White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

An Exclusive Look Into The White House Correspondents’ Weekend: The Cone of Silence Podcast Documentary

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For those who aren’t familiar with the history of the White House Correspondents’ Weekend, listen to our podcast documentary with the inside stories, background, and comedy that has made the time so unique. 

We hope you will sign up here and listen as we take you into a deep dive outlining the ins and outs of this politically charged weekend.

Kerry Washington with Tim Daly at the 2007 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch 

Christi Parsons of the Los Angeles Times and the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association leads us off.  National Journal’s George Condon and American Urban Radio’s April Ryan, author of The Presidency in Black and White, also share some terrific insights on the historic relationship between the White House and the press.

Three of the best writers in the business join us beginning with Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, who take us inside how President Obama’s team put together his comedy routine for the WHCD – and you may be surprised who helps!  

Dame Helen Mirren signs a note of support on the Microsoft Magic Board at the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch

Chris Addison, the executive producer of HBO’s VEEP who helped write, produce and direct the Vice President Joe Biden/Julia Louis-Dreyfus romp through Washington that brought down the room at last year’s WHCD, tells us how that production came together. 

Madam Secretary star Tim Daly and Robin Bronk, CEO of the Creative Coalition, talk about Hollywood’s participation in the weekend; and Captain Richard Phillips, the hero of the Maersk Alabama hijacking, shares thoughts about his weekend at the WHCD right after he was rescued.

Actors Tony Goldwyn, Bryan Cranston, Kerry Washington, and Keegan-Michael Key at the 2016 Bloomberg Vanity Fair White House Correspondents’ Dinner After-Party 

Simon Marks, CEO of Feature Story News, Julianne Donofrio and I produced this series to take people inside how the weekend actually works and how the top participants make it a must attend event. 

So download Cone of Silence with Tammy Haddad and learn more about your colleagues – and have a few laughs as you get ready for all the activities.

Here are the episode descriptions of CONE OF SILENCE White House Correspondents Weekend podcasts:

  • A Candid History of the White House and the Press
    George Condon, White House correspondent for National Journal and unofficial historian of the White House Correspondents’ Association, shares a candid and humorous history of the White House and the press and tells us there used to be more celebrities in the old days.
     
  • The Quest for “Vigorous, Adversarial” Coverage of the President
    Tribune and L.A Times White House Correspondent Christi Parsons, who also serves as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, offers a no-holds-barred plea for the urgent need for greater media access to the President and the White House. Parsons also shares how she convinced SNL‘s Cecily Strong to perform at the 2015 WHCA Dinner.
  • Using Celebrity to Drive Policy Change in Washington, DC.
    Tim Daly, star of the CBS drama Madam Secretary, and Robin Bronk, CEO of the Creative Coalition, discuss the important role Hollywood celebrities play in shining a light on policy issues important to them and millions of other Americans while mesmerizing Washingtonians when they join the White House Correspondents weekend activities.
  • Mixing Hollywood and Washington for Hilarious Results
    Actor, director, writer and producer Chris Addison talks about the peril and benefit of creating the hilarious video that teamed U.S. Vice President Joe Biden with Selina Meyer, fictional vice president of HBO’s VEEP, played by comic genius Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The result was a masterpiece that brought down the house at last year’s dinner.
  • The Role of Race in Covering the White House
    April Ryan, a White House correspondent since 1997, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, and author of The Presidency in Black and White, shares her thoughts about covering three presidents and representing those who for too long have been removed from America’s power centers.
  • Mixing Politics with Comedy to Create the Comedian-in-Chief
    Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett, former speechwriters for President Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton – who also helped create the comedic presentations for President Obama at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner – discuss what it takes to make the President the funniest person in the room.
     
  • Captain Richard Phillips and the Impact of Accidental Celebrity
    Captain Richard Phillips, the hero of the Maersk Alabama hijacking, shares his thoughts on what happened when he attended the White House Correspondents Weekend and was thrust into the media spotlight.

AFI DOCS Announce 2013 Slate, Washington Locations

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Among a name and sponsor change, AFI DOCS (formerly SILVERDOCS) announced their 2013 slate today. The local Washington-area documentary film festival, now held all across the Washington area, released the complete line-up for their ‘first’ (or tenth) festival line-up since changing their name in April.

In true Washington fashion, three of their high profile films tackle the GOP, Jackie O and immigration–an issue that came ahead after last night’s overhaul by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Selections include the Opening Night Gala Premiere of “Letters to Jackie,” which examines Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis‘ life after JFK along with letters from the public now read by actors like Jessica Chastain,Zooey Deschanel, Anne Hathaway, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum and Betty White; the East Coast Premiere of Acadamy Award winners Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine‘s “Life According to Sam” and “Documented,” from director Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist who outed himself in 2011 as an undocumented immigrant in a New York Times Magazine piece. The Closing Night slot belongs to AJ Schnack‘s “Caucus,” which follows the 2012 Iowa cacus and brings us back to the glory days of last year’s campaign craziness.
From the press release:

“AFI DOCS presented by Audi (formerly Silverdocs) today announced the full schedule of films that will premiere in its 11th edition June 19-23, 2013 at iconic venues on the National Mall, the Penn Quarter and at the American Film Institute’s AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. The festival will present 53 films selected from 1,929 submissions representing 30 countries with 3 World, 2 North American, 1 U.S. and 6 East Coast premieres. The festival opens with the theatrical premiere of LETTERS TO JACKIE (DIR Bill Couturié) and celebrates with HERBLOCK: THE BLACK & THE WHITE (DIR Michael Stevens) along with the world premiere Centerpiece Screening of DOCUMENTED (DIR Jose Antonio Vargas). The festival closes with the U.S. premiere of CAUCUS (DIR AJ Schnack). Errol Morris will be honored at the festival’s Charles Guggenheim Symposium for his contributions to the documentary genre.

Other notable filmmakers presenting their work include Patrick Creadon (IF YOU BUILD IT), Sean and Andrea Nix Fine (LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM), Barbara Kopple (RUNNING FROM CRAZY) and Lucy Walker (THE CRASH REEL).

The festival’s new all-day forum for thought leaders, filmmakers and audience members, the AFI Catalyst Sessions: The Art of Moving Reality, will focus on immigration, education, intellectual property and humor in politics.

‘2013 is a year filled with dynamic changes: After ten years, the festival previously known as Silverdocs is now AFI DOCS presented by Audi’ said Sky Sitney, Festival Director. ‘AFI DOCS reflects that we have expanded to a new environment in downtown Washington, DC which will be easily accessible to audiences eager to discover this year’s most compelling documentaries. At the same time, we are continuing a full slate of programming at our longstanding venue, the AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. At AFI DOCS, America’s premier showcase for documentary film, we present the most provocative, challenging and compelling investigations of reality that filmmakers from America and around the world have conjured over the last year.'”

AFI DOCS runs June 19-23 The rest of their line-up can be found here.

From Vince Vaughn and The Producers of Singled Out and Jon Stewart Show Comes…Glenn Beck?

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The Pursuit of Truth Teaser

File this under the weirder announcement of an otherwise exciting humpday.

TV Newser has the press release that Glenn Beck‘s TheBlaze [sic] will be venturing into the realm of documentary programming, much like MSNBC and CNN before him.

Whereas the major cable networks skewed toward franchise series (Lockup, or any of Anderson Cooper’s reports), Beck is going a different route: he’s making a reality show first, producing a documentary second.

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Jennifer Siebel Newsom's Documentary "Miss Representation" toasted at the Jefferson

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White House Staff such as Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard, Mayor Cory Booker and more came out to to celebrate Jennifer Siebel Newsom‘s documentary Miss Representation, which is about imaging and cultural perspectives on women and girls in the media.  The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and has been since been seen by millions around the world. Siebel’s husband, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, Secretary Hilda Solis, Regina Hopper, Eve O’Toole, Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) were also in attendance.

Check out the photos and and full story by the Huffington Post’s Christina Wilkie here.

Watch the trailer for Miss Representation below:

Newest Miss Representation Trailer (2011 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection) from Miss Representation on Vimeo.

4600 Hours So Far for A Life In A Day

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Like cribbing a line from RENT, it turns out there’s 276,000 minutes in A Life In A Day.

The crowdsourced documentary experiment from executive producer Ridley Scott and director Kevin Macdonald is a partnership between LG, YouTube and the Sundance Institute to document one day (July 24th 2010) around the world. According to a press release from yesterday, the great culling of digital ‘celluoid’ has begun under Macdonald and 20 other editors.

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