March 5, 2010 | 10:38 am

MAZELTOV to Oscar Nominees and the Chai Center

Posted by Joan Hyler

Oscar weekend - parties swirling and my own client BRUCE VILANCH writing the Oscar telecast.  A good year for Hollywood women - especially over 40 women:  Mirren, Streep, Bigelow, Bullock.  My friends at the Chai Center are celebrating Sunday as well - with Media star, Michael Medved doing the keynote.  Go to the Chai Center event at the Olympic Collection before you go to the Vanity Fair after party.

And if you run into Lisa Kudrow at either place, give her a thank you as well and support her courage for her march back to Poland, on full view at NBC, to talk about her family’s history and the Holocaust.

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February 24, 2010 | 5:09 pm

The Oscars: Harvey Weinstein and the Holocaust

Posted by Joan Hyler

For a second straight year the Oscars will have a Jewish themed/WWII movie indirectly dealing with the Holocaust produced, this year as last, by Harvey and Bob Weinstein who sold their high end movie company, Miramax, to Disney a few years ago.  Miramax (named famously for the Weinstein parents, Miriam and Max) was just sold by Disney, and Bob and Harvey’s Oscar nominated movie, this year is under the label The Weinstein Company, called “The Inglorious Bastards” stars Brad Pitt and is written and directed by “Pulp Fiction” and Miramax protégé Quentin Tarantino.  It’s a vivid and fantastic look at the Holocaust -more pulp pop fiction than last years’ Weinstein Company entry into the Oscars - the sober and somber quasi love story, “The Reader” set after the Holocaust which earned the director Stephen Daldry a best director nomination and star Kate Winslet the Oscar itself as leading actress.

I have known the Weinsteins since I lived in New York and they were starting out as rock and roll promoters from Buffalo, New York.  In the 90’s I produced a documentary for them “Get Bruce” about funnyman writer and Oscar contributor (he has written 21 Oscarcasts) Bruce Vilanch and in l998 my client Diane Lane played a Jewish woman married to Liev Schreiber in the Miramax movie “A Walk On the Moon” set in the 60’s in the Catskills about the love affair between a Jewish housewife and a travelling blouse man.

While the Weinstein frères do not tackle religious themes, they are unafraid of their Jewish roots and produce interesting star driven movies that highlight Jewish characters and are even unafraid of tackling aspects of Nazi Germany

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February 19, 2010 | 10:49 am

Building the Mishkan and Hollywood

Posted by Joan Hyler

How appropriate that today we are reminded in the Torah to make a sanctuary that is portable and where we speak to Hashem and get responses from the sacred space between the two Gold Cherubim.  It is almost Purim, almost the Oscars (which my longtime friend and client Bruce Vilanch writes) and on Oscar night the Chai Center is having their annual fundraiser at the Olympic Collection in West LA.

The Mishkan was built by the newly minted Israelites with materials that were brought out of Egypt as we were told to ‘despoil the Egyptians’ in the Torah.  Many equate Hollywood with Egypt - I do not.  Hollywood gold is shimmering but not real - although there are few Queen Esthers at the Oscars this year - there is some substance and a real opportunity on Oscar night to donate to the Chai Center which yearly leads us out of Egypt to help us develop ourselves and our community toward a real Jewish consciousness so maybe next year there will be more than just one Israeli film nominated for Best Foreign Film - there will be a real intersection between Jews and Hollywood - we can only help prepare this by learning more about who we are and entering the Jewish Sacred Spaces in our own lives.  Thank you Rabbi Schlomo and Mendel Schwartz and the Great Mother.

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February 3, 2010 | 7:46 pm

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

Posted by Joan Hyler

“Israeli formats are the ultimate greenhouse for ideas” - so says producer and former NBC honcho Ben Silverman in this weeks Variety. Along with an announcement that CBS is adapting another format from Israel “Quinn-tuplets,” this series is being developed in part by Arik Kneller who had been a student of mine in a master class sponsored by the Jewish Federation of LA two years ago.

Also chronicled by Variety is more disturbing news, the success of an iPhone application of Italian fascist Mussolini’s speeches that has Jews outraged internationally and is an unfortunate success in Italy.

Oy! Good news and horrible news.

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January 22, 2010 | 1:40 pm

Israeli Response To Haiti

Posted by Joan Hyler

As we all are preparing ourselves for Hollywood’s response to the Haitian crisis (thank you George Clooney) it is worth remarking on the swift, efficient and highly effective Israeli response.  They were on the ground in an impressive few days and saved lives, gave hope and reminded us once again why we should be proud of the Israeli army and how the world should take a lesson from this.  It is good and proper that Hollywood stars and performers of mythic proportions (Clooney! Madonna! Bono!) should use their power and money in this way, but nothing trumps the Jewish state’s response - if only Orly Adelson (head of Dick Clark Productions would make a movie about this) - as a former Israeli soldier, she is uniquely situated to do so, as well as produce the Golden Globes - which she did so effectively, last weekend.

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January 13, 2010 | 8:48 pm

Movie Queens and Biblical Queens

Posted by Joan Hyler

To paraphrase the Mel Brooks line “It’s good to be King,” well this year “It’s good to be Queen” or an over 40 actress or director just like Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock or director Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), Nancy Meyers (“It’s Complicated”) or that perennial over 40 Jewish-girl director Nora Ephron (“Julie & Julia”) and Morning Star’s own Lynn Roth of “The Little Traitor” starring a superb Alfred Molina.

As we begin to celebrate the women of the Exodus (Miriam, Shifrah, Puah) and of course Purim’s Esther, let’s discuss and celebrate movie queens as they get awards and save lives; spiritual and otherwise.

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December 16, 2009 | 1:23 pm

Chanukah Gift: Miracle of Sara Berlin

Posted by Joan Hyler

It is odd for the house phone to be ringing at 1:10AM, especially in August. The house phone rarely rings. Mom is sleeping in my room because Dad is sick. I had just crawled into bed. The phone rings again. Groggily, Mom picks up the phone. The caller is a stranger from California - something is wrong with Aunt Joan.

Aunt Joan (AJ) is Mom’s only sister, living three thousand miles away, but still playing a prominent role in my childhood. She has no children of her own; we are her only family.

AJ is glamorous. She had been the first female Vice President of the William Morris talent agency in Los Angeles. Attending awards shows on the arm of one or another of her famous clients, she epitomized the success that everyone seeks in Hollywood, but few rarely achieve. Everyone sought her legendary advice, including me. I remember the advice she gave me on the first day of high school; I was very nervous because I was coming from a middle school that had eighteen students per grade to a high school with over 3000 students.

“Sara, I’m going to tell you what I tell the stars. You are fabulous! You have your own strength and power. Take a deep breath and walk in as if you owned the place. Get involved and make a difference. But most importantly , hold your head up high and take a deep breath. It’s all you, baby.”

Now it was two years later, I had taken her advice, and I was a success. I was in student government, involved in my community, and playing sports. I was looking forward to the start of my junior year, and an upcoming visit from AJ.

But that early morning phone call made it clear that AJ’s only travel plans were a helicopter flight to the hospital; she had been struck by a car while crossing Pacific Coast Highway, tossed 25 feet in the air, landing violently on the pavement, and doubling her injuries. My parents flew out immediately; I started my junior year.

Six weeks later, I was allowed to join them. When I finally saw AJ in the ICU, she was wrapped in a full body cast, with tubes and wires
sticking out everywhere. She had just awoken from a coma that she had been in since the accident, but she was barely awake.  It was painful to watch vibrant Aunt Joan lying still, struggling for every breath of air.

I spent my visit in the hospital, sitting next to her bed. I would talk to her even though she wouldn’t respond; her eyes would just stare blankly at mine. AJ had multiple broken bones, spinal injuries, nerve damage, a collapsed lung, and possible severe brain injury - the doctors were not hopeful that she would live, much less recover. Throughout my visit, doctors and nurses continued work on different parts of her body. On my last day in LA, the speech therapist came in for one last visit. She placed an amplification device on AJ’s trachea in an attempt to get her to speak. AJ was awake, and following the therapist’s movement with her eyes. I asked the therapist if I could
try and get her to speak.

“Hello. Do you know who I am?” I asked with teats rolling down my face. Barely audible, AJ spoke her first words since the accident: “Yes, you’re Sara.”

Stunned by her responsiveness, the therapist tried to ask her some questions, but AJ fell silent again. She just kept looking at me, as I
continued to look at her. Our eyes locked together.

“I’m leaving, but please tell me my name again before I go.”

In a voice that didn’t sound at all like the energetic, outspoken, vivacious AJ that I knew, she weakly said: “Sara, I love you.”

On the six-hour flight home, AJ’s words resonated in my mind. It took so much effort for her just to speak; each word was so difficult. Over those few days that I had sat by her bedside, I had watched her struggle with every task - holding her head up, or moving a finger. The smallest movement became the ultimate goal. I realized that even from an ICU room, barely able to talk or move, Aunt Joan was still my role model. She was going to live. Thirty thousand feet above the ground, I suddenly had a new insight into the meaning of success: It is not measured by fame or fortune, but by the obstacles we overcome, and breaths we learn to take.

My junior year was spent going back and forth to Los Angeles, while striving to meet the pressures of a chaotic year, a rigorous academic schedule, and extra curricular activities. I was a long way from being the nervous freshman entering an overwhelming school; I was a seventeen year old who understood that it is possible to meet challenges by following AJ’s wordless example: strive to overcome obstacles, believe in yourself, hold your head up high, make each breath count, and never forget to say “I love you” to those who matter most.

P.S. As I write this essay one year later, AJ has moved out of the hospital, back to her house. Using a walker instead of a limo, she is resuming the life that everyone (but us) thought was over.

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December 9, 2009 | 7:37 pm

A Time of Miracles

Posted by Joan Hyler

One year ago, at Channukah, I was in the hospital at UCLA. I lit an electric Menorah approved by my spiritual teachers Rabbis Schlomo and Mendel Schwartz and Olivia Schwartz.

Having recovered to a large degree, I am home and will light the Menorah here this year. It is the season of miracles. I’ve had big ones and smaller ones in the last year. The biggest one of course is Life. Thank you Hashem. I am still in the management business thanks to my core clients who are extraordinary actors and actresses and my hard working staff. Thank you one and all. I am grateful to my sister in Miami, who checks in with me two times a day as do her kids. Thank you Nancy, Benjy, Naomi, Mikey, David, Sara and husband Louis.

Friends still visit often, and calls from all over the world abound. Thank you everyone.

Thanks to my Torah teachers and study buddies and those visitors who bring me Torah from Israel.

Thanks to the women at the Morning Star Commission. We’ve had a great year. Women in general in the film business, especially directors, are doing well. Among them our own Lynn Roth whose film “The Little Traitor” is still showing locally starring my client Alfred Molina. Thank you Lynn, Olivia, Linda, Molly and all the women who carry the flag.

And to all of you a Happy Channukah, and may miracles be with you daily.

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December 3, 2009 | 6:14 pm

You Can Go Home Again

Posted by Joan Hyler

As those who know me understand, I am recovering from a car accident which took place over a year ago. Many months have passed. I am home and working with my office as a Hollywood talent manager with a group of great high level and loyal clients.

My recovery has had 3 stages: Acute - I was in the hospital hovering between this world and the world to come, Rehab - relearning to walk and regaining my strength, and Daily Life - which includes day to day interface with family, friends, neighbors and in my case “Hollywood” types: agents, studio heads, executives, directors and an assortment of creative types.

Each phase is beset by different challenges. The last “day to day,” while not as dire as the other two, has had its difficulties. Everyday I need a large dose of optimism, good humor, patience, fearlessness and a trick or two up my sleeve.

As evidenced in this weeks Torah portion, Jacobs homecoming witnessed the fact that you can go home again. Armed with a new family, and returning home he needed a large dose of heroism and wit, and so did his family. Jacob also needed to be armed with heroics to face his fate in returning to Canaan and facing anything but ordinary daily life.

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November 23, 2009 | 1:54 pm

Hollywood Matriarchs and Me

Posted by Joan Hyler

So Oprah is leaving her show in 2011 - the airwaves are abuzz with this news - who’s next?

These are the Days of the Matriarchs in our Torah - more than the men who met their ‘twilight’ years (i.e. Abraham) with a Third Act that was slightly less fraught than the other two acts of their lives - our Patriarchs faced less of the Grim Reality than their wives (i.e. Sara, Rachel).

Thinking of Hollywood Matriarchs - I am impressed by many who semi retire like Sherry Lansing, after a full career as a producer and studio head - and use their money and power in philanthropic pursuits.  Laura Ziskin (still actively producing the “Spiderman” series) is using her power and money to fight cancer.  Both Jewish girls, these powerful women are worthy of our Torah female prototypes: they live in the world and use their accomplishments for the greater good.

Jewishly active CBS Entertainment Prez. Nina Tassler has just become the new head of the LA Federation’s Entertainment Committee.  Nina went to Israel this past summer to teach with the Federation - Tel Aviv U partnership along with former Fox head Gail Berman - two more modern Matriarchs.

Well known locally, these Jewish women don’t have Oprah’s profound wealth or fame - yet they are all worthy Matriarchs.

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November 16, 2009 | 1:02 pm

Acts of Charity and Kindness

Posted by Joan Hyler

One year ago, when I came to consciousness in the hospital after a car accident, I was surrounded by family, clients, Hollywood friends and the Hollywood Jewish community who had maintained a presence at my side davening, learning and praying for me - one year later I have survived, am at home, working full time and continuing to learn with Torah buddies and my rabbis, Olivia, Schlomo and Mendel Schwartz of the Chai Center located in Mar Vista.  The Schwartzes have just suffered the death of a grand child in Jerusalem, three year old Shula who was killed in a freaky car accident.

When I awoke a year ago it was on my birthday and I was given a party by loved ones accompanied by gifts, cards, hugs, crying, laughter and I truly felt the love and still do.

Next week the Schwartzes are having a memorial for their granddaughter called Shloshim.  In honor of my birthday this year, I would like to request those who can to please give a check to the Chai Center in Shula’s name.  If you are unable to send a check to the Chai Center please study Torah in her name, or make a commitment to do acts of kindness and friendship in her name - and wish me a happy birthday and long life as you do. 

Shavuah Tov.

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November 11, 2009 | 1:28 pm

Jewish Women in Hollywood and Me

Posted by Joan Hyler

Women in Film and specifically Jewish Women in Film and TV has long been my passion - so much so, that Hadassah founded the Morningstar Commission an advocacy and policy group, a group of influencers in the entertainment industry that we started over ten years ago.  I was the first Commission Chairwoman, now it is ABC eminence Olivia Cohen-Cutler who has had a profound effect on many high level ABC series such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Brothers and Sisters.” 

We have often given Awards to high level nationally known women such as writer Wendy Wasserstein and HBO’s Sheila Nevins.  We have been joined on the Board by a cross section of notable industry insiders like attorney Patti Felker, actress/writer Laraine Newman, producer/writer Linda Shayne, writer/director Lynn Roth, and Manager and activist Susan Zachary among others.

It is notable too, that CBS Head Nina Tassler has just been named head of the Jewish Federation’s Entertainment Division.  Nina recently was in Israel along with former Fox Head and current Indie Film and TV producer Gail Berman where they taught in a program that is a joint project of the LA Jewish Federation and Tel Aviv. Long term head of Sony Pictures Amy Pascal has also been active on Jewish issues and Women’s issues and we hope they will all join us as we at Morningstar set our agenda for 2010.

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November 6, 2009 | 5:43 pm

‘The Little Traitor’ and Me

Posted by Joan Hyler

“The Little Traitor,” a feature film starring client Alfred Molina, has just opened in L.A. It is based on the Amos Oz novel “The Panther in the Basement,” which has long been a favorite of mine and Fred Molina. So much so, that we tried to buy it a few years ago when we had a deal as producers at Sony Pictures.

To our chagrin, the movie rights had already been optioned by Monte and Marilyn Hall whom had engaged screenwriter/director Lynn Roth to co-produce, write and direct. As luck, or “Divine Providence” would have it, Lynn is a friend of mine and fellow Board Member of the Morningstar Commission and was running a program for the Jewish Federation in Tel Aviv. Before you could say “Divine Providence,” Mr. Molina was in costume, shooting the movie in Israel and loving every second of his time in Israel accompanied by his wife actor/writer Jill Molina.

Go see this movie, and while you’re at it go see Mr. Molina in “An Education.” 

I am kvelling for him.

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