What better way to demonstrate what Variety’s Press Play Home Entertainment and Digital Hall of Fame was all about than director Brett Ratner holding up a LaserDisc copy of “The Silence of the Lambs” during his acceptance speech at the 34th annual gala dinner event held December 9 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
Ratner, whose films include “Hercules,” the “Rush Hour” series, “Red Dragon,” “Tower Heist” and “X-Men,” was one of the evening’s four honorees, who also included Warner Bros’. Chief digital officer and executive VP of strategy and business development Thomas Gewecke, Alex Carloss, head of YouTube originals and Amazon, which received the Innovation Award, accepted by Michael Paull, the company’s VP of digital video.
Before each honoree came to the podium, a clip showing highlights of their careers and colleagues often making jokes about them played on big screen monitors to the packed ballroom.
For Ratner, the video included his cameo on HBO’s “Entourage” and footage of him directing Playboy bunnies in a commercial for Guitar Hero. In his acceptance speech, he recalled getting a Betamax player when he was eight years old. “All the kids would come over and watch porn at my house,” he said, before reflecting on his entry to NYU Film School at the age of 16 and the impact that Jonathan Demme’s commentary on “Silence of the Lambs” made on him and his career.
“Because I learned so much from Jonathan Demme’s commentary, I was committed to home video, because I knew the influence it had over me, the effect on a kid who dreamed of being a filmmaker and couldn’t quite comprehend how it was done,” Ratner said. “To actually hear the filmmaker talk about the process and the experience he had making that movie was incredibly inspiring, and I couldn’t wait to do that to give back.”
Gewecke was introduced by Rob Thomas, who wrote “Veronica Mars” and was instrumental in the Kickstarter campaign for the film. In a jokey video tribute, star Kristen Bell and some of the crew who participated – and contributed up to $5 each– expressed gratitude for Gewecke’s support for the project.
“The one constant has been continuous change,” Gewecke said. “The thing that I always come back to is how that change represents an incredible opportunity. To me, it’s increasingly clear that for our industry, for our businesses, the digital transition has set the stage for a whole new era of growth. And that’s because we, together, have been fast to move, unafraid to change and tremendously innovative. Most importantly, I think we’ve done a fantastic job of listening closely to our consumers.”
Then, something completely unexpected happened. A drone flew into the ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and electrified the crowd. It was part of the intro to Amazon.com receiving its innovation award, and a sly allusion to the fact that the retailer may sometime soon use drones to deliver its packages.
“Our best intentions come from our efforts to innovate on their behalf,” said Paull of Amazon’s customers. He also noted that Amazon Prime’s streaming services are at the top of the list of giving consumers great access and a wide array of choices to watch quality content wherever and whenever they want to.
Paul also noted Amazon’s well-received entry into the world of originals, calling out “Alpha House” and “Transparent”– which went on to receive several high profile Golden Globe nominations.
As for the 800-pound gorilla of the online video world, YouTube’s Carloss also spoke fondly of his company’s consumer base as he accepted the inaugural Deloitte Innovation in Media and Entertainment Award, and poke some fun at itself and how long he’s been in the business.
“I know what a clamshell is,” he said, to much laughter from the audience. But he turned serious when talking about the diversity which marks YouTube’s content and the huge numbers of viewers it brings in, including 100 million views for the new “Star Trek” trailer.
Carloss said that he was proud to enable creators who contribute to what he called YouTube’s “crazy new world order of awesomeness.” He concluded his speech by citing a quote from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Life in video moves pretty fast. If you don’t look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
The event itself was not to be missed and marked the first time it was held under the banner of Press Play. Having previously been known as the Variety Home Entertainment Hall of Fame, it was renamed to better express audiences hitting the “play” button to access content across all devices and platforms.
And there was a good cause in play. Proceeds went to City Year, a nonprofit focused on pairing young leaders with public school students who are at risk of dropping out.
–Hillary Atkin
