In this Issue:
+ Director's Notes
+ Message from Allison
NEWS
+ Featured Member Posting: Executive Assistant to CEO of Metro Public Relations
+ Calling all Summer Interns! Sign up for housing lottery by May 15th
+ Seeking a 2014 Harvardwood Summer Internship Program volunteer - LA
+ Get your scripts ready for the 2014 Harvardwood Writers' Competition
+ Warm up your vocal chords: Announcing Harvardwood Karaoke!
+ Save the date - June 5th: DRIVE, A Screenwriting Workshop - LA
+ Next month, join Harvardwood Helps at National Trails Day - LA
FEATURES
+ Industry Successes
+ New Members' Welcome
+ Member Profile: Eve Marson '04 - Producer of FED UP (international premiere at Hot Docs)
CALENDAR & NOTES
+ Calendar
+ Post your news on Harvardwood's Facebook wall!
Director's Notes
Harvardwood is all over the map this May! Don't miss us in NY for conversations with Mart Crowley, Tom Cathcart '61, and Lee Poulis '02. Or head to Hot Docs in Toronto to see FEDUP and chat with producer Eve Marson '04. OR, for those heading back to Cambridge for reunion, Harvardwood will be hosting its annual Reunion Mixer on May 30th! More events and programs are always in the works, so be sure to stay tuned to the Weekly newsletter for up-to-date information and happenings.
-- Kelley
Message from Allison
Current students, last call for HSIP! Get your applications in this month for summer internships. And for those of you at Cannes later this month, don't miss our first ever Cannes mixer on May 20th at the Grand Hotel. Also, New York actors, the FREE voiceover studio at SAG Foundation NYC opens this week!
-- Allison
Featured Member Posting: Executive Assistant to CEO of Metro Public Relations
Metro Public Relations is seeking a highly motivated, forward-thinking executive assistant for the CEO. Candidates must be extremely detail-oriented, bring exceptional written and verbal skills, resourcefulness, anticipation, positive attitude, and the ability to switch gears seamlessly. Previous talent-interfacing desk work within the entertainment industry (2+ years) is required, and a passion for the business and knowledge of pop culture and digital is a huge plus. The role is a combination of heavy phones/rolling calls, scheduling for CEO and clients, travel arrangements, creating various documents for clients and internal use, event support, and general administrative work. Social media savvy, knowledge of Microsoft, Google Products, and IMDBpro is required. Familiarity with Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and Cision are a major plus… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/networking/apply_now.aspx?view=2&id=196157
Calling all Summer Interns! Sign up for housing lottery by May 15th
Calling all summer interns for this year's Harvardwood Summer Internship Program (HSIP)! If you are interning and/or working in any facet of entertainment this summer, let us know! Most arts, media, and entertainment companies are still accepting applications for summer internships, so you're not too late if you haven't applied yet. If you have applied for and received an internship, please fill out the HSIP participant form so we may stay in touch with you regarding HSIP events and activities. You do not have to have an internship that was listed on the HSIP list of opportunities. All summer interns affiliated with Harvard University can participate! In addition to being eligible for all HSIP activities, you will also have the opportunity to enter our HSIP housing lottery for the summer. Please sign up by May 15th to be eligible… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/news/123879/Calling-all-Summer-Interns.htm
Seeking a 2014 Harvardwood Summer Internship Program volunteer - LA
Harvardwood is looking for an energetic volunteer to assist the Harvardwood Summer Internship Program Director in producing this career development program for current Harvard students. The HSIP provides a list of summer internship opportunities in the arts, media, and entertainment to interested Harvard students. This summer, the volunteer will coordinate career-related activities throughout the summer for participating students and companies in NYC and LA (and/or other cities in which there is critical mass). This is a great stepping stone for a volunteer who is interested in joining the Harvardwood Board of Directors in future... To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/news/171103/Seeking-a-volunteer-to-help-manage-the-2014-Harvardwood-Summer-Internship-Program.htm
Get your scripts ready for the 2014 Harvardwood Writers' Competition
Started in 2006, the Harvardwood Writers' Competition was created to give emerging Harvard writers the opportunity to gain industry exposure and to recognize superior work. The contest includes the following three categories: 1) Feature screenplays (90 - 120 pp., all genres); 2) Television pilots (30-min and 60-min, all genres); and 3) One-act plays (40-min maximum, no minimum). This year's submission deadline will be THURSDAY, July 31st, at 11:59pm PT. Scripts will be evaluated by industry professionals, and first-place winners in each category will receive a cash award and free admission to the 2014-2015 Writers' Program... To learn more about the HWC and stay updated on the submission period opening, please visit: http://harvardwood.org/?page=WritersCompetition
Warm up your vocal chords: Announcing Harvardwood Karaoke!
Harvardwood is proud to announce an exciting new program: Harvardwood Karaoke! Harvardwood Karaoke is a virtual, online competition that will feature Harvardwood members and affiliates singing along to a song of their choosing. Contestants will record their original Karaoke rendition and will upload it via YouTube. Harvardwood will begin accepting these original YouTube submissions in June and will continue taking submissions throughout the month of July. The top Karaoke’ers will be featured on the Harvardwood Music page throughout the month of August when the winner will be determined by popular vote. Stay tuned! More juicy details will follow throughout May! (In the meantime… get better acquainted with your favorite song, start practicing, and gear up those vocal chops!)
Save the date - June 5th: DRIVE, A Screenwriting Workshop - LA
How do you get your script to engage, excite, and enthuse readers? It's all about connections. Script Quack co-founder Craig Sabin will introduce you to DRIVE, a screenwriting toolkit that uncovers the deeper connections in your script, so that the end result will resonate with and make fans of any reader. During this two-hour workshop, we will demonstrate the toolkit in action as we come up with a screenplay plot in real time. Our goal is for you to come away with a complete process to bring out the thematic and emotional depth that will suck the reader in... To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=436438&group=
Next month, join Harvardwood Helps at National Trails Day - LA
April was Harvard's Global Month of Service, but Harvardwood Helps isn't done yet! Join us for some fun in the sun on National Trails Day. The event will take place on Saturday, June 7th, from 9am - 1pm, and it will be extremely FUN and SOCIAL! We'll be repairing the hiking trails at Topanga State Park; bring friends and family, have a blast, and make a difference right here in your own city... To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=436368&group=
Industry Successes...
Jeff Baron's HBS '78 new inside-Hollywood comic novel SEAN ROSEN IS NOT FOR SALE was published by HarperCollins. Written for adults, the book series is being marketed to tweens, who are becoming conversant in deal points and bidding wars. Baron recently taught 160 Westchester seventh graders how to pitch. "While artistic integrity might not be a phrase that Sean would use, his character certainly lives it, and the reader enjoys every minute spent with this pint-sized creative genius." - Everyday E-book
Jeremy Rabb A.R.T. '98 will appear in the SILICON VALLEY episode that airs May 18th on HBO, and he was just made a resident artist at A Noise Within, Southern California's only year-round classical repertory company.
New Members' Welcome
Harvardwood warmly welcomes all members that joined the organization over the past month, including:
+ Samuel B. Clark, College, On-Campus
+ Adabelle Ekechukwu, College, Boston
+ Devon Guinn, College, Boston
+ Jason Hellerstein, College, On-Campus
+ Alexander Iascone, College, Boston
+ Neil Jahss, HLS, LA
+ Raphael Nemes, College, LA
+ Anthony Schiappa Pietra, College, On-campus
+ Nora N. Simpson, FOH, NY
+ Suzanne Tanner, College, NY
+ Ria Tobaccowala, College, NY
+ Aisha Townes, College, On-campus
+ Suzanne Wilson, HLS, LA
*FOH = Friend of Harvardwood
If you have ideas for a Harvardwood event you think new members would enjoy, contact Lano Williams ([email protected]), our Director of Membership Experience. Lano's in charge of organizing fun and informative New Members' Orientation events to welcome the newest additions to the Harvardwood community.
Member Profile: Eve Marson '04 - Producer of FED UP (international premiere at Hot Docs)
by Cristina Slattery
Producer Eve Marson '04 was brought on to the team of Fed Up, a new documentary film that is an indictment of the food industry. First shown at Sundance in January, Fed Up premiered internationally at Hot Docs in Toronto this spring. The film, which focuses on the role of hidden sugars in the American obesity epidemic, is narrated and executive produced by Katie Couric. It will be released on May 9th in select theatres and should have a life in the schools after that.
Marson joined the team to help put together the film’s angle when production was already underway. Part of her job was to define the angle of the film and she reviewed the many interviews that were part of the footage in order to try to determine what angle might work best for the film as a whole. This linguistics and philosophy concentrator, originally from New York, says that in her field one never knows what will lead to something else. Other projects that she has worked on have included “30for30, an ESPN documentary series, and “The Joy of Lex,” a project that explored language and allowed her to put her undergraduate degree to good use.
The challenges of her work include putting together different building blocks of interview footage and taking these pieces to create something new and calls it “exciting and soul-crushing” to be constrained by what one has to create for a documentary narrative that works. As a child, Marson was always reading and for several years she read one hundred books a year. During her teenage years, she recalls that she and her parents “were in the habit of going to the movies once or twice a week to escape homework or any other stresses.” Marson also acted in school plays, helped her best friend make a film – “producing before [she] even knew what producing was.” (This friend is now a successful director in L.A.).
When she entered Harvard, Marson thought that she might want to be an ethnographer or anthropologist. She landed an internship with 60 Minutes after her sophomore year in college and learned that documentary filmmaking could satisfy her anthropologist’s curiosity. Marson is drawn to “stories with lots of gray…a story that makes you a little uncomfortable in your chair, makes you question your assumptions about the world.” Her favorite writers include Haruki Murakami, Zadie Smith and Oliver Sacks, and one of the living people she most admires is Madeleine Albright, as she seems to be able to “balance the big stuff with the mundane while maintaining grace and humility,” according to Marson. (She remembers one line in Albright’s autobiography that she recalls illustrated this point: a to-do list that Albright looked at that included items such as 1.) Call King Hussein 2.) Prepare for China, and 3.) Buy non-fat yogurt.)
At the moment, the L.A.-based Marson is in a place of rest and recuperation after having completed Fed Up. She enjoys the outdoors, crossword puzzles, traveling, and cooking and eating with family and her close-knit group of friends. She adds that, as someone who has always worked freelance, she lives by the “say yes” philosophy – which is just to say “yes” and do absolutely any job she can get her hands on. Here’s hoping that Fed Up will be considered a success and will lead to many more opportunities for Marson to exercise her talents in the future!
Watch FED UP with Harvardwood's Toronto chapter and meet Eve Marson for a Q&A after the screening on Saturday, May 3rd!
Cristina Slattery is a freelance writer currently based in New York. Her articles have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek Japan, Forbes.com, and elsewhere.
Calendar
***Cambridge - 2014 Harvardwood Reunion Mixer, Fri., May 30***
We're excited for our eighth annual Harvardwood Reunion Mixer, where you can reconnected with Boston-based Harvardwood members, alums visiting Cambridge for Reunions Weekend, and current Harvard students for food, drink, and general merriment! Find us in the beer garden of Charlie's Kitchen, a Harvard Square staple. Please RSVP... To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=427162&group=
Cannes - Harvardwood at Cannes, Tues., May 20
Going to Cannes? Gather with other Harvardwood members at the outdoor bar of the Grand Hotel on Tuesday, May 20, from 7-9pm. Cash bar. Please RSVP via the registration form - that will be really helpful, so we can make sure we have the right amount of space!… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=435191&group=
Toronto - Harvardwood Presents a Hot Docs Screening of FED UP & Talk with Producer Eve Marson '04, Sat., May 3
FED UP is a provocative expose of the food industry that deconstructs tactics and media campaigns employed to avoid nutritional regulation while maximizing profits. The film explores the sociology, science, politics, and industrial agendas that have led to a growing epidemic in which generations of children are growing up to live shorter and unhealthier lives than their parents. Immediately following the screening at a nearby restaurant (restaurant to be confirmed based on number of participants), Harvardwood members can meet Producer Eve Marson '04… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=430310&group=
NYC - Harvardwood Presents MART CROWLEY: A Life in Theater, TV, and Film, Fri., May 2
Mart Crowley was a Production Assistant to directors Sidney Lumet and Elia Kazan before writing his groundbreaking first play The Boys in the Band (1968). Crowley will be interviewed by Brooklyn College Professor of Film Foster Hirsch, who is the author of the classic study of film noir The Dark Side of the Screen and 15 other books. Advance registration is required; no tickets will be sold at the door... To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=427668&group=
NYC - Harvardwood Presents Tom Cathcart '61: The Trolley Problem, Fri., May 23
Many Harvardwood members know Tom Cathcart '61 as the co-author of the best-seller Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar and its sequels Aristotle and an Aardvaark and Heidegger and a Hippo. Now, he returns with his first solo book, The Trolley Problem or Would You Throw the Fat Guy off the Bridge? Cathcart will consider how to monetize a 1961 bachelor's degree in Philosophy while pondering the intruiging connections betwen jokes, philosophy, death, and trolley safety… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=429733&group=
NYC - Harvardwood OPERA Night: Baritone Lee Poulis '02, Wed., May 28
Lee Poulis '02 is one of the most gifted and acclaimed young singers in the world of opera. Poulis has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Sarasota Opera, the Minnesota Opera, and many major European companies including Madrid's Teatro Real, Berlin's Staatsoper Unter der Linden, and the Finnish National Opera. This is an exciting opportunity to hear a major talent on the brink of stardom. Poulis will sing a program of arias from some of his signature roles, along with art songs and Broadway favorites… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=432720&group=
LA - Harvardwood Heads To ... The Ivy Plus Society Poolside Cocktail Party, Thurs., May 8
Get ready for summer at this exclusive TIPS poolside party at the extremely popular Skybar. The Ivy Plus Society (TIPS) produces social networking events for young alumni of a select group of schools, with the aim of creating a community of talented, dynamic individuals. Complimentary Stoli cocktails from 7-8pm for TIPS members and guests… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=436365&group=
LA - C.L.A. invites Harvardwood to Business Entity Basics for Creative Businesses, Wed., May 14
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a corporation and an LLC? How does it affect your business and why does it matter? Join CLA and attorney Corey Carter to learn some of the fundamental concepts surrounding the formation of a new business entity… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=435193&group=
LA - C.L.A. invites Harvardwood to Life Cycle of a Public Art Project, Thurs., May 22
Please join CLA and attorney Sarah Conley Odenkirk for a presentation focusing on the life cycle of public art projects. We will look at various structures within which public art is commissioned, developed, and installed. From design to fabrication and maintenance to removal, the program will cover a wide range of public art issues and topics… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=435192&group=
OAK - C.L.A. invites Harvardwood to Music Law Essentials Series, Tues., May 20
Join Daniel Schacht and Robert Walker of Donahue Gallagher Woods for a discussion of the fundamentals of contract law in the music business. Analyzing real record label and music publisher agreements, this workshop will cover the basic requirements of contract formation, the different parts of a contract, common terms and provisions found in music business deals, different types of licenses and assignments, and more… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=435194&group=
Post your news on Harvardwood's Facebook wall!
Last month, we invited you all to LIKE the official Harvardwood Facebook page to keep track of the latest news, events, and programs. This month, we're inviting you to share YOUR news on our Facebook page too, so you can reach our Facebook followers and tell them about your upcoming show, comedy night, film premiere, album release, and more!
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