A Call to Consumers

This morning, as I read an email response from a rep at one of the ad agencies I met with in New York last week, I couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened by his words... “the 30 second spot is dead.”

First off, what is it with people? They seem so happy to be the kings of these glib declarations; every time technology supposedly trounces another piece of our analogue history they rush be the first to proclaim something dead before its time. Film is dead, records are dead, your parents are dead... blah blah blah, but don’t worry, they’re being replaced with something far shinier, more efficient, and death-proof! No seriously, I replaced your parents with cookware; learn to fry an egg it builds character.

Let’s be clear here, when I say the word “disheartened,” I of course mean I’m tired of this band wagon mentality that permeates our stinkin’ industry, the fools who jump from one piece of tech to the next – EACH and every time claiming it’s the nail in the coffin on film; the ones who say the future of Hollywood is on mobile phones (a big salute to you especially); the ones who think 3D will be the band-aid over the wounds that story suffers weekly with each release of these safe bet remakes and reboots... I do NOT mean that I question my ability to survive as a broadcast content provider in the midst of a sea change. For you see we have built our boat in these waters and it’s made of WOOD (wood floats, silly).

Now, you might be asking yourself “who is this human turd man who defends the advertisement of corporate America?!” And I will respond thusly: I am not a TURD I’m a man and I have feelings!... Look, I am also no fan of the bombardment of consumer products we all live through daily. I am not a fan of billboards and bus stop ads; I do not revel in 25 pages of cologne bathed half naked men and women airbrushed into oblivion before I even get to the contents pages of my latest copy of Guns and Ammo Magazine. NO SIR! But damn it if I don’t know a single person who isn’t just as excited about the commercials in the Super Bowl as they are the game itself.

Because when commercial advertising is good, it speaks to us on a fundamental level, it makes us laugh, it makes us cringe, it creates nostalgia -- it becomes part of our social consciousness. It also pays for our goddamn television production.

It’s so funny, when I discovered Hulu I thought I found the holy grail of television content distribution. What do you mean I don’t have to wait for reruns of a missed show?... in fact – HOLY SHIT!!! I can actually see entire seasons of programming? Back episodes at my fingertips? Any time I want you say? The networks are be-HIND this?!? Oh... well what are those little stupid dots on the timeline... commercials? Well... it’s only one at a time I guess I can live with that.

I actually prefer it to Tivo. You have to sit through an occasional commercial, so what? It’s better than sitting through 5 at a time so it’s a step up from standard broadcast. Also, It requires nothing of me except that I have a computer in my lap and 27 minutes of time to waste on another episode of Fraggle Rock. I don’t have to pay for cable, I don’t have to have any sort of television signal coming into my life, I don’t have to schedule recordings and delete old episodes when it fills up... and I can still catch my episodes of the Daily Show, South Park, and anything else pretty much. Free.

But this is not to be so. Hulu is turning over to the evils of pay service, because in this digital age people still feel the need to seek out ways to absorb this painstakingly crafted content without paying the piper. It’s ad revenue that creates the ability to produce and air these shows. If not ad revenue it’s back end dividends from the DVD market or pay service sites. But of course, like everything else, DVD was proclaimed dead as well -- at the hands of the potent mix of digital piracy and the still hazy future of distribution.

Maybe people are right, maybe commercials are shitty, but let me tell you I watch plenty of shows that I would never want to own or pay for in general, so I am happy to sit through commercials if it means I don’t need to buy a DVD or pay for the content. If I look for alternatives that don’t require me to pay for it or watch commercials, I’m neutering the ability for the shows I watch to be made in the first place.

Let’s be real though, the reason people are so burned out on commercials is because, by and large, they suck. But once a year, and on a few very rare occasions in between we are blessed with a competition of advertising that has many times lead to some of the most memorable television moments in the history of the medium, so socially or comically relevant that they are recorded, nay, burned into our pop collective.

Where’s the beef. The Budweiser Frogs. Mean Joe Greene. Got Milk?

IF the 30 second spot is to die, as so proclaimed by the agency ass hat who’s passing the buck on his own industry before doing a damn thing about it, if this is to be so – it is his own damn fault. If commercials were as consistently entertaining as the content they pull us away from, if advertisers were better at their jobs than they think they are, we’d have no reason to switch the channel.

In the end, I’m not at all sad at the idea of the 30 second spot getting a serious run for its money. They need to step up their game and create engaging content, learn to keep us interested. A commercial may be 30 seconds but it’s still filmmaking to its core. Make it good and people will happily watch.

-Nick Harris

A Call To Arms

I try very hard not to mix politics and business. It's the equivalent to the separation of church and state. The two can be an explosive, debilitating cocktail of destruction when they become one. Today, however, I cannot silence the noise I'm about to make here.

PBS, ever becoming more and more a fascinating venue for gorgeous cinematography and entertaining programming, plays one hour of Democracy Now every weekday nite. Sometimes I watch, sometimes I shut my eyes and ears tight to the chaos of the world hoping to preserve a long, calm nite of sleep. Couldn't do it last nite. The persistence of Amy Goodman won. I sat on the edge of my bed listening to her report the student protests at the University of Puerto Rico. Something, I've come to find out, not happening in the mainstream press. 24 days these people have been occupying the university grounds...a campus of 65000 students...protesting the $100 million in budget cuts. They are being starved, their family members trying to get them water being arrested, riot police surrounding them, threatening them. Don't forget, PR is United States territory. This ain't a third world dictatorial situation.

Several recent scenarios flashed before my eyes: Texas changing the context of history books, deleting facts, twisting truths and calling it education; schools in urban Kansas City and other districts going bankrupt; Arizona eliminating ethnic studies; the continuation of the failed No Child Left Behind program, and a presidential candidate vehemently promising to make the education of our nation a top priority. The dumbing down of America by the hands of the trusted. More frightening to me than any missile threat from the east.

And there went any possibility of a peaceful nite's sleep.

Now. I make it a daily event to watch one full hour of quality television every nite. Sometimes my sleep suffers and I go into two hours, sometimes three, if it's all just too good to turn off and my discipline is at a low, but most of the time I keep it at bay. It's my learning tool. It's my daily industry news. It's my replacement for the terrible cinema taking over the theatrical world. It's my hope.

I've devoured the first season of Mad Men recently and found it to be the most overall well written, filmed, designed, and executed show I've ever come across. It's intelligent and daring, edgy, bold, so so entertaining. The characters, the story, the concept, so well developed. The acting and, quite obviously, the directing are fantastic. Camera movements, lighting, art design, dialogue, sound...a Valhalla of moving pictures!

The crazy thing is I initially rejected this show. It was a Christmas present from Nick. I wholly appreciated the thought but questioned him on his decision to offer this show to me as a gift. It was HBO and Showtime I ranted and raved about incessantly. Why this silly new offering from AMC? How could one of the lower channels possibly compete with the genius of pay TV serials?

I had caught up to all those glorious programs a couple months after Christmas and rather than go back and re-watch, definitely not something I'm adverse to, I decided to give the "lesser" series a try. Three episodes later, at 3 am in the morning, I was singing the praises of AMC and thanking Nick for the intro to Mad Men from the bottom of my heart. He had opened up Pandora's box of television shows for me. All 900 channels were now open for my inspection at the first suggestion of greatness hinted at by anyone I considered to have semi good TV taste.

I've now gone through Mad Men, Breaking Bad (my pick-my-jaw-up-off-of-the-floor series), United States of Tara, The Office (UK) & Party Down. I branched out into Showtime with Weeds, Dexter, and Nurse Jackie giving each of them the benefit of the doubt at the behest of the first season's usual discomfort of watching the actors get into character and the not-having-enough-money-yet-for-a-really-good-production obstacles. I looked under the layers, focused on the plot lines, listened to the writing and let it all move me, teach me, and allow me to escape.

No need to say HBO warranted absolutely no prompting. I've followed everything from Deadwood to the Wire to Carnaval to Flight of the Conchords to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Extras, True Blood, the Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Summer Heights High, Big Love, Bill Maher, Sex In The City, Tell Me You Love Me, In Treatment, John Adams, Def Poetry...!!!! I even delved into the world of HBO Latino and got swallowed up by Alice, Capadocia, and Filhos do Carnaval!

See???? And there's no end to this whirlwind of fantastic. Treme, Ricky Gervais, Hung, and the Pacific loom on the horizon. No kid in a candy store could be happier than I am dancing with the fine work of so many TV artists and executives. And that's something I NEVER ever thought I would say.

I recently decided to give the networks a chance. With everyone raving about Lost and Glee, and me with my new found trust in TV and tolerance of other peoples viewing advice, I did it. And I'm hooked. Glee is a world of funny and talented. It levels me after a high anxiety hour of Lost. And yes, Lost has my heart racing by the end of almost every episode so far. I'm only a few episodes into the first season but, man, I am happily impressed and pleasantly surprised. Oh, ya, it's network television no doubt. All the main characters are good looking and perfect. Dimples and cerulean blues. The leader (so far) is a man. The women a little non existent in the strength of the story line except as victims. The danger perilous but usually overcome by the end of the hour. But it's good, suspenseful stuff. And the dialogue far from normal network cheesy.

As I watched Charlie hanging from a jungle tree last nite, seemingly dead, my heart went into fearful over drive and I had to remind myself it was network TV I was watching. Not cable. Only cable kills the main characters and leaves everything so wonderfully unpredictable. It easily calmed me as I knew Charlie would live to see another production day. But the show's creators threw a curve ball at me that almost had me jumping out of bed whistling and hollering, showering pride on the industry I struggle to survive in. Charlie lay dead. His rescuers given up. Could it be? I wondered. Could it really be? Alas, no. The hero doctor gave it one last go and our victim gasped back to life. Even still, a well done scene. JJ Abrams just moved high up into the ranks of top notch directors for me. I even compared the guy to the untouchable and seemingly impassable Spielberg. If the quality and boldness of what film once was (and what TV has become) existed today would JJ Abrams give Spielberg a run for his money? Would his film work surpass the genius behind Jaws, Close Encounters, and Raiders of the Lost Ark? Sadly, we probably won't find out anytime soon. Not with the junk studios are dumping on the pill popping, food poisoned, and chemically laden masses that we are all a part of.

Which brings me right back to politics. Education is information. Information means making choices. Making choices based on educated thought means quality innovation for an ever growing population. As the American system of education declines further than we've seen it since the birth of this idealistic nation...As public schools and universities run out of money...As doors close on those below the upper middle class line...It's crystal clear obvious there needs to be something else to replace the loss of intelligence we will all be victims to. Now's the time to be patriotic. Now's the time to refresh the tree of liberty. Now's the time to put down the apathy and look through the propaganda. Eisenhower's military-industrial complex is quite possibly upon us for without education there is only war, poverty, tyranny.

Ask yourself what each one of the shows I mentioned in this blog have in common and you should realize that it is intelligence. They are all clever and unpredictable. They are certainly there to create revenue, sell commercials but not in the damaging way it has been since the advent of the TV. Each series draws upon real life. Each series looks at the motivations of real people. Looks at the paths of strife that have been our lot in history. Some series, like the Wire, are written by people who have lived and breathed trauma. Others, like Lost, are fully fictional scenarios that offer explanations to human behavior, governance, and destruction. But they all offer an education of sorts. If our government and our schools are not going to do it then we, as entertainers, creators, artists and producers can. What better way to learn than through entertainment? What more fulfilling career to have than one that supports open minds and free thought? What better payoff than one that lets everyone have a piece of the pie?

And so this is a call to arms. Pick up your weapons. Your pens, your paper, your paints, your guitars, your drums, your microphones, your cameras, your laptops, your editing bays, your persuasive natures, your fast talking abilities, your confidence, your pride, your voices. Pick them up and hold them high. Move swift and be creative. Without the artists & entertainers leading the way social progress stands still. - TKS

A Call to Filmmakers

Hollywood is paralyzed in it's fear.  Studio executives insist on making bets so safe it's absurd.  Somewhere right now, a panel of marketing experts, film industry veterans and social media savants stream live in a vain attempt to address the same unanswerable questions:

Is that Great Hollywood Bounty a thing of the past?  How will movies make money in the digital era of micro-audiences, piracy, and streaming video?  How will we make a living in a saturated, one-dollar-a-rental-Redbox-market, with so little space for theatrical distribution? 

We producers, writers, and directors, are preoccupied with article after article addressing these questions, no more certain or satisfied than if we hadn't even read the articles in the first place.  Meanwhile the battle for the soul of our culture hangs in the balance, and I hate to say it but culture is losing.

Today's teenagers are supposed to identify with remakes, reboots, sequels, and incessant comic book movies they've known since they were young enough to start appreciating movies.  Copies of copies defining a generation, coming from those that came before them --  willingly supplied by us.

Where's the sense of outrage?  And more importantly, why comic book movies?  Was this the unobtainable "We'll-get-there,-pop" dream Shakespeare had in mind all along?  Really?  A Jonah Hex movie?  A Deadpool movie?  (Not to mention the fact that the guy that played Deadpool is also playing Green Lantern?)  -- We're not even talking about the staples anymore, this is the crap left over.  Why?

Of course any industry lives or dies by economics and higher ROI.  Money.  These safe bets with built in audiences are a better guarantee for investors -- so say the executive sages that run this town.  

But friends, money, and money alone isn't good enough.  Money is no excuse.  Money vs. creativity is a false argument, and money alone is a short-sighted illusion.  It's the same oversimplification that doomed Bear-Sterns and Washington Mutual (and perhaps our whole economy if the government hadn't intervened).  One need look no further than the sub-prime mortgage crisis to see this truth in practice.  As long as great sums of money were flowing, the experts that run the great banks of wall street never asked why, and virtually all the tycoons forgot what they were there to do to begin with.  Trading worthless mortgages at top dollar, they forgot their purpose, and it nearly destroyed the U.S. banking system.

Asking why, always why, in the midst of good times or bad, is the difference between failed societies, failed civilizations, failed economies, and fundamentally sound ones.  Are we fulfilling the true purpose of our industry?  Are we providing entertainment and culture to our society?

You can argue that comic book movies, remakes, reboots and sequels can be entertaining.  It's possible, but it's doing a pretty half-assed job, wouldn't you agree?  It's a copy, a traced sketch, a re-used tissue.  Yeah, it'll get the job done, but we aren't just in the business of entertainment.  Our business is also about culture, and anyone that says otherwise is deaf, blind, and dumb.  People once admired poetry en masse and it defined a culture; people once read fiction en masse.  Film is the new standard bearer. 

I'm not even talking about adult dramas, or avant garde cinema, or foreign films nobody can understand.  I'm talking about films with heart!  An honest stab at original content!  Films that jump off the 3 act structure every now and then.  Exceptions!  Risks! -- Whether they be dramas, comedies or horrors.  Films that respect their audiences instead of patronizing them.

Why do we re-make the same movie when the original story is sufficient?  Why are sequels made that don't further a story?

And to you independents: dispell your egos.  Cast it from yourselves!  While, money and only money could be the reason a film as sick, useless, and morally barren as "The Human Centipede" could ever be made, ego is the ingredient that inspires such films.  The sense that your work deserves to be seen, no matter what, is not enough.  While you concern yourselves with bottom line, marketing, and potential audiences (in pre-production like you're supposed to be doing, right?), think of this as well:

Films are reflections of the people that make them and the era in which they are made.  What kind of a movie do you want to make?  What do you want to say during your short time above ground?

Hollowed out culture marks a civilization in decay.  The responsibility falls on you to provide some of that culture -- and don't get me wrong, I believe even goofball comedies are part of the solution.  But don't pass the buck.  Don't blame audiences for accepting copies of copies; don't give into the easy dollar.  We've got a job to do.

Charles Rhoads