IT'S A BUSY SUMMER!
We’ve been told that people don’t read long
blogs. Maybe so, but you might want to
read on to find out how The Beatles were signed on to be the four Hobbits in “Lord
of the Rings” and which G-Star teacher did the deal. Can you guess?
We've been
working hard over the summer to get ready for a great new school year. As always, we're proud of our "A"
school rating and we keep improving our educational methods to better serve our
students. Coming soon you will see a new
and improved website that will be more user friendly. We have hired a new Director of Social Media
who will be building our social media contacts with parents and students to give
out much more information on daily school life as well as our plans for this
school year and the future. Our goal is
to increase our responsiveness to parent's inquires on all subjects.
We have a new
addition to our expert Film teaching staff this year. Mr. Frank Eberling is a well-known feature
film and documentary filmmaker who has helped create the film industry here in
Palm Beach County through his own productions.
His latest feature film has just been picked up for world-wide
distribution. Mr. Eberling will be
following in the tradition of Mr. Ron Paolillo (Horshak of Welcome Back, Kotter
fame) teaching "Acting for Camera", the program Mr. Paolillo created
here at G-Star. It is the only acting
discipline of its type in a Palm Beach County high school - and it is
distinctly different from theater acting.
If you want to be an actor in the movies, Acting for Camera is the class
for you!
Did you know
that G-Star is the only high school in Florida that films a student-produced
professional feature film every year?
The opportunity to work on the professional student film is open to all
students. Students are given a film
budget and must follow the complete process from script to screen under
professional conditions. There is an audition
process not only for actors, but also for crew members. Each student must show a portfolio of their
work at the school and on professional productions, and do a presentation of
their skills before our Film Department instructors. Each production "hires" 60 to over
100 students to work on the film. The
next time you pull up to the main academic building look at the eight-foot tall
movie posters on the side of the building.
Those are the professional student feature films produced each year for
the last eleven years.
In a recent
G-Star NewsBlog we noted that our fabulous Drama Department is one of the top
in the entire State of Florida. Each
year we go to State in Tampa and garner top thespian awards. Our Principal, Mrs. Collins, last year was
named "Outstanding Arts Administrator" for Florida by the Florida
Association for Theater Education that puts on the State thespian competition
in Tampa. We also proudly announced that
the PBC Pathfinder Awards, the area's number one competition for all high schools
the County, awarded the Best Actor award to G-Star thespians two out of the
last three years. This year's winner was
Kyle Douglas. The Palm Beach
International Film Festival's Student Showcase is the film contest for the best
in film for the entire State. The most prestigious
award, the Burt Reynolds Scholarship Award for Filmmaking has been won three
years in a row by G-Star students. This
year's winner was Raymond Knudsen. In
fact, G-Star has even swept the competition with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd finish!
Here's another
little known fact: G-Star has the only Entertainment Law course in high
school. The teacher, Mr. Alan Benjamin,
is a retired attorney who was a Vice President of both MGM and United Artists
where he oversaw films such as all the James Bond and Rocky films during his 25-year
tenure. His course, The Business of
Motion Pictures, has not only inspired many students to pursue a law career, he
has saved many students from ruining their careers with detrimental contract
language. Mr. Benjamin's course is
extremely popular because he has anecdotes for every lesson. Many are hilarious, but true, such as when
his uncle, Robert Benjamin, bought United Artists from Charlie Chaplin on the
boarding ramp to an ocean liner as he was being pursued (literally) by the FBI
and the Treasury Department; to owning the rights to "Lord of the
Rings" when he signed The Beatles (that's right: John, Paul, George, and
Ringo) to star in the film as the four Hobbits.
The deal was too expensive at the time for MGM and was eventually sold.
There are many
more programs we are working on for this coming school year including our
Hollywood Special Effects program. On
August 3rd from 2-5 PM our G-Star Studios Free Workshop is being offered to
learn Hollywood Monster Makeup and Dance, Hollywood Special Visual FX, Film
Production & Crew, and Film & TV Acting in a Sit Com.
Lots more to
come!
