Born Standing Up
December 28th, 2007 by Alec McNayrPosted in Comedy |
I just got Steve Martin’s new book Born Standing Up, a memoir of his younger years as a comic. A few weeks ago, he was on Charlie Rose, and he offered this great quote: “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” It’s a great quote for anyone looking to get into entertainment, especially here in Los Angeles, where the line to “get in” is so long. The person who does the perilous work — the years of agonizing work of pushing into The Dip — becomes an “overnight” success.
In the book, Steve Martin has this to say about his early years spent developing an act:
Fitzkee [in his book Showmanship for Magicians] then goes on to break down a show into elements such as Music, Rhythm, Comedy, Sex Appeal, Personality, and Selling Yourself, and he concludes that each one is vital and necessary. Why not throw everything in the book at the audience, like an opera does? Costumes, lights, music, everything? He also talks about something that was to land on me with a thud six years later: the importance of originality.
Though published in 1943, [the book] contained an enduring truth. All entertainment is or is about to become old-fashioned. There is room for something new.
I think this really applies to online video today. I know so many people that are thinking up the most simple ideas, and hoping they work for the web. I have even given pitches for web series, only to be told that “keeping costs down” is the only goal for the project. I think that’s the wrong way of looking at it. Low production values work if the viewer is only casually involved, or if the goal is to get their attention for a moment. But keeping someone enthralled for five, ten, thirty, or seven-hundred minutes requires an ever-increasing standard of production value.
I’m looking forward to the business models coming together for the web, so as to allow creators like me (and us) to do high-end, top notch work, and really, really engage the audience using Music, Rhythm, Comedy, Sex Appeal, Personality, and Selling Yourself.
Great work, Steve. Can’t wait to finish the book.
