Holy Cow--We Made A Frickin' Super Bowl Commercial!!

On Monday, January 12th, Rosey Media had the opportunity to fulfill a dream held dear by all of us whose voices changed before Bill Clinton took office. We met MacGyver. THE MacGyver. If you weren't a pre-pubescent boy in the 1980's, his name is Richard Dean Anderson, and under the direction of Jorma Taccone, with co-writer John Solomon and DP John Rosenblatt, he made history when MacGruber met MacGyver in a Pepsi ad for Super Bowl 43. The ad also stars SNL cast members Will Forte (of course) and Kristen Wiig. Dig it: Also priveleged to have been locked in a control room, so to speak, with His Supreme Flannel Gadgetiness were Rosey Media camera jock Luke Riffle, audio wizard Dan Walter, and reigning snack champion Brian Townes. As many folks watch the Super Bowl for the ads as much as the game itself, we are damn proud to have contributed our very first offering to the estimated 167 million viewers of the big game. It's not quite as cool as defusing a bomb, rescuing a damsel in distress, and getting out of a poison gas-filled room with nothing but a shoe lace, a paperclip, and some tic tacs. . . but it's a close second.

How I Met Doogie Howser

On Friday, January 9th, Rosey Media filmed the SNL Digital Short "Doogie Howser Theme," in which SNL host and '80's TV icon Neil Patrick Harris performed a tongue-in-cheek, sentimental arrangement of the theme song from the show which brought him nationwide pre-teen fame. Backed by the entire SNL cast decked in Doogie attire, and shot onstage in the Conan O'Brien studio, the Short came out looking like this: Special thanks go out to Mike Milia and Mike Kirsic of NYC Jibs for the sweeping jib camera work. Due to the scheduling challenges of getting all of the SNL cast in one place at one time, the shoot itself stretched on for a good 16 hours, during which time we found two truths to be self-evident: 1. Neil Patrick Harris is a consummate frickin' professional. He is on point constantly, gracious and tireless in his work. Verbose as we tend to be here, we literally cannot say enough good things about him. 2. The "Doogie Howser Theme" is actually a really beautiful piece of music, inspiring and full of subtle nuance. If you haven't heard it in oh, say, 15 to 20 years-- as most of us hadn't-- give it a listen again. And again. And again. Then again. You'll get it. Really!

"The Line" Premiers at UCB

Wednesday night, January 14th, marked the real-world (that's that place around the edges of your computer screen) premier of "The Line" at the the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre on 28th Street. The 7 part internet series, shot over the course of a week in July '08, has been edited into a single 20(+) minute film. What self-respecting web geek would tear themselves away from updating their Facebook to actually venture out to see it , you ask? Apparently-- lots of them. The sold out premier featured an impressive line of it's own, stretching far down the block from the UCB Theatre. Among those in attendance were writer/ director Seth Myers, writer Simon Rich, cast members Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Bobby Moynihan, associate producer Matt Yonks, and of course, "The Line" Director of Photography, Rosey Media's own John Rosenblatt. You can see "The Line" here:

From Crackle: The Line, Ep 1: The FutureSpace Showdown Begins

Rosey Media wishes to extend its thanks to everyone involved for including us in this project. We eagerly await the call to begin production on "FutureSpace!"

Rosyie Media Precious Holidaye Reflections and Memoryes

In days of yore, when the holidays came 'round-- when we were but wee lads in the late 70's and early 80's-- we would add to our repertoire of constant one-upmanship the momentarily-jarring farewell . . ."See you next year!" This indispensable bit of yuletide wit was considered genius by all that encountered it, amusing and surprising the speaker and the listener, as both would briefly revel in appropriately childlike amazement that yet another year had passed, and when school once again resumed-- though only a week or two later-- it would, in fact, be. . . the next year. As we grew older, our minds and social skills became more sophisticated. We entered the entertainment business, and our wit evolved beyond simple observational one-liners, into something more complex and universal, to be shared for the benefit of our fellow man. How fitting, then, that our holiday farewell on SNL was shooting a Digital Short revolving around poopy cookies. Observe: Yes, nothing like scatalogical humour to take one right back to boyhood. And like simple schoolboys, we once again found oursleves gleefully using the olde HPX3000 to lay a brief 8 hour shoot onto P2 cards (o, what fine and bully boyish toys!), under the direction of Digital Short Creators Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. The cast featured SNL host Hugh Laurie and that mischievous rapscallion Fred Armisen, as well as Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson, Will Forte, and featured players Bobby Moynihan, Abby Elliott, and Michaela Watkins. The whole gang was there, under the ever-watchful eye of producers Nick Mallardi and Dina Moles. Once shooting was done,however, we all said our farewells with a wistfully appropriate lack of sentimentality. Indeed, we had all grown up, become those adults so busy, we had nary a moment for a boyish jab or childish quip. There were pressing rehearsals, gear to be wrapped, poopy cookie shorts to be edited. There was no time for childish things. And as we left 30 Rock, we couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness for days gone by. There are no more schoolyard partings, no more construction paper holiday cards. Ours is now a staid and austere world of cold hard labour-- of poopy cookies and blogging. So it is here, in our blog, that we make a last grasp at fleeting youth and the special childhood magic of the holiday season to say: Thanks, SNL. See you next year. See you. . . next year.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water- Funnier, Too.

Last week the SNL Digital Short team of Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Andy Samberg served Saturday Night Live and America a whopping slice of bizarro with the help of host Paul Rudd. If you haven't seen it yet, watch this: The Short, their most intensive to date, took 38 hours to shoot over two days, and featured around 30 background performers. A special effects extravaganza, the Short had a full team of effects artists and props persons throughout, managing pumps, pipes, trick knives, fake firearms, and hydraulic apparatus, all designed to deliver an impressive payload of. . . blood and vomit. While we don't have exact measurements, we do know that each of these items was mixed and supplied by the gallon. Well, at least the vomit was anyway. There was definitely no shortage of stage blood, though, and by the end of day two most of the crew had developed a surprising immunity to what had at first been a bit gross. After this, we can truly say we have no idea what's next from the Digital Short crew, but we're looking forward to it.

Jah Fire On Fordham Lawn

Last Thursday and Friday, Rosey Media joined the SNL team to bring to life- and to your TV and web browser- the dub skankings of Ras Trent, first semester Rastafarian. Andy Samberg, playing a guy based on hundreds he and fellow writers Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer apparently knew growing up in Berkley, spent two days in a dreadlocked wig and roots threads. On the New York city streets, however, he actually drew fewer looks than you'd think. Here you can test his jammyin' sound: The Thursday shoot was DP'd by Rosey's own Luke Riffle, with "The Line" veteran AC Scott Herriott. Coming in hot off of the previous day's still-not-to-be-disclosed commercial shoot, John Rosenblatt and Brian Townes picked up the Friday shift. Thursday the guys got to go all over the place, but most importantly, to Cold Stone Creamery. At which point they could've called. Or texted. Been like "Hey- we're gettin' ice cream- want some?" But they didn't. Perhaps not the smartest move with Christmas right around the corner. But whatever. We're over it. Anyway. . . The second day found the team traipsing around the Fordham University campus, where, with the exception of a few shouted undergrad declarations of love in Samberg's direction, they were able to drift surprisingly uninterrupted (and perhaps unsanctioned) throughout. As all them college types are inter-web savvy, we don't want to drop names and get anyone in trouble, but we couldn't have done it without "the student hereinafter immortalized as 'my roomate Nick, the ignorant bald-head'" and various members of his covert network. Most impressive was our female guide, who was able to walk into a class she was supposed to be attending at the time, convince the professor to stop her lecture, let us come in and shoot, and have the entire class make an appearance in the Short as well- all in under 1 minute of negotiation. What moxie! What Chutzpah! Thanks to SNL for having us along. And you guys at Fordham- let us know if you find that Sprite can. . .

Busy in Rosey Media land...

Ok- we're busy. I mean really frickin' busy. Barnum and Bailey keeps calling us for juggling lessons. Unfortunately, fancy proprietary agency stuff being what it is, we are not at liberty to post what it is we're working on at this time. Let's just say we're. . . ah, we can't even say that. Big commercial. Cool funny movie spoof project for an even cooler network. Documentary piece. Another cool funny project for another cool network. And all at the same time! Which means we'll tell you all about them when we're done. And we've slept. Perhaps completed caffeine rehab. Taken a little vaykay in Meh-hee-ko. Anyway, we can give you the somewhat belated (and duly truncated) SNL Digital Short brief: SNL DIGITAL SHORT: EXTREME ACTIVITIES CHALLENGE Here it is: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Shaffer wrote concept,music and directed. Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, and host Anne Hathaway performed. Nick Malardi and Dina Moles produced. "Indispensable" Kim Smelter, "Drop You Like A Bad Habit" Rachel Lynn, and Kati "I have a last name- Brian doesn't know it" were production staff. Brian Hemesath hit wardrobe,and JODI did hair, dammit! John Rosenblatt and Brian Townes represented Rosey Media. Radically different and shocking? No. Google Relevant? You betcha!