There’s been a BIG change in the way Life After Film School is being aired on the re-branded FX Movie Channel. Instead of the traditional weekly half-hour timeslots that were the norm in previous seasons on “Fox Movie Channel”, LAFS is now part of a larger collection of behind-the-scenes “interstitial” programming broadcast under the “FXM Presents” brand during the new FXM movie block,weekdays, 3:00pm–3:00am ET.
FXM Presentsis an Emmy-winning franchise that showcases interviews and behind-the-scenes “themes” which now include Direct Effect (directors discussing their latest projects), In Character With… (actors talking about their roles), Making a Scene (examining a scene from script to screen), Writer’s Draft (interviewing screenwriters), and of course, Life After Film School (film students interviewing filmmakers and talent).
Some of these themes are strictly feature film related (Direct Effect, for example, going behind the scenes with Ridley Scott and his crew, on Prometheus). Others, like LAFS, are geared more toward promoting other original FX-branded properties, such as Wilfred and Charlie Sheen’s highly-anticipated new sitcom, Anger Management. Segments from these programs have already been running (and continue to run) on the significantly beefed-up FXM Presents website.
Ultimately, this is a big win in terms of airtime. The challenge with the new format, however, is that no one (not even at FXM) can tell you exactly WHEN a particular episode aired or will air again.
Asking actor/comedian Chris Parnell about his input into the writing on “Archer” — FXM’s Life After Film School (January 2012)
My first appearance on Life After Film School (with Archer’s brilliant Chris Parnell) was originally scheduled to air in late January in its own 30-minute timeslot, a couple weeks after the 2012 season premiere which featured Walton Goggins from Justified.
Somewhere between the Goggins and Parnell episodes, however, FX management launched a previously-announced major programming upgrade at FXM, rolling out a big new slate of first-run (for cable) and classic feature films acquired for 2012 — to run without commercial interruption during the daily 12-hour FXM movie block. It appears this move triggered the swift slicing and dicing of the formerly 30-minute (typically, 21-22 minute running time) LAFS episodes — and their repositioning — along with the other FXM Presents themes to run every day instead of once or twice weekly, but in shorter segments to bridge the gaps between the commercial-free feature films.
So, instead of, at most, a handful of weekly 30-minute airings, my Parnell interview and other episodes of LAFS taped since then have been repackaged to run under the FXM Presents banner in anywhere from 10-25 minute segments, as needed, to keep the daily slate of movies running smoothly in nice, neat 2-3 hour blocks. And, it turns out that portions of my first episode have already BEEN airing since late January. Only someone watching FXM 12 hours/day, every weekday, could tell you precisely how many other times it’s run in whole or in part.
The GOOD NEWS is that I finally found the full segment which aired over FXM nationwide on January 28, right after the 1964 classic, The Pleasure Seekers, with Ann-Margret, Tony Franciosa and Carol Linley — and you can see it (sorry, no Ann-Margret, only the LAFS clip) right here!
So, for those of you who’ve been asking and asking (THANKS for asking!), without further ado … hope you enjoy!!
