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December 30, 2006
Tim Smith's Five Rules of Acting
Tim Smith, the host of our new series of Greatest Stories web videos, said during the shoot: “I should tell you sometime about my five rules of acting, THEY”LL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.” So on the last day I asked him to share, and he did. Now to be honest, I don’t know if these represent a carefully honed philosophy, or something made up on the spot. Either way, I like them, so here they are.
Tim’s 5 Rules of Acting
1) As an actor, you always need to look like there’s something going in your head. So imagine there are centipedes in your brain, and think about what that feels like.2) When you look at somebody, you should imagine there are laser beams going from your eyes to their eyes, and that are earthworms traveling on the laser beams from you to them.
3) Your hands should always be doing something that has nothing to do with what you are saying, or what the action is,
4) Imagine you are dancing on a candy shell underneath which there is a frozen version of hell.
5) Do all of the preceeding 4 at the same time.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2006
Greatest Stories Never Told: The Web Series
We have spent the last month working on a wonderful project that should burst forth from The History Channel website in a matter of weeks.
We are creating web-based videos of the stories from my first two Greatest Stories Never Told books. The History Channel is going to create a Greatest Stories Never Told web page on their site where the stories will live. The History Channel is billing it as, and I hope I have this right, their first original web series not associated with an ongoing TV program. Which is pretty exciting.
It is especially exciting because it will also cross promote the books. Just to help you keep score: First there was Timelab 2000, a series of history minutes hosted by Sam Waterston that aired on The History Channel. This led to the books. Now the books have led to a new series of history shorts for The History Channel website. Wacky world, eh?
These ones are very different from the Timelab pieces. They are longer, with more information and more attitude. They are hosted by an amazing young Boston stage actor named Timothy John Smith who really throws himself into each piece, and has a lot of fun with the material. (This is the first TV/film project he has ever done, and boy was he good!) Tim is also the artistic director of the Red Feather Theater Company.
The editing and the music on the pieces is very aggressive. The result is energetic, entertaining, and just plain enjoyable—if I do say so myself. We shot 20 of them, and they will probably be on The History Channel website by mid January.
We shot the pieces a week before Christmas in historic Buckman Tavern in Lexington. (A shout out to the Lexington Historical Society for making this possible!) It was the perfect location. It has a great historic look, it is closed during the winter so we could completely take it over, it is a short walk to Peet’s coffee, has wireless internet, and is only three minutes from my house. Of course it is also filled with priceless, irreplaceable historic objects, so we took great care of everything while shooting. Dillard Morrison and Mike Lee did a great job of lighting, giving the nearly 300 year old location a funky new look. We were aiming at a mix of hip and history--hope we hit it!
The History Channel asked us to complete the project by the end of the year, and we took them at their word: our final edit is scheduled for the morning of New Year’s Eve. A whole lot of people have worked very hard at a crazy time of year to make this happen, and I am very grateful to all of them for doing so. It's been a wild ride the last four weeks getting them ready for air, but I think it is fair to say that everyone involved has had a whole lot of fun.
Posted by rickbeyer at 05:41 PM | Comments (1)
December 14, 2006
Presidents' Book Cover
Harper Collins sent a first pass on the cover of the President's book, and here it is.(Click on it to see a closer-to-life-size version.) The plan is to make some changes in the color scheme--the colors red, white and blue were mentioned. I guess I better finish it soon!
I'm writing a story a day, and coming closer to the target every day.
Today' story was about Herbert Hoover. It has a great sidebar:
In 1919, Hoover’s success at humanitarian efforts lead a well to do New Yorker to say: "He is certainly a wonder and I wish we could make him President . . . There could not be a better one." The man who spoke those words: Franklin D.Roosevelt.
Posted by rickbeyer at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)
Harry Goldgar
Comments on The Greatest War Stories Never Told from my high school writing teacher, Harry GOldgar, now 85 and living in New Orleans.
I am up only to 1642 so far in The Greatest War Stories. I am reading now and then, you see, savoring each vignette, but no farther along because of my crippled vision joined to the manifold interruptions and errands of an existence depending on erratic buses and walking to get places other folks zip to in cars. I love the surprising anecdotes, the attractive page layouts and illustrations, the down-home style and especially your slightly ribald sense of humor which pervades everything I'll comment further when I finish.
Always a little nerve wracking when revered former teachers are reviewing your work,and clearly the final verdict isn't in yet--but it sounds like I'll get a passing grade.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2006
More Book Rankings
It is worth a certain amount of disbelief that I say that, at this moment, Greatest Stories is ranked 43rd on barnesandnoble.com
Meantime we are ranked 1387 on Amazon.
My sources at Harper Collins say that sales figures for each website were roughly the same last week...suggesting what I have always suspected, that Amazon sells far more books than B&N's website.
Posted by rickbeyer at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2006
Book Ranking
I note this morning that the Greatest Stories Never Told is ranked #99 on barnesandnoble.com, and #13 among ALL history books. Pretty cool! The book appears in B&N’s guide to gifts under $20, and I guess folks are buying it.
Posted by rickbeyer at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)