If you want people to get a message about something, it seems that docs are NOT the way to go. How can I say such a thing? Research.... They are sadly down in popularity.
Ok, so I haven't been blogging or doing much on the computer about R4W in over a year, even though I always tell people about it. I was just totally burned out with computers and research on water and all, and decided to do what I have wanted to do for a living since university, so I have and I am. But suddenly I am on a break and have been steered back to water.
Coincidentally (nothing with God is a coincidence), a Calgary based production company, Nomadic Pictures is shooting here in High River, so I went down there to see whom I could talk to about R4W. I ended up meeting a cool guy named Zoltan Barabas--(cool name too eh?) who understood my reality about "Did I Say Thousand Island?" and how I am not a filmmaker...nor do I want to be. I told him my story, gave him the movie and he said he would pass it on.
From some of the things Zoltan said, I was totally re-energized again. It had already started with some promptings and whispers (great book by Bill Hybels incidentally), so I was getting back to my project anyway. When I went to update my website, I learned these things: documentaries are way down from the year before--which puts them far far into the basement of popularity, more celebrities are joining in the cause of water, and people still want to be entertained way more than they want to be educated...at least by movies.
In 2012, there were 696 movies made and docs were 9th on the list with 144 made. So docs were roughly 21% of the total movies made but brought in only 1.21% of the revenue. But in 2013, there were 735 movies made, 161 of them were docs, but they ended up 2nd from the bottom (only multiple genres were lower) with only .47% of the revenue! Did you get that? Not even a half of a percent! Very sad. Here's the website if you want to see for yourself: The Numbers
So, that brings me again to the point I have been saying all along. There's a message that has to get out to people, and no matter how many great and wonderful documentaries there are (and there are many about water and how it's crucial that we change our relationship with it), people don't hear the message! But if we incorporate it with a fun movie and make it entertaining, they will start to hear. But why "Did I Say Thousand Island?" ? Because restaurants can't operate without water, everyone goes out to eat and the movie has already been seen all over the world, which is amazing for a "no-budget-no-name-non-marketed" movie!
Well (a deep subject that 3rd world countries need more of), I better sign off for now and get back to truckin'--my new career. Oh and by the way, I'll let you in on one of the cool Whispers I heard... So I was reaching for an album--you know, LP's... they spin on a turntable...and I have over 600 of them...anyway, I picked Kansas, but an unfamiliar one, put it back as I wanted one I knew better, but ended up getting this one: "Masque", which is also not the most played, but I took it anyway.
"Water" by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, courtesy of Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. ;-)
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