Indie Film Closeup: ‘The Blacklight’ Executive Producer Don Hatton
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Five years ago, Don Hatton joined forces with a group of artists to start shooting an indie film that would eventually look like a blockbuster. Coordinating finance, locations and talent from the East Coast to the Mississippi River, the Illinois-based executive producer helped create The Blacklight, a genre-spanning feature that won some of the industry’s most prestigious awards before launching its current run on Amazon Prime,...
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Patricia Frontain Wraps Lifetime Feature Starring Mena Suvari
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Director Patricia Frontain completed production on a Lifetime movie starring Mena Suvari in mid-November. Managing about 30 crew, she worked an “incredibly intense” 12-day schedule in Los Angeles to shoot the 101-page script, her first feature. Although the project required Frontain to spend five episodes away from her regular position as script supervisor for Chicago PD, she took a lot of hometown experience with her. “I...
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Lawrence, Jenkins and God In The House
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Vince Lawrence is stepping to a groove that he pioneered forty years ago, and a legion of artists have now joined the ride. In 1983, the native Chicagoan helped create House Music by recording the single, On and On, with his friend Jesse Saunders. This month, he premiered a video featuring his remix of the Gospel hit, Never Knew Love, by Charles Jenkins & Fellowship Chicago, completed...
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PETERMAYER Celebrates Michigan in New Spot for Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau
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Full service agency PETERMAYER is helping the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau celebrate a part of Michigan that a lot of consumers have probably never seen in a new commercial for the tourist organization’s The Right Way to Winter campaign. Nature, recreation, food and family come to life in this 30-second montage about the cold-weather awesomeness thriving in the northern tip of the state’s lower peninsula along Lake Michigan. “Winter...
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Submissions Open 12/1 for ‘Patrick Lives On’ Film Fest
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Submissions for Chicago’s beloved Patrick Lives On film festival will run from December 1 to February 15, 2023. Open to anyone from the Chicago film community, entries can represent any genre but should not contain gratuitous gun violence. Select works will screen during the sixth annual Patrick Lives On Showcase & Fundraiser, sponsored by and held at Chicago’s Resolution Digital Studios, at 2226 W. Walnut...
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Exclusive: Mexican Border Drama ‘The Red Note’ To Film In 2023
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Estefania Bonilla Hernandez and Craig Whitney are on the brink of what could be one the most impactful films of the decade. After spending the past six years documenting the femicide in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juárez for their award-winning podcast, The Red Note, the producer and director intend to shoot a true crime drama of the same name in 2023. The Red Note movie...
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‘Chicago PD’ Star Marina Squerciati Reveals Her Greatest Challenge to Date
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Marina Squerciati is a fan favorite of the highly popular Dick Wolf drama Chicago P.D. Marina recently stopped by to give her loyal #OneChicago fans a bit more insight into her beloved and complex character, Officer Kim Burgess. Marina chatted with SCREEN’s Dan Patton to reveal her greatest challenge on the show so far… As you know, the new season of Chicago PD is currently...
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One Minute Review: Illinois-Made, Award-Winning ‘The Blacklight’ Begins Streaming Oct 1
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The Blacklight is a suspenseful thriller that combines murder and magic with a large dose of the supernatural. It’s also funny as hell. Filmed partially throughout Northern Illinois, the low-budget indie film ran alongside a handful of major studio projects at this year’s Septimius Awards in Amsterdam, where it earned a “Best American Film” nomination. The Blacklight begins streaming on multiple platforms today. The story features a number...
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‘Chucky Chicken’ Creator Michael Cook Talks about Making It Big
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Fourteen years ago, Michael Cook had an inspiration about escaping. The Illinois-based artist, writer and director felt that many Americans, including himself, could make good use out of a break from the stress of daily life. It came in the form of a chicken. Chucky Chicken, to be specific. Today, Chucky Chicken is a lead character in an animated series that has earned more than...
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Bounce Helps Agencies Thrive With New Business Model
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Bounce Sound Studios is the way out of a drag that has been hobbling the post-production industry for decades. Fueled by an inspiration that grew directly within the film and commercial world, the upstart company delivers real-time, sonic expertise over wi-fi connections to locations across the globe. In other words, Bounce Sound Studios is anywhere clients want it to be. “I noticed over the years...
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