Wednesday 9 June 2010

The trouble with that is..... Part 2

A few posts back I wrote about the amount of sequels, prequels and remakes in development around Hollywood at the present time well I have had some feed back about my blog on message boards on other sites. Some of this feed back has been good but strangely I had a very angry response from an Executive from a major Film Studio (which will remain nameless for legal reasons) who had taken offence to my comments.
Chiefly he took offence to the fact I had mentioned three film projects he had green lit and he was calling for me to take these film titles off my blog, and post an apology to the Studio. He also used expletives when describing me and stated I had no right to talk about the Film Business as I'm an unemployed waste of space blogger.
Now being someone who firmly believes in freedom of speech I have not removed the film titles and am not going to do so but this response gave me cause to think, is there any topic that you can't write about on a blog? Before the hassle with this Executive (who believe me is a complete tool and I told him so) I would have said there were only certain topics I wouldn't mention. One so Topic would be a recent tragedy like the murders in Cumbria (England) simply because I don't know enough about the circumstances to write about them and I feel it would be hurtful for the families of the victims or members of the community for someone to write about the situation talking about possible motives or reasons for the killer's actions when they are unfounded and unwarranted.

But this situation makes me ponder on other topics that may be off limits, what topics would you never write about? Would you write about Religion? What about the morality of Stem Cell research? These are two topics I myself would stay clear of on my blog as I'm not the right person to discuss such topics as I'm not particularly Religious although I would consider myself to be some what Spiritual. I'm also no scientist and like a lot of people have no real grasp on the ins and outs of the Stem Cell process.

I believe I have a right to comment on the Movie Business as I'm paying for these Movies to be made through purchasing DVDs and my very occasional Cinema visits. Also I have some experience of the ins and outs of the Film making process as I worked for three months on a Film which was made in Glasgow, Scotland when I seventeen. My screen credit? Miscellaneous crew, a nice way of saying general dogs body. I was part of the camera crew for awhile then worked with the sparks and finally found myself as an editor's assistant for which I am entirely grateful for, this experience showed me what happens when a Director with a serious ego loses his crew's respect and loses his job through pissing away the investor's money.

It also showed me what can happen when a script is re-written by a Director who hasn't grasped the original tone and context of the subject matter. I also got to hang out on a film set for three months which to Actors is a completely boring place but for the crew is a fast paced lifestyle and also just really cool. Hopefully It won't be the last time I get to experience this as I would love to put the techniques I acquired making my short films at college to some use and I would love for one of my screenplays to make it to the big screen one day.
Anyhoo

Thanking You
The Housebound Writer

4 comments:

  1. Taking into account that this person considers you "an unemployed waste of space blogger", I don't see why he's being so fussy about your opinion...

    Then you had an experience in the movie industry!!!?? How nice! I've wanted to made short movies myself, I have a friend who's a graphic designer, we may venture in short animation movies, let's see what happens. =)))

    Well, that's all.
    Take care.
    Kisses!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I look forward to seeing a film you write reach the international market. The subject and script is inside of you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha dude, although his comments were actually derogatory...at least your articles are being read.

    The dude can shove it up his (_l_)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm amused that this exec feels threatened by your comments. Keep up the good work as you exercise your right to free speech. My first time here and I look forward to visiting often.

    As far as topics off limits, I agree with being respectful of people who are mourning. Generally, I think the key is just sticking to topics that one can write about with some level of authority or humor, or both, depending on the intent of the post. I think you were eluding to that with your comments.

    ReplyDelete