 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
Week Of August 20, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
August 22, 2007
10
A decade of The Hot Button.
You know, I have never been much on events. It all seems so forced. Bu a decade does feel like a marker.
It's more than a little surreal that the guy who got me writing on the web in the first place, Andy Jones, passed away a few short months ago. Scot Safon, who was head of marketing for TNT and "owned" the roughcut.com site has long been out of TNT and in at CNN. Laura Rooney, who really produced the ShoWest event where I met Andy (and Entertainment Weekly's Cable Neuhaus before that), joined me as the Managing Editor in the last year of that site, then at the Miami Film Festival, before we partnered on MCN. But she actually puts up with every one of these columns for the last six years or so. God bless her patient, generous soul.
But here I am.
A decade of writing a column has taught me lots of lessons. I like to think that I am a smarter, kinder writer now ... and I do think those two things go together. The need to draw attention with excess hyperbole, rage, and/or aggressive provocations slide away as time passes and security in one's position on the playing field gets more solid. But that doesn't mean I can't tweak a few people with a sharp edged sentence or two.
The truth is, the headlines on MovieCityNews have caused more bad feelings in its first five years that almost anything I ever wrote in here. As in all forms of writing, the slice of one quick line that tries to say everything that needs to be said is quite different than the long form of a column. And of course, there is another medium altogether in the form of the blog.
When I started this column, it was the only daily in the film business aside from Army Archerd. Back then, The Hot Button was six days a week. And six months after the site started, the column expanded to 1000 words a day ... ; and then 2000. Crazy. But the concept was a bit more like a blog is today. There were box office sections and advertising shout outs and Quote Whore Scoreboard.
Other columns followed. The Hot Button was the only daily, but two or three crept up with 3 a week columns in a similar style to THB. But then came The Blog.
Ah, The Blog. A form that is less than five years old, really. Movie City News ... not a blog. Back at the time, the two forms of interactivity were the Instant Message and Bulletin Boards. Blogs are not far from the bulletin board, but there is a structure to in that has made them more like formal websites. And the original name, off of personal weB LOGS, are no longer exclusively personal at all. (But don't tell Big Media.)
I am amazed to say, it was almost 3 years ago (Sept 5) that I decided to launch The Hot Blog. The first entry? "Do I Need A Blog?" Almost 2000 entries and over 65,000 comments later, the blog seems to have taken.
Even on that first day, there were the questions: 1. Did I need a column if I had a blog, and 2. Would the blog get in the way of the column?
I have always argued that the answer to 1 is "yes" and 2 is "no."; But that argument has suffered over the years. Indeed, the column, the blog, and the website headlines are very different muscle groups. But the demands of the blog and the website have distracted from the focus of a daily column ... and then, from the focus on three columns a week, which I switched to about six months ago.
My best advice to all media outlets that feel under pressure from alternatives is to stop, think it out, consider what you really can deliver well, and move forward, even if it requires a great deal of change.
As I look at 10 years, I miss the depth that this column was always about. Even beyond my three-pronged internet writing life, I have been doing Lunch With David, in both its formats, for a year now, plus a fair amount of time as an interview subject, and still, 60 to 70 days of festivals a year.
More each year, the relationships I have inside of the film community are based on my respectful silence about those things to which I am privy only because of the trust I have built. This hasn't kept me from writing what I like about any area I want to write about -- and it informs my understanding of the subtext of all these things -- but it does mean that I spend more and more time giving energy to areas of interest that do not serve the effort to deliver a column three times a week.
On top of that, there are all the other blogs. And while I don't feel much direct competition or the need to traffic in gossip and brutality to entice readers, I do feel that a part of the void that The Hot Button was started to fill has been filled -- oy, the cup runneth over -- by so many voices; smart and dumb, kind and cruel, inside and out.
I am left, at the end, with myself, looking in the mirror, reassessing what I want in all of this. And here is my answer:
I want to write deep into issues. Very view people are doing this out there.
I want to deliver columns when I say I am going to deliver them. The first four years of The Hot Button didn't see a single missed column ... and that was then 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. That has changed too much ... for good reason most of the time, but too much.
I want to seek out serious (even when funny) discussion about this industry, which still can excite, irritate, confuse, frustrate, and offer me joy all in the same hour.
Finally, I want to continue to have the outlets that MCN and The Hot Blog offer for both quick analysis of all kinds of issues and events, as well as full interaction with those readers who chose to participate in the conversation actively.
To that end, I think it is time to make The Hot Button a weekly column. The goal - and I think, the interest of the readership - will be better served by an in-depth examination of one issue, as opposed to me scrambling each couple of days to distinguish the column from the blog. I will still do movie reviews on MCN and The Hot Blog. Smaller ideas may get more space on the blog. But I seek to deliver longer, stronger columns once a week.
I will also seek to create a proper index for the 10 Years of The Hot Button so that it can be used as an easy reference for the years past.
I will endeavor to write columns this Friday, and three next week before taking a couple weeks off for Telluride and Toronto. And on Wednesday, September 19, the first Hot Button Weekly will appear. In the weeks after, I look forward to a return of Reader of The Day too (though I guess it will really be Reader of the Week)!
And frankly, if I get the sense that a return to multiple columns is called for, we will go skidding back to that position. If there is anything that a decade of doing this has taught me, it is that nothing is absolute.
In addition, The Hot Blog and MCN will continue and, hopefully, with a little more time on my schedule, grow further. Lunch With David is evolving, especially as we head into Oscar season, and hopefully the long form discussion about movies will be available in more mediums, serving even bigger audiences. All kinds of things are not only possible, but within reach. It's been a long way around to "less is more," but the more it feels like I am grinding it out, the worse I am doing, even if business and traffic figures continue to improve each year.
So before I head of into the future, a note of thanks to all of you. It is no fluke that you are reading this. You have chosen to read it. You have clicked on a link and taken your time to engage me and my work ... a gift from you for which I really cannot thank you enough. I am honored by your attention, especially in this day and age with so many websites, blogs, and other media options. And I hope I can live up to your expectations.
And now ... as the tradition goes ...
TOP TEN HOT BUTTON RULES OF THUMB
1. Great Media Outlets' Standards Are Less Stringent When The Subject Is Entertainment And That Sucks.
2. $100 Million Is No Longer A Blockbuster In Theatrical ... But Right Now Represents The Start Of A Road To More Than $250 Million In Returns to The Studio In Most Cases Thanks To The New DVD Market And Expanded International Theatrical Market.
3. Successful Movie Advertising Sells One Idea At A Time ... And There Actually Has To Be An Idea Worth Selling
4. The Story Of The Moment Is Almost Never The Real Story
5. There Are Very Few Journalists In Entertainment Journalism
6. Talent Is Your Friend Until It's Time For Talent Not To Be Your Friend
7. Reviewing Scripts Or Test Screenings Is Selfish And Immoral ... ; You Do Not Know What Effect Sticking Your Nose Into Process Will Have And More Often Than Not It Is Negative
8. Opening Weekend Is Never About The Quality Of The Movie
9. There Are Things I Know And Things I Don't Know And Sometimes They Change
10.Love What You Do And Do What You Love Or Get The Fuck Out.
Week Of April 3, 2006 - Life In the Bubble - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 10, 2006 - List Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 17, 2006 - Review Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 24, 2006 - Overlooked Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 1, 2006 - Mystery Week - Tue / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 8, 2006 - How We Watch Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 15, 2006 - Premature Week - Oscar Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 22, 2006 - B-13 Mon / Inconvenient Wed / Fri
Week Of May 29, 2006 - Wed / Fri
Week Of June 5, 2006 - 666 Tue / Iraq Doc Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 12, 2006 - SIFF Mon / SIFF Wed / Fri
Week Of June 19, 2006 - Cinevegas Mon/Deliver Us Wed/Prada Fri
Week Of June 26, 2006 - Pirates Mon / Super Again Wed / Fri
Week Of July 5, 2006 - Wed
Week Of July 12, 2006 - M. Night Mon | You, Me & Wed | Monster House Fri
Week Of July 17, 2006 - 8 A Year Mon / Water Wed / Revamp Fri
Week Of July 24, 2006 - Comic-Con Mon / Gossip Wed / Fri
Week Of July 31, 2006 - Mel G Mon / Talladega Wed / Fri
Week Of August 7, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of August 14, 2006 - No Column Mon / Wed / Snakes Fri
Week Of August 21, 2006 - Snakey Mon / Anniversary Wed / Scoundrels Fri
Week Of August 28, 2006 - Mon Love / Berloff Wed / Fri
Week Of September 4, 2006 - Thur
Week Of September 11, 2006 - TIFF Mon / Bobby Wed / Fr
Week Of September 18, 2006 - Mon / TIFF 1 Wed / TIFF 2 Fri
Week Of September 25, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of October 2, 2006 - Atonement Mon / Wed / Indie Fri
Week Of October 9, 2006 - Flags Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of October 16, 2006 - Mon / Epagogix Wed
Week Of October 23, 2006 - TCIFF Mon / Wed / Catch A Fri
Week Of October 30, 2006 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of November 6, 2006 - Mon / Dead Girl Wed / Fri
Week Of November 13, 2006 - Bond Mon / Wed / TomKat Fri
Week Of November 20, 2006 - Mon / Thankful Wed
Week Of November 27, 2006 - Mon / Auteur Wed / Blood D Fri
Week Of December 4, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 11, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 18, 2006 - Mon / Wed / COM Fri
Week Of December 27, 2006 - Wed / Worst of 2006 Fri
Week Of Janiuary 3, 2007 - Best Of 2006 Wed
Week Of Janiuary 8, 2007 - Mon / COM Book Wed
Week Of January 17, 2007 - Little Red Writing Hood Wed
Week Of January 29, 2007 - Mon
Week Of February 5, 2007 -This Thing We Do Wk - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 12, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 26, 2007 - Rough Oscars Mon / Zodiac Wed / Doc & Foreign Fri
Week Of March 5, 2007 - Mon / Fri
March 14 / March 21/ March 28
Week Of April 4, 2007 - Wed / Grindhouse Fri
Week Of April 9, 2007 - Indie Distirbution Mon / Star Ranking Wed / Top 20 Fri
Week Of April 16, 2007 - Mon / Piaf Wed
Week Of April 23, 2007 - Mon / Tribeca Wed / Costner Fri
Week Of April 30, 2007 - Spider Mon
Week Of May 7, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 14, 2007 - 10 Thing Studios Don't Want Wed / Fri
Week Of May 21, 2007 - Mon / Pirates Fri
Week Of May 28, 2007 - Knocked Up Friday
Week Of June 4, 2007 - Hostel 2 Mon / Ocean's Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 11, 2007 - Sopranos Mon
Week Of June 18, 2007 - Mon / Sicko Wed
Week Of July 2, 2007 - Xanadu Fri
Week Of July 9, 2007 - Mon / Hairspray Fri
Week Of July 23, 2007 - Bourne Mon / Superbad Wed
Week Of July 30, 2007 - Shoot Em Up Mon / Fri
Week Of August 6, 2007 - Wed / New Line Fri
Week Of August 13, 2007 - Macho Fri
