AMC Digital Studios, Filmmaker Peter Glanz, Producer Neda Armian Make Their Mark Online With "The Trivial Pursuits Of Arthur Banks"
By Robert Goldrich
NEW YORK --AMC–which broke new ground in 2008 when Mad Men became the first basic cable series ever to win a Best Drama Emmy (the first of three consecutive such honors and the show is still going strong, garnering 18 nominations this year)–has now diversified into original web programming with The Trivial Pursuits of Arthur Banks, the first AMC Digital Studios production. Shot in black-and-white cinematic style, Arthur Banks also marks the network’s first comedy series. Consisting of three episodes totaling 40-plus minutes, the show went live on Monday (8/22) at amc.tv and Hulu.
While Mad Men brought the 1960s advertising biz into contemporary primetime entertainment, Peter Glanz–director, creator, editor, co-writer and an executive producer of the wry Arthur Banks–hopes the web series will generate additional momentum for his ad career. He is repped as a director for commercials and branded content by First Wave, a New York-based hybrid production/post/music house under the aegis of EP Justin Havlik.
Indeed Glanz is already a directorial discovery, identified as such by the recently launched AMC Digital Studios which actively scouts for new filmmaking voices–writers as well as directors–to brand the network online. Its initial branding endeavor, Arthur Banks, stars Adam Goldberg in the title role of an accomplished playwright/director who stages a play that reflects his dysfunctional love life. We see how the two worlds parallel and then collide as his romantic escapades–which include his leading lady and her understudy–come alive on and off stage with a darkly tinged comic bent. Characters such as Banks’ therapist (played by Jeffrey Tambor) and a married male friend who too is romantically challenged add to the mix of angst, neuroses and self-deprecating humor. (At one point, the narrator tells us that Banks views his romantic relationship with the play’s lead actress as being “an allegory for the Spanish Inquisition.”)
Short filmography
AMC gravitated to Glanz based on his work in short films. In 2008, he wrote and directed the short A Relationship in Four Days, which had its domestic and international debuts, respectively, at the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Critics’ Week. Last year, Glanz’s short The Dinner Party premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. AMC became interested in a web series based on the male lead in The Dinner Party, building that character and his story. Glanz wrote the scripts and AMC was favorably impressed, not only green lighting them for the show but signing the director/writer to a first-look deal for TV and narrative web content.
Though First Wave’s Havlik wasn’t directly involved in The Trivial Pursuits of Arthur Banks, Glanz credited him with being “incredibly helpful in navigating the web world” and pointing the series in the right direction.
Glanz actually has roots in spotmaking, which eventually led him to Havlik. After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., Glanz first moved into helming various fashion commercials and gaining representation from Paris production house Premiere Heure (which Glanz said still handles him on the other side of the Atlantic for select spots). This later brought him to stateside roost Grand Large headed by executive producer Steve Horton, a former Premiere Heure staffer. At Grand Large, Glanz met exec producer Havlik who in ’09 helped launch Grand Large’s GL-X, a division focused on new media projects, including varied forms of web content. When Havlik exited Grand Large to form First Wave, Glanz went with him earlier this year. Among their collaborations at Grand Large was an Estee Lauder perfume ad towards the end of 2010. This adds to a body of work for Glanz over the years that also spans commercials for fashion icons such as Marc Jacobs and Bergdorf Goodman.
“After being heavily involved in commercials at the start of my career, I went on somewhat of a hiatus in order to pursue my work in short films and longer form project development,” related Glanz. “But I’ve always loved doing commercials and now for the first time in quite awhile, my schedule is flexible enough to accommodate them. My hope is that the AMC web series will help to generate agency interest in me for commercials and branded web content.”
Feature prep
Still, Glanz’s schedule remains quite diverse. He has adapted A Relationship In Four Days into a feature, The Longest Week, which Neda Armian (producer of Rachel Getting Married) is slated to produce. Currently in prep on the feature, Glanz said he nonetheless currently has an opportune window of availability for spots and branded entertainment as filming of The Longest Week doesn’t get underway until October. After that, when he is in post on the feature film, Glanz said he would be able to take on additional ad assignments.
Glanz described Armian as “a godsend,” citing her pedigree on assorted Jonathan Demme movies, including Rachel Getting Married, which was nominated for Best Feature at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards. Glanz also noted that he enjoyed a positive working collaboration with Armian as his producing partner on The Trivial Pursuits Of Arthur Banks.
From short to long-form fare, Glanz storyboards every single frame. He said he especially enjoyed working on Arthur Banks with cinematographer Eric Koretz, who earlier this year won the best cinematography honor at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival on the strength of director Tristan Patterson’s documentary feature Dragonslayer.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer โ but not the trigger โ and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More