AmericatheBeautiful

From the Director

2008-09-17T14:36:00.001-07:00

IN THIS BLOG -
-Upcoming ATB cities and theaters.

-A letter from ANAD.

-Washington, D.C. update!

-Napa Valley.

- UPCOMING CITIES

This weekend we'll be in Portland, OR. By the way, I have a funny Portland story for you.
Last week while I was in Napa Valley, Pedro called me. Pedro is one of our editors and he lives in Portland. When he called, he said "D, let's put together a grass roots campaign this weekend and sell out the theater here in Portland. Always up for a challenge, I said "sure. Let's do it." Pedro got two really big companies to send out rapid fire emails to hundreds of people. The first group was going to the Friday 7:30 show and having dinner afterwards to discuss the movie. Then there was a group on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Well Pedro calls me Friday night sounding sick. I said, "What's wrong, nobody showed up?" He said, "Plenty of people showed up, but the theater told them that they gave your screen away. They said the Tyler Perry movie was doing so well they needed the extra screen, so they won't be showing ATB." I thought he was joking, so I laughed. I noticed that he didn't laugh. Going into immediate mental overload, I did what any filmmaker would do that was told that kind of news while staying in Napa Valley.

You got it! I went to the local winery.

We'll be at the following theaters until this Thursday:

LOS ANGELES:

Mann Beverly Center 13
8522 Beverly Boulevard
Suite 835
Los Angeles, CA, 90048

PORTLAND, OR (One more week):

Regal Fox Tower Stadium 10
846 SW Park Ave
Portland, OR 97205

DALLAS, TX:

Angelika Theater
5321 East Mockingbird Lane, Suite 230
Dallas, TX 75206

- NEW IDEA

I was at home the other day listening to Diana Ross and the Supremes and a light bulb went off. I thought, "We've had some good opening weekends during our theatrical run; Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and a couple of other markets, but nothing compares to the crowds that we have when an eating disorder clinic or a woman's organization sponsors a theatrical showing." Our Chicago run aside, it hasn't even been close. I witnessed the eating disorder center in Minneapolis turn away people at the door.

This past Saturday, Tom and Doris, the couple that lost their daughter to Bulemia in my film, sponsored a screening at the Copia Wine Center in Napa Valley. When I found out that the tickets were $40, I thought I'd have to watch the film alone with Tom and Doris. Lo and behold, it was sold out. WOW!

The people of Napa!

This is Mary Ellen, the owner of Ophelia's place, Tom and Doris.

Tom and Doris hosted the screening as a benefit to raise money for a new eating disorders clinic that they're starting in Napa Valley. They're doing great work around the country in the eating disorders community and they are awesome human beings as well. And I'm sure they could use a little extra cash to feed these two animals.

Tom and Doris has Llama's. I would have gotten a tighter shot, but when I tried to get closer, one of them started making a snorkle sound. Not knowing much about Llama's, I decided that this vantage point was plenty.

- OK, I'VE DIGRESSED. BACK TO THE NEW IDEA!

I've been releasing the film in the traditional Hollywood way. A distributor from California books the theaters, I go to the city and do TV, radio and newspaper interviews and we pray for what's going to happen on Friday. That's worked fairly well, but nothing like the crowds that show up when an eating disorder clinic/woman's organization or university does the marketing.

So I'm going to take a 3 week break from our theatrical run to reorganize. Kind of like what a basketball player has to do when he faces Shaq. Total rethinking of the old gameplan.

In October, when we start back playing in different cities, I'm going to let various groups in different cities do the marketing for the film's theatrical release. That's the one thing that works big time.

So if you're a part of a group and you think you can get 1500 people total spread out over several shows to come to a theater in your city, email me. We'll work something out and schedule your town in our national tour.

ATB (Reorganized) Upcoming markets:

OCTOBER -

October 10th - Honolulu (I can smell the lobster now)
October 15th - Binghamtom University (Pending)
October 16th - Rochester, NY
October 17th - Syracuse, NY
October 18th - I'm taking the day off to attend a Tribute to Sidney Poitier in Chicago
October 22nd & 23rd - Atlanta (pending)
October 28th - Duke University
October 31st - Charlotte, NC

NOVEMBER -

November 5th & 6th - Nashville, TN (pending)
November 9th - Bainbridge Island (pending)
November 11th - Tonawanda, NY
November 12th & 13th - Miami (pending)
November 19th & 20th - Minneapolis
November 24th - Kennedy Center Screening in Washington, DC
November 26th - Vienna, Austria
November 28th - Honolulu again! (This time I'll have crab)

DECEMBER -

December 6th - Screening at the Corning Glass Company - I know what you're thinking! Trust me. It will be awesome.

In the last week, I've had 81 additional requests, so I'll make sure to update you with new locations and dates.

March 31st will be the last day of our theatrical release. It will then be time for the long awaited DVD release. Will keep you posted on that also.

After our initial DVD release, as promised, we're going to release a PG-13 educational version that will be made available to every high school in the country.

- A LETTER FROM ANAD

So the other day I was chasing a fly (you know how pesky they can be) and my computer beeped, alerting me that I had an email. I checked it.

The subject line said "MTV and 12 year old wannabees"

This was the letter:

Darryl,

MTV is in the process of introducing a reality program titled Model Makers. Twelve year old girls are among the program's demographics. The plot line is this. Find 17-24 year olds and among other things help them "no matter what their size" to lose weight to win the
prize.

ANAD would like to interview you (edited interview maximum of five minutes) regarding your reaction to this. Of course we will provide you more details and research on this topic. The reason for the interview is to bring pressure against Viacom and the sponsors to not air Model Makers.
The video interview would be placed on the ANAD site, and 60 second outtakes would be placed on you tube, my space, face book, etc.

Would you be willing to do the interview? Please get back to me as soon as possible.

I spoke with them briefly and suggested that they call Columbo. But I knew in my heart that I needed to do whatever I could to help ANAD. Last weekend in Napa Valley, I met 3 mother's that lost their teenage
girls to anorexia or bulimia. I'm as sure as sure gets that some impressionable teenage girl is going to watch MTV's new show and start dieting to see if she can lose weight (like the models on Tv) - See the connection.

She's then going to get an eating disorder and some of them are going to die. What was MTV thinking to come up with such an ill-conceived idea. Geeez.

Well I told ANAD that I'm on board.

ANAD reaches millions of people through their website and they have a great publicity team with one relentless person in particular on their staff that just won't give up. Ever.

So in addition to releasing the film in 50 more cities over the next 6 months, I'm going to do whatever I can to help save a few girls lives.

- WASHINGTON, DC UPDATE

I made my rounds on Capital Hill last week with the Eating Disorders Coalition.

This is Jenni Schaefer, the author of "Life without ED," Jeanine Cogan, of the Eating Disorders Coalition, myself and Kitty Westin, of the EDC in front of the State Capitol Building.

We met with representatives of several Senators and Congressmen to discuss why they should pass the Mental Health Parity Bill. This is the bill that would be the start to forcing insurance companies to cover eating disorders on parity with other mental illnesses.

I went in there expecting a fight, but to my surprise, they all agreed with our position and stated on the record that they supported the bill and would do whatever they could to get it passed before the session breaks in 3 weeks.

The gentleman from Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr's office was REALLY behind the bill. He started lecturing us as to why it was so important.

I'm explaining why the madness has to stop.

They did however warn us that there was someone in Oregon that could prevent the bill from passing unanimously.

Say a prayer that the Mental Health Parity Bill gets passed, because if we can't stop MTV from airing their new ill-conceived show, a lot of girls are going to need the insurance.

I'm off to see if I can find a Llama here in Chicago!

Until next time,

Darry Roberts

'America The Beautiful' - Revlon at it again...Dallas/Portland

2008-09-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

IN THIS BLOG -

-ATB cities and theaters.

-Revlon is at it again.

UPDATED THEATER ANNOUNCEMENTS -

This weekend we're in 5 cities. If you know anyone that lives in or near either of these 5 cities, please forward this email and ask them to support "America the Beautiful." Make sure you tell them that attending the theater is crucial between this Friday September 5th and Sunday the 7th.

Here are the 5 cities and theaters where we'll be this weekend through next Thursday.

Check theater listings for showtimes!

LOS ANGELES (third week):

Mann Beverly Center 13
8522 Beverly Boulevard
Suite 835
Los Angeles, CA, 90048

SAN DIEGO (second week):

Regal Horton Plaza
475 Horton Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101

LAS VEGAS (second week):

Regal Village Square
9400 W. Sahara Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89117

PORTLAND, OR (first week)

Regal Fox Tower Stadium 10
846 SW Park Ave
Portland, OR 97205

DALLAS, TX (first week):

Angelika Theater
5321 East Mockingbird Lane, Suite 230
Dallas, TX 75206

SAN FRANCISCO:

Sundance Kabuki -
LAST DAY - TOMORROW SEPTEMBER 4TH
1881 Post Street at Fillmore
San Francisco, CA 94115

I did an interview at KTLA in Los Angeles the other day. I ran into this nice gentleman named Walton. He told me he was one of the stars of the TV show "The Shield." He was such a nice guy. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'd never seen the show before. I will watch a couple of episodes this season for sure!

REVLON IS AT IT AGAIN -

In "America the Beautiful," there is a scene where I take some random cosmetics into a lab to get tested for phthalates. All three of the products tested contained phthalates including a bottle of nail polish by Revlon. Also in the film are experts that explain to us that phthalates are suspected of causing allergies and cancer. Jeannie Rizzo of the Breast Cancer Fund even explains that phthalates and other carcinagens probably cause breast cancer in women. Well even though some of Revlon's products contain phthalates and phthalates are suspected of causing cancer, twice a year Revlon puts on it's happy face and supports the Breast Cancer Walk.

Well Revlon (I guess even happier) is at it again. Recently an important bill was up for passing at the State Capitol in California, that would have forced cosmetic companies to remove lead from lipstick. (I thought they'd done so already). But the powerful lobbyists of the cosmetics companies were successful in getting the bill killed.

Guess what cosmetics company was out in full force to help squash the bill. You're right! Corect answer! You should play Jeopardy! You'd win a fortune!

Revlon helped kill a bill that was meant to protect women from harm.

You can read about it here:

Revlon is at it again

I know we've been begging for companies to have social responsibility for years, but pleas like this doesn't seem to work. Since pleas for incorporating social responsibility into the corporate model have fallen on deaf ears, we have to now implement personal responsibility. That is simply a stance that says if you refuse to care about the people that support you, then we won't support you anymore. Believe me, that's the quickest way to get a companies attention.

The options are few. Either personal responsibility or lead lips. You choose.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -

I'm getting ready to go to Washington, D.C. to beg and plead for the senate to past the latest mental health parity bill that's on the books. This bill will be the first step in providing insurance coverage for girls with eating disorders.

The Eating Disorders Coalition wants the bill passed before the senate breaks for the holidays in November because they're afraid that the new president will have a different agenda and the bill will never get passed.

If you know anyone with an eating disorder, then you're aware of how debilitating this condition can be. Write your state congressman and demand that they vote for the mental health parity bill.

Girls are counting on you.

PORTLAND, OREGON -

We had a premiere in Portland, Oregon tonight. I'll develop the pictures from the camera that I purchased at Rite Aid at post them soon.

Until next time,

Stay beautiful,
Darryl Roberts

'America The Beautiful' - R Rating / Hufington Post

2008-09-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

IN THIS BLOG -

-ATB theater announcements.
The ATB LA Premiere.
Why we got an R rating for the film.
My new writing assignment.
An update regarding our congressional screening in D.C. next month. We're going to try and get help for every teenage girl suffering from an eating disorder in this country.

THEATER ANNOUNCEMENTS -

This weekend we're in 4 cities. If you know anyone that lives in either of these 4 cities, forward this email and ask them to support "America the Beautiful." Make sure you tell them that attending the theater is crucial between this Friday the 29th and Sunday the 31st.

Our numbers this weekend will determine if we stay a second week or not. Forwarding these emails actually work. Last Friday the Monte Nido Treatment Center and the Shoreline Treatment Center in California sent out email blasts for the evening shows on the 22nd in Los Angeles which ended in them being sold out. We can make a difference!

The 4 cities and theaters where we open this Friday:
Check theater listings for showtimes!

LOS ANGELES (second week):

Mann Beverly Center 13
8522 Beverly Boulevard
Suite 835
Los Angeles, CA, 90048

Culver Plaza Theatres
9919 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 836-5511

SAN DIEGO:

Regal Horton Plaza
475 Horton Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101

LAS VEGAS:

Regal Village Square
9400 W. Sahara Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89117

SAN FRANCISCO:

Sundance Kabuki
1881 Post Street at Fillmore
San Francisco, CA 94115

AND ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH,
WE OPEN IN:

PORTLAND, OR

Regal Fox Tower Stadium 10
846 SW Park Ave
Portland, OR 97205

DALLAS, TX:

Angelika Theater
5321 East Mockingbird Lane, Suite 230
Dallas, TX 75206

Now for some ATB news!

LA Premiere -
We had the Los Angeles Premiere of "America the Beautiful," on Tuesday August 19th at the Mann's Chinese Theater. It rocked! All 500 seats were occupied and the response was phenomenal. This was possible because of the support of the YWCA.

Faye of the YWCA Los Angeles branch and Lorraine of the YWCA national branch did a fabulous job.

Rapper David Banner, Gerren and Dr. Anthony Griffin of "Extreme Makeover," attended the premiere.

I got the chance to do an interview with "Access Hollywood."

The next day I was interviewed by Tatiana Ali. She played Ashley, the young girl on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."

Gerren is 18 now. She got a car a month ago. I even heard she was dating. It seems like yesterday when she was 12 on the couch saying "ooooh, boys suck!"

Some people that came out to the premiere. The asian lady told me that she would have voted for me on Beautifulpeople.net --If you haven't seen the movie yet, never mind.

Actor Michael Beach "Waiting to Exhale, Soul Food, ER & Third Watch," came with his wife. She's on his right. Two nights later she made dinner for Mike and I. She's a good cook. I'm eating some of her leftover sweet potato pie as I type this.

Two women at the premiere. I didn't get a chance to meet them and no I'm not relapsing!

WHY WE RECEIVED AN R RATING FOR ATB -

Those of you that have seen the film will know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it yet, I don't want to give it away because it's one of the biggest laughs in the movie.

There's a scene where a woman walks into a plastic surgery office and asks to have her privates shaped to look like a picture in Playboy Magazine. Then we cut to Eve Ensler "The Vagina Monologues," who looks into the camera and tells men what to do if they don't like women the way that are. She uses 1 word of profanity. 1 word! And they gave me an R for it. Have you seen "Dark Knight," or "Hellboy 2?" I walked into "Hellboy 2," the other day and the first thing I saw was someone getting a sword to the head and I get an R for 1 swear word.

I was given the chance to take it out and get a PG-13 so that teenagers could see the film. I declined because I felt that women have been expected to assimilate into a male dominated society for hundreds of years and Eve was saying there's nothing wrong with women, maybe there's something wrong with men. I took that to be a statement of empowerment for women, so I left it in. But when we leave the theaters, I'm going to take it out so I can get a PG-13 and release the film to every high school in the country.

THE ATB MARCH ON D.C. -

Next month on September 10th, we're having a congressional screening of the film sponsored by Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN). The purpose of screening the film for congress is to get them to pass an important bill on the books that would require insurance companies to cover eating disorders on parity with other mental illnesses. Right now insurance companies don't have to cover eating disorders and parents are taking out second mortgages on their homes to cover the $25,000 a month for their child to get treatment.

Two bills have been introduced in Congress in an effort to provide access to care for people with mental health conditions such as eating disorders. The bills promote mental health parity, in which some insurance policies would be required to cover treatment for eating disorders equal to the coverage offered for medical conditions. The Senate bill and the House bill vary, but the Eating Disorders Coalition supports BOTH. The original 1996 mental health parity bill must be reauthorized by Congress. Compared to the new U.S. Senate version of the bill (S 558), the new House version of the bill (HR 1424) is more responsive to the needs of people seeking treatment for an eating disorder.

If you're in the Washington D.C. area on September 10th and would like to support us on this hopefully historic day, go to this website to get the information and come on out:

Washington D.C. Screening

MY NEW WRITING ASSIGNMENT:

For the last 6 months or so, I've been blogging to keep you up to speed with what's been happening with ATB as well as making you privy to the inner workings of the film industry.

Well my blogs will be wider read because I'm now writing for "The Huffington Post." For those of you that don't know Arrianna Huffington, she's a very well respected social critic. The Huffington Post regularly breaks major news stories, sometimes before the daily papers.

Here is my first post and I'll keep you up to speed on future posts that I make:

The Huffington Post

Until next time, have a great, wonderful and fantastic day!

Darryl Roberts
"America the Beautiful"

ATB comes to LA!

2008-09-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

PLEASE HELP US BY FORWARDING THIS
to anyone you think might be interested in our film's message. Los Angeles is a key market and we really need your support. The national press has really jumped on board to help us promote the film and if you send this to EVERYONE that you know and stress to them the importance of coming out to see the film THIS WEEKEND, I believe we can reverse the damage that was done by a couple of industry evil do'ers in NY. The theaters where we're opening this Friday in L.A. are listed below.

Also we open in San Diego and San Francisco on Friday August 29th. Then we open in Dallas and Portland on September 5th. The theaters for these cities are listed on our website: www.americathebeautifuldoc.com

I will send you a full update of what ended up happening in NY and what happens in Los Angeles this weekend.

Here is some of the press that we've gotten recently:

ABC News in Los Angeles (Last night):

ABC News

CNN News (Last week):

CNN News

Good Morning America Now ( 2 weeks ago):

Good Morning America Now

The Today Show ( 3 weeks ago):

The Today Show

Quick story. The last day that I was in New York a woman walked up to me and said she was an executive from MTV. I wasn't really in the mood for confrontation so my attitude was just sue me. But she wasn't there to sue me. She said she was there to let me know that MTV is aware of the damage that they've done to young girls and they've put some programs in place to help them. The woman then proceeded to show me some social programs that MTV had started to help with girls self-esteem. I was blown away! She told me that she'd like to see what MTV could do to help me with the film.

Then Glamour Magazine and 17 Magazine posted a blog on their website saying that the film was awesome. Just goes to show you, there are always some good crusaders in every industry willing to make a difference.

I never in a million years expected this kind of support. Los Angeles will be interesting. We had a premiere last night and it seems that Los Angeles in going to come out in full force to support the film. I will update you with pictures from the premiere last night. It was awesome!

I also heard that some stringer (not a main critic) for the Los Angeles Times is probably going to dig into us in this Friday's LA Times. But we're ready for him this time. The Monte Nido Treatment Center and 38 other organizations have put together a grass roots campaign to come out and support the film that should send the guy back to where he belongs. Internet ettiquette precludes me from saying where that is.

I'll be doing a Q&A at the Laemmle Sunset 5 with some of the people featured in the film on Friday August 22nd at the 7 and 9pm shows. Join us!

New York New York

2008-09-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

I knew it would eventually come. I cannot name anyone specifically in this edition (I'd be sued faster than you can say split pea.)

As you probably know "America the Beautiful," opened this past Friday August 1st. 2 weeks ago I did about 14 print interviews with Kirsten Haglund, the 2008 Miss America. All of them were supposed to come out a few days before the film opened on August 1st in an effort to create massive awareness.

Lo and behold, what do you know, it's Sunday August 3rd as I write this and 90% of the interviews "mysteriously" never ran. I have no idea what happened, (well of course I do, but the legal system doesn't permit me to say). What I can legally point out is that a couple of people in the beauty industry are trying to run me out of NY. About 2 months ago, someone from a cosmetics company told me "all you have to do is take the part out of your film about the phthalates in cosmetics and you'll be fine."

California Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill recently banning phthalates in children's products. In the article the Govenor's office admits that phthalates are linked to cancer and he says we have to protect our children. What I want to know is who's protecting our women? Read the story here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN1443724320071015

Well, after not getting much press and watching only a few people show up to our Friday and Saturday showings, I decided to throw in the towel and go back to Chicago. But then I thought about it. That's exactly what they want me to do. Everything would then be honkey dorey and they could leave the toxins in our cosmetics, keep making billions and we'd be the only one's suffering from the ensuing afflictions.

Then it occured to me. I'm not alone in this fight. I have 14,287 of you to help me.

I want to send a message to the industry here in NY that we've had enough and aren't taking it anymore. If phthalates being elimated is good enough for Arnold, then it's good enough for me. We have to show the industry that our grass roots prowess is as powerful as their machine.

We did it in Chicago. With your help the film had a successful run. But unfortunately the industry isn't there so they didn't care.

Today, Sunday August 3rd, if you can forward this email to everyone that you know of that lives in NY city and anywhere within driving distance of NY city and ask them to take 2 hours out of their day to come and support "America the Beautiful," then the film may live to see another day. If this doesn't happen, then next week we'll be gone and the bigwigs at the cosmetics companies will find some more chemicals to put into our bloodstream.

Remember what I said in the film. "The industy isn't going to change because things are too profitable the way they are. Ultimately responsibility is in our hands. We can buy and support the things that have our best interest at heart.

I'm asking for your support. I know you probably planned on water rafting today, but if you get everyone that you know in NY to come out to support the film, the next time that I put some hotdogs on the grill, you can come by.

Also, if you know someone in NY that you want to sponsor today, you can buy 2 tickets for them and have them pick them up at the box office. Trust me they'll thank you. You can buy the tickets here:

http://www.readyticket.net/webticket/htmlshowtimes/27/.%5CShowTimes39663.html

The film is playing at:

Cinema Village Theater
22 E. 12th Street
New York, New York

I will be at the theater today meeting everyone that comes out. Maybe after one of the shows, we can go to the museum and sing "Buffalo Bob."

NY UPDATE:
So in addition to not getting any publicity, most of the critics in New York performed a hatchet job on me. As you know, all over the U.S., credible critics like Roger Ebert, Ain't it Cool News, etc. have praised the film. But the New York Times said that the film was pointless and basically had no reason to exist. Hmmmmm.

This is where I could pontificate on a few things, but once again, legally I can't. What I can do is help you not to get duped in the future by a "so-called" critic. When reading a review, most of us just say that the New York Times said such and such. Well all critics aren't created equal. At every major paper in the country, they have the real critics that are seasoned, professional and actually know what they're talking about. Then they have the B list critics. it's important to know exactly who's writing the review that you're reading.

The real critics at the New York Times are: STEPHEN HOLDEN, A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis. You can see they're very respectable credentials by clicking on their name. Now the woman that wrote the review for "America the Beautiful," if you click on her name, you get nothing. No bio, no work history, nothing. Well since she did the hatchet job on me, I decided to do a little research on her. I can't say what I found because once again I may end up in court. But do the research yourself. Her name is Jeannette Catsoulis. She has a history of doing these type of "reviews." Everyone that has seen the film will get a kick out of this:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/movies/01beau.html?ref=movies

Even a major critic had to complain about her lack of (oops, I'm about to get sued for defamation of character) on his blog. Read it here:

http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/film/2008/01/16/new-york-times-returns-its-philistine-roots/

NEW YORK WASN'T ALL BAD:

A woman at the NY Daily News saw the film and loved it. She decided to take one of the topics from the film and write an article about it. She chose plastic surgery. You can read her article here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2008/07/31/2008-07-31_new_documentary_exposes_horrors_of_botch.html

The article turned out very nice. It's "Angels," like this reporter that step up and make a difference giving people like myself a platform when I wouldn't normally have one.

When this article came out on Thursday July 31st, I must admit I wasn't ready for what would happen next. I got an email from someone at "The Today Show," asking if I would come on the following morning with Mary Nissenson. She's the woman in my film that lost her business, her husband and her house because she decided to get plastic surgery. Here's the irony. She was the former host of "The Today Show." I told them she lived on a remote island in Hawaii and suggested that they bring Gerren on. The model from the movie. The following morning I was in a Town Car on my way to NBC Studios to tape the today show. I was hoping that I'd get a chance to meet Al Roker. I didn't though.

You can watch "The Today Show," segment here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25966129#25966129

Darryl and Meridith

TOO AWSOME - We were interviewed by Meredith!

Cheryl Crowe jams

Right after we taped, Sheryl Crowe sang in the plaza.

A picture with Crowe

Gerren and I even got to take a picture with Sheryl.

While Sheryl was singing, I had my eye on her backup singer. Later she was actually 3 feet away from me, but I decided to go back to my hotel and savor the illusion.

I want to leave you with these quotes from "real" critics:

"Powerful Message!" -Roger Ebert
"Embraces a Remarkable Array of Topics" -Variety
"Captivating!" -The LA Times

America The Beautiful Opens August 1

America The Beautiful is an independent film, whose success is directly dependent on the help we receive from our supporters. If you like the film or support it's message, we'd appreciate you forwarding on this email to anyone you believe would also be interested.

America The Beautiful is Now Playing at
The Cinema Village Theater
22 East 12th Street
New York, NY 10003

CLICK HERE to see a Trailer
or copy and paste URL in your web browser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y06bkDVCM6w

www.AmericaTheBeautifulDoc.com

NY Opening at the Village Cinema Theater August 1st!

2008-07-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

"America the Beautiful," opens in New York next Friday August 1st at the Village Cinema Theater - 22 E. 12th St. in Manhattan. As we all know, NY is the most important market in the country for opening a film and I need your help.

I'm currently reading a movie marketing book and it states that in order for a message to stick with a consumer, they have to hear or see it 7 times. They call it repetitive advertising. By my calculation, that means I should mention our NY opening 6 more times in the body of this update. But I have mucho faith that you'll remember the details without me doing that. So I'll probably only do it one more time at the end.

The NY Premiere for "America the Beautiful," last week was awesome. We had a full house and it was the first time showing the new cut of the film. It played very well.

So many people have come on board to help us get our message out. Much to my surprise, the media was very supportive in NY. There were a couple of hiccups. But overall, the media embraced the film. I have some links below.

People are starting to ask me, "why did you, a man, make this film in the first place?"

Well, the answer is this:

One day I was on the internet and ran across a story of a guy that murdered a model. He said he did it because she was really beautiful and wouldn't date him. And if he couldn't have her no one could. I was sitting there thinking, that's really stupid to throw your life away over a beautiful woman.

That made me think to myself, have I ever done anything stupid over a beautiful woman. Immediately, I thought about the time I was about to go on a first date with this woman that was so beautiful, that everytime I made eye contact with her I became discombobulated. I knew that her favorite colors were red and black and her favorite car was a Jaguar. Well like a nut, for our first date I brought a used red and black Jaguar, so she could take her pick. When I really processed how crazy that was, I started thinking why are we so obsessed with beauty in the first place. That question was the inspiration for me to start my adventurous 5 year journey.

I'm glad that I did it. Considering the mental/emotional condition of young girls today, it's very important to reinforce in them that they have to love themselves exactly the way that are and that we all have the power to recapture our self-esteems from the advertising/beauty industries.

Now back to the premiere!

As you may or may not know, Kirsten Haglund, the 2008 Miss America joined us at the NY premiere. She did 10 to 15 interviews with me and was very eloquent in explaining her personal story of dealing with an eating disorder. She was a ballerina as a young teen and when she saw the other dancers that were skinnier than her in conjunction with the images that she was being fed by the media, it ended in a "I'm not good enough" crescendo; an eating disorder.

Kirsten and I were given an award by ANAD for our work in raising the awareness of eating disorders. It was a very nice award. The neighbors dog chewed my digital camera or I would have inserted a picture of the award right here.

Director Darryl Roberts and Kirsten Haglund, 2008 Miss America.

Michael Beach, the star of the TV shows "ER and Third Watch," as well as the movies "Waiting to Exhale and Soulfood," flew in from Los Angeles to join us. Michael was our first executive producer.

Actor Michael Beach

"America the Beautiful," is a film that deals with a historically women's issue, but was 100% financed by men. I've always dreamed of the day when men would rally together in support of women. Well here we are. I'd like to thank Mr. Beach, Mr. Damore, Dr. Anderson, and the late Terence Wright for their vision and support.

On another note, I ran into a guy situation that wasn't as supportive. I planned on using the Marilyn Manson song, "The Beautiful People," under a montage of kids playing, having fun and being innocent. This was to illustrate that it's the everyday things in life that makes one beautiful.

Well Marilyn's management said we couldn't use the song in the film because of the film's subject matter. I was dazed and confused when I heard that. The film's subject matter? We're trying to uplift women by telling them that they're beautiful whether or not they look like the images in magazines. How does that message run counter to the song "The Beautiful People?" After several minutes of pontification, a friend of mine figured it was simply about the money. I just wasn't paying enough.

I'd never listened to a Marilyn Manson song until 5 years ago. It was after I saw him in an interview in the doc "Bowling for Columbine." I remember thinking, wow, he seems pretty deep. Totally different from what I thought he'd be like. So I immediately started listening to his music and that's when I discovered "The Beautiful People." So I'm a little dissapointed that we can't use the song, but I'll trust that they had a good reason.

Marilyn, stay positive and we still love you! We found some great music to put in the place of the song. It's a little rocky and it rocks!

NEWSFLASH - The Mancini estate allowed us to use the Pink Panther music. Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

Okay. Back to New York. As it turns out. The media in NY was very kind to us. We've already gotten our first 4 star review. You can read it here:

4 star review

This feature article came out today in the NY Sun. Read it here:

NY Sun Article

Things got even better. I found out that one of the writers / editors at Glamour Magazine loved ATB and thought it was excellent. She even wrote a small article on the Glamour website that included a picture of Gerren. The article is already starting debate as evidenced by the comments at the bottom of the page. This is really cool. Read it here:

Glamour Magazine Mention

I also met a very fascinating woman on the streets of NY by accident. Her name is Sage Salzer. She's the top plus sized model in the U.S. She was very happy that the film was coming to New York and she said she'd do whatever she could to help us get the word out. She's a trailblazer and I'm sure that she has lots of connections. I must say, to be so accomplished, she was a very nice woman and I found her very inspirational. You can read her story here:

The awesome Sage Salzer

Time for another public service announcement. I'd like to thank everyone for making our August 1st opening a success. I'm doing a little projecting here!

The film opens Friday August 1st in NY at the:

Cinema Village Theater
22 East 12th Street
New York, NY 10003

Was that subtle or did it have the kick that most ads have?

We're going to have a couple of more word of mouth screenings and I'd like to invite all of you to attend with one little caveat. After you see the film, spread the word and forward these emails to all of your friends in NY. Start a blog. Host an "America the Beautiful," party. Hey, that's not unreasonable, you did it for "Sex and the City."

FUTURE WORD OF MOUTH SCREENINGS:

On July 29th at the Cinema Village Theater at 7pm, we're going to have a word of mouth screening supported by various media organizations in NY. If you'd like to come to this screening, email me and I'll leave a pass for you at the door. There will be a couple of special guest at this screening, so it should be fun. Remember after you see the film, we'd appreciate it if you spread the word to everyone and get them to come out opening weekend, starting August 1st to see the film. (Now this plug was smooth).

On July 30th, I'm considering hosting a doozy of a screening. Have you ever watched "The Actor's Studio," on Bravo? If all goes well, I will moderate a discussion with Gerren Taylor (the young model from "America the Beautiful") and have a no-holds barred discussion about what really happened with her modeling career in NY. When I was shooting the film (Gerren was 12), her mother wouldn't let her talk about some of things that were happening because she was a minor. Well Gerren is now 18 (had a birthday 2 weeks ago), and she wants to talk about it. You don't want to miss this.

This event won't be posted or advertised anywhere. You have to email me and let me know that you'd like to attend and I'll send you a personal email of the exact time and location for the July 30th screening. Ladies and gentlemen this will be explosive. I 've always wanted this information in the film but at this point, I'm just happy for the truth to be told!

Gerren Taylor

I'm busy this week trying to make as many people as possible aware of our August 1st opening in NY. Don't forget to spread the word. If you have any ideas of ways that I should be promoting the film in NY, drop me an email. Have a beautiful day!

Darryl Roberts

NYC-Here We Come!

2008-07-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great, wonderful and fantastic weekend. Make sure you read this email to the very end because I have passes for our NY premiere at the bottom. That's right! Some of you will be able to join us this Thursday at the NY premiere of "America the Beautiful," which takes a look at America's unhealthy obsession with beauty.

Over the last few days, I've been in the thick of things getting ready for this Premiere. I can't believe it's finally here. Sometimes I think about calling in sick, like I did as a child when I thought the test would be too hard. But I won't. I promise. I'm going to face the music.

I've been informed (I have spies too) that the beauty industry is trying to figure out how to handle ATB coming to their backyard. Let me help you. It's quite simple:

Start showing images of all types of women in your magazines. Women of all sizes are beautiful, aren't they?

Stop promoting reckless diets on TV that don't work anyway. Start promoting healthy living.

Take out the toxins in cosmetics. If Europe can do it, so can we.

Start reinforcing positive messages to young girls. Things like: being a lady, manners, respect, honesty, integrity, pursuit of intelligence, culture, etc. You get the message.

I promise if you start doing the aformentioned things, you'll notice that the world will start to become a better place. Enough lecturing. Back to the matter at hand.

Some people have told me with great certainty that there was a snowballs chance in (you fill in the location) that the beauty industry was going to allow me to come to NY and promote a film that challenges their culpibility in the erosion of women's self-esteem.

So being a visionary, I came up with a plan to combat that. Remember I told you awhile ago that a special guest was joining me in NY to help get press and spread the word, well the special guest is the 2008 Miss America, Kirsten Haglund.

Miss America 2

I know what some of you are thinking, Miss America? I got the idea from the eating disorders community. She was speaking at the IAEDEP Conference in Florida where ATB was showing. I didn't get a chance to meet her, but everyone there was talking about how intelligent she is. She was there because she had a very bad eating disorder and was hospitalized at one time in her life. Because of that, her platform as Miss America is to raise awareness for eating disorders.

So I thought, hey, she has a lot to say about the images we're being bombarded with because she was effected personally by them, why not have her join me in my quest to get the word out about the film in NY.

That was my brilliant plan. Have the publicist pitch the filmmaker of ATB and his sidekick Miss America to the press as a team. I figured they'd book us both and we could get our messages out since they run parallel to each other.

Well, I underestimated how well the fashion, media, cosmetics and advertising industries in NY know each other. What turned out as a brilliant plan turned into a LOT of we only want Miss America for the interview. Hmmmm. So in Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, St. Louis and every where else I go, I'm all over the television and radio, but not in NY. In baseball that would be considered a shutout!

Right now the score is:

Beauty industry - 4 Darryl Roberts - 1

I get a point for coming up with the brilliant idea in the first place. I know you've heard the saying "it's not over until it's over." I have another plan. This one rocks as well. I can't talk about it right now because it only works as a clandestine operation. If successful, it will get the word out in a major way.

I promised you that I would fight this fight until my shoulder blades itched. My goal and purpose is to enlighten and save as many girls as I can and have them to stop feeling bad about themselves. Yul Brenner said in "The Ten Commandments," - "So let it be written. So let it be done."

So I'm going to NY to be the caddy for Miss America. I thought in the book "The Art of War," it said that you were supposed to bring the fight fast and furious in your adversaries face, creating a sort of shock and awe. Wait a minute, I just remembered, one day a friend of mine invited me over to play Scrabble and watch "Sanford and Son," while I was intensely reading. I ended up skipping two chapters of the book that day. That's where the plan went wrong.

To be fair, I must admit there are a couple of brave souls that have agreed to interview me in NY. One daily paper even agreed to interview me without Miss America. Boy are they going to get a scoop.

I feel like I'm living the message of the film all over again. Several press people have asked, can we interview the model. Or will Paris Hilton or Jessica Simpson do an interview. I haven't had one yet ask for an interview with Dr. Anne Becker (Havard sociologist) that did the Fiji study in the film. This is the study that showed how 3 years of television destroyed Fiji's culture. As a matter of fact, they haven't asked to interview anyone that really have something to say about our obsession. The requests have been exploiting about youth, beauty, and celebrity over the airwaves.

Sometimes we say that people in Los Angeles are shallow. Lost. In need of salvation. But when you think about it, the industries in NY are the ones wreaking mucho havoc on us. Movie stars don't have to be overly beautiful. Just quirky. But the fashion and advertising industries would have you believe that a broomstick with a dress hanging off of it is the epitomy of beauty.

Enough talking about it. I'm ready to go to NY to see what the future holds.

The film opens officially in New York on Friday August 1st. I need everone in New York to see the film and if you don't live in New York, send this email to everyone that you personally know that does.

If we don't do well opening weekend, they'll throw me out of the theater so fast, you'll think that I'd stolen something.

The film opens August 1st at:

Cinema Village Theater
12 East 12th Street
New York, NY 10003

We'll know where our second theater is in a week or so. Okay, say a prayer for me, because in 3 days, I'm on a plane to our (ummm...Miss America's) Red Carpet Premiere in NY. Yowza!

By the way, as I type this, I'm listening to a song on repeat. It's a really annoying habit that I have that drives my staff out of the room. The song is "Dizzy." They don't write lyrics like this anymore:

"Dizzy. I'm so Dizzy. My head is spinning. Like a Whirlpirl it never ends. And it's you girl making it spin. You're making me dizzy."

As I sit here alone because it's the 112th time in a row that it's played, I realize that maybe I'm the one dizzy.

I promised you passes to the premiere. Well here's the situation. On paper the premiere is booked to capacity, but as we all know some people won't show up. If you click on the link, print the invite and bring it to the theater, we'll let people in on a frist come, first serve basis until the theater is full. We'll start letting people in at 6:50pm, even though you may want to get there a little earlier. I've gotten tons of emails from people in NY asking when the film was coming to the Big Apple, so here you are:
CLICK HERE TO PRINT A COMPLIMENTARY PASS FOR TWO

I look forward to meeting you on Thursday. This is going to be fun!

Darryl Roberts

"America the Beautiful" - Jessica Simpson / Dove

2008-07-01T21:22:00.001-07:00

Well. Well. Well. What do you know! Before I share a story with you about a fashion/beauty editor at the big newspaper in St. Louis, I'd like to share a small victory that I had at a film festival. At the film festival my assistant Jason was in a taxi going home and the driver asked him "what film were you here for?"

Jason responded "America the Beautiful."

The driver told him "I had these 2 women in my cab this morning and they were going home to Los Angeles." They said they'd seen "America the Beautiful," and one of them said that she was canceling her plastic surgery appointment as soon as she got back."

When I heard that story, my sufficiencies were sophonsified. Not too long after that,
On another note, the other day I was minding my business doing some work on the computer and an email popped up and in the subject line it said...JESSICA SIMPSON.

My first thought was maybe she wants me to intervene to help her get her husband back. So I open it and it's this message from her manager..."Jessica Simpson, and I am tryingto figure out what participation
Jessica did in your film? We have no documentation of this film, nor release signed by Jessica. I was surprised to see this listed on her credits as part of the cast. I would love to know what her involvement is in the film, as I can not find anything other than some articles that said you interviewed her??? Please respond asap, as I need to get this handled."

After reading this, my first conscious thought was of a creep...vibe...setting...in--So...very...
Akward.

I immediately asked Jason if we had a release for Jessica Simpson. All the
while my heart racing 1,000 beats per minute. I actually expected
a call/email like this from Paris Hilton's people. Not Jessica Simpson,
she seemed so sweet when I interviewed her. After we found Jessica's release, I immediately emailed the manager letting her know that we have full legal permission to use Jessica's likeness in our documentary. I even put out an invitation for Jessica to attend our premiere
in New York. I told the manager that I would personally treat Jessica to some Goober's and
Chicken of the Sea Tuna. Well I never heard back from her. I guess it's safe to say that
Jessica won't be attending the premiere.

In the process of finding Jessica's release, I found a priceless piece of footage
of Jessica that I shot. I actually forgot all about it. It will premiere in the film
for the New York showing. Remember Jessica, if your manager hadn't emailed
me, I wouldn't have stumbled across this footage.

This is me lost in NY - just 3 hours ago. I was on my way to the big cosmetics meeting.

DOVE COSMETICS:

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that a cosmetics company wanted to speak to me about the film. How many people guessed Dove? Those of you that did get a gold star!

About 2 weeks ago the publicist for Dove contacted me and said that one of the Dove Models had seen the film in Chicago and he also said that he'd read the Roger Ebert review and was aware that Dove was featured in our film. He even sent me the Roger Ebert article to show that's how he'd heard about everything.

I should mention here that one of my favorite activities growing up was solving mental puzzles. I may not be a genius, but I do know how he really found out about Dove being in the film. But for the sake of keeping peace, I didn't say anything.

So Mr. publicist insisted that he and the people from Dove see the film because maybe we could work together....

I stopped at a Planet Hollywood and boxed with Sylvester Stallone before the Dove meeting. Sylvester knocked me out which was remarkable because he is a statue. I was sure that this was symbolic of what was to come.

I had two inherent problems with going to the Dove meeting. The first one was, some lady in the film had mentioned that Dove was using larger women in their initial campaign to sell firming lotion. I figured they wouldn't like that and also I have a big section in the film about phthalates (toxins) in cosmetics.

Environmentalists are proving that phthalates in cosmetics cause breast cancer and various allergies in women. VERY FEW cosmetic companies are phthalate free. VERY FEW! So how akward is it to sit in a meeting with the publicist of Dove, the brand manager of Dove, the filmmaker that makes all of the Dove video's...hmmm... and several other people whose identities are completely unknown to me. While the film was playing, everyone was writing notes in their tablets.

I wanted to holler out..."class is in session ladies and gentlemen." But I knew they wouldn't think that was funny.

Being the hopeless romantic (optimist) that I am, I came up with the perfect plan to pitch to them after the meeting.

I'd tell them that the women that insinuated that their marketing was disingenuous, was only voicing her personal opinion, but I (being a huge visionary) see a way that we can join forces and conquer the world. I'd explain that after spending 5 years doing the film, I'm deeply committed to helping women and young girls in any way that I can. I'd then say - "I'm not accusing you of anything and I'm sure you're not even aware of it, but I suspect that there are some ingredients in your products that are possibly doing women harm. Let's test them and if they're there, we can make an announcement to the press that you're going to remove them and then we can lock arms. In that Rodney King "Can we all get along kind of way." We never got close to this point.

After the film was over, there were no harmonious offers to conquer the world. Only - "very well done," and "wow! we need a couple of days to digest this. Wow!" The last time I heard this was when I was 12 and I played hookey from school and got caught by my mom. So "I need a couple of days to digest this," is rarely good. I got that feeling in my stomach that you get when you know your spouse is about to ask for a divorce.

But I must say, they were really nice. They gave me some hot buttered popcorn and a chocolate cookie.

It brings up the point that the beauty industry isn't neccessarily these evil people out to destroy the world. Some of them are hard-working, nice people doing a job to keep a roof over their heads. Maybe we should be looking at the tenets of capitalism. When a companies main goal is profit...profit...profit...there has to be a victim in the equation. And it's usually us. That's simple mathematics.

Myself and the Dove team, left the building, going our own seperate ways, giving new meaning to the term riding off into the sunset.

GIRLS SCOUTS:

On a brighter note, last week the Girl Scouts of America emailed me and said they'd like to showcase ATB to their girls nationwide. They felt it would be a very important tool for them. How cool is that. Doing something for the Girl Scouts. We've come a long way with this film. Did I ever mention that the entire film was edited in my second bedroom. Only in America!

NEW YORK DEVELOPMENT:

And the New York opening (August 6th) is shaping us nicely. Next week after the 4th of July, I'm going to share with you how you or anyone that you know in NY can get tickets to a pre-screening of "America the Beautiful." You/they can become personal disciples in helping to spread the word. New York is going to be our toughest city yet. The entire industry is there and I assure you that I haven't seen the last of them.

For now, I'm signing off. I hve a 6am flight in the morning back to Chicago. As they say...back to reality!

Darryl

Last Thursday with "The Emily Program"

2008-06-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

I won't forget last Thursday anytime soon. I flew to Minneapolis to screen "America the Beautiful," for an awesome eating disorders treatment facility called "The Emily Program."

About three weeks before the June 19th screening, one of their employees called me and informed me that they wanted to add a 9:30pm show in addition to the 7pm show that they already had scheduled. I didn't have the courage to tell her that it's extremely hard to get people out on a Thursday night to see a documentary and it'll be hard enough to sell out the 7pm show (264 seats), much less an additional show. But being the team player that I am, I just said "sure."

Well, to make a long story short. Not only did they sell out the 7pm show, but the 9:30pm show was 90% sold out as well. For the record, I want to say, the Emily Program Foundation rocks!

Theater line

We started out the day in Minneapolis doing media interviews. One notable interview was radio station 107.1 FM - The Lori and Julia Show. Imagine going to a radio station where your intent is discussing America's unhealthy obsession with beauty and upon entering the studio, the first thing that you see is a wall filled with pictures of Lori and Julia's "Hunky Hot Men of 2008." YIKES!!! I said to myself, this is going to be a loooooong interview. I tried to convert them, but they were too far gone into the land of hunkdom. For the record though, Lori and Julia were very nice.

Lori And Julia

After witnessing lines wrapped around the corner at the screening, and 2 sold-out shows, both with rousing standing ovations afterwards, I have to add the Minneapolis screening to my top 5 "All Time," screenings of "America the Beautiful."

In no particular order the top 5 screenings would be:

The Artivist Film Festival in California
AFI Dallas Film Festival Screening in Texas
Emily Program Screening in Minneapolis
The Chicago Theatrical Premiere of "America the Beautiful"
The Sneddon Theater Screening at the Durban International Film Festival (South Africa).

Within 24 hours of getting back to Chicago, people had already started posting articles/blogs about the Minneapolis screening. And 4 days later, I've already gotten 64 emails from people that attended the screening. They've expressed to me that "America the Beautiful," is not a movie - it's a neccessary movement. When we expand our theatrical run this fall, I'm going to insist that we come back to Minneapolis!

Here is a link to a blog that equates "America the Beautiful," with saving young girls:

Girl Media Maven

Darry acceptd Action Award from the Emily Program Foundation

I received this "Action Award," from Dr. Jillian Croll, president of the Emily Program Foundation. This is the first year that they gave out the award and it's for the awareness that "America the Beautiful," is bringing to the eating disorders community. I have to admit, I love making a difference in the world. The award was carved in a 50 pound rock. Not only did I have to carry that treasure back, but I missed my flight while airport security tried to open it to make sure nothing was inside. Their powerful scanners couldn't penetrate the massive hulking fixture. After 27 minutes of trying to open it, they took my word for it that I wasn't planning anything devious with "The Hulk.".

ATB Logo

Kitty Westin (left), president of the National Eating Disorders Coalition, attended the Minneapolis Emily Program Foundation Screening of "America the Beautiful," with her two lovely daughters. Speaking of Kitty, once it's set in stone, I'll have some amazing news to share with you.

ATB Logo
This is Jeanette Trompeter from Channel 4, the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis. She seemed to be a very nice woman and I think she's on the board of the Emily Program Foundation. Don't hold me to that though.

ATB Logo

This was the mastermind behind the entire evening. She was the publicist and organizer of the Emily Program Foundation Screening. Lindsay shared with me that she'd never done anything like this before. Wherever you are right now, let's stand and give Lindsay a standing ovation. Great job!
Packed House at the Lagoon Theatre

During the Q and A in Minneapolis, a woman asked an interesting question - "why aren't there any African-American women here?"

This was a tricky question to answer because to arrive at a reasonable explanation could easily become non-starter or specious at best or at the very least "intellectually dishonest." So I told her I wasn't sure.

It was a very astute observation. After playing in 20 film festival screenings from South Africa, Maui and everywhere in between, it's true, I haven't seen many Black women.

I told her that in Chicago, starting June 20th, (the following day) we were opening the film at the ICE Theater in a Black neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. I was hoping that Blacks would come out to support the film if it showed in their neighborhood. Well, I stopped by the 2:15 show on Friday and there were 4 people in the theater. The Saturday 7:15 show had 25 ppl and the Saturday 9:45 show had 6. It was brutal. It's a phenom that I can't explain.

The way that that the theater business works (because remember their primary business is concessions - selling popcorn), is on every Monday they look at each film's gross (from the weekend) and the one's that aren't pulling their weight get thrown out on Thursday to make room for new movies coming in on Friday. There was no doubt in my mind that I was outta there. But the manager of the theater (a really nice guy) said let's keep "America the Beautiful," here one more week and try something different. The something different is to get the Black talk radio station in Chicago, WVON, to promote the film for this upcoming Friday, June 27th. He said the only way to get Blacks to come to a commercial house and watch a documentary is to promote it on talk radio. It makes sense, talk radio - talky documentary. So I look forward to seeing what happens next Friday. I will let you know.

After that I'm off to New York. On Tuesday July 1st at 4pm, I'm meeting with one of the cosmetics companies featured in the film. I'm thinking about hiring some of Barack Obama's secret service guys to go with me. Naaah, I'm sure it'll be peaceful. I haven't faced the industry yet. But you never know. Maybe human decency will override corporate greed and they'll agree that there's work to be done to help women and especially young girls and decide to join me in my quest. Don't laugh. I can be a little pollyanna at times.

I will keep you abreast of the latest developments, especially one regarding a special announcement for our July 17th VIP Special Screening in New York. The film opens in New York on either August 1st or 8th and we plan on lighting up the skies with publicity.

A 6 year old walked up to me after a screening in Chicago and she said "Mister can I tell you a joke?"

I said "sure."

She said, "Where do you find a dog with no legs?"

I said, "I don't know."

She said, "exactly where you left him at."

I laughed so hard, that I had to immediately find the restroom.

Until next time,

Darryl Roberts

Ebert Interview

2008-06-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'd like to bring something to your attention. "America the Beautiful," isn't supposed to exist. At least not in the form where you'd ever actually see it. I've had to fight all the conventional wisdom of Hollywood. This is how it's supposed to go - 1. You make an independent film. 2. When you're done, you get John Sloss as a producer's rep. 3. John Sloss uses his clout to get you into the Sundance or Toronto Film Festival. 4. You win a special jury prize or an audience award at one of the festivals. 5. Your film then gets picked up by one of the independent Hollywood distributors. 6. The independent distributor releases your film in NY and L.A., then you come out in 25-50 additional cities. The industry has very little tolerance for films that don't follow this exact trajectory.

Well we had no other choice but to skip steps 1 through 4, but "America the Beautiful," is fortunate enough to enjoy the fruits of steps 5 and 6. The entire industry is amazed at how we did it and one day I want to share the entire story with all of you. But for now, I'll just say, no one person or even industry knows all and don't let such a person/industry destroy your vision.

As if we weren't lucky enough just to be getting a national release, last week I received an email from Roger Ebert's wife, Chaz, saying that Mr. Ebert wanted to interview me. My first thought was who in the world would send this kind of prank email at a time in my life when I can be vulnerable. But I decided to play along and guess what, it was real. Keep in mind, Roger is the holy moly, the cotton candy, the Genghis Khan of movie critics. I've seen hundreds of movies based on his thumb tilting up. So when she asked if I could be at their house at 5pm, my first thought was to sleep in the car a little ways down the street to make sure that I wasn't late. But then I thought, naah, that would be unseemly, it's best to exercise some decorum here.

Before sharing the link to his interview which is in today's Chicago Sun-Times, I'd like to say that by popular demand, "America the Beautiful," is opening at the ICE Theater in Chicago next Friday June 20th. When you read Roger's article you'll see the significance of opening in that particular theater. It was such an honor to be interviewed by a legend. I'll try to live up to it.

By the way, yesterday a cosmetics company contacted me wanting to see the film. They said that they'd heard all about it. I guess they couldn't wait for me to get to NY. I will keep you posted on that saga. But you must promise me one thing. Since I spent 5 years putting the film together to inform and empower you, if the cosmetics industry totally disrupts my life, you'll at least offer me a warm meal. I wouldn't mind sleeping on the street, but not eating would be shock and awe!

Without further ado...My interview with Roger Ebert.

Click here to read Roger Ebert's Article

See you next weekend at the ICE Theater at 87th and the Dan Ryan.

With love,

Darryl Roberts

Last Days at the Landmark

2008-06-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've
always wondered what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a Mike
Tyson knockout punch. I finally got a chance to feel that feeling this
past weekend. Our 3 week winning streak at the Landmark was ended by
the mezmerizing opening weekend of "Sex and the City." Our primary demo
is 18-34 women and so is "Sex and the City's." So this particular
weekend women in Chicago chose to attend Cosmopolitan parties and see
"Sex in the City," instead of going to see a documentary that explains
why that's so important in the first place. I'm not blaming you at all,
because I almost did it myself.

Personal note to Sarah Jessica Parker: "You could have allowed some of the women to come see our movie this weekend."

Seriously,
it was a great 1 month run at the Landmark. This Thursday will be our
last day at the Landmark (2828 N. Clark), so if you haven't seen the
film yet, you have 2 more days.

We're about to play in 100
theaters across the country in 35 cities and if we're as successful in
the remaining cities as we were at the Landmark, then we'll emerge as
one of the top grossing documentaries of 2008.

The next city in
our national theatrical tour is New York. New York is normally a very
tough market and I'm going to need all of your help and support on a
grass roots level. I think we should be fine because the YWCA, the
oldest organization in America fighting for the rights of women, is
joining us as a national promotional partner. They have 23 centers in
the state of NY and they're going to mobilize women enmass to support
"America the Beautiful." You'll be hearing a lot about the YWCA in the
weeks to come.

Also a national celebrity (contract not signed so
I can't mention who), is joining me in NY to do publicity and help get
the word out. I must say, I'm grateful for all the support that I've
gotten for my little movie. The turnout in Chicago, put us on the map
as a major player in the theatrical documentary world.

I've been
warned that the fashion and cosmetics industries aren't going to be too
happy with me coming onto their home turf calling them out for their
part in the travesty that I call "The systematic assault on women's
self-esteem." But I promise you one thing. No matter what happens,
I'll keep you up to date and I won't buckle.

After spending 5
years putting this film together, the one thing that I do know is that
I'm not going to rest until there's a national commitment from the
fashion, cosmetics and dieting industries, to end eating disorders in
young girls and a pledge to help women realize their full potential
instead of having a low-self esteem deriving from the way that they
look or an unhealthy body image. If the beauty industry wants me to go
away and stop exposing them with this film, then work to stop that from
happening, then I'm gone. That's my promise to you.

In the
meantime, Chicago thanks a million for making this a film that's now
going to get a national release and I'll see everyone in New York the
first week of August.

Darryl Roberts

"America the Beautiful" STILL #1 at Landmark Theater

2008-05-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

Once again thanks for helping to spead the message of "America the Beautiful." I met some really cool people at the Landmark this past weekend. One of them was a 14 year old boy (scroll down to see him). After watching the film, he asked me what he could do to help women and the world. That floored me. It also made me realize that we ourselves, without waiting for "the powers that be," to rescue us, can make a difference in this society.

The Q&A's after the screenings this past weekend were very insightful. One of the more frequent questions that I'm asked is "what can we do about the toxins in cosmetics," and "where did you find the guys on the couch." If you haven't seen the movie, you have to see them to believe it.

Our demographic is now 40% men. It started off being 5%. But men are really coming out to see the film and they enjoy it too. Also after the Windy City Times review, I'm starting to get a lot of gay men coming to the screening. I met one gay couple that asked me "by criticizing our bodies, are we setting a bad example for our daughter?" I honestly didn't know how to answer that. But we had a great conversation in the lobby. I also got a chance to meet a lot of out of towners since it was labor day weekend. They will become disciples when ATB hits their cities.

The Q&A sessions went so well, and I enjoyed meeting all of you so much, that I'm going to do it again this weekend. This will have to be my last weekend doing it, since I'm preparing to go to additional markets. More about that soon. So if you can, come out this Friday or Saturday and we'll discuss the film after the 7pm or 9pm show. I'm looking forward to it since all of you have great things to add to the discussion. And yes, I'll have more movie posters. People love the Statue of Liberty poster. I'm always asked if I designed it and I have to tell everyone about the genius David Friedman in Oregon that created it.

Also while I'm thinking about it. I want to share this letter with you. It was sent to me by a woman that had seen the film this past Saturday. She sent this to me the same night. It really moved me:

Dear Mr. Roberts-

The experience of seeing your movie this evening was truly remarkable. I live in the neighborhood and sometimes go the the Landmark to catch whatever movie "is next" and tonight it was this film called America the Beautiful. I was expecting some sort of lame country film or perhaps a - well, I don't even know what. I had not read any reviews, heard of it from anyone, or even bothered to take note of the subject matter. My point is: I walked into your movie with a completely open mind.
Your movie struck me deeply in a very personal way. I lived in New York during the 90's where I worked in the fashion industry and saw for myself from the inside of the scene what the gritty reality really was. Some of which you touched on. I applaud you for revealing it in a way that is relatable to the viewer. I distincly remember the morning I woke up, stared at the ceiling of my Manhattan apartment, and felt compelled to refuse to use my talents to propogate the lie that is the Beauty Machine. I left New York to settle in Chicago where I changed my career from Fashion Designer to Hairstylist. I still deal in the commodity of beauty, but am mindful of the impact I have on an individual's percecption of themselves.
I was amazed by sincerity of your observations. I struggled with low self esteem in my 20s and sought professional advise. To my astonishment, I was simply advised to "not open any fashion magazines for one year". Nothing more, nothing less. I thought this person was nuts, but I did it anyway.... I abstained from subjecting myself to magazines. A year later I realized that my depression had lifted somewhere along the way and I began to have a profound respect for the sheer power of the simple seemingly innocent act of flipping through a magazine. I have tried to explain this phenomeon. Your movie gives a voice to that.
I guess I just want to thank you for all of your hard work in putting this project together. America the Beautiful is an important movie. I consider it a privledge to have seen it with my own direct vantage point. You have alot ahead of you, but it seems like you understand the importance of strength and integrity. What you have to say is very very important.
It's likely I will be in to see it a few more times...there are just so many little details and nuances to catch.
Thanks again!

I'll see you all this Friday or Saturday!

Darryl Roberts

This is unbelievable!

2008-05-20T23:42:00.001-07:00

This is unbelievable, on our second weekend, we were the highest grossing film at the Landmark Century Theater for the second week in a row. This is amazing because Phil Donahue opened his new documentary there and he was there to greet people. I figured we'd be dead for the weekend, but women (and men in big numbers), came out to support the film. I even saw some people that came back for their second and third viewing. I got to meet a lot of people at the 7:10pm and 9:45pm show on Saturday. Everyone thought I was doing a Q&A, so we ended up taking over the Landmark and talking in the hall.

I really want to thank you for your support. Chicago has put independent films and documentaries in general, back on the map. I could not have done this without you. Like I said last week, a movie isn't a movie unless someone goes to see it. Well, technically it is a movie, but you know what I mean.

Since this is a holiday weekend coming up and so many of you had so many intriguing questions to ask, this Friday (May 23rd) and Saturday (May 24th), I'll be doing a Q&A after the 7:10pm and the 9:45pm show. One of the things that I'll share with you is why I turned down $1,000,000 for the rights to the film because the company wanted me to take out the scene that talks about the toxins in cosmetics that are suspected of causing cancer in women.

Also, soon I'll have some really good news to share with you about the film's expansion. Don't want to jinx myself until the ink is dry. Also a major personality is talking about coming on board to help me promote the film. I will share that news with you shortly too.

I've noticed that a lot of mother's are bringing their teenage girls to see the film. After the film, I hear them discussing the effects of the images in the media and how it makes them feel bad and effects their self-esteem. Everytime I hear a conversation like that, it let's me know that I did the right thing by spending 5 years and shooting 900 hours of film to make this movie.

So once again, with your help, let's make "America the Beautiful," # 1 - 3 weeks in a row. See you Friday or Saturday. I have some new reviews and pictures below.

Darryl Roberts

Here we go - week #2.

2008-05-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

Good News! I was on the Channel 7 News with Sylvia Perez last week talking about "America the Beautiful," and today they did a segment that covered one of the main topics in my film - dangerous ingredients in cosmetics. I've heard that the cosmetics industry is waiting for me to come to NY and I'm sure it won't be pretty, but it was very important for me to let you know what you're putting into your bodies, everytime you use lipstick or cologne. You know there's progress in sight when the mainstream news stations start talking about it.

I'd love for you to come out in even bigger numbers than you did last weekend. And if you're not doing anything Saturday, come out to the 7:10pm or the 9:45pm show and I'll be there giving out "America the Beautiful," movie posters. I'd love to meet you and see what you have to say about the movie.

Below are some of the reviews that we've received about the film. Look them over, see what the film's about, then come out this Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Thanks!

Darryl Roberts

Thank You Chicago!!!

2008-05-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

Opening Weekend:
Top Grossing Film at Landmark Century
Centre Cinema!
#7 * in the country!
*(out of 134 films, on a per screen average)

First of all, I want to say thank you Chicago. You really came through this weekend. It's been a fun week. First was the Chicago Premiere last Tuesday, (pictures to the left) and then all of you came out in droves to make "America the Beautiful," the highest grossing film at the Landmark Century last weekend. And as if that wasn't enough, I got to throw out the first pitch at the Cubs game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. (Pictures below). Now because I'm developing a friendship with you, I'm going to tell you a secret. Don't tell anyone. The ball didn't make it all the way to the plate. When I got to the mound and looked at the catcher, he seemed to be in North Dakota. Don't laugh. I'm pouring my heart out to you.

You should have seen the calls come in from Hollywood yesterday asking, "how did you do this?" They were referring to us beating "Redbelt," the highly publicized film directed by David Mamet, at the Landmark Century. They're now talking about us going into wider release in Chicago. I'm pointing this out to illustrate to you that ultimately it's you the moviegoer that decides what films are successful. I even now have a major women's organization, (can't say the name yet), that is planning to confront the cosmetics industry to demand that they remove the toxins in cosmetics after seeing the cosmetics section in "America the Beautiful." Now that would make me happy!

As we go into our second week, I'd like for those of you that haven't seen the film yet to come out this weekend and see it. It's funny and very relevant in a "I'm not going to take it anymore" kind of way. Yesterday on Mother's Day, a women came up to me with her 12 year old daughter and said "watching this film with my daughter is the best mother's day present that I could have had today." Then she hugged me. I'm not going to pretend to be a manly man, I almost cried.

Since an independent film only stays at the theater from week to week, depending on how many people come out, I hope you'll help me to make "America the Beautiful," number 1 again this weekend. If you've already seen the film, spread the word about the entertainment value of the film. Eve Ensler of "The Vagina Monologues," is hilarious. Isn't that what we go to the movies for? To be entertained.

I'll keep you posted step by step as to the progress of the film. And if you get a chance, catch me on "Chicago Tonight," Wednesday May 14th with Christian Farr at 7pm on WTTW - PBS. We're talking about the ugly truth of our unhealthy obsession with beauty. See you at the Landmark - 2828 N. Clark - this weekend!

Darryl Roberts

Chicago Release is now May 9th

2008-04-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

"America the Beautiful," was supposed to be released in Chicago on May 9th, but the Landmark Theater chain asked the distributor to push the date back 2 weeks so they can help us promote it. So the new date is Friday May 9th. I need all of you to help spread the word. Email everyone you know the link to our website so they can see the trailer. Everyone that has seen it before spread the word of how funny the doc is. I studied comedy at second City and I wanted to give everyone a laugh, while we cried about how sad the situation really is with the fashion industry and advertisers.

We're opening May 9th with an exclusive engagement at the Landmark Century Theater - 2828 North Clark Street in Chicago. If we get a great turnout opening weekend (May 9th-11th), then we'll add several more theaters in Chicago on Friday May 23rd. So as you can see, the film's success is in your hands.

And by the way, we an R rating for the film. Basically there was one line that Eve Ensler, of the "Vagina Monologues," said that was so empowering to women, I just had to leave it in. It got us an R though. But I ask that all parents to come out to see the film, then you'll see that it's safe to bring your teenagers and spread the word to other parents, that the film is okay for teenagers.