Special Entertainment (formerly Fortress Productions) is a film production company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established in 2003 by Bobby Ciraldo and Andrew Swant, the company has released two feature films: William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, an award-winning documentary distributed by Epix (Paramount Pictures/Lionsgate/MGM); and Frankie Latina's Modus Operandi, an exploitation film distributed by Kino.
Special Entertainment will release Hamlet A.D.D., a comedy based on Shakespeare's classic, in 2013.
Past award-winning works include Studying the Lie, Table Talk, and work on David Robbins' The Ice Cream Social (winner of the Sundance TV Lab competition).
In February 2007 Special Entertainment released a music video for the band Leslie and the Ly's called "Zombie Killer" featuring Elvira, Mistress of the Dark on guest vocals.
In March 2009 Special Entertainment released an iPhone App called Shaky Advice from Samwell that functions much like a Magic 8 Ball with 31 video clips of What What (In the Butt)'s Samwell giving advice. In December 2010 a second iPhone App was released called Shaky Advice from Neil Hamburger, which featured 30 video clips of stand-up comic Neil Hamburger giving comical advice.
In September 2010 Special Entertainment premiered The Found Footage Show which aired on The Onion's A.V. Club website. The series, hosted by Found Footage Festival creators Joe Pickett & Nick Prueher, showcased humorous found footage clips and ran for 36 episodes.
In February 2012 the duo projected iconic images from the What What (In the Butt) video onto well-known buildings in Los Angeles to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the project.
Something Theater, a half-hour television series which ran during infomercial timeslots, was produced with artist David Robbins.
Brownmark Films was created by Special Entertainment productions.
Famous quotes containing the word special:
“... [the] special relation of women to children, in which the heart of the world has always felt there was something sacred, serves to impress upon women certain tendencies, to endow them with certain virtues ... which will render them of special value in public affairs.”
—Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842–1906)