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September 02, 2009
DP/30: State of the Union - Bill Mechanic
From Paramount to Disney to Fox to his production company, Pandemonium, Bill Mechanic has been a central figure in the film industry for over 25 years. He was there for the growth of VHS as a sell-thru product, the introduction of DVD, and the corporatization of the film business. He even oversaw the highest grossing movie of all-time.
He was an easy choice for the first DP/30: State of the Union... interviews with the people behind the scenes about the industry, past, present, and future...
Below is a short bite of the interview. The entire conversation is here.
Posted by dpoland at September 2, 2009 02:31 PM
Comments
David, congrats and thanks for a very interesting interview. Great insights and comments, especially about studio heads ... from someone who ran one!
Looking forward to the next in the series.
Posted by: The Pope ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 2, 2009 03:40 PM
One of the smartest, most astute execs in town. Always has been. And a risk-taker to boot.
And so true what he said about unlimited choice, not to mention the discounting of prices in the still nascent blu-ray market, diminishing the value of your property.
Nice interview, DP.
Posted by: Aris P at September 2, 2009 10:25 PM
Interesting that he would say Zodiac and Button are better made than Fight Club. More mature? Ok, but FC is as well directed as those films, I don't see the huge leap that he's talking about. Would have liked to hear more about Titanic also.
Posted by: martin at September 2, 2009 11:06 PM
He's wearing a mic. But that's not his mic we're hearing. Sounds like the built-in camera mic. Very low and roomy. Is that a recording issue or was the wrong track used in post?...
Posted by: mutinyco at September 3, 2009 02:36 PM
Also on that note, David you should turn off your cell phone (and anyone else's in the room), as we keep hearing that annoying buzzing noise phones make when they're about to receive info and they're near any kind of transmitter.
Posted by: Aris P at September 3, 2009 02:46 PM
I heard that cell phone buzz too. Since Dave's voice is stronger I would guess that the wrong track was used, the videographer probably had channel 1 for Bill's mic and channel 2 for the on-camera mic (backup mic basically) and ch 2 is what got used... or the other possibility is that both tracks 1 and 2 are in the clip, but track 1 is much lower level-wise than 2 so it sounds like we're just hearing the on cam mic.
Posted by: martin at September 3, 2009 05:21 PM
Great interview. Not sure about the backlighting with the window, but a very interesting look into his thinking. thanks David.
Posted by: torpid bunny at September 4, 2009 09:33 AM