User:Adyoo3/sandbox

Special Correspondents
Special Correspondents is an upcoming 2016 comedy film that is directed and written by Ricky Gervais. It is a re-make of the 2009 French film Envoyés très spéciaux.

Plot
A cocky down-and-out radio journalist Eric Bana reports that he and his assistant Albert Finch(Gervais) had been kidnapped by rebels in Ecuador. However, they are safe in a hideout above a Spanish restaurant in Manhattan where they create their broadcasts. They manage to keep their secret until their story attracts attention around the world. They then realize that the only way to keep their charade secret is to sneak into South America.

Cast

 * Ricky Gervais as Albert Finch
 * Eric Bana as Frank
 * Benjamin Bratt
 * Ari Cohen as Rampling
 * Meghan Heffern as Virginia

Gervais revealed that Bana would be returning to his comedy roots after a string of serious roles like the Hulk; Full Frontal a sketch show in Australia was his debut in the 90s. Benjamin Bratt will play a TV anchor and Bana's nemesis.

Production
Details of the movie were released in October 2014.

The producers are Gervais, Chris Coen, Aaron L. Gilbert, and Manuel Munz; Munz was producer on the original French movie by director Frédéric Auburtin starring Gérard Jugnot, Gérard Lanvin and Omar Sy, this story centered around Iraq. Executive producers for the film are Jason Cloth and Larry Sanitsky.

The film is a co-produced by Bron Studios and Unanimous Entertainment, and backed by Creative Wealth Media Finance.

The distribution rights to multiple territories has been picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. Protagonist Pictures is selling the international rights for this satire to the following countries, U.K., Australia/New Zealand, South Africa, Latin America, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. WME Global is handling the domestic rights.

Filming for Special Correspondents commenced on 19 May 2015 in Toronto. Gervais has also scouted for locations in New York.

Social Media
"Twitter is just another big toilet wall, but there's as much clean space and spray paint as you'll ever need. What are you going to do with it? Create something or destroy someone else's picture?"

Gervais has been using social media as a marketing tool, a platform for animal rights and for playing with his fans. Initially, he kept a blog on his website to talk about his filming process, at time he started he was filming The Invention of Lying. He still directs his fans to his blog for more news. He joined Twitter in December 2009 when he first hosted the 66th Golden Globes. Just seeing how this works. I'm hosting the Golden Globes on January 17th - they want me to do a running commentary on Twitter... 8:32 AM - 14 Dec 2009

His introduction to Twitter as a marketing too didn't last long, after a few weeks he tweeted this, "I am sorry, but I am going to stop these tweets because I don't see the point. Please follow my blog at rickygervais.com" After a two year hiatus, he returned in September 2011. In a relatively short time his influence on social media is far reaching, as of May 2015 he is followed by 8 million fans whom he calls 'Twonks'. "It's a cross between 'Twitter' and 'gonks.' It's a term of affection. I promise."

Commercial Use
Facebook is good for market research says Gervais, he posts pictures of T-shirt designs of his character Brent with his famous catch phrases and asks his fans to choose which ones they like the most. He brought back a shirt design that he had sold during his rock & roll tour as Brent. He uses social media to promote his work to his legion of fans. After 10 years Gervais his famous character Brent made a comeback on his YouTube channel in a web series Learn Guitar with David Brent. Gervais uses many ways to promote his new series, for example for Derek, he posts contest or questions for his fans to be involve in. He used a cute picture of a dog holding a poster to advertise Derek on Twitter and he asked his twonks if their dogs could help him too. Other shows he successfully advertised to his audience via social media were Life's Too Short, where he sent an image of him and Johnny Depp putting Warwick Davis into a toilet and The Ricky Gervais Show a series of podcasts starring Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington.

Animal Rights
Gervais is a staunch supporter of animal rights, social media is the ideal forum for him to raise awareness for animal welfare. He tweets links to petitions to rescue animals from a live of captivity, he highlights the plight of animals being used for testing, he encourages people to adopt dogs instead of buying them from breeders, he gives people a platform for discussion of the cruelty to voiceless creatures. His tweets are shared by his many followers and thus reach a wide audience in a very short time.

Champion
Gervais has participated in internet viral awareness of diseases, like the ice bucket challenge to raise funds to find a cure for ALS, in a video he is seen nominating his friends for the challenge and then getting ice water dumped on him. Hugh Jackman passed on the Gimme Five challenge, which is part of Michelle Obama's campaign for a healthier lifestyle, to his friend Gervais who lifted weights 5 times and then he passed the challenge on to Ben Stiller and Will Arnett. Another internet challenge was to raise awareness for testicular cancer Gervais posted a picture of himself holding his crotch when challenged by Hugh Jackman. Gervais has been outspoken in his support of mental health too. "Telling someone with depression to pull themselves together is about as useful as telling someone with cancer to just stop having cancer." Gervais supports assisted dying this is when one is given the choice of euthanasia to end one's life when suffering and pain leads to a low quality of life. He has tweeted petitions for voting in favor of law changes in Britain. "I believe you’re the master of your own body and you should be able to die with dignity and say when you’ve had enough."

Belief
Another topic Gervais often talks about online is religion, or the fact that he is a non-believer. Many people are offended by his atheism as he gets into mini tweet battles with people of opposing views.

"'Everyone is entitled to their opinion so please shut up about your Atheism' < Yes. Someone really did tweet this to me."

Gervais has some engaging conversations with his fans @Tweetofgod, a parody account, and @boringtweets who has pointless talks with Gervais like when they compared tying shoe laces.

Entertainment
He says with twitter you are never alone. Gervais says the best thing about Twitter is playing. One of his favorite thing to tweet is pictures and vines of his cat Ollie. She even has her own account and on occasions answers him back when he annoys her, Jane his girlfriend sometimes joins in the fun. Gervais has a hilarious hobby where he takes pictures in a bath looking as ugly as possible. These bathpics, as he calls them, are a constant topic of discussion when he is interviewed on talk shows. It the spirit of Halloween one year he posted vines of himself pretending to be a vomiting pumpkin and another him being attacked by a giant fake spider.

On his blog, Gervais use to share a song a day with his fans, and on twitter he would post pictures of adorable animals saying he found them in his belly button. He made a series of vines of himself singing along to famous rap songs, he showed how to act in a series called Acting Masterclasses and he made famous movie trailers like Rocky in 6 seconds. He stills wishes his twonks a pleasant day or night with a picture of either New York when he is in America or a cute picture of him with Ollie. He also likes to post when he has his evening drink with a selfie of him holding a glass of wine. Gervais usually tells his fans when he travels for work or award shows by taking selfies on his jet or shots of the venue.

Controversy
He has been accused of bulling and using a word deemed offensive on his tweets. Gervais comment on the Germany's World Cup soccer win caused controversy but his video of him in his bath wishing England good luck raised laughter instead.

He used to answer and retweet negative comments and his supporters would defend him, so now he removes his answers after a short while.

"I've deleted [my come back] because I don't want to get any grief, and Fame is everything. There's no difference between fame and infamy."

Awards
In 2012, Gervais won a Shorty Lifetime Achievement award for his popular presence on social media. He was named most influential London Twitter user in 2014 but he was the second most hated U.K. personality on Twitter after Piers Morgan. Gervais has won the Genesis award from the Humane Society in March 2015 for his contribution to raising awareness for animal welfare on social media.

Gervais entertains and maintains a connection with his fans through his website, Facebook, Google Plus, Instagram, Twitter, Vine and YouTube.