Discover How to Be in the Movies at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts 

Hollywood loves to make movies in picturesque Sonoma and Marin counties, and now you can learn how to become a movie star right in your own backyard. “Cinema Toast” radio host, syndicated columnist, and Petaluma 360 blogger Gil Mansergh, has gathered location scouts, talent agents, and local movie actors and extras together for the entertaining and informative program: “Hey, Look Up There, That’s Me!”

Part of the Sebastopol Center for the Arts continuing Filmmakers Sampler series, professionals who search out new “faces” and movie locations will share how you (or your house, yard, or vehicle), could achieve that elusive 15-seconds of fame. Joining them will be local actors and “people in the street,” who got to be onscreen “extras” in locally filmed movies. These lucky few will share their casting, wardrobe, makeup and filming experiences and then share clips from the movies where they appear.

One example is a woman who was listed as Lisa Scott in the credits for the1975 beauty pageant satire “Smile.”  “I was one of the contestants in the beauty contest [in Santa Rosa] and was actually in a lot of scenes…but there is one where I have one speaking line (thanks to Bruce Dern). If I remember correctly, I am in a powder blue dress.”

Another extra is KRSH-FM morning man Brian Griffith. “I was cast as a bar patron in a scene from Lawrence Kasden’s 1999  movie “Mumford.” It was shot at the Old Main Street Saloon in downtown Sebastopol. I wore my own clothes, but the movie guys had completely redecorated the place.”

Wearing several different “Hollywood Hats,” film professional Thomas Harrigan, was 1st assistant editor on the incredible “The Bourne Identity,” and  The Bourne Supremacy,” as well as several locally shot films including “The Horse Whisperer,” and “Bandits.”  But Thomas will be talking about his job as the Bay Area location manager  or assistant location manager on films like Wes Craven’s “Scream,” Disney’s “Flubber,” and “The Parent Trap,” Melissa Painter’s “Wildflowers,” and Peter Ettinger’s soon to be released comedy/mystery, “Lonely Street.”

Other films featured in Saturday night’s program will be Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” Robert Redford’s “Grand Avenue,” and Paul Verhoeven’s  “Basic Instinct,” as well as “Bottle Shock,” starring Chris Pine and Alan Rickman, “Phenomenon,” starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgewick and Forrest Whittaker, and the Bollywood movie “My Name is Khan,” which was recently filmed in Healdsburg.

“Hey, Look Up There, That’s Me!” will be presented at 7:30, Saturday, August 1st at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 6780 Depot Street, Sebastopol. $15 tickets are available at the SCA, or by contacting the center director at lindag@sonic.net

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