Jane Smith and LEMONADE STORIES

It is with joy and sadness that we celebrate the life and spirit of Jane Smith, the mother of Kay Koplovitz (founder of USA Network), who passed away last month at the age of 93. Jane gave Kay the confidence and independence to be herself, without excuse - and always encouraged Kay that she could achieve whatever it was that she wanted, even in the days when the barriers to women's achievement were so daunting. Jane appears in LEMONADE STORIES - and had such spunk and verve, even in her 90s. She swung a golf club, talked about Kay's mischievous days, voiced her opinions about the writers of DAYS OF OUR LIVES (she was less than pleased about the story line direction they were going in), and bear hugged Kay at the end of the interview. To Jane Smith and all of our mothers who instilled in us a belief that anything is possible, we thank and love you.

Miss Porters and Scene First Film Festival

I was at Miss Porters School a few months ago, screening A Hero for Daisy and talking with the girls at a school-wide event... and no surprise, I found the girls energetic, articulate, and thoughtful. Long time head of school, Burch Ford, just announced her retirement. Burch has done amazing work both with and for generations of girls - and she will be greatly missed.

This photo was taken this spring - I am in the center on the floor - surrounded by the stupendous Miss Porter's Rowing Team, which inaugurated their new boathouse earlier this year.

Next up - I have the privilege to do a work-shop/panel discussion for the newest hippest film festival, Scene First, which debuts in North Carolina, June 14-17th. In the interest of full disclosure, I am on their board of advisors. This film festival is the first of its kind - devoted exclusively to student film works. So for those of you in school who have made shorts, films, music videos, animated works - now is your opportunity to showcase your inspirations. The website is: scenefirstfestival.com. In attendance during the festival will be: Gary Winick (director of Charlotte's Web and 13 Going on 30); Alan Blumquist (executive director of Walk the Line, Chocolat, Cider House Rules); Rick Butler (production designer - Philadelphia, 28 Days, The Talented Mr. Ripley); Ben Palmer (founder - The Barbarian Group, award winning interactive agency); and others.

Nobles Crew

Best of luck to our friends at Nobles Crew, who will be watching A Hero for Daisy tonight at a team picnic. Nobles will be racing Groton this weekend. A shout out, also, to Hanover High School's junior varsity girl's crew who will be watching Daisy in the very near future to psych up for one of their races.

For those of you who are American Express cardholders - we would love it if you would log onto www.membersproject.com and vote for one of our upcoming projects, labeled on that site as: INSPIRING KIDS TO BECOME ENTREPRENEURS AND ADVENTURERS (Project ID 762 - type this into the search box for Project ID), which is a project to inspire inner city teens to start their own businessses, equipping them with the skills to become entrepreneurs, adventurers, risk-takers, and out-of-the-box thinkers. We are working with the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship on this project, which teaches low-income teens to think like entrepreneurs so that they can take control of their own futures. PS: The membersproject.com site is very slow.

Lemonade Stories

For those of you who may be travelling abroad, Lemonade Stories will be airing in New Zealand on Maori TV this spring. The film aired nationwide in Israel (on Noga in February) - and will also air on Alhurra in the Middle East as well as TVB in Hong Kong later this year.

Spoileralertradio.com will be broadcasting a Mother's Day special radio report, featuring Lemonade Stories and yours truly. 7pm on May 13, 2007 on 88.1 FM (in Providence RI) or on bsrlive.com.

Many thanks to all of you who keep visiting www.50eggs.com and our various film websites. Thanks also to Jim Laughlin and our friends at Life Is Good, who supplied us with DAISY hats for students who are writing papers on Title IX and A Hero for Daisy. Any student writing a paper - email us at office@50eggs.com and we'll get a hat out to you. Free.

Thanks also to Isabella Tangherlini - age 8 - who thoughtfully designed an alternative logo for 50 Eggs Films.

Cheers,
-m