Welcome to the world!

Today a new baby Baer arrived. Welcome to this crazy world sweet nephew!

Happy Birthday Cake

Matt loves to have Cinnamon Altoids at crafty, so yesterday on the set of his latest feature film they gave him a Cinnamon Altoids themed birthday cake. It's the best cake I've ever seen!

It's a wrap!

Finished principal photography on the Lizzie Borden horror
feature a few days ago. It was a blast. Here's a pic of me as
the hatchet murderess. The cast and crew were a blast
to work with. Can't wait to see how it turns out! They hope
to have a first cut next month!

Greetings from the set of LIZZIE

Say Hello to Lizzie!

I'm *wicked* excited that I was cast in an indie horror feature as Lizzie Borden! My first day of shooting is Wednesday. Don't want to give too much away...
Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

☆♥░▓▓▓▓░░░░▓▓▓▓░░░▓▓░░░░▓▓▓▓░♫ ☆░░░♫░░▓▓░░▓░░░▓░▓▓▓░░░▓░░░░▓░♥ ░░♥░░░..▓▓░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░░▓░☆ ☆░♫░░.▓▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░░▓░☆ ░░░..▓▓░░░░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░░▓░♥ ☆░♥▓▓░░░░░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░▓░░░░▓░♫ ☆♫░▓▓▓▓▓▓░░▓▓▓▓░░░▓▓▓░░▓▓▓▓▓░♥

Got any plans for the New Year?
Here are my main goals for 2010 (in no particular order):
1) Finish the remaining items inside our house
2) Shoot ODD BRODSKY this year (July)
3) Officially announce POTA and get it to a point where I can hire others to run it.
4) Exersize daily/eat more consciously/relax more and have fun!

POTA needs you!

A few months ago the charity I founded "Patron of the Arts" (POTA for short) became an official 501(c)3 nonprofit. Chase Bank is giving $25,000 to the 100 non-profit companies that get the most facebook votes! It's that simple... Please help get our nonprofit off the ground! It only takes 30 SECONDS (3 clicks) to help us win a grant! That's it! We need to reach 3000 votes by Friday 12/11. Please vote now. And spread the word to other filmmakers and artists. Just click this link, become a "fan" of Chase and then click the top "vote" button with the hand!
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/1151982

Feel free to join the facebook POTA group at:
http://www.facebook.com/patronofthearts#/group.php?gid=25406489668&ref=ts
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ABOUT POTA
With cut-backs in funding for art and film projects, and a lack of realistic viable resources, it is nearly impossible for artists and filmmakers to fund their works. At POTA, we believe that art and film are not luxuries, but necessities. They are vital parts of a healthy community.

"Patron of the Arts" (POTA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit company which will provide 2 new programs: “Sponsor an Artist” and Sponsor a Filmmaker”. These are person-to-person micro-donation programs for independent filmmakers and artists. Unlike traditional grants, where multiple applicants are competing for the same, small number of grants, POTA’s business model can help a potentially unlimited number of Artists, provided the Artists qualify for the program, by meeting our non-profit program criteria and mission. Through our in-depth approval and accounting process Patrons (donors) can be certain that their donations are being used the way they are intended, and being awarded to the person and project intended. Donations are tax deductible. Fore more information please visit www.PatronOfTheArts.org

NoH8 -official photo

 Marriage Equity Campaign

Matthew Irving at IFP Film Week

Sometimes I am just so lucky! I booked a last-minute gig AT IFP Film Week and got to spend the week in New York City! This meant that I also got to hear Matt's filmmaker talk, and it was AMAZING! I had no idea he was such a great public speaker! He can actually make technical things interesting. Someone in the audience said "I would listen to that guy talk about shoveling snow." It's true! NYC was such fun, and the fall weather was perfect. As a birthday gift from my inlaws I was treated to see my all-time favorite musical "HAIR" on Broadway. Life is GOOD!

IFP Film Week

If you're a filmmaker in New York on 9/21 please come see my talented husband Matt Irving speak at IFP FilmWeek about his transition from working on traditional film to digital. Free admission with the flyer below (but you MUST RSVP) plus the first 100 to RSVP get a free pass to attend a second IFP seminar and a NY411 Guide (normally $65)

No H8

Today I participated in the silent photo protest for NoH8 (no hate/no on "8") in support of equal marriage rights for all. This is not the "official" photo -I will post it when I see it in a few weeks!

G'day Mate!

Well, it's been a FUN summer so far. Australia was a blast! I had no idea I was going until about 2 weeks before I went, and I think it made it even more fun. Great way to bring in my big birthday! Matt's away shooting a movie in Nashville called BAILEY, which is being directed by Mario Van Peebles. Get to see Matt in 9 days, but who's counting...

Cindy Needs...

This is HILARIOUS!!! Google your name followed by the word needs in quotes - e.g. “XXX needs” and see what you get. Here are the top 5 things that Cindy needs, according to Google:

1. Cindy needs a tall, cold glass of STFU.
2. Cindy needs your help.
3. Cindy needs to rub some good lotion.
4. Cindy needs some Craigslist magic!
5. Cindy needs to stay on that bus.

Now here are the top 5 things Cindy needs according to Cindy Baer:

1. Cindy needs to get off this computer.
2. Cindy needs to take a break.
3. Cindy needs to eat something other than m&m's.
4. Cindy needs funding for ODD BRODSKY.
5. Cindy needs to book a shuttle bus in Australia.

POTA is finally an official non-profit company!!

"Dear POTA, We are pleased to inform you that upon review of your application for tax exempt status we have determined that you are exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)3 of the IRS Code. You are also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under section 2025, 2106 or 2522 of the Code."

ODD BRODSKY hearts UFC

Exciting News --We got an email from the Ultimate Filmmaker Competition (sponsored by Filmmaker's Alliance) saying that ODD BRODSKY made it to the Quarter Finals! We'll be advancing to the next round to win this $200K grant, along with $300K of production expenses! If we make the next cut, we'll be in the final round with only 25 others. I think ODD BRODSKY is a great match for this. Please keep your fingers crossed...

Bob's My Uncle!

Somehow I just booked a flight to Sydney, Australia!!!!! My filmmaker friend Janice, who lives in Texas, is going, and invited me to tag along. Since Matt will be in Nashville shooting his next feature, I said Yes!!! I'm going to Australia!

Just Do It.

Monday morning thought of the day:

"A key element to success is decisiveness. You must be willing to take action if you want results. It's not what you do, but THAT you do that really matters. Perhaps it's time to stop thinking, planning, and preparing, and to start practicing imperfection so you can finally get things going." -Dallas Travers

ODD BRODSKY on facebook

Hey Gang,
I'm so sorry that I have not been blogging very much lately. I have to admit, I've been cheating on you with facebook. I'm sorry. But you can join me there! I just made a page for ODD BRODSKY! I was hoping to import all the past entries from this blog relating to ODD BRODSKY, but alas... it wants to import ALL my posts. So I'm starting new. My goal is to finance, and prep this film so that we can shoot in November 2009! I know... that's a seemingly impossible deadline. Stay tuned for all the drama! Oh, and join my facebook page! ODD BRODSKY on Facebook
xoxo
Cindy

Win an Area Rug

For a chance to win your own area rug up to $55 value, visit All Things Bloggy.

Glidden™ National Paint Giveaway Today! While supplies last!

This summer, pick out your favorite paint color and we will send you a free quart. Then, start coloring your world. Click HERE on June 25 for an order form and complete details....or call 1-800-GLIDDEN. It only took me 1 minute to order my paint! Yay for new paint!

SAG Theatrical Contract Approved

At last. The Screen Actors Guild approved the theatrical contract. 78% voted yes. Let's get back to work.

Bees are dying, Haagen Dazs is buying

Free Ice Cream Today.  YUM

http://go.reachmail.net/track/v.asp?eid=43513&sb_id=333354,333355&aid=267

The Future of Film

One word: AMAZING


Carousel from maxime caron on Vimeo.

3 out of 6 Ideablob winners are TFA Alums

November's Ideablob winner was just announced, and surprise, surprise, it's yet another TFA Alumnus.  That makes the winners of the June, August and November competition ALL TFA beneficiaries.  You may remember that Ideablob created an incentive back in June (right when we lost the grant the FIRST time because our entry was sabotaged by Jessica Hammock of Project Epiphany, a TFA Alum) that if a TFA Alum won their monthly $10,000 contest, the TFA Organization would receive a separate $5000 award.  (Ideablob denies this, but we have evidence.)  Now, to date, 50% of all the winners since this financial incentive went into effect have been TFA Alums.  

Here is what you can do if Ideablob's TFA bonus incentive has adversely affected your win: You can contact your state's Attorney General, as well as the USA Attorney General, Make a claim with the Better Business Burrow, File a complaint with the FDIC (they regulate the activities of banks) and lastly, of course is private litigation. (Unfortunately, lawyer fees will likely cost as much as the amount of the injury.) And, of course, if enough people have been effected by this, it could be classified as a class action suit.  

Sometimes justice is believing in karma --knowing that what goes around comes around.   

SAG begins new year with civil war

According to Variety: SAG's moderate wing plans to replace the guild's negotiating committee -- and possibly fire national exec director Doug Allen -- in hopes of breaking the contract stalemate with the majors.

While much of the town's been shut down for the past two weeks, SAG's internal firefight over its divisive strike authorization vote has escalated. Allen and SAG president Alan Rosenberg have spurned calls to ditch the authorization vote but agreed Dec. 22 to delay it until after a Jan. 12-13 emergency meeting of the national board in order to present a united front to members.

But the moderates have grown increasingly frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of response from SAG toppers and are poised to begin moving to make SAG more pragmatic -- three months after gaining control of the 71-member board over the more aggressive Membership First faction, which still dominates the negotiating committee.

Ned Vaughn, spokesman for the moderate Unite for Strength faction, said he could not comment on specifics of steps to be taken at the meeting. "The board has a choice to make -- either go ahead with the strike authorization vote or move in a new direction," he told Daily Variety. New York board member Paul Christie said Allen may be on thin ice if he doesn't change his approach.

"His idea of re-establishing consensus to date has been 'getting you all to agree with me,' " Christie added. "He will go down in flames if that is his game plan for this meeting." But SAG First VP and negotiating committee member Anne-Marie Johnson told Daily Variety it would be "undemocratic" to call off the strike authorization vote and not allow SAG's 120,000 members to make the decision. Johnson also criticized Allen's critics. "To want to fire your lead negotiator, whose only fault is that he's trying to get the best possible contract he can get, baffles the mind," she added.

SAG's New York board, now in open rebellion from Allen and Rosenberg, first called for the cancellation of the strike authorization vote and the replacement of the negotiation committee on Dec. 12. A new negotiating team would probably attempt to restart negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, which made its final offer on June 30, the expiration date of SAG's master contract on features and primetime.

SAG, led by Allen and Rosenberg, held 46 negotiating sessions with the AMPTP since April but refuses to relent on key new-media issues. And Allen, who's starting his third year as SAG chief, has become a polarizing figure over how he's handled SAG's strategy on several fronts: 1) Efforts in 2007 to force AFTRA to reduce its participation in joint bargaining, which led to AFTRA splitting angrily from SAG and negotiating its own deal 2) An unsuccessful campaign to persuade dual SAG-AFTRA members to vote down the ratification of AFTRA's deal. 3) The inability to close SAG's deal with the AMPTP, even after a federal mediator joined the process in October. Two days of talks cratered after SAG deman congloms ded a hike in DVD residuals -- long a nonstarter for the 4) His latest assertion that while he's hoping a strike won't occur, it won't shut down the industry since work would continue on indie features with SAG waivers and on cable shows and commercials.

That declaration, made Tuesday in a message to members, was met with incredulity by Christie. "If you are constantly telling the members no way will I shoot the gun I am asking for, then why are you begging for bullets?" Christie added. "These emails are astounding in their similarity as if they will wear down the membership by their sheer volume. Honest fact is, if Doug 'no way' Allen really wanted a strike authorization, he should have, according to any knowledgeable labor negotiator, asked for it July 1st." Christie also accused Allen of stalling on negotiations until after the September elections in hopes that Membership First would retain control of the national board.

The AMPTP also blasted back at Allen on Tuesday. "Today's SAG statement suggesting that a SAG strike would not have a devastating impact on our industry, in the midst of the greatest economic turmoil since the Great Depression, simply defies reality," the AMPTP said. "The 100-day writers strike -- which resulted in the writers receiving the same terms that the DGA achieved without a strike -- cost our economy $2.5 billion. A SAG strike would cost the working families who depend on our industry even more -- at a time when everyone is already under extreme pressure by the unprecedented national economic crisis."

The moderates have rallied behind a Dec. 2 letter by Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman contending that SAG needs to accept a deal along the lines of the final offer, which contains similar terms to those in pacts signed in 2008 by the WGA, DGA, AFTRA, IATSE and the casting directors. More than 1,800 members have come out against the authorization including Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Sally Field. Nearly 3,000 members have signed a solidarity statement supporting a "yes" vote, including Martin Sheen, Ed Asner and Mel Gibson.

Happy New Year!!

I'm making my list. Have you got yours?

YES MAN

YES MAN starring Jim Carey was GREAT!  I just adored it, and completely recommend it. Tonight we are ringing in the New Year in a hot tub, outside in the brisk Portland air, even though it is raining.  YES MAN reminded me of how fun it is to say Yes to life! Happy 2009 friends!!

SAG postponing Strike Authorization vote.

According to Variety, SAG's postponement of its strike authorization vote may signal that its leaders are tilting in a more moderate direction -- so much so that the divisive vote may be called off.

It's still unclear what direction the national board will take at its emergency meeting on Jan. 12-13, scheduled ostensibly by national exec director Doug Allen and president Alan Rosenberg to persuade the fractured 71-member panel to present a united front and convince members to vote up a strike authorization. But the timing of the Monday night announcement was telling. It came a few hours after Allen and Rosenberg met with leaders of the Unite for Strength faction, a group of Hollywood moderates who gained five board seats in the fall after campaigning on a platform that asserted that Rosenberg and his allies had bungled the contract negotiations strategy.

Unite for Strength spokesman Ned Vaughn told Daily Variety that he and his colleagues expressed concerns about going ahead with the vote, given the growing numbers of SAG members - particularly high-profile stars such as George Clooney and Tom Hanks - coming on the "no" side. "We felt that in light of what's been happening that it would have been reckless for the national board to proceed without having the chance to reconsider," Vaughn said. "We appreciate that they've taken our concerns seriously."

The victory by Unite for Strength wrested away control of the national board from the more assertive Membership First faction for the first time in three years and gave the moderates - comprised largely of New York and regional reps -- a narrow ruling margin . It's unclear whether the emergency board meeting will lead to the withdrawal of the authorization vote or replacing the SAG negotiating committee, which remains dominated by Membership First. Vaughn would not comment as to what steps the board might take but he expressed concern that scheduling the confab as a "face to face" meeting in Los Angeles on a Monday and Tuesday will make it more difficult for New York and regional branch members to attend. Similar concerns arose earlier this month when Rosenberg scheduled an emergency meeting for Dec. 19, but then called it off a few days later.

SAG's insisted it needs a strike authorization vote, which requires the approval of 75% of members who cast ballots, to force the congloms to improve their final offer and has spent the past year blasting the moguls and the deals they signed with the town's other unions,
particularly in new-media residuals and jurisdiction. The guild's also contended that signing the final offer will hasten the disappearance of residuals as TV programming migrates to the Web. But the majors have insisted that they won't change the terms of the deal and they've blasted SAG repeatedly for insisting it deserves better terms amid a full-blown recession.

Happy Holidays!

http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/whitchr.html

POTA is CA nonprofit!

Well, we're 1/2 way there! Today POTA officially received tax-exempt status in California! We expected it would not be until January or February until we heard. So this is great news! Now we are just awaiting federal approval and we are done! It feels good to move forward.