Four For Friday - Pressure
I don't think people realize just how much money the federal government contributes to the financing of movies. It can be in the tens of millions of dollars in direct aid and then a priceless amount of indirect aid such as being allowed to film permit and cost free on government lands and in buildings owned by the government. Often times that access comes with a price. Such was the case a few years ago when it came to Oscar time. There was a movie which had been raking up awards at every award show. It was an unstoppable force. The thing is though, when it came to the Academy Awards, the fix was in. No, no one at the accounting firm did anything shady, although, now that I think about it, that would probably be the easiest way to make sure things went according to plan and would require much less work.
Instead, what happened was a group of politicians who chaired committees that are the biggest givers of money to movie and television productions sent out a missive to studio heads and several hundred top directors and producers. Pass the word. Make sure you and the people who work for you do not vote for this movie to win. Apparently, because the movie cast a certain governmental department in a bad light, the politicians were not happy. They also believed that insiders from the department that was portrayed so poorly were the ones who leaked all the details. The message was clear. If the movie wins any awards we will blame you for the win and the money tree will dry up. Now, obviously it would not be just one company or producer or director at fault, but the message was clear and the word spread. A movie which had been hauling in awards, won just one minor Oscar despite all their nominations. Business in Hollywood continued as usual.
Instead, what happened was a group of politicians who chaired committees that are the biggest givers of money to movie and television productions sent out a missive to studio heads and several hundred top directors and producers. Pass the word. Make sure you and the people who work for you do not vote for this movie to win. Apparently, because the movie cast a certain governmental department in a bad light, the politicians were not happy. They also believed that insiders from the department that was portrayed so poorly were the ones who leaked all the details. The message was clear. If the movie wins any awards we will blame you for the win and the money tree will dry up. Now, obviously it would not be just one company or producer or director at fault, but the message was clear and the word spread. A movie which had been hauling in awards, won just one minor Oscar despite all their nominations. Business in Hollywood continued as usual.
The Big Short??
ReplyDeleteSlumdog Millionaire the winner and Milk the loser?
ReplyDeleteThe Post?
ReplyDelete@cheesegrater15
ReplyDeleteyep, I think so too. regarding the pentagon papers
Zero Dark Thirty
ReplyDeleteThat movie is 100% pure horseshit
DeleteFacts
DeleteIt only won the Oscar for sound editing
ReplyDeletehttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/awards
Great guess sandybrook! The twinkie defense.
ReplyDeleteJeepers, don't they all cast govt departments in a bad light?
ReplyDeleteGood Night and Good Luck
ReplyDeleteDuring the Cheney years. I'm surprised he didn't have Clooney murdered.
Slumdog won best picture and bunch of other awards. The post didn’t win any oscars at all I believe. Off to research the others.
ReplyDeleteTrumbo?
ReplyDeleteZero dark thirty fits
ReplyDelete+1 for zero dark thirty, it was winning a lot high power awards, but not at oscars
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-us-oscars-zero/zero-dark-thirty-fails-at-oscars-amid-political-fallout-idUSBRE91O07S20130225
2012: Zero Dark Thirty
ReplyDeleteKathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to The Hurt Locker was Zero Dark Thirty, a spellbinding geo-thriller dramatizing the decade-long manhunt—and eventual assassination of—9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. It was the most critically acclaimed film of the year, but even before it was released, pundits began weighing in claiming that it promoted torture—excuse me, “enhanced interrogation techniques.” New York Times columnist Frank Bruni even penned an op-ed deriding it with the opening line, “I’m betting that Dick Cheney will love the new movie Zero Dark Thirty.” Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, a former journalist, claimed the contrary, but their voices weren’t loud enough. So, despite being the most critically acclaimed film of the year, it only managed to rack up four Oscar nominations—snubbing Bigelow for Best Director—and only took home one, for Best Sound Editing. Of course, it would later be revealed that the filmmakers engaged in some shady dealings with the CIA.
It is def Zero Dark Thrity
ReplyDelete"Early signs of trouble came in mid-December when leading U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin, both Democrats, and John McCain, the Republicans’ 2008 presidential candidate, sent a letter to movie studio Sony Pictures, castigating the film.
They called the film “grossly inaccurate and misleading” for suggesting torture helped the U.S. track the al Qaeda leader to a Pakistani compound, where he was killed in 2011.
Three weeks later, the film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, was omitted from the Oscar’s Best Director shortlist,
In January, Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan pointed the finger at Washington, writing: “Chalk up this year’s nominations as a victory for the bullying power of the United States Senate and an undeserved loss for Kathryn Bigelow.”
Sandy & Nosey, Milk generally deals with the SF local gov't and the blind refers to federal gov't. Also, CA immediately banned diminished capacity (aka mental impairment caused by intoxication or the "Twinkie defense" as you call it" after the Dan White case.
ReplyDeleteThe Post was entertaining, but not an award winning script. Also, there was a lot of real events that they didn't include that would have made the DoD look worse. I think the blind refers to Zero Dark Thirty.
I haven't seen Good Night and Good Luck, but I guess it's possible too.
Harvey Milk was a pedophile who took advantge of runaway teen drug addicts and Milk, Feinstein, Moscone, Dan White, and the entire SF Board of Supervisors were complicit and knew all about Jim Jones and his People's Temple.
ReplyDeleteThey were more than happy to see them shipped off to a Guyana shithole where they all perished.
SF Politics was a psycho-Circus and a Dan White was inevitable...
Fruits and Nuts
ReplyDeletewow.
ReplyDeletemy son bought me Zero Dark Thirty for my birthday, but i haven't watched it yet.
going to check it out this weekend.
Jessica Chastian should have won an Oscar for that movie.
ReplyDeleteSuch bullshit....I work in the film industry and I never received this memo or this message. The film was considered good but not great...and a lot of films don't win awards for that very reason. Plus, the film industry is so ultra liberal that if a message was sent out, at least one person would have gone to the press about it. And even if this was true...wouldn't they have tried to stop it from getting nominations, as just receiving a bunch of nominations publicizes a film. It is unfortunate blind items like this that make it difficult to trust anything posted on here.
ReplyDelete@dav725, see above quoted reuters link, the press did report on it.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAsk yourself why the federal government "contributes" so much money to the financing of movies. Everyone talks about how nutty the conspiracy crowd is, and yet... here it is. The Reptilians are coming ;-)
The incest between media and government is disgusting. The list of family and spouses with members in both is astounding
ReplyDelete@ Alf Landon - There is a fascinating book about Laurel Canyon that really delves into what you mentioned...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.conspirazzi.com/e-books/inside-the-lc.pdf
My accounting firm doesn't do Oscars but another one. I can't even begin to tell you how seriously it is taken by the Big Four. They are not going to fuck around with awards. Even the Partner that fucked up the Oscars with the wrong envelope. The accounting was right he was the idiot.
ReplyDeleteNow I have to watch Zero Dark Thirty
ReplyDeleteGreat sleuthwork with excellent quotes, solid work guys!!
ReplyDeleteYes nobody mentioned the Satanic Baby Eaters here but with the government film industry crossover I think they seem adequately implicated.
I suspect the Satanic Baby Eaters are ALSO Lizard People but my brain hits the conspiracy wall at human-reptile hybrids, call me crazy I know I know, get the hat.
@timebob, my husband is a Big Four Alum and so are most of his friends. It's not jsut the award shows. I agree those accountants are the straightest arrows. They constantly worry about things normal folks would think are innocuous. I think the Arthur Andersen/Enron thing put the fear of god in them.
ReplyDeleteI never met a more aex obsessed group than accounting firm partners. The office affairs going on. Explains the number of porn staches still in existence everywhere. You think they are straight arrows? They are not. Those guys take liberties with the numbers every day under pressure from the clients and they know how, not to mention with the billing.
DeleteAlf and gauloise definitely got this one, completely matches the blind.
ReplyDeleteMen in Black 2.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking Vice.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Zero Dark Thirty was made to help out Obama's Reelection Campaign in 2012.
ReplyDeleteArgo?
ReplyDeleteThe Post was barely acceptable as a film; and, it was Meryl Streep's worst performance ever.
ReplyDeleteArgo
Lincoln
Zero Dark thirty
no shortage of propaganda that year
@ rabbit
ReplyDeleteThe Post aka we hate trump
Vicky Krieps held her own against / stole scenes from Daniel Day Lewis and she did that in a screen debut, she was snubbed but Meryl Streep was oscar nominated
@BayAreaGirl
ReplyDeleteThe whole "Twinkie Defense" story was made up later by a journalist. It was a fabrication. A lie. The actual trial defense and acquittal hinged on something simpler, Dan White was good man out of his depth broken by immense pressure he was under. The fact that Harvey Milk reveled in playing mind-fucks on White just added to the provocation. Milk was a really nasty psychopath.
Dan White was acquitted because the jury thought he had done the City a great service. He had got rid of Jim Jones two greatest puppets on the Sf Board of Sups. A few week after Jonestown. Moscone was only elected Mayor because of voter fraud organized by the People Temple. The payback was Jone being made head of the City Housing Authority. Where he stole money with impunity.
Yeah, Milk as another poster said, preyed on underage boy runaways. He was a pedophile. At the time they hid behind the term Twinks but everyone knew what was going on. Milk raped very vulnerable children.
Fun fact. The third person on Dan Whites kill list was Willie Brown. Who was not shot too because he was not in City Hall that day. I think he was in Sac. The same Willie Brown who is the political "mentor" of Kamala Harris. Yes, her. If she had not fucked Willie Brown and done exactly what he says do you think she would be a US Senor by this stage. No way. She be lucky to be en a junior assembly member in Sac with her very limited talents.
Other fun fact. It seems the Kamala Harris people are very sensitive about the Jim Jones / Willie Brown connection being made known. The last time I mentioned it here my thrownaway reg a/c got a drive by some fairly sophisticated oppo research people. It was n't scrip kiddies and unlucky for them I've been working in that neck of the woods, tech speaking, before any of them were born. They tried just a bit too hard to try to cover their tracks. Dont worry guys. I know how that game is played. But if you try digging again there is no knowing what unpleasant surprises you might found. I know how the game in DC works. You are completely expendable if you cause any embarrassment. Just saying.
Thanks for the info MusicDSPGuy.
ReplyDeleteHa. Because an email like that sent to more than one person in Hwood would NEVER leak. (It would've leaked before the first recipient had even finished reading it.) Also, the government DGAF about Hollywood. Aside from the basic tax breaks and Wall Street-style subsidies, there are no price breaks, there is no money and there is certainly no Oscar tampering. Just no.
ReplyDeleteIf there is a movie made of an alleged historical event (ie, assassinations) you can be certain those events never happened. Hollywood is ALL government propaganda. All of it. If a gov. agency looks "bad" in one of these mindfucks, it's because controlled opposition is a huge part of the process. All of these politicians are from the same extended families and they don't kill each other. The appearance of due diligence is also part of the scam. 95% plus of all media is owned by the same tiny group of conglomerates. Do you really think a wild hair would be allowed to grow out of their asses? Milk was a sock puppet, just like Moscone, and they were shipped out to south eastern Brazil- Santa Catarina- where all of these "dead" celebrities go first before being reintegrated back into their home turf. (BTW, the area where they become famous is far far away from where they are originally from. For example, John Lennon lives in northern Wisconsin)
ReplyDeleteFun Fact: Jew Stanley Kubrick's father in law's brother Veit Harlan, was Joe Goebbels' version of Steven Spielberg. Can you imagine the advice Hitler's favorite filmmaker had for young Stanley on how high end propaganda works?
Zero Dark Thirty is a bullshit narrative pushed by the government. It was a psyops. Bin Laden was long dead.A helicopter raid deep in Pakistan, deadly navy seals, body dumped in the ocean? Bollocks! So I can't understand why they would be unhappy with that shameful piece of propaganda.
ReplyDeleteHidden Figures
ReplyDelete@Substance D, I lost you at John Lennon is alive in northern Wisconson. Any links or further info on that. Unless you were kidding....
ReplyDelete@lightgirl-
ReplyDeleteHere you go: http://mileswmathis.com/lennon.pdf
@Substance D thank you will check out shortly! :)
ReplyDelete@Substance D
ReplyDeleteI would have faked my own death to get away from Yoko Ono too. But, wasn't it easier to have Chapman kill Yoko instead?
@PSJ
ReplyDeleteWhy kill a beard? Fer chrissakes, if she was real, would she still live in the Dakota? She was only there for photo ops. Johnny boy was always with Stu Sutcliffe, even after Sutcliffe became Andy Warhol. Goddamned Pansy Brits. They're all trouser pilots.
American Sniper. I'm very surprised it wasn't referenced above. Like Zero Dark Thirty, it only won the award for best sound editing.
ReplyDelete