I love it when my friends take on hugely ambitious and relevant projects for the screen. This us why we do it, yes?, this cinema thing....
Our Producer pal Lisa Bellomo has put together a Us / Israeli co production on Kickstarter to bring to screen the Dear Sugar phenom which is an avidly, hugely followed advice column relevant to women and the gay community worldwide.
Producer Lisa Bellomo has now launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance this animated short film based on best-selling author Cheryl Strayed's Dear Sugar advice column. Israeli animator David Polonsky, art director and lead artist for the acclaimed Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning animated film Waltz With Bashir, will animate the film.
The short is based on The Baby Bird, the column that launched the Dear Sugar phenomenon ( read it Here). Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer (Getting On, Big Love) have written the screenplay adaption and Alex Borstein (Family Guy, Mad TV) will be the voice of Sugar.
In 2010 the Dear Sugar online advice column launched on TheRumpus.net and garnered a devoted underground following. Two years later the captivating voice was revealed to be that of American memoirist and novelist, Cheryl Strayed. Each column is like a short film because each tells a story unto itself. And whether Sugar is bestowing her “advice” to a grieving mother who has just miscarriage, or a father mourning the death of his young gay son and regretting the things he didn’t say, or as in our film, to a young woman grasping to find the meaning in her life, Sugar’s words of wisdom are delivered with compassion and a raw sense of direct honesty. It’s that quality that results in a deeply authentic exchange between Sugar and her questioners. It is an advice column unlike any other.
The animation will be done in Israel and David Polonsky is the perfect person to oversee it for this film. Like the Dear Sugar columns, Waltz With Bashir also jumps back and forth between present day and flashbacks of traumatic memories from the past. That movie’s particular style of animation – which has a documentary feel to it - effectively captures the characters complex emotions, as they try to make sense of their lives. In that way it’s not unlike our Baby Bird story. Of course David and his animation partner Yoni Goodman will create a distinctive animation style for Sugar, but the Waltz With Bashir template is a good model for this project.
They're determined to get this Dear Sugar short film produced, but the big dream is that this short will be just the beginning for Sugar on the screen. Once the short is complete, the plan is to submit the film to domestic and international film festivals, and hope to premiere it at the Sundance Film Festival. After that, who knows…a feature film…a television series…The sky’s the limit because in the words of Sugar, “The best thing you can possibly do with your life, is to tackle the motherfucking shit out of it”.
Check out the Kickstarter campaign here: http://ow.ly/wWESP
Follow them on twitter and instagram: [At]dearsugarfilm...
Our Producer pal Lisa Bellomo has put together a Us / Israeli co production on Kickstarter to bring to screen the Dear Sugar phenom which is an avidly, hugely followed advice column relevant to women and the gay community worldwide.
Producer Lisa Bellomo has now launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance this animated short film based on best-selling author Cheryl Strayed's Dear Sugar advice column. Israeli animator David Polonsky, art director and lead artist for the acclaimed Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning animated film Waltz With Bashir, will animate the film.
The short is based on The Baby Bird, the column that launched the Dear Sugar phenomenon ( read it Here). Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer (Getting On, Big Love) have written the screenplay adaption and Alex Borstein (Family Guy, Mad TV) will be the voice of Sugar.
In 2010 the Dear Sugar online advice column launched on TheRumpus.net and garnered a devoted underground following. Two years later the captivating voice was revealed to be that of American memoirist and novelist, Cheryl Strayed. Each column is like a short film because each tells a story unto itself. And whether Sugar is bestowing her “advice” to a grieving mother who has just miscarriage, or a father mourning the death of his young gay son and regretting the things he didn’t say, or as in our film, to a young woman grasping to find the meaning in her life, Sugar’s words of wisdom are delivered with compassion and a raw sense of direct honesty. It’s that quality that results in a deeply authentic exchange between Sugar and her questioners. It is an advice column unlike any other.
The animation will be done in Israel and David Polonsky is the perfect person to oversee it for this film. Like the Dear Sugar columns, Waltz With Bashir also jumps back and forth between present day and flashbacks of traumatic memories from the past. That movie’s particular style of animation – which has a documentary feel to it - effectively captures the characters complex emotions, as they try to make sense of their lives. In that way it’s not unlike our Baby Bird story. Of course David and his animation partner Yoni Goodman will create a distinctive animation style for Sugar, but the Waltz With Bashir template is a good model for this project.
They're determined to get this Dear Sugar short film produced, but the big dream is that this short will be just the beginning for Sugar on the screen. Once the short is complete, the plan is to submit the film to domestic and international film festivals, and hope to premiere it at the Sundance Film Festival. After that, who knows…a feature film…a television series…The sky’s the limit because in the words of Sugar, “The best thing you can possibly do with your life, is to tackle the motherfucking shit out of it”.
Check out the Kickstarter campaign here: http://ow.ly/wWESP
Follow them on twitter and instagram: [At]dearsugarfilm...
- 6/6/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
"Enlightened" may be no more, but HBO remains in search of more comedies to add to its lineup. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the premium network's just given a series greenlight to one of its pilots. HBO's given a six-episode order to "Getting On," a remake of the bleakly funny 2009-2012 BBC series of the same name written by and starring Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan (with "The Thick of It" star Peter Capaldi directing several of the 15 total episodes). This U.S. take on the BAFTA-winning comedy comes from Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, the co-creators of "Big Love," by way of their Anima Sola Productions company. Geoff Atkinson, the producer of the U.K. series, will serve as an executive producer alongside Lisa Bellomo and Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner of BBC Worldwide Productions. Olsen and Scheffer, who wrote the pilot, oversaw five seasons of...
- 3/21/2013
- by Alison Willmore
- Indiewire
Big Love creators Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer are returning to HBO’s primetime. The pay cable network has picked up the duo’s comedy pilot Getting On to series with a six-episode order. An U.S. version of the award-winning BBC Four medical comedy of the same name, HBO’s Getting On stars Laurie Metcalf, Alex Borstein and Niecy Nash. Set in a women’s geriatric extended care wing of a down-at-the-heels hospital as put-upon nurses, it follows anxious doctors and administrators as they struggle with the darkly comic, brutally honest and quietly compassionate realities of caring for the elderly in an overwhelmed healthcare system. BBC Worldwide Prods. is producing. The creators and stars of the original series, Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, executive produce the HBO series. Olsen and Scheffer, who wrote the adaptation through their overall deal at HBO, are executive producing though their Anima Sola Prods.
- 3/21/2013
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Mere days after canceling Enlightened after two seasons, HBO has picked up one of its comedy pilots to series. The premium cable network has given a six-episode series order to Getting On, a reformat of the BAFTA Award-winning comedy series of the same name, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The HBO adaptation hails from Big Love creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer and their Anima Sola Productions banner, who penned the pilot for BBC Worldwide Productions. Anima senior vp Lisa Bellomo will produce alongside BBC Worldwide Productions' Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner. Original series producer Geoff Atkinson will
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- 3/21/2013
- by Lesley Goldberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: HBO has given a pilot order to Getting On, an U.S. version of the award-winning BBC Four medical comedy of the same name. The project hails from Big Love creators Mark V. Olsen & Will Scheffer, who wrote the adaptation, and BBC Worldwide Prods. Set in a women’s geriatric extended care wing of a down-at-the-heels hospital, Getting On follows put-upon nurses, anxious doctors and administrators as they struggle with the darkly comic, brutally honest and quietly compassionate realities of caring for the elderly in an overwhelmed healthcare system. The original series was created by and starred Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, who will serve as executive producers on the HBO adaptation. Olsen and Scheffer are executive producing the pilot though their Anima Sola Prods. banner, with Svp Lisa Bellomo producing. BBC Worldwide Prods.’ Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner also executive produce, along with the British series’ producer Geoff Atkinson.
- 8/14/2012
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Exclusive: The creators of polygamist series Big Love are developing another unconventional family drama for HBO. Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer are behind China Doll, a show in the works at the pay cable network about a mixed-race family and their humanoid robot. The project combines Scheffer’s passion for technology and Olsen’s interest in Chinese history and politics. “It is about China, Chinese Americans, robots, the effect of technology on our lives and the China moment in American consciousness,” said Olsen, referring to China’s current economic ascendance that is changing the dynamic in the U.S.-Chinese relationship. China Doll centers on a successful California construction subcontractor, his Asian American wife, a university professor, and a robot, as they are straddling both sides of the Pacific with extended families on two continents. Despite the presence of a robot, “this is not a sci-fi show,” Will said.
- 10/17/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Michael Douglas and his Furthur Films have signed a two-year first-look production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures. The deal comes just a few months after Douglas wrapped shooting Franchise Pictures' The Wedding Party, which he stars in and Furthur co-produces. Warners is distributing the picture. Furthur will continue to maintain offices in Los Angeles and New York under the leadership of president of production Marcy Drogin, who is based on the East Coast, and Lisa Bellomo, senior vp production, who heads the West Coast office. Director of development James Lavigne also works in the New York office.
- 2/26/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Michael Douglas and his Furthur Films have signed a two-year first-look production deal with Warner Bros. Pictures. The deal comes just a few months after Douglas wrapped shooting Franchise Pictures' The Wedding Party, which he stars in and Furthur co-produces. Warners is distributing the picture. Furthur will continue to maintain offices in Los Angeles and New York under the leadership of president of production Marcy Drogin, who is based on the East Coast, and Lisa Bellomo, senior vp production, who heads the West Coast office. Director of development James Lavigne also works in the New York office.
- 2/26/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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