We're going to reach out to him and see if he'll participate in an event we're putting together on financing films online.  With KickStarter, our own Armchair Revolutionary, and a few others, the online film financing space is starting to heat up!

On April 20, HSX will become a real-money commodity exchange, according to The Hollywood Reporter. As such, they’ve had to file with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for approval, which they did in November, and are now in the final phase of approval, apparently. Yes, this is actually happening. And yes, this will essentially make HSX a real-world betting site.

From The Hollywood Reporter...

Investors wishing to participate in the exchange will buy "contracts" priced at one one-millionth of a film's projected boxoffice, with films to be listed on the exchange from the time productions are announced in the industry trade papers. Trading will begin six months before a movie's anticipated wide release.

HSX is owned by U.K.-based investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

"The number of people who visit movie theaters each year and form opinions about a film's success is in the tens of millions," Cantor Exchange president Richard Jaycobs said. "We believe that's the reason the public response to this product has been very positive."

Cantor Entertainment chief Andrew Wing said the exchange targets movie distributors, exhibitors, producers and other investors seeking "an unprecedented public market to create liquidity and hedge their daily business activities."

Wired.com's Kim Zetter details the post-screening audience interaction...

The documentary, which includes interviews with former leaders Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Tony Blair, F.W. de Klerk and Pervez Musharraf, as well as Robert McNamara, Valerie Plame and numerous others, makes a strong case for zero weapons.

But the TED audience was skeptical that it could be achieved.

Following the film, an audience member asked Bender and Plame what it would matter if the U.S. and European nations reduced their nuclear weapons to zero when hostile governments in Pakistan, North Korea and China likely wouldn’t do the same.

Plame said that western countries had to initiate the move, which would lead to tremendous pressure on other nations to follow.

Another audience member asked Bender if he thought the time was right for such a documentary. An Inconvenient Truth was released when the public mindset was already primed to receive the message of climate change and spread it. Was there a similar movement ready to carry this film?

Bender replied that when An Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006, “We had a president who didn’t give a shit [about climate change.]”

Now we have a president who is leading the way in anti-nuclear proliferation, he said.

Last year President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev committed to reducing nuclear arsenals in the U.S. and Russia and are believed to be finalizing an agreement to that effect, with the ultimate goal being to eliminate all nuclear weapons. This week, as military and political leaders met in Paris for the Global Zero conference to discuss nuclear proliferation, Obama and Medvedev issued separate statements supporting work toward complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

Expert, screw-turning narrative filmmaking put at the service of old-dark-madhouse claptrap, "Shutter Island" arguably occupies a similar place in Martin Scorsese's filmography as "The Shining" does in Stanley Kubrick's. In his first dramatic feature since "The Departed," Scorsese applies his protean skill and unsurpassed knowledge of Hollywood genres to create a dark, intense thriller involving insanity, ghastly memories, mind-alteration and violence, all wrapped in a story about the search for a missing patient at an island asylum. A topnotch cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio looks to lead this Paramount release, postponed from its original opening date last fall to Feb. 19, to muscular returns in all markets.

We're ecstatic for the full Phoenix Pictures team - Mike, Arnie, and Brad.  Go see the film! (most people don't know this bit of trivia: we formed The Hollywood Hill in Mike's living room back in 2004)

(NY Screening of Shutter Island: Patricia Clarkson, Martin Scorsese, Mike Medavoy, Leonardo DiCaprio, Laeta Kalogridis)

Variety Gareth Wigan dies at 78: Vet producer worked on 'Star Wars,' 'All That Jazz'

Huge thanks to The Hollywood Hill members who gave up their time and resources for the shoot: Todd Brown (Owner of West Post Digital), Thomas Camarda (DP), Pat Omara (Equipment), Jason Ryterband (Sound), Norman Gilmore (Tech), and Brenda Strong & Tom Henri (Transport)!

Today's pick is prolific/inspired film/tv director Jeremiah Chechik.  He's been filming (seemingly nonstop) episodes of Burn Notice, Chuck, Gossip Girl, and Leverage.  You can follow his adventures and musings at twitter.com/tinroof.

Yesterday’s final implosion of video site Veoh, which declared bankruptcy after burning through $70 million of venture capital, was a long time coming. A lot of so-called smart money went into Veoh: investors included Goldman Sachs, Time Warner, Intel’s venture arm, Spark Capital and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. And it was hardly an isolated incident. Joost, another high-flying video startup launched by the founders of Skype, went through $45M in VC money before ending up in a fire sale.  Who’s next?

More importantly, why is so much venture capital that funded video startups going down the drain when the number of videos watched on the Web is going through the roof?

Making things worse is this “crazy ass backwards” investment thesis that they should invest in 10 companies and watch seven burn to the ground, hope that two do “ok”, and pray that one will be a “grand slam”.  Forget the theory of diversification, which underpins all of finance, VCs keep aiming for the fence and let’s face it, finding winners in business is as hard as finding them in Hollywood.  You win with singles, doubles, triples and occasioanlly home runs. basing your strategy on grand slams is futile, which takes us to VCs odious track record in online video.

Where are the grand slams other than YouTube?  There aren’t any.