What's the BuZZ?

Steve Waterford - Founder HEADesigns

Steve Waterford has been designing and building devices since he was an eight-year-old kid growing up on the Pacific coast. After earning his degree in Marine Technology, he entered the demanding worlds of marine and geological research (aboard the famous Glomar Challenger) and offshore oil drilling. When not on assignment, he lit out with his camera, touring and photographing every corner of the globe. Hundreds of his photos have appeared in prominent national magazines, as well as in the product ads of Fortune 500 companies.

These experiences drove Steve to begin developing the kind of equipment demanded by difficult environments; equipment he needed but could never find. And from the start, he was determined that his products would meet three crucial requirements. They must be:

• Easy to use
• Hard to break
• Fulfill an unmet need

Steve adhered to these standards while designing and developing Emmy and AMPAS Technical Achievement Award-winning products for other companies - products that are now widely used in the film and television industry. Today, at HEADesigns, relying on state-of-the-art facilities, proprietary materials and the most advanced components, he is designing and manufacturing products that will truly transform the way filming is done in extreme conditions.

The BuZZ Beat

Setting defaults in QuickTime Exports; making comments or markers in Capture Now in Final Cut Pro; getting Voiceover recordings on one track in Final Cut Pro; and cropping footage by zooming in on a shot.

Seattle Festival BuZZ - Ian G. Saunders

The low-down on the Stockstock Film Festival from Stockstock founding producer and a judge

Robin Rowe - Cofounder ScreenplayLab

ScreenplayLab recognizes "Funny is Money" at the box office!

Of the 50 top-grossing movies of 2006, 26 are comedies, 13 are dramas, 9 are action, 9 are cartoons, and 4 are horror. Of the 10 top-grossing movies of 2006, 5 are comedies (Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Ice Age 2, Cars, Night at the Museum, Happy Feet), 6 are action movies (including Pirates 2), 3 are cartoons, and 1 is a drama. Although comedies rarely win Oscars (Little Miss Sunshine is nominated this year for Best Picture), comedy touches more people. Last year's Academy Award winner Crash did less box office than Bewitched, Herbie Fully Loaded, or Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

ScreenplayLab is more than 1,300 screenwriters, actors, and filmmakers with the mission of making the world a better place through comedy in motion pictures and television. Most Hollywood networking organizations and film festivals have a bias for dark movies. Robin Rowe and Gabrielle Pantera launched ScreenplayLab in May of 2005 to create a nurturing environment for people working on upbeat movies. ScreenplayLab meets weekly in Hollywood to workshop new pages with working actors and gives the audience the opportunity to ask questions of executives from Nickelodeon, MTV Films, The Cartoon Network, DreamWorks Animation, The Robert Evans Company, and many more. More than two dozen actors and writers have gotten an agent by being referred through ScreenplayLab.

Robin Rowe is a comedy screenwriter and co-founder of ScreenplayLab. He's an executive producer at the Comic Strip Network. He's a journalist for magazines such as the Motion Picture Editors Guild Magazine.

Pick our Brains

Your chance to get your technical and creative questions answered.