Ted Murphy looks at a soda can and sees an opportunity for people to make money. And not by returning the empties to collect a nickel. Instead, the CEO of Izea sees people snapping photos of their beverages with their iPhones and collecting points through his new program WeRewards.
"You take a picture of yourself with the product, and you earn points," Murphy tells FastCompany.com. "It's almost like an instant coupon." But the points can add up to equal cold, hard cash.
He sees partners flocking to the service as a way to get physical products in the hands of real live people. "They are paying for the customer coming in and buying." If WeRewards users share the pic on social media, well that's just gravy. Putting the focus on the physical experience even allows WeRewards to dodge Twitter's latest attempt squelch third-party advertisers. "We reward doesn't have any...
"You take a picture of yourself with the product, and you earn points," Murphy tells FastCompany.com. "It's almost like an instant coupon." But the points can add up to equal cold, hard cash.
He sees partners flocking to the service as a way to get physical products in the hands of real live people. "They are paying for the customer coming in and buying." If WeRewards users share the pic on social media, well that's just gravy. Putting the focus on the physical experience even allows WeRewards to dodge Twitter's latest attempt squelch third-party advertisers. "We reward doesn't have any...
- 5/25/2010
- by Lydia Dishman
- Fast Company
LAS VEGAS -- Newcomer Monty Lapica makes an assured debut on both sides of the camera in "Self-Medicated", a lightly fictionalized account of his drug-abusing high school years and attempted rehabilitation at a controversial treatment center.
There's a palpable element of honesty in Lapica's writing and lead performance that gives this indie production, which received its world premiere at the recent CineVegas Film Festival, the edge over other troubled teen dramas.
A natural for festivals, the picture establishes Lapica as one to watch -- either as a filmmaker or, for that matter, an actor.
Having never come to terms with the death of his father, Lapica's alter ego Drew Eriksen lapses from honor roll student to party animal on the fast-track to self-destruction.
No longer able to handle the Las Vegas teenager's violent outbursts and increasingly unpredictable behavior, Drew's mother (effectively played by Diane Venora), herself in denial about her addiction to prescription drugs, takes drastic measures and has him snatched right out of his bed in the middle of the night by attendants from a lock-down treatment facility.
But the questionable, if not downright abusive, reform tactics fail to have the desired effect on Drew, who stages a bold escape from the de facto prison and, after a few false starts, finds his way on his own path to rehab.
Although the good-looking Lapica is right on the edge of being able to pass himself off as a teenager, there's a real sense of authority and a raw, unmannered intensity in his performance that sets the requisite tone for the entire production.
While one is curious to see if the feature novice will be able to demonstrate that same level of assurance with a project that isn't autobiographical, "Self-Medicated" is just what the doctor ordered in terms of an impressive calling card, with Lapica receiving sturdy technical back-up from cinematographer Denis Maloney and a reflective piano-driven score by Anthony Marinelli.
There's a palpable element of honesty in Lapica's writing and lead performance that gives this indie production, which received its world premiere at the recent CineVegas Film Festival, the edge over other troubled teen dramas.
A natural for festivals, the picture establishes Lapica as one to watch -- either as a filmmaker or, for that matter, an actor.
Having never come to terms with the death of his father, Lapica's alter ego Drew Eriksen lapses from honor roll student to party animal on the fast-track to self-destruction.
No longer able to handle the Las Vegas teenager's violent outbursts and increasingly unpredictable behavior, Drew's mother (effectively played by Diane Venora), herself in denial about her addiction to prescription drugs, takes drastic measures and has him snatched right out of his bed in the middle of the night by attendants from a lock-down treatment facility.
But the questionable, if not downright abusive, reform tactics fail to have the desired effect on Drew, who stages a bold escape from the de facto prison and, after a few false starts, finds his way on his own path to rehab.
Although the good-looking Lapica is right on the edge of being able to pass himself off as a teenager, there's a real sense of authority and a raw, unmannered intensity in his performance that sets the requisite tone for the entire production.
While one is curious to see if the feature novice will be able to demonstrate that same level of assurance with a project that isn't autobiographical, "Self-Medicated" is just what the doctor ordered in terms of an impressive calling card, with Lapica receiving sturdy technical back-up from cinematographer Denis Maloney and a reflective piano-driven score by Anthony Marinelli.
- 7/14/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A mere 15 years after his feature debut with "Soup for One", Jonathan Kaufer weighs in with his second directorial effort, this awkward screen adaptation of a talky play.
In its depiction of two academic married couples angrily squaring off, "Bad Manners" would like to be a "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" for this decade, but its characters and ideas are irritating rather than provocative, and the net effect is less "Virginia Woolf" than crying wolf. The film recently received its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival.
Adapted by David Gilman from his play "Ghost in the Machine", which had a successful off-Broadway run a couple of years back, the film depicts the dayslong encounter between two couples.
Wes (David Strathairn) is a university professor of comparative religion at a nondescript girls' school, while wife Nancy (Bonnie Bedelia) is a musicologist. Nancy's old boyfriend Matt Saul Rubinek), accompanied by his precocious younger girlfriend Kim (Caroleen Feeney), shows up to stay with them while he is in town to deliver an important speech at Harvard. Kim, a computer whiz, is assisting him on his academic project, which involves the bizarre discovery of a centuries-old musical composition in a computer-generated piece of contemporary music.
Although they are outwardly cordial, simmering tensions lie just beneath the surface of the two couples' friendly bickering and bantering. Wes and Nancy's marriage is feeling the strain of his recently being denied tenure, and Wes is further stirred up by Kim's simmering sexuality and flirtatiousness. When $50 turns up missing from Wes' wallet, it results in a series of confrontations that escalate in tension and hostility. When Matt thinks he overhears Wes and Kim making love in the downstairs living room, all hell breaks loose.
Although Gilman's screenplay delivers four sharply observed characters who are brought to vivid life by a highly skilled cast, it never lifts above the picayune in its plot line, situations and dialogue.
Still, Strathairn is particularly effective at conveying his character's underlying hostility, and Feeney, a relative newcomer, invests Kim with a compelling mixture of sultriness and edginess.
BAD MANNERS
Davis Entertainment Classics
in association with
Skyline Entertainment Partners
& Wavecrest Pictures
Director Jonathan Kaufer
Screenplay David Gilman
Producers J. Todd Harris,
Stephen Nemeth, Alan Kaplan
Executive producer John Davis
Co-producers M. Cevin Cathell, Ed Cathell III
Director of photography Denis Maloney
Musical score Ira Newborn
Editor Robin Katz
Color/stereo
Cast:
Wes Westlund David Strathairn
Nancy Westlund Bonnie Bedelia
Matt Carroll Saul Rubinek
Kim Matthews Caroleen Feeney
Professor Harper Julie Harris
Running time -- 87 minutes...
In its depiction of two academic married couples angrily squaring off, "Bad Manners" would like to be a "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" for this decade, but its characters and ideas are irritating rather than provocative, and the net effect is less "Virginia Woolf" than crying wolf. The film recently received its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival.
Adapted by David Gilman from his play "Ghost in the Machine", which had a successful off-Broadway run a couple of years back, the film depicts the dayslong encounter between two couples.
Wes (David Strathairn) is a university professor of comparative religion at a nondescript girls' school, while wife Nancy (Bonnie Bedelia) is a musicologist. Nancy's old boyfriend Matt Saul Rubinek), accompanied by his precocious younger girlfriend Kim (Caroleen Feeney), shows up to stay with them while he is in town to deliver an important speech at Harvard. Kim, a computer whiz, is assisting him on his academic project, which involves the bizarre discovery of a centuries-old musical composition in a computer-generated piece of contemporary music.
Although they are outwardly cordial, simmering tensions lie just beneath the surface of the two couples' friendly bickering and bantering. Wes and Nancy's marriage is feeling the strain of his recently being denied tenure, and Wes is further stirred up by Kim's simmering sexuality and flirtatiousness. When $50 turns up missing from Wes' wallet, it results in a series of confrontations that escalate in tension and hostility. When Matt thinks he overhears Wes and Kim making love in the downstairs living room, all hell breaks loose.
Although Gilman's screenplay delivers four sharply observed characters who are brought to vivid life by a highly skilled cast, it never lifts above the picayune in its plot line, situations and dialogue.
Still, Strathairn is particularly effective at conveying his character's underlying hostility, and Feeney, a relative newcomer, invests Kim with a compelling mixture of sultriness and edginess.
BAD MANNERS
Davis Entertainment Classics
in association with
Skyline Entertainment Partners
& Wavecrest Pictures
Director Jonathan Kaufer
Screenplay David Gilman
Producers J. Todd Harris,
Stephen Nemeth, Alan Kaplan
Executive producer John Davis
Co-producers M. Cevin Cathell, Ed Cathell III
Director of photography Denis Maloney
Musical score Ira Newborn
Editor Robin Katz
Color/stereo
Cast:
Wes Westlund David Strathairn
Nancy Westlund Bonnie Bedelia
Matt Carroll Saul Rubinek
Kim Matthews Caroleen Feeney
Professor Harper Julie Harris
Running time -- 87 minutes...
- 9/17/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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