Five Sisters Productions Blog Archive (January to April 2007)

Archived: 2006 Entries, Happiest Day Film Shoot, January to June 2005, July to December 2005, May to September 2007

April 20, 2007
entry by: Gabrielle Burton

Yesterday, I was the guest speaker at a women's business group in town (like Rotary), and it was a lot of fun. I showed our film's trailers (which got applause!) and then I spoke about filmmaking, our films, and about being women in film, in business, and in life -- our negotiation/business power and networking power/potentials. I like speaking to groups and talking about our films with people; it is fulfilling as a filmmaker when people who've seen your work talk about its impact on them...

April 20, 2007

HAPPIEST DAY was in The Newport Beach Film Festival south of Los Angeles, and was given the Bulldog Award! Ursula commuted down from LA and enjoyed seeing some classmates from Yale who surprised her there.

April 19, 2007

THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE screened at the opening night of Alive Deep Focus Film Festival in Columbus with the premiere of the movie WAITRESS. It was a great screening with a huge crowd, followed by a terrific party.

April 13 and 14, 2007

The Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee invited HAPPIEST DAY, and Ursula went. The film got a great reception. It's great to have audiences respond to your work in the way you hope. It was also nice to be back at the festival with another film.

April 11, 2007

THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE is screening at the opening night of The Beverly Hills Film Festival at 7 pm today. The glamour and glitz of Beverly Hills was all there. Many of the Burtons walked the red carpet, which was a lot of fun. Heather Burgett was the publicist, and it was nice to reconnect with her (she was our publicist a few years ago).

April 8, 2007

Roger Burton (our dad) is on a show called "Shady Acres" playing the role of Bryce, a 17-year old who looks like he's in his 70's due to a disease of aging quadruple time. Voting has been taking place on whether people like the show because that's how ACCEPTABLE TV (a VH1 production) determines which of the shows will get made into a regular sitcom.

After you view it PLEASE VOTE online at: http://acceptable.tv/contest/tv/videos/1120-Shady-Acres

April 2, 2007

For all you DARK SHADOWS, DR. WHO, SCI-FI FANS:
Ursula was in the Dark Shadows audio dramas that were made for CD.

Image: Actors David Selby, Jamison Selby and Ursula Burton

"We can now unveil some of the guest cast for the first Dark Shadows CD, September's The House of Despair. Jamison Selby joins the players in the role of Ed Griffin. Jamison will be a familiar name to Dark Shadows fans, the son of actor David Selby (Quentin).

...Also appearing in The House of Despair is Ursula Burton, in the role of Susan Griffin. Ursula is an LA-based actress and producer, who previously worked with Big Finish in the Doctor Who audio adventure The Game."

Full Article

Ursula was also in the Doctor Who audio drama - THE GAME. The writer of THE GAME is Darin Henry of Seinfeld, Futurama fame. This story takes place between "Time-Flight" and "The Arc of Infinity".

Cast List
The Doctor = Peter Davison
Nyssa = Sarah Sutton
Ambassador Faye Davis = Ursula Burton
Ockle Dirr = Robert Curbishley
Coach Bela Destry = Gregory Donaldon
Morian = Christopher Ellison
Hollis Az = Andrew Lothian
Garny Diblick = Jonathan Pearce
Lord Darzil Carlisle = William Russell
Coach Sharz Sevix = Dickon Tolson

More Information

March 14 - 16, 2007

The Delray Beach Film Festival awarded the Chloe Award for THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE. It was presented to Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker for outstanding performance and dedication to and support of creative filmmaking. They represented the film, as Ursula had to be in LA to be in a McDonald's commercial.

March 10, 2007

THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE screened for its official premiere at the Very Short Films Festival in Los Angeles, CA and the historic Egyptian Theater. Ursula was interviewed on ABC and other news shows, which was fun. (One interview is on: http://www.veryshortmovies.com/ There is a place to download the March 8th ABC news piece.) AND THEN the movie won the Best Comedy award! Yay!

March 2007 update
entry by: Ursula Burton

Great news! After 2 plus years of blood, sweat, and tears -- drum roll please -- THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE is finally done and has been chosen by the Very Short Movies Festival to be a Finalist in competition. The film will have its World Premiere on Sat. March 10th at noon in a series of shorts called "Pushing the Boundaries" at the beautiful Egyptian Theater (6712 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028 - 800-376-9047, www.veryshortmovies.com). The film will play again in the same series on Sunday, March 11th at noon.

It was also just reviewed by Robert Abele in the LA Times today:
The Very Short Movies Festival, happening next weekend at the Egyptian, will present new works, recent films that have won awards and shorts by now-established studio filmmakers. Among the new offerings is a delightful gender-switch comedy called "The Happiest Day of His Life" from Ursula Burton that is a long joke -- reversing wedding sex-role traditions of bride and groom from proposal (she kneels) to planning (dad organizes, mom rolls her eyes) to rice toss -- but a well-played and thorough one at that. A favorite: the crudely teasing she-doesn't-deserve-him toast made by one of the "brideswomen." As far as films that were previously honored, this year's Oscar winner for animated short, "The Danish Poet" is a must. And in the program "From Short List to A List," there is the novelty of seeing early USC student work from Robert Zemeckis ("A Field of Honor), James Foley ("November") and George Lucas, whose penchant for roaring machines that go fast has its roots in his hypnotic racing doc "1:42:08 to Qualify."

HAPPIEST DAY will screen the following week, March 14th and 16th, at the Delray Beach Film Festival in Florida, where Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker will be guests of honor. They and the film will receive an award. I will be there too. Spread the word if you know anyone who lives near West Palm Beach. HAPPIEST DAY will also be in the Beverly Hills Film Festival on Wed, April 11th at 7PM. And THEN the movie will play in the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee Film Festival in April! I will keep you updated on future developments.

And here's some other fun news! THE WAR AT HOME is bringing back my character, Donna Schladweiler on Sunday, March 4 -- at 7:30PM on FOX. And you can catch me in two episodes of THE OFFICE in my recurring role as Hannah Smotrich-Barr on Thurs. March 8 -- at 8:30 & 10:00PM on NBC.

entry by: Gabrielle Burton

We enjoyed reading this from a friend of ours, Jacques Thelemaque:

"One person's failure is another's stroke of genius. Creative failure is simply whatever isn't working for YOU after you've tried it out, which gives you the opportunity to learn from it, clean it up or try something new - perhaps something even more daring and exciting. ... Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Happiness is not a constitutional right; you only have the right to be allowed to go for it. Nobody owes you happiness or success. .... The prejudice of others may be an obstacle but you should never allow it to become an unbreakable barrier. "

I really liked what he was talking about, which was in the middle of a long piece he wrote on not whining about how hard things are, but working to cut negativity from your life. Filmmaking is such an impossible endeavor, requiring so much money, collaboration, and luck, in addition to talent and creativity. It's like climbing Mt. Everest over and over, or being Perseus pushing his rock up the hill. But as artists, you just keep going, not letting anyone else's definition of your success or failure be your own definition. We've had people say a movie of ours is the best movie they've ever seen in their life, and then I remember the woman in New York City who walked out of the theater and confided in me "Thaaat was the wuhse movie (pause) I have EVAH seen (pause) in muhy ENTIAH life." Each segment of the sentence kept pushing the insult higher, and I paused and said, "Sorry you feel that way. I directed it." She turned beet red and stumbled around saying she didn't really mean it that harshly....but you know what? That's just the way people are. Critics can break you as a small filmmaker, and while it's horribly frustrating, you can't take a critic's voice to be the voice of reality. As we all know, it can be fun to tear something down, be it a lego tower or someone's work. The funnier the insults, the better, most people feel. But the truth for artists is that you've got to remember what YOU think about the work, if it's a failure or a success for YOU. And then just keep going, and keep working.

Investor update time, as well as tax time, etc. Also working on our office storage system, computer organization, and other office general upkeep work. Not the most fun stuff, nor creative, but it's got to be done...

February 27, 2007

Maria, Gabrielle, and Ursula went in to work with Don Zirlin (and Arianna Javelona and Mali Shoshan) at Designworks in Agoura Hills (www.dzynwrx.com) on the cover art for the JUST FRIENDS and TEMPS DVDs. They are a fabulous company to work with. We love the design we've come up with. On TEMPS, we've put pictures of many characters in a film strip along the top and bottom (as one main character is a filmmaker), and on JUST FRIENDS, it's a split poster image of the romantic comedy's characters on top and bottom with a clean white strip in the middle with the title.

February 2007 update

MANNA FROM HEAVEN continues to be available on DVD through our website, on other sites, in Blockbuster, and through Netflix. It was invited in December to screen for the Academy of Television in New York City, hosted by documentarian Sumner Glimcher, which was delightful. MANNA also screened for the United Way as a charitable event, and was written about in the Rotary International Magazine, as well as in FAMILY BUSINESS Magazine. What's more, the movie continues to play in movie theaters across the country -- it showed in Denver, Fort Collins, Delaware, and a few other cities in 2006, and it has been invited by the Toronto Film Festival Group to screen in a special pilot program for patients at the Toronto General Hospital. So Buffalo's great image continues to get seen around the world! Remember, if you have a group that wants to screen MANNA, let us know!

Speaking of Buffalo, we were very sad to see the trees in Buffalo badly damaged from the earliest snow on record, and we hope they rebound quickly. On a happy note, Buffalo is launching The Buffalo International Film Festival, and we were honored to be asked to be on the Board.

We are working to get TEMPS and JUST FRIENDS (our first two feature films) put out on DVD this year. We will keep you posted!

THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE is finished! It was invited to preview at the Wexner Center in Ohio (one of the country's top art/film centers). Ursula flew there with the brand new print from the wonderful people at Color By Deluxe (who helped sponsor the movie), and the response to the film was fantastic. Now we're excited to start its festival tour. A distribution company is interested in releasing the movie on Canadian television, and we will pursue that opportunity for details. In addition to being a crowd pleaser, THE HAPPIEST DAY OF HIS LIFE appeals to groups with an interest in gender roles, sociology or weddings, so the film may be used in college courses and as a great wedding shower activity or present.

Maria has been working on a documentary on the Business of Dating, interviewing matchmakers, online dating companies, speed-dating execs, etc. Also, the documentary about the a cappella singing group, The BOBS, SIGN MY SNARLING MOVIE, which Maria co-directed with Alex Stein, is almost done. We watched a rough cut of movie, and if you're a Bobs' fan, you're going to love it!

Ursula has been recurring on two TV shows this season! On THE OFFICE, she plays the breast-pumping mom, Hannah, and on THE WAR AT HOME, she plays the ever cheerful office mate, Donna. Hannah is due to come back for a workplace lawsuit storyline -- be sure to write NBC if you want to see more of her.

Gabrielle and Jennifer are both writing, and Jennifer has started filming a documentary on modern-day parenting.

Our mother is writing both prose and film scripts, and our father has started an acting career! He's already appeared on AMERICAN IDOL and you may have seen him in the Vytorin (cholesterol drug) commercial running currently, where he's paired with the turkey. Look for him in an upcoming Washington Mutual commercial and on THE GEORGE LOPEZ SHOW, and MONK ( his episode of MONK will air on the USA channel, February 9 and 9 pm).

Various work -- on pitches for the WE channel who asked us to throw some ideas at them. The liked them, but said they were too "classy" for the slots they are filling right now. As far as rejection reasons go, that's one we'll take!

January 30, 2007

Our father, Roger Burton, is now acting in commercials and television shows. He's on THE GEORGE LOPEZ SHOW, as well as MONK this month, and he is currently on a Vytorin ad you may have seen that compares people to food groups -- and our dad plays the "turkey." He's having a lot of fun, and he's good! Next up is MY NAME IS EARL's season opener!

January 23, 2007

Maria continues work on the THE MERCURY 13 script. As we mentioned, the Mercury 13 were thirteen women who, in the 1960s passed the same astronaut tests given to the original Mercury 7 male astronauts. The women were remarkable pilots and real American heroes (many were test pilots for new aircraft), but the plug was pulled on the program for political reasons and they've been largely forgotten in history. Now Maria is helming the work to get that film to the screen. It's a sad state of affairs that movies aren't often greenlit if they focus on women's stories in history, and generally they need a significant male costar. However, this is such an inspiring part of American history that it deserves to be seen by a wide public. The next hurdle will be getting funding -- it will be an expensive film; it’s a period piece, has a large cast for big stars, and involves fast planes and NASA equipment. Good news -- Maria spoke with Cate Blanchett about it, and Cate is interested in one of the lead roles.

January 18, 2007

Today we were asked by WE Channel to think of some ideas for television shows we'd like to do, so we'll work on that.

January 15, 2007

Maria has been working on a documentary about the business of dating -- a fascinating topic, as it's rapidly becoming one of the biggest businesses in the country. Some of the techniques work well; others are scams. It’s been quite interesting to look closely at the subject. So far, Maria has interviewed the person who started J-Date, Matchmakers, other online dating site founders, and people who have used various dating services, both successfully and unsuccessfully.

January 7, 2007

Ursula's has been appearing regularly on the TV show THE OFFICE. Her character Hannah Smotridge-Barr is a new mom who shows her co-workers pictures of her baby’s first bath (including her naked husband) and pumps milk openly in the office. She just quit after six shows, but may come back for a workplace lawsuit storyline -- write NBC to encourage them to have her character back! It's great to have a working mother on television, and it'd be interesting to see her dealing with an office that wasn't friendly to parenting issues.

Ursula is also currently playing a recurring part on the show THE WAR AT HOME. Tune in...

January 10, 2007
entry by: Gabrielle Burton

I am so terribly sad. My friend from college, filmmaker Helen Hill, was murdered on January 4th in her home in New Orleans by a man who was trying to escape the police after attempting to rob a bed and breakfast nearby. New Orleans is suffering so much after the flood, and the crime rate is out of control. Helen and her husband Paul Gailiunas were people who devoted themselves to the poor and disenfranchised. Paul worked in clinics helping the poor. Now he will leave New Orleans with their 2-year-old son Francis and move back home to his parents and siblings city in Canada. The whole situation is a tragic loss, both with the loss of a sweet soul and now with the loss of a charitable doctor in New Orleans. More information about Helen and her animation film work can be found on www.helenhill.org.

Her funeral was today in South Carolina. A number of us friends from college went. It was comforting to see so many people at the funeral expressing what an impact Helen made on our lives.

January 1, 2007

Happy New Year from all of us at FIVE SISTERS PRODUCTIONS. Thanks to all of you who support our work and efforts, and we look forward to a productive and fruitful new year!