FilmL.A., Inc.–the Los Angeles region’s private, nonprofit film office charged with facilitating on-location production–has elected entertainment industry and labor relations veteran Bryan Unger to chair its 2007 board of directors.
Unger, who serves as Western executive director of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), led his first FilmL.A. Board meeting this month. He joined FilmL.A.’s board shortly after it was restructured in ’03, and replaces outgoing chair Jean Prewitt of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA).
FilmL.A.’s board comprises 24 members representing L.A.-area neighborhoods, major studios, independent production companies, entertainment industry guilds, unions and vendors. The nonprofit’s services include one-stop on-location permit coordination, neighborhood notification, troubleshooting and data gathering/analysis.
FilmL.A. president Steve MacDonald noted that Unger’s experience in entertainment production and labor negotiation makes him well prepared to work with FilmL.A.’s diverse board and constituencies.
“Bryan is uniquely adept at building consensus,” said MacDonald. “He also brings a deep and nuanced understanding of the production process and the challenges the Los Angeles region faces in today’s global, highly competitive production marketplace.”
Unger is responsible for contract administration and enforcement of the DGA’s film and television agreements with major studios, as well as the Guild’s agreement with talent agencies. After working in film and television production, he began his career as a labor executive at Local 15 of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET). He then served for five years as international representative with the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) before joining the DGA in ’94.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More