NY POST: Wayne Darwen brings porn star to High There launch party!

NY POST

June 30, 2015

Quick hits... quick hits...

WAYNE Darwen brought porn star Sheila Marie to a party for the VOD and DVD release of his marijuana docmentary, "High There," at Hollywood's El Bar.  "Wayne introduced her to us as Isabel," said the film's producer Burt Kearns. "She said she was into yoga and spirituality"...

Press Release: High There star set for July 1st appearance on RT America television

For immediate release:

Wayne Darwen to promote newly-released VOD & DVD on 'Watching The Hawks'

HOLLYWOOD (JUNE 28) -- Wayne Darwen, director and star of the award-winning nonfiction film High There, will be the featured guest on RT America's 'Watching the Hawks' program on Wednesday, July 1.

The tabloid television pioneer and newly-branded "420 hero" will be interviewed by hosts Tyrel Ventura and Tabetha Wallace, and is expected to hit controversial topics including marijuana laws, government intrusion into personal privacy, network news scandals involving figures including Brian Williams, and the influence of Fox News.

Darwen, who worked many years as journalist for Rupert Murdoch's organization, was the model for Robert Downey Jr.'s newsman in Oliver Stone's film, Natural Born Killers.  Stone's son Sean is a co-host of Watching the Hawks.

High There has soared up the DVD and VOD sales charts since its release by BRINKvision on Tuesday.  The nonfiction "gonzo" comedy is both internationally-acclaimed and award-winning, having taken the prestigious People's Choice award at the Cannabis Film Festival in May.

Darwen is beginning a round of television and radio appearances to promote the film, in which he appears as "Dave High," who arrives in Hawaii to film "a travel series for stoners," but falls in with the local hippies and stumbles upon a DEA plot to imprison a local cannabis advocate.  According to The Australian newspaper, Darwen "has been described as the new Hunter S. Thompson-- the new king of gonzo journalism."

Since its debut in March, Watching the Hawks has attracted a young, intelligent audience four days a week, as it gives viewers a fresh perspective and honest debate on many issues ignored by the rest of the mainstream media.

RT America is based in Washington, D.C.  It is available on cable systems to 85 million households throughout America as well as online.  The show airs at 6 p.m. Check your local listings for updates.

FOR INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, PRESS MATERIALS

CONTACT: Sam Peters

goodstoryproductions@mac.com

SAM PETERS PUBLIC RELATIONS NY LA LV LN HK

Exclusive! Photos from the HIGH THERE launch party in Hollywood

photos by Anthony Aguilar

It was a powerful, loud and oddly smokeless evening as legendary tabloid figures, top award-winning producers and an adult film star were among the crowd at the trendy El Bar in Hollywood last night to celebrate the release of the gonzo comedy film High There.

Wayne Darwen show Peter Brennan a fresh copy of the High There DVD 

With the limited edition DVD selling out its first run on Amazon.com and sales figures sending the disc and  VOD skyrocketing up the sales ranks on Tuesday, there was reason to celebrate for directors and stars Wayne Darwen and Henry Goren, who were in attendance along with with producer Burt Kearns, associate producer Doug Bruckner, production assistant Sam Kearns, and in a rare North American appearance, the film's executive producer and public relations legend, the Hong Kong-based Sam Peters.

A face in the crowd: Executive producer Sam Peters can be seen at end of bar, under painting

Darwen, Kearns and Bruckner formed part of a tabloid reunion at the El Bar, as they were joined by by their mentor and former boss, Emmy-award winning producer and tabloid television founder Peter Brennan, his wife and P&L Media partner, Emmy-winning producer Lisa Lew and producer and former Premier Story host Alison Holloway. All in the group worked together twenty years ago, breaking news in the OJ Simpson case.

Burt Kearns and Peter Brennan always had noses for news.

Lisa Lew and Alison Holloway

Also seen among the crowd at El Bar were television producer Michael Braverman, photographer and producer Liz Diaz de Leon, chef and producer Fletcher Brennan, producer Anthony Aguilar and adult film star Sheila Marie, a longtime friend of Darwen, who described the actress and dancer as Dave High's girlfriend."

Darwen, Brennan, and the man who faced Manson, Doug Bruckner

Liz Diaz de Leon, Fletcher Brennan and Darwen listen to the Master

Dave & Roland share the gas mask... 

...with porn star Sheila Marie!

Not Sam Peters! Michael Braverman proves equally camera shy.

High There production assistant Sam Kearns is associate producer of the team's next project, Area 420.

Liz Diaz de Leon and Lisa Desai

Dave High has eyes for his girlfriend

Okay, more than eyes...

The producers outside El Bar -- having a smoke, maybe?

HIGH THERE is here! And Dave High is the Zig-Zag man!

Dave High is the Zig-Zag man!

One of the big surprises of today's release of High There, the award-winning, internationally-acclaimed gonzo nonfiction comedy, on DVD today was the screen menu-- in which director Wayne Darwen, as High High, is depicted as the character on Zig-Zag rolling paper products-- "Captain Zig-Zag," better known as the "Zig-Zag man"!

The DVD menu offers a choice between the film and an extra featurette-- an interview with the directors, "High Times & Low Expectations,"  produced and directed by Burt Kearns for Good Story Productions.

High There is already selling on Amazon.com and other sites in DVD and VOD form.  

Google Play, Vimeo and other sites are already rolling out the video on demand.  More sites and sources will feature High There in the coming days.

High There is distributed by BRINKvision, a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited and Good Story Productions presentation of a Rat Lung picture.

Press Release: HIGH THERE is here!

For immediate release:

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed film released on VOD & limited edition DVD

HOLLYWOOD (JUNE 23) -- High There, the internationally-acclaimed, award-winning nonfiction film from directors Wayne Darwen and Henry Goren, arrives in stores and homes today on VOD and limited edition BRINKvision DVD.

Today's release of the gonzo comedy follows months of worldwide publicity, film festival laurels and international controversy, all highlighted by a prestigious "seal of approval"  award and rave reviews from Los Angeles to Anchorage to Australia.

The LA Weekly called the film "a trip, full of comedy and chaos," while highlighting its journalistic and political merits, as Darwen, in the guise of Dave High, travels to the big Island of Hawaii and brings attention to the case of THC Church founder Roger Christie, held four years in federal lockup without a trial.

Film critic Indra Arriaga, writing in the Anchorage Press, called High There "absurdly funny" with "newsworthy substance,'' and Darwen "an icon of his era."

In the national newspaper, The Australian, media columnist Mark Day wrote that High There is a "labour of love... hailed as a minor masterpiece (that) reignites a film genre made popular decades ago by the likes of Cheech and Chong... and its producer/star... described as the new Hunter S. Thompson — the new king of gonzo journalism."

In a bizarre twist, the septuagenarian returned to his typewriter the following week to declare the film "is not my cup of tea," a reversal some attributed to Darwen's criticism of Robert Downey Jr.'s attack on independent films and journalists.  While Darwen was the model for Downey Jr.,'s newsman in the film Natural Born Killers, Day's wife is a high-powered manager of Hollywood megastars.

The controversy was overshadowed by High There's win of the Viewers Choice ("The People's Choice") Award at the first Cannabis Film Festival in the marijuana-growing  mecca, Humboldt County.

High There is a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited and Good Story Productions presentation of a Rat Lung picture.  It's being delivered to homes today via Amazon.com, and on sale in stores, BRINKvision.com and other sites.  A full list of the Video On Demand resources will follow.  More information is available at HighThereTheMovie.com.

FOR INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, PRESS MATERIALS

CONTACT: Sam Peters 

goodstoryproductions@mac.com

SAM PETERS PUBLIC RELATIONS NY LA LV LN HK