Princess Protection Program on DVD Today!!!

Screenwriter Annie DeYoung's Princess Protection Program - Is great fun for the whole family - Get your copy today!!

The Valley Wire - 6/30/2009

Hollywood and the Princess
By Mary Beth Gentle

Hollywood has always held a certain fascination with the Princess. The concept of a gentle and refined heroine forced to overcome incredible odds is classic Hollywood storytelling at it’s best. Since there has been a Hollywood, there has been a Princess movie. There are many classics, family favorites and new movies on the list; Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, The Princess Bride, Princess Diaries and Enchanted to name a few. And of course no Studio does the Princess movie better than Disney.

The Disney Channel premieres a new entry into the Princess line-up this week with the Princess Protection Program. The Disney Channel Original Movie stars real life friends Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez as a pair of unlikely friends. The story brings together an insecure girl from rural Louisiana, Carter Mason (Selena) and a teenage monarch of the fictional country Costa Luna, Rosalinda Marie Montoya Fiore (Demi). When an evil dictator threatens to take over her small kingdom, the young Princess’ life is put in danger and an agent from the Princess Protection Program must rescue her. His mission is to keep her undercover and safe from harm. That agent is Carter’s Father, Mason and he brings Princess Rosalinda (Rosie) to the small Louisiana town where she must learn to behave like a normal American teenager. It takes a while for the two girls to bond, but when they do there is no stopping them.

I had the opportunity to sit down with the screenwriter of Princess Protection Program, Annie DeYoung, writer of such other Disney Channel movies as; Return to Halloweentown and Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board as well as the highly acclaimed TNT movie, The Ron Clark Story. I asked her a few questions about the experience of working on the next Disney Princess movie.

Every script, every story told begins first with inspiration. I asked Annie where she found that inspiration for her Princess story, “The idea for the Princess Protection Program was inspired by two of my favorite stories, one a movie and one a TV show. I loved the idea of a secret government organization that you only find out about when you need it, like in "Alias." In this case, it's an organization of secret agents who exist solely to protect princesses in peril. I also loved the clash of cultures: the average American girl getting stuck living with a princess. I must have watched "Roman Holiday" fifty times while I was writing the script!”

The Princess Protection Program is definitely a modern take on the classic Princess movie. I asked Annie how she felt her new Princess would fit in with the classic Disney Princesses. “There are actually two princesses in Princess Protection Program. One is a real royal princess -- like Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday" -- pampered, entitled, wealthy. The other is this average American girl -- like you and me -- who learns every girl has a princess deep down inside of her. Both of these girls have aspects of the classic Disney princess, who is always a normal girl at heart.”

This average American girl can’t wait to settle in on the couch and enjoy the premiere of the Princess Protection Program. And maybe while watching the movie, I will not only be entertained, but I will rediscover that little girl who grew up watching Cinderella as often as she could. And the world again will be filled with dreams of fairy godmothers, ball gowns and Prince Charming!

The Princess Protection Program premieres on the Disney Channel this Friday, June 26th and then releases on DVD the following Tuesday. I recommend everyone take the opportunity to watch the next Disney Princess Classic!

The Valley Wire - 6/5/2009

Hollywood Heats Up For Summer
By Mary Beth Gentle

It’s that time of year again and Hollywood is hoping to set the Box Office on fire. The month of May has already started off with a bang with early openers; X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels and Demons and Up. I can already tell that it’s going to be one of those summers, the kind where if you miss just one weekend at the movies, there may be no hope of catching up at all. Of the big May releases I have only seen two so far, so unless I do a marathon movie weekend I may be waiting for the fall DVD season.

Of the two movies that I have seen so far, I am happy to report that the summer is shaping up to be a good one for movies. Star Trek was one of the best ‘popcorn’ movies I have seen in awhile. Director, J.J. Abrams breathed new life into an otherwise sagging franchise. I think whether you are a full-blown ‘Trekkie” or have never watched one incarnation of the series – you will enjoy this action packed adventure. The other early summer movie I saw was Disney/Pixar’s Up. It is the story of 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen and the adventure he embarks on by tying thousands of balloons to his house to float away to a remote waterfall in South America. What he expects to be his final journey is only the beginning as his adventure brings him new friends and a new sense of purpose. The bonus was the amazing 3D imagery.

June promises more fun with a slew of new movies every week, with the big ones being; Land of the Lost, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Proposal and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. That does not even cover the buddy comedies or the horror films that will make their debuts in the month of June. I can’t help but look forward to The Proposal. In an otherwise testosterone filled summer of car chases, monsters and space battles, it’s nice to look forward to at least one romantic comedy. Sandra Bullock plays a high-powered book publisher who forces her younger assistant, Ryan Reynolds, into marriage so she can avoid deportation to Canada. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, take my advice, put this one on your must see list.

And then there is always one movie that is the hands down favorite to win the summer box-office and this summer it is without a doubt, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. July is the month of Harry Potter and it is the movie to beat. Although, there are a few other entries that will attempt to challenge the young wizard, namely, Johnny Depp as gangster Dillinger in Public Enemies, 3D family comedy G-Force from Disney and finally Adam Sandler will take a shot with the comedy Funny People. But, as much as a few of these other movies look interesting, I have read the books, seen the movies and I can’t help but root for the boy wizard to win this one.

August has always been the traditional summer dumping ground, the place where Studios release the movies that they hold little faith in. But, in a crowded summer box-office season I don’t know how true that is anymore. August holds a few potentials with G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, Julie & Julia and Inglorious Basterds. Not one of those titles sounds like dumping ground material to me. I especially look forward to checking out Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia. It looks like an utterly charming movie as it chronicles the life of frustrated secretary Julie Brown (Amy Adams) as she sets out to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s famous cookbook in the span of a year.

This list of movies alone should be enough to keep us all busy throughout the summer, but sprinkled throughout the three months are smaller movies that might steal away some of the lime light from the tent-pole Studio offerings. A few that have made my potential list are; My Life in Ruins – the trailer alone makes me want to pack it in and head to Greece! The July entry Adam, looks like it could steal a few hearts in the moving tale of an emotionally fragile writer who is drawn to her handsome downstairs neighbor who has Asperger’s Syndrome. It looks quirky enough to be a nice escape from the normal summer fare. And finally August offers a 1960’s comedy, The Boat that Rocked about an illegal radio station run by a group of rogue DJ’s. Looks like a fun way to wrap up the summer!

So wherever your movie tastes run, whether it be the long buried inner ‘Trekkie’ with Star Trek or the desperate for a descent romantic comedy with The Proposal you are sure to be pleased this summer. I know that I will be venturing out of my Hollywood Cubicle to catch more than a few of these movies.

The Valley Wire - 5/8/2009

Hollywood Works Out
By Mary Beth Gentle

Spring has arrived in Hollywood and all the ‘A’ Lister’s are prepping their minds and bodies for the summer. They have their personal chefs blending up their protein shakes. They have their personal assistants scouring the shops along Rodeo Drive for the perfect summer beachwear. And they are spending quality time in their private gyms with their personal trainers. And those of us in the Hollywood cubicles are no different.

Well…okay…we are a little different. Our personal chefs work in the Studio Commissary, we shop at the local Target for our summer fashions and we tune into the Biggest Loser for our personal training sessions. But, this year things are going to be a little different for this cube dweller, I nabbed the golden ticket and was one of the lucky few to be awarded entrance to the brand new Studio Gym. It has state of the art equipment, flat screen televisions and on the plus side it is completely affordable.

A lottery was held and only a limited number of employees were accepted to the new gym. So already, in typical Hollywood fashion, it has become a gym for the elite few and a waiting list of over seven hundred has been formed. Normally, I would be against such elitism and shout from the rooftops that it is unfair to the masses. But, this time around, for the first time in all my years working at the different Studio Lots – I have made the ‘A’ list for something!

Having spent so many years on the ‘B’ or ‘C’ lists I played it very cool in the cubicle hallways as not everyone who entered the lottery in my area made it in. It was hard not be giddy when I came back from my tour of the new gym. It was hard not to be giddy when one of the senior executives in the area did not make it into the gym. It was hard not to be giddy the first morning I went to the gym for my workout. I think I did a pretty good job at not outwardly displaying my excitement.

But, as with all things, there are always strings attached. There are always great insights to be learned when you see life on the other side of the tracks. And I quickly learned that life on the gym ‘A’ list was not as easy as it seemed. Because everyone wants to be on the ‘A’ list, you have to work extra hard to stay there or get booted off. And that was when the other shoe fell, it was announced that you had to go a required number of times a week in order to keep your gym membership or you would be booted and someone from the waiting list would move into your spot.

And suddenly life on the ‘A’ list was not so glamorous after all. If I was going to stay on that list I was going to have to work for it. I was going to have to get to work extra early or stay extra late to get that work out in if I was going to keep my good standing. And in the beginning I was okay with that. I got here, I did my workout, it felt good. Then I did the one thing I shouldn’t have done, I started to wonder who was going to the gym during the non-work hours. Who was there at eleven in the morning? Who was there at three in the afternoon? And that was when I realized that maybe I wasn’t so elite after all. The executives that can schedule their own time and go to the gym whenever they wanted, were really the elite ‘A’ Lister’s and I was merely ‘A’ list filler.

So, even though the bloom is off the rose, I am going to stay with my gym membership. I am going to continue to get up early to do my workout. And even though I don’t have a personal chef, I don’t shop on rodeo drive and I don’t have a personal trainer sculpting my body, I am getting in shape and those ‘Target’ fashions are going to look great this summer!