Feature Writing (Long-form, unpublished)

A Couple of Film Lovers Sittin’ Around Talkin’ - Movie Seminar Gives Fans The Inside Scoop

In the film, Mr. Kelly and his co-star 70-year-old character actor Ian Bannen, also seated on the theater’s small stage addressing the audience, play two old friends who discover that someone in their tiny Irish village has won the lottery and they set out to endear themselves to their neighbor in hopes of sharing the winnings. The gray-haired Mr. Kelly best known for his work in British television’s Fawlty Towers, sports a sort of goatee and his face forms a crinkled smile when he reflects on his reaction to first time writer-director Kirk Jones’ script. “I’d never been on a motorbike,” Mr. Kelly says with an Irish brogue. “I was so in love with the script. But I was so frightened of that scene. So terrified.” He takes a beat. “And so very cold,” he adds. “My modesty disappeared out the window with the fear.” Everyone in the theater applauds and laughs.

In person, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Bannen are as charming and mischievous as they are on the screen. Mr. Jones, younger than his actors by about 30 years and rather new to the movie business is enjoying the chemistry between the dynamic duo and the impact they’re having on this crowd of movie enthusiasts. He tells the assembled group how fortunate he was to cast this geriatric version of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in his first feature film. The studios wanted him to cast Jack Lemmon and Walter Mattheau, but he held out for Kelly and Bannen.

Mr. Lyons, the film and theater critic for WNBC-TV and other NBC stations, is impressed with Waking Ned Devine.  “I hope all three of you have well-fitted formal attire, because you’re going to need it come March,” says Mr. Lyons, who has unofficially called the film one of the ten best films of the year. “Now, let’s take some questions.”

“I’m curious to know if you see this as a morality play,” one audience member asks the director. “I just wrote what felt right at the time,” Mr. Jones answers. “How did you come up with the name Ned Devine as the main character?” asks another man. “Most of the character names came from a graveyard in Dingle,” Mr. Jones explains. “With a very limited budget, how wide a release can you get for this film and will the distributor support it?” asks Janet Bettman, an attractive silver-haired woman from Scarsdale.

Inside Scoop For Film Lovers

This is exactly the kind of interaction between audience and filmmaker Jeffrey Lyons had in mind when he and his co-host and business partner Roberta Burrows put together this weekly film seminar series, Talking Movies, which they launched at the beginning of October. The ten-week series offers New York film buffs screenings of new Hollywood studio and independent movies before they are commercially released, accompanied by an audience-participation discussion with the stars or filmmakers. It provides an inside scoop for film lovers.

The concept is not exactly new, but the partnership between Mr. Lyons and Ms. Burrows is. And the seminar’s distinction is that it is the only film series hosted by two people whose expertise comes from hands-on experience. Mr. Lyons, a movie and theater critic for 28 years on New York TV and radio, hosted his own film series for four years in New Jersey, with some 800 people enrolled. Throughout his distinguished career, he has reviewed more than 15,000 films, and is extraordinarily knowledgeable about film.

Ms. Burrows’ diversified film background includes ten years at Warner Bros. studio, (several as publicity director) where she launched such films as The Killing Fields, Chariots of Fire, and Lethal Weapon. She also has worked in film production and script development and as a journalist for national magazines writing primarily about movies and celebrities. Ms. Burrows is an attractive, petite woman with blondish hair and bangs that frame her high cheekbones. She does not look a day over 50, but won’t reveal her age. Dressed all in black, she looks very much a New Yorker.

Ms. Burrows hosted her own film series for The School of Visual Arts for two years. Occasionally, Mr. Lyons was a panel guest for Burrow’s audience. The two had known each other since Ms. Burrow’s days promoting films at Warner Bros. When Mr. Lyons felt it was time to move his series to New York, he needed a partner to arrange the films and guests and asked Ms. Burrows to join him.

While they come from opposite ends of the critic versus studio spectrum, they are both movie lovers. The partnership works because, “we both bring a different perspective,” says Mr. Lyons. “As a critic, even if I don’t like the film, I can get something out of it.” Together, there’s a synergy at work and a shared philosophy on giving their audience an insider’s view. “It’s an opportunity for the audience to talk to the filmmakers about the process of making the film,” says Ms. Burrows. “I’m just a conduit to making that occasion take place. I want them to get some of the questions that they may have about movies addressed to the people who can answer it.”

Inviting Guests to Personal Screenings

It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Monday evening. At the entrance to the Director’s Guild Theater, nestled between Planet Hollywood and The Motown Café, the very familiar-looking Mr. Lyons, whose smiling yet authoritative face peers out the television each day, greets seminar attendees arriving at the theater. Ms. Bettman (who won’t say how old she is) drives in from Westchester with her husband Harry and two other couples in their 60’s. Ingrid Seher, 58, comes from Queens. Marlena Wood is there ready to be entertained. And Stephanie Worley, 25 has come as a guest of a friend enrolled in the series. Mr. Lyons welcomes each of them as if inviting guests into his living room for a personal screening. There is no line to get in and no need to purchase tickets.

It’s a warm, friendly atmosphere and an interesting mix of people, ranging from professional women and men in their 30’s and 40’s to retired couples in their 50’s and 60’s. “It shows how movies are really a universal language,” says Ms. Burrows. “These different people from different lifestyles seem to share a passion for filmgoing and they seem to share a curiosity to know about the artistic effort of the filmmakers.”

“I don’t even want to call this a class,” says Mr. Lyons. “It’s a shared experience. This is the user-friendly seminar series,” he says.

“I feel more comfortable here,” says Ms. Seher, an Eastern European woman who works as a bookkeeper, and who has been attending movie series like this one for several years. She got her first class as a present from her boss and took three or four courses with Ralph Appelbaum, who at one time associated with The New School but is now running an independent series. There they saw “big movies,” says Ms. Seher, who likes movies and anything with the theater. But she’s not so crazy about Hollywood films because they often are violent. “I do enjoy the little art movies,” Ms. Seher says. So Talking Movies’ mix of independent and studio films appeals to her. When the Appelbaum class got too big for her liking and she wasn’t pleased with the interviews she heard, Ms. Seher sought out Ms. Burrow’s course at School of Visual Arts.

“I think Roberta has a great way of interviewing,” says Ms. Seher. “Her background and love for the art comes through. The rapport with students comes through. With this you’re a part of it. You learn how it all comes together. Sometimes you’re not always aware of the struggle of the filmmakers,” she adds.

Interviews with Film Stars

Another night’s screening is Little Voice starring Oscar-nominee Brenda Blethyn, Jane Horrocks, who created the role of Little Voice for the London stage, and actor Michael Caine. Ms. Blethyn plays an over-the-top, overly made-up, over-bearing mother to Ms. Horrock’s L.V., a nearly mute girl who expresses her emotions by impersonating the singing styles of Judy Garland, Billie Holliday, and Shirley Bassey. After the film, Mr. Lyons and Ms. Burrows introduce Ms. Blethyn as the guest for the evening. Out walks an attractive and sophisticated 52-year-old English lady who looks and acts nothing like her boorish screen counterpart. “Did you find it depressing to play this part,” asks Ms. Bettman from the audience. “It’s such a heavy role, did you take it home with you?”

“I don’t think most people have a clue as to what it takes to make a film. That’s why I asked that question,” Ms. Bettman explains. She used to design couture clothes, but she says she grew up wanting to be David Lean (the director of such epics as Lawrence of Arabia) or the female equivalent. She has always had an interest in film and loves movies. Her son Gary M. Bettman produces low budget films (Lobster Man From Mars is one she mentions) so she has an appreciation of the difficulty involved in the process of movie-making. Therefore, she follows the film business closely.

“You get a vicarious thrill when you go to a film screen,” Ms. Bettman says, “describing why she thinks people come to class. “You want a connection to the stars, to feel the power and excitement, the magic of movie-making. That’s why people go to the movies,” she adds.

In 1997, movie theater patrons spent more than $6 billion at the box-office, with overall admissions of 1.4 billion, the highest mark in 38 years, according to Exhibitor Relations, the motion picture box-office tracking organization. The trade publication Variety reported this week that “the prospect of an unprecedented $7 billion box-office year in the domestic marketplace gained momentum as 1998 climbed to the $6 billion mark on Nov. 28, 26 days earlier than the prior speed record set last year.” That performance level also boosted ticket sales by 5% compared to the comparable period for 1997. An average single ticket price was $4.58, while in New York prices reached $9 and higher.

For the 1997 calendar year, nationwide, moviegoers could choose from nearly 400 Hollywood studio and independent film. But “no place in the country offers consumers as many movies or as many movie theaters as New York City,” according to New York’s Department of Consumer Affairs.

Broad Selection of Films

With so many film choices for moviegoers, Mr. Lyons and Ms. Burrows wanted to offer a broad selection of films that attendees might otherwise not see on their own. Developing the content for the series is dependent on securing films and suitable guests. It is often a frustrating process, awaiting decisions on access from the studios. So Ms. Burrows cannot plan too far ahead. “It helps that I have been on the other side,” says Ms. Burrows. “It helps that I worked within the studio system. And it helps that I worked at outside agencies who publicize studio and independent films. Because I understand the language, I understand the restraints and the hierarchy of decision making.”

Screenings for film series are included in some movie studio’s marketing plans for certain films. “For the right type of film,” agrees Willa Clinton, Director of East Coast Publicity for Warner Brothers. “If a film can use good word-of-mouth and nice support from the students in the class – especially for a film that might not have big stars or maybe has a difficult subject – it’s a wonderful tool,” she says.

Shannon Treusch, a 28-year-old vice president for Cline + White, a New York public relations firm that represents a number of studios ad films, including the period drama Elizabeth, which was screened for Talking Movies, says screenings offer lots of benefits to a studio. “Especially when working with independent films,” she says, “there is usually a small advertising budget compared to major studio blockbusters, and you need to find other outlets to get the word out.” She adds,” The best way is to work with film classes. They have a great reputation. They bring in film lovers from all over the city. It gets the word out.” According to Variety, the word has gotten out for Gramercy’s Elizabeth. The picture is among the top ten films in North America, continuing a successful nationwide expansion showing on 516 screens and taking in almost $7 million as of the Nov. 30 Thanksgiving weekend box office results.

Ms. Treusch also says Mr. Lyons’ “name as a critic elevates the Talking Movies series in everybody’s mind.”

Business Partnership

That recognition from studios and their representatives is important to building Talking Movies as a business operation says Ms. Burrows. While she did have experience leading previous seminars, Ms. Burrows was a neophyte at setting up a business. Fortunately, she says, there were not a lot of steps to the process, since there is no merchandise or real estate involved. She went through the same basic steps in forming the actual business partnership, setting up bank accounts, phone lines, and the like. And she and Mr. Lyons agreed on a marketing strategy for getting the word out about the new series, including a limited advertising budget in print magazines and a strong word-of-mount campaign. Ms. Burrows acknowledges they face competition from more established film series, each with their own distinct “camp followers.”

Some of the competitors are independent like Appelbaum’s series and Richard Brown’s “Movies 101” attracting hundreds of people to each session. Other courses are offered through academic institutions like New York University, The New School, and The School of Visual Arts.

But Mr. Lyons is optimistic the Talking Movies series will succeed and grow. Does he see the joint-venture as a bit of a gamble much like the chance filmmakers take when they produce, create and distribute a film? “There’s no risk,” says Mr. Lyons. “It worked before [meaning his New Jersey series] and I had 800 people. This is a much bigger pond.”

Ten-Week Sessions

So far New Yorkers seem willing to pay a premium for the insider feeling Talking Movies affords filmgoers. For the ten-week session, tuition for the series is $310. That’s about $30 per movie, well above the average cost of a movie ticket. But that price doesn’t deter people from enrolling. “It’s worth it to spend the money,” says Ms. Seher, who is shy about asking questions in class, but enjoys the dialogue atmosphere. “It’s quite interesting to hear afterwards the director, actors, what brought them, what made them make the move,” she says. “I just enjoy the contact.”

Ms. Wood, a New Yorker whose real estate business keeps her busy seven days a week, sees the weekly seminar as a pleasant appointment she has to keep since she tends not to go to movie theaters too often. She is not particularly interested in the movie-making process, just the entertainment aspect of the films. She likes the interaction between Mr. Lyons and Ms. Burrows. “They make an interesting duo,” says Ms. Wood. “Almost like a Siskel and Ebert.” She says the combination adds spice and humor to the experience.

Astoria resident, Ms. Worley, an Intranet producer for a New York-based Internet network for women, has come to Talking Movies several times as a guest of a friend who is enrolled in the course. “I truly enjoyed the experience,” she says, emphasizing how much she loved Waking Ned Devine and the panel discussion. “It’s quite a treat to meet the director and the actors of a film you’ve just seen. It makes the film come full circle. It’s interesting to hear about the behind-the-scenes, how the project came about.” While Ms. Worley had never attended this kind of series before, now that she has come a few times, she is considering enrolling herself in the spring and she’s planning to tell a friend about it. It’s that kind of word-of-mouth Mr. Lyons and Ms. Burrows are hoping will propel their baby series forward. And it’s the same kind of word-of-mouth the studios count on to sell movie tickets.

A little inside information from ACNielsen EDI and Variety reveals Fox Searchlight’s Waking Ned Devine has taken in a total gross of $442,150 at the box office from just nine screens since its Nov. 20-22 opening weekend. Sometimes it’s a gamble. But sometimes it’s a windfall, a little like winning the lottery.

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Talking Movies Film Seminar 

Talking Movies fall session included pre-release screenings of such films as Woody Allen’s Celebrity with guest Kate Burton; Little Voice with guest Oscar-nominee Brenda Blethyn; Waking Ned Devine with co-stars Ian Bannen and David Kelly, and writer-director Kirk Jones; HurlyBurly with guest Chazz Palminteri; Elizabeth with director Shekkar Kapur and actor Christopher Eccleston; and The General with guests director John Boorman, actor Brendon Gleeson and Oscar-winner Jon Voight. Other series guests included actor Robert Wuhl, star of HBO’s Arliss. And other screenings included The Mighty, Pleasantville, Hi-Life, Dancing at Lughnasa, Down in the Delta and What Dreams May Come.

Talking Movies will be offered to New Yorkers for a late Winter/Spring session, beginning February 15, with screenings Mondays, 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., at The Director’s Guild Theater, 110 West 57th Street. For students who enroll by January 15, the cost is $285, and after Jan. 15, the cost is $310. For more information, call (212) 712-1965.