Moviemaker – Winter 2019

6

ELCOME TO ISSUE #130, our

26th year of publication, and

our 19th annual survey of the

“Best Places to Live and Work as

a Moviemaker.” There are always

surprises on this list, and the 2019 incarnation is

no exception, with particularly strong showings

from Memphis and Portland, and the unabated

rise of industry behemoths Albuquerque and

Atlanta. The debate about which places should

make the cut was as vocal as ever, but this time

we continue it in our “Moviemaker Melee”

department, where two working moviemakers

debate the relative merits of living and working

in an urban or rural environment.

The “melee” theme hasn’t been limited to

our “Best Places” list at MovieMaker this winter.

As is often the case, I recently found myself

in the middle of a heated debate between two

moviemaker friends. One of them swore (well,

they both swore, actually) that he has a social

responsibility which requires him to be outspo-

ken on the issues of our day, especially matters

of injustice and inequality. He believes it’s his

moral duty, because he has a platform that oth-

ers don’t, to create work that gives a voice to the

otherwise voiceless, to challenge authority, and

to be part of “the resistance.” “I don’t distinguish

between my public and private lives when I’m

advocating for change,” he says.

My other friend called that view naïve at best,

professionally suicidal at worst. He believes

his only responsibility is to the marketplace,

where he is required to be sure that his films

are entertaining and well made, nothing more.

He acknowledges that he has strong political

opinions, but stresses that he keeps his beliefs—

political and otherwise—to himself. His social

media business pages are for commercial rea-

sons and his views are inappropriate there, even

unwelcome, he says.

ISSUE NO. 130, VOLUME 26

WINTER 2019

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

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RYAN COLEMAN, RYAN STEWART, ANDY YOUNG

INTERN

CHRIS VILLALTA

“People don’t want that from me, they

want an escape. Certainly that’s true when

I’m making fiction, but it’s even true with my

documentaries. I stick to the subject, and don’t

shade it with my politics. My platform is not my

soapbox! I don’t let any of what I believe influ-

ence my social media pages.

“Because that’s my office. I don’t throw

F-bombs around my office, and I don’t take

stands that are going to be offensive to 30-50 per-

cent of my client base. I know lots of colleagues

of mine—other writers, editors, and friends in the

business—are reading my posts and I don’t want

them questioning whether or not they want to

work with me on their next project based on my

behavior or my personal beliefs. I’m not going

to sabotage myself. Business is business and I’m

aware that I need to act like a professional.”

So which is it? Should moviemakers remain

agnostic or do we have a social responsibility

with our work? Do we have an obligation to be

politically outspoken as citizens in a democracy,

especially when we see evil being perpetrated

by our “leaders”? If so, what are the appropriate

limits? Do we want our actors, writers, directors,

producers, and editors telling us what they think

all the time? As audience members, are we ever

truly able to separate the art from the artist?

What do you think? I’d be interested to know.

These questions resurfaced last night as I

watched the 2019 Golden Globes, where

Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, and others were

widely praised for speaking about female equality

and empowerment, while Christian Bale was ex-

coriated by some for his commentary on power,

namely the devil’s influence on his uncanny

portrayal of the former vice president of the

United States. Awards shows are often politically

charged affairs, but some moviemakers

(Robert De Niro, Woody Harrelson, and

Michael Shannon come to mind) don’t limit

themselves to shows, private pages, or even to

keeping their politics limited to their art... they

believe in being outspoken at all times. “What you

see is what you get” is their motto. If you don’t

want to buy their product because you don’t like

what they believe, that’s just fine with them.

This debate is as old as film itself. Lois Weber,

the first American woman to direct a feature-

length film (The Merchant of Venice, 1914), who

in the early film industry was in many ways the

equal of such giants as D.W. Griffith and

Cecil B. DeMille, was an advocate for cinema’s

ability to portray complex social issues in a popu-

lar narrative form. She made films about drug ad-

diction, urban poverty, the fight to abolish capital

punishment, and women’s struggle to gain access

to contraception. It’s tragic that her films are

now largely forgotten, because they were made

of nitrate stock, because the men who controlled

Hollywood didn’t respect female moviemakers,

and because the industry soon turned to enter-

tainment over social commentary. But a hundred

years later, I think the tide may finally be turning

for good. Enjoy #130. See you at Tribeca. MM

NOTEBOOK

BY TIM RHYS

WINTER 2019 MOVIEMAKER.COM

W

SHOULD YOUR

PLATFORM BE

YOUR SOAPBOX?