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John Steppling (playwright)
John Steppling (born June 18, 1951 in Burbank, California) is an American playwright, screenwriter and teacher. Steppling's plays have been produced in the United States and Europe. He received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, a residency at the McDowell Colony and has received PEN-West, LA Weekly and Dramalogue awards for his theatrical work. Early life Born in Burbank, Steppling was raised in Hollywood and attended Hollywood High. His mother was a former beauty queen turned bookmaker who suffered from alcoholism. His father, Carl Steppling was a part-time actor and wardrobe assistant in community theatre. His grandfather, John Steppling, was a silent-film actor who appeared in many Essanay films. Steppling has noted that his upbringing moving from neighborhood to neighborhood in L.A with a family at the fringe of the film industry influenced his work, in particular, ''The Dream Coast''. His experiences of the "seamy unde ...
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Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, who established a sheep ranch there in 1867. Billed as the "Media Capital of the World" and only a few miles northeast of Hollywood, numerous media and entertainment companies are headquartered or have significant production facilities in Burbank, including Warner Bros. Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, The Burbank Studios, Cartoon Network Studios with the West Coast branch of Cartoon Network, and Insomniac Games. The broadcast network The CW is also headquartered in Burbank. The Hollywood Burbank Airport was the location of Lockheed's Skunk Works, which produced some of the most secret and technologically advanced airplanes, including the U-2 spy planes that uncovered Soviet Union missile components in Cu ...
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John O'Keefe (playwright)
John O'Keefe (born 1940) is an American playwright, director and solo performer. Notable awards include the 2002 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for ''Times Like These'', and a Bessie Award for ''Shimmer'', which was also made into a motion picture by American Playhouse. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1940, O'Keefe was raised in a series of Catholic orphanages and juvenile homes. He began singing in church choirs at the age of five and pursued his musical interests, subsequently receiving a vocal scholarship at the University of Iowa, where he earned a BA degree in philosophy and an MFA in theater. O'Keefe moved to San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ... in the early 1970s, beginning an affiliation with the Magic Theatre that continues to this day. O'Ke ...
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Animal Factory
''Animal Factory'' is a 2000 neo-noir film directed by Steve Buscemi and starring Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, Danny Trejo, John Heard, Mickey Rourke, Tom Arnold, Seymour Cassel, Shell Galloway and Mark Boone, Jr. Set in San Quentin, the film is about life in prison. It is based on the novel of the same name by Eddie Bunker who plays the part of Buzzard in the film. Plot Ron Decker, a young man convicted for drug possession, is sent to prison where veteran con Earl Copen takes Decker under his wing and introduces him into his own gang. Copen first helps out Decker when three Puerto Ricans attempt to lure him into a cell block to rape him. Copen sees through their plans and talks to the Puerto Ricans, who quickly abandon interest in Decker. Over the next few days, Copen helps Decker out by getting him better jobs, food, and even transferring him to his own cell block. Mainly Copen helps Decker's case and points out that under a new article passed by the legislature, a judge ca ...
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Cracker (U
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to: Animals * ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies * '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker" Arts and entertainment Films * ''Crackers'' (1984 film), an American film starring Sean Penn * ''Crackers'' (1998 film), an Australian film * ''Crackers'' (2011 film), a Bollywood film Music * Cracker (band), an American rock band ** ''Cracker'' (album), the debut studio album by the American rock band Cracker, released on March 10, 1992 * ''Crackers'' (song), a 1980 song by Barbara Mandrell * '' Crackers: The Christmas Party Album'', an album by the British glam rock band Slade * The Crackers, a 1968 pseudonym of the band The Merseybeats Television * ''Cracker'' (British TV series), a television crime drama series ** ''Cracker'' (U.S. TV series), the U.S. remake of the British television series Other uses in arts and entertainment * Crackers (Captain Unde ...
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New York (magazine)
''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', it was brasher and less polite, and established itself as a cradle of New Journalism. Over time, it became more national in scope, publishing many noteworthy articles on American culture by writers such as Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, Nora Ephron, John Heilemann, Frank Rich, and Rebecca Traister. In its 21st-century incarnation under editor-in-chief Adam Moss, "The nation's best and most-imitated city magazine is often not about the city—at least not in the overcrowded, traffic-clogged, five-boroughs sense", wrote then-''Washington Post'' media critic Howard Kurtz, as the magazine increasingly published political and cultural stories of national significance. Since its redesign and relaunch in 2004, the magazine has won more N ...
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Barbet Schroeder
Barbet Schroeder (born 26 August 1941) is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette. Since the late 1980s, he has directed many big budget Hollywood films, often mixing melodrama with the thriller genre in films like ''Single White Female, Kiss of Death'', and ''Murder by Numbers''. He has been nominated for the Palme d'Or for his 1987 film ''Barfly'', and an Academy Award for Best Director for his 1990 film ''Reversal of Fortune''. Biography Schroeder was born in Tehran, Iran, the son of Ursula, a German physician, and Jean-William Schroeder, a Swiss geologist. From ages 6 to 11, he lived in Colombia where his father was a diplomat for the Swiss government. Both he and his family then left for France, where he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Schroeder's production company "Les Films du Losange", founded by him at age 23, produced some of the best-kno ...
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International PEN Award
PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous International PEN centers in over 100 countries. Other goals included: to emphasise the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; to fight for freedom of expression; and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views. History The first PEN Club was founded at the Florence Restaurant in London on October 5, 1921, by Catherine Amy Dawson Scott, with John Galsworthy as its first president. Its first members included Joseph Conrad, Elizabeth Craig, George Bernard Shaw, and H. G. Wells. PEN originally stood for "Poets, Essayists, Novelists", but now stands for "Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, Novelists", and includes writers of any form of litera ...
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John Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' (1962), '' The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962), '' Seven Days in May'' (1964), '' The Train'' (1964), ''Seconds'' (1966), ''Grand Prix'' (1966), ''French Connection II'' (1975), '' Black Sunday'' (1977), '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'' (1996), and '' Ronin'' (1998). He won four Emmy Awards—three consecutive—in the 1990s for directing the television movies '' Against the Wall'', '' The Burning Season'', '' Andersonville'', and ''George Wallace'', the last of which also received a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film. Frankenheimer's 30 feature films and over 50 plays for television were notable for their influence on contemporary thought. He became a pioneer of the "modern-day political thriller", having begun his career at the height of the Cold War.Yoram ...
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52 Pick-Up
''52 Pick-Up'' is a 1986 American neo-noir crime film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Roy Scheider, Ann-Margret, and Vanity. It is based on Elmore Leonard's 1974 novel of the same name, and is the second adaptation of it after '' The Ambassador'' (1984). Plot Harry Mitchell is a successful construction magnate living in the suburbs of Los Angeles, whose wife Barbara is running for city council. One day, Harry is confronted by three hooded blackmailers who demand $105,000 per year for a videotape of him and his mistress, a young stripper named Cini. Because of his wife's political aspirations he cannot go to the police; however, guilt eventually drives him to confess, and she kicks him out of their bedroom. Harry's stubborn inclination is to not surrender to the threats, and when his lawyer advises him that the blackmailers will never leave him alone, he refuses to pay. The trio kidnap Harry and force him to watch a video of Cini being murdered with a gun stolen from ...
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Elmore Leonard
Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures. Among his best-known works are '' Get Shorty'', '' Out of Sight'', ''Swag'', '' Hombre'', '' Mr. Majestyk'', and '' Rum Punch'' (adapted as the film '' Jackie Brown''). Leonard's writings include short stories that became the films '' 3:10 to Yuma'' and '' The Tall T'', as well as the FX television series '' Justified''. Early life and education Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Flora Amelia (née Rive) and Elmore John Leonard. Because his father worked as a site locator for General Motors, the family moved frequently for several years. In 1934, the family settled in Detroit. He graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943 and, af ...
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Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, and is administered by Columbia University. Prizes are awarded annually in twenty-one categories. In twenty of the categories, each winner receives a certificate and a US$15,000 cash award (raised from $10,000 in 2017). The winner in the public service category is awarded a gold medal. Entry and prize consideration The Pulitzer Prize does not automatically consider all applicable works in the media, but only those that have specifically been entered. (There is a $75 entry fee, for each desired entry category.) Entries must fit in at least one of the specific prize categories, and cannot simply gain entrance for being literary or musical. Works can also be entered only in a maximum of two categories, ...
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