P. David Ebersole
P. David Ebersole
Age: 46
Los Angeles, CA
Filmmaker
I find myself using the word "beautiful" at least several times daily, in my mind, to describe the color of the clouds, the smile on the dog, a man's vintage shoes. As a filmmaker, I look for beauty to be about some essential core of expression: the ability to convey and elicit emotion and reaction. But it's disingenuous in my opinion to suggest that beauty isn't purely itself, and instantly recognizable. We all know when beauty enters the room. We react and we fawn, avoiding eye contact while glancing sideways to get a look; we're jealous and we're drawn to it . We simultaneously seek it's attention and shun it if it doesn't give us our moment in the sun. We want it to like us because we love it at first sight. We'll gossip and say we hope it is shallow (so we can feel superior) but then secretly hope it carries not only depth but, somehow, the meaning of life. Beauty is life and life is beautiful.
My Professional Life:
DIRECTOR: A member of DGA, P. David was singled out a decade ago by Filmmaker Magazine as one of "25 New Indie Faces." P. David made his prime-time television directing debut in 2006 with DESIRE, the first American telenovela on the new Fox-owned My Network TV and also directed their hit follow-up novella, WICKED WICKED GAMES starring Tatum O'Neal. His first feature, STRAIGHT RIGHT, premiered as an original cable movie on the Sundance Channel. His current project is I'M DRUMMING AS FAST AS I CAN, a documentary about the life and near-death story of Patty Schemel, the drummer of Courtney Love's seminal grunge band, Hole. As a student filmmaker, he won Best Undergraduate Film & Director at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for his project LOVER MAN (1986); and he was awarded the Franklin J Schaffner Award for Best Film/Director at the American Film Institute for his multiple award-winning thesis DEATH IN VENICE, CA (1994).
PRODUCER: P. David is co-producer on STRANGER INSIDE, a world premiere cable movie for HBO Films, directed by Cheryl Dunye and produced by Jim McKay, Michael Stipe and Effie T. Brown. STRANGER INSIDE debuted as a special screening at Sundance, and it was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Best TV movie as well as four IFP Spirit Awards. He also co-wrote/co-produced THE NEW WOMEN, starring cult superstar Mary Woronov, released theatrically in Canada through Vagrant Films. Short films include The Ebersole Hughes Company collaborations, DING DONG and HUBBY/WIFEY, and Berlin Intl Film Festival Teddy Award winner, 2/3, directed by Richard Press. In TV, he was Executive Producer on the pilot OUT THERE for VH1.
WRITER:
P. David won the Outfest Screenplay Competition for his drama FLOWERS FOR ALBUQUERQUE, also a semi-finalist in the Ultimate Filmmaker Competition; and his script OCEANSIDE was selected to the prestigious No Borders section of the Independent Feature Film Market in New York. Ebersole-Hughes screenplays include a biopic on Jayne Mansfield, THE DEVIL MADE HER DO IT; WHOEVER YOU ARE I LOVE YOU, optioned by Mutual Film Company; and VIOLATION (directed by Darin DeWitt Henson), airing on Showtime under the banner of SOUL DECISIONS: Films Directed by Actors from "Soul Food." The most recent Ebersole-Hughes script is "soy mi madre," a telenovela inspired museum installation by English artist Phil Collins, commissioned by the Aspen Art Museum and currently playing film festivals worldwide.
AND MORE: P. David was the founding Artistic Director and Festival Director of the Silver Lake Film Festival, he is a mentor in Film Independent's "Project:Involve" program, he produced and directed documentary segments for LAWSON LIVE on the Hallmark Network, and he has taught film and video production at Pitzer College, Chapman University and USC School of Cinema/TV. He is currently the Distribution Consultant to the American Film Institute for their short film library.
Posted by P. David Ebersole on January 7, 2011
Tina Turner!!! She makes you use exclamation points after every thought!!! She’s fabulous! She’s fierce! She’s Tina!!
What if…you’re big & bold when girls are supposed to be soft & sweet? What if…you’ve got legs for days but everyone says good girls wear long skirts? What if…you’re born into an era that thinks you’re a second-class citizen and you know you’re a first-class star? What if….they say your skin color is wrong, you’re too strong, you’re too masculine, you can’t write your own songs, you should let a man run your life, you should accept abuse, you should behave this way or that way, you should not be yourself?!!
I’ll tell you what! Think of Tina Turner and you know you can change every rule and make life your own!!!
Give it to me one more time! HEY HEY HEY HEY HEEEEEYYYYY!!! TINA!!!!
Posted by P. David Ebersole on December 2, 2010
Don’t we all love a woman who is beautiful inside and out?
Meet my high school girlfriend, Lisa Fontanesi.
She’s a “looker” to be sure but she’s also raising money to bring an amazing program she has created, called Kidding Around the Kitchen, into LAUSD schools.
From her email:
“As part of my mission to help make kids active in the kitchen, I’ve been teaching cooking and nutrition in LA schools for the past 6 years. I recently became affiliated with Michelle Obama’s Chef’s Move to Schools and Let’s Move programs fighting childhood obesity. Kidding Around The Kitchen brings not just a lesson, but a ‘hands on’ cooking experience to classrooms in which kids actively participate in the preparation of recipes.”
And as Lisa says, if they make it, THEY EAT IT!
Budget cuts mean programs like this go away. So, give a dollar, give a thousand! (I gave $25).
Click below to visit her site.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1869906332/katk-free-hands-on-cooking-classes-for-los-angeles-0
Posted by P. David Ebersole on November 29, 2010
Here’s something to be thankful for: talent!
Let’s say you’re not classically “pretty” (whatever that is). Big nose, tiny nose, sunken eyes, big eyes, thin lips, big lips. Whatever you hate about yourself disappears because you’ve got more talent in your little finger than any supermodel. The room stands still when you open your mouth to rock, to sing, to talk. People are mesmerized by your charisma. That’s what these three great, sexy, exciting women have in common: their confidence in their talent gives them the permission to be 100% themselves. And we love them for it.
Here’s Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, arguably the coolest woman who’s ever walked the earth. She’s got brass in pocket and she’s gonna use it!
Here’s Barbara Streisand, arguably the most striking self-described ugly duckling the world will ever see. She owned her “ethnic” look long before it was okay to be different, making us all say in unison: “hello, gorgeous!”
Here’s Sandra Bernhard, arguably the “queen of comedy.” She’s gorgeous why? Because she tells us she is. Those lips! That body! That cutting edge humor! Without her, we’re nothing.
The moral of the story? Embrace your talent, bring it out, shine…and transform all of our ideas of what beauty is. Please! We need more unique beauties to be thankful for.
