Posted: 23 Aug 2010 05:26 PM PDT

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Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg in Columbia Pictures' "The Social Network."

When Facebook unveiled its new location-sharing feature last week, one executive fondly mentioned Antonio's Nut House in Palo Alto as the sort of establishment that might inspire plenty of posts. The next day, an ACLU leader, addressing privacy concerns raised by the new feature, complained that she would like to hang out at the Nut House without Facebook asking "again and again and again if I want that shared with everyone nearby!"

So what better place than this irreverent, bustling watering hole, located just a short jaunt down California Avenue from Facebook headquarters, to assess Silicon Valley buzz about "The Social Network," the upcoming Hollywood film about Facebook's messy genesis.

Trailers now appearing at the cineplex and online hint at a portrait of founder Mark Zuckerberg as a 19-year-old Harvard discipline problem who is Machiavellian in his pursuit of success. ("Your best friend is suing you for $600 million?!") The moody, dirt-dishing preview has already inspired parodies saluting MySpace, YouTube and Twitter. ("Rated A for Awesome.")

"Oh, I didn't know there was a Facebook movie coming out," said bartender Stephanie Livingstone, serving up a pint of pale ale. Was this the right place? "Oh yeah, this is a big Facebook hangout. And I have friends who work at Facebook. And I haven't heard nothin'."

It's not hard to see why Facebook employees, like Stanford students, adore the Nut House and its vibe. While Facebook

has now added the location-sharing Places feature to go with its Walls, the Nut House has its literal Ceiling. "You know it's going to get stranger," declared one ceiling panel, next to another depicting a mermaid. "Oh no, not you again," says another. So what's the deal with the ceiling? Livingstone explained that if you provide a deposit, you can take a panel home, decorate it and bring it back -- a real-life version of what Internet moguls call "user-generated content."

But back to Facebook and the flick. Perhaps it's not surprising that Livingstone hasn't heard any chatter about "The Social Network." Facebook employees may be understandably reticent if their leader, who in person evinces an unpolished geeky charm, can be as ruthless as he wants to be. (Markiavellian?)

But what are other valley denizens saying? An unscientific sampling of 17 Nut House patrons revealed a wide range of perspectives.

At a pool table, Maya and her girlfriend Aubrie were celebrating Maya's 22nd birthday with some guys. Like a few other patrons, Maya, Aubrie and Mike declined to offer their last names. Funny that a generation that plasters party photos on the Internet is so guarded. But whatever.

Just the night before,

when they'd gone out to see "Inception," Maya and Aubrie caught the trailer for "The Social Network." It changed Maya's mind. When she had first heard there would be a movie about Facebook, "Honestly, I thought that sounded stupid," Maya said. But the trailer looked cool, the young women agreed, so now they plan to see the movie.

Aubrie, who described herself as a Facebook addict, said she's intrigued by the story of Zuckerberg and his cohorts and hope Hollywood depicts the truth. "I hope it's an accurate picture of how it all started."

Don't count on it, others said. "I wouldn't expect it to be a factual account. I'd expect it to have some facts," said Dan Jackson, a 26-year-old software engineer clad in the T-shirt of his employer, Intuit.

Another engineer said he was intrigued by the preview, although he is not a Facebook user. Andrzej, who also declined to give his full name, sensed in the Facebook story a classic moral: "Whenever something becomes a success, all of a sudden there are multiple fathers."

At another table, political scientist Karla López de Nava of Mexico City and her friend Peri Gonzales of Spain represented the Nut House's appeal with Stanford's international culture. As for the movie, López de Nava couldn't resist a wisecrack: "Is it going to be as bad as the security on Facebook?"

The search for actual Facebook employees led to a booth in the corner, where three men were working through two pitchers of beer, then were joined by a fourth with a third pitcher. Yes, they said, they indeed worked at Facebook and no, they didn't want to offer even their first names.

But are people at work talking about the movie? Not so much, one said. "They probably know about it, but they're just so busy," one said.

Whether "The Social Network" does big box office remains to seen. "I don't think," one Facebook employee said, "it will be as big as Facebook."

Contact Scott Duke Harris at 408-920-2704.

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DVR Affects Movie Marketing - The Celebrity Cafe.com

Posted: 23 Aug 2010 07:21 PM PDT

DVR use is changing the way movies are marketed

Cynthia A. Almanzar

Movie advertisers are concerned that DVR use is causing viewers to skip over their ads. A recent study for Comcast found that 62% of respondents reported using DVRs, online sites like Hulu, or VOD.

Consumers are watching TV shows up to three days later than the episode aired. The time-shift proves to be lethal to a film that airs its ads later in the week. "Movies are a very time-sensitive business," said Steve Farella, chairman and CEO of media agency TargetCast tcm. "If people time-shift, once they see the ad, it may be too late."

Due to ad-skipping and time-shifts, marketing experts are focusing their efforts on digital advertising. Digital platforms like YouTube and Facebook are widely used to promote movies. A fairly recent online campaign that was very successful was Eventful's Demand It!, which helped decide if Paranormal Activity would have a national release.

Though it seems that TV advertising might be a waste of time and money, there are some programming ads that remain free of time-shift and are seen live, such as sports and news.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Naughty bits will stay in Facebook movie - msnbc.com

Posted: 24 Aug 2010 02:30 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The cocaine and bare breasts are staying in the picture.

Days after producer Scott Rudin said that a scene of wild partying might be cut from "The Social Network" amid concerns expressed by the real-life people depicted, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the full scene will remain in the film after all.

The upcoming Sony Pictures release about the origins of Facebook has drawn fire from the company, which has labeled it fiction. The Aaron Sorkin script is based on court documents and journalist Ben Mezrich's "The Accidental Billionaires," a partially fictionalized account of the company's early days.

In an article published Friday, Rudin told the New York Times that he has been involved in a months-long dialog with Facebook execs to assuage concerns about the film. He said he allowed certain executives to read the script and made changes to accommodate small requests.

He also said he had not decided whether to cut or alter a scene depicting Sean Parker, a Napster co-founder who played a major role in the early days of Facebook, delivering a key speech at a party while two young women offer lines of cocaine from naked breasts. One person told the Times that the Parker scene was mostly made up, though Rudin said his main concern about the scene was whether it would jeopardize a PG-13 rating.

Now sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the scene will remain in the film, set for release October 1.

A spokesman for Parker declined to comment on the decision. Parker, played in the film by Justin Timberlake, was a confidant of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg but left the company after a cocaine-related arrest in 2005, according to Facebook biographer David Kirkpatrick.

Sources said Facebook lawyers also have voiced concerns about the "Social Network" marketing campaign, which uses a logo that is very similar to Facebook branding. But a Facebook representative downplayed the film in general and the Parker scene in particular.

"Maybe the movie is a sign that Facebook has become meaningful to people, even if the movie is fiction," spokesman Larry Yu said. "What the movie may or may not contain is not what we're focused on. What matters more is building a useful, innovative service that people enjoy using to connect and share."