Archives: What’s Happening in HTG Town

As is common when sitting in HTG_Chat for an extended period of time, strange things tend to happen. The following artwork was recently posted.

No explanation was given, though some chatters went on to speculate that prolific HTG producer Bryan Bishop is planning on shaving his head and becoming a semi-nude Amway salesman. Further details to be posted when they come.

“Great news!”

That is how Ship of Fooles studio head Lucian Carter began his most recent press conference.

Recently the victim of a corrupted hard disk on his computer, the active HTG citizen feared that he had lost all of the work that he had made on his new Hank Azaria comedy called Puneet. The film features the actor, dressed in disguise, pulling the wool over the eyes of numerous celebrity customers at a 7-11 convenience store. With the aid of file recovery software, Lucian hoped to get at least parts of the movie back.

“I ran Recover My Files a second time and it found everything! I have my Puneet draft back. I have four episodes of TCW (Lucian’s wrestling franchise).”

Originally slated for a July 6 opening, Puneet has been pushed back to August.

“(This) really cheered me up,” commented Lucian. “And I needed it.”

As reported earlier, a severe computer problem has plagued the offices of Ship of Fooles and its owner, Lucian Carter. A hard drive malfunction has shut down numerous SoF projects, including the upcoming Hank Azaria comedy Puneet and all aspects of TCW.

When asked if he has had any luck recovering the files, Lucian seemed solemn.

“(I’ve had) some (luck), but not enough” replied the SoF chief. “Recover My Files (a software program) did, in fact, recover a lot of files. But none of them were very recent. I’m trying another scan to see if it finds more, but it looks like all the new TCW episodes are lost. Puneet… I can probably rewrite because (fellow HTG citizen Bryan) Bishop has part of it.”

Unfortunately, this has caused a cancellation of the early July release of Puneet. Still available that weekend is a part of the steady stream of 21st Century Cat product.

When will HTG Hollywood see the comic adventure of Puneet at his 7-11 store? Time will tell as producer Lucian begins to reconstruct what he has lost.

The allure of purchasing an already existing property is always a strong one for HTG Hollywood producers. Buying the rights to a book/game/television show/movie in order to adapt it with a story of their own is sometimes a profitable venture for producers, but it can be costly as well.

Taking the top of the box office for a third week is Star Wars X by producer Trax and released by Flip Brothers Studios. Though the release of the film was granted by an award, Flip Brothers has made the franchise purchase for a whopping one billion dollars.

“We won’t make that back” commented co-chief Ritchie Steven about the deal. But that was after SWX was just released. Now with $225 million in domestic receipts, the film could possible make $400 million. Add healthy foreign box office and 2/3 of the purchase of the Star Wars franchise can be back in the Flip Brothers bank account.

Not all franchises cost so much, of course. Many property rights range in price from a few mil to a couple hundred. But just because the rights are bought, there’s no guarantee that a project with the franchise will be made.

“I’ve got a ton of franchises” remarked Miracle Pictures head Marlowe during a recent visit to HTG_Chat. “I get ideas like crazy, but I don’t always follow through with them.”

Miracle Pictures is the owner of such franchises as Die Hard, The Jetsons and Monty Python.

“I bought the Monty Python franchise because a producer had a pretty good idea for a film with them. I figured that any number of projects could be made under the Monty Python flag, so $180 million wouldn’t be that bad of an investment. We’ll just have to wait and see if that investment pays off.”

“F***ety f*** f*** I am screwed.”

Typically those words do not precede a celebration. In this case, the words did indeed mark bad news.

“My main storage drive just became corrupted,” proclaimed producer/studio chief Lucian during a recent visit to HTG_Chat.

What does this mean? For starters, Lucian’s new Hank Azaria comedy Puneet may be lost.

“Oh, God, and all of my TCW episodes, too,” he added.

Lucian is in the midst of trying to recover what he can. He has not announced yet if there will be a delay in his off-beat comedy.

By Lucian

The 2007 wing of the HTG museum has opened! Entitled the Days of Future Past exhibit it adds another new wing to the museum. Unfortunately only two items have been added thusfar with a promise of more on the way. Check out the museum to see food and beverage related props from Miracle Pictures’ Square Deal and from Ship of Fooles’ Happy For the Rest of Your Life. Both these items were donated by yours truly which only goes to prove my point that people aren’t using the musuem enough.

So time for another refresher. Each film can donate one prop to the museum. The prop must be a photograph of something used in the film. For donating the prop the musuem will cut you a check for five million dollars (two if the film was arthouse). It’s also possible for each film to donate one poster to the museum. To do so you must have actually created the poster. Posters net a 2 million dollar bonus (1 million for arthouse) so your average film can make an extra 7 million from museum donations alone. Of course producers need to negotiate with studio heads to determine who holds the rights to donate a prop for your movie. Ship of Fooles always gives its producers their museum rights.

The musuem, along with the mdb, are important pictures of the history and diversity of HTG. So take advantage of the museum and immortalize your film in pictoral history.

Press Release by Lucian

Ship of Fooles new film Puneet and 7-11 were made for each other. When producer Lucian found out there was a certain 7-11 (no we’re not telling you which) that was the in place to go for celebrities from all walks of life. No one knows exactly how this Hollywood (ok we’ll tell you that much) store became a celebrity hang out but so far it’s managed to stay under the radar of paparazzi and autograph seekers alike.

“Finding this was like finding gold. I knew I had to use it somehow. But how?” Lucian recalls. The how came about with a meeting with director Larry Charles of Borat fame. “Larry was looking for a follow-up to Borat, something similar but not a carbon copy. We came up with the idea of planting a fake employee in the 7-11 and harassing celebrities who came in.” Lucian continues “The next trick was figuring out who could be that employee.”

Ship of Fooles considered casting an unknown but then realized that gave the celebrities no chance of figuring out the joke. “We wanted to give the celebrities a chance to figure it out. That meant casting a little known actor and placing him in make-up and disguise. And then it hit us. Who is the best known convenience store owner in America ? Apu from the Simpsons. But the guy who plays them isn’t necessarily automatically recognizable especially in a costume and make-up. So we approached Hank Azaria and he was thrilled with the idea of being the lead in our little game.”

Azaria couldn’t just start right away. Since Azaria was actually going to be left in charge of an operating 7-11 he was required to undergo weeks of intensive training. At the end of it all he was pronounced a certified sole employee. Then it was just a matter of rigging hundreds of hidden cameras all over the 7-11. Even on the roof. Only the bathroom was spared a camera at Azaria’s insistence.

Then it was just a matter of waiting for celebrities to show up. And show up they did. Caught in Puneet’s web of deception are stars the likes of Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Madonna, Jackie Chan, Keanu Reeves, Paris Hilton and even Mr. T. “Some of these people are scary” says Azaria “But I tried to never break character. And I say some pretty outrageous things so staying in character was hard at times.”

Azaria does add in his own voice as commentary at the end of scenes. And yes, there are times when he’s caught and drops the act.. But the comedy doesn’t always end there.

Lucian thinks the film pokes fun at itself. But there could be some valid criticism raised here about cultural appropriaton? Do we really need another Borat. Lucian isn’t worried “Some people will criticize for the sake of criticism and take offense on principle but I think most people will look past that and see this as a fun film that doesen’t take itself seriously.”

Is Lucian worried about the box office? He doesn’t really have to be. With not one but two sponsorship agreements with 7-11, a number of other awards and several talent vouchers used this movie will actually see a profit before it opens.

“Now I want big box office mind you. I’m using some pretty big stars and I hate to hurt their talent ratings by bombing.” Lucian admits “But it’s nice to know I won’t lose money on this film.” Nice to know indeed.