Finally completed, my short film about the trials and tribulations of a dealer trying to keep his hands clean in the murky world of nebulous illegal chemical sales.
BAME Moneyball
I was watching Moneyball the other day and one thing struck me, what if the same principles were applied to British Media?
The baseball concept was to find undervalued players to make up for budget shortfalls and showed that the system was working off a flawed concept.
To use one genre as an example, current television comedy is using a similar now flawed concept that is ripe for reinvention. From my experience, the talent scouts currently employed at the major production companies seem to follow the same tradition of discovering stars that translate well to television. By translate I mean the usual footlights type. This has worked previously in creating iconic programmes but for the last few years that way of bold thinking has fallen to the wayside. The output is all the same and the format is becoming stale because if it. Turn on the TV and innovation has all but stopped.
No matter where you look, these same faces appear on television talking the same comedic language.
Instead of trying to replicate the same televisual template, the Indies should be hiring people who think out of the box and stop searching for what would fit into the current lineup. Everyone is playing it safe for the sake of ratings but bold choices are for the brave and the rewards can be more enduring.
Two examples are The Real McCoy and Goodness Gracious Me that literally created an audience nobody thought existed. The Office also made the sheer boredom of office life gripping viewing and Chris Morris’s output is pure anarchy.
Obviously it’s not just down to the Indies as the commissioners need to be open to these unique ideas and be involved in the risk. Historically there have always been “quiet slots” to try out ideas so the gamble is minimised.
I have personally met some of the most respected, innovative and talented comics on the circuit who you will never know because their attitude doesn’t fit into the current mold. The right spotter can pick this talent and nurture them into creating something truly different. I think it’s high time to shake things up and hell, if it fails what do you lose from the small outlay?
The Road to Diversity Lenny Henry Speech 2008
The following is a transcript that was freely available on the web but since removed. I have kept this document since 2008 and regularly sent it to all my diverse media friends because of the positive mission statements Mr Henry was making. Weirdly the same statements are now being said but from a greater numbers of people in the BAME community.
Wife Comments Twitter
Currently all posts are on the twitter site: @wifemotherloco so please go there to hear more surreal commentary.
Calling from God
So, in the early 80’s American Methodist-Pentecostal televangelist and Christian charismatic, Oral Roberts asked his congregation for 4.5 million dollars otherwise “God Will Call Him Back”.
Now, let’s say he really did have that conversation so below is how i reckon it happened.
Maniac: Throwback to the Video Nasty
I recently watched Maniac starring Elijah Wood and it is a surprisingly nasty film and only watchable if you can stomach such extreme misogynistic violence. Not exactly a mainstream film itself but starring a cast-against-type Elijah Wood. The feel of the film reminded me of the other notorious cinematic shocker The New York Ripper which i decided to re-watch. Both make uncomfortable viewing due to their apparent hatred for women and nothing i have seen in the last few years has been as truly psychologically horrific. Even the pre title shocker was, well, a shocking homage to the late 70’s slasher genre.
You may have found Hostel and The Human Centipede quite extreme but for me they are just an excuse to be graphic and push the audience’s buttons, you know what to expect when you watch them. Maniac doesn’t do that.. you walk into a nightmare of a disturbed mind.
These films have somehow become watered down by-the-numbers gore films that have become predictable in recycling different variations of bloodshed and considering the heritage has moved away from internalising the putrid stench of a diseased mind.
Filmmakers are fixated on the bloodshed and not the psychological dysfunction of the character involved. If you can stomach it, watch the film and see something truly sickening.
The Harry Hill Movie Poster
Currently I am seeing the largely unexciting print campaign for The Harry Hill Movie. I first saw the poster on the side of the bus and all it had was Hill on a mobility scooter and a comedy cat face. That’s it. Oh and a few names of stars to the side. Oh, the background was yellow. This is a British made movie and should be fully expectant to have the best/ innovative marketing pushes but alas it has less originality than the promotion of his famous ITV series.
Compare this to Kidulthood and Four Lions (which won a best marketing award!) as an example. They had a great marketing angle that sold the movie in its respective genre. Sorry but Harry Hill has a funny ha!ha! face but really the public need a bit more of a sales pitch if they want to actually fork out cinema money. I mean the poster explains nothing of what the film is about apart from the fact that it’s possibly a comedy with some celebrities.
I am a huge fan of Harry Hill but the initial ad roll-out really isn’t selling the genius that he is and the genius that his script undoubtedly will be and soon to be that film that people will say “well, I checked it out on DVD and it’s pretty damn funny” actually.
The marketing department has to sell every film in the same way as Miramax did, make it an event that people want to make the effort to see. That’s why the Weinsteins are legendary in selling difficult films and as this is a low budget British film going up against the heavyweight well marketed US fare, you better be creative to get the audience that want this kind of light quirky entertainment.
OMG My Crazy Life 1 : From Victoria’s Secret Model to Role Model
One area of modern literature that i find fascinating is that curious genre: gosh-aren’t-i-lucky biographies what are on a truly eccentric level.
This particular one about the brazen underbelly of the Victoria’s Secret underbelly tickled me into doing an Audiobook reading on one of the chapters.
Next up is Field Marshall Montgomery’s Military strategy.
The road to diversity is still closed: Please take another route
It struck me over the weekend as to one thing that really needs changing for these established UK production companies/ commissioners….
Meetings with the little people! Not just for the exclusivity of the industry talent/ players.
I have spent the last five years emailing/ contacting every conceivable person in the industry for advice, information, even a foot in the door and all of it has come to nothing. If i actually get a reply, it’s some junior giving me some “not ready for primetime” guff and interestingly some of them (when i check their background) have merely done a chintzy media course and have this job straight out of college… hardly a long career in taste-making comedy. Every site says you should approach the producers but my friends and I have done that and still nada. I understand there should be a minimum standard of quality to look for but how can one judge upon an introductory email?
The problem is that unless you are established, nobody wants to give you the time of day, in fact for me, the only person who made the kind effort to meet up (in a Soho Starbucks!) was a feature producer who gave me expert wisdom which i have used. Just to be in their presence was a major achievement and has kept me going in terms of knocking on doors (very Death of a Salesman). I understand there are a large amount of us writers knocking on doors but read the next paragraph as another vision.
Now the flip-side is that a friend’s wife ,who is a writer, was in Los Angeles and ended up having meetings with select industry folk. Simple, no having to hack through the system. Whether anything comes of it is one thing but you get to see a face and talk about the ideas you have. I know the US is a meeting orientated culture and the UK people are busy but really, they should have a culture of setting time aside for meetings to scout new talent. They honestly don’t know how big the talent pool is. I do as i am networked with the most talented people still “hitting the bricks”
Personally as i am a comedy writer i have met indie producer/ directors who have said they will forward me to the established companies (of which i shan’t name!) but i hear nothing back. Even just a sit down chat with someone can be enough to keep the spirits up.
Karate Cops cult movie mentalism
In a bizarre guilt ridden confession I have been watching insufferable crap like The Wolverine and want to poke my eyes out for such sinful behavior.
To get myself back on track i have viewed crap-that-knows-is’s-crap like this curiously odd travesty of the cop genre. This flick has it all, low budget, shot on video, bad acting, sub par martial arts, tacky action setpieces, a plot held together by a thin piece of video-string and my personal favourite, a black cop who is literally doing a rip off of Eddie Murphy a la Beverly Hills Cop. These mentalists actually try to out macho each other in a kind of poor man’s Crocket and Tubbs.
This opening will give you a taster of what to expect and yes, it’s hardly going to win awards but will be far more entertaining than the densely plotless megabudget shite that is lining the multiplexes.
enjoy