| How can we make a
difference in Hollywood? By editing the profanity? The sexual
innuendo? The bathroom humor?
Maybe. But is that enough?
Early films produced for the
Christian market painfully attest to the fact that
"cleaner" doesn’t necessarily mean
"quality" entertainment. Any film or television
series can be made profanity-free by careful editing, but if
we want Hollywood to get on board, there must be something good
left over after the editing process. No one can take a poorly
written, poorly acted and poorly directed film and turn it
into a runaway hit simply by removing objectionable material.
The way to make a difference
in Hollywood, then, is to write, act, and direct good moral
material, yes; but to also do it well.
Somehow we’ve come to
believe that the "family" audience will accept less.
Plots for these shows have often been second rate, the
dialogue juvenile or syrupy, and the acting and directing
amateur. They’re non-offensive and acceptable to our moral
conscience, but we have to honestly ask ourselves, do we really
enjoy these shows?
Personally, I love it when a
sitcom, episodic drama, or feature film has moved me, made me
laugh, made me think, and then later I’ve realized there
wasn’t an ounce of offensive material in it. I didn’t see
the jokes coming, or the moral lesson. It was quality writing,
directing and acting. It was good and it was clean.
Moral or not, the television
shows that last beyond a single season and movies that become
a hit at the box office, will be those shows and movies which
rise to the level of professionalism that audiences have come
to expect. |
Tales
from Backstage - Martha told of this incident - - -
Once,
while working on Bob Hope’s writing staff, Bob called to say
that he would be performing at a convention of psychiatrists.
Needless to say it was a comedy writer’s dream assignment.
Each of us got busy and turned in dozens of jokes for the
appearance. Bob put his routine together, then left for the
event. Thinking the assignment was behind us, we moved on to
our next job, only to soon receive a telephone call from Bob
about twenty minutes before he was to walk out onto the stage.
Apparently, there had
been a slight mix-up. It wasn’t a convention of
psychiatrists. It was a convention of chiropractors.
|
