Cayce Mell Discovers Her Grandmother’s Past by ‘Tracing Outlines’

Photo courtesy of Cayce Mell

Some stories are destined to be told, even when they’ve been hidden away for decades. Such was the case with the new documentary “Tracing Outlines,” which tells the story of a modern art gallery that was established in 1941 by Elizabeth Rockwell in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What filmmaker Cayce Mell didn’t realize was that the gripping tale had been right under her nose her entire life.

So how did a social justice advocate become an independent filmmaker? The story is almost as interesting as the one that unfolds onscreen — and all thanks to a chair that was for sale on Craiglist.

As Mell recounted in a recent one-on-one interview, “My husband sells antiques. A young couple came to our house. They found a chair he was selling on Craigslist. I all too often see the significant other of the person who’s buying a chair or a lamp looking very bored and I’ll just go out to the driveway and talk to them.

Anaitte Vaccaro Brings the Surreal to Life through Digital Scenography

Image courtesy of Anaitte Vaccaro

For some artists, the essence of their creative endeavors it to capture one single moment in time. That is not the case with Anaitte Vaccaro, who chooses to visualize her paintings in motion through what she has dubbed “digital scenography.”

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Vaccaro became interested in art at a very young age, albeit the more traditional disciplines. Her focus on painting and sculpture ultimately evolved. As she explained in a recent one-on-one interview, her “desire to express the full story behind one single image was how I then came into this ‘digital scenography’ world that gave me more tools to express that type of time inside a message.”

After earning her BFA from Escuela de Artes Plasicas in Puerto Rico, Vaccaro decided to move to the U.S. to get her Master of Fine Arts in Visual Effects from Savannah College of Art and Design. Unlike her fellow students, she never intended to pursue a career in the film and TV world of digital production.

Hallie Jordan: Possibly the Hardest Working Woman in Show Business

Photo courtesy of Hallie Jordan

If you think you’re busy, you should meet Hallie Jordan. The young actress and producer has a lot on her plate, but that’s been her goal from a very early age when she was inspired to follow her father and grandfather into show business.

As she explained during a recent one-on-one interview, “My family has always been in entertainment. My grandfather was a publicist for RKO. My father was an inventor and a pioneer in cable television in the ‘80s. So it’s always been encouraged.”

Although she was born in New York City, Jordan moved around a lot growing up. She recounted, “I went to a new school every year between fifth grade and college. I lived in Orange County, in Florida. I did Second City Chicago for a little while. And then I graduated from the University of Redlands out here in California.”

Lucas Grabeel Rounds Up the Fun on Sheriff Callie's Wild West

(Photo by Disney Junior/Rick Rockwell)

In Disney Junior's new animated creation, Sheriff Callie's Wild West, the 3D titular character, voiced by Mandy Moore, keeps the town safe and doles out pearls of wisdom to young viewers. Helping the law-enforcing kitten Sheriff Callie maintain peace and order the best he can is her faithful sidekick Peck. Lucas Grabeel plays the lovable, albeit sometimes inept, woodpecker. In a recent one-on-one interview, the 29-year-old told us a bit about what he calls the “super dear, country western show.”

John Henson Counts Down the Funniest Commercials of the Year

Courtesy of truTV

Every year TV viewers tune in to the Super Bowl not only to see the action on the gridiron but to catch the cutting edge commercials peppered throughout the big game. But fans of clever ads don’t have to wait until February 2 to see the best the small screen has to offer thanks to truTV’s Funniest Commercials of the Year!

In a recent one-on-one interview, two-time host John Henson explained why he was back to emcee the countdown once again, “First of all, the clip show format of showing amusing video clips and having fun with them is a genre that is near and dear to my heart. That was how my career began on Talk Soup. And something about the format and the tone of these specials feels like a little bit of a throwback to the beginning stages of my career. So it’s like a bit of a past life regression. I really enjoy it. It’s a nice change of pace creatively and the team is a lot of fun to work with.”

And the special has more to offer than just the top ads of 2013. “There are clips of funny commercials from years past, there are runners up and honorable mentions,” noted Henson, “and a variety of glimpses of really creative and humorous advertising from not just here in the United States but all over Europe and Asia and South America. So it’s a very interesting, eclectic mix.”

A Broken Code Was Literally Made with Blood, Sweat and Tears

Filmmakers Michael Girgenti and Josh Webber are proof that filmmaking is a fateful business. On paper it seems unlikely that the two would meet and become co-directors of the new film A Broken Code. Girgenti grew up in Chicago and studied music at a young age before a modeling career led him to the West Coast. Webber was born in Montreal, Canada, and after a brief stint in business school in Arizona, moved east to attend the New York Film Academy.

But ultimately the two aspiring moviemakers landed in Southern California and destiny played its hand. As Webber recounted, "Michael and I met on the set of the popular television show '90210' at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach. We were background extras, just hanging out. And it just so happened that we were sitting next to each other."

They soon discovered that they shared common interests. Webber remarked, "We got to talking and Mike was telling me about this screenplay he had written. And over the next eight hours he just basically told me all about it as we just walked around and sat around and talked. And then over the next couple of months we met up and shaped the screenplay a little bit and then decided to shoot it."

The newfound friends co-directed Girgenti's screenplay for A Broken Code. The film about two brothers in an old-school crime family was inspired by classic movies like Goodfellas and Casino but it has a twist. "All the Italian family, mobster movies always focused on the older men," noted Girgenti,  "and there are younger people, siblings and children, in those Italian, crime oriented families but there really wasn't anything that touched on that."

The duo decided to go an unusal route and helm the film together. Webber described their collaboration, saying, "I led the direction and we would just collaborate on ideas behind closed doors and anything I may have dropped or slacked on, Mike was always there to pick it up and keep it rockin' and rollin'. It was a smooth process for us. We let each other go with the flow and move and direct as we see fit."

But it wasn't always smooth sailing. Just two days before production was supposed to wrap, there was a terrible accident that almost completely sunk the film and left Girgenti with serious injuries.

Webber recounted what happened,  "We were in New York. A friend of mine had a speedboat and we convinced him to shoot a little scene on the boat. After filming the scene, we were on our way back to the harbor to dock the boat. One thing led to the next, we were going a little too fast, and we ended up flipping the boat going roughly 80 miles an hour. Everybody was ejected. Our equipment was ruined. Michael was sent to the hospital. It was a really heartbreaking day to say the least."

Although he's fully recovered, Girgenti didn't have an easy go of it in the early days after the accident. He acknowledged, "I couldn't do too much. I couldn't fly. I couldn't lay down on my right side where they had to stick the tube in my chest because I had were a collapsed lung and I had a tube… The lung injury held me in the hospital for a week and then it took a little while to recover and I had to do all of these breathing exercises."

But as painful as it was, Girgenti maintains a sense of humor about it all. "I joke and say that I don't think my lung ever fully recovered but, I mean, I'm breathing so I'm sure it's better."

Besides the physical impact that the accident had on Girgenti, it also almost put an end to A Broken Code. Per the movie's creator and star, "Production was immediately on hold because we had to figure a lot of things out because all or our equipment was on the boat and that was all in the ocean now. And we had spent all of our money. We were at the end of the road. The day we flipped the boat was pretty much the day before the last day of completely wrapping the film. So we lost about 30 or 40% of the film. I was in the hospital and Josh was trying to scramble to figure out what we were going to do with the equipment."

Yet the determined young filmmakers weren't about to give up. "Essentially the biggest thing was, how are we going to afford to continue?" admitted Girgenti. "We ended up fundraising, successfully raising about $10,000 on Kickstarter and we just picked it up. We just felt like there's no way we could give up.  We came too far. We just put too much into it. It's funny because everybody always throws around that term 'blood, sweat and tears' but we literally lived those three adjectives."

A Broken Code is available on DVD in the U.S. and Canada and On Demand on Time Warne Cable. Learn more about the film by following it on Facebook and Twitter.

Steve Roberts and Sandy Moore Shine a Light on Indie Filmmakers

Every day, kids all around the world dream of a future in Hollywood. Some hope of being stars. Others imagine what it would be like to be a big time director. That was not the case decades ago for Steve Roberts or Sandy Moore. But not only did they end up in the film industry, they have become champions for independent filmmakers everywhere.

In reality, a young Roberts never imagined he would end up in the entertainment business. After all he grew up in Nebraska, which he joking called the "film Mecca of the world" in a recent exclusive interview.

Still, he was a film fan growing up. In college he developed an interest in photography and majored in Business Administration. Those skills made him the perfect candidate to be a field rep for a video wholesaler in the early days of home video. His work in that arena led to a job with Paramount Pictures' home entertainment sales team.

After 18 years with the company and a promotion to Vice President of sales for their retail and distribution team along the way, Roberts finally decided to hang his own shingle with Moore.

Brian Choper: Much More Than a Musician

 Courtesy of Brian Choper

Being an accomplished drummer and percussionist who can jump across genres from rock and roll to jazz to Klezmer to swing, might be enough for a lot of people — but not Brian Choper. In addition to being a successful performer in his own right, he’s dedicated his life to helping up-and-coming artists realize their potential and fulfill their dreams.

Perhaps that’s not surprising considering that Brian has been playing music since he was just three years old. That’s when, as a kid growing up Washington, D.C., he picked up a violin. Although he didn’t know then that he’d make it his life’s work, everything changed when he went to his brother’s junior high school dance.

As he recounted in a recent exclusive interview, “I saw the band playing on the stage. I saw the drummer and I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ I was captivated by it.” Since his parents were classical and opera buffs, nine-year-old Brian had to find a way to break the news about his career choice. Even though they tried to dissuade him, he “won the battle.”
 

Meet the Latest Bravolebrities — The Newlyweds

  Photo by Sam Holland/Bravo 

Over the years, Bravo has peeked into the private lives of every day people better than any network on television. From Real Housewives of various city to real estate moguls on Million Dollar Listing, the cable channel has given a glimpse of how non-celebrities react in their given situations. Now they’ve recruited a few couples who are willing to share the early stages of their married lives in a new show called Newlyweds The First Year. In a recent exclusive interview one of the duos, Tarz Ludwigsen and Tina Sugandh, talked about the experience of becoming reality TV stars.

Tina Sugandh in an international pop star who has worked with a wide range of artists from Timbaland to Ringo Starr. Her new husband, Tarz Ludwigsen, is a former model who left the spotlight behind to found the tech start-up Pandoodle. They talked about why they decided to sign on for the show. Tina recounted, “Tarz and I are always up for an adventure, and we were already given a couples name, ‘Tarzina,’ so why not? Seriously though, we initially figured this would be a show filled with nothing but blissful newlywed moments, but we ended up unfortunately having a year filled with some tragedy, which you will most likely see on the show.”

Patricia Steffy Spotlights the City Where Dating Goes to Die

Courtesy of Patricia Steffy

No matter where you live it isn’t easy being a single girl on the dating scene. But Los Angeles based writer-producer-actress Patricia Steffy has discovered that her city is particularly rich with trials and tribulation in the area of romance as she recounts in her blog, Dating in LA and Other Urban Myths. 

In a recent exclusive interview, Patricia explained that she originally started the blog in reaction to an ex boyfriend’s engagement, “Even though we had broken up years before, it was still somehow a surprise that we were quite clearly not going to end up together. I hadn’t been in Los Angeles long, but even I knew the social structure here was particularly challenging outside of a really narrow demographic of young, beautiful and/or famous.”

The blog began as a chronicle of her experiences on the dating scene. Soon it grew into what Patricia calls, “a more general account of finding my place in the world at this new stage of my life.”

Now, thanks to Patricia’s producing partner, Danielle Turchiano, the written word is being spun into a web series. As Patricia recounted, “Danielle had seen a tote bag I had with the tag “L.A. — where dating comes to die” on it, thought it was funny and began reading the blog on her own.  At some point, I told her that I was actually writing it and she’s really the person who said, ‘This is a story that needs to be on screen.’”
 

Marion Ross Gets Down to the Nitty-Gritty on The Middle

ABC/Michael Ansell

Every once in a while pop culture icons converge. Such will the case tonight when Marion Ross, who played Happy Days iconic mother Mrs. Cunningham, appears on the modern family sitcom The Middle. Although she won’t be going head-to-head with the Heck matriarch, Frankie, she will be lording her Vice Principal powers over Brick.

Fans of Mrs. C shouldn’t expect the same, sweet character they’ve come to expect. In a recent exclusive interview, Marion explained laughed that she’ll be portraying “this lovely, wonderful woman who turns out to be just as mad as a hatter.”

But it seems her angst isn’t completely unwarranted. As Marion remarked, “I’m so disappointed in Brick Heck, played by Atticus Shaffer. He’s supposed to have put together this wonderful film of all his classmates, taking these pictures for the last four years. Of course, he hasn’t taken any pictures at all and it is a tremendous crisis. I can’t believe that he hasn’t done all this wonderful stuff and he’s going to get into a lot of trouble. And it’s fun for me to be so fierce and mean.”  

Jack McBrayer Turns in His Page Jacket for a Dentist Smock

                                                          Photo by ABC/Michael Ansell


When Jack McBrayer hit the scene playing Kenneth the Page on 30 Rock in 2006, he instantly created one the most lovable characters in TV history. One of the greatest disappointments in the demise of Tina Fey’s sitcom was the fact that we wouldn’t get to see the adorable Southern actor in our homes each week. So we were thrilled recently when Jack made an appearance on one of our other favorite shows, The Middle. And more good news was on the way — Jack is back in a follow up installment.

In a recent exclusive interview the 39-year-old reflected on getting the part of Dr. Goodwin the Dentist opposite Patricia Heaton’s Frankie Heck. When asked what got him interested in appearing on The Middle, McBrayer jokingly replied, “Un-em-ployment.”

All good humor aside, he answered, “I had actually been a fan of The Middle from way back. I know Neil Flynn, who plays Mike, from Chicago days, from Second City, even back when Tina Fey. We all knew each other. That’s why I started watching the show but then I was like, ‘Oh, no, this is my life.’ A lot of things I was able to latch on to, growing up with three kids in the family, two parents who were always working and always very tired and having to fix your appliances with duct tape… So I was very, very pleased when the opportunity came up to join them on the show.”

Robin Mountjoy Set to Release Debut Feature Film

Courtesy of Robin Mountjoy

First time feature film director Robin Mountjoy got his start in entertainment playing blues music in bars in Kansas City. But after a move to New York, a friend suggested he try his hand at acting.

A love of filmmaking led him to study the work of the directors when he wasn’t on camera. He soon was taking acting classes and writing scripts. A grant from the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in Queens, New York, has taken Robin all the way to Hollywood. And he’s on the verge of releasing his first full-length movie “Quick to Duck” in which he co-stars with Steve Guttenberg.

In a recent exclusive interview, Robin talked about casting the project. On the advice of a former co-worker, Mountjoy realized that he needed to have a big name in his film. Being new to the game, he turned to his distributor’s website for inspiration. There he saw the names of some recognizable actors.

Relive a ‘Warm Memory’ with the Toy Hunter

Courtesy of the Travel Channel

There’s nothing we appreciate more than someone who has a passion for pop culture. So it was a blast talking with Jordan Hembrough, the star of the Travel Channel Show Toy Hunter. Jordan has built a career seeking out the playthings that made our childhoods special. In a recent exclusive interview

Jordan described the most valuable find he’s ever discovered, “That probably has to be a prototype for a vintage Star Wars figure. It was an original wax sculpting for a character by the name of Boba Fett. He’s from The Empire Strikes Back and all these action figures and toys they start out as wax sculptings and prototypes. And this one I bought for $16,000 and actually sold it to a collector in France for $65,000. That was pretty valuable. And it now resides in the sci-fi museum in Paris. So it’s funny, that old cliché from Indiana Jones where he’s screaming, “This should be in a museum.” It was funny because this really did end up in a museum so everyone can enjoy it which is great.”

Alexis Bledel and Zachary Levi Remember Sunday

It was a call of epic proportions for the Passionistas. After talking with Lauren Graham last year about Parenthood, we still had one Gilmore Girl on our Pop Culture Bucket List. Last week it happened — a one on one (or should we say two on two) with Rory herself (aka Alexis Bledel) and Chuck (Zachary Levi that is).

The two actors star in tonight's TV movie Remember Sunday on ABC. He plays a guy named Gus who has to start each day anew due to memory issues. She's the girl of his dreams who can't quite grasp why he seems so forgetful. 

Tune in to Remember Sunday tonight at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. Central on ABC.

Here are some clips from our chat. 

Alexis Bledel and Zachary Levi on what attracted them to Remember Sunday

Alexis Bledel and Zachary Levi on the challenges of their roles in Remember Sunday

Alexis Bledel and Zachary Levi on filming Remember Sunday in New Orleans  

Philip Martin on Reaching Nirvana in Phil Spector

 Courtesy of Philip Martin

Don’t let the title fool you. David Mamet’s new HBO movie Phil Spector is not based on a true story of the legendary music producer. As viewers are quickly told, “This is a work of fiction.” And, besides, it’s not so much the tale of the man behind the wall of sound but more the unraveling of the events through the eyes of Linda Kenney Baden, the attorney who represented him in his murder trial in the death of Lana Clarkson.

For our part, we were far more interested in a new actor who has hit the scene in the HBO project — Philip Martin. Although this breakout star is experienced on the stage, his role as a member of the Spector defense team is his first high-profile TV gig.

A Night of a Thousand Goosebumps at the TV Hall of Fame

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

See that guy up there, yup. That’s George Lucas alright. The man who changed our lives all those decades ago when we sat in a dark movie theater with our brother and were transported to a galaxy far, far away. While we didn’t get to interview him last week, it was still mind blowing to stand just a few feet away from the guy who created Star Wars at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame ceremony.

He was there because his pal, Ron Howard was among the inductees. Although Howard has become an Oscar-winning film producer-director, he obviously started his career in TV. By the time he was 20, he had two hit series under his belt — The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days.

As Will Arnett, who presented Howard with his honor the other night, pointed out, “He was a legend by the time he was a teenager… We could have inducted him into the Hall of Fame 30 years ago.”

Christina Masterson Takes on the Iconic Role of the Pink Power Ranger

 Courtesy of Christina Masterson

Christina Masterson is living a dream most young actresses couldn’t possibly contemplate. Not only has the relative newcomer landed a job on a TV show, but she’s taking on a totally iconic role. She’s the Pink Power Ranger on the reimagining of the classic kids series. In a recent exclusive interview she talked about landing the part and Power Rangers Megaforce and what she had to do to prepare for the role.

Although she was born in Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, Christina admits that fell into the business. As she explained, “Nine years ago
a family friend thought it would be a good idea to bring me by her friends modeling agency… one thing lead to another and I soon feel in love with acting.”

A successful career as a model and in commercials followed. Then she got her first big acting break in the Jane Fonda-Jennifer Lopez movie Monster-in-Law. As she recounted, “It was a last minute added scene… I got a call and before I knew I was on set.” And even though she didn’t share the screen with the two legends, she did work with Will Arnett. She described the experience, saying, “I barely remember it though because I was so excited and everything happened so fast it was like a whirlwind.”

Parts on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and The Secret Life of the American Teen followed before she nabbed the choice role on Power Rangers Megaforce. Initially she auditioned for the role of the Yellow Ranger in a series of readings that occurred over the course of three months. But ultimately the producers decided pink was more her color.

Dr. Ryan Stanton Takes a Risk on Plastic Wives

  Courtesy of Dr. Ryan Stanton

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Too many, the thought of having plastic surgery seems like a shallow pursuit. That’s not the case with Dr. Ryan Stanton. The Medical Director and founder of The Modern Institute of Plastic Surgery &Anti Aging (MIPS) knows that having work done on the outside can truly transform a person on the inside. Now he’s taking that message to an unusual platform — reality TV. Dr. Stanton will be one of the featured players on the new TLC series Plastic Wives.

Dr. Stanton explained that the series “came about as just another knockoff, if you will, of the housewives of this or that shows that have been around for the last five plus years. So it's essentially the housewives of plastic surgeons show.”

He recalled how he was approached to be on the program, “Because everything in Hollywood is just next door here to Beverly Hills, they first found local surgeons to cast. I was fortunate enough to be one of those that at least had a presence on the Internet and being on other shows from The Doctors show to Montel Williams and Extra and a couple of news pieces.”

Brendan O’Connell Makes the Everyday Artful

Courtesy of Brendan O'Connell

Born in New York and raised in Georgia, artist Brendan O’Connell had to travel all the way to Paris to find his inner talent. While in the City of Lights writing a novel about painters, he decided to teach himself to draw to better understand one of his characters. Brendan instantly realized that he had found his bliss.

Within a couple of years he was doing caricatures on the street outside Notre Dame and not long after he was making a living as an artist. Upon returning to the U.S., Brendan found inspiration in the most unusual place — Walmart. There, he would sneak photos of commonplace items and people performing their mundane errands and turn them into vibrant masterpieces. 

His titles read like a grocery list including “Blond with Yams,” “Fiber and Ketchup,” “Cheerios,” “Fritos” and “Pine Sol.” But his work has captured the attention of the art world.