 I saw this video on Instagram from film production talent in Hollywood. The billionaires behind the big studios have bet everything on AI. People who write, edit, and work in production are no longer needed. Trained individuals with a wealth of experience 20 or more years deep, in their 40s and 50s at career peak, have been made redundant with little notice. For greater shareholder value and to brutalize unions. Look at their faces when they tell you what they could lose. They are the tip of an iceberg. Now, think of your favorite movie and the long screen roll you sometimes sit through at the end because you’re so shook and need to recover from a moving or challenging experience. Most of that talent was told to take the yellow brick road to the private sector, like it’s the Wizard of Oz. Meanwhile, Covid and the cost of living have stripped many people of their financial buffers. Going to the movies is high up on my list of good things. What is better than being embraced by a good story with a room full of people? At a showing of the newly remastered Thelma and Louise at TIFF not long ago, we laughed, cheered, and groaned every time Darryl appeared. Who can forget the shot of the note hanging in the door of an open microwave, back lit by the tiny light in the dark kitchen, with a beer in the shadows, sometime after midnight, while the phone rings. The fury you feel for Thelma. That scene started as words on a page. Callie Khouri wrote it. I want the people who make movies and television to have good lives. I want the same thing for people who write books, features, and newsletters that I enjoy. To have enough for themselves, and their families. To earn from a talent seems like a reasonable expectation. Why can we believe in billionaires and not this? *** My friend Voula took me to a concert on Thursday night with her daughter, Maxine, and niece, Emily. The talk across generations before the show was a pleasure and we danced ourselves into a sweat along with a crowd of people and Zaho de Sagazan who left the stage a couple of times to step into the crowd and dance and sing with us — a brilliant intimacy. I associate the colors in the picture on the left with the energy of the night and people. I was surrounded by French conversation on the 29C Dufferin bus going north after the show. It’s ice cream and a walk season. I laughed real good a few times listening to this Seth Rogan interview. It’s also a story of community. Sam Fragosa is a master. *** I went looking for a love song for Canada this week. We need it. Radiohead came in soon after and fit like a glove. 20192016Comments are closed.
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