Night In The Past

M. Night Shyamalan went down to the House of Mouse last night to warn them, and any other studios who may consider releasing films to theaters and in other formats such as DVD and VOD on the same date, that they may face some irritated theater owners… and retread directors who can’t accept change or come up with a new twist for their movies.

Claiming to be an artist, a purist, who simply wants to preserve that special feeling of watching a film smelling everyone else’s popcorn, stepping on gum, asking people to be quiet or sit down, fighting over seats (when the theater is even full, which is rare) and being hit with spitballs, he whipped the audience of theater owners into a frenzy. Yes, for M. it’s a special experience. He still remembers that special moment in the big theater when all those people realized Bruce Willis was dead…. Gasp. Speaking at ShowEast last night in Orlando, he exhorted theater owners to refuse to show films with day and date releases.

He promised to stop making films, if the studios considering this new marketing tactic have their way. Being such a dedicated artist, or at least independently wealthy, he even offered up his house, since it was bought with that tainted DVD money.

The reason directors and studios, from Soderburg, to Weinsteins & Disney, are planning the change is, first of all, not all people prefer to watch films in a theater. While box office receipts rarely clear $9B/year, DVD sales have been steadily climbing and now gross well over $30B/year. The American and worldwide public clearly prefers the DVD format, and when people can stream the films into their entertainment centers easily, they won’t even bother running to Blockbuster or even mailing those deadly slow envelopes.

The other reason is that it costs the studios lots of money to promote a theatrical release, only to have to duplicate those costs all over again six months later, after everyone’s forgotten about the original buzz.

To see someone who calls himself an artist show such callous disregard for his audience is sickening. Films aren’t made for theater owners, despite M’s whipped up ranting about how they hold all the cards. If theater owners refuse to run a film just because people have the choice to see that film in a variety of formats, they deserve to become the empty citadels of the past. And, if “artists” like Night care more about controlling how viewers can watch their film than about making films, then let them stop making films, we’ll have lost nothing.

Wal-Mart's Double Vision

While Michael Moore is still working on his expose of the medical-industrial complex, the next big detonation in explosive American documentaries is already creating a firestorm. Robert Greenwald’s take-down “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” is about to be shopped at American Film Market…. but not alone. It will be competing with a conveniently timed Wal-Mart loveletter called “Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why That Drives Some People C-r-a-z-y” directed by Ron Galloway, who swears that he really, really feels that Wal-Mart improves the lives of workers and communities, and really, really didn't take any money from Wal-Mart.

By another strange coincidence, Wal-Mart yesterday put its press machine into high gear promoting Galloway’s film and denouncing Greenwald’s. It hasn’t done too much good, Greenwald has already secured distribution both domestically and internationally, while the film that can’t understand why Wal-mart drives some people (like indigent child laborers around the world) “C-r-a-z-y”, will probably only be shown to Wal-Mart drones (employees)… over and over and over, starting with its premiere November 10 near Wal-Mart’s company headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas (film capital of… Arkansas?)

Greenwald, who also produced and directed “Outfoxed:Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” and “Uncovered: The Iraq War” examines Wal-Mart’s exploitive business practices and will hopefully see the same kind of attention that has highlighted other abuses of power, corporate and otherwise.

Clive Davis: Music Visionary or Label Wonk?

I was just watching a DVD of the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Arista. Unfortunately, it's just the concert, no dirt, not even a fucking interview, what a gyp. Other than Berry Gordy, Clive is one of the very few to achieve fame for heading a record label. Dubbed "the man with the golden ear", he seems (repeat, seems) beloved by the scores of artists he discovered. The list of them reads like a who's who of music: Janis, the Dead, Springsteen, Santana, Whitney Huston, Alicia Keys etc. etc. Alicia says that when the she first met him, as a teen, he was the first industry person to ask her what HER vision was for her music.

Most recently, he endowed a program at NYU to promote record production as an art, which, it can be. So, as label wonks go, I guess he at least has some real sense of what's good and tries to send the right message to his artists. But, this guy is the enemy right? He exemplifies the excessive lifestyle of someone who has built an empire off the backs of genius artists who would have surely found success anyway, and would have been able to profit from it fairly if not for company men like Clive, who is a lawyer for god's sake. I'd sooner forgive Madonna because at least she is an artist. She made a statement, she deserves to rape and pillage young artists.

Clive, I don't know. Yes, he gets it. He did realize music was changing. I guess he was the only label exec at Monterey Pop in '67 and built a career up off of that. He does have a good sense for what people like. Maybe all the stoned hippies cheering, clued him in. Maybe had a little Kool-Aid himself... him & Bill Graham... soul brothers. Is that a legitimate basis for building a fortune? Not any more. He's a dinosaur. We'll never see more like him. As a matter of fact, that's pretty much why the label he founded dumped him, shortly after the big wingding. In the end, he showed them how hard it is to run a successful label. It's something only the old style shysters can do, you know. Them, the internet embracers and the big hip hoppers with cred... the real ganstas. He started his own label and beat them at their own game. So, they came sniveling back to restore him to his former, and I guess now everpresent, glory.

As a matter of fact, Clive is now at the center of a red-hot power struggle over the giant joined powerhouse Sony BMG Music. The two companies live a precarious harmony as equal members of both former companies make up their board. Howard Stringer, subject of previous posts surprisingly replaced Mariah svengali, Tommy Mottolla with Andy Lack, his longtime friend, as head of the division. But now, at Clive's prodding, BMG has turned on Andy. He's out. How did Clive do it? Oh, you're gonna love this. Yes, Shawn Fawning and Wayne Rosso, urchins of the music industry. Their tarnish lives on. There were lots of problems with Andy, who had no experience running a label, something you need a lifetime, like Clive, to learn. But, his relationship with these guys was probably easy for Clive to exploit.

And by the way Clive, don't you know it's tacky to talk about how Janis wanted to fuck you and you refused? We can see what a stud you are, it's a bit late to prove your manhood now. If you had taken a pass out of class then you wouldn't be flapping your gums now. Looks like you were just chicken and now regret it. And, speaking of bad decisions, I don't care how many bucks you made off it, I will never forgive you for inflicting Mandy on the public. Can you even begin to appreciate how many Barry Manilow songs I've had to listen to, thanks to you? When you're counting your money, just think of the countless millions who had to be unnecessarily euthanized. You also fucked massively with the Dead, which is largely what fueled my thirty year hate/hate relationship with the labels. You got quite a legacy there.

I Want My iFilm

This is the second high profile internet oriented alliance this month. The other being the deal between Google and Sun. MTV announced today that its parent company, Viacom, a huge entertainment comglomerate, is buying iFilm for $49M. Although iFilm doesn't work on Mac OS and may soon be beat out by internet streaming, and now iVideo and has lots of other limitations, such as the fact that most of the films are shorts, it has built a reputation as a Hollywood buzz-maker. The P2Ps have similarly become buzz-makers for music and are becoming aquisition targets themselves, as they filter for copyright protected songs and now increasingly, video files. Bram Cohen, founder of BitTorrent recently got $8.5M from Doll Capitol to form a legitimate movie download site. Obviously, this will become a major aquisition target itself. So, we're watching entertainment companies merge with internet companies as we take off for Dotcom II here.
The name of the game is what you will be hearing more and more in the coming years. You may soon be doing it yourself. I am. It's fun, it's expressive, it's called "user-generated content". Make your music, make your video, make your video game or website. Soon it'll be on an iFilm type site, or one of the many others I list on Intervision, which will then be bought up my some huge corporation for profit. After all, the reason Viacom bought the property is because of all the eager young eyeballs watching user-generated content there. Besides, with a name like iFilm, don't you think they were hoping for an Apple deal?

The Kid Stays In The Picture

This one is definitely worth getting on DVD, not worth seeing in its theatrical release. The bonus features outweigh a reasonably good film. It tries so hard to be an entertaining documentary but is hampered cause there’s not much to build on visually. Raw footage is crucial in a project like this and photos from a person’s life, even if taken by Eisenstadt and enhanced with After-Effects… still not up to the visual product offered in other formats.

The commentary track is, in its own right, a primer on the film industry, documentary filmmaking and point of view. Bob Evans fascinating life is the subject here and the title is taken from his book. Evans, I guess most famous for his marriage to Ali McGraw, ran Paramount Studios at a time when the film industry went through as much upheaval as the surrounding culture and Bob played the rouge role all through.

We have him to thank for more great films than Spielberg, Coppolla & Lucas combined. And, unlike those dream weavers, Evans is responsible for breakthrough films that truly changed society and showed a light on our culture. There is much to comment on, such as the pervasive power of image and how it factored so strongly in his rise and demise.

But, what really moved me, stuck with me, was actually from his acceptance speech for the Independent Spirit Award. He was presented the award by Larry King… surprising since that type of honor usually goes to a close friend, and Evans does credit Stanley Jaffe with saving his career, if not his life. So, why Larry? Evans explains.

Bob had run into Larry a few years earlier and said, “Hey Larry, you just had a quadruple bypass, you look great…. What’s the deal?” Larry’s answer stayed with Bob every day for years that he endured pure hell and it’s sticking to me too. So, here it is. He said, “Bob, it wasn’t the heart attack. It was an attack of the heart.”

He was referring to his latest young wife, with whom he was very much in love. Bob, goes on to say that his life had always been about achievement but when he softened his heart and fell in love with his own twenty-something… well, that was what it was all about. You could see the real love in this seventy something guy. Well, like Bruce Willis said, it’s all about love people.

It’s so easy to discount feeling. It’s so easy to forget what every prophet & Beatles told us, all you need is love. Here’s a guy who led an incredible, charmed life. He’s seen it all, done it all and even produced it all… and what does he think it’s all about? Love, the most powerful force in the world.