FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HOLY CRAP! WE'RE GOING ON OPRAH!

DOCUMENTARY MADE BY STRUGGLING FILMMAKERS
ABOUT STRUGGLING SCREENWRITERS TO BE FEATURED ON NATIONAL TALK SHOW.

(Los Angeles - June 14, 2003) Talk Fast, a feature-length documentary by Philadelphia filmmakers Chris Deaux and Chris Emmanouilides, will be featured on an upcoming episode of Oprah! Titled "Backstage Pass." The show which tapes on Friday June 20th, 2003 is is slated to air on June 24, 2003. Chris Deaux, the film's Director, will be featured on the program along with several subjects from the documentary.

Talk Fast chronicles the lives of five screenwriters - a puppeteer, a cult film star, a fallen starlet, a former stockbroker and a new mother - all struggling to make it in Hollywood. The film captures a week in each of their lives as they scramble to prepare for "Pitch Mart," a bi-yearly event that gives many first time screenwriters a rare opportunity to sit down with major studio executives and deliver their best "two minute pitch."

"We find some very dark irony in the fact that two guys who set out to make a documentary about trying to get your film sold have spent the last several years of their lives trying to get their film sold," quips Deaux. "We joke all the time that the real story started when the cameras stopped. We're thrilled to finally have our film exhibited to a national audience."

"Talk Fast is an honest portrayal of what it's like to spend years chasing a dream that may never be realized," adds the film's co-producer and director of photography, Chris Emmanouilides. "Steve Loeb, who works as a puppeteer by day, has spent ten years in Hollywood pursuing a career as a screenwriter. So far, he has made exactly $250 for his efforts."

Chris Deaux, of DeauxBoy Productions, is the director, editor and co-producer of Talk Fast. He first heard about Pitchmart several years ago on a radio news segment. "The first thing that went through my mind," says Deaux, "was the opening scene from the movie The Player with all these film makers frantically trying to pitch their movies in just a couple of short sentences. I thought it would be fascinating to see if that was the way it happens in real life. And, it turns out that it's not too far from the truth."

A year later Deaux pitched co-worker and collaborator Chris Emmanouilides - they are both employees of Philadelphia's Banyan Productions (Trading Spaces, A Wedding Story, A Dating Story, A Makeover Story) to help develop the idea, co-produce it and serve as the director of photography. After lengthy phone interviews with the writers and studio executives participating in Pitchmart, they flew to Los Angeles to film the events leading up to the November 2001 Pitchmart.

Deaux and Emmanouilides spent nine days in Los Angeles following Pitchmart founder Ken Rotcop, an award-winning writer and former studio executive, and members of his screenwriting workshops.

"The people we met had these unbelievable stories about trying to make it in Hollywood" says Deaux. "Often their personal life stories were more interesting than their screenplays. Their struggles about trying to "make it" seemed to be the real story."

"What I found striking in the writers was their perseverance and willingness to go through hardship to make their Hollywood dreams come true," says Emmanouilides. "Making it as a writer is such a long shot, and this film takes a glimpse at a less glamorous side of the business." "We feel very close to all of our subjects mainly because we share passions, dreams and frustrations that are very similar to their own" adds Deaux.

Chris Deaux founded DeauxBoy Productions (www.deauxboy.com) in May of 1998 with the goal of creating reality-based television programming and documentary films. In addition to Talk Fast, the company produced a television pilot, Love at First Sight? and is currently in pre-production on a new documentary. In addition to running DeauxBoy Productions, Deaux has worked for Banyan Productions for over six years and currently serves as the company's West Coast Director of Development helping to create, produce and package new television programming. During his tenure with Banyan Productions Deaux has also served as Executive Producer of The Learning Channel's popular series A Wedding Story, Executive Produced a series for Lifetime Television titled The Things We Do For Love and Produced and Directed Atlantic City Casino, a prime-time Discovery Channel documentary.

Chris Emmanouilides is Director of Programming at Banyan Productions where he oversees over 200 episodes of reality-based television programming. Chris is Executive Producer of two prime-time documentaries for the Discovery Channel's On the Inside series and also acted as Executive Producer on Travelers for the Discovery Channel and Reunion for TLC. He is co-founder of Parallax Pictures, an independent production company based in Philadelphia whose focus is on media literacy. He co-produced and photographed The Ad and the Ego, an hour-long documentary on the impact of advertising on contemporary culture which took first prize in its category at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1997. His other films including Remains, Suelto!, and A Border Crossing which have screened at numerous international film festivals including Sundance, Slamdance and AFI.

Talk Fast has screened at film festivals around the country including The Philadelphia Film Festival, The Atlanta Film Festival, The D.C. Festival of Independents, Cinema Reno and LA's First Glance Film Festival where it was awarded second place in the documentary category. Talk Fast was recently licensed overseas by Canal+ and ABC Digital.

For more information on Talk Fast , contact Chris Deaux at (310) 566- 7158 or visit www.deauxboy.com.

Listings Editors Please Note:

Contact:
Chris Deaux
(310) 566- 7158

WHAT: TALK FAST
A feature-length documentary by local film makers Chris Deaux and Chris Emmanouilides. Talk Fast chronicles a week in the lives of five struggling Hollywood screenwriters as they prepare for Pitch Mart, a yearly event that gives screenwriters the opportunity to deliver their best two-minute pitch to Hollywood studio executives.

WHEN:  June 24, 2003

WHERE: Oprah!

WHO: Chris Deaux: …… Producer, Director and Editor

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