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Forum nameGeneral Discussion
Topic subjectAgreed
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=13414645&mesg_id=13414777
13414777, Agreed
Posted by Heinz, Thu Nov-26-20 12:14 PM
But to the question

"'Why are we OK with business in general moving like this' is the question nobody is asking."

Is only asked by people who never owned a business, never created something and sold it, never created something and licesenced it etc. I've been on both sides of the coin, and obviously on a way smaller scale compared to Dave but at the end of the day it's all the same regardless of the dollar or the companies involved. Whenever you are starting out looking for that big break and are looking to partner with a company you have to look at it as a bank loan. What risks are being taken on both sides, what are you giving up vs what are you receiving in return all comes into play for the leverage in those discussions. People tend to get emotionally attached whether they are the ones who are the creative or the ones who are just reading stories about creatives and have zero knowledge what it's like to be on either side. It's easier for those people to have empathy for the person who is complaining about being screwed over because normally people who never experienced any business transaction already view themselves as being screwed over at some point in their lives by a bigger entity. It ends up just being a stupid conversation with those people because their side is all based in feelings rather than looking at the broader picture with actual context. Businesse are not club houses. They are taking huge risks on reputation, money, where bad business moves can really crumble a company.

The one thing I noticed about Dave's words were is that he actually understands their side, but also that the process, the situation, the outcome is all kind of shitty. Which is all very true. But when I say he understands, he understands he took that deal, not necessarily in good faith, but that he really had no choice. He had zero leverage in that situation. He was coming off of just having 1 special, Half baked and guest roles in other movies. Although "Killin Them Softly" is viewed as a classic now, it was more of a cult classic in 2000. The average person wasn't on YouTube or watching specials the way they do now. Out of my group of friends only myself and one other knew of that special. So I can see why HBO was like "why do we need you?" in that moment of time. Also it would be a pretty big risk to give Dave a entire sketch show just off his work at the time. It's not like it was something we as fans were even thinking he would be good in. I remember hearing he got a sketch show and being surprised myself, it was unexpected to me because we just never seen him in that element. Sketch shows, tv, movies, stand up are all different beasts and don't always translate well.

So yes it's a shitty situation to be in, especially for someone as talented as he is and being as revered as he is now. I just find it hard to have that much empathy for the business side of it. No different than the situation Taylor Swift is in. You signed that contract in hopes it would be your big break and they funded it, created it with you, marketed it, paid your staff, handled all that shit in unison with you. Yet you want to own it outright and not give anything up because you think you are talented? And if it flopped would you give them that money back?....because you know that would be the "ethical" thing to do. So it's a weird stance to take when we view these big companies as ATM's but want them to be human if we flop and lose all that money they invested in us. And it's equally shitty that we get treated as replaceable content or assets when things flop because we are easily discarded in the grand scheme of things. But that took years to build to be in that position and thats what anyone who is starting out is trying to build. They are trying to build a career where they can withstand the ups and downs of business.



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