Creative Squabbles

[Sean]

I thought this blog posting from Michael Bay revealed just how much everyone likes to try to grab as much credit as possible for the creative success of a film. Even Michael Bay felt like he needed to mark his territory. I think we've all felt insecure at times about our creative contributions getting co-opted or glossed over. Interesting to note that the biggest of the big guns can get just as insecure about ensuring he gets credit where credit is due. I guess filmmaking just involves so many people, and everyone's contributions get thrown into the melting pot, and it's hard to tease apart who came up with what. And sometimes you gotta set the record straight. An interesting read straight from Michael Bay's own blog, with glaringly bad grammatical errors and everything (he since took the blog post down, but not before it got widely read):

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-hollywood-deal/2007/07/05/michael-bays-spat-with-his-transformer-producers

And then after sort of understanding Michale Bay's perspective (many an artist has had to protect himself from producers claiming credit for the artist's work), there's this exchange between Michael Bay and Entertainment Weekly:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I have to tell you, as a Transformers fan since childhood, the special effects were pretty darn cool.

MICHAEL BAY: That's what it's all about. I worked a long time on that. It wasn't always easy.

Hm...why do I find it hard to imagine that Mr. Bay sat in front of a computer doing all those effects himself. (No doubt he said yay or nay to a whole lot of other people's work though.) So maybe we're all guilty of not giving credit where credit is due.

[number6]

I thought this blog posting from Michael Bay revealed just how much everyone likes to try to grab as much credit as possible for the creative success of a film. Even Michael Bay felt like he needed to mark his territory. I think we've all felt insecure at times about our creative contributions getting co-opted or glossed over. Interesting to note that the biggest of the big guns can get just as insecure about ensuring he gets credit where credit is due. I guess filmmaking just involves so many people, and everyone's contributions get thrown into the melting pot, and it's hard to tease apart who came up with what. And sometimes you gotta set the record straight. An interesting read straight from Michael Bay's own blog, with glaringly bad grammatical errors and everything (he since took the blog post down, but not before it got widely read):

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-hollywood-deal/2007/07/05/michael-bays-spat-with-his-transformer-producers

And then after sort of understanding Michale Bay's perspective (many an artist has had to protect himself from producers claiming credit for the artist's work), there's this exchange between Michael Bay and Entertainment Weekly:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I have to tell you, as a Transformers fan since childhood, the special effects were pretty darn cool.

MICHAEL BAY: That's what it's all about. I worked a long time on that. It wasn't always easy.

Hm...why do I find it hard to imagine that Mr. Bay sat in front of a computer doing all those effects himself. (No doubt he said yay or nay to a whole lot of other people's work though.) So maybe we're all guilty of not giving credit where credit is due.

Sean, just to further add to your very interesting and two-sided approach to fairness, I saw on the CBS "Sunday Morning" program just this morning, a piece on the Transformers movie. In the piece it showed Michael Bay working personally with the actors doing voice-overs and recording take after take to get just what he was trying for. I thought that was an insightful piece on the making of the movie since it also showed the people working on creating the sounds from everyday objects (I forget who that part of movie-making is called after) that become part of the sound track.

[pat@hpnc.com]

Makes me think of something. Is it possible to really get to the top as a director without being a very good self promotor and publicity whore?

[Curran Giddens]

I thought that was an insightful piece on the making of the movie since it also showed the people working on creating the sounds from everyday objects (I forget who that part of movie-making is called after) that become part of the sound track.

I think you are referring to Jack Foley.

http://filmsound.org/foley/jackfoley.htm

[number6]

I think you are referring to Jack Foley.

http://filmsound.org/foley/jackfoley.htm

YES!!! Thanks Curran. It bothers me when something is on the tip of my tongue and it gets stuck there.

edit: Also, great link! just went there and am now on my way back to finish reading it.

[Ace]

Pat, I don't see how Michael is a publicity whore in saying what he said. It was a blog entry on his personal website. I think everything he has said was warranted and due. Tom had it coming. I know his type very well, and I'm glad Michael put him in place publicly.

But your right, publicity = everything. The top people in ANY field get to the top because they make sure the public is aware of their capabilities.

Sean. A directors job is vision. The only person on the entire project who sees everything holistically is probably him. (Yes, not even the writers).

So many things stand in the way of seeing a creative idea through to fruition.. Investors.. Technical obstacles, Money, creative differences, deadlines etc.. It takes a fighter to stand up and make sure all these things get done. They don't just happen by themselves by "the people working for him". Any studio in the world could've "sat in front of a computer doing all those effects". But only one person had the vision. So yeah, he kinda gets credit for that. To quote Einstein.. Imagination is more important than knowledge

[Sean]

I just think it's always worth asking ourselves who deserves credit. I heard Mel Gibson talk about a fine cut of Apocalypto and how HE was going to do some re-editing, and HE was going to do some additional effects work, and HE was going to do some new music for a sequence. It struck me as strange then too. He's a visionary, but I bet he can't work an Avid or a Flame suite. And likewise, Transformers is hardly an auteur film driven by an indie digital filmmaker who is doing it all himself. He might be ordained as director. And that final authority might really make for the final word on the success or failure of a creative aspect of the movie. But Obviously, he's not doing the effects. He worked hard. And so did his incredibly talented effects team. I just think it's important to see both sides of it: where producers were trying to steal his glory, he spoke up; then where he is taking credit for the effects work, when in fact, he was actually just really demanding and driven. The effects brilliance was surely in the hands of the artists themselves. Maybe "we" worked really hard on those effects might have been more appropriate. A small detail, I admit. But having made my own films where I really did do the effects, the music, the editing, the writing, etc., I just think it's a different animal when you're getting really brilliant, highly-paid artists in their own right delivering options to you so that you can say "yeah i like it," or "no, make it better."

In the end, I think Mr. Bay is trying to shore up his own self-image as an "artist." He raises the issue in almost every interview: "critics say I'm not an artist," that kind of thing. He has all the money. Now he wants some respect. And he's the driven personality type to get it. I just think he should go make the art movie where he really DOES do his own effects and editing, and he can be an artist too.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

To some degree: yes you do have to be a publicity whore.

Our industry is based on reputation, referrals and credits.

It's very rare that any positions of consequence take an "application" phase in which everybody submits their resumes and portfolios and wait for an HR department to choose the best.

Even at Michael Bay's level it's the same game. You need to be the name people think of calling when they have a project you would be interested in.

I've never sent in a resume/portfolio to any company for a Job. Every job I've ever gotten has been a completely random email or phone call inviting me to come visit their organization and team. Sometimes that random email or call was suggested by someone who was willing to use some of the reputation-credit they've developed to recommend me.

Yes there are agents out there and equivalents actively hunting for projects for their clients, but it really comes down to the 'name as brand'. Even if you aren't actively soliciting yourself, your actions and creative contributions contribute to the collective 'reputation' rating you've earned.