First, invent the gadget. Then take it to Hollywood.

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2014
MiamiHerald.com
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MIAMI HERALD
First, invent the gadget.
Then take it to Hollywood.
BY JACK HITT
The New York Times
The idea sounded promising: a clock that played James
Brown songs on the hour and
marked the quarter-hours
with his trademark scream.
But for Mike Cram, this
King of Soul timepiece was
just another novelty item
that never quite worked out
— like his “Lottery Watch,”
which churned out random
lottery numbers on the dial.
Since the 1980s, Cram
has toyed with many ideas,
struggling to stay with them
until he hit the mother lode
— something like the Big
Mouth Billy Bass, a singing fish, or the Snuggie, the
sleeved blanket. Both of
those novelty items made the
big money rain.
It’s well known that the
taxonomy of invention splits
into two grand phyla: practical and novelty. In other
words, are you inventing the
better mousetrap or the pet
rock? Are you Thomas Edison with his light bulb, or Soren Sorenson Adams and his
joy buzzer? Steve Jobs with
his iPod? Or Stephen Askin,
who was behind the Deely
Bobber, headgear resembling
insect antennas?
Cram, right down to his
name, is an all-American
member of the second phylum. He had done OK with
his Bill Clinton watch. (As
the hour lengthened, so did
his nose.) And there was the
Coca-Cola watch with a soda
bottle that emptied and filled
in a timely fashion.
But none of them prepared
him for the mega-payday
that was the talking bottle
opener. Perhaps somewhere
early on in the George W.
Bush administration, someone came over to your house
with a Homer Simpson talking beer opener. (That’s how
I got mine.) Pop a beer bot-
SYLVIA VIDAURRI VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES
Writer/producer Mike Cram, in red, with actor
Jeremy Renner, right, on the set of Ingenious.
tle, Cram explained, and you
heard that famous groaning
voice saying, “Mmm, beer”
then a pouring sound, then
gulping, then a Homeric
“woo-hoo!” That was Cram’s
winning lottery ticket, the
novelty item with a payday
that he says netted him more
than $3 million.
“I’ve always been intrigued by the somethingout-of-nothing aspect of
this,” he said. And by “this,”
he didn’t just mean the novelty gag business. He had
another thought: He wanted
to feature his invention in an
industry that thrives on creative ideas. In other words,
this was an American success
story, and that could only
mean one thing: It’s time to
put on a show.
So Cram did what any
American might do. “I went
out and bought a bunch of
how-to books on making
a movie,” he said. He was
taken by Gregory Goodell’s
book, Independent Film Feature Production. Goodell
lived in Seattle at the time,
and Cram, who was nearby,
made contact and the next
thing he knew, his movie —
which Cram was then calling
Longshot — had an executive
producer. Soon there was
a director, Jeff Balsmeyer,
who had worked with similar
themes in his movie Donny
Deckchair.
The script, which Cram
wrote, is built around two
men — the Mike Cram-type
inventor (Matt) and a volatile
business partner and overreaching salesman (Sam).
Cram set about casting his
film in 2007 by finding unrecognized actors he liked in
bit parts he had seen.
In Walk the Line, the
Johnny Cash biopic, the man
who played the head of Sun
Records had only a few minutes of screen time but managed to pull off what Cram
thought was an incredible
characterization: the jaded
optimism of the talent scout
who has seen it all but still
retains, somewhere deep
in his eyes, a distant flicker
of enthusiasm for finding
something new. He’d make
the perfect Matt.
Florida Remains Top Choice for International Buyers in
International Sales Surge 35% Compared to Previous Year
F
avorable exchange rates, affordable
home prices and rising affluence abroad
continue to drive international buyers to
the U.S. to purchase properties and make
real estate investments.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®
2014 Profile of International Home Buying Activity ,
for the period April 2013 through March 2014, total
international sales have been estimated at $92.2
billion, an increase from the previous period’s level
of $68.2 billion.
“We live in an international marketplace; so while
all real estate is local, that does not mean that all
property buyers are,” said NAR President Steve
Brown, co-owner of Irongate, Inc. REALTORS® in
Dayton, Ohio. “Foreign buyers are being enticed
to U.S. real estate because of what they recognize
as attractive prices, economic stability, and an
incredible opportunity for investment in their future.”
International buyers and recent immigrants
purchased homes throughout the country, but
four states accounted for 55 percent of the total
reported purchases – Florida, California, Arizona,
and Texas. Florida remains the destination of
choice, claiming a 23 percent share of all foreign
purchases. California comes in second with 14
percent, Texas with 12 percent and Arizona with
6 percent. According to realtor.com®, the top five
cities searched online by international buyers in
2014 were Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando
and New York City.
16PGA08.indd 8
Foreign buyers take many factors into consideration
when deciding where to purchase abroad, such
as proximity to their home country, the presence
of relatives and friends, job and educational
opportunities, and climate and location. European
buyers are generally attracted to states with
warmer climates such as Florida and Arizona while
the West Coast tends to attract Asian purchasers.
Indian buyers tend to gravitate towards states
that are home to large information technology
companies, such as California, New York and North
Carolina. Within markets in an individual state,
it is not unusual to find concentrations of people
grouped by nationality, possibly indicating that
word-of-mouth and shared experiences influence
purchases. Twenty-eight percent of REALTORS®
reported working with international clients this year.
International sales tend to be handled by specialists
and only 4 percent of those who reported having
an international client saw 11 or more international
transactions in a year. Of those who reported having
an international client, approximately 54 percent
reported that international transactions accounted for
1 to 10 percent of their total transactions, a decrease
from 2013 but still in line with past years’ levels.
International buyers are more likely to make all-cash
purchases when compared to domestic buyers. In
2014, nearly 60 percent of reported international
transactions were all cash, compared to only onethird of domestic purchases. Mortgage financing
tends to be a major problem for international clients
due to a lack of a U.S. based credit history, lack of a
Social Security number, difficulties in documenting
mortgage requirements and financial profiles that
differ from those normally received by financial
institutions from domestic residents.
China was also the fastest growing source of
transactions, now accounting for 16 percent of
all purchases, up 4 percent from last year. Mexico
ranked third with 9 percent of sales and India and
the U.K. both accounted for 5 percent.
Most homes purchased by foreign buyers, about
42 percent, are used as a primary residence. Nonresident foreigners are limited to 6-month stays in
the U.S., so these buyers largely use the property
for vacation or rental purposes or as an investment.
Approximately 65 percent of purchases involved
a single-family home. Nearly half of international
clients preferred properties in a suburban area,
about a quarter preferred a central city or urban
area, and about 13 percent choose to purchase in
a resort area.
“Foreign buyers who choose to work with a
REALTOR® have a substantial advantage,” said
Brown. “REALTORS® who have completed
the Certified International Property Specialist
designation have received specialized training
and are prepared to help clients with the unique
difficulties of being an international buyer. CIPS
designees understand the challenges buyers face
when purchasing property in the U.S., and have the
experience and expertise to help them navigate the
complex, time-consuming and overwhelming world
of international real estate.”
International buyers come from all over the world,
but Canada, China (The People’s Republic of China,
Hong Kong and Taiwan), Mexico, India and the
U.K. accounted for approximately 54 percent of
all reported international transactions in the U.S.
Canada maintained the largest share of purchases,
dropping from 23 percent in 2013 to 19 percent
in 2014; however, China held the lead in dollar
volume, purchasing an estimated $22 billion with
an average sale cost of $590,826.
Representing More Than 30,000
Real Estate Professionals
Property Information in 20 Languages
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7/16/2014 1:39:31 AM