The Demon Lady - Facebook Fan Page

Would you be facebook friends with a demon? Be seduced the darkness and show your support for my new film "The Demon Lady" by joining the official Facebook Fan Page.

Streamy Awards 2010

Don't forget to vote for Prep School Blues in the 2010 Streamy Web Series awards! Just click the badges below to nominate us for various awards...

Wish us luck!

PSB Real Teen Issues: Expanded Edition

Over a year ago, I wrote a blog post about real teen issues due to some concerns about the content on Prep School Blues. Some viewers brought up that some of these characters may not be the best role models: smoking cigarettes and marijuana, consuming alcohol, engaging in sexual behavior, etc. So just to put any younger viewers (and their parents) at ease, I should remind you all that teen soaps are just a fantasy. While certain problems may seem glamorous in fiction, lots of real life teens face discrimination, substance abuse and the consequences of sex every day.

Here's some resources for anyone facing problems like the characters in Prep School Blues, expanded to include additional information inspired by the later story lines on the show:

Jack has to deal with his homosexuality, something not always accepted in certain more repressive communities. If you are facing discrimination for being gay, you are not alone. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network works to bring respect and tolerance to young people across America. And there are plenty of other resources such as The Gay Youth Corner and organizations like OutProud for LGBT youth.

Larsen abuses several substances on a regular basis including alcohol, tobacco and marijuana. While this may seem cool, drug use can be very dangerous, especially for young people who don't have all the facts. For more information, visit the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens and The Partership for Drug Free America.

Gabrielle enjoys the attentions of boys around school, but actually having sex is a serious business. One out of three girls who has unprotected sex will become pregnant, even if they only do it once. Planned Parenthood offers details on contraception and options for unwanted pregancy. All sexually active people run the risk of contracting many sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention provides a wealth of information on these potentially deadly illnesses. If you think you or someone you know may be at risk for STDS, you can find a testing center near you through with the National HIV and STD Testing Resources.

Fareed's suicide attempt could have resulted in a terrible tragedy if he had succeeded. However, many teens do make this awful mistake every year. The Trevor Project offers a round-the-clock helpline for suicidal teens. You can learn more about the symptoms of depression at Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. Problems at home can make teens feel they have no where to turn. Every year thousands of children are abused by family members and so-called friends. The National Center for Victims of Crime has excellent information and resources for victims of abuse and those who want to help.

Some call Cecelia crazy, but mental illnesses are no laughing manner. Issues with mental health can be serious problems that people struggle with for years. The National Institute of Mental Health offers up to date news on research and outreach in this ever expanding field of medicine. Also, for those in the United States Mental Heath America provides a community based network dedicated to helping Americans live healthier lives, while the National Alliance on Mental Illness has easy-to-understand information about mental illnesses, mental health care, diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

Rachel is a driven and independent girl focused on her education. Dedication to academics can make a difference in anyone's future. Schools in the USA can help you find out what college is right for you, while College Board features tools to help you compete in the application process.

Anyone's teenage years can be a rough time and the best way to get through it is to be informed!

PSB End of the Year Awards

Here's to 2009, a wonderful year! So many things happened. The final season of PSB. More new films and projects. And wonderful developments in all our lives. Here's a few highlights.

Web Series Episode of the Year
Prep School Blues Episode 9: Surprise Surprise Part 2
We finally saw Jack and Larsen lock lips, Gabrielle start a functional relationship (with Fareed no less!), Rachel stand up for herself and that crazy Cecelia get the boot. Pretty worth waiting for, right?

Film of the Year
The Demon Lady
Coming soon to wherever it can, this queer-horror-gothic-romance piece was my thesis film at NYU and a total labor of love for all of us cast and crew. An adolescent boy in Victorian Englad coming to terms with both his burgeoning sexual desires and a malevolent supernatural force? If I may say so, could be the most intense film of all time. Can't wait for the release? Promos, trailers and behind the scenes footage should tide you over till then.

Man of the Year
Kevin Hooper
Producer, Director of Photography and treasured friend, Kevin has been an invaluable resource to both the PSB franchise and my life. You truly are a womanizer, K-Hoop.

Woman of the Year
Amanda Barron
This beautiful British bombshell played the character of Ursula in The Demon Lady. And she was utterly fabulous, with the aid of many many cups of tea. Way to rock those period costumes, Amanda. Love you.

Newcomer of the Year
Zephyr Benson
From his sexy, brooding role as Erik in The Demon Lady to his heartbreaking performance as a suicidal teen in Loser, this seventeen-year-old actor has made his own mark on the Benson dynasty, stepping out of the shadows to start what looks to be a promising career as actor, director and artist.

Wedding of the Year
Gina Cagas-Brandmeyer and Alan Zurliene
Gina, the wonderful guest star and assistant producer for PSB Season 3, tied the knot to her second husband in a romantic seaside ceremony last July. Congrats, Gina and Alan! Hope this one works out for you guys.

Musical Artist of the Year
Shapes
From their many public concerts, shows and cool new EP, SHAPES has really grown as a band and musical group. Although Andrew Fanelli may have left PSB to focus on his music, we applaud all his hard work "making it safe to dance to punk".

Couple of the Year
Habeeb Khan and Kate Moran
Best wishes to PSB's Habeeb Khan. Not only did he make the move from St. Louis to the Big Apple to further pursue his acting career, we all know he's been spotted with Stella Adler Studios trained stunning actress/model Kate Moran. We at PSB always appreciate a good love story and this should be one for the ages. Way to go you two crazy kids!

Most Inspiring Story of the Year
"Heaven" by V.C. Andrews
The first entry into Chris Conner's Official Book Club. Watch out, Oprah! Pictured above with PSB's Art Director Alex McBean, "Heaven" is the amazing story of one girl's struggle through a harsh life, from starving hillbilly child to respected teacher, always searching for the one thing she can never have...Daddy's love. Look for my official review coming soon. It's official, dammit! The book is available through this link at amazon.com.

Can't wait to see what surprises 2010 may bring! Love you all, CHRIS.

The Demon Lady - Stills

As we get closer to a final cut of The Demon Lady (and festival season!) check out these sexy stills from the film itself. Cross your fingers, hold your heart, and we may be coming to some form of theater near-ish to you!

The Demon Lady (Sara Smaltz) materializes.

Erik (Zephyr Benson) observes Ursula (Amanda Barron) with Madeleine (Sara Smaltz)

The gardener (Tyrus Holden Cukavac) outside his cottage.

Ursula in the mist.

Madeleine and Erik.

For more information, contact thedemonlady@gmail.com

Zephyr Benson - "Loser"

Speaking of Zephyr Benson, don't forget the film that Zephyr acted in right after mine: "Loser" by my dear friend, colleague and former classmate Nicholas Feitel. Here's some info and the awesome trailer on vimeo.

Synopsis.

Donnie is a loser. A punching-bag at school, hiding in the bathroom at his own Bar Mitzvah, every day is like running the gauntlet for Donnie. Live with him for 12 minutes and see for yourself.

Written and Directed by Nicholas D. Feitel. Shot by Chadd Harbold of "Last Pictures". Produced by David Sherman Broad and Matthew Chao. Edited by Robert Malone.

Starring Zephyr Benson and Jay O. Sanders

LOSER Trailer from Nicholas Feitel on Vimeo.

Find out more about Loser at the official website.

Zephyr Benson's Bromance

Shout out to Zephyr Benson, star of my new film, "The Demon Lady" and an aspiring director in his own right. Check out this film by Zephyr made at the 2009 NYU Tisch School of the Arts Summer Film Workshop.

"Bromance" is about two boys whose relationship is tested by a mutual desire. Directed, Written, Shot, and Edited by Zephyr Benson. Starring Woody Lewis and D.L. Berk. Watch the complete film below:



Also there's more of Zephyr's directorial work at youtube.com/zephyrbenson.

Outtakes from The Demon Lady

As we are gearing up to festival season, watch these amazing outtakes from my new film "The Demon Lady". Keep checking back for more information on the upcoming premiere and festival schedule.

Starring Zephyr Benson and Amanda Barron.

Video features music by SHAPES. Find them at the Shapes Band MySpace.

PSB Retrospective

Some random old PSB pics I found the other day. Miss everybody so much!

Bryan, Nick and Alyssa shooting a scene from Season 1.

Nick and Habeeb getting into uniform.

Me and Nick chilling out in between takes.

Alyssa proudly on the soccer field.

Screenshot of Sara and Habeeb.

Great photo of Nick!

Andrew and Sara at the photoshoot.

Habeeb in the basement.

Bryan in "fight club" inspired photo shoot.

Sara and Habeeb in a Fabrielle kiss.

Mashable 2009 Open Web Awards

The Open Web Awards is an international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology and achievements in Social Media. Please help promote Prep School Blues by nominating us for best online video webseries!

in addition, nothing to do with PSB, but vote Blively as Best TV actress. She's so fabulous.

This is my choice for:

Favorite TV Drama Actress

Blake Lively

A Very Andrew Fanelli Halloween

So let's say you watch PSB and you're a fan of Andrew Fanelli (Edgar), who also fronts this NYC Punk Band called SHAPES. Or maybe, I don't know, you like this band or you are into twinkish boys or something...

In any case, you could do worse than spend Halloween Night going to "Personality Crisis" at some place called Shea Stadium in Brooklyn. I don't do Brooklyn, so I won't be there, but go ahead and enjoy. Love Andrew. He's so...Andrew. You'll love him.

Plus, his character died on PSB. That's a totally spooky, Halloween-ish reason to go.

Here's the event information and some pervy pics of the band:

Start Time:	Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 8:00pm
End Time:	Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 2:00am
Location:	SHEA STADIUM
Street:	20 Meadow St
City/Town:	Brooklyn, NY

Also check out myspace.com/shapesband for more information and free music!

Shapes New EP

For those fans of Andrew Fanelli (Edgar), you'll be happy to know that Fanelli's band SHAPES will soon come out with a new EP "I Feel...Therefore I Drink". Check out the video promo below!

Also check out SHAPES official website.

Watch O-Cast Online Now (plus pics!)

Hey everybody, just to let you know, the first two episodes of O-Cast are now available online at their official website.

And here's some pics from the recent premiere party featuring PSB's Bryan Dechart (Larsen), who is also co-creator of O-Cast...

Bryan and co-creator Anne Richmond.

Bryan and O-Cast, uh, cast. Haha.

Jack and Larsen: Romance

A touching look back at where it all began...

Here's a slideshow of production stills and promos from Season 1 of Prep School Blues, highlighting that first romance of Jack and Larsen.

Hope you enjoyed that trip down memory lane!

O-Cast Premiere Party

Coming up tomorrow night: The O-Cast premiere party!

And here's the rest of the O-Cast gods pictured below...

Who's queer and who's curious on O-Cast? I have a special spoiler list below....

Apollo - Openly Bi-Sexual
Dionysus - Closeted Gay
Hermes - Closeted Gay (but eveyone knows it)
Zeus - Keeps a male-lover

and Aphrodite is a polyamorist

Make sure to support Bryan by watching O-Cast at it's official website and subscribing to their YouTube Channel.

Rachel's Tears - Deleted Storyline

Never before seen footage of Bryan Dechart as Larsen and Nicholas DiMichele as Jack! Also featuring Alyssa Peterson as Rachel.

Now online, "Rachel's Tears" a series of deleted scenes that form the unseen storyline of the Jack/Larsen/Rachel love triangle. While the series went in a different direction, these scenes show some interesting sides of those character relationships and showcase the acting talents of Bryan and Alyssa as well as their underused on screen chemistry. Should this love triangle have happened in the series proper? That's up to you to decide. Enjoy!

O-Cast Trailers

From Bryan Dechart (Larsen) and Anne Richmond, here's two trailers for the upcoming web series O-Cast and also the info for the upcoming O-Cast premiere party for those in NYC...

Join the Olympians, the O-Cast and O-Crew for the premiere of the upcoming web series!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 22ND
at KATRA LOUNGE (www.katranyc.com)
217 Bowery, NY, NY 10002

DOORS @ 8:30PM,
SCREENING @ 10:30PM

2 for 1 Drinks from 9:30PM to 10:30PM and
2 for 1 Drinks from Midnight to 1:00AM

Admission to the event is *FREE*

[also, a special thank you to the 250 guests we had at the Olympian Orgy Fundraiser. We appreciate your support!

Writer's Notes - Characters

So, for those who read this blog for exclusive insight into PSB. Come on, someone's reading this, right? Here's a real look into the writer's process. Excerpts of our actual notes for the characters in the new draft of the potential PSB Pilot. This segment focuses on the individual characters.

Jack

Jack is manipulative, first and foremost. Like what Cecelia says to Jack in the web series – “you act like you’re such a sad boy but I know you”. We all have an ulterior motive and Jack sees he can get Larsen now that Larsen has fallen. Jack uses his own vulnerability and niceness to other people to manipulate other people. Jack plays the innocent much more then he is.

Jack is the one who wants to be saved. So he wants to save Larsen so that Larsen can in turn save him. But Jack has to be the one who mans up and just saves Larsen for the sake of saving him, without trying to get something for himself, because that is the selfish way. Jack has to make the mistake of doing that in the first place to then go back and learn from it and have to fix it.

Larsen

Larsen has major issues of masculinity. When I write Jack and Larsen, I write them like a straight couple, because there is no difference between a straight couple and gay. In my opinion, the show Moonlighting was the best description of a two people ever, just about bickering and not being able to communicate. One thing I tend to forget about Jack and Larsen is that they have nothing in common. How can they communicate then and talk to each other without problems and fighting?

Laresn is very much and object of fantasy for everyone else, someone that the other characters project their desires on. He is used to that point and that’s where his brooding and loneliness and confusion comes from. He’s not a manipulator, he’s direct and that's very hot. Why does Larsen love Jack? Because he actually needs to be saved and needs someone to take care of him.

Sometimes, Jack will start a fight just so Larsen has to make up with him. Larsen’s whole persona is to satisfy the people around him, sexually and emotionally, because he’s deftly afraid of being alone...because he is the only actual one who is alone.

In a way, Jack likes the fact that Larsen is hurting so much. Jack and Larsen's complex emotional games stand in for their lack of a sexual relationship. They have a bond but Jack really wants to have sex. Jack needs to find a way to connect with Larsen. If Jack just asked Larsen to have sex with him Larsen probably would just do it right? But would it be the sex that Jack wants?

Edgar

Edgar, despite the fact he is so mean, is one of the best people because he is upfront and honest. What he offers to Jack is sex and a nice relationship, an out relationship. Something real, not something that is skirted around and implied. What Edgar wants is more simple. Edgar is only evil because he is bitchy and because he could be vengeful if someone hurts him.

Gabrielle

The original Gabby is that high school girl who was evil but came off smelling like a rose, but that’s just because you knew people like that in high school and were jealous of people like that. So in Jack’s POV he is jealous of her but Gabby might not actually be all that bad. Really she’s a lot like Jack and they just have different tools to manipulate what they want. Gabby has the feminine tools of manipulation that Jack lacks. Hence they are rivals, having the opposite means of achieving the same goal - validation, specifically in the form of a guy liking them.

Jack and Gabby are the most manipulative – need validation so badly – when they don’t get it they freak out. Both Jack and Gabby are constantly on the verge of crisis in one form or another.

Brandon

Note: Brandon is not a major character in the original web series, but he is brought out as a love interest for Rachel and nemesis for Larsen in some drafts of the pilot.

Brandon he’s not a totally evil person. But he is a misogynist. Why is Brandon Larsen’s nemesis? Brings out he’s insecurities about his masculinity. There is the alpha male craving in Brandon is always pushing out and taking over. Brandon is kind of dumb, and he can get more aware of how dumb he is and this is how much these things bother him. Brandon doesn’t play games the way Edgar or Jack play games.

Which is what bothers Larsen the most, because Brandon can see right through Larsen for not being tough or strong or masculine. Brandon is outwardly physically destructive versus the internal destructiveness of all these other people, and that’s totally foreign to him. He can’t have an internal life the way someone else does. He looks like a Joe Delasandro, the Andy Warhol poster boy. Brandon is a piece of meat and he enjoys being a piece of meat, that’s fine with him, until he sees from Rachel how the other side of things can be.

Rachel

Rachel is the one people like the most. Because she is the most normal. She would be the heroine of another show. Gabby just wants to be validated by sex where Rachel is the type of girl that has fantasies. achel’s big interior thing is that she’s really into sadomasochism. She has an intense sexual desire that she doesn’t show to each people. Rachel is just going after Jack because he’s always around. Rachel is a lot like Pamela Ewing from Dallas. She is a good person and a classy person.

Well, thanks so much for reading. Might be convoluted, but believe it or not, this is how we actually discuss the characters. Keep checking the blog for more updates on the progress of the new PSB pilot and more exclusive behind-the-scenes content as it develops.