Filmbound - Episode 9: Game Night

I suspect I'm not alone among writers in doubting the quality of what I produce.  Being hypercritical of one's work isn't inherently bad--it can push you to improve what you write--but I'd be lying if I claimed that taking a tough view of my writing is a mostly positive process.  It's rare that I'm satisfied with the final version of a piece because there tends to be some ideal version in my head that didn't make its way to the page.  Weirdly, I have more confidence in the research papers I'm writing for my MBA classes even though I don't feel I know that subject matter nearly as well as films.  Maybe it's because I don't have any bases of comparison for that writing while I have plenty when it comes to movie reviews.

Podcasting is not the same as writing something to be read, but there are enough similarities, plus the performance pressures, that doing the show doesn't eliminate the self-doubt but merely modifies how it is experienced. I edit FILMBOUND, and to be certain that it sounds OK, I also listen to the episodes after they're released.  So I'm interacting with these episodes as a participant, a producer-editor, and a listener.  I think I went overboard in removing breaths and filler words in one episode, and I've been tinkering with improving the master volume.  (Episodes 8 and 9 should have volume improvements, if you ever thought there was an issue.)

Still, the big surprise for me is that I've been relatively pleased with how the episodes have turned out.  After recording I've felt like some of these weren't so hot, but buffing the episodes for release and listening to them in the car has helped me feel that the show is a respectable effort.  I suppose feeling that way is progress for me even if the same doubts will probably creep in after the next recording session.



Episode 9 features GAME NIGHT and a discussion about what constitutes the ideal theatrical experience, a topic carried over from the interview questions that are part of a project I'm doing in an Advanced Brand Management class.  In my admittedly small sample size of interviewees, I was surprised how often an empty or near-empty auditorium for a screening was preferred, even if that's probably how I see most current releases.  (In my case it's because the cheapest admission can be purchased at those times.)  I suppose the incessant talkers and smartphone users during movies, or anecdotal reports of them, have boosted this preference, but I didn't expect the communal nature of moviegoing to be something people specified that they were going to efforts to avoid.

Upcoming episodes:

-March 28: RED SPARROW and our recommendations segment
-April 4: A WRINKLE IN TIME and a discussion about films from the last twenty years that were critically or commercially unsuccessful when released but may come to be considered classics
-April 11: MINORITY REPORT and our recommendations segment