roundtable Tagged Articles at Cinematical

According to The Hollywood Reporter, DreamWorks has emerged the victor in a heated bidding war for Bryan K. Vaughan's Roundtable. It seems many studios were desperate to get their hands on his spec, and no wonder -- he is arguably the hottest writer on the market these days.

And I have to say, Roundtable sounds like one heck of an idea, and I am usually very dismissive of King Arthur revisionism. Vaughan's take will be a supernatural comedy along the lines of Ghostbusters. It revolves around Merlin trying to assemble a group of modern day knights to battle an ancient evil, only to discover that they are sorely lacking in the 21st century. The only heroes he can find are washed up athletes, cowardly scientists, or Academy Award winning actors.

The comparison to Ghostbusters has me all wound up -- and even at this stage, it sounds much better than the latest spin on Arthur, Galahad. A comedic take strikes me as far more daring than trying to cast Queen Guinevere as a villain. And who knows? It could be the heir apparent to Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. (Or is that just blasphemy to even utter?)

Perhaps I am just blinded by the talent of Vaughan. But I don't think this man has made a single misstep yet. Even his episodes of LOST are terrific. So I'll turn it over to your unbiased thoughts: Is Roundtable too ridiculous to be believed, or so crazy that it just might work?

We've reached the halfway point of the festival, and we have quite a few bits of great video content up already with more to come in the next several days. Here's a quick rundown of the Sundance videos we've slapped together so far:

• We kicked off Sundance with our first Blogging Sundance: Video Roundtable 1 featuring a lively discussion between Jason Calacanis, Karina Longworth, and James Rocchi, about a variety of Sundance-related topics, including films Friends with Money, World According to Sesame Street, Flesh, Lucky Number Sleven, and Crossing Arizona, as well as discussion about documentaries at Sundance, competitions and titling, celebrities, and the opening press conference.
• Next up is video of a panel discussion on Vlogging, podcasting and the right to free expression, featuring Jason Calacanis moderating panelists Susan Buice, director of the film "Four Eyed Monsters", Mika Salmi, founder of Atom Films, Ken Rutkowski of KenRadio, and "SoccerGirl," creator of a wildly popular video podcast. The panel discussion is split into two sections: Part 1 and Part 2. Both are must-see for anyone interested in the future of film, video, and media on the Internet.
• The first of our series of video interviews features our own Karina Longworth speaking with Geoff Gilmore, Sundance Festival Director about everything from his programming strategy to the potential impact of technology on the festival's future.
• I had a chance to interview filmmaker Philip Groening about Into Great Silence, a film about his six month journey into life inside The Grande Chartreuse, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps.
• James Rocchi sat down to interview writer-director Georgia Lee and actress-producer Mia Riverton from Red Doors, a movie that isn't actually showing at the festival to discuss their movie and to talk to Lee about her experiences as a Sundance Shorts Juror at this year's Festival.
• Last, but not least, Jono, from Moviefone, sat down with our own James Rocchi to give us an inside glimpse into the arcane art of gifting consultation and the gift bags that are often handed out to Sundance attendees and participants.

All these videos were shot and chopped by our own Randall Bennett and are available via the Cinematical podcast in the iTMS. Make sure you check back later today and throughout the week for more interviews and more roundtable discussions of everything here at Sundance.

It took a little longer to get up than we would have liked, but we have a nice video for you, weighing in at slightly under half an hour, recorded live from the Sundance Film Festival. The file is about 165MBs in size, so I wouldn't characterize it as small. You can grab it via this link (right click and save) and for all you podcasting people, you should find the video enclosed with this post, and available via your subscription to our podcast on the iTunes Music Store.

Jason Calacanis, Karina Longworth, and James Rocchi get together for a roundtable discussion of what's happening at Sundance, so tune in. Here's a quick timeline of topics in the show:

• 1:03—Friends with Money
• 5:05—World According to Sesame Street
• 9:15—Flesh
• 12:08—Lucky Number Sleven
• 13:09—Crossing Arizona
• 14:30—Documentaries at Sundance
• 18:10—About Sundance competitions and titling
• 20:50—Opening press conference
• 24:03—Are there too many celebrities at Sundance?
• 25:45—The time ahead at Sundance
• 26:28—Rosie's Cruise

We should have another video for you later today.