Frederick Levy

Feb 12, 2010

I recently discovered a great radio show in Los Angeles on KFWB 980 AM every Saturday from 6-7pm. And for those who don't reside in LA, you can listen to it on their website. It's called Breaking In with Rick & Jeff and it's a show devoted to breaking into the entertainment industry. It's hosted by Rick Shoemaker and Jeff Maxwell.

Rick Shoemaker has been an executive in the music business for over 30 years. Initially startingin radio in the mid-seventies and most recently completing a 20-year tenure as President of Warner Bros. Music, Rick’s Rolodex is fat. He has seen and heard every pitch imaginable from songwriters, performers, record labels and managers. Rick intimately understands the process of achieving success in those fields from the artistic and the corporate side. Some of the artists he has discovered and mentored include: Green Day, Sheryl Crow, Nickelback, Sugar Ray, Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott, AlanJackson, Ricky Martin, Dwight Yoakam, Van Halen. In addition to his success in the music business, Rick is also the father of a child actor. His son, Emmett Shoemaker, was a successful actor starring in numerous TV shows and films (ER, Malcolm in the Middle, Finding Nemo, etc.). Rick brings to the program first-hand knowledge of the trials and tribulations of parenting a successful showbiz kid.

Jeff Maxwell, a 30-year veteran actor (Young Frankenstein, Kentucky Fried Movie, 9 years as Private Igor on M*A*S*H, etc), comedian, writer, producer and best-selling author also enjoyed the unique experience of being a casting director for Twentieth Century Fox. As the founding partner in Smash Cut Entertainment, a company formed to produce motion picture and television product, Jeff brings to the show an impressive, wide range of knowledge about the business of acting, writing, casting, and television and film production.

Recently, I was a guest on the show. My segment is about half way through. Hope you enjoy!

EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Lautner Is Now Hollywood's Highest Paid Teenage Actor

By NIKKI FINKE Tuesday January 5, 2010 @ 6:40pm

taylor_lautner_new_moon_shirtless2 I've just learned that Taylor Lautner is now being paid per ab. That's right, the 17-year-old co-star of the Twilight Saga franchise who's famous for his buff physique that is making girls scream when he takes off his shirt in New Moon, is getting $7.5 million for his next pic. The project is Paramount's Northern Lights, a Tom Cruise vehicle to be directed by John Moore (Max Payne) with a start date of April 1st. The logline says the pic is about "a gifted, young, aerobatics pilot who faces off with his controlling, billionaire father and falls in love with a gifted, female pilot). That shitload of money negotiated by WME now makes Taylor Lautner into the highest paid Hollywood teenage actor around. (I'm told that neither Zac Efron nor Miley Cyrus have ever gotten a salary even close to that for their films. Amazing!) So the question is whether Paramount, which is in the Taylor Lautner business in a big way with the recently announced Max Steel, will pony up an even huger salary for the teen who'll be starring as the title lead in their own upcoming blockbuster. (See my previous, EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Lautner To Be Paramount's Next Big Action Star)