Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Peter Tolan is the man behind the successful FX series “Rescue Me” starring Denis Leary. He began his career writing for sitcoms “Carol & Company” & “Wish You Were Here”. He wrote & co-produced the first six episodes of Tim Allen’s “Home Improvement” & then moved to the hit series “Murphy Brown”, starring Candice Bergen. He worked the series for 3 seasons which resulted in a shared Emmy award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1992 as co-producer. Also in 1992 he began writing for Gray Shandling’s “The Larry Sanders Show” on HBO. As the co-executive producer of the series he received 3 CableACE Awards for Comedy Series and he got an Emmy for co-writing with Shandling the series finale episode "Flip".He wrote for the series “Ellen”, “Buddies” & he created the sitcoms “The George Wendt Show” & “Style and Substance”. With comedian Denis Leary Tolan co-created the ABC satiric comedy “The Job”, which also starred Leary as a tough NYPD detective. Though it was cancelled after two seasons it was heralded by the critics. He wrote the hit film “Analyze This” directed by Harold Ramis, starring Robert Deniro & Billy Crystal. He also wrote the sequel “Analyze That”, “My Fellow Americans” starred Jack Lemon, James Garner & Dan Akroyd,“ Bedazzled” starred Brendan Fraser & Elizabeth Hurely,“America’s Sweethearts” starred Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, John Cusak, Catherine Zeta-Jones, “Guess Who” starred Bernie Mac & Ashton Kutcher, “Just Like Heaven” starred Reese Witherspoon & Mark Ruffalo. In 2008 Peter made his directorial debut with the semi-autobiographical film “Finding Amanda” which starred Matthew Broderick & Brittany Snow. He co-created “Rescue Me” with show star Denis Leary which debuted in 2004. This series has been well received by both critics and audiences, & both Peter & Denis have received Emmy nominations. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast & crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, & more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Dylan Avery is a 26 year old filmmaker currently residing in San Diego, California.

In 2002, he began research for a feature length film based upon the premise that the events of 9/11 were not all they were cracked up to be. It was during that research it became clear the events did not add up in real life, as well. After years of writing, editing, and test shoots, the project evolved from a feature film into a documentary.

The first edition was released on April 13th, 2005, and spawned a small underground following. The 2nd Edition, released in December of 2005, evolved into an internet phenomenon whose spread has yet to be matched ...

The "Loose Change" series has been seen by over 100 million people across the globe, translated into a number of different languages and screened in libraries, classrooms, and of course, movie theaters.

The 2nd Edition dominated the charts of Google Video in 2006, consistently ranking #1 for over a month, beating out Stephen Colbert's scathing White House Correspondence speech. Copies of the film are distributed freely in coffeehouses and various shops around the world, being given out simply for the sake of sharing the information.

In September, 2009, the final edition, "An American Coup" was released through Microcinema International. It is available online and in select stores, and is narrated by Rescue Me's Daniel Sunjata.

Avery is now writing a number of fictional film scripts, and is pursuing a career as a feature film writer and director.

Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Douglas Day Stewart is best known for his original screenplay “An Officer and a Gentleman,” which was based on his own experiences as a Naval Officer Candidate undergoing rigorous training, while falling in love with a factory girl looking for a “ticket out of nowhere.” In addition to the many accolades and awards garnered by the film, “Officer” was recently listed by the American Film Institute as one of the ten highest grossing love stories in cinema history.

Stewart’s other writing credits include the enduring first “Blue Lagoon” with Brooke Shields, the acclaimed “The Boy In the Plastic Bubble”, (the ABC television movie that launched John Travolta’s career), and “The Scarlet Letter,” Stewart’s much maligned take on Hawthorne’s classic novel, starring Demi Moore. Stewart wrote and directed the cult favorite “Thief of Hearts” (which boasts clubs of women around the country) and the controversial “Listen to Me.”

Stewart has been nominated for an Academy Award, and for an Emmy, and for numerous Writers Guild Awards. His original screenplay “The Accident” (a semi-autobiographical story of a teen tragedy) will go before the cameras in Europe this year. His Musical adaptation of “An Officer and a Gentleman,” will begin production in Australia next year, and will hopefully go to Broadway soon after.

Stewart has recently finished another original screenplay entitled “The Flying Man,” which he describes as “a cross-cultural love story with a unique twist, set against the political conflicts of modern day Burma.” Stewart plans to direct the film next year in Thailand.

Reed Martin Pt 3 - Festival Etiquette What you need to know when attending Sundance, Cannes and other festivals. Who to know, whose important, what is important, what to do What NOT to do, to make the most of your festival experience, on the very next show!

Reed Martin Pt 2 interviewed for his book are independent film icons Kim Peirce, Terry Zwigoff, Werner Herzog, Doug Liman, Harmony Korine, Atom Egoyan, documentary flimmakers Barbara Kopple, Ken Burns, Ric Burns, and 'Pulp Fiction' producer Lawrence Bender, 'Juno' producer Lianne Halfon, and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' producer Anthony Bregman, among others. Among the directors that talked with Martin were recent Oscar winner Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Kenneth Lonergan ("You Can Count on Me"), Seth Gordon ("The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters") and Harmony Korine ("Kids"). Since 2001, Reed Martin has taught "Film Marketing, Distribution, and Exhibition," a course he created at Columbia Business School and later developed at NYU's Stern School of Business. The course seeks to teach students how to apply effective film industry marketing and brand-building techniques to the launching and brand-building of traditional consumer products. Reed started work on "The Reel Truth" in 2001 after attending the Sundance Film Festival in 2001 and hearing that many of the biggest names in the independent film world had encountered the very same roadblocks and pitfalls on the road to getting their projects completed. After that he set about compiling a list of production and post-production landmines that aspiring filmmakers should look out for, since nearly all of them would have been avoidable had someone tapped them on the shoulder just five minutes before calling "action" or "cut." After attending Sundance again in 2003 and 2005, Reed had finally compiled enough interviews with filmmakers to compile their advice and best-practices into a 540-page book, complete with three working indie film production budgets and a sample representation contract to help protect aspiring screenwriters. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com