Studios V Independents

Fans of the indies often see the studio flicks as dumb. Fans of studio pictures see the indies as snorefests.

Both perspectives miss the point.

You get great movies in both systems. It's just the odds are different.

Woody Allen is an independent. His films are mostly (but not always) funded outside of Hollywood. His content is very independent, he has full control and doesn't ask for opinions from the investors or producers.

The good: Sometimes he makes 'Annie Hall' and 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'.

The bad: Sometimes he makes 'Scoop'.

And 'Scoop' was atrocious.

Here's the thing -- nobody can sustain genius every time. If you have a true artist on your hands, they'll push the boundaries of a) what's expected and, b) what they're capable of.

Which means they'll sometimes fail, no matter how good they are.

The studios are scared of failure. Especially as they like to spend money. Imagine if Woody Allen directed 'Friends With Benefits' and had final cut privilege. What would happen?  Maybe it'd be awful because he doesn't know the lifestyles of the characters, and because he'd rework the script to make the ending less predictable... by doing that he'd alienate all the viewers who just want to see Kunis and Timberlake flirt and kiss.

Or maybe he'd create a masterpiece because he's one of the all time great writer/director's of the New York rom-com. With the studio cash, schedule, and talent; he could achieve great things.

But the risk is too big. (And Woody is a bad example, because he wouldn't ever take that job)

So instead we get a studio made flick which is filtered through producers and studio heads and focus groups.

And sure, the film is likable and many people will like it. It does its job and makes money.

People might enjoy 'Friends With Benefits' but underneath the sweet dialogue and quirky characters is standard formula. The film doesn't transcend. It doesn't change your life. And it never will, because of how it's made.

When you make 'Annie Hall' it might end up being 'Manhattan' or it might end up being 'Scoop'. You just don't know. But when you make 'Friends With Benefits' you make 'Friends With Benefits'. The potential for greatness is blocked, impossible.

The exceptions: Spielberg, Abrams, Eastwood, Tarantino.

These guys rose to the top by being blessed with a touch of genius. Hard work, too, but mostly genius.

They may do work within the studios but they have the attitude of an independent, and the power. Spielberg is like an excited Kid, Eastwood has exquisite instincts, and Tarantino is an obsessive maniac.

They stand out as unique and independent spirits.

That's what you need. If you make independently funded films based on things you're passionate about, the door is open for greatness. But it's also open for disaster.

Working in the studio system safeguards against disaster as best as it can. But you only get to make art if you rise to the top by being marked with creative genius and an ability to pull in giant audiences.

Care to share?

Tweet

Writing Comedy - A Few Starter Tips

Let's focus on a scene where a woman and man are sitting on a sofa talking. How can we make it funny?

1. The sofa is about to collapse.

2. The woman needs to pee.

3. The man suddenly goes blind.

4. They both go blind at the same time.

5. There's a dead body under the sofa. It's also blind.

6. The man has a fear of sitting.

7. The woman has a fear of men who have a fear of sitting.

8. The man has a fear of sitting and the woman, who's sitting down, has a fear of standing up. The dead body has a fear of neither but refuses to move.

9. The sofa has a fear of people sitting on it.

10. The sofa belongs to the man, who's OCD about stains. The woman is eating a curry. With her hands.

Comedy is everywhere. The ideas above; maybe you found five of them funny, maybe only one or even none. There's no harm in exploring scenerios. That took me fifty seconds to do.

Chaplin used to get on set and just start playing around with props to see what was funny. That's most of what comedy is.

Care to share?

Tweet

BOB LEFSETZ on being an ARTIST

When Bob Lefsetz' muse in turned on, there's nobody better than him. A few days back he wrote a post called 'Artists'. Here are some key points.

"As a result of crass commercialism, primarily MTV and now the Silicon Valley rush to riches, our vision of art has been skewed. Money comes first. It’s readily available to he who succeeds, and there are short cuts to ubiquity. But most people employing these short cuts are not art."

"So there are two camps.

One camp is peopled by aggressive individuals who want in. This is the reality television crowd. How can I make myself into a character, push ahead of so many others and get screen time? Remember the art kids in high school? They never grubbed for grades, they never fought to get ahead, they questioned this herd mentality/behavior, they hung back."

"So we have a world where the aggressive, normal people and the desperate poor will do anything to make it, get plastic surgery, change their soul and their sound to fit the desires of the man, of the system.

Ain’t that what "American Idol", "The Voice" and "X Factor" are? Do it my way, I’m an expert. The judge/advisor is no different from the principal, and if you think the art kids listened to the principal, you were home-schooled and have no clue."

"But don’t confuse commercialism with artistry. Most people are just passing through. Their stardom is brief, they’re puppets whose strings are pulled. When their moment is through, they get desultory day jobs or go back to college and move up the corporate ladder. An artist can’t do this. He can go to college to prepare himself to be an artist, but not a doctor, lawyer or manager. And he continues to create irrelevant of success, it’s in him."

"With the crumbling of old institutions, the time of the artist has returned. With less money in music, only the artists persevere, because they’re not in it for the money. There’s a reason why Joni Mitchell is an icon and Vanilla Ice is a joke."

Make sure you read the whole thing here.

Care to share?

Tweet

Starbucks Profundity

I'm sitting in a Starbucks just across the road from Tottenham Court Road station, and was just hit by this pang of missing New York. This Starbucks reminds me so much of the one in Manhattan, somewhere between 66 St and Columbus Circle. There are probably twenty Starbucks between those seven streets, yet somehow I'm longing for a particular one.

The cynical thing is to say that all Starbucks are the same and whether you're in London, New York or Japan, Starbucks is Starbucks.

But the way it feels right at this moment is that I could be in New York. The feelings I'm feeling, that longing and comfort and excitement in my mind, it feels like New York, not London.

It seems accidental, and outside of my control. Sometimes I can be so stuck in one place, one idea, one feeling. But sometimes I'm able to be somewhere else in my mind completely.

Right now it's in Starbucks with Bry, somewhere just North of 59th St. He's as good as here. I'm as good as there. The mind is amazing like that, how we can be transported across borders and time. So much of creativity is getting out of your current condition and finding another feeling, another insight, another reality. If only it was as easy as it feels right now.

I've had this all my life. Little pieces of poignancy, where I'm picked up from nowhere and carted off into another world. The lady with the laptop who just looked at me thinks I'm sitting in front of her when really I'm a thousand miles away. I want to step out of the door and take a walk in Central Park. Maybe I will. Whether it's for real or in my imagination, what's the difference?

Care to share?

Tweet

Take Risks

On any given day in any given year you meet an actress and she says "I want to develop a one act play about poverty", and you meet a writer who is planning a script about what it was like growing up on a farm, and some guy goes out of his way to tell you about a project he wants to do, taking photographs of all the red phone boxes in London.

Dreams and visions and hopes live in these projects. You fast forward six months or four years and none of the projects are done.

What does it take for someone to get started? How do you stay with it through the hard stuff? What kind of person do you need to be to find your way to the finishing line?

Saying you're thinking of doing something is the easy part. If you want to be someone who finishes a project you have to be someone who finishes the project.

Don't hold out for perfection. No art is ever perfect. But creating something is always more perfect than creating nothing at all. Imperfections and problems breed your very best moments as an artist. Take risks.

Care to share?

Tweet

VUE WESTFIELD STATFORD CITY - New Cinema Review

The opening of a brand new cinema is always an exciting thing because we are always being told that cinema is dying. The opening of a 17 screen Vue Cinema in London's Olympic city allows us to believe otherwise. It also gives us something to do while all the corporations and politicians hog the tickets to the Olympic games.

Another thing to consider is that Stratford already has a cinema, the Stratford Picturehouse. And nearby there is also the historic Genesis Cinema, the Rio and many others. There is also a big Cineworld at the o2 (formerly owned by Vue). What impact does this cinema have on other movie theatres?

It's going to have a big impact. The independent cinemas struggle already, and now having a Vue nearby, in Europe's biggest shopping mall no less, is going to attract local cinema-goers, as well as the passers by who are eager for a movie.

Is that totally a bad thing? It's easy to be nostalgic about the Genesis, for example, but which place gives you the best experience?

I visited Stratford Vue Cinema on the opening day. An afternoon screening. It's quite possible I'm the first person who ever sat in that seat. I have to say, it was a very comfortable seat. This is probably because I was in a VIP seat (which I didn't pay for). If I was sitting where I was meant to be sitting I'd have had the first two and a half rows to choose from. The other five or so are for the VIP people. VIP?? Very Important Person?? The only importance these people have is the economic luxury of being comfortable with being conned.

But let me be honest -- I loved the experience. The screen was big, the picture quality perfect, the sound quality the best I've experienced in a long time. The seats were great too -- Vue use a steep seating design, which is like stadium seating, so the person in front is considerably lower than you are, meaning you get a perfect view of the screen. The film was projected flawlessly, I had plenty of leg-room, and because of the steep-seating, people's annoying checking-of-their-Blackberries was obscured from my view. In fact, there was no phone reception in the cinema, so all of that was kept to a minimum. I hope this is always the case!

Vue have done everything right in Stratford. They've mastered the art of the modern multiplex. The problem is, it's still a multiplex. Aside from a few Bollywood selections for the local Asian community, the films they show are hardly surprising. If you're a normal, sane person -- there's not much to complain about. But then if you're someone like me, you'll be craving the smaller cinemas. The old popcorn smell, the uncomfortable seating, the ever changing temperature. It's like football stadiums. The new Wembley sucks. Arsenal's stadium sucks. Everyone craves going to places like Upton Park, White Hart Lane and Anfield. They have history. They're places where you have memorable experiences. You'll never have the best cinematic experience of your life at a Vue chain. That's not what they're about. Vue cinemas are about watching a film and having enough space in your VIP seat to put all your M&S shopping bags. 

I give Vue Westfield Stratford City two ratings. My more objective, fact-based rating, is 8 out of 10. It loses points for the horrid premium seating system and also for having the disabled spaces in the very front row (normally cinemas make better spaces available a bit further back). It also misses out on top points because of the film selection. With 17 screens, they could be a lot more diverse than they are. 

That's my objective rating. 

My personal rating? 6 out of 10. 

The place has no soul! This is not what I love about the cinema! Segregating people based on VIP non-VIP? Cinema should never be about exclusion. People come to the cinema to get away from their problems, not to be reminded that they're poor. People getting standard tickets are stuck in the front couple of rows, the richer people sit further back. 

Ever been in screen one at the Cineworld Haymarket? Or spent a night at the Genesis? You're not just watching film, you're partaking in an event. A ritual. A place that feels like a place for films. You know you're in for a treat, because films are something special there. Watching films in a shopping mall is not the same. And sure I'm biased, I feel protective of the little guys. I hope the Stratford Picturehouse will survive. Maybe it'll drive them to commit to showing more alternative programming -- world cinema and independent movies. They can build up their reputation during the Olympics. Show the world what cinema is really about, rather than trying to prize people away from Vue with the same 'Transformers 4' or whatever's out next year. The Prince Charles Cinema in the West End has shown that being alternative and independent can work in the over-crowded multiplex market.

Inside the Prince Charles Cinema 

If you find yourself in East London, I'll understand if you want to visit Vue, and I won't judge you. After all, I'll be there sometimes too. But just remember what you're doing. If we're not careful, we'll kill what we love about cinema. The Rio opened in 1909. The Genesis has been a venue for entertainment for over 150 years. Keep your clothes shopping and your cinema viewing separate if you can.

Empire Cinema, 1946. Now known as The Genesis Cinema.

Care to share?

Tweet

The Old Age Art Project - An Experiment In Creative Blocks

Elena is one of my closest friends. I've known her for twelve years. Our lives are quite different these days -- she works long hours in a supermarket and I am making films. When we can, we meet up for a tea and catch up on each others lives and chat about days gone by. 

And then we talk about our careers. In fact, we met up this time because Elena is getting a bit restless in her job and wants to move on to something new. We planned to meet up, drink some tea, and then I would help her craft her new C.V, ready to send out to potential employers. We talked about potential jobs and where she saw herself working. 

The thing you need to know about Elena, is that she's a very talented artist. I've seen the stuff she did in her teens -- it was amazing. Extremely creative and unusual -- she really had her own style. But somewhere along the way, the creativity stopped. Life got in the way, and the paintbrushes dried solid. Whenever we meet up -- inevitably we get on to talking about art. We're quite similar in our creative thoughts and ideals. The difference being that I create a lot more work than she does. In recent years, she hasn't been creating anything at all. Whenever the thought arises, she instantly blocks it out, dismisses it, and moves on to other things. Whether it's distractions, commitments, or plain old self-sabotage -- she's never able to be creative. 

As we talked about potential career moves, it was very obvious to me that sitting in front of me is a talented artist. Underpinning all the thoughts about job changes and mortgages and bills is the fact that there's an artist bursting with talent. The problem is, that artist has been stuffed away and lost. Occasionally, she pops up and picks up a paintbrush or a pencil, but she's soon knocked down again by the world, and by herself. 

As we sat there drinking tea and eating pancakes -- I ripped off a piece of paper from my notebook and said "I want you to draw something about an old person and pancakes. You have three minutes."

I handed it over to her. She said no. Dismissed the idea. Her creativity doesn't work like that. I understood; neither does mine. So I ripped out two more pages and said "Tell me what to do and I'll write a two page scene." She said "Old people and feet." I wrote the scene immediately. It wasn't my best work ever, but I'd written it. I completed the task. 

I handed her my pen and offered these words: "Old age. Pancakes." She took the pen and paper and began working. I relaxed and browsed my Twitter feed. 

Three minutes later, she had created this:

What do you think? I think that's talent. Three minutes with my old pen and a piece of scrap paper. I loved it. 

I said that we should do a bigger project. Elena gave me her cute grumpy look which means NO WAY. Elena can be a perfectionist with her work. A huge reason that she doesn't create is because of how demanding her inner-critic is. When she creates, it has to be greatness. So I took the pressure off. I told her that the project will be anonymous and I'll share it on the blog. That way, even if it sucks, you won't know it's her personally. 

I gave her five scraps of paper and my pen. My rules were that she must create five drawings in a one week period, all on the topic of 'Old Age'. I also insisted that she use these scraps of paper and the pen that I gave her. If the drawings sucked? If they were useless? That's fine. The project is not about perfection, it's merely about creating. 

A week later, she gave me back the completed project. Her first art-work in years.

After it was completed, I interviewed Elena about the process. 

Prior to when we met up -- when was the last time you created a piece of art?

To be honest I doodled a little self portrait (from behind) maybe a week before this project. It came out of feeling totally frustrated that I couldn't just DO something. And then I did. It was small and weak looking but that corresponded with how I was feeling at that moment in time.

What has stopped you from doing it for so long?

Whenever I think abut drawing or creating anything my mind predictably connects back to a time in school when things were just awful for me, emotionally. I just cant seem to detach the way I was feeling and the things that happened back then, to make me lose faith in my sense of self, from present day life. It is a struggle to just do something and not stop half way through and tear it to pieces, both mentally and physically.

What is your ideal setting/environment for doing creative work?

I used to think I had an environment. Like I know at a previous time in life it was all about turning the music up and blocking outside family noise and just being with myself and the way I felt. But for this project I found myself doodling in the garden with my coffee and in the company of my fiance while he played me the most recent album on his iPhone. It seems that I needed to be in a calm state, ready for things to flow. Far different from the way it used to be.

How did you feel when I handed you a piece of paper and said 'You have three minutes to draw something about an old person?'

So unbelievably under pressure I could have cried. In fact I felt myself get all teary eyed! Thinking any minute now I am going to explode from this overwhelming fear. All over a 2 minute doodle.

How did you feel after you had created it?

Unsure, and nervous awaiting your reaction. It seems I'm not happy with having just done something creative; it has to be approved of and liked and blah di blah... But after I took a few deep breaths and realised that I liked it even if you didn't, (I did..), I felt elated! Thrilled that I'd managed to not run away from the paper, pen and expectation.

When I first mentioned doing the 'Old Age Art Project' and handed you five scraps of paper, what did you think?

'Is he being serious?'

'Doodles on scraps of paper? Is that really art? Especially if it was done by me. A no-establishment trained ''artist'''?

Then I thought, Fuck it! Why not. Even if they never get seen by anyone else other than myself I will know I did it. I was set a project and I did it.

Was you confident about doing it? Did you think you'd complete the task?

Initially I was excited and positive and full of this self belief. I never doubted that I could complete the task. The resistance I felt towards actually drawing on the last piece of paper was surprising and almost silly.

Where did you get your ideas from?

Some were memories, some were from what I saw around me and some were just from my mind. The old man with his iPod and the carnival queen came about from thinking that these ''old people'' were us. They were youth and they have these whole lives that we disregard or don't even contemplate.

What was it like working with a deadline?

Good. Exhilarating. 

Are you happy with what you created?

Yes. Some I'm more proud of than others.

Which one is your favourite?

The old man and the seaside couple.

Has this project helped you/your art in any way?

It has made me want to devote more time to creating. I still find it hard to make myself sit down and not allow the distractions of everyday stuff whisk me away from self-development

• The hardest thing is sitting down to do the work. 
• Have a deadline. 
• Don't let your imperfect location/mindset be an excuse for not doing the work. 

Elena is a great artist. It's a shame to me that she's been stopping herself from creating for so long. This is what we do as artists. This blog is richer for having published her scrap paper drawings. Art matters. The drawings exist for the mere reason that she drew them. If she didn't draw them then she wouldn't have drawn them and you wouldn't have seen them. Think of all the things that you've never seen because artists stopped themselves from playing, experimenting and creating. 

You don't need a big canvas or an expensive camera or a big money offer to create art. Use scrap paper. Use a camera phone. Use things you find in the garden. 

Now some questions for you. What do you think of this experiment? What do you think of Elena's work? 

Care to share?

Tweet