"America the Beautiful" - Jessica Simpson / Dove
Well. Well. Well. What do you know! Before I share a story with you about a fashion/beauty editor at the big newspaper in St. Louis, I'd like to share a small victory that I had at a film festival. At the film festival my assistant Jason was in a taxi going home and the driver asked him "what film were you here for?"
Jason responded "America the Beautiful."
The driver told him "I had these 2 women in my cab this morning and they were going home to Los Angeles." They said they'd seen "America the Beautiful," and one of them said that she was canceling her plastic surgery appointment as soon as she got back."
When I heard that story, my sufficiencies were sophonsified. Not too long after that,
On another note, the other day I was minding my business doing some work on the computer and an email popped up and in the subject line it said...JESSICA SIMPSON.
My first thought was maybe she wants me to intervene to help her get her husband back. So I open it and it's this message from her manager..."Jessica Simpson, and I am tryingto figure out what participation
Jessica did in your film? We have no documentation of this film, nor release signed by Jessica. I was surprised to see this listed on her credits as part of the cast. I would love to know what her involvement is in the film, as I can not find anything other than some articles that said you interviewed her??? Please respond asap, as I need to get this handled."
After reading this, my first conscious thought was of a creep...vibe...setting...in--So...very...
Akward.
I immediately asked Jason if we had a release for Jessica Simpson. All the
while my heart racing 1,000 beats per minute. I actually expected
a call/email like this from Paris Hilton's people. Not Jessica Simpson,
she seemed so sweet when I interviewed her. After we found Jessica's release, I immediately emailed the manager letting her know that we have full legal permission to use Jessica's likeness in our documentary. I even put out an invitation for Jessica to attend our premiere
in New York. I told the manager that I would personally treat Jessica to some Goober's and
Chicken of the Sea Tuna. Well I never heard back from her. I guess it's safe to say that
Jessica won't be attending the premiere.
In the process of finding Jessica's release, I found a priceless piece of footage
of Jessica that I shot. I actually forgot all about it. It will premiere in the film
for the New York showing. Remember Jessica, if your manager hadn't emailed
me, I wouldn't have stumbled across this footage.
This is me lost in NY - just 3 hours ago. I was on my way to the big cosmetics meeting.
DOVE COSMETICS:
Remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that a cosmetics company wanted to speak to me about the film. How many people guessed Dove? Those of you that did get a gold star!
About 2 weeks ago the publicist for Dove contacted me and said that one of the Dove Models had seen the film in Chicago and he also said that he'd read the Roger Ebert review and was aware that Dove was featured in our film. He even sent me the Roger Ebert article to show that's how he'd heard about everything.
I should mention here that one of my favorite activities growing up was solving mental puzzles. I may not be a genius, but I do know how he really found out about Dove being in the film. But for the sake of keeping peace, I didn't say anything.
So Mr. publicist insisted that he and the people from Dove see the film because maybe we could work together....
I stopped at a Planet Hollywood and boxed with Sylvester Stallone before the Dove meeting. Sylvester knocked me out which was remarkable because he is a statue. I was sure that this was symbolic of what was to come.
I had two inherent problems with going to the Dove meeting. The first one was, some lady in the film had mentioned that Dove was using larger women in their initial campaign to sell firming lotion. I figured they wouldn't like that and also I have a big section in the film about phthalates (toxins) in cosmetics.
Environmentalists are proving that phthalates in cosmetics cause breast cancer and various allergies in women. VERY FEW cosmetic companies are phthalate free. VERY FEW! So how akward is it to sit in a meeting with the publicist of Dove, the brand manager of Dove, the filmmaker that makes all of the Dove video's...hmmm... and several other people whose identities are completely unknown to me. While the film was playing, everyone was writing notes in their tablets.
I wanted to holler out..."class is in session ladies and gentlemen." But I knew they wouldn't think that was funny.
Being the hopeless romantic (optimist) that I am, I came up with the perfect plan to pitch to them after the meeting.
I'd tell them that the women that insinuated that their marketing was disingenuous, was only voicing her personal opinion, but I (being a huge visionary) see a way that we can join forces and conquer the world. I'd explain that after spending 5 years doing the film, I'm deeply committed to helping women and young girls in any way that I can. I'd then say - "I'm not accusing you of anything and I'm sure you're not even aware of it, but I suspect that there are some ingredients in your products that are possibly doing women harm. Let's test them and if they're there, we can make an announcement to the press that you're going to remove them and then we can lock arms. In that Rodney King "Can we all get along kind of way." We never got close to this point.
After the film was over, there were no harmonious offers to conquer the world. Only - "very well done," and "wow! we need a couple of days to digest this. Wow!" The last time I heard this was when I was 12 and I played hookey from school and got caught by my mom. So "I need a couple of days to digest this," is rarely good. I got that feeling in my stomach that you get when you know your spouse is about to ask for a divorce.
But I must say, they were really nice. They gave me some hot buttered popcorn and a chocolate cookie.
It brings up the point that the beauty industry isn't neccessarily these evil people out to destroy the world. Some of them are hard-working, nice people doing a job to keep a roof over their heads. Maybe we should be looking at the tenets of capitalism. When a companies main goal is profit...profit...profit...there has to be a victim in the equation. And it's usually us. That's simple mathematics.
Myself and the Dove team, left the building, going our own seperate ways, giving new meaning to the term riding off into the sunset.
GIRLS SCOUTS:
On a brighter note, last week the Girl Scouts of America emailed me and said they'd like to showcase ATB to their girls nationwide. They felt it would be a very important tool for them. How cool is that. Doing something for the Girl Scouts. We've come a long way with this film. Did I ever mention that the entire film was edited in my second bedroom. Only in America!
NEW YORK DEVELOPMENT:
And the New York opening (August 6th) is shaping us nicely. Next week after the 4th of July, I'm going to share with you how you or anyone that you know in NY can get tickets to a pre-screening of "America the Beautiful." You/they can become personal disciples in helping to spread the word. New York is going to be our toughest city yet. The entire industry is there and I assure you that I haven't seen the last of them.
For now, I'm signing off. I hve a 6am flight in the morning back to Chicago. As they say...back to reality!
Darryl
Jason responded "America the Beautiful."
The driver told him "I had these 2 women in my cab this morning and they were going home to Los Angeles." They said they'd seen "America the Beautiful," and one of them said that she was canceling her plastic surgery appointment as soon as she got back."
When I heard that story, my sufficiencies were sophonsified. Not too long after that,
On another note, the other day I was minding my business doing some work on the computer and an email popped up and in the subject line it said...JESSICA SIMPSON.
My first thought was maybe she wants me to intervene to help her get her husband back. So I open it and it's this message from her manager..."Jessica Simpson, and I am tryingto figure out what participation
Jessica did in your film? We have no documentation of this film, nor release signed by Jessica. I was surprised to see this listed on her credits as part of the cast. I would love to know what her involvement is in the film, as I can not find anything other than some articles that said you interviewed her??? Please respond asap, as I need to get this handled."
After reading this, my first conscious thought was of a creep...vibe...setting...in--So...very...
Akward.
I immediately asked Jason if we had a release for Jessica Simpson. All the
while my heart racing 1,000 beats per minute. I actually expected
a call/email like this from Paris Hilton's people. Not Jessica Simpson,
she seemed so sweet when I interviewed her. After we found Jessica's release, I immediately emailed the manager letting her know that we have full legal permission to use Jessica's likeness in our documentary. I even put out an invitation for Jessica to attend our premiere
in New York. I told the manager that I would personally treat Jessica to some Goober's and
Chicken of the Sea Tuna. Well I never heard back from her. I guess it's safe to say that
Jessica won't be attending the premiere.
In the process of finding Jessica's release, I found a priceless piece of footage
of Jessica that I shot. I actually forgot all about it. It will premiere in the film
for the New York showing. Remember Jessica, if your manager hadn't emailed
me, I wouldn't have stumbled across this footage.
This is me lost in NY - just 3 hours ago. I was on my way to the big cosmetics meeting.
DOVE COSMETICS:
Remember a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned that a cosmetics company wanted to speak to me about the film. How many people guessed Dove? Those of you that did get a gold star!
About 2 weeks ago the publicist for Dove contacted me and said that one of the Dove Models had seen the film in Chicago and he also said that he'd read the Roger Ebert review and was aware that Dove was featured in our film. He even sent me the Roger Ebert article to show that's how he'd heard about everything.
I should mention here that one of my favorite activities growing up was solving mental puzzles. I may not be a genius, but I do know how he really found out about Dove being in the film. But for the sake of keeping peace, I didn't say anything.
So Mr. publicist insisted that he and the people from Dove see the film because maybe we could work together....
I stopped at a Planet Hollywood and boxed with Sylvester Stallone before the Dove meeting. Sylvester knocked me out which was remarkable because he is a statue. I was sure that this was symbolic of what was to come.
I had two inherent problems with going to the Dove meeting. The first one was, some lady in the film had mentioned that Dove was using larger women in their initial campaign to sell firming lotion. I figured they wouldn't like that and also I have a big section in the film about phthalates (toxins) in cosmetics.
Environmentalists are proving that phthalates in cosmetics cause breast cancer and various allergies in women. VERY FEW cosmetic companies are phthalate free. VERY FEW! So how akward is it to sit in a meeting with the publicist of Dove, the brand manager of Dove, the filmmaker that makes all of the Dove video's...hmmm... and several other people whose identities are completely unknown to me. While the film was playing, everyone was writing notes in their tablets.
I wanted to holler out..."class is in session ladies and gentlemen." But I knew they wouldn't think that was funny.
Being the hopeless romantic (optimist) that I am, I came up with the perfect plan to pitch to them after the meeting.
I'd tell them that the women that insinuated that their marketing was disingenuous, was only voicing her personal opinion, but I (being a huge visionary) see a way that we can join forces and conquer the world. I'd explain that after spending 5 years doing the film, I'm deeply committed to helping women and young girls in any way that I can. I'd then say - "I'm not accusing you of anything and I'm sure you're not even aware of it, but I suspect that there are some ingredients in your products that are possibly doing women harm. Let's test them and if they're there, we can make an announcement to the press that you're going to remove them and then we can lock arms. In that Rodney King "Can we all get along kind of way." We never got close to this point.
After the film was over, there were no harmonious offers to conquer the world. Only - "very well done," and "wow! we need a couple of days to digest this. Wow!" The last time I heard this was when I was 12 and I played hookey from school and got caught by my mom. So "I need a couple of days to digest this," is rarely good. I got that feeling in my stomach that you get when you know your spouse is about to ask for a divorce.
But I must say, they were really nice. They gave me some hot buttered popcorn and a chocolate cookie.
It brings up the point that the beauty industry isn't neccessarily these evil people out to destroy the world. Some of them are hard-working, nice people doing a job to keep a roof over their heads. Maybe we should be looking at the tenets of capitalism. When a companies main goal is profit...profit...profit...there has to be a victim in the equation. And it's usually us. That's simple mathematics.
Myself and the Dove team, left the building, going our own seperate ways, giving new meaning to the term riding off into the sunset.
GIRLS SCOUTS:
On a brighter note, last week the Girl Scouts of America emailed me and said they'd like to showcase ATB to their girls nationwide. They felt it would be a very important tool for them. How cool is that. Doing something for the Girl Scouts. We've come a long way with this film. Did I ever mention that the entire film was edited in my second bedroom. Only in America!
NEW YORK DEVELOPMENT:
And the New York opening (August 6th) is shaping us nicely. Next week after the 4th of July, I'm going to share with you how you or anyone that you know in NY can get tickets to a pre-screening of "America the Beautiful." You/they can become personal disciples in helping to spread the word. New York is going to be our toughest city yet. The entire industry is there and I assure you that I haven't seen the last of them.
For now, I'm signing off. I hve a 6am flight in the morning back to Chicago. As they say...back to reality!
Darryl
posted by friedart at
9:22 PM
2 Comments:
Waiting anxiously to learn how I can get tickets to the NY show (planning on bringing my 14-year old daughter and as many of her friends as I can round up. And I'll be telling everyone I know about this film and blogging about it too. It's SO needed and I can't wait to see it.
Hi! I'm really excited to see your film. Please play in Portland, Maine! Thank you! Cheers ~ Kim
Post a Comment
<< Home