Imagine you’re a 21 year old senior cinema major at USC (school of cinematic arts). And you’re trying to break into the film industry without having to date David Geffen or Barry Diller.
But you want your full length student film watched by the masses; preferably the masses that has a greater number (and spends a great deal more) than the other masses.
Vass is this mass? Why, it’s the young Hollywood/MTV crowd!
To cater to this crowd, does a cinema student write a scene that will be nominated for “#WTF moment” (won this year at the “MTV Movie Awards” by “The Lude Scene in The Wolf of Wall Street”?) Or, does a screenplay contain a character that could win a “Best scared-as-s**t performance” (won by Brad Pitt in “World War Z”).
Such is the state of filmmaking today. To be a rising star in this business, the money men who produce film fare are looking with one eye at the script and half of one eye at who they can get for a possible cameo—so that it can be nominated by MTV for a “Best Cameo Award” (won by Rihanna, for “This is the End.” There is no truth (or is there?) to the rumor that Chris Brown is still putting in a cameo appearance in her love life.
But what really takes the cake is when a hunky actor has to take his shirt off to win an award! At least in old school Hollywood, when a star took his or her shirt off, it was called a “Casting Couch” or a gratuitous cheesecake shot from an action movie (i.e., Errol Flynn in…anything!) Now, Zac Efron gets an award when Rita Ora turned him into a 2-minute Chippendale dancer by removing his shirt and declaring him the winner of “Best Shirtless Performance” for his role in “That Awkard Moment.” Hey, if MTV wants to get edgy again, give this award to a female. On second thought, it could’ve been an even more awkward moment if Gabourey Sidibe got Zac Efron’s “That Awkward Moment” shirtless role.
Then again—don’t you think Stephen Friedman, the 44 year old President of MTV, has watched more of the movies that were nominated for Academy Awards than those that were nominated at his “cutting edge” award show—where MTV should have given an award to themselves for “Most Unexpected Event Not to Happen at a MTV Award Show” (Winner: Two Female Pop Stars Feigning Lesbianism by Kissing).
At least this year’s award winners and nominations came from pretty darn decent and entertaining movies (“Hunger Games–Catching Fire,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “American Hustle,” etc.) and even agreed with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominations; declaring Best On-Screen Transformation Award to Academy Award Winner Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club.” Umm, isn’t that the job and definition of acting; to do an on-screen transformation?
Now, the decision makers at MTV will sit in a conference room for a year and come up with next year’s movie categories (“Quickest Burn Out of a Promising Career?”) for the latest flash in the pan actor/actress/rapper.
CLICK HERE for the complete list of winners at 2014 MTV MOVIE AWARDS.
