"The Stakes" Gets It's International Film Fest Premiere

What a crazy year it has been for "The Stakes," a small independant shirt film that was able to cruise its way through two local film festivals and now on to the International scene. 

A year ago, if you had told me that I would be making a film that would be shown in an International Film Fest the following year, I would have laughed, but here we are.

It was another packed house for "The Stakes" and "Fatal Call," the feature film directed by "Stakes" originator, Jack Snyder. We were so lucky to have been paired up with Jack's film from the start and the two pieces definitely complimented one another and made for a HELL of a double feature!

The picture above is of our Script Supervisor, Stacy Singh, Executive Producer, Joshua McNew and myself on the "red carpet."

As we now start the process of making our next film, the fate of "The Stakes" lies in the hands of investors who will hopefully get this film to other festivals around the country and if we are lucky, maybe the world. Keep an eye out and an ear open for more news regarding the film and eventually its release online!

Thanks so much,

-P

CeCe breaks the bottom 2 AGAIN!

With all of the preparation for the premiere of The Stakes last week, I forgot to blog about CeCe's win in last week's X Factor.

The assignment that week was to rock out a famous song from a movie sountrack and MissXtotheO chose "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky III. On a personal note, I have never been a fan of this song, as much as I love the Rocky franchise... I have never really been THAT into this song and I actually find it quite annoying. But needless to say, CeCe took to "the challenge of her rivals" and beat the hell out of the song like Rocky Balboa did to Clubber Lang.

Plus her trademark leopard print made a distinct return in new fashion, which I thought was a nice touch. And fire... Seriously, FIRE on stage!

That pretty much sold the performance for me, but it didn't impress the judges. LA Reid felt like it was strong, but just wasn't doing it for him, while Simon Cowell (who has surprisingly been a CeCe suporter in the past) admitted that Demi Lovato has pretty much been "cocking" up CeCe's song choice.

CeCe has been a huge fan of Demi for some time, and I still believe that CeCe's version of Demi's "Skyscraper" is still better than the original. But here for the first time, I am starting to think that their match up is gonna cause CeCe's eventual downfall on the show. It just does not seem to be meshing. And part of that (I believe) is because Demi Lovato is just not as talented or original as the press make her out to be.

So... the next night, CeCe found herslf in the bottom two once again, this time facing off against flamboyant showman, Jason Brock (who, I absolutely LOVED btw). 

Once again, CeCe hit the judges with a ballad (Her saving grace several times over during this competition). And while pretty much putting her words into the song form, she told the judges and the audience watching at home that they "hadn't seen the last of her." And it wasn't.

After the judges were deadlocked in their votes. The audience's voting at home determined that Jason Brock was the official loser and CeCe was granted a pass to stick around for another week.

Whew, intense.
On to next week!

-P 

Cast and Crew shoot about "The Stakes"

The official Festival Premiere of "The Stakes" is less than ONE WEEK AWAY! and to celebrate, Myself and some of the cast and crew got together to talk about the film and the importance of its FINAL showing in St. Louis at the 2012 St. Louis International Film Festival!

Once again, the info for the screening is:

The Stakes and Fatal Call

Sunday November 11th

at The Tivoli Theatre (University City, MO)

8:30 pm

Tickets - $9

Tickets can be purchased from Landmark Theatres HERE

I hope to see you all at the movies!

-P

CeCe Narrowly escapes Elimination on X Factor!

CeCe hit the stage on Wednesday night's first X Factor LIVE show with a rockin rendition of Patti Smith's "Here Come The Night." I watched the following day with no clue of how the evening would turn out, but was blown away by how transformed CeCe had become into a mega star. I mean, just a few months ago we were in Kyle Jordan Mueller's basement filming against a green screen for her cover of "Wild Ones" and now she putting on a Britney-esque performance (not on IN FRONT OF Britney) but also in front of millions of viewers WORLDWIDE!

Unfortunately, things did not go CeCe's way and the judges ultimately criticized her vocals by chalking it up to "nervousness." The thing that gets me, is that they also claim that her performance was NOT CeCe... I thinks it was quite the opposite. I think it was 110% CeCe, and the entire perforamce (from the dancers to the makeup to the wardrobe) was all a personification of her style and creativity. I think the judges, Simon Cowell especially, only want to see the softer side of CeCe and not the "Rocker" side that she works so hard to maintain. Anyway, this left CeCe in Demi Lovato's "Bottom Two" and facing elimination on the following night's LIVE show.

Luckily, she made her presence known once again in front of those millions of viewers and established herself as a REAL contender in this competition, taking down Willie Jones and remaining in the game! I have to admit, I have been swept up in the Hunger Games aspects of this show and am now eagerly waiting to find out what happens next.

A year ago, I knew that I only wanted to work with the MOST talented artists in St. Louis before making my way to the west coast. And thus far, I truly have.

-P

"The Stakes" Returns to the screen on 11.11

Sunday November 11th, "The Stakes" will return to the big screen for ONE NIGHT ONLY at the 2012 St. Louis International Film Festival!

The 17 min short will once again screen with the full length film "Fatal Call" directed by "Stakes'" co-creator, Jack Snyder at the Tivoli Theatre in University City, MO at 8pm.

Tickets are available through Cinema St. Louis and Landmark Theatres at:

"The Stakes" and "Fatal Call" at 2012 SLIFF

Once again, here is the official info:

Sunday November 11th
at The Tivoli Theatre (University City, MO)
8pm
Tickets - $9 

See You There!

-P