Alright, it’s only fair to inform you that blogging is something I neglect. I will try to do a better job about updating things but I reserve the right to blog as much or as little as I want to :). I imagine that I will have lots to tell you about in the near future/this fall though.

For now, I am pleased to announce that an original live action tween comedy series concept of mine (which has been in the works for a couple years now) is in active development with Amberwood Entertainment and E1. It could still be a while until anything actually gets produced but it is exciting to be able to share even this stage with you.

If you are interested in following my music video work, I encourage you to subscribe to the online channel I co-founded. Check out the channel on vimeo here: Applecrisp Music Video Club and subscribe to the ACMVC twitter here!

Upcoming project: A documentary on the closure of Canada’s prison farm program. Hope to have more news on this project soon!

Take care for now,

Lenny

“Ruby Can’t Fail“, a film project to which I am attached as producer won the Kingston Canadian Film Festival’s “10 Years, 10 Minutes” competition. This means we have received some very basic funding to produce an original screenplay by Colette Lacoursiere who will also direct.

The story, briefly:

A young woman sets off with lofty aspirations and the hopes of her town on her shoulders. “Ruby Can’t Fail”, set in Los Angeles, California and Kingston, Ontario, brings that young woman home to face her lack of success.

At this time, we are putting out an open call seeking local crew for key positions. If you are experienced in the film industry as: Director of Photography, Production Design/Art Department, Wardrobe, Hair/Make Up, Sound, Casting Director, and Locations or other fields, please send an introductory email to me, producer Lenny Epstein.
Email address: lenny[at]epsteincreative.ca

Colin Munroe - Who Killed Davey Moore from josh lyon on Vimeo

Josh made this video all by himself while being dad to a newborn (child number 3). I can only imagine! He is a great colleague and friend. I think he did an amazing job with this.

Also, we are nearly ready to launch the Apple Crisp Music Video Club. Stay tuned for good times ahead.

Lenny

The production office at 108-122 Princess St. will be closed as of March 1st, 2009. Contact information does not change and all mail should continue to go to the main office at 59 Markland Street. We will continue with a heavy production schedule on music videos, short film projects, and continue to develop larger scale broadcast and film projects. We will also continue to offer commercial/corporate video production services.

Best,

Lenny

Hard to believe that the last time I posted was the same kind of night. Soon Josh will have his baby! We are working hard on different music video projects- planning some really fun and exciting things. January should reap some excellent footage. Also, reelout coming up end of January, Apple Crisp Fest in March…Kyra and Tully will release some new music on my label Buster Records soon. With so many worried about the economy, I suggest we work together. I’d like to invite companies who understand the importance of video (especially on the web) to contact me. I am confident we will make work that will blow people away.

Also, expect new work from me soon…and an incredible way to participate in the artistic careers of Lenny and Josh!

Happy New Year,

Lenny

Thanks to everyone who came out to the video release party. Thanks also to everyone who helped make the video and of course, to the Gertrudes for being so great to work with!

Here’s it is for your cosmic enjoyment.

The Gertrudes’ Blackbird and the Cedar from josh lyon on Vimeo.

But first, a status report. A tardy welcome to Mr. Josh Lyon who has been working with me since August. He now officially serves as my number two with the company and has been working so far mostly on elements of post-production. As a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design studying integrated media, Josh brings experience and skills in animation, puppetry, music, 3d modeling and visual effects. He’s a really smart guy and good person and now we can offer all these new services out of our office!

The Gertrudes will be releasing the ‘Blackbird and the Cedar’ video I made for/with them on Oct. 31. They just had a show (must’ve been fun) at pop montreal.

Internet video podcasts. Series are great to get your cultures and messages out to specific audiences.  We are able to create great value for you. I’ll post some links/videos of past work soon. If you want a sample sooner than that, please call me.

Best,

Lenny

After grueling work in the trenches of typography, Vincent Perez has come out victorious. And with the simultaneous work of Mr. Eric Akaoka, who has made this website, Epstein Creative the brand new brand of Lenny Epstein is launching. And with the new look comes a new bunch of content. I’ve been having a lot of fun with the music stuff lately. So in the near future, I will post a bunch of live concert recordings and music video clips. In terms of what promises to keep me busy, I have a number of corporate and academic web videos on my plate into the fall. I’m also currently working on scripting a multimedia piece for a theater on bird migration at the Philly Zoo. So things are well and things are dynamic in a good way. I’m producing a lot right now and enjoy it a great deal. Lowell and I continue to work on thinkhive, I have two new interns (welcome Emily and Isaac). I have been meeting great friends and am developing some projects with some super people. And so it goes. Today is yesterday’s tomorrow.

Later,

Lenny

Well, I’m happy to announce that I’ve finally got a home away from home at my new office. I’m now available to be visited at 108-122 Princess St. in the heart of downtown Kingston. It’s downstairs below the old Fabricland and Modshop right next to Made 4 You and the used bookstore. I’m sharing the space with Lowell Cochrane of Show Communications (writer/director/producer of multimedia exhibits for museums and science centres) and Brian Hotson (who produces interactive media and broadcast segments for TVO kids). We are very excited about our shared creative space and we plan great improvements to the space in the near future and beyond. Stay tuned… I look forward to seeing you soon.

Kingston is about to embark on a cultural planning process. I hope that by the end of it, we can find a way to explode the current way of thinking in this city about the value of our cultural assets and specifically, the exponentially concentrated value of small-group, experimental, even non-commercial, not-for-profit, practitioners. These groups attract the “creative class”. I’ll bet that if one did a survey of what was most important to an innovative, visionary, creative individual considering where to make their home, one would find that places like The Sleepless Goat, The Artel, Modern Fuel, The Skeleton Park Music Festival, reelout etc., along with vibrant neighbourhoods, greenspace and other such community features are more of a draw than some of the larger, more expensive cultural projects/organizations that receive the lion’s share of municipal funding. We should consider how we can cultivate the grounds for many more small, robust, experimental grassroots cultural organizations and start-ups…I’m not sure if other people share this way of thinking but if we want to truly blossom as a destination for the ‘knowledge economy’, we need to think creatively about how we invest our municipal dollars to get the highest cultural return. Separately, while it is a great start that the city is finally funding the arts with annual operating and project grants, looking at the numbers, only 54% of applications were funded, and far less than 50% of the monies requested was actually granted. This demonstrates that the available pool of money is not sufficient to sustain even the organizations that already exist, never mind demonstrate capacity to provide resources for continued growth in the number and diversity of arts organizations locally.
That’s just my two cents :)….
Talk soon,
Lenny