The film’s director Siok Siok Tan tells WebProNews, “We have lots of exciting plans in 2012. We have just announced an open call for community screenings between February 1st and May 1st.”

“The first of the community screenings will roll out over Social Media Week in February,” she says. “We are screening in New York City on Feb 15th, London on Feb 17th and will be announcing more Social Media Week events in other locations soon. ”

Here are a few teasers for the documentary:

We first interviewed Tan here, where she explained the concept and process of making the film. The following year, we followed up with her, and it was getting a sneak preview in NYC. Now, many communities around the word should have a chance to see it.

Anyone can organize a screening for their community as long as they meet the guidelines discussed here.

Last month, we looked at a list of early adopter celebrities on Google+ and more have joined since then. Google’s Pedro Dias provided a helpful list including some that weren’t in the previous article.

The previous list included William Shatner, Britney Spears and Newt Gingrich to name a few. Here are some more (click on the images to go to the profiles).

Trent Reznor

Alanis Morissette

Madonna

Paris Hilton

Mariah Carey

Amanda Palmer

Rose McGowan

Mark Hoppus

Chris Tucker

T-Pain

Felicia Day

Jeri Ryan

Taylor Swift

Dolly Parton

Sasha Grey

All of the celebrities on this list are verified. Google announced late last week that it was beginning to verify accounts, starting with celebrities and public figures (though they will roll this out to more people in time).
Know of other celebrities that weren’t on either of these lists? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Netflix announced today that it is doing away with member plans that let you get both unlimited DVDs and unlimited streaming – something many of us have been enjoying for some time. You can still get both, but it will be two separate plans, and it’s going to cost you.

You can get unlimited streaming with no DVDs for $7.99 a month or Unlimited DVDs (one at a time) and no streaming for $7.99 a month. Or you can get both plans for $15.98 a month.

Clearly members who don’t want to pay that much for something they’ve enjoyed for significantly less, are now faced with a choice. With streaming, you can watch a lot more, but with DVDs, you can get access to a lot of stuff that isn’t available through streaming. Keep in mind that Netflix already has to wait a month after DVD release to get a lot of the new releases as it is. Of course there is another choice: find a different service. Something tells me Redbox and the recently acquired-by-DISH Blockbuster are going to benefit from this.

So why the changes? Here’s the explanation from the Netflix blog. Jessie Becker writes:

Last November when we launched our $7.99 unlimited streaming plan, DVDs by mail was treated as a $2 add on to our unlimited streaming plan. At the time, we didn’t anticipate offering DVD only plans. Since then we have realized that there is still a very large continuing demand for DVDs both from our existing members as well as non-members. Given the long life we think DVDs by mail will have, treating DVDs as a $2 add on to our unlimited streaming plan neither makes great financial sense nor satisfies people who just want DVDs. Creating an unlimited DVDs by mail plan (no streaming) at our lowest price ever, $7.99, does make sense and will ensure a long life for our DVDs by mail offering. Reflecting our confidence that DVDs by mail is a long-term business for us, we are also establishing a separate and distinct management team solely focused on DVDs by mail, led by Andy Rendich, our Chief Service and Operations Officer and an 11 year veteran of Netflix.

Here’s a sampling of the comments so far (also from the blog):

“Are you F#**!!@! kidding me?”

“Sounds great to me! The amount of use I get out of my Netflix account means I’d be willing to pay more (sorry whiners, but $16 is ridiculously cheap for unlimited anything, you can’t get a good cable package for that price). I hope this means much more streaming content in the future.”

The new plans go into effect for new members immediately. For existing members, they’ll kick in in September.

Oh, they tweaked some of their recent design changes though.

Films include (but are not limited to) Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill volumes 1 and 2, Clerks, Chasing Amy, From Dusk Till Dawn, the Spy Kids movies, Good Will Hunting, Cold Mountain, and of course Reindeer Games.

Miramax says the movies included in the deal have a total of 284 Academy Award nominations among them (and 68 wins). Granted, I don’t believe Reindeer Games falls into that category, unfortunately.

“Netflix is thrilled to enter into this deal with the new team at Miramax,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos.  ”Existing relationships with management and a shared affinity for these great films make this an important deal for both companies and for our members, who will enjoy instantly watching movies from one of the truly great film libraries for many years to come.”

“From day one, we’ve been very clear about the importance of digital and our desire to respond to the significant pent-up demand for our films — delivering to consumers whenever and wherever they want,” said Miramax CEO Mike Lang.

“This agreement is an important first step in our digital strategy,” he added. “Netflix has always been a trailblazer, with a tremendous track record of innovation and quality customer service.  We’re thrilled to now be in business with them as we build and revitalize the proud Miramax brand.”

As competition mounts in the streaming movie space, Netflix seems to be making content deals faster than ever. That should not only help to keep existing customers from jumping ship, but also bring more on board. With studios putting movie rentals on Facebook and Google renting movies directly through the Android Market and through YouTube (just to name a couple of recent entrants to the race), things aren’t going to get easier for the company.

Meanwhile, Netflix also continues to expand upon the list of supported devices. Last week, they announced a new Android app for some devices, and said that they were developing for others.

Netflix is not available for Google’s other operating system (Chrome OS) yet, but the company says it is working with Google to have it available soon.

The Miramax deal will go into effect in June for Netflix subscribers in the U.S.

[Image: From Dusk Till Dawn]

Robert Rodriguez took time to speak at SXSW here in his hometown of Austin, about adapting material for movies. In particular he talked about the cult classic Sin City.

On differences in adapting films from different media, Rodriguez said, “It depends on how beloved the material is.”

He reminisced about seeing the script for Sin City in the early 90s, and remembers saying, “Whoever does that is going to screw that up.” He said that he was always a big fan of the Sin City visual style, and that he always knew he would “follow the visual” if he made a Sin City movie.

Later, Rodriguez found himself working with digital photography and 3D technology, with Spy Kids 3D in particular. “Spy kids 3D is why you all have to wear 3D glasses at the movies these days,” he laughed.

He discussed meeting Sin City creator Frank Miller at a bar to show him some test shoots of actors using green screen and visual effects created with Photoshop. Miller was “blown away,” he said.

“I made it very easy for him,” he says, noting that artists often don’t want to get involved in all of the Hollywood stuff.

He just used the source material as the script. “No one got a screenplay credit on it,” he added.

“I don’t consider that writing,” he said, referring to the way he edited the film, simply rearranging scenes, as opposed to writing a new screenplay.

“I just took what I loved about it, and kept his voice and his style…I can’t tell you another book I would adapt that way.”

In looking at the making of this film, it’s important to realize that nothing had ever been done in this style, but it wasn’t much of an issue getting the studio on board. Rodriguez said, “My philosophy with the studio is you don’t ask them for permission. You can ask them if they want to join or not.”

“It’s a Jedi Mind trick,” he said.

He said he didn’t think Sin City would do big business in the theater, but that it would get big later, particularly on DVD.

Rodriguez said he does low budget stuff because if the movie bombs, it will still make its money back. “This had built-in low budget all over it,” he said.

“If I ran out of money at any one point, I just needed to put black behind the actor, and say ‘look it’s still true to the source material.’”

Warner Bros. has become the first Hollywood studio to offer movies directly on Facebook. The studio announced that it will begin testing an offering of selected movies for purchase or rental through its Facebook Page. Users will be able to use Facebook Credits to purchase or rent films while they’re on Facebook.

“Facebook has become a daily destination for hundreds of millions of people,” said Thomas Gewecke, President of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. “Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world’s largest social network.”

The studio has kicked it all off by offering The Dark Knight on the Facebook Page for the movie.

Like to talk during the movies? There are already entire businesses based on the concept of talking about the video content you’re watching with your friends on social media. If you’re watching a movie on Facebook, this should be easier than ever.

Of course, besides being incredibly disruptive for the online video and movie industries, this has the potential to be massive for Facebook for a variety of reasons. For one, Facebook credits – getting them more mainstream. Two: much more time spent on Facebook by users – an area where Facebook is hardly lacking as it is. This will only be more attractive to advertisers.

As connected TVs and related devices find their way into more homes, this is likely to become more of an attractive concept for users. However, it will be interesting to see how the studios adapt to it.

Imagine a world where studios have Facebook Pages set up for all of their movies, where they can easily be rented and viewed instantly right from Facebook. It remains to be seen whether WB will follow through on this concept, as this is just a test. It also remains to be seen whether other studios will follow suit. If so, the competition in the movie-rental industry is going to have to find some interesting ways to differentiate themselves.
Right now, WB has the cost per rental at 30 Facebook Credits or $3. It’s currently only available in the U.S. Additional titles will be available over the coming months.

The Social Network was up for: Best Picture, Best Direction, Actor in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Music (Original Score). It won Best Adapted Screenplay, Film editing, and Music (Aaron Sorkin, Angus Wall/Kirk Baxter and Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross respectively).   

Last month, The Social Network won 4 Golden Globes for Best Director, Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Picture, Drama. It  had been nominated for 6.  Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who portrayed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, was nominated for the Best Actor, Drama award, but lost out to Colin Firth for his performance in the film, The King’s Speech. Andrew Garfield, who played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Christian Bale for his performance in The Fighter. 

The film missed out on any wins at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, though Eisenberg was nominated for Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role. 

At the Oscars, The King’s Speech won Best Picture, Tom Hooper won Best Director for that film, Colin Firth won Best actor for it, Wally Pfister won Best Cinematography for Inception, and Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick also won Sound Mixing for Inception. 

Read our review of The Social Network here.

Then, The Social Network was nominated for 8 academy awards, including: Best Picture, Best Direction, Actor in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, and Music (Original Score).  

The film missed out on any wins at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards last night, however. Eisenberg, Garfield, and co-stars Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer were all in attendance, and presented the film’s nomination for Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture. It was also nominated for Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role (Eisenberg).

Eisenberg hosted Saturday Night Live over the weekend, and was met during his monologue by SNL’s Andy Samberg portraying Mark Zuckerberg. Then he was met by the real Mark Zuckerberg:

By the way, the awards given out at the SAG awards are called "Actors" – hence, the title of this article. I would not imply that the actors in the film should be called actors. 

You can read my review of The Social Network here.

Having heard about two decades worth of Trent Reznor’s musical offerings, I think the word "original" is a bit of a stretch these days, but the score did work for the film, if you ask me. 

Earlier this month, The Social Network won 4 Golden Globes for Best Director, Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Picture, Drama. It  had been nominated for 6. 

Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who portrayed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, was nominated for the Best Actor, Drama award, but lost out to Colin Firth for his performance in the film, The King’s Speech. Andrew Garfield, who played Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Christian Bale for his performance in The Fighter. 

The real life versions of some of the characters in the film have been making headlines over the past week. Sean Parker (portrayed by Justin Timberlake) has been talking to the press, calling the film "fiction" (not unlike Facebook’s official position). Mashable quotes him as saying:

"The part of the movie that frustrated me is actually the scene at the end where the character played by Justin Timberlake — who happens to have my name — basically writes a check to Eduardo – who I’m also, I consider Eduardo a friend of mine, and I’m one of the few people at Facebook who still interacts with Eduardo – and throws it in his face and has security escort him out of the building. And I mean, that’s just rude. This guy in the movie is a morally reprehensible human being."

Saverin  has also been in the news, having invested in startup Qwiki, which just launched in public Alpha this week. 

The awards show takes place on Sunday, February 27. See all nominees here.

Read my review of The Social Network here.

Timberlake says he’s "ridiculously stupid with computers".  He calls Zuckerberg a "brilliant mind".  

Colbert asks Sorkin fiction or fact? Sorkin responds, "Fiction…I’m sorry, fact…it’s absolute non-fiction." 

He goes on to say he wants to "start fights in the parking lot" about which characters are right and wrong. He also says viewers will enjoy the movie whether they love or hate Facebook.  

He also has a bit of interesting commentary about social networking in general. "I do think that socializing on the Internet is to socializing what reality TV is to reality."  

Colbert’s response: "Well, we’re not going to get any deeper than that." 

Here’s Timberlake on The Daily Show:

Here’s Sorkin on Colbert:

See what director David Fincher has to say about Facebook here. Our review of The Social Network is here.