Louis CK's Horace and Pete

     Louis CK is a busy guy. He's both an acclaimed stand up comic, who's the only comedian to sell out Madison Square Garden three nights in a row, but he also writes, directs, and edits a critically acclaimed tv show Louie. He hasn't stopped there. Instead Louie has put out another self created show called Horace and Pete.

    Horace and Pete is a pretty experimental project even for a creator whose show is often described as surreal. H&P is only available on Louie's website and are pay per view. The first episode runs 67 minutes and costs $5. Each remaining episode runs progressively 10 minutes shorter and costs $3. Stylistically the show is a strange set up for television in 2016. The set is plain and the lighting is flat and it's clearly a multicam but there are never any shot reverse shots, only different angles. This lack of cutting and this open set design makes the show feel more like a recorded play than an episode of television.

                          

The show is about a bar in New York called Horace and Pete's which was founded 100 years ago by a Horace and operated in conjunction with his brother Pete. It has passed down for generations to the current Horace and Pete's, Horace portrayed by Louis CK and Pete portrayed by Steve Buscemi. 

The cast is filled with older comedy and drama stars: Alan Alda plays a curmudgeonly Uncle Pete, Steven Wright plays a bar patron, Edie Falco plays Horace's sister, and Jessica Lange as the dead Horace's old girlfriend. All the actors obviously have the entire script memorized and their are no cuts to help with lines or no close ups to convey emotion.

     Thematically the show is sort of an anti-Cheers. There is a surprising amount of topical discussion, in the first episode the bar patrons discuss Trump and the coming election and the Super Bowl. However this banter is the only place, if any, the jokes lie. Steve Buscemi's character is the only one that seems likable and he's having a mental breakdown. The family drama hinges on keeping with the old and going with the new and none of the characters seem to like each other very much. If Louie is a surrealist comedy, Horace and Pete is a tragic play.

      

     I wrote about Horace and Pete because it's something I'm trying to do with this thesis. I usually make comedies, between stand up and sketches that's what people know me for. I, like Louie, want to try something new and more realistic. But I'm not sure I like Horace and Pete. It's draining and gives me a sense of anxiety as all the characters fail to get along. Hopefully I can make a film that is emotional significant, yet not emotionally taxing.

Baskets

So, when I originally signed up for the thesis class, I had my idea/story for a short comedy film about Flex the Clown - a washed up clown that never takes his clown suit off because it's a part of who he is. But then, I learned that Zach Galifianakis and Louis C.K. (two of the biggest comedy geniuses of our time) were working on an FX original called Baskets. Although, little to no plot information was given away in the advertisements, I knew it was about a clown that was trying to break into the clowning profession. Here's a poster from the show.



So anyways, I thought this was going to ruin my thesis idea. I didn't want to rip off the new show so I decided to scrap Flex the Clown and figure out a different idea.

But then, I finally decided to watch Baskets to see what it was all about. And although, I did enjoy the pilot episode, I also realized that it's a lot different than the story I had in mind for my thesis. Baskets is about Chip Baskets, who is passionate about being a clown. He struggles to pass clown school in France, but eventually, fails out because of a language barrier. Then, he returns home to get back on his feet.

If you're familiar with Louie C.K. and Zach Galifianakis' humor, then you know it contains a lot of painfully awkward and tragic situations. Baskets is just like that. And though I enjoyed the pilot I felt that Baskets failed to really capitalize on the actual "clown" aspect. In my thesis, I'm going to focus more on the "clowning" of the story.

Creativity and Originality in Film

I've been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be creative. Pre-production does that to you, apparently. Am I creative? Should I be more creative? Are there even levels to how creative somebody can get, or is it just like this big, overarching bubble of creativity that once you're in it, you're in it? Is creativity the same thing as originality? Does any of it even matter?

Those aren't rhetorical questions either. If someone has an answer, feel free to let me know.

You can find tons of articles online about how different writers and directors go about their personal creative processes (here's one that talks about how it took Chris Nolan 10 years to finish writing Inception, while Steven Soderbergh knocked out a script for Sex Lies and Videotape in 8 days - neither of which makes me feel particularly good about myself) but I've found very little about how to inspire creativity in yourself. There'll always be clickbait-esque pieces like this, suggesting different activities that might open your mind to new ways of thinking - thus bringing about creativity - but there's no tried and true formula. 

Because in the scheme of things, it's almost impossible to have a truly, never-before-thought-of idea. And that's kind of a bummer. It's an issue I've run into time and time again when working on scripts. Last year, I co-wrote a script about a washed-up TV star and had to listen to people go "oh, so you're making Bojack Horseman?" 

No. Dick.

But that's understandable. With so much media constantly getting thrown in our faces, it's impossible not to regurgitate some of that back out into our own work. It even happens to people who have already made it big, like the whole confrontation between Dane Cook and Louis CK - reenacted and dramatized in this clip from Louie - about how Dane might have, possibly, maybe, stolen a teensy bit of a joke from Louis. We all strive to make something that people think is "new" and "refreshing," but how do you do that when literally everything has already been done, one way or another?

The more time I spend writing, the less time I spend thinking about being original. After all, every story you tell - no matter who you are or where you're from - is going to have the same basic structure when you get down to the bones of it. There's no breaking away from that. And I don't know if that's awesome or horrible. Instead, I just focus on making something to the best of my ability, with characters that I find interesting and a plot that ties things all together, with the hope that it will all culminate in some tiny spec of originality. 

I guess I'm not really sure how to end this blog post, apart from giving what I - rightly or wrongly - assume to be the definition of being creative with a film. Creativity can't be quantitatively measured, despite what Cinemetrics seems to think. Films should make you feel something: whether it's happiness, love, fear, or anything in between. Shot lengths and camera settings and color palettes and every other "technical" aspect can be a part of this as well, as long as you play them to the overall effect that you're going for. You don't need to do anything groundbreaking. You don't need a 10 minute tracking shot (but oh man they're so cool). Emulate good films, take the techniques that you think will best help tell your story and use them.  In the end, as I've slowly learned, all you need is a camera, a story, and people willing to work their asses off to make something good. The rest will come. 

Louis C.K.: The King of Comedy

                 Last week, FX announced that Louie, the show created, written and directed by Louis CK, would be airing in early March. I couldn't be happier. Louis C.K. is a man who regularly goes up on stage to talk about his bloated, overweight body. The comedian’s honest, vulgar style of standup has always made him one of the comedy’s most respected standups, but it only recently that he started to make a tangible difference on the spectrum of pop culture. If someone is to make a difference, they must have an impact; their actions must cause some form of tangible societal shift. Be it through his unique television show or groundbreaking way that he released his new standup special, Louis C.K. has managed to make a difference by making people laugh in new, groundbreaking ways.

                With his show’s unique production style, Louis C.K. has managed to change the conventional perception of how television production works. When FX approached him to create a show, they offered him complete creative control in exchange for a small budget of only two hundred thousand dollars. This deal meant that Louis would never have to compromise his creativity in order to please the network. However, the small budget results in Louie having an extremely small production crew, but he makes up for it by handling a lot of the work himself. In addition to his job as an actor, he also writes, directs and edits all of the episodes. He has even overseen the music production for most episodes The deal Louis has made has allowed him to pursue his creative vision on the show, but it is also the deal that is changing the television landscape. Typically, producing television means that the writers and directors often have to compromise their artistic vision in order to satisfy those in charge. Between the advertisers, the broadcasting channel and the production company, someone always has an issue with the show. But with so little money at risk, FX just lets Louis do whatever he wants. And the results are always amazing. 

               Louis C.K. always finds ways to make people laugh in unique ways. Be it  was on stage or through his sparse though creative television show. His show is one of the most exciting on television right now, taking creative risks both on screen and behind the scenes. And I could not be happier to see it come back.

I'm a little obsessed with Parks and Rec...

I know I wrote about another NBC comedy, Chuck, last week, but I just had to do it again. Sorry. This past weekend I spent some time getting caught up on Parks and Recreation, and let me just say, it was a really good decision. Parks and Rec is shot in the super popular single-camera cinéma vérité style similar to The Office and Modern Family.

Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope

Parks and Rec centers on Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department in a small Indiana town called Pawnee. Despite being happy at her seemingly boring and uneventful job, Leslie has high political aspirations. She is very optimistic and perky and she works extremely hard to keep the department from falling into ruin.

I think one of the very best things about this show is the amazing ensemble cast. Every single member of the cast adds so much value to the content, and they're really what makes the show. Nick Offerman as the stoic and hilarious Ron Swanson is by far my favorite character. While he pretends to dislike his job and his co-workers, it's very obvious that he enjoys his time there. His relationship with the intern/secretary, April, is definitely one of the highlights of the show. The similar way in which they respond to the craziness of the other characters combined with their excellent use of sarcasm really add a lot of comedy to the show.

Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson

Additionally, the rest of the department is composed of Tom Haverford (played by Aziz Ansari) whose hilarious business antics offer a constant form of amusement, Jerry Gergich (played by Jim O'Heir) who is constantly picked on by the rest of the characters, similarly to Toby on The Office, to name a few.

Overall, Parks and Rec follows along the lines of several NBC comedies, however, it does so in a way that makes it unique while still being one of the best written comedies on television. If you do decide to give Parks and Recreation a try, do yourself a favor and go beyond the first couple episodes in season one. If you do, you'll be rewarded with both a great comedy and you'll get to see Louis C.K. in his reoccurring guest role, which is really wonderful and hilarious. I hope you decide to give it a chance!

(And if you need any more incentive, here's a blooper reel from the show...)