Focused on the future

A little vacation, traveling with and to see family and a nephew’s college graduation, means I’ll be away. No blogging and probably limited internet access. I’ll see you in a week. Feel free to rummage through the old entries. Some of that stuff is actually quite good.

After filming its first two seasons in Hollywood, the hit ABC television comedy Ugly Betty is picking up stakes and heading east to where its fictional story is set, New York City. LA’s loss is the Big Apple’s gain but it took some savvy legislation in Albany to make it all happen.

Ugly Betty stars Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner America Ferrera as Betty Suarez, the intelligent, hardworking, yet decidedly unglamorous publishing assistant at the cute-throat fashion industry bible, Mode magazine. She and her family reside in Queens while each day she navigates the corporate jungle in Manhattan. Except in reality, it was all done on the sound stage and backlot of a studio in Hollywood.

Series creator Silvio Horta and Ferrera secretly longed to have the show shot in New York and now, thanks to film and television production tax credits recently signed into law by New York Governor David A. Paterson, they’ll get their wish. The NYS Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development now offers credits covering up to 30% of the cost of production and an additional 5% is also available from the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting.

That’s the kind of incentive designed to give a shot in the arm to the local film industry and keep producers from traveling to places like Toronto, Canada to try to inexpensively recreate New York locations. As everyone knows, you can’t really fake New York even if you can make the movie more cheaply.

Regular viewers of shows like Sex and the City and the Law & Order franchise, know how this city is as much a character in those series as the actors themselves. Shooting Ugly Betty here will enable them to take advantage of real fashion industry locations unavailable anywhere else, upping the glamour quotient considerably. The show will reportedly use either Silvercup Studios in Long Island City (in the real borough of Queens) or Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, as its home base starting June 30.

Update: There are two sides to every story. My cousin who works in television production in Hollywood, sent me the text of an ad appearing in the trades, from the west coast-based crew of Ugly Betty who will be losing their jobs as a result of the move.

To Whom it Should Concern

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Members of the State Senate and State Assembly, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the Los Angeles City Council, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors:

We are writing to you because we just lost our jobs. We are the 300 plus members of the crew of the television show Ugly Betty. We were informed this Tuesday that the production of our show is moving to New York primarily because of the 35% tax incentives being offered by the state of New York. Instead of making good wages and paying our fair share of California state income tax, we will all be collecting Unemployment Benefits. In addition, we will certainly be cutting our spending back to the bone, which will not only cut back our sales tax contributions substantially, but it could end up costing the jobs of the people who provide services and products to us. Not only are these crew positions being lost; all of our local vendors are losing our business.

Our production buys: lumber, paint, wallpaper, cabinets, other building materials, office products, fabric, art supplies, computer equipment, food, beverages, flowers, film, makeup & hair products, wigs, insurance, jewelry, clothing, etc.

Our production rents: lighting equipment, sound equipment, video playback equipment, heavy machinery, office equipment, backdrops, costumes, furniture, scenery, props, soundstages, offices, parking facilities, cars, trucks, storage facilities, computers, camera equipment, grip equipment, editing equipment, drafting equipment, cell phones, computers, toilets, dumpsters, live plants, production trailers, tools, hardware, artwork, walkie talkies, etc.

Our production also uses the services of: dry cleaners, printers, location companies, Special Effects companies, utilities, caterers, payroll services, restaurants, security, Post Production Services, Clearance Houses, etc.

When we shoot on locations around Los Angeles we pay for permits; we pay homeowners & businesses for the use of their property, we hire police and fire department personnel, we pay for facility engineers, etc.

So, while the loss of our individual positions may be insignificant, the loss of this production is staggering. Now multiply this by all the other productions going to New York, New Mexico, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina and other states with incentives, not to mention Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Eastern Europe, etc. and the cost to the California state economy is monumental. We implore you to do everything in your power to level the playing field and bring our jobs back to California by enacting meaningful incentives to keep film and television production in our state.

Sincerely yours

The Crew of Ugly Betty

Actor Tristan Wilds, who captivated television audiences as street tough yet compassionate Michael Lee on seasons four and five of the hit HBO series, The Wire, has landed the male lead in the CW’s “Beverly Hills, 90210″ spinoff.

The show centers on the Mills, a three-generation Beverly Hills family whose teen kids, daughter Annie (Shenae Grimes) and adopted son Dixon (Wilds) attend West Beverly Hills High.

Also joining the cast is Michael Steger (The Winner), who will play Navid, producer of the school’s closed-circuit newscast and a consummate student politician.

Since wrapping production on The Wire early this year, Wilds, a 19-year-old Staten Island, New York native, has appeared in two films yet to be released, Indelible and The Secret Life of Bees.

Related article: West Baltimore vs. West Beverly, Newark Star-Ledger

While it is easy to appreciate the beauty and artistry of dance, what often gets overlooked is the hard life they face as performers. Modest income, physical injuries and uncertain career paths all come with the territory. Now, a group with experience helping members of the show business profession is lending a hand.

The Actors Fund has a program specifically geared toward the dance community, called The Dancers’ Resource. The program addresses the unique situations dancers face because of the physically demanding nature of their work coupled with the significant financial challenges of earning a living in dance.

The Dancers’ Resource has seminars specifically designed for dancers, serves as a “support system” and offers groups for dancers dealing with injuries or other health concerns. The Dancers’ Resource will have an online component, to link dancers’ to additional resources and create an online community. The program will also address mental health issues including eating disorders, substance abuse, depression and other clinical areas.

The Dancers’ Resource program was founded by Actors Fund Trustee Bebe Neuwirth and grew out of her personal experience as a dancer.

“Last year I had hip replacement surgery,” said Neuwirth. “It came after several years of physical therapy, arthroscopic surgery, and excruciating pain. Add to that the emotional stress of not being able to dance and not wanting people to know about my condition - and I think you understand what that prison is like. After the replacement I recognized how extremely lucky I was to have a great doctor and great support from the few people with whom I shared my secret. And so I’d like to create a support system for other dancers.”

The Dancers’ Resource is just one of dozens of lifesaving programs provided by The Actors Fund. (Years ago, when I needed to make the transition out of a full-time acting career, I was helped tremendously by the Fund’s Actors Work Program.) From the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, AIDS services and the Health Insurance Resource Center to employment training, healthcare and housing, The Actors Fund is meeting the very real needs of the performing arts and entertainment community.

Some of the finest up and coming talent from three of America’s best-known dance companies are getting their chance to shine over the next two weeks. The Joyce Theater here in New York is hosting its 1.2.3. Festival through May 11, featuring on alternate nights ABT II, Taylor 2 and Ailey II, the second companies, respectively, of the American Ballet Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

While the dancers in these junior companies are younger and less well-known—at least for now—their enthusiasm and near boundless energy more than compensates for a lack of experience.

Last Wednesday night, Ailey II presented four new works that collectively centered around connections: individuals to groups, two people to each other and connections we make to ourselves.

External Knot, choreographed by Ailey II Associate Artistic Director Troy Powell, plays upon themes any New Yorker can relate to, that feeling of alienation from others. While four couples dance together, one man dances alone, in and out of synch with the others. In smaller groupings and pairs, the couples also seem less than harmonious, suggesting the ways in which we all accommodate each other. The piece culminates at a furious and frenetic pace with the man joining and unjoining, seemingly to meet his own needs. Jermaine Terry was the principal performer as the lone dancer.

Mind and body connections were played out in the next two pieces. Fragile, by French choreographer Stephane Boko, explored the essential relationship between our mental and physical being, while Korean choreographer Chang Yong Sung’s Requiem, centered around the concept of two minds being merged in one body. Ephraim M. Sykes and Josh Johnson danced a duet in the latter, as mirror images or Siamese twins as they merged, thrashing about as if disoriented and lost when they danced solo.

When Dawn Comes…, by former AAADT member Christopher L. Huggins, posits an uncertain tomorrow, as viewed through the eyes of four women. Paired with four indifferent male counterparts, they are desperate to cling to someone until this dependence proves unwise. Towards the end, their dancing is fluid, smooth and confident. Rosita Adamo, Aisha Mitchell, Rachael McLaren and Dominique O. Rosales bring in the dawn with brilliant sunlight.

Ailey II will have three more performances as part of the festival, Sunday, May 4 at 2 pm; Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 pm and Thursday, May 8 at 8 pm. A post-performance discussion with company members follows the Wednesday night show.