Tag Archives: TV

The Only Way is Made in Alton

Posted on by

Alton Towers Resort offers guests the chance to star in their own reality TV show

The Alton Towers Resort is today introducing a new service that offers theme park visitors 15 minutes of fame by giving them the chance to star in their very own reality TV-show. In the wake of the success of The Only Way is Essex, Made in Chelsea and Geordie Shore, the Alton Towers Resort is hoping its ‘Reality of Alton’ package* will prove a draw to guests hoping to emulate their reality TV heroes.

A first of its kind and available on request, guests can be followed around the park by a film crew who will record every element of their day, before editing the footage to create a one-hour ‘episode’. The cameras will follow the thrill seeking guests as they explore Britain’s Greatest Escape and experience the world’s first free fall drop coaster, TH13TEEN and face their fears on the intense vertical drop coaster, Oblivion before soaring through the skies on Air. Thought to be the ultimate home video experience, the Alton Towers Resort is trialling the bespoke and premium service until the end of the Theme Park season this November.

The personally tailored film also has a range of bolt-on extras including photographers that will tail the group around the Theme Park throughout the day, capturing their every move and red-carpet treatment including the option of adding a celeb voiceover to the footage.

Katherine Duckworth, Head of Consumer Marketing at Alton Towers Resort said, “In the last year alone Katie Price and Kerry Katona have both visited the Resort as part of their reality TV shows, so we thought why not extend this to our guests at Britain’s Greatest Escape. By introducing this premium ‘Reality of Alton’ service we hope to give visitors to the Theme Park a real taste of what it is like to be a reality TV star while they enjoy the ground breaking rollercoasters and attractions that the Resort has to offer.”

For more information about the Alton Towers Resort or to book tickets and hotel packages, log onto www.altontowers.com.

IMDB: Using IMDB Resume and IMDB Starmeter To Boost Your Career.

Posted on by

IMDB is a great resource, not only does it have a page on every movie and every film industry professional you can think of, it is also an amazing tool for an actor to promote their career.

IMDB has a resume section that you can join for a reasonable price. When you have IMDB resume you can add pictures to your IMDB, and of course your resume. You can also link your blog and your twitter to your page.

When people google you, it is usually your IMDB link that comes up first, so it is a false economy not to have it. If you do not have a project on IMDB (and you need one! Work for free for an IMDB credit is my advice) then you can still be on it if you get IMDB Resume.

People do lie on their resume, but I don’t recommend this, and do not list extra work unless you were heavily featured or had a line.

Even more important than IMDB Resume is the IMDB Starmeter. This is IMDB explaining what the Starmeter is http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?prowhatisstarmeter

The Starmeter is important for actors and here is why: if you get a good starmeter ranking that means you are bankable. If people are searching for you then you will be offered movies and auditions. My starmeter has been as high as 6,000 and is usually between that and 31,000 on a bad week. Which is very good news and has helped my career. So, if your IMDB rank is not very good what can you do? I previously wrote about this in my personal blog http://balavage.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/charting-imdb-becoming-obsessed-with-starmeter/ and I am going to go into more detail here.

Step 1) This site is very good. http://www.karmalicity.com/b/?r=218 I know people who have done barely anything who now have good rankings, the site gives you publicity for your IMDB, Facebook fan page, YouTube and Twitter. It Is free so join now. The premium version is cheap and very good too.

Step 2) Make sure you have your photo on IMDB. Very important. Also put film stills and on-set photos on and modeling shots as well. If you want a photo, you can click the following link and go to add photos only: http://resume.imdb.com/

Step 3) Use social networking. Post your IMDB link. Add it to your email signature, your website, Twitter, anywhere you can think of. Share the films you are in, not just your IMDB page, every time a movie your in goes up, so do you.

5. Create an e-mail list. Only email when you have something to say. Do not spam people. Invite people to a screening, tell them of an award you won, an amazing job you just booked. Add your IMDB link into the email.

6) Get people to click on your IMDb profile (post the link on your Facebook or Twitter profiles, have it in your email signature, etc.)

7) Get interviewed and mentioned in TV guides and news articles.

This brilliant article has a run down of what the numbers mean and it says that a rank of 14,999 – 1,000: This is generally working actor territory and this about 999 – 1: You’re working. A lot. Good chance you’re repped by one of the big 5 agencies…or are about to be. Alternatively, you were recently on the cover of National Enquirer.

Give it a read.

I also recommend you get IMDBpro, and so does Harrison Ford, Blake Lively and Kevin Smith, if you are in the film industry, you need it.

To round up; IMDB is an amazing resource to help your career and I wish I had paid more attention to it earlier. Click on your friends links and put nice comments on their message boards. Keep coming back to Frost for more acting tips and career guidance. If you liked this article give my IMDB a click or post a message http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2952107/

Downton Abbey, Scorsese's Broadwalk Empire Compete For Emmy Awards.

Posted on by

Downton Abbey, Mad Men and Broadwalk Empire are all competing for Emmy Awards tonight. The Emmy Awards are the TV equivalent of the Oscars.

Mad Men have been nominated for outstanding drama series, for the fourth year in a row. Jon Hamm is also nominated for outstanding dramatic actor and co-star Elisabeth Moss has been nominated for best dramatic actress, Christina Hendricks and John Slattery are up for the best supporting actor/actress awards.

Kate Winslet and Hugh Laurie are keeping the British side up, Winslet is up for best actress in a mini-series for her role in Mildred Pierce, while the show itself is also competing for the mini-series award.

And Laurie is up against Jon Hamm in the outstanding actor category for his role as grumpy surgeon Dr Gregory House in the acclaimed drama House.

Downton Abbey – which returns to ITV tonight for a second series – is up for the best mini-series category, while Maggie Smith is nominated for her role as the Countess of Grantham. I have filmed a lot for Downtown Abbey, as a downstairs maid, so I am rooting for the cast and crew, who are all lovely.

And British actresses Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh both received nominations for their roles in the BBC remake of Upstairs Downstairs.

Other shows with nominations are Glee – nominated in a few categories including best comedy – the medieval drama Game Of Thrones, serial killer drama Dexter and the US remake of The Office.
Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire is also tipped to win big at the awards.

The prohibition era drama is up against Mad Men in the best drama category, while Steve Buscemi is nominated in the same category as Jon Hamm, for the best actor trophy.

The awards, which will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday night, will be hosted by Glee actress Jane Lynch.

QVC Making Jewellery Event With Carolyn Schulz

Posted on by

I have always been creative and remember making my own jewellery when I was in my early teens. I was clearly ahead of the game, craft is now big business. The recession has spun an entirely new generation who love making their own jewellery, cloths and anything else you can think of.

QVC are big, one of the world’s leading TV and online shopping channels, and they are big on craft, they sell jewellery making kits – amazing jewellery making kits if I do say so myself- which is why, when they invited me to a jewellery making event on Tuesday the 13th of September wild horses could not stop me. I arrived at the impressive QVC headquarters in Battersea and spend the next few hours chatting, drinking champagne, eating canapés and making jewellery, I even have my own pink pliers and wire cutters.

I have a good chat with Carolyn Schulz and she give me some good tips, talks about her new book that is due out soon, and promises to give Frost an interview.

I decided to make a ‘charm’ necklace, and I quite like it. I have a wonderful afternoon and also meet fellow writers and bloggers @FashionNBarbie and @Glittershim. I thoroughly recommend making your own jewellery, it is relaxing and fun. You will also have original jewellery, you might even have a good eye and be able to make a business from it.

Do you like craft? Do you make your own jewellery? Tell Frost your story and keep an eye out for more craft articles in Frost.

BECOME A CHANNEL 4 BATTLEFRONT PRESENTER!

Posted on by

Channel 4’s Battlefront is on the hunt for a new presenter for it’s webshow on Battlefront.co.uk. As one of Battlefront’s two hosts, alongside last year’s winner, Mawaan, the winner will broadcast the latest news about Battlefront campaigns and events to thousands of online viewers, as well as interviewing celebs about world-changing issues and encouraging viewers to get involved.

So far this year, Battlefront web-vids have featured the likes of Rizzle Kicks, Jason Derulo and Gok Wan, alongside campaign highlights and behind-the-scenes events action. It’s a fantastic opportunity for aspiring presenters who want to make a difference.

To enter, prospective presenters need to make a video of themselves talking about one of this year’s Battlefront campaigns. The winner will be able to sum up the campaign clearly and explain about why they decided to talk about it.

Once the video has been uploaded it will be in the hands of the public who will vote for their favourite. The 10 videos with the most votes will then be presented to our panel of expert judges (from Channel 4, Raw TV and a special guest!) who will decide on a final shortlist of five entries. Entries will be judged on passion, delivery, talent, charisma and how inspirational you are likely to be to young people. The five contestants which best fulfil this criteria will make it to the final stage.

The finalists will be invited to attend a presenter workshop in London on WEDNESDAY 26TH OCTOBER where they will be put through their paces in a number of on-camera tests and challenges designed to show your skills as a potential face of Battlefront.

The competition is open until 12pm on MONDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2011. BUT the sooner contestants enter, the more time their entry will have to notch-up votes! Voting closes at 12pm on THURSDAY 13TH OCTOBER 2011. Visit www.battlefont.co.uk for more details on how to enter and upload your video.

Doctor Who: 'Night Terrors' Review

Posted on by

After last years’ dismal ‘Victory of the Daleks’, renaissance man Mark Gatiss returns to his writing duties on Doctor Who with ‘Night Terrors’, a straight out fright-fest complete with spooky dolls and a creepy haunted house. Gatiss famously delights and revels in the macabre and the gothic, so “Night Terrors” should be a triumphant return to form…

It wasn’t.

Now don’t get me wrong, ‘Night Terrors’ has a great deal to recommend it. It’s beautifully shot and the art direction throughout is marvellous. There’s a fantastic atmosphere of gloom and mischief in the opening scenes and, at its heart, it has a decent, fairly solid sci-fi idea – a cuckoo in the nest. There was also imagery in there that I’m sure sent many of the nation’s little darlings scurrying into their parents beds, smelling faintly of wee.

But this was not enough to save it.

Firstly, the episode – with its monster in the wardrobe, parent at the end of their tether, ‘alien’ child causing mayhem, random old lady, and love-will-conquer-all ending – gave me a distinct and unsettling feeling of déjà vu. Hadn’t I seen this before? Yes I had, in the Season 2 Doctor Who story ‘Fear Her’.

While not a direct retread, it bore enough similarities and repetitions to make the story feel highly derivative and, as a result, deeply unsatisfying.

And then we have the pacing of the story which was nothing short of bizarre. New-era Doctor Who gives you 45 minutes within which to tell your story. To spend a whole 20 of those minutes on set-up and exposition is a brave move which, in this case, failed completely.

The problem was that the story doesn’t introduce an actual threat to any of the characters for half an hour. HALF. AN. HOUR. In 45 minutes of screen time!

Sure, people were occasionally whisked off to a spooky house but, once there, they roam the halls unmolested and unthreatened. Meanwhile, the Doctor, rather than actually talking to the kid at the centre of the trouble (or realising there was any trouble to be had) has a very long chat and a nice cup of tea. It took him even longer to turn his attention to the obviously dodgy wardrobe and, when he did, he got scared and… had another cup of tea and another long chat with Dad. Are you bored yet? Because I was.

Indeed, no one opens the sodding wardrobe at the centre of the story for a whole 35 minutes, leaving just 10 scant minutes for the Doctor to diagnose the problem, get chased a bit and finally convince the alien cuckoo child to stop throwing silly tantrums. This he does with a cunning combination of yelling at the child (which really works on scared kids, so I understand) and convincing his Dad, who has just found out that his son is a) not his and b) an alien, to give him a hug.

Now that all sounds like a bit of a rant on my part and, indeed, I may be being a little unfair. The aim of the episode was surely to scare the kids silly and I’m sure, in this regard, ‘Night Terrors’ was a roaring success. I’m probably being a little churlish and miserly to expect anything more from it.

But my issue is this. Mark Gatiss is a brilliant writer. A truly, hands-down, brilliant, wonderfully creative mind capable of structured, intelligent and inventive comic drama. So why is ‘Night Terrors’ such a dramatically dull, highly derivative, poorly-paced mess? This is Mark’s favourite show, his dream job, an opportunity that he’s dreamt of since he was a nipper. It should have been brilliant.

And that’s what’s so frustrating.

Doctor Who: 'Let's Kill Hitler' Review

Posted on by

Doctor Who has never been more bonkers. And there are some who would argue that it’s never been better. After a storming opening run to series 6, I’m beginning to think that they may just have a point.

So, Let’s Kill Hitler. Rory and Amy, impatient at waiting for news of their daughter (the soon-to-be River Song) form a crop circle to bring the Doctor back into their lives. When it works, we’re off into another adventure into Steven Moffat’s, frankly potty, Scottish head. And what does he give us to delight us on a Saturday night? Numbskulls vs. Hitler.

Let me repeat that, just in case it hasn’t sunk in.  NUMBSKULLS vs. HITLER!! It shouldn’t work, it sounds awful, it should be cringe-worthy trash,… but it wasn’t. It was brilliant.

Of course, that was just a side show really. This episode was really about two people, Mel and River Song. Who were, in fact, the same person (keeping up? Not for long,..). Y’see, Amy and Rory have been living with their own daughter since they were children at primary school together. Indeed, their bessie-mate, Mel, was not only young Melody Pond all along, but was also the person who brought Rory and Amy together in the first place (still following? We’ll see about that…). And, of course, she wanted to kill the Doctor. Then Hitler shot her and she turned into Alex Kingston.

Let’s face facts. Even if you put Numbskulls vs. Hitler to one side (Numbskulls vs. Hitler!!), it’s still completely insane.

That it worked was testament to the ‘human’ story at the centre of it all – the rehabilitation of the psychotic River Song into the Doctor’s future missus, and the Doctor’s struggle with his own inner demons (“Is there anybody in the universe that I’ve not screwed up?”). Matt Smith and Alex Kingston put in truly superb performances in this episode, helped enormously by a cracking script that fizzed with energy.

Their intellectual jousting was a joy, with the Doctor disarming every weapon that River could pull on him, but failing to foresee a deadly kiss.

And what of Amy and Rory? Well, we have a lovely bit of backstory early on in the episode and Arthur Darvill gets to put more meat on his ‘action man’ persona after smacking the Fuhrer in the mouth and nicking a motorbike from a Nazi (very Indiana Jones). Apart from that, however, Mr. and Mrs. Pond stay on the sidelines for most of the story – inside robot Amy’s head (I know!).

But that’s the great thing about the rejuvenated Doctor Who, it’s the only show on television that has the balls to be quite this loopy. And I like loopy. In today’s world of dreary crime dramas and celebrity-obsessed talent shows, Doctor Who has become a beacon of light to those of us who don’t want to be talked down to by our Goggle Box. It’s insane, confusing, quick, fun, and it doesn’t make any concessions for people who can’t keep up.

It trusts that you will.

Which makes it the best thing on TV.

Royal Wedding: Zara Phillips Marries Mike Tindall

Posted on by

You wait years for a Royal Wedding and two come along at once. Zara Phillips has married Mike Tindall at a lavish palace reception.

The Queen’s granddaughter married in a private ceremony in Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk with the Queen, Kate Middleton and Prince William in attendance. The Duchess of Cambridge also accompanied her husband, and while this wedding didn’t have the scale of Westminster Abbey, more than 6,000 people turned up to watch sports star Tindall marry into the monarchy, including England coach Martin Johnson, his predecessor Sir Clive Woodward, Scotland’s coach Andy Robinson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jonny Wilkinson.

For the fashionistas, Zara’s dress was created by the Queen’s favourite designer, Stewart Parvin, and the bride paid tribute to Scotland with thistles incorporated into her bouquet of white blooms.

The wedding reception is being staged in the grounds of Holyroodhouse, but their honeymoon is postponed as the newlyweds will be back at training this week. Zara, 30, will be competing in the Gatcombe Park horse trials, and Tindall, 32, is likely to play in the England rugby match against Wales next Saturday.