Wednesday, April 6, 2011
It's Repeatedly Being Proven That The Less Successful Television Producers (and Directors) Nowadays Lack a Formal Education in the Arts, And Tend to Receive On-The-Job Training Instead
http://www.amazon.com/Whistling-Dark-Attempt-Battlestar-Galactica/dp/144994079X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302116796&sr=1-3
You won't find good television producers (or directors) nowadays who didn't major in drama or other aspects of the theatrical arts in college. A good chunk of the television producers nowadays never even attended film school either. What you will find is a group of young, smart ass young bucks (Ronald D. Moore, David Eick) who solely received shabby on the job training in producing...scriptwriting....and directing....and who "kinda"........'sorta" fell into what they're doing right now for the SyFy Channel by chance. (Ronald D. Moore, David Eick.)
The difference between the formally educated in Hollywood....and the uneducated is staggering. Compare anything produced or directed by Richard Donner....to anything produced or directed by Bryan Singer...or say...Ronald D. Moore. The difference is staggering.....isn't it? Because Richard Donner received a formal education in drama and other disciplines in the arts....he was able to extract more credible and entertaining performances out of his actors than Bryan Singer or Ronald D. Moore ever could. Compare the performances of Richard Donner's "Superman" and "Lois Lane" characters (Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder) to the performances of Bryan Singer's "Superman" and "Lois Lane" (Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth.) With Richard Donner...."Superman" and "Lois Lane" came alive with great chemistry. With Bryan Singer...."Superman" and "Lois Lane" were lifeless with no chemistry...and practically no spoken dialogue. This is because Bryan Singer was not formally educated in good drama and all of the other necessary disciplines of the arts.
If Ronald D. Moore had received the necessary formal education in the arts and good drama....he would have seen "Battlestar Galactica" as something infinitely more than gangsters walking around in three piece business suits and trench coats carrying "tommy guns." A formal education in the arts opens your mind, your heart, and your eyes to the infinite possibilities of good drama and the literary and visual beauty of the arts. If Ronald D. Moore had been properly educated in the profession he is in right now, he would have recognized the value and necessity of the visual and conceptual brilliance in the "1978 Battlestar Galactica" series. It was Ronald D. Moore's lack of a good...solid..... necessary education in good drama and the arts that brought us "GINO"...."Caprica"....and eventually "Blood & Chrome."
Because of David Eick's lack of a necessary education in good drama and the arts....he brought us a remake of the "Bionic Woman" hated by everyone. Ronald D. Moore and David Eick keep doing what they're doing despite the lack of commercial success in what they do because they aren't properly educated. And because they aren't properly educated...they don't know how to course correct their own careers...and make their own careers genuinely....financially successful. In short...they don't know any better. A good...solid.....formal education in good drama and other aspects of the arts could have spared both Ronald D. Moore and David Eick the embarrassing careers they have been experiencing....and could have rescued them from the dead end career trajectories they have been on with the SyFy Channel for the past eight years.
Bryan Singer isn't doing any better. To my knowledge....the extent of any sort of education he received in filmmaking was an on-the-job internship (in the Directors Guild) sponsored by Steven Spielberg. Did Bryan Singer attend the University of Southern California? Did he go to college? Did he major in drama? Did he major in any aspects of the arts? Based upon how he directed "Superman Returns".....I would have to say "no."
The fact is....most if not all of the science fiction and fantasy projects being tackled nowadays for movies and television are not being envisioned to their fullest literary and visual potentials because those who are producing...writing....and directing these projects simply are not properly educated in what they are supposed to be doing for these projects. Ronald D. Moore's take on "Battlestar Galactica" and Bryan Singer's take on "Superman" have been the most notable failures....and the most notable victims of this lack of education.
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