In a pitch to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Jeff Cerulli says his competitive eating documentary will "change the way people look at C.E." (Mark Cuban's HDNet televised several IFOCE programs around 2004-2006.)

January 17, 2012 at 10:30 am by ojrifkin · More posts about:Hungry | Permalink * Comments (17)

17 Comments »

  1. Hmm said (Registered November 12, 2009)

    January 17, 2012 @ 11:04 am

    Really slow day at work, great. So the question is what did they televise and if he made a documentary, does he have permission to use footage from IFOCE programs. 2004 – 2006 is, in CE terms, a very long time ago. Who is Jeff Cerulli, someone please research, do have to do some work.

  2. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    January 17, 2012 @ 11:34 am

    He’s a comedian, first and foremost—-http://www.thejeffshow.com. I’ve never heard of the guy, however.

  3. Hmm said (Registered November 12, 2009)

    January 17, 2012 @ 12:28 pm

    Thanks Rhonda. As I thought after going to the website, there is only a teaser, and it absolutely and definitely would need approval to use any footage whatsoever. I doubt that MLE is going to be interested, he is a young guy, anyone can put up a nice webpage and propose projects these days, it takes a lot of persistence to really have projects happen. Perhaps he does have that, I would not wish to discourage anyone. And who knows? It seems he threw something out there via twitter and the person who clearly has some bucks could be interested. But like most things, huge amounts of hard work go into anything which finally might happen. Even some Youtube transgressions, people posting things which go against copyright, get removed fairly quickly. MLE is or should be right on top of things in that way. They have worked on building their brand for a very long time and are anything but the bad guys.

  4. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    January 17, 2012 @ 1:26 pm

    One attribute I like about MLE is the tact they exhibit in addressing conflicts of interest / protecting their interests. They don’t broadcast organizational distutes on their Web site. If they have an issue with protecting their interests, they communicate directly to the source, without resorting to slamming people or organizations publicly; they’re very professional in that regard.

    For instance, I would be very surprised if they did not address the issue of “Suzilla” being proclaimed the #4 eater in the world. Yet, they do/did not resort to smear campaigns.

    We may (and probably do) know of instances where they got after an eater or organization, but it was because the organization/people whose actions were the object of their discontent chose to share the specifics of the situation.

    I’m sure there are plenty of people who will read this and readily try to refute what I’m saying, by pointing to events where MLE is far less than perfect (as we all are). But I stand by my contention.

  5. Anonymous said

    January 17, 2012 @ 7:47 pm

    1:26 you have been doing MLE’s laundry. Your mouth or I should say fingers have carried MLE’s water when it comes to Suzilla. Hitting every forum you could to bash her. You are a one person smear campaign. Notice that Suzilla is a classy enough not have let you or haters like Seiken draw her in to a keyboard fight where OJ will edit post he does not see as favorable to his “regular” posting losers.

  6. anonymous said

    January 17, 2012 @ 8:45 pm

    Hold the line for a moment. Seiken does bash other eaters but he has never uttered one bad word about Suzilla. FYI 126 happens to be very close with Sonya Thomas . Now figure it out

  7. Anonymous said

    January 17, 2012 @ 9:29 pm

    Where is Suzilla now? So you think she really is #4? Your stupider than you look! You belong in wloce with boone you moron.

  8. Mouse That Tried to Roar said

    January 17, 2012 @ 9:48 pm

    When will Suzilla’s mouth roar again on Planet Green? I thought this was a weakly show. What happened?

  9. BigWillTheChamp said (Registered February 1, 2009)

    January 18, 2012 @ 12:57 am

    It was a “weakly” show. That’s why we’re not seeing it anymore. Unless it was a preview.
    In regard to Jeff’s film. It will be phenomenal because I am more than likely in it 😉
    But seriously, I think that he’s a good interviewer and they’ll do a great job with the project, thought MLE and their fanboys probably won’t like it.
    As far as needing permission, I don’t know what the exact law is, but I don’t believe that they need permission to use footage from a contest if they filmed it while on public property. They would need permission to use footage that was aired, like ESPN footage or something, unless, I believe it was in the background. Like lets say they filmed from a bar and filmed the screen. I can’t be certain though.

  10. BigWillTheChamp said (Registered February 1, 2009)

    January 18, 2012 @ 1:06 am

    As far as using the eaters themselves, I believe that since they are considered public figures, they wouldn’t need to give permission to use their likeness.
    Like when people film celebs in public.
    I think it would be different if this were a closed event, but since it’s a public event and open to the public, it changes a bit and permission is not necessarily needed.
    Again, could be talking out of my ass.

  11. Cha Ching said

    January 18, 2012 @ 10:51 am

    Rhonda doesn’t need anyone defending her actions pointing out the flaws in Suzilla’s show. However, none have her words here or anywhere else attacked Suzanne French personnally. In fact, she pointed out in many posts Suzy’s attributes as being a good on air personality, cute, etc. But a top eater Suzy is not. Having seen Rhonda’s posts over the years, Rhonda comes off as one of the biggest fans of competitive eating and has little patience for those who try to decieve people about their records which in the long run will hurt comptetive eating. The only one Suzy has to blame for any failure of her show was her and her promoters hooking their wagon to Dale Boone and his false claims of Suzy being number four in the world. Basically, demeaning the hard work of eaters like Sonya Thomas, Joey Chestnut, Pat Bertoletti, Matt Stonie, “Furious” Pete, Tim Janus, Joey Chestnut, etc. — all eaters with a record to back up their standings in the world of competitive eating. If Suzy would of stuck to the model of Adam Richman, when he constantly pointed out that what he does is different than what competitive eaters do she probably would of avoided any criticisms. But, starting your show on a lie (number four in the world) was poor judgement proving viewers don’t like to be lied to.

  12. Hmm said (Registered November 12, 2009)

    January 18, 2012 @ 10:58 am

    Will, you write well and express yourself well, and I like your last line because this is a place for good discussion. You add humor like Rhonda.

    While I have no expertise, in thinking about it, yes, anyone can film at a public event and put things on YouTube or other places. The difference here, though, is that if a film is being made for something other than personal “use” such as uploading to YouTube or sharing with family etc., that may be a completely different matter. If the filmmaker is making something to sell, to get backers even, then that footage might be subject to approval from someone. It isn’t always nowadays like in the past that people have to get permission from each and every person in a film, the lines are wavy here, but I would bet a few hotdogs that MLE would not allow Nathan’s footage to be used in a commercial venture without their permission and being compensated in some way.

  13. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    January 18, 2012 @ 12:51 pm

    Thanks Cha Ching and Hmm. I appreciate you folks chining in on my behalf. You both know me and my intentions, and present them very eloquently. Thanks you too!.

    Actually, I think most people understand me quite well, but several of them try to do to my comments what reality stars do on the show “Flip This House!”

  14. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    January 18, 2012 @ 1:23 pm

    I meant, “Thanks you TWO!” … not too. 🙂

  15. BigWillTheChamp said (Registered February 1, 2009)

    January 18, 2012 @ 1:41 pm

    @Hmm – Thanks. As far as the film, I guess we’ll have to see how it plays out once the film is released.
    I’ve spoke to Jeff a couple of times, and I’m quite sure he went about everything the right way.

  16. Cha Ching said

    January 18, 2012 @ 1:55 pm

    Hmm: Being in the media communications business it depends on copyright issues and ownership of the materials used. Brands are often copyrighted that’s why you often see brands blurred out to avoid legal hassles. If you’re taping what is considered a public event (and Nathan’s clearly falls under that catagory) MLE would have to go through a real legal mess if they wanted to take someone to court. However, just the threat of taking someone to court often causes people to drop their use of the materials. Public figures sometimes have a case if it is involving privacy issues, but that’s a tough legal battle. And, clearly someone eating at a public eating event clearly puts themself in public domain. Now of course, if someone goes ahead and uses actual ESPN footage without ESPN’s consent, well that’s a real no no. Usage of the this post without the express written consent of Cha Ching is prohibited.

  17. ojrifkin said (Registered July 27, 2005)

    January 18, 2012 @ 4:30 pm

    Off topic comments have been moved to

    http://eatfeats.com/off-topic-competitive-eating-documentary-thread.html

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment

Log in | Register | Comments by users who have not logged in will be held for approval