Most Canadian filmmakers owe at least part of their career, either directly or indirectly to some level of government, government program or government initiative. However, in the last number of years, it seems that many of our film and television bodies are no longer helping maintain a strong Canadian identity.
There is no doubt that much of this is due to the growing complexities of contemporary Canada, the ever-shrinking financial resources available and the vast growth of new means of communication.
However my feeling is that in times of difficulty, leadership needs to emerge with ideas to deal with the situation. If that leadership is not forthcoming from within the organizations themselves, then it is incumbent upon the government to provide some.
Here are a couple of things that drive me crazy.
I really can’t get my head around that my tax dollars are being used to get the American Game show, “Wheel of Fortune” on CBC. (Jeopardy is another but it has this tiny tiny link to Canada through Ontario-born Alex Trebek.) Can’t we come up with something of our own? If we want to have game shows, let's make our own. Game shows are fairly cheap to make and given enough time, we could build an audience there too.
The Canada that I see everyday is a wonderfully diverse community of people with heritages from around the world. Cultural diversity is part of our essence. Let's not be ashamed of showing what it really is.
Why is this so important? Because film, television and the internet is how most of us get information and allow ourselves to be entertained. If taxpayer supported messages are, "It's only entertaining if it's American" or "There are mainly Caucasians living in Canada," you know what I say?
I don't want to pay for this. Reduce my taxes.
Isn’t it about time that we start having Canadian content that is truly Canadian?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
There's gold in shrimp embryos
Many years ago, I went into a Chinese restaurant and it was obvious that English was not the proprietor’s first language. On the menu, there was a soup made with the small dried shrimp that the Chinese uses for flavouring. In Chinese, the dried shrimp had two characters. The first was shrimp. The second was the character for child, son, or a diminutive for little, in the way “tiny” is used in “Tiny Tim” or “little” in “Little John”.
In English, the dried shrimp appeared on the menu as “shrimp embryo”, which sounded extremely unappetizing.
Cultural faux pas
When you cross cultural lines, the risk of cultural faux pas grow. What works well in one culture doesn’t work in another. The instance of the shrimp embryos is a perfect example of how to fail in business when crossing cultural lines.
Today, China is growing in leaps and bounds. She is striving to assert itself economically and political as a regional and world power. Part of that initiative is to assert itself culturally as well. Asia Times reports that:
Cultural offensive, version 1.0
The instance of the Frankfurt book fair can be best described as cultural offensive, version 1.0. No doubt they will get better as they unveil 2.0 and 3.0. There are also other instances of Chinese private cultural initiatives to penetrate the West. Nevertheless, the risk of labeling something as a shrimp embryo remains high.
An enormous opportunity
China is obviously embarking on a long-term strategy to make the world more aware of China’s culture and to erase its cultural trade deficit. Anyone who can bridge the two cultures and understand the crossover effect is staring at a long-term business opportunity of enormous proportions.
Consider what has been done in the United States alone in ethnically focused markets. In 2000, Robert Johnson became the first US Black billionaire when he sold Black Entertainment Television (BET) to Viacom for US$4b. In 2006, Univision, the Hispanic media conglomerate, was sold for US$12.6b.
What if someone were to harness the crossover effect of the Chinese market with the North American market?
There’s gold in them thar shrimp embryos!
In English, the dried shrimp appeared on the menu as “shrimp embryo”, which sounded extremely unappetizing.
Cultural faux pas
When you cross cultural lines, the risk of cultural faux pas grow. What works well in one culture doesn’t work in another. The instance of the shrimp embryos is a perfect example of how to fail in business when crossing cultural lines.
Today, China is growing in leaps and bounds. She is striving to assert itself economically and political as a regional and world power. Part of that initiative is to assert itself culturally as well. Asia Times reports that:
For several years now, Beijing has battled to reverse its "cultural deficit", where it imports 10 times more books than it exports. Now one of the world's largest economies and trading powers, China has spearheaded a cultural counteroffensive in a belief that cultural industry is the next step in its transformation from global upstart to superstar.The Asia Times article went on to detail incidents at the Frankfurt book fair that derailed the Middle Kingdom’s initiative.
As part of this attempt to raise the country's cultural profile abroad Beijing has invested in hundreds of Confucian institutes that are teaching Mandarin around the world and launching new foreign-language media outlets.
Cultural offensive, version 1.0
The instance of the Frankfurt book fair can be best described as cultural offensive, version 1.0. No doubt they will get better as they unveil 2.0 and 3.0. There are also other instances of Chinese private cultural initiatives to penetrate the West. Nevertheless, the risk of labeling something as a shrimp embryo remains high.
An enormous opportunity
China is obviously embarking on a long-term strategy to make the world more aware of China’s culture and to erase its cultural trade deficit. Anyone who can bridge the two cultures and understand the crossover effect is staring at a long-term business opportunity of enormous proportions.
Consider what has been done in the United States alone in ethnically focused markets. In 2000, Robert Johnson became the first US Black billionaire when he sold Black Entertainment Television (BET) to Viacom for US$4b. In 2006, Univision, the Hispanic media conglomerate, was sold for US$12.6b.
What if someone were to harness the crossover effect of the Chinese market with the North American market?
There’s gold in them thar shrimp embryos!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Lest We Forget
With November 11th being Remembrance Day, I want to take a break from the normal issues talked about to give thanks and pay tribute to those men and women who willingly put their lives on the line so that all of us can enjoy the freedoms and lives we enjoy today.
I spend a lot of time with Chinese Canadian WWII vets that are still alive. There is a recurrent theme that they share with all veterans and that is that they are most proud to have served their country 65 years ago. Many feel it is the most important thing they have done in their lives, despite having gone onto many other fields of accomplishment.
Pacific Unit 280, Chinese Canadian Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans is quite a remarkable group. They have met once a month since the end of WWII, come hell or high water. Some of them hate each other but they still faithfully attend the meetings, bound with their common bond of having changed Canada fundamentally. After WWII, they were instrumental in helping lobby for the vote, and Douglas Jung, Honourary Life President, was the first Chinese Canadian Member of Parliament.
I have discovered the bond of service to country is deeply imbedded in all persons in the military. This was re-inforced to me when I traveled to Washington DC a couple of weeks ago. The pride and respect exhibited by all when I visited the Arlington Cemetery made me think Canadians must do a better job of showing honour to those that are willing to defend us.
When I see some of the WWII vets now, many in their eighties or nineties, I try not to see them as the fragile elderly men they now are but look to see a teenager or young guy in his twenties, scared shitless that he might not last out the week, let alone the next fifteen minutes. Why did he do that? So a guy like me that he never even knew existed might have a chance for the future that he might not have.
As the Chaplain, I found a couple of quotes from the Bible that give real insight as to why military people do what they do.
Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than he give up his life for another.” While this applies to those who did pay the ultimate sacrifice, those who are or were willing to lay themselves on the line for us deserve an enormous debt from those of us who are the recipients of their dedication to their fellow man.
I was watching the Fort Hood Memorial today and saw General Casey offer these words from Isaiah that are so appropriate.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
If you see a vet or person in active service, do something for them. They have stood or stand on guard for you.
I spend a lot of time with Chinese Canadian WWII vets that are still alive. There is a recurrent theme that they share with all veterans and that is that they are most proud to have served their country 65 years ago. Many feel it is the most important thing they have done in their lives, despite having gone onto many other fields of accomplishment.
Pacific Unit 280, Chinese Canadian Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans is quite a remarkable group. They have met once a month since the end of WWII, come hell or high water. Some of them hate each other but they still faithfully attend the meetings, bound with their common bond of having changed Canada fundamentally. After WWII, they were instrumental in helping lobby for the vote, and Douglas Jung, Honourary Life President, was the first Chinese Canadian Member of Parliament.
I have discovered the bond of service to country is deeply imbedded in all persons in the military. This was re-inforced to me when I traveled to Washington DC a couple of weeks ago. The pride and respect exhibited by all when I visited the Arlington Cemetery made me think Canadians must do a better job of showing honour to those that are willing to defend us.
When I see some of the WWII vets now, many in their eighties or nineties, I try not to see them as the fragile elderly men they now are but look to see a teenager or young guy in his twenties, scared shitless that he might not last out the week, let alone the next fifteen minutes. Why did he do that? So a guy like me that he never even knew existed might have a chance for the future that he might not have.
As the Chaplain, I found a couple of quotes from the Bible that give real insight as to why military people do what they do.
Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than he give up his life for another.” While this applies to those who did pay the ultimate sacrifice, those who are or were willing to lay themselves on the line for us deserve an enormous debt from those of us who are the recipients of their dedication to their fellow man.
I was watching the Fort Hood Memorial today and saw General Casey offer these words from Isaiah that are so appropriate.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
If you see a vet or person in active service, do something for them. They have stood or stand on guard for you.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Creativity + Robust business model = Success
In my last post I wrote that the combination of creativity and a robust business model equaled success in the film business. That statement is true for any artist.
Without the creative spark, the artist is just someone with artistic technique. On the other hand, without the right plan to get patronage, the artist will die an unknown.
I would like to explore a bit more about what it means to be a successful artist. The artist spark is up to you. However, I can supply you with a robust business plan that can lead to success.
What is art?
The theory of art that I prefer defines the artist that interprets, translates or makes real the inspiration from the source, which is also known as a variety of names: God, the muses, the Other, the Unknown, etc., into concrete form that other people can understand.
Consider the allegory the story around Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan. Coleridge claimed that the poem was inspired by an opium-induced dream but that the composition was interrupted by a visitor. The entire story of the dream and the interruption is an allegory of the creative process. The artist delves into the unknown and to make real and concrete his vision from beyond.
In the poem, Coleridge writes:
He then pines of the lost vision, in the same way that the visitor interrupted his vision:
And he describes the the artist as:
When distinguishing between art and artistic technique, I am also reminded of the movie Amadeus, the fictional account of Mozart and his rival Salieri. Mozart was the genius, while Salieri was the plodder, a musician who had the technique but didn’t have the vision or inspiration.
What makes a commercially successful artist?
A commercially successful artist has patrons who “get” his art. It doesn’t mean that you have to “sell out”. John Singer Sargent was arguably one of the best portraitists of his time and he was a wildly successful artist.
Moving to the contemporary era, the successful filmmaker needs to have the vision and the right business plan. I talked about the 5Ps, of which the most important are Philosophy (your niche), Process (how do you exploit that niche) and People (do you have the people to implement the process). Consider the case of Pixar Animation Studios. I would paraphrase their 3Ps as the following:
Philosophy: Make animated films with the human spirit inside
Process: Develop interesting and creative scripts and marry it with the technology of animation
People: The studio has to have creative script development (creativity) + Animation studio (technique)
When Pixar first started making animated films, their animation technology was a source of competitive advantage. Those kinds of technical competitive advantages are not long lasting. Today, animation technology is becoming much more commoditized but Pixar’s advantage of script development endures.
Without the creative spark, the artist is just someone with artistic technique. On the other hand, without the right plan to get patronage, the artist will die an unknown.
I would like to explore a bit more about what it means to be a successful artist. The artist spark is up to you. However, I can supply you with a robust business plan that can lead to success.
What is art?
The theory of art that I prefer defines the artist that interprets, translates or makes real the inspiration from the source, which is also known as a variety of names: God, the muses, the Other, the Unknown, etc., into concrete form that other people can understand.
Consider the allegory the story around Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan. Coleridge claimed that the poem was inspired by an opium-induced dream but that the composition was interrupted by a visitor. The entire story of the dream and the interruption is an allegory of the creative process. The artist delves into the unknown and to make real and concrete his vision from beyond.
In the poem, Coleridge writes:
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
He then pines of the lost vision, in the same way that the visitor interrupted his vision:
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song…
And he describes the the artist as:
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
When distinguishing between art and artistic technique, I am also reminded of the movie Amadeus, the fictional account of Mozart and his rival Salieri. Mozart was the genius, while Salieri was the plodder, a musician who had the technique but didn’t have the vision or inspiration.
What makes a commercially successful artist?
A commercially successful artist has patrons who “get” his art. It doesn’t mean that you have to “sell out”. John Singer Sargent was arguably one of the best portraitists of his time and he was a wildly successful artist.
Moving to the contemporary era, the successful filmmaker needs to have the vision and the right business plan. I talked about the 5Ps, of which the most important are Philosophy (your niche), Process (how do you exploit that niche) and People (do you have the people to implement the process). Consider the case of Pixar Animation Studios. I would paraphrase their 3Ps as the following:
Philosophy: Make animated films with the human spirit inside
Process: Develop interesting and creative scripts and marry it with the technology of animation
People: The studio has to have creative script development (creativity) + Animation studio (technique)
When Pixar first started making animated films, their animation technology was a source of competitive advantage. Those kinds of technical competitive advantages are not long lasting. Today, animation technology is becoming much more commoditized but Pixar’s advantage of script development endures.
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