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Oct. 26, 2004 I should own up to the fact that I've been working in film, television and video for more years than I'd like to count. If you're wondering why 40% of high school students can't find Canada, here's a story that explains a possible reason. Ten years ago I had received a best video of the year, from the National Association for the Advancement of Science. It was for a long form music video, narrated by Patrick Stewart. At that time it was called "Patrick Stewart narrates The Planets". Essentially it was a tour of the Solar System accompanied by "The Planets" a musical composition by Gustav Holst, with Patrick being the tour guide. It was very successful and I felt very lucky and maybe a little bit cocky. I prepared an offering, which would have been a weekly science show with the same imaginative approach as "The Planets" and took it to Disney. Through a contact I was able to pitch it to an individual very high up the food chain. After listening to my very theatrical pitch, the individual had one comment: "At Disney we're not interested in educating anyone." I was shocked. As a child I watched in awe as one Disney documentary after another played across the television. Now they're obviously not interested in that anymore, no doubt it's more profitable doing entertainment. It may seem naive on my part to think this vast animation empire would be interested in the children who were buying their products; you know, give something back, even a few million a year (about what the average Suit spends on shoeshines). So the next time you find objectionable material in PG or PG-13 movies remember, it's about the bottom line. There is a happy ending to this story. I was invited to meet with the President of Paramount Home Video, (at the time Eric Doctorow). He'd seen the numbers on the Patrick Stewart tape which was selling like the proverbial pancakes. After a few minutes of gossip, he said,"I liked what you did with Patrick. Do you have another one in you. The truth was I didn't, but I started adlibbing to save my life. "Well," I said, "The Planets takes you to the edge of the Solar System, how about taking the viewer to the edge of the known Universe? Doctorow smiled and "From Here to Infinity" was born. It took Billboard and TV Guide's Best Made For Video of the year awards, and I was interviewed on the Voice of America with an audience of 95,000,000. If there's a lesson here, it's don't be afraid to put yourself on the line, as long as you know what you're doing and the consequences of your action. BTW: Both titles are on-sale at Amazon.com ------------ About the author: Don Barrett is a writer-producer-director working in film and television. His 1990 documentary, "The Voyager Odyssey" was cited as the 6th Best Documentary ever made (by the editors of Entertainment Weekly Magazine). In addition he's won five best video of the year awards from the American Film Institute, Billboard Magazine and TV Guide. He also won an International Emma Award for his ground breaking CD, "Nine Worlds". For seventeen years he was a speaker in the Robert F. Lewine fellowship program at the Film School of the University of Southern California. Web Site: www.don-barrett.com. Please don't use the website for sending emails. If you wish to write please use barrett111@cox.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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