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Ilene Chaiken mentions plans for "The L Word" movieThis past Friday and Saturday, I was among several hundreds of women at the BlogHer conference. I've never been to the Dinah or on an Olivia cruise, but I can imagine it's sort of like that but with way more Mommy Bloggers. Several lesbian bloggers were in attendance so I'd like to give them a little plug right here, before I give you the goods on what keynote speaker, Ilene Chaiken, had to say about new media and the future of The L Word (yes, it apparently has one). Check out Recovering Straight Girl, Deb on the Rocks, Queerosphere, GayMo, LesbianDad, Liza Was Here, Stacy Jill Jacobs, The Diversity Projekt and Sex in the Windy City. That's a lot of queer, right? There were others, too, but it's hard to remember everyone. If you were there, or even if you have your own lesbian blog, feel free to let us know in the comments. As I Tweeted on Saturday morning, I was watching Ilene Chaiken speak with BlogHer founder Lisa Stone, The Daily Beast's Tina Brown and Donna Byrd of TheRoot.com. As I'm sure most of you know, Chaiken's venture into online media hasn't been too successful thus far, as OurChart.com closed down within a year of its launch. The other two women on the panel are part of widely-respected sites, so I was very curious as to what Ilene would have to offer to the conversation.
Ilene's comments were very much about her work with The L Word, and how she was able to get Showtime to take on a show about lesbians. When asked about getting sponsorships and making money for the show from corporations, she said she had made "some placement deals like an investment in capital" for the show, and that Subaru was the only brand that was willing to be part of the show first, when they needed a brand to get behind Dana's corporate sponsorship as a tennis player. "It is controversial and the audience wants it done artfully," Ilene said of ad placements. "It is challenging and as we move online, it is becoming the driver." Although alluding to having many projects in the works (some online, some still on TV and film, some not "directly dealing with LGBT characters"), Ilene did not give many specifics on what we can expect from her next. However, she was posed the question, "Who killed Jenny?" Ilene responded that she is in the scripting process of The L Word movie and that issue "will be addressed" in the film. With many cheers and questions from the audience members directed toward Ilene or about reaching niche audiences like the lesbian community, it was clear that the BlogHer attendees appreciated having someone like Ilene on the panel. Although Brown and Byrd had more to offer in terms of web content and handling daily topics and stat information, an overwhelming theme at this year's conference was capitalizing on marketing and money, which is where Ilene's expertise could come in.
Perhaps the most other exciting note from Ilene on The L Word was on the question of how much sex is too much sex to drive readers to sites or viewers to your television show. Her response: The reason for the L Word was sex. Sexuality. It's an interesting idea, to think that the reason for the show would be so sexual. It's certainly debatable, but something I assume advertisers and marketers and corporate sponsors would either want to capitalize on or fear. And as far as I can tell from Ilene's comments on looking for partnerships with companies in the future, she's looking to capitalize on the sex and sexuality while "getting our stories out there." After initially admitting that she wanted to be the one dictating where her characters would go with The L Word, she realized viewers wanted to see their own stories told, and that became more important than having one person holding all of the power. She followed it up with the statement that you can't please everyone, and isn't that the truth? What do you think about the plans for an L Word movie? Do you think the whole cast will be on board, and will it be something we'd see in theaters or more likely to air as a special on Showtime? Submitted by on July 27, 2009 - 12:00pm. |
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L Word Movie
Although I'm excited about the prospect of a movie, I'm decidedly less than enthused about the idea that the plot will, again, revolve around the idea of "who killed Jenny Schecter." The fans didn't like it when it played out on our TV screens, so why would we want to see another 90 minutes plus devoted to it? I hope that it's only touched on in the movie, while the rest of it revolves around furthering the characters and giving some closure.
"Bon anniversaire et donne moi la salle de bains. Which translates as 'happy birthday and hand me....the bathroom.'"
L Word Movie
I'd like to see it, not sure if the movie theater is the best venue. Of course, I think most of the cast, but not all would be available.
(e.g., Do we really want to see a ghost Jenny?).
Do not judge, unless you want to be judged...
Bad Idea...
i agree.
Straight to video and then ...
to the $2.99 bin.
Technology Will Lead To The Demise Of Civilization As We Know It.
Good/Bad Idea
The Firm
Really is The "Farm" and thank the goddess that show wasn't green lit.
Technology Will Lead To The Demise Of Civilization As We Know It.
BETTE AND TINA ONLY REASON I'D SEE THIS MOVIE..
I LOVE BETTE AND TINA AND HOPEFULLY MS CHAIKEN WILL REDEEM HERSELF WITH THIS MOVIE,BOY SHE HAS REALLY PISSED OFF THE FANS,WHAT A SHAME,BUT ITS HER OWN FAULT....SHE IS SO DISLIKED NOW,SHE REALLY BLEW IT WITH SEASON 6 AND THOSE INSULTING INTERROGATION TAPES...
SHOWTIME SPECIAL
hhagen YES I AGREE TO THAT..WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE SAME CHARACTERS, JUST TAKEN OFF WHERE IT LEFT OFF, MINUS OF COURSE JENNY DYING, BUT A NICER CHARCTER OF HER, MAX HAVING HER BABY, BETTE AND TINA BEING HAPPY TOGETHER HELENA AND KITS BARS MAKING A GOOD GO OF IT, ALICE BEING HER CUTE SELF IN ALL HER SITUATIONS, SHANE GETTING A GRIP AND NOT HURTING PEOPLE. I MISS ALL OF THEM. LOVE THE L WORD. IM LOST WITHOUT THEM. GET THEM ALL BACK PLEASE......TRY FOR ANOTHER SERIES OF IT. MICKO
you mean
This is irrelevant...BUT
the women on the farthest right looked like Hilary Clinton for a sec...a totally random comment but its true!
about the movie, well if Sara Shahi is going to pop in for a sec for a visit or a cameo or whatever, I think I would bother with it. but I dont think I want to sit there for over an hour watching them unravel the jenny-murder. if thats the case Chaiken shouldnt bother with the movie.
lol
i had the same reaction to that chick on the end.
and. . . speaking of irrelevant. . . what kind of shoes are those in your pic?
lesbian in the kitchen
Showtime only
It seems logical that it would be a Showtime special (consider the spin-off possibilities.) I suspect the entire cast would be on board for visibility and a little cash (without the commitment of a series.)
Good for IC for doing what so many other directors do - using sex to sell a story. (Cf just about anything else on Showtime.)
sol omnibus lucent
Needs to Hit the Big Screen!!
I really hope this movie happens, but guys think of us poor plp stuck on the other side of the Atlantic - straight to DVD would be fine because we'd be trawling Amazon - but don't just show it on Showtime or us poor Europeans will never see it :(
Come on Ilene!
Ilene Chaiken is the real life Dawn Dimbo; look at that hair and that outfit! She's brilliant but she's absolutely irritating. You know damn well she doesn't have real projects in the works. That interview was probably the most she's done besides belittling an intern or two and staring in the mirror telling herself "I am the all powerful creator of the L Word!"
But I digress. A movie that addresses Jenny's fate in less than 30 minutes would be a good start. It should not be only held by Showtime though. It will go right to DVD if they can't convince the entire original cast to partake.
Her only shot is to: really do the other characters so much justice in their stories that all the actors can't say no to the script no matter what's going on in their careers, have the storyline so amazing it beautifily recalls apon a time when the fans weren't pissed, and lastly she'll have to bring in some fresh meat behind the scenes and get back some of the old creative people whatever it takes (hope she didn't burn any bridges).
She has quite the challege ahead of her. Looks like straight to DVD it is.
aaand
Carmen. Bring back Carmen--even for a cameo--and you've got half your fan base back right there!
Ilene Chaiken is the real
A HAPPY ENDING THIS TIME?
I think the L Word owes a positive, hopeful and happy farewell to its viewers all over the world.
It can be a Showtime special or DVD release. It doesn’t matter for me. I would like to see Bette/Tina, Alice/Tasha, Helena/Dylan living happily ever after.
I know that this is just a fiction, I know that characters are imaginary but from the very beginning of the show the l word, was like a bridge among lesbians from different parts of the world. We all met here on afterellen.com and discussed every single detail about the show .
Now if we have a chance to have a new ending, I would like to see a happy one.
Movie theatre is doable
Good grief...
Absolutely!
I did
...and I definitely agree with what you said. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more that I think this'll never get made. IC will be able to save face though, and say that with Leisha's music career and Kate being on 'Three Rivers' and ______ having other commitments, they weren't able to go forward with it. In reality though, I think that it's going to be a crappy script that they'll want nothing to do with. I mean, how do you make a movie with season 6 being the jumping off point? And a film with no Mia? Why even bother? She's such a phenomenal actress. The only way I could see it working is if the film was almost an 'alternate' retelling of season 6. As in, perhaps showing us things that happened that season that we didn't know about.
Honestly, I'm just still really pissed that IC killed Jenny. I feel like it's such a cheap move...it's what I expect from an undergraduate creative writing major to do to end her story (Sarah Schuster anyone???). I mean, if IC was so great and amazing and whatnot, then she would have found a GOOD way to end the series. Instead, she used season 6 as a lead in to 'The Farm' (which never got picked up) instead of using it to give a proper ending to TLW.
Indeed!
An alternate to the season finale would do nicely. I don't if you've seen some of the interviews with the cast, but a lot of them are certainly not holding back their disappointment in the ways things went down. If you haven't seen it, the interview with Rose Rollins on Liz Feldman is hysterical and very honest.
I wasn't really pissed that she killed Jenny, but I felt that every aspect of the way it was done was such a slap in the face to all the dedicated viewers. She did it as if she was like trying to get back at the fact the show was ending, her big wave was coming to a halt...but she slap all of us instead of what/who she was angry at.
Way to throw a tantrum.
In a perfect world
TLW is Dead. No Need to Relive It.
After six seasons of spotty writing, spotty acting, and spotty production, I am firmly against reviving the "neither here nor there" series. C'mon, there's a reason why, save Ossie Davis's Emmy nod as a guest star, it was never nominated for any major television industry awards.
We had six years of quantity. Now it's time to demand quality.
Only for Mia
I would watch it if Mia Kirshner is in it. I might actually buy it (instead of downloading) if the story is that Jenny never even died. I would pay ten bucks in the theater if I knew Jenny lived happily ever after without Shane. I definitely wouldn't go see it blindly...
Really... I'd probably see it in the theater if Mia's in it reguardless of the character's outcome.
I hope for a good movie though, something to cancel out season six. It's not often writers will make a movie after an epic fail of a series finale. Whether it's to redeem herself or not, now she has the opportunity to please a lot of people.
Maybe not for theaters.
SHANE!
jay.as long as I get to see katherine Moennig as Shane McCutcheon again I'm fine!
lol
Uh, no L Word movie please.
yes and no. illene kinda
yes and no.
illene kinda has killed the L word for me. she messed with my mind and the stories too much!
i only really like the first 2 seasons. the rest was all poooo.
it would be so cool if Marina was back, Carmen was back, bette and Tina got married.
i dont know, if it was more realistic and not so "out there" with insane stories i would give it my blessing, but since the finale didn't come out that way, im not so thrilled.
and i REALLY dont wanna hear about jenny anymore!!! i didnt give a shit that she died, and i didn't give a shit to know who killed her. this is sad, because i loved jenny in the beginning seasons. She was a relatable girl, then she just went all psycho. i really wish Jenny never went that way.
Illene really made bad mistakes, and i dont know if these stories are fixable. i hope she makes a script where EVERYONE wants to see it. not just us lez/bi girls. I want her to make it SO great that straight/gay/bi/trans/everybody wants to see it!!!
how else will our stories get out there? we need to be more realistic in order for more lesbian/bi movies are out.
Dana
...
I miss ourchart.com
Katie Liederman was an especially remarkable blogger. In a somewhat unrelated note, I was lucky enough to unexpectedly meet her in Chicago and she's even more wonderful in person. I strongly support AE consider her as a writer.
me too!!
I loved ourchart. Not only was it a pretty awesome social networking site just for lesbians, but I liked the bloggers too, plus the behind-the-scenes looks at 'The L Word.' And I'll be honest, I liked when the trainer for L Word posted workout videos. I was pretty suprised when it was shut down.
"Tell her that her ass looks like an apple, and you want to take a bite." -Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock
I really enjoyed it as well
Excited About This Movie?
Hardly. I for one will not be suckered into the fate that had befallen many L Word fans of questionable intellect.
That fate being the redundant drone of: "Maybe Next "project" ("project" meaning series, movie, book etc) I.C. will do better." After Season 3 I.C. repeatedly refused to do better and you all know it. This site has repeatedly cited I.C.'s numerous shortcomings.
Therefore I find it absolutely astonishing that all that bad mouthing has gone out the door and in a schizophrenic twist here is Trish Bendix presenting a rather begnine piece (tacitly a form of promotion) about Chgaiken's latest attempt to dupe audiences. Shame on you Bendix for...oh just shame on you, are you in collusion with I.C. to rape the retinas of the innocent or what?
Technology Will Lead To The Demise Of Civilization As We Know It.
She's brilliant?
No she isn't, what on earth would lead you to that conclusion? Ilene Chaiken has worked in the entertainment industry for over 20 years. She's connected. She wasn't some suburban housewife who scribbled some fan fiction and viola! She was discovered and given a television series.
In fact Chaiken is notorious for having scripted "Barb Wire" with Pamela Anderson, a decidely bad movie and her other claim to fame was writing for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air so where is the "Brilliance"?
She pitched an idea to the Showtime and they saw dollar signs, but in the long run Ilene was of limited resources and failed to keep the seasons up with good story arcs after season 3 ended.
To further illustrate Chaiken's lack of brilliance, not only did she swipe original derivative works by others claiming them as her own original ideas, she swiped the premise of her ill fated spinoff: The Farm from the BBC series "Bad Girls" and that has already been rejected by Showtime so I have no idea what you all are writing about when you write about this movie leading into a series spinoff. It was REJECTED already! Let sleeping dogs play dead.
Technology Will Lead To The Demise Of Civilization As We Know It.
completely agree with you SapphicDay
Watching the finale was a laugh fest!! a junior high school drama department could have directed a better final episode with all its predictability and shitty script-was it amatuer night on SHO?
what a slap in the face that was to her dedicated fans...
I for one was offended. I can't believe she actually presented such shoddy work. Did she think anything through...? Didn't anyone see this in the editing room?
How do you get Lucy Lawless (lesbian icon) to be in the show and then use her for one scene???
and don't get me started about the walking wind blowing hair ending.....
i
Is it a musical? ;)
Is it a musical? ;)
http://www.afterellen.com/Movies/2009/4/l-word-musical
I would
Why do you want to see what...
Why do you want to see what she will come up with? Haven't you already had enough disappointment from Ilene?
I can see wanting to see I.C.'s movie ONLY if you will see it for free by visiting one of the numerous online sites that show movies, but to pay either a theater ticket or a cable bill illustrates what I previosly wrote:
"I for one will not be suckered into the fate that had befallen many L Word fans of questionable intellect. That fate being the redundant drone of: "Maybe Next "project" ("project" meaning series, movie, book etc) I.C. will do better." After Season 3 I.C. repeatedly refused to do better and you all know it."
Technology Will Lead To The Demise Of Civilization As We Know It.
hmm
I seriously doubt it would make it to a cinema release, it would have to live up to it's big sister SATC (which, if I recall, may have a sequel coming?) and, to be honest, it probably wouldn't attain the popularity said film already has done, for one it simply doesn't have the same fan base. And I know they are different but the tagline on the 1-3 box set is "Same sex, different city" so even the makers do not shy away from the parralels.
As for me, well I don't know. I felt a little ripped off from the S6 ending, so it would be nice to have an alternative sending off. But only if it was well made and based around giving the actors/characters credible endings as opposed to mere shock value.
That is if they can even get the actors back...
The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes, but don't be afraid...
I want a TiBette Wedding!
If i were going to make this movie, I'd go all out lame and rom-com! I'd want to see a Tina and Bette wedding, full of glam and showing off Jennifer Beals to her fullest gorgeousness. I love that woman. Anyway, it could be light, fun, and everyone could enjoy it, not just us homos.
There would be no mention of stupid Jenny, and Shane would cause havoc at the reception like she did at that wedding in the series when she slept with the bridesmaids and the mom! But in the end she'll find someone she really loves, maybe Carmen will come back and Shane will see what she gave up and they will be happy ever after! Also, Alice would feature strongly, in what capacity I don't know.
Come on Ilene, give me my glamorous lesbian wedding, with lots of Tina and Bette action! Kit could sing at the reception, Helena could maybe be reunited with Dylan (love Alex Hedison!)
None of this will happen though, we're going to be so disappointed. We need a new show to make us all relegate the L word to where it belongs: in our memories, far away. Also, this movie will suck if the entire cast isn't there.
I'm the rainbow-coloured sheep of the family.
if we HAVE to watch an L Word movie...
Woman who are you?!!
You just stole the words from my thoughts!! I was thinking the exact same thing. I don't know if you ever watched Sunset Beach (it was a ridiculous soap a la Bold and the Beautiful that actually had an end) and the last episode the main character wakes up and the whole show was a dream. Now if mama Chaiken loves us she will make it so that Jenny was dreaming the show from 3rd season up to her own death which will help her not turn into a psycho, not write Lez Girls, the whole Tina/Henry thing never happens, Dana never dies but Alice still gets with Tasha 'cause I totally loved Lara the Soup Chef lol, Shane is still with Carmen (happily together but not married), Kit is still with her Mangus, Helena can be with whoever she likes. Jenny should just stay single as the observer!
*partir en premier ne veut pas toujours dire arriver en premier*
They did the same thing in
They did the same thing in Dallas, when they killed Bobby Ewing (I think?) and the fans hated it, so they made it all a dream. Super shit and predictable.
I'm the rainbow-coloured sheep of the family.
hhaha you just described the
hear hear to that.
Completely agree. Don't care what they do with Jenny, but after season 3, it went downhill.
Soccerbabe thinks the way I do