Kevin Spacey urges TV channels to give control to viewers

Image Credit: Patrick Harbron/Netflix

By Lindsey Bahr on Aug 28, 2013 at 9:45PM
From EW.com

According to Kevin Spacey, in the future there will be no differentiation between films and television.  In a speech at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, the Oscar-winning actor told the audience of television executives that it’s all just content to him and to consumers as well. Words like “film” and “television” are signifiers that are useful only to “agents, and managers, and lawyers who use these terms to conduct business deals,” he said. The people, he added, just want stories, and it’s their responsibility to give it to them.
Spacey thinks the consumer should be able to watch what they want, when they want to, and the success of his original Netflix series House of Cards proves it. He spoke out against the network model of requiring a pilot before ordering a series. Spacey went to Netflix, he says, because he and director David Fincher didn’t want to audition. “We wanted to start to tell a story that would take a long time to tell. We were creating a sophisticated, multi-layered story with complex characters who would reveal themselves over time, and relationships that would need space to play out,” he said.
Below is an edited version of Spacey’s speech. Check it out:

Do we need to revamp how we consume and produce television shows? Will labels like “film” and “television” fall by the wayside as the pre-established mediums shift and disperse? Is Netflix the future? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Marina Abramovic and Ulay were artists who met and fell in love in the 70s. For a decade, they did avant-garde collaborative work, even referring to themselves as a collective being, “The Other.” Yet like many intense collaborations, it ran its course. The flames that burn the brightest sometimes burn out quickly. They parted ways after one final trip across The Great Wall of China. They began at opposite ends, each walking the 2500 kilometers to meet in the middle before they said goodbye.
At her 2010 MoMa retrospective, Marina performed a piece titled, “The Artist Is Present.” She sat in silence for a minute with each stranger who sat in front of her. At the opening night of the show, Ulay was among them. This is that chapter of their story:

Why you need to write 2013 Goals

Resolutions are often the punchline this time of year, they break easily and are just as quickly dismissed.  So what do you do if you want to make a positive change in your life coinciding with the new year?  Goals.
Tips for the most successful completion of your goals:
-Keep them attainable, creating unrealistic goals like "I want to make a million dollars this year" box you out of your goals and result in lack of confidence and lack of interest in perusing goals.  Look at what you are working with to create the attainable.  If you made $40,000 last year make this years goal $100,000, not a Million.
-Give yourself hard dates.  When you hold yourself accountable you are more likely to achieve as opposed to some oblivious date in the near future.
-Be aware of goals that require large amounts of time and energy from someone else, these are more difficult to accomplish.  If you want to book a national television commercial this year you are only in control of being prepared for the situation not the actual booking.
Lastly; Look at your goals often and work to accomplish some part of them every single day.  Here is to a great and prosperous new year for all!  Be smart actors :)

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