Tag Archives: Sony

Sony producers have cable hookup

It’s another busy development season for Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly’s Sony-based TV production company, which has set up eight projects from such auspices as Elmore Leonard, Graham Yost, Michael Dinner, Barry Sonnenfeld and Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman.

What is different this year is that most of the projects are set up at cable networks.

Since its 2003 launch, Timberman/Beverly Prods. (formerly 25C) had been focused on developing for the broadcast nets, landing several pilots and a series order from NBC for “Kidnapped.”

Timberman and Beverly tested the cable waters this year with the A&E pilot “Danny Fricke.” Now they’re hooked.

“It has opened the door to explore subject matter that we would’ve never thought of developing for broadcast,” Timberman said.

It also helped that their company is based at Sony TV, a major cable player.

Timberman/Beverly’s cable slate includes an untitled Elmore Leonard drama and “Hit Man” at FX, the drama “Fade to Black” and the comedy “Carry Me” at Showtime and the drama “Between Smith and Jones” at Lifetime. On the broadcast side, the duo has sold the comedy “Holly Gale” and an untitled medical drama to CBS and comedic drama “The Nelsons” to ABC.

— The untitled Elmore Leonard project, penned by Yost and to be directed by Dinner, is based on Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole.” It centers on Kentucky U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens and chronicles his cases as well his personal life, including his unfinished business with an ex-wife and his aging father.

“It’s a classic Elmore Leonard story with ironic twists of fate, dimensionalized criminals and a protagonist who is himself an enigma,” Timberman said.

— “Hit Man,” penned and to be directed by Dinner, is based on Lawrence Block’s book trilogy and centers on a regular lonely urban guy who happens to be a hitman.

Beverly called the show “a character piece about a meticulous hitman’s messy midlife crisis and what bubbles to the surface as a consequence.”

— “Fade to Black,” from “Party of Five” creators Keyser and Lippman, tells the intertwined stories of a group of Tinseltown writers, directors and actors whose lives are irrevocably altered by the Hollywood Blacklist.

“It’s a provocative, timely look behind the veneer of what we think of 1940s Hollywood,” Timberman said.

— “Carry Me,” from writer Dan Bucatinsky, is a single-camera comedy about an outspoken and sometimes crass surrogate mom who rents her womb out to a different set of intended parents each season.

“This is a provocative and unconventional way to get into the family show genre,” Beverly said.

–“Between Smith and Jones,” written by Mimi Schmir, follows the lives of three families from the same Santa Monica neighborhood through the eyes of the manny they share.

— The untitled CBS drama, penned by Becky Mode, revolves around New York City pediatricians who have to contend with a generation of overly involved, micromanaging modern parents, in addition to their own family, romantic and professional entanglements.

— The single-camera “Holly Gale,” written by Barbara Wallace and Tom Wolfe, centers on a former cheerleading star who returns to her hometown to take over as head cheerleading coach, becoming a dubious mentor to her teen charges.

— “The Nelsons,” from scribes Peter and Dee Steinfeld and director Sonnenfeld, centers on an average American family who, unbeknownst to their neighbors and friends, are superheroes.

Book properties play a major part in Timberman and Beverly’s development strategy this season. In addition to Leonard’s story and Block’s novels, the CAA-repped Timberman/Beverly has optioned Meg Wolitzer’s “The Ten Year Nap,” with Judith Verno attached as exec producer, and Iain Levison’s “A Working Stiff’s Manifesto.”

“More so than ever, we felt it was a good time to explore alternative sources of material for great characters, whose points of view and circumstances aren’t currently reflected on air,” Beverly said.
Sony producers have cable hookup
Eight projects brewing for Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly

By Nellie Andreeva

Dec 18, 2008, 01:00 AM ET
It’s another busy development season for Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly’s Sony-based TV production company, which has set up eight projects from such auspices as Elmore Leonard, Graham Yost, Michael Dinner, Barry Sonnenfeld and Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman.

What is different this year is that most of the projects are set up at cable networks.

Since its 2003 launch, Timberman/Beverly Prods. (formerly 25C) had been focused on developing for the broadcast nets, landing several pilots and a series order from NBC for “Kidnapped.”

Timberman and Beverly tested the cable waters this year with the A&E pilot “Danny Fricke.” Now they’re hooked.

“It has opened the door to explore subject matter that we would’ve never thought of developing for broadcast,” Timberman said.

It also helped that their company is based at Sony TV, a major cable player.

Timberman/Beverly’s cable slate includes an untitled Elmore Leonard drama and “Hit Man” at FX, the drama “Fade to Black” and the comedy “Carry Me” at Showtime and the drama “Between Smith and Jones” at Lifetime. On the broadcast side, the duo has sold the comedy “Holly Gale” and an untitled medical drama to CBS and comedic drama “The Nelsons” to ABC.

— The untitled Elmore Leonard project, penned by Yost and to be directed by Dinner, is based on Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole.” It centers on Kentucky U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens and chronicles his cases as well his personal life, including his unfinished business with an ex-wife and his aging father.

“It’s a classic Elmore Leonard story with ironic twists of fate, dimensionalized criminals and a protagonist who is himself an enigma,” Timberman said.

— “Hit Man,” penned and to be directed by Dinner, is based on Lawrence Block’s book trilogy and centers on a regular lonely urban guy who happens to be a hitman.

Beverly called the show “a character piece about a meticulous hitman’s messy midlife crisis and what bubbles to the surface as a consequence.”

— “Fade to Black,” from “Party of Five” creators Keyser and Lippman, tells the intertwined stories of a group of Tinseltown writers, directors and actors whose lives are irrevocably altered by the Hollywood Blacklist.

“It’s a provocative, timely look behind the veneer of what we think of 1940s Hollywood,” Timberman said.

— “Carry Me,” from writer Dan Bucatinsky, is a single-camera comedy about an outspoken and sometimes crass surrogate mom who rents her womb out to a different set of intended parents each season.

“This is a provocative and unconventional way to get into the family show genre,” Beverly said.

–“Between Smith and Jones,” written by Mimi Schmir, follows the lives of three families from the same Santa Monica neighborhood through the eyes of the manny they share.

— The untitled CBS drama, penned by Becky Mode, revolves around New York City pediatricians who have to contend with a generation of overly involved, micromanaging modern parents, in addition to their own family, romantic and professional entanglements.

— The single-camera “Holly Gale,” written by Barbara Wallace and Tom Wolfe, centers on a former cheerleading star who returns to her hometown to take over as head cheerleading coach, becoming a dubious mentor to her teen charges.

— “The Nelsons,” from scribes Peter and Dee Steinfeld and director Sonnenfeld, centers on an average American family who, unbeknownst to their neighbors and friends, are superheroes.

Book properties play a major part in Timberman and Beverly’s development strategy this season. In addition to Leonard’s story and Block’s novels, the CAA-repped Timberman/Beverly has optioned Meg Wolitzer’s “The Ten Year Nap,” with Judith Verno attached as exec producer, and Iain Levison’s “A Working Stiff’s Manifesto.”

“More so than ever, we felt it was a good time to explore alternative sources of material for great characters, whose points of view and circumstances aren’t currently reflected on air,” Beverly said.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Sony to distribute live event shows

TOKYO – Sony plans to digitally film and distribute sports and other live events to theaters in Japan, the company announced on Friday.

Sony will launch the new service, called Livespire, on Saturday with the musical “Riding the Metro” (Metro ni Notte) at three theaters in the 109 Cinemas chain operated by Tokyu Recreation. This run will expand to four more 109 Cinemas venues in June.

In June, in cooperation with the Amuse talent shop and the Nelke Planning legit theater company, Sony will also distrib the musical “Frogs” in four theaters in the 109 Cinemas chain.

The musicals are shot using Sony CineAlta HDC-F950 cameras, while Sony subsid Sony PCL handles filming and editing. Sony plans to use the Livespire service to market not only digital content, but its digital hardware, including the Sony-developed system for digital theater projection.

In the 2008 fiscal year, Sony plans to expand the service to at least 10 theaters and film five live events. Only about 100 of Japan’s more than 3,000 screens are equipped with digital projection systems. Within three years, however, one third of Japan’s theaters are expected to complete the transition to digital.

Source: Variety

Sony unveils solid-state compact camcorder

Sony of Canada Ltd. conducted its first fullscale demonstration of a new solid-state compact camcorder for professional video production today.

The new PMW-EX1 model expands Sony’s XDCAM line-up of high-definition tapeless production and acquisition systems. The camcorder’s distinction is that it records and stores content to ExpressCard high-speed media, offering workflow flexibility with selectable bit rates in addition to a long list of editing and effects capabilities.

“The XDCAM EX series is a powerful tool that will boost quality and efficiency in an array of HD production applications,” said Brian Young, Marketing Manager, Acquisition Systems, Broadcast Communication Solutions Group, Sony of Canada Ltd. “It’s also compatible with a broad range of market-leading, non-linear editing systems.”

The camera uses Sony’s newly developed SxS PRO solid-state memory as its recording medium. The SxS memory card, which currently delivers up to 800Mbps of high-speed data transfer, enables non-linear capabilities like instant random access and file-based operation. Equipped with two SxS memory card slots, the camcorder can record up to 100 minutes of high-quality HD footage at 35Mbps, or 140 minutes at 25Mbps using two 16-GB SxS memory cards.

The imaging devices used in the camcorder are three newly designed 1/2-inch type Exmor CMOS sensors, each with an effective pixel count of 1920 × 1080. This ½ inch type image sensor allows the camcorder to provide an extremely high sensitivity. The low-light capabilities of this new sensor will be of particular interest to those professionals who need to capture footage in challenging lighting applications.

The new camcorder offers a “Slow and Quick Motion” capability – also commonly known as “overcranking” and “under-cranking” in the traditional film world – for creating special effects of slow and fast motion. Other creative capabilities include Slow Shutter, Interval Recording, a Picture Profile feature, and a histogram indicator, as well a 3.5-inch colour LCD screen (viewable area, measured diagonally).

The PMW-EX1 camcorder is expected to be available in November at a suggested price of less than $8,500 (CDN).

<font size=1>Courtesy Sony/Videoscope press releases.</font>

XDCAM HD approved by Alliance Atlantis and Discovery Channel HD

Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc. has given conditional approval to Sony XDCAM HD for high definition acquisition.

The Alliance Atlantis “Acceptable Camera List” gives the two Sony XDCAM HD cameras conditional approval in “Category one.” This means that individual productions must request and be granted permission to use the PDW-F350 or the PDW-F330.

Cameras must have a broadcast grade HD lens and current firmware. Video must be shot at 35 Mbps VBR, the highest resolution.

Discovery Channel also OKs XDCAM HD 

XDCAM HD was approved by the Discovery Channel over half a year ago, also with the condition that it be shot at 35 Mbps.

Sony HD Cam 1080i / 59.94, Stereo audio on channels 1 & 2, Dolby 5.1 mix (when available) expressed as Dolby E on channels 3 & 4.

Where facilities exist, the HD master must be accompanied by a closed captioned Betacam SX standard definition down converted dub. This standard definition dub shall contain a 16:9 letterboxed image obtained from the HD master. The program content shall be exactly the same on both versions of the master and the times codes shall match exactly.

Audio shall also match for any Lt/Rt or Lo/Ro content but no Dolby E is necessary. Closed captioning shall be on line 21. Discovery HD requires programs to be mastered in the 1080i 59.54 signal standard. Programs may be acquired in the 720P 59.94 signal standard and mastered in 1080i 59.94 for delivery only with prior approval. Programs may be acquired and delivered in 1080 psf 23.98 or 25, or 1080i 50 only with prior permission from Discovery HD.

Shooting THE LIMITS with XDCAM HD

The project is an independent feature length film from Little Engine Moving Pictures, called "THE LIMITS."

The format is Sony XDCAM HD.

Writer/Director Ben Mazzotta and Producer/Co-Writer Maria Kennedy-Mazzotta set the scene:

Making it Happen

The script, a very ambitious ensemble piece drama, had been in the works for over a year before our Ryerson Film School buddies got hold of it and The Limits started to develop a life of it’s own. It wasn’t long before we had several talented industry professionals willing to give freely of their time to make the film a reality. People like Drazen Baric (Producer) and Andy Jakebsons (DOP) not only came to bat, but used their experience and industry connections to garner all the favours a micro-budget film of this nature desperately needed. Also, a very special thanks to Videoscope for cutting us an amazing deal on the equipment. Our budget would never have permitted us to shoot a feature film of this caliber if it weren’t for shooting on the Sony XDCAM HD. This, above all, brought the production value we needed to elevate the status of the film to compete with anything on the market today. For any low-budget feature with big aspirations, this is the camera for you.

Which brings us to:

The Camera

The PDW-F530 is the perfect camera for a project of this nature. Its image is stunning and the option for 23.98P makes everything look just like film. We’ve put the slo-mo 1080i60 into effect several times now, and it looks much better than relying on post slo-mo where you simply double the frames, making the image stutter.

One of the best features has to be the thumbnail review capability. Under our circumstances, this does away with having to hire someone specifically for playback, as well as the pricey equipment necessary to do that particular job.

Allowing the DOP to check his framing on a previous set-up, while he’s setting up the reverse, makes for accurate framing at a glance.

It’s easy to wrap your head around the ENG-style make-up of the body. Having the capability to interchange lenses is crucial.

When you compare the price of the discs against standard HD tapes, there is a considerable price advantage as well. Overall, the camera has exceeded our expectations and propelled the production value of the film forward.

The Story

THE LIMITS
"Prostitute. Outcast. Adulterer. Killer. Look deeper."

Told over the span of two days, THE LIMITS is about four seemingly disparate stories that come together in a seedy motel at the edge of Toronto. A social outcast fulfills his every fantasy a week before ending his life; a black youth on the run from an inner city gang finds work with the motel’s East Indian proprietors; a suburban man begins an affair after uncovering his wife’s terrible secret; and an ex-prostitute who’s found God is haunted by her past when her pimp is released from prison. Their intimate stories expose us to lives less ordinary, and reveal in all of us the pressures of coping with fear when pushed to the limits. Unaware of their inter-connected roles in the grand scheme of things, a volatile event at the film’s end sets forth a life or death chain reaction that affects them all. 

It invites the viewer to take a closer look – beyond conventional assumptions about class and racial identity to the vital truths within each character. It asks – what would you do in their place, under those circumstances?

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