This June, LEVERAGE: THE ROLE-PLAYING GAME will also be available that allows fans into the world of Nate Ford and his modern-day band of resourceful thieves who take from the rich to help the poor.

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For full press release go to:

http://ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=9637

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Coming June 2010!  The new Leverage Role Playing Game!

http://www.margaretweis.com/mwp-online-store/leverage

The 14th Annual PRISM Awards, which honors actors, movies, music, media and television’s top shows that accurately depict and bring attention to substance abuse and mental health issues, handed out their big awards last week.

Timothy Hutton took home a Prism for his layered portrayal of Nate Ford, an alcoholic, former insurance investigator turned modern day Robin Hood on TNT’s hit series LEVERAGE.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal took home an award for their work in the independent film CRAZY HEART about an aging, alcoholic country singer trying to wrestle control of his life back.

Other winners include: Rosie O’Donnell, Tony Shalhoub, Hector Elizondo, and Kevin McKidd received PRISM Awards at a ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The PRISM Awards is produced by the Entertainment Industries Council, Inc. (EIC) in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and FX Network.

“The PRISM Awards recognizes and applauds the remarkable efforts that have been contributed by our creative community,” says Brian Dyak, EIC’s President and CEO. “We salute those in the entertainment industry that promote informational truths in their work to improve the lives of the audiences they entertain. Through accurate character portrayals and inspired storytelling, our industry reinforces the importance of those individuals within the care giving and health fields.”

Running from March 19-21, everyone from the main cast, creators and every important person in between took the stage and mingled with the fans for an unprecedented convention.

For our closing ceremonies, Electric’s own Lana Wolverton edited together this amazing “Closing Ceremonies” video that we showed to the convention’s eager crowd on Sunday night.

Now, for those who attended you’ll get to relive last weekend all over again and for those that didn’t, you can get a taste of what CON-CON was all about.

Enjoy and we’ll see you next year.

Watch the video here:

http://ifmagazine.com/new.asp?article=9491

By Kristi Turnquist, The Oregonian

March 21, 2010, 6:18PM

For someone who came all the way from London on a “very, very long flight” just to find herself standing in a very, very long line waiting for autographs, Helen Picken  is in a jolly mood.

Picken, 27,  is a fan of the TV show, “Leverage,” and on Saturday she found herself joined by hundreds of fellow fans at the first-ever “Leverage CON-con,”  at Portland’s Governor Hotel.

“I’ve been watching it from the beginning,” says Picken, who works as a Realtor, or estate agent, as they’re known in the U.K. The TNT series – which filmed its second season, and has just started shooting the third season, in Portland – wasn’t even available in England until recently. But Picken was so determined she found episodes on the Internet.

“I found a copy of the pilot online, and I thought, ‘This is kind of good.’” Picken likes the show’s humor, and its look. She enthusiastically praises the camera work in specific scenes, then stops herself and smiles: “That sounds kind of geeky.”

It’s the nature of fan conventions to bring people like Picken together with fellow devotees. But what made the “Leverage CON-Con,”  which began Friday and concluded Sunday, unusual is that this isn’t a show about science-fiction heroes, fantasy worlds, or horror. “Leverage” is, instead, about five flawed characters who use their shady skills to help underdogs get justice. The show stars Timothy Hutton  as Nate Ford,  mastermind of a group of bad guys-turned good guys.  Gina Bellman  plays Sophie Devereaux,  a con artist who has a past with Nate. Christian Kane  plays Eliot Spencer,  tough guy extraordinaire. Beth Riesgraf  plays Parker,  expert thief and cat burglar. And Aldis Hodge  plays Alec Hardison,  ace computer hacker.

“Leverage” is an entertaining show that balances humor, character development, the intricacies of cons and capers and occasional darker elements. But what’s a series like this – with nary a superhero or alien world in sight – doing spawning a fan convention?

Dean Devlin,  executive producer of “Leverage,” has experience with projects that typically draw crowds to such conventions as the massive Comic-Con in San Diego. Devlin, working with director Roland Emmerich,  made the movies, “Stargate,” “Independence Day” and “Godzilla.” As he sits at a table inside a Governor Hotel ballroom on Saturday, signing autographs, Devlin says he and fellow “Leverage” executive producers John Rogers  and Chris Downey,  sitting beside him, got to talking about five months back about a “Leverage” convention. As Devlin says, the show has loyal fans, “so we thought, let’s throw a party for them. We pulled this together in about a quarter of the time it usually takes to mount a convention.”

Rogers, whose resumé includes a stint writing comics, says that people who helped put the weekend convention together told him they’ve “never seen this kind of turnout for a non-genre show.” Devlin and Rogers say they thought they might draw about 150 fans, instead of the “500-plus” who registered for the weekend.

Rachel Olschan,  a “Leverage” co-producer, says Devlin, Rogers and Downey understand how to use new media to connect with fans, with Twitter accounts, Facebook groups and Rogers’ blog, Kung Fu Monkey (http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com).

The con was held in Portland, Olschan says, because this is when all the cast and crew would be in one place, since they’re shooting here. They chose the Governor Hotel, she adds, because of the show’s relationship – they’ve filmed episodes at the hotel, and Jake’s Catering  threw the season-two wrap party. While Olschan says there have been a few bumps –
“this is the first time we’ve done this” – she adds that if the convention goes well and makes enough money to cover costs, they’d like to do it again.

Michelle Hydorn, 28,  would definitely be up for a repeat event. Hydorn, who also goes by the online name “Rikki Sixx,” calls herself Hutton’s “number-one fan. I’ve had a crush on him since I was 13.” She already loved the show when it was filming its first season in Los Angeles, she says. So when the producers announced they were coming to Portland to shoot, Hydorn was over the moon. “I was on Twitter one day,” she recalls, “and Mayor Sam Adams twittered that ‘Leverage’ is coming to Portland. Right then, I said, my mission is to meet Tim Hutton!”

And she did. “I got a job working as an extra,” says Hydorn, who is currently unemployed.

For most of the overwhelmingly female crowd, the weekend’s highlight seemed to be a panel on Saturday afternoon, featuring all five members of the “Leverage” cast onstage in the Heritage Ballroom, answering questions and bantering back-and-forth.

Before the panel, Hodge waits in a break room. He’s had experience with fan conventions before, he says, thanks to appearing on the fantasy show, “Supernatural,” which has events run by Creation Entertainment, whose productions include “Twilight” and “Star Trek” conventions. Kane also has con experience, thanks to his role on “Angel,” the vampire series from fan favorite Joss Whedon.  Hodge says he and Kane are “pretty stoked” about the Portland con. “We worked a full 12-hour day on Friday, and got to the hotel for the cocktail party at about 10:30,” Hodge says. “But I wasn’t tired. There’s nothing better than that energy from people.”

Meanwhile, Stacey McCormack  waits in the lobby outside the ballroom. “I didn’t start watching ‘Leverage’ until they started shooting in Portland,” says the 39-year-old,  who works for Comcast Spotlight, the cable company’s advertising division. “This is very fun,” she says. “It makes you proud of our city. I love how they have the Park Blocks be Kiev, or something. There’s been a lot of Portland I haven’t seen until it’s been on ‘Leverage.’”

Finally, to cheers and applause, the stars take the stage. Audience members ask questions, and several – including Portlander Gretchen Nathe, 30,  who has a “KANE” tattoo at the top of her back – proclaim their love not only of Kane’s acting, but of his country-influenced band’s music.

Bellman and Riesgraf say they’re new to fan conventions. “I’m blown away, and kind of nervous,” Riesgraf says. “It’s incredible to have this much support.”

Hutton agrees. “It makes us feel good going to work every day,” he says. “So thank you.”