Outsourced in Poland

Sorry for the lapse in posts, it hasn't been due to a lack of activity. I'm writing a new script and everything else has fallen into the background. I did just get news that Outsourced would be screening in Poland and I thought that was interesting enough to warrant a posting. So for all of you in Poland who have yet to see the film, here you go!

“Poland has become an important destination for Bollywood in eastern Europe. What the Soviet Union was for Raj Kapoor in the 1950s and 1960s...

Tarun Mansukhani’s “Dostana”, John Jeffcoat’s “Outsourced”, Atul Agnihori’s “Hello”, and Vijay Krishna Acharya’s “Tashan” will also be screened during the festival.

“The set of films will present the true and various colours of a contemporary India to a Polish audience. We await the verdict of Polish audience,” said Srikumar Menon, head of the commercial wing at the Indian embassy here.

Read the entire article HERE

Outsourced releases in India January 2nd

After many false starts, Outsourced will be released theatrically all over India on January 2nd. It's a nice way to kick off the new year. We don't have all the details on screening locations but it should be playing at multiplexes in all of the Major cities. Tell your friends and family in India and Happy New Year!

Outsourced on iTunes

For those of you who watch movies on iTunes, I'm happy to announce that you can find Outsourced there to Rent, Buy, or Gift (a last minute Christmas present with no shipping charges!).

The Canadian Release

CinemaVault has been rolling Outsourced out in theaters across Canada. Here are some of the dates and a link to the CinemaVault website:

Toronto ON - Now Playing - Carlton Cinemas
Calgary AB - Now Playing - Uptown Stage & Screen
Edmonton AB - December 12 - Princess Theatre
Ottawa ON - December 12 - Bytowne Theatre
Kitchener Waterloo ON - December 12 - Princess Cinema
London ON - December 19 - Hyland Theatre

Outsourced Hits Costa Rica

Outsourced continues to play venues across the US and abroad, most recently winning the Best Narrative Feature Award at the Montezuma International Film Festival in Costa Rica.

We have also heard that January 2nd has become our release date in India. Still no word on the UK.

Outsourced Returns to Seattle!

If you missed OUTSOURCED on the big screen in Seattle, you'll get another chance this week when it plays at Seattle's only pizza & beer movie theater, Central Cinema , September 18th- 25th. For directions and screening times go HERE.

Director and co-writer, John Jeffcoat, will be on hand FRIDAY night at the 7pm screening to introduce the film and chat over a cold brew and some tasty pizza. Don't miss out!

No Outsourced in Blockbuster or Walmart

Outsourced ranked #1 in the Netflix most watched instant downloads last week but it is still not available in Blockbuster or Walmart. If you buy or rent movies from either of these places be sure to request Outsourced and ask them why they don't carry it.

Aside from Netflix you can find Outsourced on Amazon.com, Hollywood Video, Target, Best Buy, and many other independent video stores.

For right now, the only place to buy the soundtrack is still www.outsourcedthemovie.com

USA TODAY features Outsourced

USA Today's 'Watch, Listen & Read: The month in media' features OUTSOURCED:

Seattle-based director and co-writer John Jeffcoat researched what life is like on the other end of the phone by visiting call centers in Bangalore and by collecting stories from a source who does training for Microsoft.

One of Jeffcoat's initial aims was to excite Americans about investigating other cultures, but he's been surprised by the attention the film has drawn in the business world and academia.

"I spoke recently at the University of Washington to a group of business students who are about to go to India," Jeffcoat says. "And ShadowCatcher (the film's independent production company) has been producing a curriculum to send to schools because there was an interest in it."

The movie also caught the eye of NBC. Jeffcoat is currently co-writing a pilot for a TV version, which he's billing as a global workplace comedy featuring ex-pats from different companies working under one Indian call-center roof.

Read the entire USA Today column HERE

On DVD in the US, OUTSOURCED

Outsourced is now available on DVD throughout the US on Netflix, Amazon.com and other retail and video stores nationwide. If your local video store is not carrying it, tell them to get it! This DVD includes several bonus features previously unavailable including:
- Director, Producer, actor commentary
- Storyboard to Film comparison
- Interview with director John Jeffcoat
- "What did they say" scene translations
- Behind-the-scenes documentary
- "Holi" music Video

If you still have your heart set on seeing it on the big screen, check www.outsourcedthemovie.com for theatrical locations. There are still a number of theaters that will be screening the film through September.

Outsourced hits Theaters in Canada!

Outsourced will begin its Canadian theatrical release this weekend. Reviews from Toronto and Vancouver papers are below.

Outsourced
By Ken Eisner
Publish Date: August 28, 2008

Starring Josh Hamilton and Ayesha Dharker. Rated PG. Opens Friday, August 29, at the Ridge Theatre

Outsourced, a culture-clash comedy that hits almost everything right, manages to make sharp points about the harshness of globalization without losing sight of the individuals affected by economic ebb and flow.

Kicking and Screaming’s Josh Hamilton is a perfect Everyguy for the role of Todd Anderson, a mid-level telemarketing manager whose world is literally upended when his Pacific Northwest company is suddenly out-you-know-whatted to India, and he’s sent there to supervise the new call centre. Naturally, Todd—dubbed Mr. Toad by everyone he meets in a more rustic town near Bombay—is flabbergasted by the way things work, or don’t. Wandering cows, errant electricity, unfamiliar toilets, and too many family photos in the cubicle are just some of the things soon freaking him out.

Cynical Yank that he is, Todd isn’t entirely closed to new experiences, especially when they come attached to the centre’s best worker, vivacious Asha (Ayesha Dharker). With her giant eyes, razor wit, and mile-wide smile, she undoes some of his assumptions, but the script, by Seattle-based director John Jeffcoat and writer-producer George Wing (50 First Dates), doesn’t depend on the romantic angle to get everything across. And the comedy doesn’t blunt its message about corporate greed, which places cheap labour above all other values. (It would never occur to Todd’s boss, amusingly played by Matt Smith, that there are moral issues attached to any of his checkbook decisions.)

In the end, the good-looking Outsourced steals our hearts with a view of India, and the changing world, that is neither starry-eyed nor overly condescending, even if the outcome is predictable. Come to think of it, this movie is so good, I’ll take two.

In TORONTO:

Outsourced
Take this call
by Glenn Sumi

NOW Rating NNNNN (equivalent to 4 stars)

Movies with great premises usually begin well, then lose steam. Not this one.

Todd (Josh Hamilton) manages a call centre for a company that produces kitschy Americana. When the operation is outsourced to India, he’s forced to move there to train his replacements to take calls and sound like Yanks.

What ensues is part culture-clash comedy, part critique of global exploitation and (sounds cheesy but it’s not) part romantic comedy.

The script is fresh and lively, never more so than in a montage featuring Indians quoting scenes from famous U.S. movies. Boy-next-door Hamilton (Kicking And Screaming, The Bourne Identity) shows lots of comic charm, and Ayesha Dharker as his feisty protege has a smile that could light up Bombay.

A winner.