How To Make It In America Get the inside track on HBO's latest series from the producers of Entourage

Episode 1.02 – Soundtrack

The set list for episode 1.02 - Crisp of "How to Make It in America."

• Quantic - "Brand New Watusi"
• War - "Me and Baby Brother"
• Blackalicious - "My Pen and Pad"
• Todd Gregory - "Get Em"
• Eric B & Rakim - "Don't Sweat The Technique"
• Rhymes With An L - "M.E.D"
• A Tribe Called Quest - "Can I Kick It?"
• Thievery Corporation - "The Numbers Game"
• Louis Prima And Kelly Smith - "That Old Black Magic"
• Toots & The Maytals - "Rastaman"
• Richard Hell & The Voidoids - "Blank Generation"

John Varvatos Sighting

"How to Make It in America" gets its first celebrity guest appearance this week as  fashion icon John Varvatos makes his way onto the small screen. Varvatos worked his way up the fashion ladder first working for Polo Ralph Lauren, and later becoming head of menswear design for Calvin Klein.  In 2000 Varvatos started his own clothing line which was critically acclaimed. In addition to his own line, his success led to his own line of Converse All-Stars, eyewear collection, and even his own fragrance. Varvatos has won CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year several times.

What The Critics Are Saying

Pleasurable, amusing, well conceived and written. Give this one time - these guys feel like they're worth getting to know, and the show as well. Newsday - Verne Gay

Even without the Hollywood glamour, though, the New York series may turn out to be the superior product, grounded as it is in Mr. Greenberg's compelling, layered character, with a strong mind and vulnerable heart. Wall Street Journal - Nancy DeWolf Smith

Everyone in "How to Make It" isn't a winner. But the show looks to be just that. New York Daily News -David Hinckley

Creator Ian Edelman keeps his characters on the right side of caricature and avoids the kind of melodramatic confrontations their relations might typically suggest. Los Angeles Times - Robert Lloyd

As a portrait of struggling Manhattanites, How to Make It effectively hones in on that hope-filled effervescence historically associated with the idealized American dream.  Slant Magazine - Adam Keleman

While I can't say that it's a great HBO comedy yet--it is not, really, even strictly a comedy in the ha-ha-hilarious sense--it's likeable and absorbing and made me want to stick around for more.  Time - James Poniewozik

Episode 1 – Soundtrack

The first episode of "How to Make it" was met with rave reviews by both fans and critics alike. The only thing that can top the shows hype, is the soundtrack.  In case you were wondering exactly what they songs were:

• Cam'Ron - "Oh Boy"
• Cobra Starship  - "Good Girls Go Bad"
• Digable Planets - "Pacifics"
• John Boyd - "DomK"
• Erik Hachikian - "Beach Ball"
• Cam'Ron - "Down and Out"
• Stereo MC's - "Two Horse Town"
• Hercules & Love Affair - "You Belong"
• Rich Skillz - "Cuz The 80's Made Me"
• Ceu - "Comadi"
• The Rolling Stones - "Heaven"
• Dinji Brown - "Movin"
• Nancy Wilson - "Ode To Billie Joe"
• Brass Construction - "Movin"

Inside The Episode Of “How To Make It”

Take a look behind the scenes of "How to Make It in America. Writer/Creator Ian Edelman discusses all the characters in his new HBO show.  Get background info on Ben Epstein, Cam Calderon, Domingo Dean and the rest

HTMIA Theme Song – Aloe Blacc – I Need A Dollar

This is the opening song to the new HBO show “How to Make it in America.”  The song is also featured on the DJ Green Lantern/Kid Cudi  Mixtape that was just released.

I Need A Dollar is  track 5 on the "How to Make It in America" Mixtape

Meet Boogie From Belgrade

You might have noticed the use of still photographs several times throughout the first episode of "How to Make It." This is a trend that will continue throughout the show. Creator Ian Edelman and star Bryan Greenberg discus this use, plus talk about the man behind the camera, known simply as Boogie:

Ian: The use of still photography was the brain child of Julian Farino, who is a brilliant director. And it was about giving the show another dimension and adding to the realism. The more we used stills, the happier we were with them.

We worked with this incredible photographer named Boogie. He came from Serbia and had already taken crazy images. When he came to New York, he started taking pictures of drug dealers that were so arresting.

He has this great ability, he’s fast, he’s like a nimble photographer, he’s on his toes all the time, and he just has this ability to capture the sort of truth with these characters.  So Boogie, is a photographer, and he was a great asset.

Bryan: Yes, the show covers so many different characters and so many different scenes, and you only have a half hour to do it. So you can tell a lot with just a picture. And I think it’s really the aesthetic of the show.

It’s almost like you’re flipping through a magazine, right, and you’re like OK, here’s a shot of sneakers, here’s a shot of Hasidic Jews. It gives you a flavor, and you’re in right away without any sort of explanation or backstory, it kind of just tells the story for you.

Boogie is based in Brooklyn, NY, but was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia. Boogie began documenting rebellion and unrest during the civil war that ravaged his country during 1990’s. He moved to New York in 1998 and has since published five monographs. His work is some of the most honest, raw, and intensely powerful photography you'll ever see. His photos are exhibited around the world and he has shot for renowned publications like Time, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and others. His clients include Nike, Lee Jeans, Element Skateboards among others. Check out his website for more of his work, you will not be disappointed. More Boogie at artcoup.com

5 Things To Know About The Show

HBO's new series "How to Make It in America" comes from the same producing team as "Entourage" -- but the thing you should know about it before anything else is that, aside from exploring the bond between guys and airing on HBO, it's not a whole lot like "Entourage."

Whereas Vinny Chase and his boys made it to the top and never really fell that far from it, "How to Make It" is about what it's like to be on the bottom of the heap and looking for a way up. "It's a street-level show," is how creator Ian Edelman puts it. "It's the beginning of a journey."

The show stars Bryan Greenberg ("October Road") and Victor Rasuk ("Stop-Loss," "Raising Victor Vargas") as Ben and Cam, long-time friends and would-be fashion moguls who have big ideas but less ability to execute them. The show follows their struggles to start a denim line -- how they luck into the fabric is part of the story in Sunday's (Feb. 14) premiere -- and make their names in the business. Luis Guzman, Lake Bell, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi also star.

Here are four other things you should know going into the show.

Comedy with a side of drama. "How to Make It" has plenty of funny moments, but as with shows like "Hung," "Nurse Jackie" and "United States of Tara," it mixes in more dramatic material too ("HTMI" isn't on those shows' level yet, but its tone is similar). "It's [about] a period in life where there's a lot of hard work to be done and everything is -- you're figuring it out, there's an existential window, and there are pressures, so some things hit harder than others," Edelman says. "... It's just kind of a realism and authenticity of this moment that we're going for."

Ensemble piece. Greenberg and Rasuk are definitely the center of the show, but the rest of the cast -- particularly Guzman, who plays Cam's ex-con uncle, and Bell, as Ben's ex-girlfriend -- have their own stories.

"Lake Bell has a much more significant role than what you see in the pilot," Greenberg says. "The audience can follow what it's like to be a single girl in her 20s trying to make it as an interior designer, and also dealing with the aftermath of a breakup and running into your ex at different functions, dating a new guy, and just questioning her career choice and life in the city. Eddie Kaye Thomas [as a high-school buddy of Ben's who's now a Wall Street big shot] is really funny. And Luis ... we end up borrowing money from him, and there are consequences that come from borrowing money from him."

Chemistry experiment. Despite that, though, the show wouldn't work if Greenberg and Rasuk didn't spark together, and they really do. Rasuk has infectious energy, and Cam serves as a great counterpoint to Greenberg's more serious Ben. "When Bryan and Victor first met each other, we couldn't have been happier," Edelman says. "It was like instant chemistry. Victor is from the Lower East Side" -- much of the show is set in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn -- "and Bryan has spent so much time living there. ... They were like instant friends -- you could feel their back story. It was like a chemical thing; we couldn't plan for it. We were fantastically lucky."

Will they make it? Not right away ("It's not called 'Made It in America,'" Greenberg jokes). Edelman says the show is about "baby steps," the little victories and setbacks on the road to achieving a dream. "We don't want to slow the storytelling down too much [but we want to] find the joys along the way," he adds. "But it's a nonstop hustle and a nonstop grind. You take a step forward, and it's three steps back. They're kind of figuring it out."

by Rick Porter - Zap2it.com

Have You Seen Wilfredo Gomez?

If you got in early on "How to Make It in America" by watching it on HBO On Demand, or the sneak peak that HBO leaked to their youtube channel, you know all about Wilfredo Gomez. In case you didn't, he's a pro skater that was introduced in episode 1 that Ben and Cam got to sponsor their very own line of skate decks.  Wilfredo is the most legit skateboarder in NYC, at least according to Cam.

Keep your eyes open. The Legend of Wilfredo Gomez is just getting started. Word on the street is there is some video coming our way featuring the sickest skaters around.  They might not have their own MTV show or video game, but these guys are the most respected skaters in the game by those in the know. Look for Eric  Koston, Gino Iannucci, Giovanni Reda and others to drop some knowledge on exactly who is Wilfredo Gomez, and where he is hiding. Stay tuned, and check out these pics for a sneak peak.

Video: “How To Make It” Extended Intro

An extended version of the "How to Make It in America" intro. Song by Aloe Blacc.