I gotta hand it to Sandy: he's reinvented himself more times than Madonna. (Remember when he took that job with Ovitz's ill-fated TeleTV?) So now the former Fox TV Entertainment Group chairman is running a global digital entertainment studio for aspiring filmmakers launching today with film producer Deepak Nayar (Bend it Like Beckham, Buena Vista Social Club). It's called Filmaka, and the hype is hilarious: it's "a new model for developing entertainment properties, and identifying and rewarding talent. 
Filmaka is committed to inspiring, celebrating, and rewarding creativity and talent by providing professional opportunities for undiscovered filmmakers and writers from all corners of the world through a variety of competitions that are juried by industry leaders." Sounds like yet another opportunity to raise and then dash the hopes and dreams of Hollywood wannabes. Cruel fun.
A side note: there's no need for résumé inflation in these kinds of announcements. Sandy Grushow has a fine showbiz pedigree, but he was not "responsible" for American Idol. It was Rupert's kid, Elisabeth Murdoch, who loved the 2001 British monster hit Pop Idol and lobbied Daddy to put it on the air after Grushow told the show's producers that Fox wouldn't even pay a license fee for the program. Only a direct order from Rupert himself to Peter Chernin to Grushow got American Idol launched on Fox. Facts are facts.
So I was curious about this site and did a cursory search for the current feature film competition.
Out of the current crop of competition films - of which there are maybe 30 features - 10 films have “The Secret…” in the title, many also with “adventures.”
I find it really hard to believe that out of the universe of independent film (where tens of thousands of feature films are shot each year) they found a full third with similar titles. This has GOT to be some kind of insipid inside joke. Check it out:
-The Secret Adventures of the Broken Heart Kid
-Secrets and Adventures
-Secret Adventures of Sleepy Men
-The Secret Adventures of the Projectionist
-The Secret Adventures of a Wiz Kid
-The Secret Adventures of the Young German Beareaucrat
-The Secret Adventures of Mister Boots
-The Secret Life of Amanda Jones
-The Secret Adventures of Malcomb
-The Secret Adventures of Mr. Grant
This is clearly a joke, right?
Comment by Jon — April 21, 2008 @ 11:20 am
they are just predators, exploiting wannabe dreamers.
at 10 dollars a pop they’ve already made over 60,000 dollars.
UN-BELIVABLE.
and they had the AUDACITY to issue a press release about it.
Comment by anonymous — April 21, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
Is this the 300th version of this web idea? NO? It’s the 3000th? Got it.
The best part of these sites is how they all say they’re going to give the ‘film makers’ 2-4k an episode to ‘produce’ ’shows’. One thing I know for sure, they’re going to look like they cost 4k. THIS MODEL DOESN’T WORK.
Comment by snore — April 21, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
Bravo, Nikki, for telling the truth about Grushow and American Idol. Facts ARE fun!
Comment by Andre — April 21, 2008 @ 11:21 pm
It’s interesting that given all the time Sandy has spent over in that fancy office of his on the Fox lot since he got his producing deal that no shows or hits have come out his company since it was started. Some people are Network Executives (and not Talent) for a reason.
Comment by reelbusy — April 22, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Yawn!!!
This lame idea shows how insulated Hollywood exec’s are from digital reality….and how desperate people are to get into show business.
How much of Sandy’s own cash is he putting up to fund this venture?
Comment by Brucerads — April 22, 2008 @ 4:11 pm