The Los Angeles Web Series Festival , more commonly known as the LA Web Fest , is a web series festival based in Los Angeles , California . It was founded in 2009 by Michael Okwudili Ajakwe Jr and was one of the first web series-based events; Filmmaker Magazine called it "the granddaddy of all webfests." The event has attracted controversy for its policies.
31-579: The festival had its first official event in 2010. The venue has changed several times since its inception, with the 2015 festival being held at the Hilton Universal City Hotel in Universal City . When asked about the importance of web series as a creative medium by Carolyn Handler Miller for her book Digital Storytelling: A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment , founder Michael Ajakwe, Jr. said: Before, filmmaking
62-490: A charity concert he was giving on March 25 to raise funds for the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor . He arrived at the recording studio on March 21 to start recording the film's soundtrack . Three weeks later, location filming had finished, including scenes at Waikiki Beach , Diamond Head , Mount Tantalus , and Hanauma Bay , a volcanic crater that is open to the sea, near the bedroom community of Hawaii Kai ,
93-562: A few miles away from Waikiki. After location filming, the crew returned to the Paramount lot to finish other scenes for the film. Presley relaxed during filming by giving karate demonstrations with his friend and employee, Red West , which resulted in Presley's fingers becoming bruised and swollen. Wallis warned the female stars of the film to avoid parties Presley hosted because they were turning up for shooting looking tired. Wallis used
124-401: A longtime business partner of Chad's father. With Jack's help, Chad and his father resolve their differences about Chad's future. Chad and Maile form their own tourism business—Gates of Hawaii—and begin arrangements to provide tourist services for his father's large network of fruit salesmen in the U.S. and Canada. The film ends with Chad's and Maile's lavish outdoor wedding. Blue Hawaii was
155-711: A new logo design, as part of a rebranding effort for the flagship brand. Today, Hilton Hotels & Resorts is Hilton's flagship brand and one of the largest hotel brands in the world. The brand is targeted at both business and leisure travelers with locations in major city centers, near airports, convention centers, and popular vacation destinations around the world. Hilton Hotels & Resorts participates in Hilton Honors , Hilton's guest-loyalty program established in 1989. Members who book directly through Hilton-owned channels receive exclusive discounts and amenities such as free Wi-Fi, digital check-in, keyless entry, and
186-750: A property in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka , the Hilton Dhaka , designed by Mustapha Khalid Palash . As of 2023, the hotel has yet to open , though Hilton currently has a targeted 2025 opening date. In March 2013, Hilton announced that it would be entering Myanmar for the first time with the construction of a 300-room hotel in Yangon . While the Yangon hotel has yet to materialize, Hilton did manage to open properties in Mandalay and Naypyidaw in
217-420: A story by Allan Weiss, is the slim, but convenient, foundation around which Wallis and staff have erected a handsome, picture-postcard production crammed with typical South Seas musical hulaballoo ... Under Norman Taurog's broad direction, Presley, in essence, is playing himself—a role sure to delight his ardent fans." Harrison's Reports graded the film "Fair", adding: "As is the custom in a Presley production,
248-489: A straight role with substance, and we'll definitely find out whether he can act or not." The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: Presley's remake of the title song introduced it to an audience too young to remember Bing Crosby 's original hit version. The soundtrack album was on the Billboard Pop Albums chart for 79 weeks, where it spent 20 weeks at #1. It has been certified by
279-493: Is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley . The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written American Musical. The film opened at number two in box-office receipts for that week and, despite mixed reviews from critics, finished as the 10th top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 in
310-613: Is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of American multinational hospitality company Hilton . The original company was founded by Conrad Hilton . As of December 30, 2019, 584 Hilton Hotels & Resorts properties with 216,379 rooms in 94 countries and territories are located across six continents. This includes 61 properties that are owned or leased with 219,264 rooms, 272 that are managed with 119,612 rooms, and 251 that are franchised with 77,451 rooms. In 2020, Fortune magazine ranked Hilton Hotels & Resorts at number one on their Fortune List of
341-576: The Coco Palms Resort on the east coast of Kauai . Although it is mentioned in the film that Chad's parents live in Kāhala , one of the most expensive and exclusive areas of Honolulu in 1961, the view from their " lanai " (porch or terrace) shows Diamond Head as it appears from Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. In actuality, Kāhala is on the other side of Diamond Head from Waikiki. Several scenes were filmed in and around Waikiki Beach, including
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#1732772131647372-544: The Variety national box office survey, earning $ 5 million. The film won a fourth place prize Laurel Award in the category of Top Musical of 1961. Having been released from the Army , Chadwick "Chad" Gates is eager to return to Hawaii with his surfboard, his native Hawaiian beach friends, and his mixed-race girlfriend Maile Duval. His mother, Sarah Lee, wants him to follow in his father's footsteps and take over management at
403-501: The Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company, the family business, but Chad is reluctant and goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency. His slightly scatter-brained boss is Mr. Chapman. The first clients Chad has are an attractive school teacher, Abigail Prentice, and four teenage female students. One of the students, 17-year-old Ellie Corbett, seems self-centered and doesn't get along with
434-590: The RIAA for sales of three million copies in the U.S. The soundtrack album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1961 in the category of Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or Television . The soundtrack featured the hit song " Can't Help Falling in Love " sung by Elvis, which is certified Platinum by the RIAA , for U.S. sales in excess of one million copies. The song peaked at No. 2 on
465-740: The Top 100 Companies to Work For in 2020 based on an employee survey of satisfaction. Conrad Hilton founded the Hilton hotel chain in 1919, when he bought his first property, the Mobley Hotel, in Cisco, Texas . The first hotel to feature the Hilton brand was the Dallas Hilton . In late 2010, Hilton announced a name change of the Hilton Hotels brand to Hilton Hotels & Resorts along with
496-635: The U.S. Billboard Billboard Hot 100 and hit No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for six weeks, as well as topping the British charts in 1962. As of 4 March 2024, the song was the most streamed Elvis Presley song with total streams on Spotify totalled at 836,193,249 and was on course to be the first Elvis Presley song streamed on one billion occasions. Youtube streams on the Elvis Presley channel totalled in excess of 400 million on
527-505: The ability to use a mobile app to choose specific rooms. In 2015, approximately 20 Hilton Hotels & Resorts properties were inducted into the Historic Hotels of America organization. Among these hotels were Hilton Fort Worth , which hosted John F. Kennedy 's final speech, and Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort , the setting of the film Blue Hawaii . A commercial space station project known as Space Islands
558-422: The box-office returns from Blue Hawaii to finance an upcoming Wallis film, 1964's Becket , starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole . Presley was 26 at the time this film was released, and a not yet 36-year-old Angela Lansbury played his character's mother. Nancy Walters , who was cast as the older schoolteacher, was in reality only 18 months older than Presley. Much of the film was shot on location at
589-641: The crooner-gyrater dominates the running time of the film. That is why, it is more the pity, now that he has so many films under his acting belt that he still continues to deliver such an embarrassingly poor performance." John L. Scott of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "does a lot for the 'paradise of the Pacific,' showing its foamy waves, palm trees, luaus and a couple of plush hotels, but not very much for Elvis' fans (what age bracket does he appeal to now?) ... One of these days Elvis will play
620-431: The film "blandly uneventful" with a "nonsensical and harmless" plot, though he wrote that Presley "delivers the songs and rhythmical spasms right on schedule. We counted fourteen tunes, about half of them replete with ukulele trimmings and exotic, weaving dancers. One of them, a number called 'Beach Boy Blues,' is nifty, and Presley delivers it accordingly. No kidding." Variety wrote, "Hal Kanter's breezy screenplay, from
651-531: The first of three Elvis films shot in Hawaii, followed by Girls! Girls! Girls! in 1962 and Paradise, Hawaiian Style in 1965. Producer Hal B. Wallis was keen to put Presley in a film that showed how the army affected a man. Actress Juliet Prowse , who had starred with Presley in GI Blues , was approached to be his love interest again. But after her demands were put forward, Paramount decided to drop her for
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#1732772131647682-643: The issue, claiming it stems from earlier conflicts in 2012 when the Hollywood Web Series Festival planned their festival on the same weekend as the LA Web Fest. The Daily Dot also published a story about the controversy, writing: "The battle lines are drawn in the emerging web fest world, as the venerable LA Web Fest has drawn an exclusivity line in the sand for its 2015 entrants." Hilton Hotels %26 Resorts Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels )
713-772: The north of the country (although the Mandalay Hilton has since closed). In 2018, Hilton announced two hotel projects in Kampala , Uganda : the Kampala Hilton Hotel and the Hilton Garden Inn Kampala . Both projects are still in development. A previous Hilton project in Kampala and announced in 2006 was repurposed into The Pearl of Africa Hotel Kampala , after Hilton exited the venture. In 2017, Hilton announced that it would remain
744-476: The opening driving scenes and the office scene across the street from the "International Market". The scenes in which Chad's clients stay in a hotel and in which he picks up his tour group – as well as those on the beach where he spends time with Maile – were all filmed on the property now known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach. Howard Thompson of The New York Times called
775-478: The other three, but she becomes smitten with Chad. Chad's girlfriend, Maile, becomes jealous of Abigail, who is quite fond of Chad. After Ellie's flirtatious ways with another tourist cause a wild fight to erupt in a restaurant, Mr. Chapman fires Chad. Maile quits her job in protest. Maile and Chad independently continue guiding Abigail and the four youths, taking them to Kaua'i . One night Ellie attempts to seduce Chad in his hotel room, but he refuses her advances; at
806-446: The role, choosing Joan Blackman instead. Presley was apparently so pale before shooting that Wallis personally recommended a brand of tanning lamp to darken his skin. The film was announced in the fall of 1960 as Hawaii Beach Boy . At the time, film producer Walter Mirisch had a film titled Hawaii in production, and he was upset that Wallis had chosen such a similar name. Presley arrived in Hawaii on March 18, 1961, to prepare for
837-457: The same moment, Maile pays a surprise visit to the hotel. Ellie despondently flees in a stolen jeep, intending to drown herself in the ocean. Before she can, Chad pulls her out, attempts to speak to her, but then decides to punish her with a spanking. In the next scene, the girls, including Ellie, are having breakfast. Ellie is now pleasant, friendly and well-mannered, and jokes about the spanking. Meanwhile, Abigail has found romance with Jack Kelman,
868-599: The same time (including the HollyWeb Festival and Indie Series Awards ), Ajakwe came under fire for enforcing an 'exclusivity clause' stating that all entrants "must withdraw their shows from HollyWeb Fest and their award consideration at the ISAs, or be disqualified from LA WebFest." The clause has since been the subject of controversy and derision in the web series community, with many calling it "anticompetitive" and "unreasonable." Ajakwe spoke to Snobby Robot about
899-456: The sponsor for McLaren until 2021. Hilton was one of the oldest sponsors of F1 series and sponsored McLaren since 2005. In October 2017, Hilton announced it had committed a total of $ 50m (£37.8m) over five years to its Hilton Africa Growth Initiative to support the continued expansion of its Sub-Saharan African portfolio. [REDACTED] Media related to Hilton Hotels & Resorts at Wikimedia Commons Blue Hawaii Blue Hawaii
930-541: Was a rich man's game. And if you couldn't afford to make a film, a great voice might be lost ... Web series offer freedom. Since the festival's inaugural presentation in 2010, it has helped produce web series-based festivals in several major cities around the world, including in Marseille (Marseille Web Fest), Melbourne (Melbourne Web Fest), Rio (Rio Web Fest) and Seoul (Seoul Web Fest). In 2015, after other LA-based web series festivals scheduled their events around
961-723: Was proposed by Hilton International in 1999 to be constructed from used Space Shuttle fuel tanks. When completed, it was to be called the Hilton Orbital Hotel. The tanks were to be connected together to form a ring, resulting in a space station similar to that pictured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey . Plans were also drawn up for the Lunar Hilton , a 5000-room hotel on the Moon , though Steve Hilton noted in 2009 that both these plans were more symbolic than practical at this stage. In October 2012, Hilton announced