THB #93: The Batman (no spoilers)
| March 6, 2022
Steven Zeitchik: “The celebrity-industrial complex offers plenty of reasons for skepticism. But I marvel at how John Krasinski has conducted himself. Krasinski worked two years on his new movie, A Quiet Place Part II. It was clearly a labor of love. It was also a really good film, skillful & scary & human & entertaining. He was a week away from putting it out–heck, he even presided over its premiere. And then–boom, pandemic. Many of us, if something we poured our hearts into for 2 years was suddenly shelved and couldn’t be seen by anyone–if something we poured our hearts into for 2 WEEKS was suddenly shelved–would crawl into a hole, rage against the fates & embark on a tear of unrelenting self-pity. What does Krasinski do? He doesn’t feel sorry for himself. He comes up with a YouTube show, ‘Some Good News,’ using his connections to bring in big names and his skills to create some joy in a world that badly needs it. And he throws himself into it with gusto, as if it’s the only thing that matters, as if his shelved project never existed. He undertakes initiatives to brighten the lives of the people who most deserve to have their lives brightened right now. Which, let’s face it, many of us would never have the centered-ness or selflessness to do. I’ve interviewed him and think he’d likely laugh this off, like what would be the point of dwelling on what’s lost, let me focus on what I can do to help. And that’s what makes his actions so striking. It turns out you can be hugely talented and still keep in mind what those talents should be used for. Clearly there are a lot of people doing more life-saving work right now. But I’m not sure there are many modeling a better attitude or priorities.”
-30-
May 1, 2022
"Netflix, the great disrupter whose algorithms and direct-to-consumer platform have forced powerful media incumbents to rethink their economic models, now seems to need a big strategy change itself. It got me thinking about the simple idea that my film and TV production company Blumhouse is built on: If you give artists a lot of creative freedom and a little money upfront but a big stake in the movie’s or TV show’s commercial success, more often than not the result will be both commercial (the filmmakers are incentivized to make films that will resonate with audiences) and artistically interesting (creative freedom!). This approach has yielded movies as varied as Get Out (made for $4.5 million, with worldwide box office receipts of more than $250 million), Whiplash (made for $3.3 million, winner of three Academy Awards), The Invisible Man (made for $7 million, earned more than $140 million) and Paranormal Activity (made for $15,000, grossed more than $190 million).From the beginning, the most important strategy I used to persuade artists to work with me was to make radically transparent deals: We usually paid the artists (“participants” in Hollywood lingo) the absolute minimum allowable by union contracts upfront, with the promise of healthy bonuses based on actual box office results—instead of the opaque 'percentage points' that artists are usually offered. Anyone can see box office results immediately, so creators don’t quarrel with the payouts. In fact, when it comes time for an artist to collect a bonus based on box office receipts, I email a video clip of myself dropping the check off at FedEx to the recipient."
Jason Blum Sees Room For "Scrappier" Netflix
| April 30, 2022
"As a critic Gavin was entertaining, wry, questioning, sensitive, perceptive"
Critic-Filmmaker Gavin Millar Was 84; Films Include Cream In My Coffee, Dreamchild
April 29, 2022
| January 24, 2022
DP/30 Audio: Bombshell, Jay Roach
| December 13, 2019
DP/30 Audio: The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Jonathan Majors
| December 4, 2019
DP/30 Audio: The Mustang, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
| December 4, 2019
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