I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

There are a ton of updates about the trailer, the poster, a movie-edition of the book, the tour and everything else, but I am going to post those tomorrow. This post isn’t really about this movie, so if that’s all you care about, that’s cool, but stop reading, because today I want to talk about something different, something that probably won’t interest you:
With this movie, and even with this blog, there are two different things going on simultaneously. The first and most obvious is that we are making a movie and promoting its release. And with that, the only thing that really matters is the movie itself, and whether or not the movie is enjoyable to the people who watch it. And make no mistake, that issue–making a great movie–is always at the forefront of our minds.
But for me personally, this whole undertaking has never been about one movie. Nothing I did on this movie–from the script, to the financing, to the casting, to the production, to the marketing–was done with one movie in mind. For over five years I have looked at this movie as the first major battle in the grand campaign to change the entertainment business. From day one, I have had a plan in my head about where I wanted to take this and how I wanted to get there.
Look at how Nils and I made this movie, the process we followed. We examined the “normal” Hollywood way of making a movie, found it to be stifling to creativity and utterly evil in how it treats artists, and consciously rejected it. Instead, we took another path:
We wrote a different way–not worrying about what would sell or what we were “supposed” to do, instead focusing on nothing other than what made the best movie.
We financed it the right way–turning down upfront money and guaranteed “success” so we could do the movie with a company who would respect our artistic vision and give us creative control.
We made it the right way–by hiring people who got our vision and wanted to do it the right way, not the “Hollywood” way.
And we are marketing it the right way–by engaging fans in the process, being completely honest with them, and always treating them the way we would want to be treated, instead of shilling and lying to them at every turn.
We may be right and win this battle, and it may launch us towards winning the whole war. We may be wrong, and lose this battle (or worse, we may be right and still lose). I have no idea what the next 88 days will bring, or how this movie’s success will end up.
But, in the end, this is just one battle. The war is going on, all over the world, all around us at all times. No matter what I do or what this movie does, it is only one small battle in a much larger conflict. The world is changing all around us in fundamental ways, and for the first time in over a hundred years, the opportunity is there for the artist to free themselves from the tyranny of the 20th century corporate system, and to unleash their creativity, unbounded by anyone or anything else.
Look at these movies, supposedly the ten most profitable movies ever, in terms of ROI ratio. Do you notice the theme? Each one was revolutionary in its time, each one was a whole new take on some aspect of movie-making, each one was original and raw and authentic and each one was done…outside the system.
Or take this article, again from today, about how fucked up the old star system is and how audiences are craving originality and meaning. The curtain has been pulled back, and people aren’t accepting mindless corporate bullshit anymore. They want value.
The world of art and entertainment is changing in front of our eyes. The shift in power from the middleman to the creator–in all fields of commerce actually, not just art–has begun, and the 21st century will be defined by this movement. Putting value back in the hands of the creators, after a century of robbing them, that is what the 21st century will be about, and we are witnessing the shift right now.
This may sound kooky to you, and if it does, that’s fine. This post wasn’t meant for you. It was meant for all those people out there who want to create, who want to do something excellent create value and make something that creates a better world in some way. I am telling you, right now, it can be done. For maybe the first time in history, the creator is free to be who they want to be, to create what they want to create, and to not have to answer to the interests or demands of the powerful, or of anyone but themselves.
Now, make no mistake–everything has a cost. Life is a tradeoff. It is not easy to be an artist or a creator. But look around. It can be done. You can do it, and you don’t have to sell your soul or corrupt your self to do it. And every day it gets easier. If this movie succeeds the way I think it will, it will be one more brick off the wall. If not, no big deal, some other movie will come along and take that brick down.
But the wall is falling. One brick at a time, we are moving to a better system and a better world. Understand it, embrace it and reap the rewards…or be like the 20th century studio system, and watch yourself be slowly left behind.
EDIT: As soon as I post this, Umair posts something just like it, but better. He’s right.

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