Look out Grommit! It’s Hollywood !
The Guardian reveals today that a)Nick Park is back in business on his own terms, about to release another Wallace and Grommit feature and b) things did not work out so well with Hollywood.
Aardman’s deal with Dreamworks is over and apparently it never went so well.
The Curse of the Weir Rabbit was, at least to this Grommit and Wallace fan, a disappointment.
And now we know why.
Park says that Hollywood never really understood what he was trying to do.
In The Curse of the Weir Rabbit, for example, Park wanted to name the film The Great Vegetable Plot, but vegetables, apparently, tested negative with children so it was killed.
Focus grouping does not go well with creativity, art or just about anything else that is going to be, well creative.
It breeds oatmeal.
Insipid, non-threatening and common place.
As election day approaches (and nothing to look forward to here), one can only ponder on what impact focus grouping would have had on great Presidents of the past.
“OK Abe, we reviewed the speech and focus grouped it with both New Jersey and Iowa – key demographics for you”
“and”
“And while we like it, the whole ‘four score and twenty years ago” thing has got to go. 73% of the test group didn’t know what you were talking about. It ran up to 87% in the all important 18-24 year old demographic. We suggest you change it to 84 years ago. It’s cleaner.”
“You think?”
“Tony thinks you should just say ‘a long time ago’. People find any kind of specific numbers alienating. No one likes math.”
“Check”
“And Abe.. this thing about writing the speech on the back of an envelope…. No. We’ve tested it with the groups…”
“And…”
“While Obama has made the teleprompter a no no, the back of the envelope smacks of ‘last minute desperation. We suggest you write it on your hand….”
“OK”
“And Abe. The hat has got to go”
“You’re sure”
“92 percent”
“Got it”
“Oh, and Abe. One more thing….”
“What’s that?”
“This whole ’emancipation’ thing. Forget it. Just forget it. Way too far out there for now. You’ll lose half the white male voters”.
