What Will You Accomplish This Year?

What will you accomplish this year?

In any creative career, people succeed by strengthening their competitive advantages. Positive press coverage provides two critically important competitive advantages: 

It builds your credibility, and 

It helps you inform other working professionals of your skills and availability. 

Once you have decided to advance your career, you don't have to do it alone, I can be a part of your success this year! 

I've helped many people, like actress-producer Sabrina Percario shown below.

Sabrina Percario featured on Post Magazine's Website

Many of my clients programs were part of their O-1 Visa immigration process.

I've promoted over thirty-five films and worked with an Academy Award Winner for ten years. Most recently I've successfully promoted a series of stage productions at The Ritz Theatre Co.

Neil Simon's Rumors

Pippin

Ragtime

Medium Marisa Liza Pell (This appeared as a two-page spread in the printed edition.)

The decisions you make, the goals you set, then the actions you take today will determine what you accomplish this year.

Contact me today, tell me a little about your work, then I'll let you know exactly how I can help you.

I've helped many other performing arts professionals, and I know I can help you!

Click here for more information then just get back to me with any questions, and we'll get started!

Thanks!


Best Regards,

  Steve Thompson

Thompson Communications


856-425-0743
Google Voice for voicemail or text


steve@thomcomm.com

Professional, Fast, Effective Publicity Services

Friday June 23, 2017

Hello, Steve Thompson here!

It's Friday, if you've decided to have a look, thanks! I promise I'll be brief.

Before this week ends, if you are looking for publicity for any projects, if you get back to me today, and we get started next week, you could be enjoying press coverage by the end of next week! 

That's right, thanks to the creative use of some accredited news distribution services, your press release could appear on over seventy media sites virtually immediately. And your release will be directly distributed to selected trade media, and by Associated Press to over fifty newspapers across the country. 

I've promoted over thirty-five films, worked with an Academy Award Winner for ten years, and my promotional packages are competitively priced. 

For the last few years I've been helping young people promote their careers. Click here to see a release that appeared last week in Post on my young, ambitious client Sabrina Percario.

Click here for more information if you are looking for a publicist, then just get back to me with any questions, and we'll get started!

Thanks for your consideration!


Best Regards,

Steve Thompson

Thompson Communications

856-942-4434

steve@thomcomm.com

Sebastian Faure: You can achieve anything you want, JUST EMBRACE THE JOURNEY!

You can achieve anything you want, 

JUST EMBRACE THE JOURNEY!

By Sebastian John Philippe Faure

Life is never easy. At a young age, our parents always told us that you could achieve anything you desire if you put your mind to it. They weren’t wrong, but what do we desire? Your journey starts here. First, you have to find your passion. And the only way for you to find what you love most is to experience the work that life has to offer. 

I worked as a waiter, as a tennis coach, as a salesman, as a gallery manager before finding out that acting is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

We all have goals and we all want to reach new heights. But it requires patience. Each one of us is in our own journey, it may take you five years or it may take you ten years before you get a break. Success doesn’t show up to your doorstep. It takes hard work, commitment and sacrifice; you restrict yourself from doing the things that everyone does. But in the long run, it will pay off. You have to enjoy the journey and most of all you have to overcome the obstacles that life throws at you.

Here I go again preaching about life and you’re probably wondering who I am? Just like you, I as well have desires and goals in life.

That’s where my journey begins; my name is Sebastian John Philippe Faure and I was born in Dubai on the 14th of July 1988. Both of my parents were expatriates and met in Abu Dhabi in some random party. And my dad was already married back then; guess my mum was the third wife. And that’s how I popped out. In the 80s, my father was French Pied-noir who was working in oil transportation, and my Polish mum was a computer specialist in a British bank. She doesn’t know how to turn on MAC, but yes she was a computer specialist! 

Yes, I was born and raised in Dubai, in case you don’t know where that is, it’s in the United Arab Emirates, and no we don’t ride camels and we don’t live in tents. It’s a city like any other. Back to where we were, I had a rocky start growing up, a lot of fights in the household and on top of that I was bullied in school, which didn’t help.  I didn’t enjoy school and I was always casted aside as the weirdo. Let’s just say I was different. Daddy was never around as he was working all the time. But I was fortunate enough to have a mother who showed me love and she introduced me to art. The first time I held a pencil and started drawing was when I was with her. The first time I had to recite a poetry sonnet in class, I was practicing at home with my mum. She was always there to support me. For that, I’m grateful to her. And that’s where I fell in love with storytelling. I would always be the first one to raise my hand so I can read out loud to my fellow classmates the stories we were going to learn. At eighteen years old, my parents were divorced and separated for over four years. I felt like the Ping-Pong ball that was being hit between my parents. We had the same issues as any divorced family would have, for example who is staying at dads or who’s staying with mum. 

Despite all of that, I went on to earn a scientific baccalaureate from the Lycee Georges Pompidou. It’s a French school that’s all you need to know.

After graduating high school, I asked myself what I should do with my life? I didn’t know what I liked. I studied so many subjects. And the only reason I specialized in science was to please my father. I simply wanted his appreciation for me. He told me it would open more job opportunities in the future. Back then, I didn’t understand what he meant but I still listened.  At that time, I was lost. I really didn’t know what I should do with my life. And what do you do in order to spend time when you’re lost? As any teenager would, you entertain yourself. So I just watched movies. And I watched all the classics. My dad had a huge collection of Laser Disks. You know the ones that stop running when you have to turn from side A to side B during the climax of a film. Great times! I would watch the Godfather, Terminator, Indiana jones, and Stars Wars, the old ones of course, anything, you name it!

I finally took initiative in my life and decided to pursue acting. But father was completely against it, after a few months of arguing, we found a compromise. Listen everyone, Life is a two way street, it always works like that. You scratch my back and I scratch yours. So I went to Sorbonne University in Paris, where I majored in Art History and Archeology. With my father’s consent, it was the closest to acting I could get. Little did he know that I started taking theater classes in the Sorbonne University. And that’s where I fell in love with acting once again. I studied Shakespeare, Moliere you name it. I graduated from Sorbonne with a Bachelor Degree in Art History and Archeology with A MINOR IN THEATER! Can you believe it? 

I moved back to Dubai and started working in a gallery as an art consultant. I did that for three years, sixty hours a week, six days out of seven. It was fun at the beginning, the pay was good, and it was as my father said a consistent job that any person should feel proud to have. After those three years, I felt it was too repetitive and boring. It was literally the same cycle and you would meet the same egotistical clients every day, and they would just brag on and on about what they own. They really thought that it impressed me, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. However there is one thing that I enjoyed doing there, it was explaining to clients the value of art. That’s when I realized that my passion for acting was too strong, I had to do something about it or else I would regret it for the rest of life. I had to try my very best. I packed my suitcase and moved to the City of Angels, Los Angeles baby! I moved there in order to pursue my career in Acting. After two years of intense study, I earned a Masters in Fine Art Acting at the New York Film Academy in Burbank. I was so fortunate to have great acting coaches such as George McGrath, Isabela Hofmann, Joe Basile, George Russo, and Ken Lerner, just to name a few.

I went through all the acting techniques going from Stanislavski to Meisner, from Meisner to Lee Strasberg, from Strasberg to Chekhov, Chekhov to Grotowski. And I was able to take something from all of these techniques in order to make it my own. When I first started I was really bad and it took a lot of hard work for me to accept who I am.  If I had to summarize what I have learnt from my studies, it is that you are enough and you don’t need people’s acceptance. In class, I remember when I finished a monologue, I asked one of my teachers if he liked my performance and he responded by asking “does it matter?” And yes it did to me, I came a long way. Again, it’s all about the journey. 

After graduation, I started working as much as I can. Saying yes to any projects I could get my hands on, I had this mindset that each project is an opportunity for me to act and to fool around. Simply Fun! One thing I have noticed about Hollywood is that it’s a small town and everyone knows everyone. It’s all about reputation, how professional you are in this business and how great you are to work with. I started getting more work after each projects, a filmmaker liked working with me because of my enthusiasm for acting. He referred me to another director who offered me a job in his project and it went on like this for nine months. It felt like the domino effect. I was getting work by referrals because people liked working with me.

I was fortunate enough to make a dozen short films. I wrote two films, directed one and I even produced one. I do not like producing and I can’t tell you how much of a nightmare it is. Just ask any producer. Life is about moving forward, and it’s only through failure that you become stronger. How can you progress in life if you have never failed and you have always succeeded? It doesn’t work like that. My advice to upcoming actors like me, don’t wait for them to answer your phone calls.  Hollywood is not going to open its doors to you with a flick of a wrist, don’t wait for them. Make your own door, be in control of your life and push forward.

Life is about finding your purpose and embracing your journey. In my Acting class, I remember one of my teachers asked me: “What drives you to your goal?” I simply told him “I want to be remembered and leave my stamp in this world. Even after I die, I can still affect people’s lives through my films.”

I remember my university days when we studied Art History and Archeology, and I was able to begin to understand more about our inheritance from previous civilizations through the studies of religion, historical monuments, and the findings of literature.

I realized that the more we learn about history, the more we understand our past mistakes, so we can continue to evolve as a human species, as one.

And those who are ignorant about history, what man created in the past, those are the ones who will make the same repetitive mistakes and never learn. It’s a vicious cycle: wisdom comes from knowledge, and knowledge comes from learning about the past, because once you are born on this earth, you inherit everything that was created before your life, like the pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, and so on.

Nowadays, we strive for the future, but forget about the past. We become cooperative vessels, like robots, that work daily in order to feed sleepless monsters (companies). We're money driven, we close off our emotions for the rationality of trying to understand everything. We feed companies, yet they want more and they're craving more because it's never enough.

Being professional is being emotionless, meaning losing your humanity.

The only thing I can think of as an artist in order for me to keep my humanity in check, is to act.
Because acting teaches me to have empathy, and emotions, and to understand the world for what it is. Mysteries of the world in all its colors. Acting helps me go through history, acting helps me understand others, acting helps me gain knowledge, acting is simply my therapy. Acting keeps me human. I do not want to become a robot that thinks only about money, because humans, values, and ethics, specifically HUMAN LIFE, is far more important than artificial paper: Money. We created our own utopia thinking it would work, but it doesn't. Let's try to preserve the remains of humanity we have left, before we lose ourselves completely.

JUST LIVE! EXPERIENCE! FEEL! AND EXPRESS!

Cast as the lead in the multiple award winning Sui Side Inn, I play Chef Dimitri. Sui Side Inn tells the story of an innkeeper named Sui who helps people with their struggle. When you want to end your life, you stay at this hotel. However, everything changes when a young girl shows up at Sui’s doorstep.

Sui Side Inn earned a 2017 Platinum International Independent award, 2017 LA Shorts award, 2017 Los Angeles Film Award for Best Editing, and a 2017 Best Drama Award from the LA International Film Festival.   

Sui Side Inn screened privately at Warner Brothers.

In Retail Blues, I played the manager of a store named Josh. The film is a dark comedy that involves the story of an employee named Justine.  During her tedious time working in the store, Justine is offered two incredible opportunities, one for singing, and one for the store manager position. Justine's first instinct is to push the singing to the side, but through persuasion and a little magic from the jazz musician who haunts her apartment, Justine can foretell her future if she does not follow her dreams of singing. Josh, is Justine’s manager who will try any means necessary to have her stay in the store so he can get promoted.

Every time I pick a role, I always start by understanding the psychology behind that person and the way he perceives life, because acting is all about thought. Then studying the way he interacts with strangers, family members and co-workers.

In The Reverie, a psycho-thriller, I played a photographer named Michael Miller. After a long day’s work in his studio, Michael is closing up as fast as he can in order to celebrate his anniversary with his wife. When suddenly, an unexpected model shows up and insistently asks Michael if he can have his pictures taken. Michael is passionate about photography and decides to accept the stranger’s offer. During the photo-shoot, a conversation starts between both them and Michael soon realizes that Edward is here for a reason. Nothing is, as it seems.  

The Reverie screened at Warner Brothers

In Daughter of the Lake, I was cast as the lead: Roland. 

Daughter of the Lake is a horror film in which four college students decide to go on a road trip. Tension start to rise when they find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere. What was supposed to be a fun college trip turns for the worse when they seek shelter in an abandoned ranch next to a lake. 

Daughter of the Lake earned the March 2017 LA Shorts Award, Best Original Story by the Los Angeles Film Awards, April 2017 and Best Horror by the Festigious International Film Festival.

Marlon Brandon, Al Pacino, Robert Deniro, Paul Newman, Orson Welles, and Alec Baldwin are some of the actors who inspired me for decades. They are character actors who can mold themselves and fill in the shoes of any fictional character and bring fiction to reality with their dimensional craft and their emotional depth. I strive to become like them and hopefully work with them in the near future.

These actors show the foundation of what an actor must strive to become, and the films we admire and respect today would never have reached their peaks without the involvement of these great actors.

I have worked hard in order to pursue my passion for acting. I’m consistently learning more about life and myself so I can continue to improve my artistic craft.

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Click Here for More Media Information on Sebastian Faure

Director of Photography Anup Kulkarni: His Visual Passion Has Taken Him Around the World, and Across Several Genres

PRESS RELEASE

Press Contact

Steve Thompson

Thompson Communications

856-942-4434

steve@thomcomm.net

For Immediate Release

Director of Photography Anup Kulkarni:

His Visual Passion Has Taken Him Around the World, 

and Across Several Genres

(May 2017, Los Angeles, CA) Anup Kulkarni is a multiple award winning cinematographer currently working in Los Angeles. Along with cinematography he is an avid wildlife photography enthusiast, who has a professional background in VFX as a 3D Camera Tracking & Matchmove Technical Director at the Rhythm & Hue studios.

With an eye for naturally motivated lighting and inspired movement, Anup has earned multiple cinematography awards including Best Cinematography awards at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards, TMC London Film Festival, Lake View International Film Festival and United International Film Festival.

His work has taken him around the world, working on a variety of genres, from documentaries,  dramas, sci-fi, thriller, and art feature films, including the Academy Award Winning film Life of Pi.

"Frames, colors and lights! Not just my passion or hobbies, but the very parameters through which I perceive life and all the creativity that it encompasses. Growing up in an artistic household always encouraged me to look into what was beyond the thin veil called reality. Eventually, I found where my true passion lies!

Walking down in my visualization world with photography and VFX as my companions, while digging deeper, I also realized that it was not only frame and colors which were enhancing the beauty of my visualization, but the real binding factor to all this was Lights! That made my frame complete!

This deeper understanding of visual arts gave rise to a new passion in me, and that was

cinematography for motion pictures, for which I am now pursuing a successful career in the

greatest city of stories and fiction: Los Angeles. There I have had the opportunity to work on award winning and prestigious projects like Life of Pi, Thor 2, Percy Jackson, and many, many others!”

She Jang, directed by Richard Simon

One of Anup’s most recent works She Jang, directed by Richard Simon, screened in the 33rd LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, which took place from late April through early May. The LA Asian Pacific Film Festival is an Oscar qualifying film festival. It’s a very prestigious festival in the Hollywood film festival circuit, along with the Asian film market as well.

She Jang is a mystery thriller film about what happens in the shadows of Korea town, when ambition connects the lives of two struggling actresses and a gangster.

As as the story moves forward, it becomes deeper and darker.

She Jang presents a vision of Hollywood where the reality is very different from the perception. Sometimes it can be really brutal and mysterious. So as a DP Anup had to work with natural vs. unnatural light to create the creepy look and achieve the story’s mystery feel.

Thaila Ayala and Al Danuzio 
in When Red is White

Next will be When Red is White, a Portuguese short film (When Red is White - The Touch of Aurora - is the Brazilian working title) with a unique concept premiering in next few months. It has the famous Brazilian actress Thaila Ayala and the Brazilian International Press award winner actor Al Danuzio. It’s a film about a blind couple making love for the first time, a very artistic film with exceptionally great acting.

“When I read the script first time I was totally hooked with its concept and the storyline, and decided to take this challenge despite my being an Indian and not speaking the Portuguese language. In Los Angeles we all speak the same language, which is Cinema.

Working with Thaila Ayala and Al Danuzio was an excellent experience. Thaila is a really versatile actress with natural acting skills. Whereas Al is a tremendous actor. The way he devotes himself towards acting is beautiful. Working with director, Aditya Patwardhan is always been an inspiring journey. This was our eighteenth project together.

As a story of a blind couple Aditya and I planned to introduce a soft natural light in the film which I created through some lighting techniques along with some special filters on our RED Dragon camera to create retro style film grain and dreamy haze look into it.”

Scene from Shadow Lies

Anup is also working on a feature film called Shadow Lies. It's about four college students being interrogated about their friend's death originally thought to be a suicide. In the process of investigating the death, the story reveals an unexpected conspiracy. The case is being investigated by the detective Roger, who is interrogating her four friends. The story takes an unexpected turn when Deborah's father comes under the suspicion of the detective, and reveals a motive for murder, not suicide.

He is also currently developing a psychological-horror feature film entitled Uncanny, which will be shot in the Los Angeles. Along with that one more historical-based drama feature film will happen at the end of the year in the Nevada desert and Rajasthan, India, which has many A-list actors in the Indian film industry attached.

Anup Kulkarni has applied his outstanding creative vision to both his work, and his career. There is much more to come for this very talented, highly focused film industry professional!

# # # #

Anup Kulkarni is available for interview by appointment, 

pending availability.

Contact: Steve Thompson / Thompson Communications

856-942-4434

steve@thomcomm.net


Anup Kulkarni's Website

Anup Kulkarni on IMDb

Anup Kulkarni's Press Materials

Five Major Publicity Considerations for Indie Film Producers

Five Major Publicity Considerations for Indie Film Producers

You're completing your film. You have solved major problems, you make critical decisions every day, your instinct has driven you this far. Now it's time to begin marketing your film, where do you start?

I believe in instinct, I think you know what's right for you, and what isn't. 

These five considerations are provided to you to give you a context in which you can apply your own instincts:


1. Cast

Higher level media coverage of films is primarily driven by cast. The better known your cast is, the higher the probability that you will obtain media coverage. This goes for distribution as well. If you are producing a film and planning on approaching potential distributors later, you will quickly learn that the number one question potential distributors ask is "Who is in your cast?"


2. Where will your film be available to the audience?

Media outlets don't want to cover films which their audiences cannot view. So if you are screening in a festival, or planning a promotional screening, and it's six to eight weeks away, regional media outlets may be receptive to covering your film if they deem it newsworthy, and if there's a way their audiences can see your film.


3. Know Your Film's Audience Demographics

Films generally appeal to specific market segments, a film on fashion would be of interest to fashion magazines, and so on. You will need to define exactly what your audience will gain from seeing your film, then use that as the press hook you offer to media outlets serving your audience.


4. What talent is available for in-person interview, and when? 

When promoting an upcoming screening, media outlets love to speak with onscreen talent. So when you approach media outlets with your story, you will need to let them know when your talent will be available for interview in their offices or studios.


5. Be Prepared! Be sure that you have all of your promotional materials complete and available before approaching media outlets.


In addition to your press release, you should have your trailer, some promo clips, and some production photos immediately available when you make your initial media contact, so the media outlets can figure out how you and your film will fit into their schedules.


These are basically your same considerations if you do not yet have a distributor.

If you need any assistance with promoting your film to the audience, or potential distributors, just get in touch with me. I've promoted over thirty-five films, and worked with an Academy Award Winner for ten years.


Let's make things happen!


Steve Thompson

Thompson Communications

856-942-4434

steve@thomcomm.com

Brazilian Designer Takes Hollywood

Thompson Communications

www.thomcomm.com

PRESS RELEASE

Press Contact

Steve Thompson

Thompson Communications

856-942-4434

steve@thomcomm.net

For Immediate Release

Brazilian Designer Takes Hollywood

(March, 2017, Los Angeles, CA) If you work in the entertainment industry you probably already heard her name, if you haven't, you will! In this awards season, we are all eyes on production designer and costume designer Carolina Inoue. She won the Best Production Design award with Kumal at the HIMPFF and is a nominee for W. I. F. F. for the same category. But that doesn't mean she stopped working to attend the events and Red Carpets. Carolina Inoue is one of the most requested non-union designers at the moment. Producers book her months and sometimes years ahead to make sure she will be available for their production.

She's being asked by big studios like Warner Bros., to join the union, but according to Inoue she's in a better place outside of the union right now: "I have been able to work in both union and non union productions and be paid union rates, so I'm not looking to join the union yet, but eventually I will," she said. Currently working in a non-union production, her following show is a union show. "The industry doesn't have enough union designers, so studios are allowed to get an excuse from the union to hire non union professionals" she explains. 

That gives her a tremendous advantage, because she's being making a name in the independent movies industry and already established great relationships in the main studios in Hollywood. The future of her career is in her hands. With dozens of titles as Production Designer and Costume Designer, only in the United States where she's been living for less than five years, she says she would never pick one over the other. 

"Production Design and Costume Design are tightly connected. One of the most often comments I most frequently receive is people wanting me to overlook both departments, even when we have separate professionals taking good care of each. That's because they trust my work in both. So why should I choose one or the other if dominating both is what makes me unique?” 

She has worked with Netflix, Disney, Universal NBC, Warner Bros, CBS, just to mention a few. Her talent and charismatic personality are the keys for getting into several productions, for which she's always being referred by someone she previously worked with. She has already lined up projects for the next four years.

Carolina receives so many scripts weekly, she has had to hire an assistant to help her read and sort the ones she wants to work with! When asked what she looks at when selecting the productions, she says: story, budget and director. As an artist she wants to be able to explore her creativity and create memorable sets. So, having a good story that can be visually appealing, the money to make it happen, and a director opened to suggestions, that let her create freely, is the way to get her!

Last year she worked on The Gliksmans, directed by M. Skolnick, starring the legendary actors Edward Asner and Cloris Leachman; The Open House, directed by Matt Angel and Suzzane Coote, and starring teen star Dylan Minnette.

She's now working on Open Mic with Award winning musicians Caro Pierotto and Willo Keys, in the pre-production of Keanu Reeves' next movie and post production of Downrange, directed by famous Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura. Inoue was also the Production Designer of the pilot for the series Faulk My Life, which is expected to be distributed by a major studio soon.

"Every script is a new adventure. The story begins on piece of paper, then I as the designer, create the universe that surrounds the story told in the script. I consider where the story takes place, when it takes place, who is in the story, who the characters are, and what we want the audience to think of them. The characters range anywhere from a rich, organized, intelligent man, to a messy, dirty, poor, miserable old lady. Their homes and clothes all have to communicate that.

What I love about my work is that I tell the character's story when they aren't speaking. I can tell the character's whole background story through the set design and costume design. That's a big power and responsibility. If I don't study the story and the characters deeply and carefully, I could mislead the audience and they could get confused or misunderstand the story.

I am truly grateful for all the opportunities I have received. I am one of the few professionals in Hollywood who started as head of their departments. Most people start out as a PA and work their way up. I'm very blessed to be given the opportunity and trust to lead my department for both Production Design and Costume Design. Work in film isn't easy, but seeing the result up on the big screen is really rewarding. I have several projects in pre-production for the next three years. The industry never stops and I'm looking forward to being on set with some of my biggest idols, some of whom I have already had the opportunity to work with."

Carolina Inoue is a hard working, talented designer, with an impressive, growing list of credits. The sky's the limit!

# # # #

Carolina Inoue is available for interview by appointment, 

pending availability.

Contact: Steve Thompson / Thompson Communications

856-942-4434

steve@thomcomm.net

Carolina Inoue on IMDb

Carolina Inoue Press Materials