As
a rule, I think it would be unwise to accuse television programmers
of having creative vision.
So after developing my concept for a one-hour, weekly, prime-time
T.V. series, I was confused as hell about how to
pitch it to those powers that be. Over the past couple of years,
it appeared that network programming had become reality everything—but
in actuality, it had become reality ANYTHING! Well, anything
but reality if
you ask me. Because it’s all bullshit.
Take those four monogamously-challenged couples
on Temptation Island, separated and in Jacuzzis with
hot, available, camera-ready singles. Even if you like the concept,
and I do because I am a reality whore, ultimately, it simply
translates into a bi-weekly dramatic kiss with some Speedo or
string bikini-clad
guilt-ridden, camera-aware let down. In short, reality would
allow these sweaty and intoxicated cast
members on this hedonistic island to explore their mutual nakedness
and sexual fantasies—but the sponsors and networks won’t.
Fortunately, as a filmmaker, my broadcast home
has never been the networks. My last two movies have
been HBO premieres, and the viewing audience pays their bills—not
the sponsors. I think that viewing audiences are ready for
my concept—a concept that would explore how far six people
would go for fame and fortune in America’s most
uninhibited
game!
Being nude makes many of us feel somewhat vulnerable;
but being emotionally nude makes most of us
feel naked. And I hoped to exploit that vulnerability with people
who truly wanted to challenge themselves—and did I mention
that one of them would earn $10,000.00 in the process? For the
record, I
never ask people to do something that I wouldn’t do myself,
and I had already gone down the road of emotional nakedness in
my first film, “Just, Melvin.” Besides, tragedy is
a fact of life, and since this would
be a game of life, tragedy would be part of
the game.
I also hoped that if in the midst of this
weekly game, sexy and attractive people talked about some of
life’s more hushed realities—murder, eating disorders,
promiscuity, Tourette’s Syndrome, insanity, suicide,
date rape, etc.—maybe pop culture would eventually redefine
the boundaries of taboo altogether. But I wondered how emotionally
and physically uninhibited these people would ultimately be in
pursuit of their
dream.
I also wondered
how my concept could all be explained in a passionate 3-minute
run-on sentence to
those television programmers. I know how to make a movie, not
a T.V. series. Suddenly, it all became
perfectly clear. I would make a movie about making this reality-game
pilot. Then I wouldn’t have to pitch
those programmers at all. They could simply sit their asses down
and finally watch what I hoped would be unadulterated reality
at its… Well, I didn’t know what they’d be
watching, exactly, because I hadn’t started filming. But
now I know.
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