Sleepless Snoozeletter #2

SCHEDULE
CHATROOM
MESSAGE BOARD
FEEDBACK
GUIDEBOOK
STUFF
LINKS
GUESTBOOK

The following SLEEPLESS SNOOZELETTER was distributed via real mail during the winter of 2000. Ta-hooties! This version has been hyperlink-ified with additional visual aids.

We send the SNOOZELETTER to selected fans, viewers and former Vertov agents approximately 3 times a year. To get your free copy, let us know.

Vertov Industries
P.O. Box 240673
Honolulu, HI 96824-0673

Vertov Industries goes educational

Everyone knows Vertov Industries as the driving force behind the award-winning television series Sleepless. What is unknown to the population at large is Vertov Industries' commitment to education in our community. This article will expose Vertov's connections in the education industry and its mysterious partnership with a bureau of the federal government.

Since 1998, Vertov Industries has provided technical assistance to students in Kaimuki Community School's "Video Moviemaking" class. During the ten-week class, students design and write their own short movies, then the Big Screw steps in with the know-how that brings their stories to life.

In October, Vertov Industries was on hand for the production phase of the most recent class projects. We added "Dare" and "Bend Down For What?" to the long list of student works including "Presidency in Peril," "Terror in Tourist Town" and "Grandma's Great Adventure." In spite of these titles, alliteration is not one of the subjects covered in the class.

Vertov Industries has also produced the videoZine project in association with Hale Kipa, Inc. This half-hour program is a showcase for talents, hobbies, and interests of high school and middle school students from around the island. Segments include a dramatic enactment to accompany one student's poetry and a music video that featured a computer-generated light coming out of somebody's nether regions. Of course, more civic-minded students volunteered to help the community, which we also documented.

On August 12, the half-hour videoZine program had its premiere showing in the Ohia auditorium on the campus of Kapiolani Community College. (Let us look at a flyer for that event.) All the featured students were present and enjoyed eating chicken sandwiches and running in the sprinklers outside. They presumably also watched the show. The turnout was great, so of course Vertov Industries was present to document it on video. videoZine aired on community access TV in September.

In mid-July 1999, the United States Census Bureau contracted Vertov Industries to shoot a cultural sensitivity training video. The video takes advantage of Hawaii's multicultural landscape to interview the most thrilling group of ethnicity experts and cultural anthropologists the world has ever seen! Census workers everywhere will view this production to learn "How to ingratiate yourself using a few phrases in a foreign language you don't understand," "How not to anger the ancestor spirits," and "How to win the trust of illegal immigrants and then stab them in the back."

Because of our hard work on this project, we were told we'd receive a letter of commendation from the Vice President of the United States. But that was just a joke, and instead we had to settle for a letter from Brogamoff Shunt, Vice President of the Pacific Realm.(Also, we got these certificates and letters.)

The Census project was a fruitful task for Vertov Industries, and we hope to continue our relationship with this Bureau in the near future. Unless they vacate their offices and disappear for ten years, but what are the odds of that?

In closing, Vertov Industries has tasted the honey from the honey jar, and oh how sweet it is.

SLEEPLESS Celebrates Six Years

It was a Saturday night in November over six years ago when the first episode of SLEEPLESS premiered in Hawaii.

The first episode was "He Is the Glue" (now known as "Glue") and it aired on ATTN Oceanic Channel 22, Chronicle channel 8 (now known as OAHU Oceanic & TCI Channel 52).

Let's take a nostalgic look back at the first days of the show we call SLEEPLESS:

NOVEMBER 1992 - Work begins on the first Sleepless feature to be shot, Comparing Scars.

JUNE 1993 - Rough edits of the first two episodes (Comparing Scars and Pillow[s]talk) are completed.

He Is the Glue was shot, providing the series' premiere episode.

Portions of The Lonely Hearts Club had also been filmed.

SEPT 1993 - From a Vertov memo to 'Olelo: "The magnitude of each episode to follow seems to grow in quest of escalating production value and story complexity . . ."

Vertov Industries decides Sleepless will continue beyond its original five-episode commitment.

NOVEMBER 1993 - The beginning of Sleepless. He Is the Glue airs on Saturday nights at midnight.

JAN 1994 - Infotainment 001 featuring Sparko at the bread factory premieres.

MARCH 1994 - Pillow[s]talk airs with an introduction by Zeppo.

MAY 1994 - Comparing Scars premieres.

SEPT 1994 - Infotainment 002 premieres. The first spoof at the beginning of a show.

DEC 1994 - Big Book of Sleepless.

JAN 1995 - Lastand2 with Dr. Splem premieres.

MARCH 1995 - Above the Line pt.1 premieres.

JULY 1995 - A Cry for Help double feature with Pieces of Chloe part 1 premieres.

The first Sleepless page on the internet appears.

SEPT 1995 - Action Fiesta premieres with episodes of Pieces of Chloe and Stinkin' Badges. First episode of Sleepeeze airs.

DEC 1995 - Stingk Bomb Buffet, Sounds Like Sleepless soundtrack released.

APRIL 1996 - No one can remember what show aired this month. If you can help, please contact us.

JULY 1996 - Stinkin' Badges The Movie premieres.

OCT 1996 - Sleepeeze Solution premieres.

JAN 1997 - Splemorama premieres. A Fair Assessment premieres.

MARCH 1997 - Crimestory premieres.

LATE 1997 - Badges Special Editions air. Above the Line 2 premieres!

Big Book vol. 2 released. Sounds Like Sleepless 2 released.

1998 - Above the Line 3 premieres. Infotainment 003 premieres.

Sleepless receives Hometown Video Award for best entertainment series.

Sleepless is no longer on a regular schedule.

1999 - The Battle for the Planet of Sleepless exhibit & screenings run.

Vertov goes educational with community-oriented projects.

Production continues for Sleepless' behemoth filmo Pieces of . . . , in production since Action Fiesta back in 1995.

Rough edit of HateClub prepared.

JAN 2000 - Final fill footage for HateClub is shot.

Support SLEEPLESS

If you like the Sleepless show and think it deserves better treatment than it is getting from 'Olelo: The Corporation for Community Television, let them know what you think.

Call 808.834.0007 (a local call on Oahu) then press 3 to connect to the programming department. Tell them how much you like Sleepless and that it should be on more and more often. You can also take the opportunty to ask when or if the show is scheduled to play next.

Have fun and be polite. Thank you.