Godzilla vs the happy child
Jun 15th, 2007 by Tom Murphy
Hollywood’s first wave of New Media was a roller coaster ride of VC funded new media projects and joint ventures. Online networks, common in corporations, were transforming into a new exciting delivery system of branded content. It was the first shaking of a social revolution.
Producing branded content comes with the responsibility to know the message. Research, write, clarify. Respect the audience and the sponsors. Learn from the best. Seek the most effective expression of the brand’s promise. Simplify the central idea into a sort of haiku. Keep it as real as possible. Tell the truth, unless the bosses expect something different.
But in forever sunny Los Angeles, I enjoy the down time in between big projects. Get back to my New Orleans mode. Maintain a bit of solitude, take time to mull over my winding trail. Where did I land on solid ground or fall on a shaky slope?
A good hike in the Hollywood Hills is a great way to start the day. Scampering over rocks and jogging along ridgetops keeps us feeling lively and balanced.
It’s not easy careening through the entertainment landscape. There are hard lessons on that rocky road. One is that if you have something that has great value, then expect that some shady folks will try to take it away from you. Then they can claim the big success as their own. No wonder the originators of any valuable intellectual property sound alarms if they sense an intrusion into their castle. Funny thing is that most thieves don’t seem to be aware that they’re doing anything morally wrong. It’s just the way things run in Hollywood. But up to this point, I worked for the big brands and content owners. My own projects took a backseat while I earned a living, learning the ropes. Sometimes it was quite painful when important battles were lost.
After years on other people’s projects, my own inventions stayed in gestation, but growing. I was feeling tired in 1996 from the roller coaster so I took a break. Breathe in, breathe out. Robust energy is called for to get your own stuff out there. Let’s see, how do I get that back? Return to The Lab. Throw some chemicals together. Answer the callings from the cave. It’s shaman time.
DUBLIN, IRELAND – INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL 1996
In 1996, I returned to an earlier calling for a few months… a special kind of theater and a creative blowout that I needed. CRISUS was an art performance group I worked with in New Orleans. My creations are original soundtracks for live stunt action performance. No dialogue or at least very little that made any linear sense. Every show was live mixed, each designed like nothing I’ve heard before. A multi-track mix of instruments, electronic beats, live percussion, digital mutations and ambient tracks.
Check my last show at: SAPA by CRISUS
I hope to return to the theater work like CRISUS and live performance. Creatively it’s hugely satisfying but the limited budgets and out of pocket expenses can devastate friendships. Which is what happened in Dublin in 1996. But the experience was 90% lovely and 10% pure bat dung. Maybe that’s not a bad percentage. There were some magic moments on that trip. Totally sober too, a state of mind that I appreciate when walking a high wire without a net. But, a loss of friends price is too high for me these days. I miss the old gang, but then my priorities are in order.
But if I were to attempt the reunion thing. Not that I’m saying that… but if I were to dream… we would dazzle the Money People with a performance treatment and prospectus. Mount a touring stage show, have fun, build healthy relationships with fine artists and technical wizards. Maybe get the old group together. Still crazy indeed.