The Circuit

(No, this didn't happen. Our engines didn't suck that hard.)

The Wednesday morning Delta flight, direct from LAX to SLC, has become the first hob-nob amongst Sundance bound execs.  This morning Searchlight's Ray Strache, Lionsgate's Eda Kowan, photog Jeff Vespa, journo Roger Friedman drank airport coffee and ate cement croissants as they murmured about the fest ahead.

Summit's Michael Schaefer just hoped for good movies.  When asked about the prospects for the Jim Carrey pic, "I Love You, Phillip Morris," he seemed interested yet cautious, remembering the mood of the theater at last year's "What Just Happened?" screening -- "Bottom line is it has to be good.  If it not good, then no way."

In the row next to us, a man wondered why the plane was so full.  He was connecting in SLC to Minneapolis, reading through some eHarmony documents.  He was a consultant, and had been asked by the company about expanding the dating service to the rest of the world. 

eHarmony is currently only for English speakers and, until recently, only for heterosexuals.  A lawsuit fixed that, though the site's heavy Christian leanings apparently keep it guy-and-girl.

The consultant explained that eHarmony uses a 200-plus questionnaire and complex algorithm to match people.  "It's for longer relationships," he said. "Not for hooking up.  That's Match.com." 

When I floated that Match.com may have a better bottom line, he countered: "Actually, the fastest growth in our industry is pure hook-up sites."

He explained a site, AshleyMadison.com, is the talk of the online dating industry.  It's a monster success -- designed only for married people looking for affairs.  The site's motto: "Life is short.  Have an affair."

The site's inventor, Noel Biderman, reportedly named it after his daughters.  Classy.

When recently denied TV ad time during the upcoming superbowl, Biderman declared:

"We don't intend to let this pass.  This is our core audience and we will find a way to let them know about the existence of this service."

When we visited the site upon arriving in Park City, it immeidately informed us there were "33800 local member online right now!" 

As the fest kicks in tomorrow, there may be some more.