and news events. At first my thoughts were on the fact that computers are the new wave of the future and it might be a trend for people to just go online but then I thought about the workforce and companies that hire employees, then thought about schools and their teachers and students, most of them use computers as part of their daily routine and not because they like to but because they have to, so when certain information is needed in regards to current events they can easily click on a browser and log on to a newspaper website instead of trying to drive around and find a stand or wait for the next volume of the paper to arrive at their doorstep.

Although perception of the internet gives the user a certain degree of openness and the right to free information, the internet evolution and its progress has been built upon by corporations that rely on advertising dollars to keep them “afloat”. From the very start of newspapers along with others have had part of their company structure and growth to thank from advertising revenues. Advertisers can now see that newspapers can have big visitor numbers towards their websites just as in the decades before the internet they had true subscribers. This helps the newspapers survive by transitioning their advertising revenues that were typically made from the newspaper classifieds, marketing and the such to transition into the new media format and keep people reading. People still feel conformable on relying these newspapers for bringing them news because they are established entities that have been around from generation to generation so there is a certain degree in which newspapers can count on in regards to customer loyalty and readership for generations to come. I, personally would rather read the news about an event from The Los Angeles Times then some Joe blows blog in the middle of the internet ocean (like me) . Although perception has it that newspapers are bias, intelligent people can count on the fact that reliable newspapers either on the internet or in print will more than likely not have any propaganda attached to their editorials. So part of it is the easy transition from print to digital as far as sales and bringing in revenues and from trust that people still have in newspapers.

I believe that the users-gratification approach should be taken into consideration when trying to identify your market reach and penetration with a film product in order to make it successful. What does this mean? It means that you must take into account all the things that make human curiosity and apply it to your movie when producing/developing it.

The uses-gratification approach is most of the time based upon a four-category human need system that is part into a cognition, diversion, social utility and withdrawal account when the evaluation of an individual approach is carried out.  The first category is the act of the person to simply start knowing something and clearly identify parallels to that knowing or for their own using such as updating on political events that will influence their lives or understanding what is going on and or simple just want to learn and satisfy their human curiosity. Second, diversion which can take on a diversity of forms for an individual such as stimulation activities to that contrast of everyday life or just for relaxation. It could also be an emotional release function which is more complex such as watching a dramatic movie that the person can relate to his or her own life experiences.  Social utility is basically tools or currency communication to initiation an addressing of a certain subject or even. Such as when a person asks you “Did you see that blockbuster movie last opening weekend?” In most cases the initial message is secondary to that of the importance of actual social gathering. The last of the categories is withdrawal which can be a mass media to create a barrier or excuse between other people or activities. Television, radio a book can be used to draw a line between wanted and unwanted communication such as not disturbing someone while watching a favorites show versus someone commenting on a show and the other person agreeing but not continuing the conversation.

Take for example “chick flixs” or love stories, even though they are the same kind of story over and over again most of the time, the demographics are known to attend because of what’s playing in front of your screen and who is next to you eating popcorn…

This basically gives a category to try to simplify some of the drive in which someone might go and see your movie or rent it. That is of course once you have it distributed!

Minorities in television, film and commercials… Well this fall more onto film and television series. As you know the media portrays many minorities in a bad light, you never see them as heros or mixed into scripted shows as the lead as much. This is due to something beyond what we understand as far as research and data analysis approaches that are applied to media communcations because everything in entertainment is a communication, they are trying to tell us something or at least that is what the purpose of watching a film or producing a film product is to make it attract as many people to make as much money. Let us look at the main approaches that most market researchers for the entertainment use…

The “functional” approach bases its data on audience observation and experiences of these individuals such as a questionnaire while critical/cultural research uses a more of broad mass communicative study of culture within the audience. Both approaches may or may not come to the same conclusion based on the communication that is trying to be delivered because the major critical/cultural differences may have an impact on the outcome. The diversity in society and the account of examination of different concepts, ideology, politics and social structure vary greatly when taken on macrolytically and much of the research is aimed at describing these depictions within the society. Many views can be drawn when using a critical/cultural approach such as a something produced with certain characteristics such as a Mexican or a Black man playing a criminal in the entertainment industry, the entertainment industry from data gathered sees this in a functional approach by data gathered from society versus how the audience might see it as insulting and degrading society. Both approaches from either side have viable application in understanding how mass communication effects audience and the society.

You see, it’s not really the filmmakers fault that they CHOOSE to make a mexican, latino actor into a criminal, the research department are the ones that TELL us who the majority and minorities are in a perfect and unperfect world.