START YOUR COMPANIES

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your companies!


Would-be entrepreneurs at "Startup Weekend" in Atlanta, Georgia.



A 32-year-old programming consultant helped create Twitpay, a service designed to let people settle casual debts, like splitting a bar tab among friends, using the micro-blogging site Twitter.



Twitpay was one of several projects in development at "Startup Weekend", held in Atlanta, Georgia.


The event brought together more than 100 people; marketers and designers who tried to create new companies from scratch in less than three days. "The actual building of the product was about 80 to 90 percent done at Startup Weekend," Brown said.



The process began Friday evening when more than 100 entrepreneurs gathered to pitch their ideas. Organizer Lance Weatherby said about 60 ideas were presented. After a series of votes, eight or nine projects were selected, and the attendees split into groups to work on the ones they were most excited about.

The Atlanta event was the 25th Startup Weekend since the concept was created in Boulder, Colorado, in July 2007. Startup Weekends have been held across the U.S. and in a few cities in Canada and Europe. Past weekends have produced such companies as Market Monitor, a search engine optimization tool, and iDream, an online collection of dreams and dream interpretations.

StartupWeekend.com

Clayton Stobbs, the interim CEO of Startup Weekend, says interest in the event has grown with the recent economic crisis.
"Startup Weekend is more of a time commitment than a big expense," he said.

It does not take long to start a business these days. Startup Weekend help people do it in 54 hours. All you need is the idea. Once you get your idea, you launch your website, then sell your product or present your service. With Startup Weekend you can do it all in days!

Child Opportunities

Child actors often have more professional opportunities open to them because new talent is always needed to replace those who have become too old, and roles are often double cast due to strict child actor labour laws. However, there are also unique difficulties for child performers, such as choosing age appropriate audition material. It is very important that kids only use audition songs and monologues that are appropriate for their age level.

Message Boards

So, after some deliberation... Teddy Young, my brilliant and creative business partner, decided we should have a message board. Really he decided it. I had no idea of what it was. But, it is a forum for the youth to connect with us while /after in production with ideas, questions and comments.

It's a brilliant idea. I look forward to the launch.



You should get one!

FROM STAGE TO SCREEN

Can you make a transition from performing on stage to television or even to movies?

Hill Harper


Yes!


Consider Hill Harper; author, actor and activist.

While in college he was a member of the Boston's Black Folk's Theater Company, one of the oldest and most acclaimed black theater troupes in the country. Harper's stage credits include appearances in off-Broadway productions of Your Handsome Captain, Freeman, and David Mamet's American Buffalo. He completed a starring run of Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters at New York's Joseph Papp Public Theatre.

Currently you can see him in his best-known role to date as a coroner-turned-crime-scene-investigator, Sheldon Hawkes, on the American TV show "CSI:NY", the second spin-off from the very successful "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" franchise.

Hill Harper

A MUSICAL THEATRE AUDITION

Steps To Success

Step 1: Research the Company & Audition Specifics as soon as you have decided to audition, make an appointment right away if one is necessary. Some auditions have a limited number of spaces. Making an audition appointment early will also give you more choice of when you audition, allowing you to choose what fits into your schedule. Add a page in your audition journal with all the important info: who, what, where, when, what the requirements are, etc. Mark the date on your calendar.Find as much information as possible about the production company and the director.

Step 2: Research the Show Look at the cast requirements, make a note of the roles you are eligible for. Take notes in your audition journal. Listen to the music from the show if possible. If it is not offered, ask for it. Pay particular attention to any songs sung by the characters you are suited for. Read the script if at all possible. Take note of scenes that might be used for a cold reading. Research the time period and context in which the play or musical is set.

Step 3: Choose Your Audition Song, Dance & Monologue, use character profiles to research characters similar to those you are aiming for in your audition. Be prepared for a upbeat tempo as well as a slow one. You never know what the director is looking for.

Step 4: Prepare Other Skills & Rehearse Thoroughly Prepare for cold readings

The Olympics

"Theater is the Olympics of acting;

You only get one shot at center stage!"

Cedric the Entertainer

Cedric the Entertainer Takes the Stage

Cedric the Entertainer joins the ever-growing list of Hollywood successes who are taking a stab at Broadway. The popular stand-up comedian makes his debut in the revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, opposite John Leguizamo

SAG STRIKE?

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it will ask its members to authorize a strike after its first contract talks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the help of a federal mediator.

Federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez adjourned the talks between SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers shortly before 1 a.m. after two marathon sessions failed to produce an agreement. No new talks are scheduled.
The SAG, representing more than 120,000 actors in movies, television and other media, said in a statement that it will launch a "full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization."

Talks broke down after the studios sought the right to create productions for new media, such as the Internet, using nonunion actors and without paying residuals, said Doug Allen, SAG national executive director and chief negotiator.

Residuals are payments to actors that are made every time a production airs, such as TV reruns. Many SAG members rely on residuals for more than half of their income, Allen said. "They're asking us to bless a system we believe would be the beginning of the end of residuals, and that's a very scary thought for working actors," he said.
The producers' alliance condemned the SAG decision and said it remains the only major Hollywood guild without a labor deal this year.

"Now, SAG is bizarrely asking its members to bail out the failed negotiating strategy with a strike vote — at a time of historic economic crisis," a producers' statement said. "The tone-deafness of SAG is stunning." SAG's national board has already authorized its negotiating committee to call for a strike authorization vote if mediation failed. The vote would take more than a month and require more than 75 percent approval to pass.

SAG wants union coverage for all Internet-only productions regardless of budget and residual payments for Internet productions replayed online, as well as continued actor protections during work stoppages.

But the AMPTP said it was untenable for SAG to demand a better deal than what writers, directors and another actors union accepted earlier in the year, especially now that the economy has worsened.

The producers' group this week said it had reached its sixth labor deal this year, a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the local branches of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts, accounting for 35,000 workers.

The stagehands alliance accepted Internet provisions that were modeled on agreements with other unions, the producers group said.
Actors in prime-time television shows and movies have been working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, with the hope of avoiding a repeat of the 100-day writers strike which shut down production of dozens of TV shows and cost the Los Angeles area economy an estimated $2.5 billion.

CHILD ACTING TIPS

Helpful Advice for Parents

• Memorizing Lines - Before starting with helping your child(ren) memorize lines, read through the script together and make sure s/he understands what all the lines mean, what the story is all about, what the character wants/needs/thinks/feels, and the process of memorizing the lines will suddenly become a lot easier. Try letting your child write out the lines on a slip of paper or record the lines to a CD and play them in the background while driving or doing activities at home.

• Speaking - Encourage your child to speak clearly and pronounce each syllable in a word. Don’t worry about his speech being perfect — no one wants him or expects him to sound like Peter Jennings. Improvement in speech goes a long long way in auditions. Diction is important.

• Getting into Character - Since kids are naturally creative and imaginative, this isn’t hard for them; what is hard is staying in character. If your child’s character is from another era or a different part of the country, rent films or take out books related to that character’s settings. The more your child learns about the character, the better s/he will be at becoming that character.

• Auditions - Auditions must be held at reasonable lengths of time and hours. Casting is preferred to take place quickly. Always arrive 10 to 15 minutes early and make sure you’ve read the breakdowns and scripts that has been provided.

• Resume - Children love learning new things, and the more skills you can add to your child’s resume, the better. If a director is looking for a child who can sing or dance, and your child can, they’ve already beat out about 90% of other their fellow auditioners.

ANTM

America's Next Top Model

And the winner is:

McKey!

No PROMOTION

There is a time to promote and their is a time to work. After you have conducted your research, made your plan and are executing your plan...then you promote. When you talk about your business, that too is promotion. And if you promote before their is anything; like a product, service or tangible item--you could loose your potential audience. They key is to lay low until you have everything set in order. You might want to refrain from using your business email account if you have no content on your website as it will draw viewers to the site. Drawing viewers to a site without content gives you dead statistics and no advertiser wants to be presented with dead statistics...you want live statistics!

Pen-Name

Sometimes we artists just want our art out.
We do not care if someone else gets the credit we just want to produce our project and release it.

It is the idea of anonymity that causes authors and publishers to have pen names(fake names), to remain hidden so they can focus on their art or project.

That way people can get caught up in the work and not them.

CIRCLE OF ADVISERS

Kings and Queens have advisers

I think it is interesting that President-elect Obama has advisers...people who he can consult with when he makes a decision.

Barack and Michelle Obama are definitely a

King and Queen.

They are wise, rich and are living in their purpose. It is a principle I've adopted with my life and with my businesses.

I am able to make wise business choices because of my counsel; my parents, pastor, cousin and close friend.

Now, to hear President-elect Obama does it... it reinforces my desire to keep the circle of advisers in my life and apart of my business decisions and to constantly bounce ideas off them and remain humble(they are advising me not the other way around) ---they keep me looking good!

Real good.

I'm too cute...I cannot look like a fool.

FAMILY SUPPORT

Marion Robinson(Michelle's mom)

When you have family support, your family and the support of your in-laws,

You have a huge powerhouse behind you!

MANAGER COMPENSATION

Striking a tentative compensation agreement that can be renegotiated after three or four months is recommended, and the rate of pay is generally based on commissions of 20 percent of the net or 10 percent of the gross or more of performance and commercial incomes, as stated in contracts. This amount obviously depends on the level of development the artist is at and the experience, networks, credibility and resources of the manager (The less developed the artist and more experienced the manager, the higher the commission). The artist should never agree to circumstances that can not be terminated or negotiated within a short period of time (three or four months).

Family manager/artist relationships usually do not work unless it is a parent/child relationship. Generally speaking the artist(child) does not have a problem with the parent making money off of them since the parent has done so many things for them in life. That feeling does not usually last with a sibling or cousin etc. Unless the non-parent relative already has big pockets on their own.

Artist Start Off

Early on in an artist's career, the different facets of management and marketing fall upon either her/himself or, if they have one, their manager. Because the artist is relatively unknown initially, promotion, booking, dealing with media and touring are minimal. Knowledge of how to formulate sentence structures to and for reporters are essential. A manager begins by establishing a clear understanding of what the artist(s) wants. This can be accomplished through either a written or verbal contract. A manager's first task is usually focused around a launch of some sort. Either a book, line of art work, CD etc.

Just say; "NO!" to cowards

Beware, cowards can not be trusted.
A coward will not be able to stand or fight for/at any given obstacle or task.
Cowards walk away from a fight. Or perhaps I should say they duck. Either way they get out of the way.

When it is time for battle they are motionless

If the right amount of pressure is on the cowards...for a long enough time they will lay down, walk away and/or hide.
Consider Barack Obama...
a man who fought hard for two years for what he knew was HIS...
The Presidency of this United States of America

Death fights

What I have learned in my short time on this planet is that when you see too much fight, that means death is close by and inevitable.

Life does not have to fight because "Life" is alive. It's cool and relaxed. It's bold.

"Life" is what "death" wants.

"Death" is erratic, blind, cowardice and frantic.
Since "death" is dead...it fights like crazy to hold on...it does not want to be dead.
It does not want to be over, it does not want to be done or finished.
And everything hanging around "death", everything connected to it is over, done and finished too!

NOV 5, 2008 OBAMA'S VICTORY SPEECH

YES WE CAN! AND YES WE DID!




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THE 44TH PRESIDENT OF USA

MR. PRESIDENT!

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DREAMS

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH DREAMING AS LONG AS YOU ARE GETTING UP AND GOING TO WORK.