Hey all,

We have the go-ahead to make the announcement. We're going to do it on our Facebook page once we hit 600 LIKES (I'd like to get to 700 but that might take too long). If you'd like to help us along the link is in my signature.

Anthony

Couldn't wait - announcement is UP on our FACEBOOK PAGE (link below)...

Awesome!

Congratulations! That's a sterling attachment.
"My Favorite Year" is an all time top lister for me.

Regards,
E.D.

And he's an unbelievably nice man to boot...

Congratulations, Anthony!  That is a pretty good score!

Thanks all - if you check out our FB page you'll also notice that we have Fangoria editor emeritus and all-around horror maven TONY TIMPONE signed on as a producer. Tony and I grew up in the same neighborhood so we reconnected back in 2009. He's been officially on board for about a month now, though he's been advising behind the scenes for a while...

Sweet! He's had a full and interesting career. Must have a lotta great stories, and no doubt will do a great job with your story.

Still stunned when I see e-mails from him!

"Liked" and congrats!!

Hopefully you'll find funding easier with him attached.

Thanks, and yes, this has opened up huge doors for us in terms of talent and companies...

Congrats, Anthony! He's directed some very impressive stuff and worked with huge talent. "Liked" it on Facebook. Now... to cash in my 401k and send you a check as an investor... :-)

James

Big congrats, man! Awesome that you've found a director who's been in the industry for a good while and knows the biz, not to mention working with the legendary Tony Timpone. Love Fango and the grounds Timpone has laid for it (now that Chris Alexander's in charge). Seems like you're off to a great start. Liked on FB and I wish you the best of luck!

Thanks James and James. And it brings such a smile to my face to hear Tony described as legendary. He is simply the nicest guy you could meet.

I remember my team and I roller skating into his father's store - we used to play hockey in the adjacent supermarket parking lot - and we'd order hero sandwiches and drink pineapple soda (yeah, not sure why pineapple). Tony worked there most days after school during HS and college.

And where was the store? On Grand Avenue... (0:

That's really exciting.  Richard Benjamin rocks.  My Favorite Year is one of the greatest non-silent comedies of all time.  Congrats Anthony; regardless even of how the project progresses, working with him is sure to be eye-opening for you as a writer/filmmaker!

Well done AJR.  A good director with a varied career.   Couldn't ask for more than that.

Thanks guys, we've known for a while now and it's been tough to contain ourselves...

This is why I've suggested that if you have a market-ready project, try to get a director interested. They operate a little differently than do talent and producers - sometimes anyway, depending on their manager/agent and how accessible they are...

Great news!


Phil

Congrats AJR.......It would great to see old Maspeth used in a movie..

Well done

mark

Anthony, this is such great news, I'm so happy for you and for everybody involved with Grand Avenue!

Congrats AJR.  Everyone knows how hard you worked to pull this project together.

Thanks again all - I had a very good conversation with someone who might be interested in executive producing last evening. He loves RB and wants to work with him. Hopefully we can hook the team up with him via conference call today...

Also waiting to hear on a possible domestic distribution deal, which might allow us to actually make offers to some of the talent reading.

Thanks once again for all of your support and if you'd like to check on our updates please LIKE us on Facebook. Okay, we can now let this thread fall gently off the portal like a snowflake... (0;

Well done buddy!

Exciting news.

Hey Anthony,

Congrats!! (I'd click LIKE, but think I've already done so...)

Cheers and best -

-J

And the Oscar for Original Screenplay goes to...

Congratulations, 'Tone'. Best of luck with this.

Thanks all - lots of work to do still but we're getting there little by little...

That's a coincidence, I just seen Richard Benjamin in Deconstructing Harry yesterday for a second time and I come one here and see he's directing your film, Anthony, how cool.

First star struck, dweeby question you need to ask him is…What was it like to share that scene with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss?

Lucky basta?d.

More to the point (and a more all around, classier question) How honoured was he to get a chance to play one of the great man’s alter egos?

Thanks Col - hate to admit it, especially as a huge Woody fan (easy Jeff), but I've never seen DH. An oversight I plan to remedy very soon.

Hahah you're in for a treat Anthony.  You'll find that Richard Benjamin really loves onions.  

Just out of curiosity since I'm getting older and time seems to go by faster and faster. How long has it been since you wrote this and first put it up at SS?

Can you give us a timeline of the process? :)

Quoted from Heretic Hahah you're in for a treat Anthony.  You'll find that Richard Benjamin really loves onions.

I'll assume that's a DH reference, Heretic...  8)

Pia - a timeline? Wow, let me see. I wrote the first word of the first draft on 3/28/09. By around October or November I felt I had a draft worthy of review, and I put it up here, and I got sought out some paid feedback as well...

By March 2010 I had the draft done that I've essentially rolled with since. From about April to August I was able to get some attachments, which attracted the attention of my agent.

Between her, our line producer and another of our producers (one of her clients) we tried to keep the momentum going. We had interest from other directors, some well-known and some lesser known, but for one reason or another it didn't work out. Until right before the July 4 weekend of this year, when I first spoke to RB about it...

There have been lots of reads in between and near misses, but essentially that's how it's gone. Interest crests and then it wanes, but I think the key is to consistently follow up with everyone you've been able to get it to.

Finally got the IMDB page for GRAND AVENUE - not much to see on the regular version since we're classifed as in development, however those of you with the pro version can check out this one:

http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt2179059/

We'll be adding contact info, factoids, etc. and also correcting the genre goofup...

AJR

Quoted from ajr Finally got the IMDB page for GRAND AVENUE - not much to see on the regular version since we're classifed as in development, however those of you with the pro version can check out this one: http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt2179059/ We'll be adding contact info, factoids, etc. and also correcting the genre goofup... AJR

Anthony!

You are the man! Doing it on your own terms, amazing!
Closest I've gotten to that development list so far is coverage on a few titles. ;)
Your efforts are gargantuan and laser focused, you're an inspiration, pal!

Regards,
E.D.

Thanks Brett - yeah, IMDB is way tougher to crack nowadays in terms of features, so hopefully this bit of "press" pays off for us.

AJ, coming from one who read the script, and liked it, did the producers make you re-write it at all? I know I brought up a couple of things I didn't like. Just curious.

Met some people in C-town doing a crew call for A "Locked Script", I was on board until I read it. I wouldn't have wiped my ass with it. Needless to say, no longer on that crew. They're filmimg and I can't wait to see the finished product... It will never be worth more than a fart in a whirl-wind.

Meh, turned out to be more of a rant about me. Shit happens. :-). Good luck, if this fucker makes it to the big screen, I will buy a ticket. Even top dollar evening price. Jeff will go to matinee, cheap bastard.

James

Who you kidding? Jeff will wait for Netflix... (0:

It's weird about re-writes - to answer your question, no, it hasn't been re-written since the version most of you read here. That's not to say that everyone's in love with every word. Far from it. But what will happen is that we'll go into pre-production, once funded, and then we'll have meetings about what works and what doesn't. Then I'll do a re-write. Then there will be more re-writing on the fly during filming.

But yes, everyone's on board with the general concept, dialogue, characters, etc. and some of the plot elements might get tweaked, and I'm sure some non-essential scenes will get deleted.

Anthony -

MAJOR congrats!  An SS regular making things happen!!!  :)

Congratulations!!

I didn't read the whole script, but you can bet I'll go see it at the theater when it comes out.

A long and slow process getting it done. My question for you is, do you ever get tired of it or does enough new things happen all the time to keep the interest up?

Congrats, Anthony! Great news! It’s good to see hard work and perseverance pay off. :)


Breanne

Thanks Breanne and Pia, and interesting question - it's definitely a love-hate thing. We had two major disappointments this week as far as big reads, but then something like this happens, or we get a new production team member, and then we're buoyed once again...

And you mentioned reads - it's a tricky thing, because it's tough to keep talent reading as well until their particular role kicks off.

The part we had it out for was JANINE, the older female lead, who's introduced via flashback about half way through the first act, and the role doesn't really take off until around page 36, when she becomes a key character. It had crossed my mind that the actress in question might not have gotten to the 2nd act, having to wade through the intros of all the 20 somethings. It's tough to tell because the agent's feedback is always so little...

Glad to hear about the IMDB page. It seems like an age ago that read this but I still remember how good it was, especially the taxi scene lol.

Thanks Alffy - we have a top 5 (at least whom I consider to be a top 5) standup comedian looking at that role; I have to be honest though and say I think it's a long shot to land him...

Great stuff AJR... I look forward to seeing it as well.

Ghostie

Thanks ghostie - you and Alffy are two of the five people on SS who read both versions, and you guys helped immeasurably - so here's hoping that I meet you at a premiere one day... (0: