The Twilight Zone of Typing
The Twilight Zone of Typing
Neon's Beacon, Amy Adams goes feral, The Apprentice's Kickstarter
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
A Cover Story on Neon’s Saving Mavis Beacon featuring a director interview. If you’ve ever uploaded a photo of yourself on the internet, you’ll want to check this out.
In The Industry News, Trump biopic The Apprentice launches a Kickstarter campaign. And a first look deal at 20th Television leads to a confession. We deep dive into the creator behind Hulu’s new Alien series.
In Actor’s Spotlight, we check out Amy Adams playing a dog in Nightbitch. And Midsommar’s Jack Reynor shines in the new Netflix Nicole Kidman murder series The Perfect Couple. Plus, a new talent joins the Zac Efron A24 film Famous.
In Festivals, we break down four Venice premieres, including Daniel Craig’s Queer and octogenarian coming-of-age story. Plus, new projects from TIFF, AFI, and Newport Beach Film Festival (this film has a juicy Christoph Waltz role).
For Indie Filmmaker Spotlight, we look into Sony Pictures Classics' obsession with Jane Austin. Also, Jennifer Coolidge causes some Riff Raff.
Let’s go!
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Neon’s Seeking Mavis Beacon is a deep meditation on the famous 1990s educational software.
When I was eight, Mavis Beacon taught me how to type. She is, in part, responsible for sparking my deep love of writing.
I sat down with the Seeking Mavis Beacon’s director/writer/co-star, Jazmin Jones, to discuss her doc, which premiered at Sundance this year.
When asked why she made the film, which was a six-year journey, she replied:
“Mavis Beacon is the role model I needed when I was eight, right when I was not familiar with computers and learning to express myself and communicate online.”
Mavis Beacon helped millions of children communicate in the digital world. It became the #4 educational software of all time, lauded by everyone from Oprah to President Obama.
But who was Mavis Beacon?
As we learn in the documentary, her name is Renee L'Esperance, a Haitian-Caribbean, who was paid $500 to model for the software’s teacher avatar. She was discovered working in a department store by the software company’s co-founder’s fiancee, becoming, in the film’s words:
“One of the first consumer-facing AI assistants, she predates Siri, Alexa, Cortana, all these servile fembots in holding your head and helping you.”
But the real L'Esperance, who taught a generation to type, providing them with a gateway to interface with the internet, has taken pains to scrub her own image from the internet. This is because the company not only exploited her financially but also, in later versions of the game, made her look “hideous” (still).
In this regard, Jones agreed:
“Renee is the role model that I needed when I'm now in my early 30s, a millennial who is confronting what it means to have existed online for decades.”
The internet is a place where, as Jones mentioned, “flattens” us. We present the digital world with a two-dimensional version of ourselves.
What Beacon shows is the value and the price of distributing ourselves online.
Something we all contend with each day.
For More:
The trailer and showtime for Seeking Mavis Beacon can be found here.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
The Apprentice goes to Kickstarter! Less than 24 hours after Briarcliff Entertainment (DogMan) acquired the Trump biopic for an October 11th (pre-election) release, the filmmakers have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help extend the theatrical distribution window and increase the screen count.
The campaign raised well over $100K in less than 24 hours.
Dan Snyder, a key investor of Kinematics, whose stake in the film was worth $6 - $7 M had this to say after trying to sue:
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