Pitching Movies or Filming Shows, Hollywood Is Hooked on iPads By BRIAN STELTER October 24, 2010
Last month at a meeting in Hollywood, it was time to plot out the sequel to "Star Trek," last year's blockbuster reboot of the sci-fi franchise.
The attendees all brought smartphones - gadgets far more powerful than the videophones imagined by the "Star Trek" writers 40 years ago. Bob Orci brought something the writers back then could only dream of: an iPad.
Mr. Orci, meeting with the producers J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, and his fellow writer Alex Kurtzman, jump-started the discussion with an iPad slide show, showing stills from the first film, snapshots of potential locations and a photo of a suggested actress for one of the roles. On the woman's photo, he had used his iPad to paint on a Vulcan ear.
"When you're carrying a little TV around, you bring the power of imagery to places that you don't normally have it," Mr. Orci said in an interview.
When Apple introduced the iPad six months ago, ushering in an era of tablet computing, experts predicted that tablets would transform the habits of groups of people like college students (who would carry digital textbooks) and doctors (who would manage patient records). They can add Hollywood to the list of those affected.
The iPad is the must-carry accessory on sound stages this season, visible behind the scenes of television and film shoots and in business meetings. When Paula Abdul, the former "American Idol" judge, wants to preview her new dance show for prospective sponsors, she turns on her iPad and pulls up a YouTube video. When Julie Benz, a star of "No Ordinary Family" on ABC, has downtime between shoots, she plays Angry Birds, the popular physics-based puzzle game.
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