During the next fall-winter TV season the Americans will watch the first season of “Chase”, the story of a marshall from Texas, specialized in chasing fugitives escaped from prison. Besides the plot (which seems to be interesting), there are other elements that make us understand the quality of the project. For example the producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, the man who more than others has realised one success after the other, such as the “CSI” (Las Vegas, New York, Miami), “Cold Case”, “without any trace” and many others. Another aspect is the distribution. For the first time with this project, Bruckheimer has been able to sell his product to NBC. A logical choice after so many successful serials for just one channel as CBS (“Dark Blue” and “The Whole Truth” for example). Meaningful for the Americans is even the title of the serial: Richard Chase infact was known as “the vampire from Sacramento”, a horrible serial killer that in few months killed 6 persons, drinking their blood and eating their bodies. Thankfully now there will be Jesse Metcalf, the main character, to free us from such concerns.

Do you know that feeling to run away, to go and run somewhere ? Well, the German people have a particular word to express this feeling: “wanderlust”. The Americans, like us, on the contrary have no word like this. But while we have to make quite a panegiric to convey this feeling they have adopted this word… without any effort to invent a new one. Now in Hollywood it has become a comedy about a couple who tries to run away from modern life after their dreams and economic finances have fallen through. Their choice will be quite strange as they will try to enter a hippy community. The main actors are Jennifer Aniston (a sort of icon of brilliant comedies) and Paul Rudd that in 2011 will be out with another comedy (“My Idiot Brother” of which we will talk about in another post). David Wain is the director as well as the playwriter, while the distribution is assigned to the Major Universal Pictures. The shootings will begin in September, probably in Atlanta,Georgia, Mr Coca Cola’s house.

Let’s talk again about next TV season in the States to see what’s news. Let’s start from the first season of Mr Sunshine, with the coming back of Matthew Perry. Even if he has worked a lot after “Friends” (even as producer and playwright), it is quite sure that the sit-com genre is more suitable to the unforgettable Chandler. In the new project, produced by the trustful Greenlighted, he is quite a normal 40-years businessman at the San Diego Stadium that begins to think about his life. At his side the nice and beautiful Andrea Anders (Better of Ted, The Class, Joey…), the quite famous Allison Janney (154 episodes in The West Wing) and Nate Torrence (a young character actor). As other new serials, the mood of this production is light but no trivial, as it proposes a sort of revisitation os some life values, with nice and light spots. The set is New York and the shooting will begin in 3 weeks. You have really a few time.

The great outing of Sex and the City girls is the right occasion to talk about Celebrity Seeding. Let’s explain it’s something between PR ad product placement, with the aim to give the products freely to the Stars of the Show Biz and more in general to the V.I.P. (normally fashion clothes and accessories, but even design products, technological gadgets, furniture, etc.), with the hope they can use them, taken pictures of, noted on the press and obtain visibility. The good sense would like each garment and object to be selected by these people with great attention. Such a category has so much money and such acquaintances to obtain the best of the best. And it’s exactly this logical supposition that is at the base of the efficacy of the Celebrity Seedings. But the truth is different: all the people I know accept with pleasure to have and use different kinds of products free. It will be not very nice to reveal the names but I have personally see people predate some departments stores. Not to talk about those who ask their agent to call the producer or some common friends to obtail products free. In a few cases the free supply is sufficient to obtain the Seedings. In other cases it is asked even a good mediatic proposal. The most frequent example is about the design objects or white goods that become the main characters within a photo session distributed to the most important furniture reviews, very happy to publish articles about famous people and their houses. And at that point the circle gets close with the perfect logic of the win-win. The Star gets the products free, the Producing House obtains good references and visibility on important newspapers with no costs and the review gets a free interesting article. But can it be possible that the Hollywood millionaires can loose their time trying to get free the clothes and accessories even from “Sex and the City II”, as the four main characters of the movie itself are revealing just these days on channel E!. The answer to such a question is unknown, even for a rational person like me, but as it works, and works well… it doesn’t matter.

 Still something news among the “comedy” format, the most vital feature in Hollywood, always able to propose itself in a different light. “30 minutes or less” is the comedy produced by Ben Stiller with his “Red Hour”, defined by himself as a “Dramatic Suspence Comedy”. From the plot you can guess a sort of cross-over inspiration. But this is not even the only strange thing about it. The screenplay for example, will not be distributed not even within the trade operator. The studio wants to keep the secret about the end and the most important parts of the movie itself. On the other side the most important and expensive press campaign has been organised for next year. The distribution will be managed by the Sony Picture Entertainment not to have bad surprises.At last another news about this project so important for Ben Stiller:the technical sheet of the movie. The standard info, the graphical choices and the creativity are really unusual for a technical file. Original to the marrow.

Just two months to the shooting of “This Means War”, a movie quite unconventional. It is a sort of pink comedy about two great friends who get in love with the same woman…and until here is fine. But the duel between them will become so huge to completely destroy the whole New York City. Interesting the actors, the wonderful Reese Witherspoon and the young but well-appreciated Chris Pine. Be careful that the same director, Mc.G, will create incredible situations. He is already famous for “Charlie’s Angels” the movie, the soundtrack of “The Coyote Ugly Girls”, producer of “The O.C.” and lots of nice videoclips, documentaries and commercials (Coca Cola and GAO for ex.) The production is signed by Will Smith and James Lassiter. The products fit for the product placement or brand integration are those about a comedy, clothing and accessories, cars and motorcycles, furniture, design, technology. This is one of the most interesting chance of the next season for what concerns brilliant comedies.

At last I have got the screenplay of “Horrible Bosses” by Michael Markowitz and the adaptation of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. A movie where very good actors will perform such as Jason Bateman, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Charlie Day and Jennifer Aniston. However it is not the plot, the director or the actors that get the interest of the public; the question is which is the end of the story ?.The plot infact is about three friends who try to kill their bosses being horrible people. Now taking in mind that the same production studio (New Line Cinema) considers this movie as a comedy, the end should be at least predictable. Someone thinks it is not and I cannot tell anything more. For sure this movie has very little of a comedy. I am quite certain that the plot will not change, in Italy it will be for over-14-year-olds only or probably for over 18-year-olds. The very outspoken dialogues will give problems to censureship. But a movie with such a strange though interesting formula is really enriched by such black, red and other colored shades. This movie, already in shooting in Los Angeles since June the 6^th , will provoke lots of rumours. And at this point the end is no more so important as it will be the first of a new kind of movie. And those who want a comedy, a comedy will watch.

You don’t hear talking about “iCarly” very often among marketing managers. On the contrary teen-agers do. A video, among the many present on youtube, has got more than 13 millions of visits, but it isn’t so difficult to find others with such numbers. In Italy it is on Nickelodeon and gets lots of fans. Its website works seriously: the blog is very popular, the visitors are many and the sell-out of its soundtrack is optimum. The story is about a young girl from Seattle that becomes a web star thanks to a web-casting. The production is sober but with taste, good dialogues, nice rhythm and nice actors. Nothing new or experimental but it has the advantage to be always updated. The plot, the speeches, the actors’ look and the set have a perfect equilibrium between what there was (and we are fed up) and what will be (not too much in advance). In a few days in the Los Angeles Studios the 4^th season will start to be shot. 26 episodes already on programme are really a lot in comparison to other web serials. Good sign of a consolidated success on one side and of a good economic rendering for the production on the other. For placement activity it is important to go on now. The products interested are those connected to teen-agers between 12 and 17 years old.

Very soon you will pay to shoot in New York a movie, a serial, a show or just a spot. The major Blooberg told this officially sometime ago during a meeting with The Hollywood Studios, the ads Agencies and the Show Workmen Union. For the Big Apple and the United States it is an important turning point from a normative as well economic point of view. The amount is quite a symbol, 300 dollars una tantum that the productions of serials and movies should pay at the beginning of the season and before the setting of the location, regardless of the hours and the days to spend in New York.

Obviously the “once-fee movie” will be required just in case of public occupation of the ground, that this year will regard about 3000 productions. To manage the operations will be the “Film Office”, born in 1966 to promote the city, became the city-placement case of the world movie story (maybe together with Bombay).

Different and more articolated is the case of the Movie Commission in Italy and Europe, an instrument of management, promotion and incoming, run with no coordination at all. On the other side of the Ocean, the Show Businessmen bet that just Los Angeles and Las Vegas will survive. The economies of the two cities are so independent from the Show world to make fun with the producers humor that would find much more convenient to move the productions and the investments in other districts, such as Vancouver, quite often employed, or Bollywood, where Spielberg has bee working for a year.

In a few weeks the shootings of “Cheaters” will begin; it’s the new comedy by Ron Howard, called until lately as “Your Cheating Heart”. Then the production has thought that “Cheaters” gave better the idea of the plot and so it has been changed. In the cast there are Winona Ryder, Vince Vaughn, Kevin James e Jennifer Garner.

Famous people for a great screenplay by Allan Loeb, recently at work even on “Wall Street 2” and “The Baster”. The plot is about a man that gets to know that his best-friend’s wife is unfaithful but he does not know how to manage such a situation. Vince Vaughn will be the man “who knows”, while Winona Ryder will be the unfaithful wife. The movie will be placed in Chicago for Image Entertainment and there are good chances of placement for the following products: clothing and accessories, design and furniture objects, cars and jewels.

It was the same Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA), during the New York Auto Show in the Big Apple in these days, to disclose that its cars will appear in the sequel of Sex & the City. And the reasons are very simple. “It’s a feminine movie and actually one of the most important targets”. “Besides”, has added the marketing dept, “the investment has not been superior to the organisation of a series of events that would not have reached such an incredible number of persons”, maybe neither with the same efficacy and prestige we can add.Moreover this will be the first of a numbers of placement in TV (reality and sitcom we do not know any details), besides the sponsorship of the next US Open Tennis in New York (Flushing Meadows) during the summer. Their project is to have “the major visibility in terms of product placement with respect to any other luxury cars in the world”. This will be the occasion to present new models as hydrogen O emission ones or the new Class E.

“Nothern Lights”, that will start its shootings in a few weeks in Louisiana, is a movie about the military air force. It can be considered quite a sequel of Top Gun (for a little while the production wanted to give a minor part to Tom Cruise, performing the father of one of the characters). The plot is about 4 young pilots that fly and live everything at the extreme to decide who can be the best pilot of the world. Incredible scenes with a 10G acceleration, nosedives, impossible nosed-ups and lots of adrenalin.

The choice of the main actor has been good, Taylor Lautner, young but already famous actor, dupper and world fame sportman, known thanks to “The Twilight Saga” with the role of Jacob Black.

The movie will be directed by John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, Omen, Max Payne) and produced by David Ellison’s Skydance for Paramount.

The action movies are a good territory for Product Placement, together with brilliant and sentimental comedies. The best products for this project are clothing and accessories (glasses, shoes, jewels, belts, hats, rucksacks and suitcases), tecnological gadgets, cars, motorcycles, drinks and watches.

At the beginning of the week I have got the screenplay of “Montecarlo”, the new comedy by Fox performed by two of the most interesting actresses in Hollywood, that for age reasons have never worked together before. About Nicole Kidman there is nothing to say….. .everybody wants her (intelligent, beautiful, wonderful actress, rich…). About Selena Gomes there is lots to say: she is one of the main characters of Disney Productions (Wizards of Waverly Place, High School Musical); very young, with a great range of interpretations, she is well loved by the public and is able to connect the white anglosaxon with the latin and mediterranean minorities (Italian, Greek, French, Spanish). She is good in comedies and even in this case she is performing the role of a boarder.

During a holiday in Paris something happens to her and her teacher, something that will change their life forever. The shootings, mostly between Paris and Nice, will begin in May and the movie production is now looking for product placements.

As usual it is not possible to disclose other details about the plot, but for sure, such as glasses brands, home furniture, elegant clothing, suitcases, this is the life occasion. A star among the most brilliant, the new teen-ager and the most exclusive location in the world make a sufficient cocktail.

In one month the shootings of “Avon Man” will begin. A brilliant comedy acted by the Australian actor Hugh Jackman (X Men, Kate & Leopold, Scoop, Australia and more than twenty other movies) and directed by Kevin Lima, a very good director often employed by the Disney Productions (Tarzan, La carica dei 102, Alladin Oliver & Company) and the most recent “As enchantment”

The plot relates the story of a father that, having lost his job as car seller, begins with success his new adventure as cosmetics door-to-door salesman. Thanks to his charme and with the help of all his colleagues, fired as well, trains a sexy and fierce salesmen team with the goal to win the home prize.

This production in terms of product placement is interested in furniture and design products, accessories, male and female clothing. The distribution all over the international markets and the promotion are guaranteed by the 20^th Century Fox. Finally, it is evident, even in the title, that the production is “Placement Oriented and an important operation of Brand Integration can be perceived.

The new comedy directed and perfomed by Tom Hanks and the beautiful Julia Roberts should be titled as “Larry Crowne”, but its title could have been even “Talk of the Town” (this in fact was the first choice of the creative directors). The screenplay, a little brilliant and a bit sour, is a work by Nia Vardalos known to the big public for the performance of Toula Portokalos in “My big fat Greek wedding”, of which she wrote the plot too. Larry Crowne is a 50 year old man that, having lost the job and having no chance to find another one because of his age, has to begin again his life. The shootings will start in a month in Los Angeles and before that time any product can be proposed toahr the production. Besides the two main characters and the scriptwriter, always winning and original, there is even the secondary point of the distribution committed to the Major Universal. Each element of this project are success guarantee in terms of public as well as visibility.