Skip to main content

Tag: Heads in Beds

HBO Orders Comedy Anthology Series From Jay and Mark Duplass

Cory

'Room 104' centers on the various occupants of a single room at an average American hotel.

Eric Ray Davidson
Jay (left) and Mark Duplass
Jay and Mark Duplass are returning to HBO.

The pay cabler has ordered a comedy anthology series from the brothers, who were behind the now-canceled comedy Togetherness, it was announced Thursday.

Titled Room 104, the project is set in a single room of an average American hotel and tells a different story of the assorted characters who pass through the room in each episode. Production begins later this year for a 2017 debut. The Duplass brothers will serve as showrunners on the comedy, and also exec produce with Xan Aranda. Sydney Fleischmann is attached to produce.

“Jay and Mark Duplass are two of the most inventive talents in TV today,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys said in a statement. “We’re excited to see what they do with this unique concept.”

Added the Duplass brothers: “We’ve all seen stories set in seedy motels and high-class international resorts, but for years we’ve been fascinated by the funny, weird, sad, scary, absurd things going down in that corporate chain hotel near the airport. That’s what Room 104 is after … finding some magic in the seemingly mundane.”

The series is part of Jay and Mark Duplass’ overall deal with HBO that dates back to 2015. In addition to Togetherness, which ended in March after two seasons, the duo are also behind HBO’s animated comedy series Animals, which earned a two-season pickup in 2015 and premiered earlier this year.

In addition to their TV credits, the Duplass brothers are known for their extensive credits in the film world, including Cyrus, Jeff Who Lives at Home and their breakout credit, The Puffy Chair. In addition to their overall deal with HBO, the Duplass brothers have a four-film pact with Netflix. They are repped by ICM Partners and Sloane Offer.

Anthology series have become increasingly more popular in recent years thanks to the success of American Horror Story and Fargo, among others. While many of these have been dramas, anthology comedy series are on the rise. TBS recently ordered a comedy anthology series from Greg Garcia, The Guest Book, which centers on a small-town vacation home and its visitors.

Room 104 joins HBO’s original comedy slate, which includes the recently renewed Ballers, Veep, Silicon Valley, Girls and Vice Principals. The pay cabler is getting ready to debut new half-hours Divorce, Insecure, High Maintenance, Barry and Crashing. HBO also has a long-awaited ninth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm expected to begin production later this year.

Wendi McLendon-Covey Teams With ‘The McCarthys’ Creator For ABC Hotel Comedy Based On Her Experiences

Cory

nandreeva
by •

The 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards - Arrivals
Image courtesy of John Carrabino Management

Years ago, Wendi McLendon-Covey was a floundering twentysomething working at what she has described as “a crappy hotel near Disneyland” where an old nightstand served as her desk, complete with a typewriter. Now The Goldbergs star will tap into her experiences for a comedy series project, which has landed at ABC with a script commitment plus significant penalty.

McLendon-Covey co-created and will co-write the single-camera comedy, tentatively titled Hospitality, with The McCarthys creator Brian Gallivan. In addition to The Goldbergs’ network, ABC, McLendon-Covey has teamed on the project with that series’ producers, Sony Pictures TV and studio-based Happy Madison.

gallivan

Based on McLendon-Covey’s experiences working at the third worst Ramada in Anaheim, the workplace comedy follows three women as they band together against a terrible new boss in the world of two-star hospitality.

McLendon-Covey and Gallivan executive produce with Happy Madison’s Doug Robinson and McLendon-Covey’s manager Gladys Gonzalez.

Over her parents’ objections to pursuing acting as a career, McLendon-Covey did that, leaving her hotel job behind. She rose to fame as one of the stars of Comedy Central’s Reno 911! and now stars on The Goldbergs, which recently kicked off its fourth season as ABC Wednesday comedy block’s new 8 PM anchor. She is repped by UTA, manager Gladys Gonzalez and attorney David Krintzman.

Gallivan also has 29, a single-camera comedy about three generations of women based on Adena Halpern’s book, set at NBC with Sony TV and Davis Entertainment. He is repped by UTA.

Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy

Americans split on whether to tip hotel staff

Cory
Hugo Martin

If you are unsure whether to tip your hotel housekeeper, you are not alone.

There is no consensus among Americans travelers about which, if any, hotel staffer should get a tip, according to a survey commissioned by the travel company Expedia.

The survey of more than 1,000 American travelers found that 30% don’t tip anyone at a hotel. Of those travelers who do tip, 46% say they tip housekeepers, 40% tip room service attendants, 30% tip the valet, 20% tip the porter and 10% tip the concierge, according to the survey.

Although travelers are not obligated to tip any hotel workers, it is proper etiquette to leave a tip for those workers who helped make your visit enjoyable, said Lizzie Post, the great-great-granddaughter of etiquette queen Emily Post and president of the Emily Post Institute.

“If I’m dealing with them directly and they are doing a good job, I tip,” she said.

As for the hotel housekeeper, Post said she typically leaves between $2 and $5 a day on the nightstand or a desk, along with a note, thanking the worker for his or her effort.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

I work in room service at a 5-star hotel — these are the biggest things I wish guests wouldn’t do

Cory

Brittany Kriegstein

Jul. 1, 2016, 10:10 AM 3,689,060 110

 

I’ve been working in the room-service department of a five-star hotel for six months.

Actually, it’s a five-red-star hotel: The red part is a special distinction awarded by AA Hotel Services (an organization specific to the UK, which is where this hotel is located) that means we go above and beyond normal five-star hotel requirements.

Basically, it’s the fanciest kind of hotel you can possibly stay at.

Yes, we cater to well-known celebrities and high-profile guests. But the beauty of our service is that all guests are treated equally as nicely — whether we like you or not.

Saying that, your hotel experience will be much more enjoyable if we do like you. So here are some important do’s and don’ts for your next stay, from the girl who brings you breakfast and restocks your mini bar.
View As: One Page Slides

DON’T: Order room service when you’re not fully (or even mostly) dressed.
Delivering breakfast to people who are half-dressed (or worse) is not really how I like to start my day. Apparently, lots of guests seem to be too hungry in the morning to abide by simple rules of common decency. Please, just put some clothes on before opening your door to room service.

DO: Make small talk with us when we bring up your meal.

Even though we’re required to follow a particular script when we come up to your room, we do still like to engage in a little small talk.

Comment on the weather, ask how our day is going, or tell us about your stay so far. This is a great way for us to assess how happy our guests are.

DON’T: Use anything from the mini bar if you don’t have to.
Although I’m sure my managers feel otherwise, I don’t like it when guests take items from their mini bars.

The mini bars in each room of our hotel contain over 20 different kinds of snacks and drinks, and I’m in charge of restocking them — meaning that I have to review a master list in every single one of our 144 rooms every day to figure out if anything’s missing.

Then, I have to bring the items to each room via a very badly designed, top-heavy cart, or, if it’s not on the cart, I have to run across the entire hotel to get it from the supply closet. This whole process can take over three hours.

Since my idea of fun isn’t exactly running (what feels like) a hundred miles to replace that one water bottle you felt like drinking, I would love it if you all just brought your own refreshments.

DO: Tell us if there is anything we can improve.

Some people are overly critical, but others are afraid to speak up if they aren’t satisfied. As long as you tell us nicely, we really do want to hear if there’s something we can do to make your stay more pleasant.

Tell us in person when we visit your room, leave a note, or talk to the front desk — these are the most efficient ways to make sure a wrong gets righted.
DON’T: Ask for anything (too) outrageous.
Since we’re a five-red-star hotel, we have to try our best to comply with any and all of your requests. We’ve orchestrated wedding proposals, served champagne on the beach, and hosted lavish surprise parties. Those things are doable for us, but scheduling a charter flight to Guam tomorrow is not.
DO: Say hello to us in the hallways.

It may seem obvious, but we hotel staff are real people too. Without our uniforms on, we’re no different than the other guests. Some of us even stay in the hotel sometimes. (We get a fabulous employee discount on rooms.)

So please, just treat us with respect — it makes the work environment so much more enjoyable.

DON’T: Get mad at us for visiting your room.

We have a strict protocol to follow, which involves visiting rooms several times a day to collect room-service items and restock the mini bar. If you don’t want to be interrupted, use your “Do Not Disturb” sign. We are not allowed to enter a room or even knock on the door when that sign is hanging, so you’re guaranteed peace and quiet.

DO: Put in your room service orders as far in advance as possible.

The worst thing for us is getting a last-minute call and scrambling around the hotel to get all of the dishes you requested. We don’t just have an endless supply of breakfast food cooking — chefs work in shifts, and it’s really hard to get a breakfast together if the breakfast chef has already left.

Someone once called in a full three-course breakfast at 12:05, just after breakfast had closed at 12. Being a five-red-star hotel, though, of course we had to try our best — which meant a bunch of cursing chefs and a lot of unnecessary stress for us room-service people.

So just try to let us know about your order in advance, and we’ll be sure to bring it to your room on time.
DON’T: Ask us about the celebrities in the hotel.
We’re not allowed to tell you who they are, what room they’re staying in, or if they’re even in the hotel at all. Because of super-strict confidentiality codes, we may not even know who’s in the hotel at any given time.

DO: Tell us about yourselves.
We work at five-star hotels because we love to delight our guests in fun and creative ways. If you tell us a bit about yourselves when you check in, or in passing throughout your stay, we can play to your likes and dislikes and make sure you have the best experience possible.

If you say that you like the flowers in our garden, we’ll bring you up a bouquet. If your kids don’t like waffles, we’ll come up with a cool breakfast alternative.

It’s those little things that can make a great hotel stay truly amazing.

Nicholas Pepper and Brian Harvey VRP

Ellen

Nicholas Pepper

Work experience:

The Mark Gordon Company and ABC – Head of TV Drama Development
ABC Studios & ABC Television – Drama Programing (starting from 2004)
Disney

Education:

Studied Acting at Yale School of Drama
Class of 2001 · MFA · Acting · New Haven, Connecticut

Lewis & Clark College
Class of 1995 · BA Theater Studies · Portland, Oregon

Woodside Priory School
Class of 1991 · Portola Valley, California

Filmography:

From IMDB:

Projects in Progress:
Agatha (TV Movie) – Executive Producer
Clementine (TV Movie) – Executive Producer

Past Television:
Gothica (2013) (TV Movie) – Executive Producer
Americana (2012) (TV Movie) – Executive Producer
Dark Horse (2012) (TV Movie) – Executive Producer
The Worst Witch (TV Series) – Charlie Blossom (4 episodes, 1998–2001)
Animal Ark (TV Series) – Brandon Gill (1 episode, 1998)
Charlie Blossom (The Worst Witch)

Charlie

From The New York Times:
Ringer (2012) – Studio Executive
Missing (2012) – Studio Executive
Protector (2011) – Studio Executive
Brothers & Sisters (2011) – Network Executive
Desperate Housewives (2011) – Network Executive
Lost (2010) – Network Executive
Ugly Betty (2010) – Network Executive
Pushing Daisies (2009) – Network Executive
Commander in Chief (2006) – Network Executive
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Primetime Rockin’ Eve 2005 (2005) – Network Executive
Dancing With the Stars (2005) – Network Executive
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2005) – Network Executive
America’s Funniest Home Videos (2005) – Network Executive
Joe Schmo Show (2004) – Production
Oblivious (2004) – Production
Mouthing Off: 51 Greatest Smartasses (2004) – Production
Celebrity Mole Hawaii (2003) – Production Assistant

https://www.facebook.com/nicholas.pepper.50?fref=browse_search
（Pepper’s Facebook group “WERQ” –
The Hollywood Net-WERQ! is a social networking group for gays and lesbians in the “biz.” If you work in production, publicity, casting, at an agency, a studio, a management firm or are an actor or trying to break into any and all of the above, please join. Friends of gays and lesbians are welcome too!
We can use this page to post jobs, look for jobs, add links to the work we have done in the past or work we are currently doing.
Also, look for our once a month happy hour outings!）

In The Media:

ABC Studios Exec Nicholas Pepper Joins Mark Gordon Co. As Head Of Drama

5/3/2011 | Deadline.com

http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/nicholas-pepper-joins-mark-gordon-co-as-head-of-drama/

After an extensive search, ABC Studios-based producer Mark Gordon ended up staying close to his TV home with his pick for successor to outgoing president of television Deborah Spera, who is leaving next month to become an independent producer. ABC Studios’ VP drama Nicholas Pepper is joining the Mark Gordon Co. as head of drama TV. He will work alongside head of comedy Andrea Shay, reporting directly to Gordon. This represents a change in the executive structure at Mark Gordon Co., which started off exclusively in drama under Spera until recently expanding into comedy with the hire of Shay. As VP drama programming at ABC Studios, Pepper oversaw such series as Desperate Housewives, Lost and Brothers & Sisters. Before that, he spent six years at ABC overseeing Ugly Betty, Pushing Daisies and Commander in Chief, among others. Prior to that, Pepper, a former actor, was Director of Alternative Series and Specials for ABC. Gordon recently re-upped his deal at ABC Studios for four more years. His company’s portfolio includes five series on the air for ABC Studios: ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, CBS’ Criminal Minds and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, as well as Lifetime’s Army Wives, and the ABC/ABC Studios’ drama pilot Identity, starring Angela Bassett.
Brian Harvey VRP

http://www.linkedin.com/in/brianoharvey

VP, Drama Development at The Mark Gordon Company (since August 2010)

Previous Work Experience:

Mediaedge:cia – Creative Consultant (2009-2010)
ABC Studios – Vice President, Drama Development (2007-2009)
ABC Studios – Executive Director, Drama Series (2005-2007)
Touchstone Television – Director, Drama Series (2004-2005)
Touchstone Television – Manager, Drama Series (2003-2004)
Touchstone Television – Coordinator / Assistant (2000-2003)
Mutual Film Co. – Assistant to VP, Development  (1999)

Education: DePauw University (BA in Political Science)

Age 41; Zodiac Sign: Taurus

Filmography

Projects in Development:
Gothica – EP
Americana – EP
Agatha – EP
Past Film & Video:
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – Production Assistant

Past Television:
Gothica (TV Movie) (2013) – Producer
Dark Horse (TV Movie) (2012) – Producer
Identity (TV Movie) (2011) – Producer

picture
https://www.facebook.com/brianoharvey

In the Media:

Trio Promoted at Mark Gordon Co.
10/5/2011 | The Hollywood Reporter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/trio-promoted-at-mark-gordon-244505

Brian Harvey, Allyson Seeger and Shara Senderoff upped in film, television and new media divisions.

The Mark Gordon Co. has upped three executives in its film, television and new media divisions.

Brian Harvey has been upped to senior vp drama, television, reporting to head of drama TV Nick Pepper. Before joining the Mark Gordon Co. in August 2010, Harvey held creative positions at ABC Studios, where in his nine-year tenure he developed such projects as Brothers & Sisters, Eli Stone, Kyle XY, October Road and Dirty Sexy Money, among others.

Allyson Seeger has been upped to vp film, reporting to Jennifer Todd, the company’s president of motion pictures. Seeger joined the Mark Gordon Co. in 2005 and is currently co-producing The To-Do List and developing Desperados, Die in a Gunfight and New Line’s Private Benjamin remake.

Shara Senderoff has been upped to vp new media and director of development for film, also reporting to Todd. Senderoff, who joined the company in 2007, is currently developing Junkers, Hyde and Desperados. She recently sold comedy pitch Heroes for Sale for Dimension.

The promotions come less than a month after Veronica Gentilli was upped to chief operating officer at the company.

Mark Gordon Co. promotes execs
10/5/2011 | Variety
http://variety.com/2011/film/news/mark-gordon-co-promotes-execs-1118044026/

Brian Harvey has been promoted to senior VP of drama, television. He joined Gordon Co. last year from ABC Studios, where he helped develop ABC series including “Brothers and Sisters” and “Dirty Sexy Money.” He reports to Nick Pepper, head of drama television.

Junior Selected for Hansard Scholar Program and Will Study in London
10/4/1992 | Depauw University
http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/14025/

October 14, 1992, Greencastle, Ind. – Brian Harvey of Richmond, Indiana, a junior at DePauw University, has been selected by the prestigious Hansard Scholar Program, to spend the 1993 spring semester in London, England, working with English Parliament. Harvey will be there from January 11 through April 2.

…

Harvey is a political science major at DePauw. He hopes to learn on a first-hand basis all he can about the English and their government. “I want to understand British politics from an inside view,” Harvey said.