"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?" Hillel, Pirkei Avot, 1:14
If you live in the UK do you notice that there are more holes in the road? I believe this is an indication of the whole of our beautiful island going to pot. We simply seem to have lost the will to keep up appearances. It would be funny if it were not so serious.
At first there were small indications of a general decay. You will remember them starting with the proliferation of graffiti, which, to more liberal tastes, was termed street art. It is not street art, it is someone without a brain and too much time on their hands thinking that a spare piece of wall, or a railway carriage is more fun to play paint on than a piece of paper.
The decline in the UK took other, more serious form when our once wonderful, world leading National Health Service, began to seriously deteriorate. I don’t mean that the science and the doctoring suddenly became worse, I mean that the wards were not being cleaned properly, and once spotless hospitals where you could have eaten off the floor became, instead, dirt infested germ generators. Sometimes it seems from the terrifying statistics that you’re as likely to get ill or die from the germs in the wards as you are from the illnesses that brought you to the hospital in the first place. In this instance, as in many others, it is not lack of funding that has been the problem; it is the almost ruinously bad management of the increased spending.
The same applies to other major capital projects in the UK. We just built one of the biggest airport terminals in the World, Terminal 5 at Heathrow. It looks fantastic, and it is designed to meet a capacity of an additional 30 million passengers a year or more. They built this giant edifice over a period of years at a cost exceeding $10 billion. Everything was great until it opened for business about a week ago. Immediately the baggage system, touted as the most advanced in the world did not work. There are about 20,000 lost bags. British Airways have still not reunited all the passengers with all the bags. How could this happen unless the management is awful?
When the British go to war they are regarded as amongst the best fighting men and women in the world. The British don’t miss too many wars, and their fighting men are known for their bravery and efficiency. Presently the British are engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once again the service men are proving to be excellent at their difficult and dangerous jobs. What has also been noticeable is the fact that their weapons and support equipment has been sub standard and in short supply. This is clearly the result of bad strategic planning and management. As the German High Command commented of the British soldiers in the First World War, “They are lions led by donkeys.” Nothing much seems to have changed in nearly one hundred years.
The railways and underground service in London are in perpetual repair, despite the expenditure of many more billions of pounds. When will this ever end? Despite all this fixing and modernizing and re-inventing the service is still often delayed, and subject to myriad disruptions.
The roads have had huge and never-ending investment to give much needed improvements, but still we have endless tailbacks and increasing gridlock. No one you meet can remember a time when there were so many holes in these roads that were supposed to be improving. There are no days when we don’t have announcements of long delays on various roads and other means of transportation. I can name the roads today that will be accident bound next Monday, and the next day and so on without end. Monday, April 14th. 2008 I predict that there will be an accident between Junction 25 and 28 of the M25, there will also be some kind of incident on the North Circular Road, another traffic hold up between the junction of the M11 and M25, a further hold up in the road works on the M1 near Hemel Hempstead, another similar problem on the M6 and I could go on. If I can work out that these are incidents waiting to happen why can’t the management of our country? Instead of scrabbling around to patch up these obvious fault lines why not focus on getting them fixed properly?
The reasons are obvious to me. Our government is so concerned in micro-managing our lives they have lost sight of their real job, managing the running of our country. They need to get our civil service back to being civil and a service, they need to stop looking for ways to tell us what to do, how to eat, to drive and how to learn. They have self evidently got all of these disastrously wrong. It is interesting to share with you the information that there is a town in Holland called Drachten where they removed all the road signs, traffic lights, and road markings and instead of the accident rate going up it went down, so did the number of traffic jams and that can only be good. How about our government using their collective brain and following this example instead of wasting our time and money on hugely inefficient management.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Sorry
I owe my blogees an apology for my failure to post a blog yesterday. It was prepared, I promise, but my router went absent without leave and my access to the net went with it. This was worsened by the fact that I had this checked a couple of days before when I was trying to discover why my new Mac Air, on which I am writing this blog, wouldn’t connect to the net.
Yes, isn’t life grand, a new router, recently checked, a new laptop, top of the line, and the whole bloody thing doesn’t bloody work. I am thrilled. When I rang my service provider for an urgent call out they told me that would cost me more, it being an emergency. I reminded them about my warranties for the new equipment, and the fact that they supposedly had checked this equipment all out just days ago. They told me they could come tomorrow, for a regular charge, was that OK?
You probably have all sorts of replies I could have used, but in the final analysis you need this stuff to work, so you swallow hard, tell them to go ahead, and find new service providers and guess what, they will be just the same.
I shall do my best to resume normal service tomorrow, or as soon as the connections all work again, by which time I shall be on my way to the USA from where I shall be attempting to keep my blogs flowing without interruption, but don’t bet too heavily on it.
Yes, isn’t life grand, a new router, recently checked, a new laptop, top of the line, and the whole bloody thing doesn’t bloody work. I am thrilled. When I rang my service provider for an urgent call out they told me that would cost me more, it being an emergency. I reminded them about my warranties for the new equipment, and the fact that they supposedly had checked this equipment all out just days ago. They told me they could come tomorrow, for a regular charge, was that OK?
You probably have all sorts of replies I could have used, but in the final analysis you need this stuff to work, so you swallow hard, tell them to go ahead, and find new service providers and guess what, they will be just the same.
I shall do my best to resume normal service tomorrow, or as soon as the connections all work again, by which time I shall be on my way to the USA from where I shall be attempting to keep my blogs flowing without interruption, but don’t bet too heavily on it.
A Tribute
Earlier this week the great film star Charlton Heston passed away in his Beverly Hills home. I want to pay a small personal tribute to the man and a selected few others for their help to me when I was making my first professional film, The Festival Game. I was 19 years old, and together with my producing, directing partner, Michael Lytton, was making this documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the year that Easy Rider was released, and the whole world was going hippy and smoking joints and playing some really great music.
Michael and I realized that it was essential we had interviews with some major stars or our film wouldn’t find distribution. We were let down by a Persian banker who had his office in Paris. He vanished when I went to collect the production money. We were left holding the financial risk. The film was costing us a lot of money we didn’t have. We were desperate.
We drew up a list of “must have” stars that we would somehow get to appear in our no budget movie. Amongst them were Charlton Heston, Omar Sharif, Yul Brenner, Peter Ustinov, Malcolm McDowell, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda. By hook and by crook we got the lot.
Sharif took a liking to our chutzpah, in which we had given ourselves Passes made out to ourselves as “The Official British TV New Team” and on which we had stamped, “please allow this crew total access to all areas”. Unbelievably it worked, and we were delighted to attend a very nice private tea that the Mayor of Cannes invited us to attend in his offices.
Yul Brenner, of The King and I fame was a different story. During the day he gave us a good interview and was friendly and polite, but when the evening came he tended to get drunk and aggressive. He threatened my friend with violence so I returned the compliment and he seemed to like that and was fine thereafter.
Most impressive was the genius Peter Ustinov. The man was incapable of being anything other than a brilliant raconteur and wit. He gave us an interview sitting by a sun-blessed table whilst also handling five other interviews, each fluently in a different language. I asked him if he thought that it was important to win such awards as the Cannes Film Festival. His response was magnificent, “I’m not certain if my winning the Golden Crutch at Lourdes, or the Prize of Good Humour from the Buddhist League will make an enormous difference to my career.”
Heston was always surrounded by a coterie of hangers on and PR “handlers” who seemed determined to keep idiots like us away. But I was determined. We were all in the hurly burly of the Carlton Hotel when Charlton marched off with giant and determined strides towards the toilets. I saw my opportunity and followed him. I saw the great man standing by the urinals; I stationed myself next to him. Normally I am not intimidated by anyone standing next to me at such a venue. I am of normal proportion, and with my shoes on am nearing six feet, but next to this God like colossus I suddenly felt like a little boy. It’s also very difficult to strike up a conversation at a urinal without the listener presuming that this might be some kind of attempted pick up. “Hello Mister Heston,” I began, “I’m making this documentary about the Cannes Film Festival and I was wondering…” He turned his steely gaze upon me and I stopped talking, “Can’t this wait until after we leave here?” he asked, and before I could respond he finished what he was doing and left. I couldn’t immediately follow as I was, by now, into the flow of things. By the time I was finished he had left the room. I had failed.
I left the room to report back to Michael, my partner, and our cameraman, Austen Parkinson. Heston was now talking to a bunch of questioners who were huddled around him. He saw me and signaled me over. “Bring the camera!” he called. He had kind enough to forgive my rude interruption of his one moment of privacy and without further prompting gave us a wonderful question and answer session. He was a gentleman and will be much missed, as much for what he was, as for what he could do.
We finished the film and I am proud to say we managed to get our distribution deal for cinemas in the UK, where it went on to become the second most played documentary in Britain. Thank you Mister Heston, and all those other legends who gave us a leg up when we needed the help.
Michael and I realized that it was essential we had interviews with some major stars or our film wouldn’t find distribution. We were let down by a Persian banker who had his office in Paris. He vanished when I went to collect the production money. We were left holding the financial risk. The film was costing us a lot of money we didn’t have. We were desperate.
We drew up a list of “must have” stars that we would somehow get to appear in our no budget movie. Amongst them were Charlton Heston, Omar Sharif, Yul Brenner, Peter Ustinov, Malcolm McDowell, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda. By hook and by crook we got the lot.
Sharif took a liking to our chutzpah, in which we had given ourselves Passes made out to ourselves as “The Official British TV New Team” and on which we had stamped, “please allow this crew total access to all areas”. Unbelievably it worked, and we were delighted to attend a very nice private tea that the Mayor of Cannes invited us to attend in his offices.
Yul Brenner, of The King and I fame was a different story. During the day he gave us a good interview and was friendly and polite, but when the evening came he tended to get drunk and aggressive. He threatened my friend with violence so I returned the compliment and he seemed to like that and was fine thereafter.
Most impressive was the genius Peter Ustinov. The man was incapable of being anything other than a brilliant raconteur and wit. He gave us an interview sitting by a sun-blessed table whilst also handling five other interviews, each fluently in a different language. I asked him if he thought that it was important to win such awards as the Cannes Film Festival. His response was magnificent, “I’m not certain if my winning the Golden Crutch at Lourdes, or the Prize of Good Humour from the Buddhist League will make an enormous difference to my career.”
Heston was always surrounded by a coterie of hangers on and PR “handlers” who seemed determined to keep idiots like us away. But I was determined. We were all in the hurly burly of the Carlton Hotel when Charlton marched off with giant and determined strides towards the toilets. I saw my opportunity and followed him. I saw the great man standing by the urinals; I stationed myself next to him. Normally I am not intimidated by anyone standing next to me at such a venue. I am of normal proportion, and with my shoes on am nearing six feet, but next to this God like colossus I suddenly felt like a little boy. It’s also very difficult to strike up a conversation at a urinal without the listener presuming that this might be some kind of attempted pick up. “Hello Mister Heston,” I began, “I’m making this documentary about the Cannes Film Festival and I was wondering…” He turned his steely gaze upon me and I stopped talking, “Can’t this wait until after we leave here?” he asked, and before I could respond he finished what he was doing and left. I couldn’t immediately follow as I was, by now, into the flow of things. By the time I was finished he had left the room. I had failed.
I left the room to report back to Michael, my partner, and our cameraman, Austen Parkinson. Heston was now talking to a bunch of questioners who were huddled around him. He saw me and signaled me over. “Bring the camera!” he called. He had kind enough to forgive my rude interruption of his one moment of privacy and without further prompting gave us a wonderful question and answer session. He was a gentleman and will be much missed, as much for what he was, as for what he could do.
We finished the film and I am proud to say we managed to get our distribution deal for cinemas in the UK, where it went on to become the second most played documentary in Britain. Thank you Mister Heston, and all those other legends who gave us a leg up when we needed the help.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Communicating
Today there are ever more ways in which we can communicate so why are we not communicating? People e-mail, text, Skype, telephone but are we talking with each other, or at each other?
My recent experience makes me believe that we are censoring each other to suit ourselves. How many times have you received an incoming call on your mobile, looked at the name that came up on the screen and pressed the off button? Admit it, we all have. Or do you respond to the call at all if it states “unknown number” on your screen? Many of us don’t, including, I have to admit on most occasions, myself.
This all seems strange in light of the fact that we have all seen people in cars, buses, trains or simply walking along talking to others on their mobiles as if they were in a small universe of their own. Talking to someone on your mobile who is somewhere else is normal enough as a small part of life we all have to do some of the time, but is it essential most of the time as it seems to be for some, most of the time? What’s even more odd is that many times the person speaking on their handset is walking along with a companion who they are totally ignoring.
I can well understand trying to control our own time and space by using all these modern conveniences to be master of our own small universe, but it can rapidly become obsessive. There are several recent reports of blogaholics, particularly technical bloggers, who have had heart attacks trying to keep abreast of the unending torrent of new technical development relentlessly coming on stream. No one can keep up with this, and it isn’t necessary.
You can take all this to a ridiculous extreme resulting in your not communicating at all. Instead of using all these wonderful tools to communicate you use them to create a series of ever-higher walls behind which we can cower. It is, ultimately cowardice for us to filter our phone calls and e-mails and to pretend we use them to communicate when what we are really doing is limiting access to ourselves.
Remember when fax machines were the new communication wonder? I was prone to instant response to any fax I received, thinking that the fact that an incoming fax had arrived with urgency I should deal with it in the same way. My late father was a wise old bird and he told me that just because the communications came quicker I didn’t have to respond faster. I suggest the same is true with all our modern methods of electronic communication. Let everyone have access to your public platforms, but think for as long as you need before responding. Some times you will not even want to do that, and it’s entirely up to you.
But, and this is the big BUT, when that someone trying to communicate with you is your friend or family, then try and get in the same place with them, and look them in the eye and talk with each other. There is, in the end, no substitute.
My recent experience makes me believe that we are censoring each other to suit ourselves. How many times have you received an incoming call on your mobile, looked at the name that came up on the screen and pressed the off button? Admit it, we all have. Or do you respond to the call at all if it states “unknown number” on your screen? Many of us don’t, including, I have to admit on most occasions, myself.
This all seems strange in light of the fact that we have all seen people in cars, buses, trains or simply walking along talking to others on their mobiles as if they were in a small universe of their own. Talking to someone on your mobile who is somewhere else is normal enough as a small part of life we all have to do some of the time, but is it essential most of the time as it seems to be for some, most of the time? What’s even more odd is that many times the person speaking on their handset is walking along with a companion who they are totally ignoring.
I can well understand trying to control our own time and space by using all these modern conveniences to be master of our own small universe, but it can rapidly become obsessive. There are several recent reports of blogaholics, particularly technical bloggers, who have had heart attacks trying to keep abreast of the unending torrent of new technical development relentlessly coming on stream. No one can keep up with this, and it isn’t necessary.
You can take all this to a ridiculous extreme resulting in your not communicating at all. Instead of using all these wonderful tools to communicate you use them to create a series of ever-higher walls behind which we can cower. It is, ultimately cowardice for us to filter our phone calls and e-mails and to pretend we use them to communicate when what we are really doing is limiting access to ourselves.
Remember when fax machines were the new communication wonder? I was prone to instant response to any fax I received, thinking that the fact that an incoming fax had arrived with urgency I should deal with it in the same way. My late father was a wise old bird and he told me that just because the communications came quicker I didn’t have to respond faster. I suggest the same is true with all our modern methods of electronic communication. Let everyone have access to your public platforms, but think for as long as you need before responding. Some times you will not even want to do that, and it’s entirely up to you.
But, and this is the big BUT, when that someone trying to communicate with you is your friend or family, then try and get in the same place with them, and look them in the eye and talk with each other. There is, in the end, no substitute.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Free At Last...
Free, Oh Lord, we’re free at last. These were the words heard to echo through Klinger Towers when it was belatedly announced that the British were to get three or four free to air High Definition TV channels next year some time.
In the UK, since Thatcher we have become used to never getting anything for free that we could possibly pay for. Some people call that the marketplace, I call it silly. A civilized country needs some infrastructure that works efficiently and for the benefit of all its citizens. Some might limit this to education, health, welfare, defence and roads, but others, like myself, would include my television and technological link needs. What’s the point of my purchasing the very best computers in the world if the broadband link isn’t fast enough? That should be something that our government makes certain is the best that the world can provide.
In the UK there is a great deal of confusion and rubbish talked about High Definition television. This is one of those areas of technology where Asia and America are ahead and seem not to suffer the same kind of pain and anguish.
In the States, where you know I spend a great deal of time, they already have programming made available by broadcasters, free of charge, to those users who have sets ready for HD.
Not so in the UK. The first broadcasters who launched this service a year or so back, were Sky, part owned and controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s mighty News Corporation, that also owns some other little bits and pieces like Fox TV, and Twentieth Century Fox etc. Sky are launched with a nifty set top box to enable “HD Ready” sets to show their broadcasts in HD, well sort of HD, which I shall explain later.
Sky are charging £10 per month (about $20) per home in the UK for this service, yes, the same service that in America our cousins across the pond get for free!
To make matters even worse this is not even full High Definition television. The sets on sale in the UK are HD ready, and this means that they are able to show about one million pixels on the screen. This is a whole lot better than they are presently, but actually about half of what true HD is, which is about two million pixels. Do you think Sky might decide to decrease their monthly charge to £5?
It actually does get a bit worse still. We purchased this service and settled back to be astonished. I can’t say we are over impressed. Yes, I can see the hairs on the hands of the sports commentators, and the lines on the faces of the botox free, older ladies. Yes, it’s true that I can now see the faces in the crowds of the sports events, but now that I can I am able to confirm that I never wanted to anyhow. In the nature broadcasts I can more readily discern the animals being killed and eaten, which I could do without. Maybe the answer is to watch HD without my glasses on?
While I am having a gripe I want to add that Skype, the best voice over internet protocol that I have experienced is not understood by many people. A couple of facts I want to help spread around whilst promising you I have no shares in that company.
Anyone can download Skype onto either their PC or Mac for free. You can then make free calls to other Skype users, and there are many millions of them. You can “ring” non Skype users on any phone anywhere in the World for the price of a cheap rate local call. Why aren’t you already on Skype?
In the UK, since Thatcher we have become used to never getting anything for free that we could possibly pay for. Some people call that the marketplace, I call it silly. A civilized country needs some infrastructure that works efficiently and for the benefit of all its citizens. Some might limit this to education, health, welfare, defence and roads, but others, like myself, would include my television and technological link needs. What’s the point of my purchasing the very best computers in the world if the broadband link isn’t fast enough? That should be something that our government makes certain is the best that the world can provide.
In the UK there is a great deal of confusion and rubbish talked about High Definition television. This is one of those areas of technology where Asia and America are ahead and seem not to suffer the same kind of pain and anguish.
In the States, where you know I spend a great deal of time, they already have programming made available by broadcasters, free of charge, to those users who have sets ready for HD.
Not so in the UK. The first broadcasters who launched this service a year or so back, were Sky, part owned and controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s mighty News Corporation, that also owns some other little bits and pieces like Fox TV, and Twentieth Century Fox etc. Sky are launched with a nifty set top box to enable “HD Ready” sets to show their broadcasts in HD, well sort of HD, which I shall explain later.
Sky are charging £10 per month (about $20) per home in the UK for this service, yes, the same service that in America our cousins across the pond get for free!
To make matters even worse this is not even full High Definition television. The sets on sale in the UK are HD ready, and this means that they are able to show about one million pixels on the screen. This is a whole lot better than they are presently, but actually about half of what true HD is, which is about two million pixels. Do you think Sky might decide to decrease their monthly charge to £5?
It actually does get a bit worse still. We purchased this service and settled back to be astonished. I can’t say we are over impressed. Yes, I can see the hairs on the hands of the sports commentators, and the lines on the faces of the botox free, older ladies. Yes, it’s true that I can now see the faces in the crowds of the sports events, but now that I can I am able to confirm that I never wanted to anyhow. In the nature broadcasts I can more readily discern the animals being killed and eaten, which I could do without. Maybe the answer is to watch HD without my glasses on?
While I am having a gripe I want to add that Skype, the best voice over internet protocol that I have experienced is not understood by many people. A couple of facts I want to help spread around whilst promising you I have no shares in that company.
Anyone can download Skype onto either their PC or Mac for free. You can then make free calls to other Skype users, and there are many millions of them. You can “ring” non Skype users on any phone anywhere in the World for the price of a cheap rate local call. Why aren’t you already on Skype?
Monday, April 7, 2008
Journey of Harmony?
Yesterday “The Journey of Harmony” took place in London. This was the name given to the relay running of the Olympic Flame by the Chinese Government. It was routed from Wembley Stadium, through several parts of our fair city to the O2 arena, in Greenwich. It was not a harmonious journey.
There were various protests for the length of the run. These were on behalf of the people of Tibet. There were counter demonstrations on behalf of the Beijing Olympics. As I wrote in a previous posting I support these democratic protests and I support the Olympics. There is a better leverage on China if we participate than if we were to withdraw in protest. What we mustn’t do is allow ourselves to be used as if we agree with the Chinese Government’s repressive actions against Tibet.
I also think its obvious that we should be debating a new, different form of Olympics in the future. The 2012 venue is in London, and it is going to be a vast show, as is this year’s mammoth event in China. The Olympics has become an impossibly large pumped up and self-important circus.
Why don’t we examine the possibility of making this event truly global whilst pricking this big balloon?
We could hold the swimming in Australia, the boxing in the USA, the football in Russia, the weight lifting in Japan, the yachting in Brazil, the cycling in England, the rowing in Germany, and so on. That way no one gets to spend too much money, we could even mutually support, say, the athletics in a poorer African country. No one country gets to pretend that they are superior to any other because they are hosting the whole thing but everyone gets to participate.
We could easily switch these individual sports venues between countries every four years without any of the chosen countries bankrupting themselves with empty nationalistic ego driven grandiose political gestures. One sport in each country wouldn't bankrupt any country nor would it allow anyone to turn a sporting event into a political advertisement for their system of government, whatever it might be. Our television networks could link the events into an Olympic whole and it would bring down the component parts to a more human and natural scale. It might just bring the Olympics to the people of the world for everyone to enjoy, or isn't that the idea?
There were various protests for the length of the run. These were on behalf of the people of Tibet. There were counter demonstrations on behalf of the Beijing Olympics. As I wrote in a previous posting I support these democratic protests and I support the Olympics. There is a better leverage on China if we participate than if we were to withdraw in protest. What we mustn’t do is allow ourselves to be used as if we agree with the Chinese Government’s repressive actions against Tibet.
I also think its obvious that we should be debating a new, different form of Olympics in the future. The 2012 venue is in London, and it is going to be a vast show, as is this year’s mammoth event in China. The Olympics has become an impossibly large pumped up and self-important circus.
Why don’t we examine the possibility of making this event truly global whilst pricking this big balloon?
We could hold the swimming in Australia, the boxing in the USA, the football in Russia, the weight lifting in Japan, the yachting in Brazil, the cycling in England, the rowing in Germany, and so on. That way no one gets to spend too much money, we could even mutually support, say, the athletics in a poorer African country. No one country gets to pretend that they are superior to any other because they are hosting the whole thing but everyone gets to participate.
We could easily switch these individual sports venues between countries every four years without any of the chosen countries bankrupting themselves with empty nationalistic ego driven grandiose political gestures. One sport in each country wouldn't bankrupt any country nor would it allow anyone to turn a sporting event into a political advertisement for their system of government, whatever it might be. Our television networks could link the events into an Olympic whole and it would bring down the component parts to a more human and natural scale. It might just bring the Olympics to the people of the world for everyone to enjoy, or isn't that the idea?
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The Media Pipe
I recently had a fascinating couple of conversations with people in Los Angeles. One works for a huge, leading mobile telephone platform and the other for a giant film distribution company, now part of a conglomerate.
The message from both seems to be that the days when you had people with passion and commitment at the tip of the spear has long gone. Even the days when a movie company was led by ex talent agents, lawyers or accountants had to be preferable to one where marketing gurus from unrelated industries took over. How can a person who markets soap know or care about getting some market space for a film that you might care about. Their only passion is to use franchise movies to grab market share as effectively as possible. It might make short term sense if you don’t consider that the guy or girl making that small but perfectly formed passion project is the same person who might one day make the future blockbuster.
Just a thought, wouldn’t it be great for everyone if they hired someone who knew about creativity to run a studio…
A related industry is telecommunications. The reason that it is related to the creative, production of product is obvious and simple. There is no point having a big pipe with nothing to pour through it. The days when all you needed was the pipe itself, are gone. The ownership of the pipe, formerly a monopoly, or thereabouts, has now become a competitive business, in which you have to provide a service. That service is the package of entertainment you are perceived to provide the consumer via that pipe.
So telecommunications has become part of the entertainment industry and faces a future in which the giant platforms, who purchased their place at high table for many billions of dollars, will not be able to generate enough returns to meet that investment from the use of their phone systems for speaking. Why would someone pay for calls that will be soon available generally, for free, on their mobiles via the internet?
The guy I met from the telecommunications company asked me how I would define his job. I answered, in my most polite fashion, that he was the Chief Executive for a major platform provider. His response was that this was incorrect, as he would define himself as the CEO of an entertainment company that was simply using broadband technology as a means of delivery to an ever increasing, and hungry public.
So entertainment and creativity is where it’s at, and that’s where you come in.
The message from both seems to be that the days when you had people with passion and commitment at the tip of the spear has long gone. Even the days when a movie company was led by ex talent agents, lawyers or accountants had to be preferable to one where marketing gurus from unrelated industries took over. How can a person who markets soap know or care about getting some market space for a film that you might care about. Their only passion is to use franchise movies to grab market share as effectively as possible. It might make short term sense if you don’t consider that the guy or girl making that small but perfectly formed passion project is the same person who might one day make the future blockbuster.
Just a thought, wouldn’t it be great for everyone if they hired someone who knew about creativity to run a studio…
A related industry is telecommunications. The reason that it is related to the creative, production of product is obvious and simple. There is no point having a big pipe with nothing to pour through it. The days when all you needed was the pipe itself, are gone. The ownership of the pipe, formerly a monopoly, or thereabouts, has now become a competitive business, in which you have to provide a service. That service is the package of entertainment you are perceived to provide the consumer via that pipe.
So telecommunications has become part of the entertainment industry and faces a future in which the giant platforms, who purchased their place at high table for many billions of dollars, will not be able to generate enough returns to meet that investment from the use of their phone systems for speaking. Why would someone pay for calls that will be soon available generally, for free, on their mobiles via the internet?
The guy I met from the telecommunications company asked me how I would define his job. I answered, in my most polite fashion, that he was the Chief Executive for a major platform provider. His response was that this was incorrect, as he would define himself as the CEO of an entertainment company that was simply using broadband technology as a means of delivery to an ever increasing, and hungry public.
So entertainment and creativity is where it’s at, and that’s where you come in.
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