Ted, I seriously applaud you for saying the quiet part loud but I also have to point out that there have been many of us (mostly women from what I’ve seen) that have been screaming about this from the cheap seats for a long time. It is beyond frustrating and yet intensely validating that now that you are saying it, something will most likely change. We need to bring in new leaders and force the change we want but also not be afraid of change as a whole. If you talk to anyone who knows me, they will tell you that I am never afraid to speak my mind or to point out injustices when they occur. Yet many times I’m told to sit down, shut up, be compliant, wait my turn, accept the establishment. And sadly, I did that for a while. But COVID changed all that. A larger connection to people (albeit virtually) and a severe intolerance to the system caused me to speak out. I have been directly calling out organizations and more for a lack of representation. There is an entire universe of ‘non-affiliated’ independent producers. We don’t work for studios or streamers. We truly forge out on our own to get our stuff made. Yet the organizations that are supposed to be there to support us, that are happy to take our money, are not actually recognizing who we are. I’m so over it. I actually confronted the president of one of these organizations earlier this year about the lack of representation for non-affiliated independent producers and what the plan was to help them. I was told directly that there was plenty of support and that this person, who is a studio producer mind you, didn’t agree with my assessment. I wasn’t actually asking him for an opinion, I was stating an issue and asking for potential solutions. Again I was told I was wrong, ‘shut up, sit down’, etc. (and the band played on…)
I really hope that you can be the catalyst that affects this change; just know that there are many of us who’ve been fighting the good fight for a long time already. Please don’t forget us in your quest to fight the good fight.
Please help me make sure I don't miss or feel the truth of your experience and others, BD. I really appreciate the note here -- as a great deal of what I hope for is greater vocalizing within the broadest community, as well as the specific ones. Please point me in the direction when you find such expressions elsewhere. Things will get better. With contributions from all, we will keep getting closer to that supportive and fair system -- it is ours, no matter where we stand.
There's no one catalyst for this kind of thing. It's cultural. No one pays a price for being dishonest or disingenuous. If you don't discipline your children, they grow up to be that annoyance on TV or on the other side of the desk.. And women will not make it better, no matter how much they've complained.
This is a great post with so many truisms that are difficult to face. I mean that literally. Do the guilty parties look at themselves in the mirror and see, realize or fell anything. It’s hard to face oneself beyond vanity. Until one day that very personal moment changes and changes everything. Like in a movie.
How do we make even small self realization moments like that happen, where it needs to happen? How do we shake it out?
Well, I think we speak about them directly and without blame. We are capable of these things and we need to first recognize them in ourselves. Tomorrow I will list out some of the many I see/hear regularly.
No one pays a price, so they get away with it. And let's face it, we reward rudeness, dissimulation, and flat-out dishonesty so much that it's become the instrument of activists and reformers. So the bullshit gets thicker because "good people" want the ideal while ignoring its false lights and shoddy premises.
The best way to change things is to realize that moral rigor only exists in pockets; it never dominated an industry, a royal court or even a family. One place to start is in parenting. Things have gotten worse over the past fifty years because mothers left the home and based motherhood on guilt and psychology. Not on grandma or even the strict mother. We've all seen it. When everything becomes informal, when people wear sneakers and baseball caps to restaurants, should we be surprised that their children can't sit still? When your child is also your friend, when does it ever learn to acknowledge an authority? It's all opinion, I'm told.
When a push button society discards men, they retreat into gangs (of all sorts) and become sports fans who spend endless hours arguing whether a player's feet were inbounds. Do we need five talking heads to dissect a basketball game? And yet, that's our escape from the industries that employ us.
I'm not so ironclad Michael. I've seen folks from all genders, backgrounds and experiences succeed or get stuck. What makes someone their worst enemy or own best ally also seems to hold all stories & characters. There's no doubt it's hard and always getting harder to have folks aspire to greater art, principles, or dreams -- but to me that is what really ties us together. If we move people emotionally, if we connect their hearts, their minds and ass will follow.
I'm in total agreement that art can connect hearts and emotions, but I don't see that happening today. The Top Gun affair is the closest and even that struck me as desperate. Imagine, a nation that despises war celebrating a movie about warriors.
I think you misunderstand me when I get specific. I know that men and women from all backgrounds succeed and fail, but cinema is a concrete art. No abstractions. Everything must be seen, even written feelings. Cut this, cut that. That is the kind of vision that a cinematic movement must have. If you were to go to a doctor with a sore throat, you wouldn't pay him to tell you we should all eat better, even though he slips from time to time and has a chocolate chip cookie or two. You'd say, hey what about my sore throat? Where does my nausea come from? If he doesn't start naming organs and their responsibilities, you'd start for the door. Why can't we be the same? We connect the dots, after all.
Ted, I seriously applaud you for saying the quiet part loud but I also have to point out that there have been many of us (mostly women from what I’ve seen) that have been screaming about this from the cheap seats for a long time. It is beyond frustrating and yet intensely validating that now that you are saying it, something will most likely change. We need to bring in new leaders and force the change we want but also not be afraid of change as a whole. If you talk to anyone who knows me, they will tell you that I am never afraid to speak my mind or to point out injustices when they occur. Yet many times I’m told to sit down, shut up, be compliant, wait my turn, accept the establishment. And sadly, I did that for a while. But COVID changed all that. A larger connection to people (albeit virtually) and a severe intolerance to the system caused me to speak out. I have been directly calling out organizations and more for a lack of representation. There is an entire universe of ‘non-affiliated’ independent producers. We don’t work for studios or streamers. We truly forge out on our own to get our stuff made. Yet the organizations that are supposed to be there to support us, that are happy to take our money, are not actually recognizing who we are. I’m so over it. I actually confronted the president of one of these organizations earlier this year about the lack of representation for non-affiliated independent producers and what the plan was to help them. I was told directly that there was plenty of support and that this person, who is a studio producer mind you, didn’t agree with my assessment. I wasn’t actually asking him for an opinion, I was stating an issue and asking for potential solutions. Again I was told I was wrong, ‘shut up, sit down’, etc. (and the band played on…)
I really hope that you can be the catalyst that affects this change; just know that there are many of us who’ve been fighting the good fight for a long time already. Please don’t forget us in your quest to fight the good fight.
Please help me make sure I don't miss or feel the truth of your experience and others, BD. I really appreciate the note here -- as a great deal of what I hope for is greater vocalizing within the broadest community, as well as the specific ones. Please point me in the direction when you find such expressions elsewhere. Things will get better. With contributions from all, we will keep getting closer to that supportive and fair system -- it is ours, no matter where we stand.
There's no one catalyst for this kind of thing. It's cultural. No one pays a price for being dishonest or disingenuous. If you don't discipline your children, they grow up to be that annoyance on TV or on the other side of the desk.. And women will not make it better, no matter how much they've complained.
This is a great post with so many truisms that are difficult to face. I mean that literally. Do the guilty parties look at themselves in the mirror and see, realize or fell anything. It’s hard to face oneself beyond vanity. Until one day that very personal moment changes and changes everything. Like in a movie.
How do we make even small self realization moments like that happen, where it needs to happen? How do we shake it out?
Sure never blame. Doesn’t get anywhere. Thanks for pointing that out too
Well, I think we speak about them directly and without blame. We are capable of these things and we need to first recognize them in ourselves. Tomorrow I will list out some of the many I see/hear regularly.
‘We too are propagandists for a world and order we don’t believe in… “
That line’s so profound I almost had to lie down when I read it.
And absolutely true.
Thanks for another terrific post.
I loved this one!
Out of my wheelhouse, but - pass the pop-corn.
Interesting stuff. I look forward to the list. - Thanks Ted.
No one pays a price, so they get away with it. And let's face it, we reward rudeness, dissimulation, and flat-out dishonesty so much that it's become the instrument of activists and reformers. So the bullshit gets thicker because "good people" want the ideal while ignoring its false lights and shoddy premises.
The best way to change things is to realize that moral rigor only exists in pockets; it never dominated an industry, a royal court or even a family. One place to start is in parenting. Things have gotten worse over the past fifty years because mothers left the home and based motherhood on guilt and psychology. Not on grandma or even the strict mother. We've all seen it. When everything becomes informal, when people wear sneakers and baseball caps to restaurants, should we be surprised that their children can't sit still? When your child is also your friend, when does it ever learn to acknowledge an authority? It's all opinion, I'm told.
When a push button society discards men, they retreat into gangs (of all sorts) and become sports fans who spend endless hours arguing whether a player's feet were inbounds. Do we need five talking heads to dissect a basketball game? And yet, that's our escape from the industries that employ us.
I'm not so ironclad Michael. I've seen folks from all genders, backgrounds and experiences succeed or get stuck. What makes someone their worst enemy or own best ally also seems to hold all stories & characters. There's no doubt it's hard and always getting harder to have folks aspire to greater art, principles, or dreams -- but to me that is what really ties us together. If we move people emotionally, if we connect their hearts, their minds and ass will follow.
I'm in total agreement that art can connect hearts and emotions, but I don't see that happening today. The Top Gun affair is the closest and even that struck me as desperate. Imagine, a nation that despises war celebrating a movie about warriors.
I think you misunderstand me when I get specific. I know that men and women from all backgrounds succeed and fail, but cinema is a concrete art. No abstractions. Everything must be seen, even written feelings. Cut this, cut that. That is the kind of vision that a cinematic movement must have. If you were to go to a doctor with a sore throat, you wouldn't pay him to tell you we should all eat better, even though he slips from time to time and has a chocolate chip cookie or two. You'd say, hey what about my sore throat? Where does my nausea come from? If he doesn't start naming organs and their responsibilities, you'd start for the door. Why can't we be the same? We connect the dots, after all.