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Attention wine geeks, movie fans and Internet surfers: Coming soon to your laptop — or wine bar— is an unprecedented live Web cast of the premiere of the stage play Sideways. Novelist Rex Pickett is taking advantage of the considerable fan base for Sideways, the 2004 hit movie based on his novel about romance and wine not necessarily in that order, to set up this live Web cast.

The play itself, which Pickett wrote last year, is scheduled to open April 19 at the Ruskin Group Theater in Santa Monica, California. Actress-producer Amelia Mulkey is the director and she officially begins casting the middle of February.

While nothing is set in stone, Pickett is working on a live Web cast of one of the shows with Chuck Banner, head of Bob Banner Prods., under his Legendary Pictures Co. (His father, Bob Banner, was the famed producer of such TV shows as Candid Camera and The Carol Burnett Show.)

“The Sideways fan base is colossal on an international level,” says Pickett. “This is a unique way to reach that fan base. For instance, anyone, for a modest fee — say, $5 — can watch a live Web cast of the play anywhere in the world. Wine bars, as with sports bars and boxing matches, would pay a premium to hold it. Never been done before. I don’t think it would work with, say, Waiting for Godot at the Guthrie, but Sideways? Whole other ballgame.”

There is a model for such a Web cast. Comedian Lewis C.K. recently did a show that wasn’t live, but rather an edited Web cast. He promoted it, built a special Web site that directed viewers to PayPal to spend $5 and he made a small fortune in 48 hours by cutting out all the middlemen.

Sideways will be Web cast with a dozen remote controlled cameras mounted in the theater. They will be fed to a trailer outside the theater just as a network covers a sporting event. There will be a special Web site built to handle the traffic.

“We’ll promote it on all fronts, using a PR firm and whoever funds the live Web stream,” explains the writer. “We’re in talks with a very big entertainment entity, and wineries will sponsor given weeks. Plus the special live stream Web site will have advertising by the sponsoring wineries. This has never been done before with a play like this. If we pull it off, you’ll be able to see a live, professionally shot and edited performance of the play anywhere in the world — China, South America, wherever. It will also be available as an edited download.”

Viewers will, however, have to supply their own Pinot Noir.

Meanwhile read my review of Vertical, Pickett’s sequel to Sideways.

- by Kirk Honeycutt

There is an old adage that says, “You Have To Crawl Before You Can Walk.” Well for an actor, you have to get the callback before you can book. Most actors know the deal with auditions. If you fit the type and can get through the sides, they’ll want to see more of you. What about the callback? How can you take the casting director’s mild interest and turn into a burning fire of intrigue and wanting? Although there is no exact science to this, but there are some general things that casting directors might be looking for on that second meeting.

A Hot Date
The callback is like a first date after you’ve met someone out at a bar. The casting director has decided that your opening lines were worth a more intimate meeting, so now you just have do enough to kick the relationship off. Be a hot date. Take some chances, don’t be afraid to stand out. Whatever they’re casting you for, be it a major motion picture, a television gig or a regional commercial, they want someone to pop. Be memorable.

A Confident Attitude
If you don’t book, you could be getting evicted. You know this; make sure the casting director doesn’t. Put your focus on the work and not on the stakes, no matter what they might be. This, of course, is much easier said than done, but it has to be pulled off. Remember that you need them contemplating not only the positives of booking you, but the negatives of passing. To accomplish that, you’ll need mastery over your scene study and your nerves.

The Frank Sinatra Component
Ah, Frankie, the Chairman of the Board. We could all use a little of his essence. That’s what you need. You need to be able to roll with anything they throw at you. Things run a little late, stay cool. They ask you to come in a little early, be cool. Whatever they ask, stay cool. If you’re English accent sucks and they ask you to try it, don’t make an issue, just try to fail with a little swagger and humor. Make sure they know that you’re a pro, one that you can handle anything they throw at you. This is an unbelievably valuable thing to have on set. Set is a place where even the tiniest idiosyncrasies can turn toxic and blow up morale, making versatile and easy going talent an essential component to a smooth shoot. Show them you’re the one who can handle the cold days, the rainy days and the drunken director days. Stay Cool.

Take those three arrows and put them in your actor’s arsenal. Use them as weapons against the tyranny of unemployment and frustration. Good luck out there.

Stephen H. Burum, the famed cinematographer who shot such films as The Untouchables, The War of the Roses, Mission: Impossible and The Outsiders, says the biggest change in the world of feature moviemaking during his career is the current mix of digital and film. “You do not have one system from beginning to end,” he explains. And if one isn’t careful, this can drive expenses up and up.

“A filmmaker will say, ‘We’re doing the movie all digital. It will be a lot cheaper.’ Well maybe with a digital camera it will be cheaper. But unless you know how you’re doing post, what the finish going to be and what the release platforms will be — there are multiple kinds of releases these days — you really put yourself in serious financial risk.”

Those “fixes” that suddenly arise when switching among different media can add time, which means greater interest charges on a producer’s loan, he points out.

The other big development is the rapidly changing nature of the camera equipment itself. “Digital cameras turnover every six months,” says Burum. “Rental houses must put out the money to buy this new equipment, which makes it very difficult to make a profit.

“In the commercial business, clients want new and different. And camera manufacturers are always keen to sell a new piece of this or that, something you have to get. So a post-production house or rental house in the commercial business is asked to buy that equipment even though it makes no difference at all in the final product. It’s only the perception that it’s hot.”

The next big change that Burum and his colleagues are looking forward to is an 8K camera.

“Within next two to five years we’ll have an 8K camera like 70mm,” he says. “The only question is where will the money for research and development come from? We should have had it 15 years ago.”

- by Kirk Honeycutt