Exclusive: The Christmas tree trade in New York City is big business. Every holiday season, hundreds of thousands of trees are sold on the sidewalks of New York, and competition is fierce.
This is the foundation for a new feature documentary from Call Me Miss Cleo director Celia Aniskovich.
Aniskovich is directing and producing The Merchants of Joy (w/t), which comes from Boat Rocker, the company behind War Game, which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Hulu’s Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Aniskovich’s company Dial Tone Films and Epic Magazine.
The doc will follow five families, who are equal parts street corner capitalists and Christmas die-hards, as they source, bargain, and hustle to sell as many trees as they can in the city that never sleeps.
It started as an article in Epic magazine, which was published in December 2022.
Todd Lubin and Jack Turner will executive...
This is the foundation for a new feature documentary from Call Me Miss Cleo director Celia Aniskovich.
Aniskovich is directing and producing The Merchants of Joy (w/t), which comes from Boat Rocker, the company behind War Game, which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Hulu’s Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Aniskovich’s company Dial Tone Films and Epic Magazine.
The doc will follow five families, who are equal parts street corner capitalists and Christmas die-hards, as they source, bargain, and hustle to sell as many trees as they can in the city that never sleeps.
It started as an article in Epic magazine, which was published in December 2022.
Todd Lubin and Jack Turner will executive...
- 2/12/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sanaa Lathan, who was recently Emmy nominated for her role on Succession, is to star as the infamous “psychic” Miss Cleo in a new drama series.
Legendary Entertainment is developing the project, Miss Cleo, with Lathan as exec producer. Former Sony Pictures Television head of drama Sharon Hall, who exec produced The Expanse, is also exec producing the project through her Mom de Guerre Productions.
Miss Cleo was otherwise known as Youree Dell Harris, an actress best known for portraying the spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call-minute service called Psychic Readers Networks in a series of commercials between 1997 and 2003. Her tagline was “Call me now!”
In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission charged the company’s owners with deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices. Harris was not indicted but the people behind it agreed to settle by erasing $500M in debt from its victims and paying a $5M fine.
Harris went on...
Legendary Entertainment is developing the project, Miss Cleo, with Lathan as exec producer. Former Sony Pictures Television head of drama Sharon Hall, who exec produced The Expanse, is also exec producing the project through her Mom de Guerre Productions.
Miss Cleo was otherwise known as Youree Dell Harris, an actress best known for portraying the spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call-minute service called Psychic Readers Networks in a series of commercials between 1997 and 2003. Her tagline was “Call me now!”
In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission charged the company’s owners with deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices. Harris was not indicted but the people behind it agreed to settle by erasing $500M in debt from its victims and paying a $5M fine.
Harris went on...
- 1/10/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Here at /Film, we have talked quite a bit about how much we love genre-specific streaming services like Shudder or Alter, but does such a platform exist for fans of science fiction? Sure, there's always the Syfy channel on cable, but with so many people cutting cords and pivoting exclusively to streaming, you may be wondering where to find new and unique sci-fi stories. Well, may we interest you in Dust? A sister site of Alter, Dust comes from the folks at Gunpowder and Sky, the independent studio behind hits like "Summer of 84," "Tragedy Girls," "Her Smell," "Hearts Beat Loud," "Call Me Miss Cleo," and "Kobe Bryant's Dear Basketball."
A hub for the very best in sci-fi short films, Dust also has a live linear channel constantly playing from their selection of shorts, so if you don't feel like wading through the selections, you can let the service choose for you.
A hub for the very best in sci-fi short films, Dust also has a live linear channel constantly playing from their selection of shorts, so if you don't feel like wading through the selections, you can let the service choose for you.
- 12/9/2023
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
Like a peckish panda let loose in a showroom for bamboo patio furniture, the modern audience’s craving for true-life stories is seemingly insatiable. And like said ursine gnawing greedily on a flavorful teakwood club chair, nonfiction has been steadily gobbling up narrative filmmaking, with almost every major news item of the last 40 years being dutifully reimagined as a prestige limited series. And sure, projects like HBO’s Love and Death or Hulu’s The Dropout can help fill the void abdicated by the mid-budget studio drama, but where does that leave actual documentary movies—or documentary filmmakers for that matter?
While there’s certainly not an overabundance of industry support out there for emerging nonfiction filmmakers, there is at the very least the Film Independent Documentary Lab. And today, we’re thrilled to welcome seven new Fellows and six new projects to the 2023 Doc Lab cohort. “Documentary filmmakers remain...
While there’s certainly not an overabundance of industry support out there for emerging nonfiction filmmakers, there is at the very least the Film Independent Documentary Lab. And today, we’re thrilled to welcome seven new Fellows and six new projects to the 2023 Doc Lab cohort. “Documentary filmmakers remain...
- 5/24/2023
- by Matt Warren
- Film Independent News & More
Exclusive: Film Independent on Wednesday named the filmmakers and projects selected for its 12th annual Documentary Lab, rolling out a list that includes Alina Simone & Kirstine Barfod (Black Snow), Chris Coats (Flamingo Camp), Sisa Bueno, Gabriela Díaz Arp (Matininó), Amanda Erickson (She Cried That Day) and Adina Luo (You Have the Floor).
The nonprofit behind the Independent Spirit Awards also announced Black Snow‘s Simone as the recipient of its latest Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation Fellowship, an unrestricted $10,000 cash grant awarded to a Jewish filmmaker participating in one of its Artist Development Programs.
An intensive program providing creative feedback to filmmakers who are currently in post-production on feature-length docs, The Lab also advances their careers by introducing them to mentors, advisors and guest speakers who can advise on both the craft and business of documentary filmmaking. Chris Shellen (Mickey: The Story of a Mouse) and Ivete Lucas...
The nonprofit behind the Independent Spirit Awards also announced Black Snow‘s Simone as the recipient of its latest Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation Fellowship, an unrestricted $10,000 cash grant awarded to a Jewish filmmaker participating in one of its Artist Development Programs.
An intensive program providing creative feedback to filmmakers who are currently in post-production on feature-length docs, The Lab also advances their careers by introducing them to mentors, advisors and guest speakers who can advise on both the craft and business of documentary filmmaking. Chris Shellen (Mickey: The Story of a Mouse) and Ivete Lucas...
- 5/24/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Gunpowder & Sky, the company founded by former MTV chief Van Toffler and former Endemol exec Floris Bauer, is formalizing its relationship with Audible.
The studio has struck a first-look deal with the Amazon-owned audio platform, expanding on its work that includes episodes of high-profile music series Words + Music.
The multi-year deal will see the producer move into new genres for Audible including pop culture, sports, scripted, wellness, investigative and true crime in addition to music.
It marks Audible’s latest first-look deal in the podcast space after signing President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground as well as the likes of Daniel Dae Kim.
Gunpowder & Sky has also produced upcoming series including Lighters in the Sky and Shelved for Audible. It also follows the launch of Audible original In The Cut with Ghetto Gastro, an eight-part series produced by Gunpowder & Sky and created and presented by...
The studio has struck a first-look deal with the Amazon-owned audio platform, expanding on its work that includes episodes of high-profile music series Words + Music.
The multi-year deal will see the producer move into new genres for Audible including pop culture, sports, scripted, wellness, investigative and true crime in addition to music.
It marks Audible’s latest first-look deal in the podcast space after signing President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground as well as the likes of Daniel Dae Kim.
Gunpowder & Sky has also produced upcoming series including Lighters in the Sky and Shelved for Audible. It also follows the launch of Audible original In The Cut with Ghetto Gastro, an eight-part series produced by Gunpowder & Sky and created and presented by...
- 2/23/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
"Call Me Miss Cleo" is a new documentary feature chronicling the rise, fall and reinvention of 1990's 'infomercial' TV psychic 'Miss Cleo', directed by Celia Aniskovich and Jennifer Brea, with comment from actresses Raven-Symoné and Debra Wilson, now streaming on HBO Max:
"...'Miss Cleo' aka Youree Dell Harris, made a name for herself back in the 1990's for her larger-than-life persona while working for the 'Psychic Readers Network', a popular phone hotline.
"'Call Me Miss Cleo' takes a close look at the story behind the iconic infomercials and unravels the investigations that ensued..."
Click the images to enlarge...
"...'Miss Cleo' aka Youree Dell Harris, made a name for herself back in the 1990's for her larger-than-life persona while working for the 'Psychic Readers Network', a popular phone hotline.
"'Call Me Miss Cleo' takes a close look at the story behind the iconic infomercials and unravels the investigations that ensued..."
Click the images to enlarge...
- 12/25/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
On December 15, HBO Max released “‘Call Me Miss Cleo,” an eye-opening documentary chronicling the rise, fall, and reinvention of revered and reviled ’90s TV psychic Miss Cleo. Featuring interviews with celebrities and those closest to the self-proclaimed voodoo priestess, the film explores the many layers behind a complicated and charismatic figure.
See ‘White House Plumbers’ trailer: Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux star in HBO Watergate series
Jennifer Brea and Celia Aniskovich co-direct the film about the controversial figure. Known for her larger-than-life persona and memorable accent, Miss Cleo, born Youree Dell Harris, garnered a nationwide cult following on the Psychic Readers Network, a popular telephone hotline that later came under fire for its alleged deceptive practices. She died of cancer at the age of 53 in 2016. Below is a roundup of some early reviews.
Nick Schager of The Daily Beast writes, “Eventually, every piece of pop culture minutia will receive an...
See ‘White House Plumbers’ trailer: Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux star in HBO Watergate series
Jennifer Brea and Celia Aniskovich co-direct the film about the controversial figure. Known for her larger-than-life persona and memorable accent, Miss Cleo, born Youree Dell Harris, garnered a nationwide cult following on the Psychic Readers Network, a popular telephone hotline that later came under fire for its alleged deceptive practices. She died of cancer at the age of 53 in 2016. Below is a roundup of some early reviews.
Nick Schager of The Daily Beast writes, “Eventually, every piece of pop culture minutia will receive an...
- 12/20/2022
- by Vincent Mandile
- Gold Derby
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