Thursday, July 30, 2009

"AllaKattan!"

Three weeks ago, we were settling into the City swelter,and considering how potentially combustible a bbq grill propane tank that had been neglected for 6 months could really be.

Then IFC VP of On Air Promos Kevin Vitale called and commissioned Rosey Media to produce three branded entertainment spots for the new Palm Pre, to premiere in conjunction with IFC's original miniseries "Bollywood Hero." Our directive was simple-- they would star Chris Kattan, feature the Palm Pre. . . and be funny. Oh- and they had to be done in three weeks... So we put away the Kingsford, fired up the ol' coffee maker instead, and got to work.

The result was a three-part short titled "AllaKattan!", which will run August 6th- 8th on IFC during "Bollywood Hero." The short stars Chris Kattan. Look closely and you'll catch cameos by RM's own Brian Townes and Dan Walter. The short was directed by John Rosenblatt and written by Brian Townes. ScriptLaunch's Matthew Ballen helped develop the piece and served as script consultant. Rosey Media vet and all around super guy Ari Haberberg was Director of Photography, with special technical consult by Small Media XL's Don Downie.

Thanks are also due to the IFC team, specifically Kevin Vitale, Jessica Degler, and of course Evan Shapiro, without whose enthusiasm, flexibility, and general willingness to goof around with us, "AllaKattan!" would not have happened.

For Rosey Media, the best part of any job is "getting the old gang together." They are too numerous to list, but. . . no. . .no, they're not. Thanks to Ian Woolston-Smith and AC Jared Royball for the Steadicam work, Scott Herriott for serving as first unit AC, Dan Walter for delivering superior audio despite the MePa construction madness, Karim Badwan and his crew for gorgeous lighting in sunny- no, cloudy- no, wait- sunny- conditions, and script super Stacie Capone for making it all make sense. Likewise, our gratitude to prop goddesses Samantha and Becky Jones, wardrobe deity Brian Hemesath, and make up legend Nathan Johnson and hair stylist Johnny Mooi, both taking a break from high fashion to do some lowbrow funny. Finally thanks to Dan Barman and Melodye Brant for being whatever else we needed, whenever we needed it, and of course, the incomparable, ever-poised and efficient Meghan Scibona for being the Krazy Glue to our plastic Nimitz.

We would be negligent not to mention the folks at Northern Lights Post, specifically George Carty, whose proficiency and patience made the edit process a genuine pleasure. The espresso/ ice cream floats didn't hurt either. Two of those, and you can see into the future. Bless you, St. George.

Here's a quick peek at "Bollywood Hero:" Obviously, we can't show you "AllaKattan!" yet. Think of it like the holidays-- you know those boxes are up in the closet, but do you really want to look and ruin everything? OK, so you want to, but you're not gonna. We'll have "AllaKattan!" here in all its glory after its premiere on IFC.

First watch "Bollywood Hero." Or Babu Santa will pass right over this house, buddy.