The Hot Blog

« BYOB - Gobble Gobble | Main | Do Any Film Critics Actually Review Films Anymore? »

November 25, 2009

Thankful 2009

Another year has come and gone… and oh what a year it has been. A new president has made remarkable progress in less than a year… even if self-hating liberals and conservatives alike are as ridiculously demanding as a wide-eyed hyperactive 5-year-old on Christmas morning. Regardless, the world is a significantly safer and saner place this year than at this time last year.

But not so much in the film business, where we now get hourly “keynote” speeches, one more desperate, anxious, and misguidedly hopeful than the next about the future of the film business. It’s not that I don’t think there is hope… I just think it will look a lot more familiar than some seem to think. But then again, I know the difference between a delivery system and a revolution of form.

Sympathy for studio execs, indie and major, is hard to come by. But understanding that the world is a place of relative pain in each of our lives, there are a lot of Tiny Tims and Bob Cratchetts going into this holiday season who were not so just a few months ago. The Gold Rush of the indie business is over. And because there isn’t actually a need to bail outs in the billions, the industry remains in a kind of blurry denial of what is happening. Set The Budgetary Wayback Machine for 1999 and you’re getting pretty close. And if you can’t live with that, you probably should be out there trying to bilk little old ladies out of their live savings… or opening a movie industry website intended to take down the trades.

My sympathies to my friends and enemies who are trying to find things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I have been there too… and it will pass, albeit not necessarily in the way you might expect. Embrace change. Seek fulfillment. Keep moving forward.

I have been fortunate. This annual column has lived through roughcut.com, VoicesOfHollywood, a return to The Hot Button on its own site, and now, having been the last column ever of The Hot Button last year, makes its way to The Hot Blog.

And so…

Things I Am Thankful For – Episode 12: 2009

I Am Blinded With Thanks For my wife and the baby boy she has carried with relative each and little complaint. Having never been one to date decades out of my age range, I was not so sure, in my 40s, that I would ever have a child to raise. Cameron is due to join us before the end of the year.

I Am Thankful That movies are more available to view than ever in the history of mankind… though primarily on a box that, at its biggest, is much, much smaller than a movie theater screen. As an American, I feel that this is a greater blessing for us in this country than any other country, as our domestic film system tends to keep us from all but a tiny amount of content from the rest of the world. Of course, we are still steps away from truly open post-theatrical access to full libraries from across the globe. But all that stands in the way is the will to open the floodgates, really starting with international distributors accepting the idea that a US windfall is a thousand-to-one shot. I want access to it all. But I also respectfully understand that I am part of a pretty small group of potential spenders in this area… and that a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue from a market is more than nothing in revenue. Not a revolution. Just an opportunity.

I Thank every person in the film business who manages to fight off cynicism… without faking it. Thing is, we are all faced with the hard truths of this industry all the time. And only a crazy person could ignore them. But so many people rise above and find the passion in little things that are not touched by the harshness of realities of money, ego, and incompetence.

My Thanks Go Out To Robert Zemeckis, Jim Cameron, Pixar, Peter Jackson, Spike Jonze, The Coens, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sam Raimi, Steven Soderbergh, The Clooney, and whoever I am forgetting for pushing it and pushing it hard. You might love, like, dislike, or hate the films they delivered this year, but no one can reasonably argue that they weren’t reaching for new and exciting territory intheir film work while they have the clear opportunity to do the same old, same old as much as they like.

I Am Thankful that Kathryn Bigalow found Mark Boal’s work and delivered the best film of her career because she had the best material she’s ever had to work with.

I Thank kids for still being desperate to get to the movies on opening weekend. There is endless complaining about the film industry becoming an outpost for dumb movies meant to mesmerize under-20s in blissful overstimulation. But the hard truth is, those “dumb” kids are the ones who keep the whole machine greased with green, allowing all the “more valuable” films to get made and distributed.

I Couldn’t Be More Thankful that business at MCN is good again this Oscar season. We are sold out of our primary ad inventory through Phase One for the fifth time in the last six awards seasons. I wasn’t really sure whether that would be the case this year, in spite of the expansion to 10 Best Picture nominees, because budgets have gotten tight and there has been some new competition that has been fierce about self-promotion, if not so always much about delivering quality content. This success allows us to continue to build the site and its branches for another year. This is a privileged position in a time when a lot of film journalists are suffering or changing jobs altogether.

I Am Thankful Though Confused that we haven’t had to listen to a wave of “life sucks for women in Hollywood” rhetoric around the release of Twilight: New Moon, which was directed by a man, taking over for a female director. The fact is, unless I have missed something, only two films in the domestic Top 100 grossers in 2009 was directed by women: Anne Fletcher and The Proposal and Nora Ephron and Julie & Julia. 2%. Oy.

I Thank producers like Ted Hope and Christine Vachon for continuing to put a public face on and demanding a public conversation about the indie film business. Mark Cuban too, though he comes to in from a rather different angle. I don’t always agree with these folks or others about where things are going. But I am so appreciative that they don’t just put their heads down and do their work. They build community.

I Thank David Carr, aka The Bagger, for a few good years of his wit and wry wisdom. He is already missed on the crazy, silly, sometimes thrilling awards beat.

I Am Thankful For the support of so many in the industry, but particularly ID/PR and 42 West in the still growing effort of what is now called DP/30. We have shot more than 100 interviews this year, all but a few in the full 30 minute format. And as I do these I find that every interview subject has a fascinating story to tell, even when I don’t see it coming. I just have to listen. I just have to ask. More and more, this is my life’s work. And with so many interviews, with such a wide range of subjects, I feel more like I am documenting a segment of this corner of the industry for posterity. There are still many bumps along the road, including iKlipz going out of business without notice and at least 30 of my interviews falling off the face of the earth with their exit. But we are working on recovering at least flash video versions of those. And I have an entire bank of 2 terabyte hard drives housing the footage I have and will have in future.

And I Thank, Specifically, every actor, writer, director, cinematographer, editor, producer, studio exec, and film writer who has been willing to give their time to me and, ultimately, to you, willing to take the chance of having a 30 minute conversation, without pre-interview, without assurances of subjects that won’t be wandered into, and with good humor, good intentions, and an open spirit. The subject makes the interview. Without a willingness to play, there would be nothing worth watching. And with some immodestly, I think pretty much every conversation has been worth spending 30 minutes having.

I Am Thankful that Ben & Ben are done. I’m not sad that Roeper isn’t back. And I am pleased for AO Scott and Michael Phillips, though I must admit that as an objective observer, I don’t expect the show to continue for too much longer. Middle-aged polite white guys, even when they disagree, are not exactly watercooler material. But the show is honorable again. And Ebert’s legacy is no longer being tarnished. Meanwhile, Roger is writing like a 20something again, overcoming still-problematic health conditions to find the joy in continuing his life’s work.

I Thank the truthtellers. You know who you are... and aren’t.

I Am Thankful for all the new people coming into my little corner of the film media business. Things no longer seem too quiet. I no longer worry about getting stale. I am challenged, both by considering new ideas and by becoming clearer on things I absolutely do not want to do in my work, as a writer, as an editor, and as a publisher.

I Thank (Insert Deity Of Choice Here) for the entire Movie City News team. It has been a challenging year. And not all the challenges are in the past. But at the risk of sounding glib, I truly believe that challenges come into our lives for a reason. This doesn’t make death or illness a good thing. But we move forward. We adjust. We prioritize. We face the deep, dark, truthful mirror. But so much of the time, we just do the work, forgetting the reason or the response. It becomes about the job. It becomes about the pride of authorship. It becomes, as it should, about doing the best work we can as journalists, not worrying about the echo coming back, just that what bounces against that wall will be worth the effort, worthy of being signed with our names. Each year, I have named the team… but they know who they are and you have my thanks.

As always, I Thank Scot Safon and the late Andy Jones for dragging me onto the internet all those years ago.

Finally, I Thank all of you who put up with me, in cyberprint, day after day, year after year. I hope to make the experience worth having, at least some of the days and some of the years.

Posted by dpoland at November 25, 2009 05:25 PM

Comments

Posted by: Kristopher Tapley at November 25, 2009 05:59 PM

Posted by: Blackcloud at November 25, 2009 06:01 PM

Posted by: IOIOIOI at November 25, 2009 06:41 PM

Posted by: Foamy Squirrel at November 25, 2009 08:38 PM

Posted by: Krillian at November 25, 2009 11:56 PM

Posted by: anghus at November 26, 2009 10:47 AM

Posted by: mysteryperfecta at November 26, 2009 11:05 AM

Posted by: Geoff at November 26, 2009 11:26 AM

Posted by: don lewis (was PetalumaFilms) at November 26, 2009 01:34 PM

Posted by: Tam at November 26, 2009 02:37 PM

Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at November 28, 2009 04:31 AM

Post a comment