Mirvish, Oscar hopes, Open House

Dear Mirvish friends…

I just wanted to fill you in on the latest press fallout from our Oscar campaign for “Open House.” The Jan. 4 Hollywood Reporter declared our song “Sellin’ a Dream” as one of the Top 16 contenders for a Best Song nomination (albeit as “the longshot”). The ballots are now in and next Tuesday they announce. Did I mention we were a longshot?

This past week saw an interesting confluence of demographic interest in the film: conservatives and gays (and probably a few gay conservatives).

Jerry Doyle (aka “Dave” in “Open House”) had me on his eponymous radio show which is broadcast on the conservative Talk Radio Network to 140 stations coast-to-coast (take that, NPR!). Jerry got his loyal fans fired up about the Academy, played the song a few times, and lambasted liberal Hollywood with the notable exception of me. It was great to talk to Jerry and I can’t wait to hear his upcoming interview with Sally Kellerman.

And speaking of Hollywood liberals… Be sure to check out “Open House” producer Stephen Israel’s piece in the Advocate.com – the online version of the largest gay magazine in America. Stephen nicely sums up our struggle with the Academy and why he finally deserves his gay card. Nice work, Stephen!http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/930/930_open_house.asp

And just to milk that last ounce of publicity out of the Academy’s Original Musical decision, I teamed up with fellow provocateurs Brian Flemming and Jason McHugh and, calling ourselves the “Coalition of the Musical,” we announced the “Indie Musical Challenge” to inspire other independent filmmakers to make musicals. We’ve already gotten some nice press out of it! Check out our new site at http://www.indiemusicalchallenge.com

Thanks again for all your support and be sure to check the website for all the latest press and other developments: http://www.slamdance.com/mirvish/open.html

Finally, if anyone’s going to be in Park City, I’ll be at Slamdance at the Treasure Mt. Inn for the week and hosting our 4th Annual Great Filmmaker Sled-Off at 1 p.m. next Wednesday (That’s Jan. 26.) Everyone’s invited.
Dan Mirvish