Why F. Gary Gray is My Favorite Director

When thinking “favorites” as far as movie directors go, I find it quite interesting that mine is a rather unexpected one that surprises even myself. Steven Spielberg inspired me enough to leave fine arts behind in pursuit of big Hollywood bucks and red carpets.

After quickly learning that not only all that glitters ain’t gold but also I traded one outrageous dream for another, Robert Rodriguez and Spike Lee later helped me realize that movies can be made independently of a studio system but it would require hard work, dedication, talent and lots of social equity that could be turned into favors when production budgets are tight. So, you'd think that I my favorite director's name would end in "Spielberg," "Rodriguez" or "Lee," right? Me too. The thing is, it doesn't.

While all of these men are among favorite directors....and I’m talking top ten and possibly top five, none of them are THE favorite, numero uno at times when I have to choose just one. The very productive and versatile F. Gary Gray is by far, my favorite director of motion picture films.

Since the mid 90s, Gray has directed several movies including “The Negotiator” starring Kevin Spacey and Samuel Jackson, “The Italian Job” starring Charlize Theron, Edward Norton and Mark Wahlberg, “A Man Apart” starring Vin Diesel and the most recent, “Law Abiding Citizen” starring Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. The hit comedy “Friday” with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker was Gray’s first feature film, which helped him make a transition from music videos to the big screen.

I like F. Gary Gray’s work because he turns scripts into something that captures audiences by getting the best and sometimes surprising performances out of his actors.....whether they are well known veterans such as Spacey and Donald Sutherland or new talent such as actress Kimberly Elise, who starred in the heist film “Set It Off” opposite Jada Pinkett and Queen Latifah.

To this day, Gray is the only director who got me to become such a fanatic about a movie that I own the home video version, the soundtrack and the original score with plans to purchase movie stills and also upgrade to Blu-ray despite the fact that I currently do not even own a Blu-ray player. If the screenplay was available in stores, I would probably buy that too. I’ve also watched the same movie at least one dozen times, if not more and can probably recite the entire film’s dialogue and act out the scenes, on cue. Don’t ask me to do it though, because I won’t. That is just for fun!

I used to toy with the idea of trying to get a job working as Gray’s personal assistant but didn’t follow that one through. I figure that it would be a double opportunity for me. I’d get to spend time with and learn from a director who I admire while also gaining valuable hands-on experience in my area of study.

There is no other director whose film’s I follow to the point that I’m buying the ancillary merchandise, reading interviews and studying both the important and the silly details about a movie......with the exception of the“Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” series but those films don’t count because who doesn’t follow LOTR or the Hogwarts gang?

What do YOU think of these films?

Who is YOUR favorite director?

*This post is dedicated to Herman Turnip at Terrible Analogies.

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Why Million Dollar Paychecks do not Justify Movie Piracy

If you didn't know by now, I do not recommend nor support piracy...specifically, movie piracy. Now with that said, I'm referring to instances where people buy or sell pirated movies, whether on the street or online. That is not to say that I am in favor of people copying movies or putting them up for others to download without the authorization of the studio or producer(s) who made these movies but that is another story and it is not a story that is worth addressing, at least by me.

What follows is my response to a comment left by someone named James on an old article titled "Why Movie Piracy is Wrong."

Many people seem to have the same feelings as what was expressed in his comment:

"I will believe the movie studios are losing money when they stop paying actors millions of dollars to be in films."

While paying millions of dollars to actors may be a bit extravagant for studios that claim loss of revenue due to movie piracy, it is still their right to pay actors whatever they please and even if they don't want to pay that much, actors have agents, managers and most often belong to a union that requires them to get paid more than the average service worker. There may be more to these million dollar paychecks than consumers think but even in cases where there isn't and it's just a move to cover the extravagant egos of top-of-the-line stars, that is still the studio's decision to make.

Supporting illegal transactions do not help the problem. If you want to really cause some changes in the way that they pay actors in Hollywood, then maybe it is better to hit them in the pocket using alternative methods other than supporting movie piracy. These alternative methods could include refusing to buy tickets for movies with stars that have paychecks that you find to be too much.

The CEO of a retail store is paid more money than cashiers and receptionists who work for the store so based on the million dollar paycheck argument, this should justify stealing. Are employees in the right if they still merchandise from stores or companies that they are working for and then sell it to other people for a profit? The answer is NO.

Jumping on that old and tired bandwagon of "actors are paid millions so money is not an issue in Hollywood" excuse to defend piracy or try to make the studios' claim of losing money invalid is nothing more than a scapegoat that defends (whether indirectly or directly) piracy....something that is ILLEGAL, no matter which way you put it or try to come down on studios and actors who get paid millions of dollars.

Why even pirate movies if you have a problem with the million dollar paychecks in Hollywood?

If you want to see one and don't want to pay for it, why not just wait until it comes out on DVD and then borrow that DVD from someone who owns it?

Just a thought!

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Royalties and the Independent Film Producer

'R’ is for "Royalties" today and writers, musicians, painters, graphic artists and other professionals working in a creative field can relate to royalty concerns or protocol in one way or another. For the purpose of this post however, I would like to specifically address independent films and the producers who make them (the main points in this post can still apply to other industries including the book publishing industry). A recent lawsuit filed by a few cast members of the TV show, “Happy Days” against CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures reminded me about one area that some indie film producers may ignore when making movies....this area is called merchandising.

In the lawsuit, an attorney for these “Happy Days” cast members (and the wife of actor Tom Bosley who died last year) are claiming that they were cheated out of more than $10 million in revenue generated from the sale of slot machines, drinking glasses, T-shirts, lunch boxes, greeting cards, board games and other merchandise. Of all the cast members in this lawsuit, only one is reported to have received a payment of $600 about a decade ago from the profits on “Happy Days” merchandise. This lawsuit and the claims surrounding it is one example of how important it is for filmmakers to keep in line with the contracts that are made between cast, crew and other members involved in a film. A lesson in deciding early on whether merchandising rights apply to any given project can also be learned from this “Happy Days” lawsuit.

Merchandising is a separate issue than DVDs or even the digital market including downloads and online video streaming that were covered in F--k the Cheerleader, Save the Actors last year. Independent film producers should consider whether the movie that is currently being promoted has a viable market for merchandise sales, and all of this may be best to figure out during the development and pre-production stages. Doing so could reduce the likelihood that there will be any fuss about merchandise sales after the movie is released.

Some filmmakers may think “I’m not making the next ‘Avatar,’ so I don’t have to worry about this” while other filmmakers think “My film has a little ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ mixed with some ‘Blue Valentine,’ so I don’t have to worry about merchandising rights or royalties because my audience is not interested in too many products but if I luck up and sell like 3 T-shirts at the local Fringe Festival, that still does not mean I need to pay out royalties”....and um, neither of these two positions couldn’t be any further from reality.

Now, I’m not a lawyer so what I’m about to say should not be taken as legal advice but any filmmaker who is making a movie with the intent to distribute it should not only have a contract that states whether actors or crew will receive a percentage of revenue generated from merchandise sales related to the film but should make sure that they have the rights to associate their cast members’ names with such merchandise if products that were not a part of the distribution plan are now suddenly added into the mix.

More importantly, filmmakers who enter into a merchandising agreement with cast or crew members should make good on these agreements, PAY the royalties already and refrain from playing games!

Stay Tuned for Part 2: Choosing to Sell or to Not Sell Film Related Merchandise

This post is part of my participation in the A to Z Challenge.

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