As content creators ourselves, we understand what a long journey it can be to develop your own original ideas into successful projects. And we know how important it is to have the right forms of support along the way. There are not many organizations out there who are dedicated to helping emerging artists.

The Alliance for Family Entertainment who have been involved with getting such shows as “Gilmore Girls”, “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Friday Night Lights” on the air are sponsoring a FREE contest. (Full Disclosure: UC is involved with this project! YAY!) They’re looking for comedy screenplays having to do with the modern American family.

The winner will receive $5000, guidance and input from John Wells, whose work includes ER, Third Watch and The West Wing.

Dust off that :30 minute screenplay you polished last year or finish up on the one you started a couple weeks ago. THIS IS WIDE OPEN AND READY FOR THE TAKING!!!!

Submit and additional details here: ComedyWriterContest.com

DEADLINE: October 28th at 11:59 am ET.

I won’t go too much into Coops incredible MC/rythme spittin’ prowess, as that’s not so much the tip he and the group are on anymore, but trust, Kid has flow.  Here’s a link to a gem of a mix tape collabo i’d say i EP’d, mixed by my man Mister Best…. killer flow.

Ok, so fast forward, Steve has an evolved sound, that since I’m not so well versed in the rock genre I can’t make deft comparisons, but rest assured, their live show is guaranteed to have you tapping your foot, shaking your body, and feeling the tunes.  There are a lot of cool tweaked electronic Rhodes sounds, a tempo and pace that is high energy, (they can slow it down too on the grown and sexy tip), and incredible instrumentation all around.

its that kind of futuristic rock n roll that  a hip hop/electronic head can get with.  Dare I say, Radiohead, with faster tempos, more Americana vibed out.  I attended a show 2 nights ago at the Electric Bowery, a dungeony war bunker of a venue, and they tore it down.  Do yourself a favor, plug into Spirit Animal’s digital world and go see a show, I promise you won’t regret it.

Oh and the dude is straight comedy too.  Huge star in the making, mark my blog post. http://twitter.com/#!/thecostofliving

If you’re a hip hop head, having grown up in the 90’s listening to the likes of Tribe, De La, Jungle Bros., then this is a a film for you.   As much as the film documents the origins of one of the  most influential hip hop groups ever, their rise, inter personal issues, and eventual break up… this film is much bigger than them.  It’s really an ode to an era of hip hop, and tells the story of innocence and growth beyond where anybody ever expected it to go.  Tribe is merely a vehicle in my opinion here.

There are the expected cliched stories of egos (or perceived) run amuck, but the purity of the Native Tongues movement still comes through.  Rapaport does a great job of sticking to the script so to speak, of telling the story he, and I think a lot of people want to see.  A straight forward and sober portrait of a group that was instrumental in not only elevating a genre, but I’d argue, preceded and paved the way for the likes of Black Eyed Peas to make fun party jams that all races could get down together on.  The interesting thing is that ATCQ was really afrocentric in their whole persona, and at the same time, all about peace and love.  They don’t get enough props for that.

Big up, go see the film, big up to Michael Rapaport for clearly pouring his heart into a small doc that is an important piece of history… Now as Rapaport said in the Q&A, who’s going to do the WU doc?   “It would take like 7 directors and they’d all lose their minds.”

LETS DO IT!

Our Creative Consigliere Max Joseph helmed this fantastic video we created for TOMS Shoes, which really embodies the spirit of PLAY. We worked with a fantastic choreographer, and dance troop, all genuine TOMS fans, which really brought the whole concept to life.

I remember sitting at Jones on sm blvd, with K$, Hank, and Max, discussing the concept about 6 months ago. Took some time, but here it is.

Ok, we know, we’ve been pretty quiet lately in the megaphone social broadcasting about ourselves sense that is. We’ve been hard at work on a new video series that’s set to launch with GOOD and Ford called “Reinventing the Outdoors” which we’re really proud of. It’s been a ton of work, and in the coming week we’ll be posting the stuff.

So that said, we’re gearing up for a little European holiday/meet the creators tour. I’m going to be doing my best Chev Chase, while trying to stay out of trouble.

We’ll be in the following spots, and we’re looking to connect with creators, be you a blogger, a digital enthusiast, what have you in every city.

Tel Aviv
Jerusalem
Budapest
Berlin
Istanbul
Amsterdam
London
Belgrade

STAND UP!!! Dates to come, looking forward to buying ya’ll a round of drinks. If anybody has recommendations for good pub type spots, please feel free to ping me direct.

I found this fun article on the front page of the LA Times today to be especially relevant.  Apparently, it’s getting tougher for “reality” shows to cast “real” and “authentic” people who will play the desired part/role in the show, but are doing so genuinely.    At UC, we all have docu/non-fiction backgrounds when it comes to content creation, and that seeps into our approach to advertising and marketing.  Genuine fans and ‘brand advocates’ are people we have attuned our skills towards identifying.  And while we don’t go about in the same way the subjects in this article do, (hanging out at bars not in LA or NY… don’t get me wrong, we do that when off the clock)… we know how to spot a phoney.

What’s interesting is that audiences seem to be getting more savvy when it comes to both reality tv programming and advertising.  As wannabes clamor for the spotlight, casting directors, and the like, have to search harder for those people who will not only be entertaining, but are also the real deal.   We do the same.  We’re currently in pre-production on a commercial spot for a brand whose fans are true advocates, and we sold the client on featuring them in the spot.  They loved the idea.  Now the tough part, finding those people who will be natural on camera and at the same time are authentic in their enthusiasm.  They exist! Believe it or not, but this is where the curation comes in.

Cool to see audiences demand the real deal.

This video always makes me laugh, it’s like the people in it learned in the reality coaching school mentioned in the article this lesson “i’m not here to make friends” on day 3 of class.  HAHA!

Oh, also, a related article in Ad Week we wrote on authenticity.  Enjoy!

The article then goes on to explain that Carino’s is holding a contest for the chain’s employees to formally submit ideas for commercials, and from there Carino’s will tap into its agency to produce the chosen one.

The opening frame of the spot has a shot of Lindsay, the employee who suggested the cheesy (sorry) let it snow spot.  And states “Carino’s awards our unique and creative team members”… huh?  How is she being rewarded?  While I commend the spirit for what they’re attempting here, tapping the pool of insight and ideas at the company, an attempt at authenticity to convey that spirit, and then execution… this is a shoehorned half baked execution of employee-sourcing and authenticity.  It would be cool to see a BTS of Lindsay passionately explaining her concept, and why she thinks it’s cool maybe.  Then to see it come to life.  It will be cool if Carino’s let’s the outside see the ideas its employees submits when they run their employee only contest.  The ideas may be good, or plain out bad, but at the very least, it will help personalize the Carino’s experience. TBD

My partner in advergrinding, Hank G wrote a lovely post on what he/we have learned in our almost 2 years now running UC. Since he took the New Year op to look back in time, I thought I’d do my due and look forward to the future of UC. While we’re no consumer facing company ourselves (not yet at least) I still often get questioned about where we’re going and what we’re upto as a company. I’m going to try and make a more regular habit here of positing on this topic, and also more generally about our observations in the marketing world. That said, 2010 was a fantastic year of growth, learning, and great projects for us… Thank you to our clients, team-members, and friends. Here’s to the ultimate buzz word of the last 5 years: transparency.

1.  “Trendumentaries” – Unless you’re a research nerd, the R word is really boring and scary, at least to me.  However, we’re about to take ethnography to the next level through video.  We’re planning on rolling this out as an external offering for anybody who’s interested in topics we choose, with a corporate version for clients, that will include tons of juicy info.  We put the sexy back into research like Timothy Leary, minus the LSD.  Look for an official announcement soon.

2. Mobile App bandwagon- While never on the initial road map from a business standpoint, it’s tough for us to leave an awesome idea untouched.  Our office mates have also been an inspiration… (they’re on to some crack hot shit themselves.)  Henry would kill my ass if I went into any greater detail here on the nature of the first app we’re developing/building, but it’s going to be “hot” and taste really good.  Ok, that’s it.  If you’re reading this and you’re an app developer, please holler [at] urgentcontent dot com.

3. Original Material – Cat’s out of the bag, our contemporaries aren’t so hot on watching TV via a cable box anymore, fine.  And yes, a few people in our office where it as a badge of honor, the fact that they don’t have cable, or really watch TV for that matter… but that won’t stop us from developing serial content.  We have a few projects in development that could take web form, and ultimately make their way to cable… oh la la.  That’s the model of the future.  Develop strong ideas, test online, and then graduate to larger platforms and distribution.

4.  Pro-bono Work – it isn’t just for the uber rich any more.  We have a few causes we’re passionate about, and as they make sense creatively, we intend to produce.

5.  Authentic Stories – It’s our cornerstone and at the heart of what we’re all about… and it always seems to be the new “hot” thing.  When a trend in continuously brought up as a trend, something tells me it’s more than just a fad.  We will stand by our belief that real stories, real people tell the best stories for brands.  We’ll continue to innovate and bring quality work in that vein.

6. BONUS: “The Onion” Franchise – No, not quite.  But if all else fails… Fuck it, could be pretty fun.   But it’s not in the cards.

Ok that’s a really far stretch for a post title. Hear me out though… I recently had privilege of shooting with Puff aka Diddy for our series of Celeb Flip spots on his video shoot for “Coming Home” which took place on a salt flat in the middle of the desert. It wasn’t just the actual shoot experience that made for a cool time, but the journey of getting there was really out of a certain movie (featuring my fellow Xroads alum, Jonah Hill aka Jonah Feldstein. Nice work J!)

It all started back in Las Vegas, where I was on set, for another UC production, that was just as interesting. (Post on that soon to come)

I got the call at 9pm that I if I wanted to shoot with Puff, I had would have to make a call time at 6AM the next day at a Holiday Inn in 29 Palms, CA. WTF!?! I booked it to the airport and rented a car with GPS (thank G_D). And there started my journey. When I looked on Google Maps it seemed simple, 3.5 hours away, no problem. Little did I know, I’d be driving for hours through the Mojave desert on a 2 lane highway. Luckily for me, the entire UC crew was busting ass late night in the office to make deadlines, so I called Henry on the phone to let him know my location. If he didn’t hear from me in 3 hours, then at least he knew where I was and could alert the authorities that I was chopped up to pieces and buried Casino Sam Rothstein style in the desert somewhere.

The Sirius Radio was a serious life saver, specifically BBC Radio 1 (s/o to Gilles P) and Shade45 really pulled me through. I literally drove for 3 hours without seeing one light, not one car passing me in either direction. Fast forward, it’s the next morning, and I’m following a van, driving a half hour on a dirt road to “the location”, where there are 3 helicopters and a full scale production. I must say though, considering how large scale this shoot was for the video, the crew was pretty streamlined. It was blazing hot, and the sun was reflecting off the salt on the ground. But I was ready to get my close up with Diddy.

Diddy could not be more of a professional. and a gentleman. His team, the same way, all pros, all good people, no ego. meanwhile, this is the guy that has really defined an era of music, not to mention, is responsible for shepherding the greatest MC ever to be (B.I.G. RIP). We talked a little bit about the approach to the spot, the length of the final product, how he was going to shoot while in the helicopter (they strapped him in as he hung out the side one leg out of it, no stunt man, WOW!) And he went for it. Puff is a true fan of the product, which really helped. And here you have it ladies and gentleman: the music video in all it’s 3 helicopter splendor!

I’m kinda pshyced to see the fest winner “Last Minutes with ODEN” Doc is so in right now. BTW unrelated note… Catfish” was kinda ill right?