A Summer of Production and Progress!

Ashli Bogart and Lexi Lefkowitz


Meghann Sumner (in the grocery cart!)


Summer school has wrapped and now its on to shooting. To move things along we've aquired some assistants and are happy to have them in place and ready to roll. The biggest news on the MKA front is that I've just hired a Production Coordinator, Meghann Sumner, to work on the documentary 8 hours a week for six weeks (and hopefully longer depending on how funding comes in!).

After losing our amazing research assistant, Ashli Bogart, to graduation and a job working for Lifetime in Charleston, SC, Im overjoyed that we've aquired Meghann to fill her shoes in research, transcribe some of the mounting interview tapes and to also start assisting us with coordinating shoots.

Additionally, Lexi Lefkowitz, another indefatigable female filmmaker and UNCW student will be helping with production as we coordinate the twenty-something MKA nostalgia dinner party, a few more interviews and a tween slumber party. (Donna is also at work writing Act 1 of the animation segments so we're keeping our fingers crossed that that can be shot this summer as well.)

Like Ashli, Meghann and Lexi are well versed in all things MKA, and have worked with me on various projects this past year: Vision '06 UNCW Student Screening and The UNCW/DC Virgo Reel Girls Project. At every turn they have each proved to be strong organizers and creative collaborators. This past year each has directed her own short documentary and continues to evolve daily as a filmmaker in her own right. Lexi's experimental collage film "What To Do On A Date If Your Partner Likes It" even played at the Humboldt Film Festival this year. A great accomplishment for a first film!

With this kind of help backing up the project it would be impossible not to move forward with great strides and success this summer. So, here's to a fabulous July and August! Now Im off to complete that Creative Capital Grant and try to get us some more funds!

Raise Your Glasses - The Twins Turn 21 Today

MKA update - American Sweetheart and Elizabeth and James

And in other news....

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen presents their new contemporary line, Elizabeth and James. WWD reports that the line is named after the Olsens’ younger sister, Elizabeth, and older brother, James, the twins teamed up with Peter Koral and Jane Siskin, the creators of Seven For All Mankind and LaRok to create this line. This collection is based on a relationship between a young girl and a boy and to tell a story through the clothing. The contemporary collection is a play on masculine verses feminine and casual versus dressy. For a dressed-up look, the line includes silk dresses and a sequin minidress that was inspired by one of Mary-Kate’s vintage finds.


See Quotes from MKA regarding the line below:

"We wanted it to be based on a relationship between a young girl and a boy and tell the story through the clothing."

"It's a clash between masculinity and femininity," Ashley added.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen sees a woman "early 20s, figuring out life and just experimenting," wearing Elizabeth and James. "It's a sophisticated woman with a playful side and is still chic. It's someone who understands fashion and understands details and expects that as well."

Mary-Kate said they approached Siskin a year ago to become a partner in the label, which she hopes will fill "a void in the market that we thought we could definitely excel in."

Siskin said when she met with the girls, they seemed to be on the same page almost immediately.

"It was at the same time that we were thinking of launching another contemporary line at Koral, so the timing was perfect," Siskin said. "Since our meeting, the development of the line has really been a natural process and we all work together so well. The girls are all about detail, where I see the big picture, so it's a nice combination."

Elizabeth and James is intended for a woman who wants a designer garment but cannot afford it, she said.

"It's a sophisticated, but a smart, shopper. It's someone who understands the design aspects of fashion [and] the designer product, but also doesn't want to pay designer prices," Ashley said.

Ashley said Elizabeth and James will launch domestically with four collections for spring, fall, holiday and resort in limited distribution.

"A lot of [retailers] were very interested," she said. "We were just interested in going into business with someone who wanted to be partners and grow the brand and brand awareness."

Just In...

Book just arrived today. Two more interviewees to put on my list!

Isaac Larian, oh won't you let me interview you?

I feel that he's abolutely right, Barbie is so last Tuesday.

So my hope is to track down contact information for Mr. Larian (creator of Bratz) and see if he won't sit down for an interview some time in the next few months. If you know him, work for him, or are him, please, please contact me and lets set up an interview.

Bratz, Olsen Twins and Barbie...even Issac gives MKA their deserved nod

Hair-Pulling In The Dollhouse
Bratz toys have produced explosive growth for Isaac Larian -- and woes for Mattel

Isaac Larian, founder of toymaker MGA Entertainment Inc. and father, so to speak, of the fabulously successful Bratz dolls, never passes up an opportunity to mock, provoke, or otherwise try to annoy his main rival: Mattel Inc. (MAT ), maker of Barbie dolls. "Mattel can't even say our name," Larian says. "They call us 'our nearest competitor.' I'm thinking of changing our company name to MNC Entertainment -- Mattel's Nearest Competitor." Ask him about Mattel's recent sponsorship deals with teen celebrities, and he says: "I don't care if they sign the Olsen twins and call it Bulimic Barbie. Kids don't want to play with Barbies anymore."
(Excerpt from Businessweek.com, click on title above to link)

Fortune Favors the Bold Or "Sexy? This Young Thing?"

“Not once have we ever heard one of our consumers call Bratz ’sexy.’ ” Some adults “have a twisted sense of what they see in the product,” Larian says. - Isaac Larian

Isaac Larian is the Chief Executive Officer of MGA Entertainment, the biggest privately owned toy company in the world.

After graduating from CSULA in civil engineering, he started a business exporting electronic goods, and later (2000) expanded their company to include the creation, development and marketing of the Bratz doll. Two of the dolls bear the names of his children, son Cameron and daughter Jasmin (although her doll uses the Persian spelling Yasmin). Currently his third child doesn't have a Bratz doll, but that can change with the next release.

He was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" (Consumer Products category) by Ernst & Young in 2004.

His motto, "Fortune favors the bold" is displayed throughout MGA's building.