Interview: Louis Plamondon, From The Sleepy Skunk
Q: So tell me a little bit about yourself and the formation of The Sleepy Skunk? What gave you the idea to start this blog? Also, why a skunk? A: I am originally from Montreal, Canada but residing in Toronto and working for a big accounting firm as a Sr. Associate in HR. Married, no kids, just started my thirties and gifted with languages (French and Italian mostly). I created The Sleepy Skunk as an experiment aimed at convincing moviegoers to come together and tell Hollywood which movies they should make. If enough of us out there speak our mind on the matter, it could improve our ability to see the movies we really want get financially backed and minimize the 'John Carters' and the 'Jack of the Giant Slayers' of this world, which are movies that - let's face it - nobody really asked for. I needed an ambassador to preside over such a symposium, and that's when I created this character you see all over my social media accounts. Skunks are inoffensive at first glance but can spray anyone who warrants it. Tonally, I found the character to be a pretty good fit. Q: Youve been around for 3 years and your purpose, at least as laid out on your Facebook page, is to get today's moviegoing audiences involved in deciding which movies should be made. What types of movies do you think should be made? A: All kinds of movies really, of every genre and every rating. As long as we moviegoers feel that it's a good idea and that we'd pay to see it, I am in support of it. It should be movies that we are genuinely excited about above all else. These movies might still suck in the end, but at least they won't be doomed from the very start. I think we can all agree that Hollywood rarely falters on the execution of their productions. They have huge budgets, outstanding talent from around the globe both in front and behind the camera, and a thorough process that ensures quality execution from start to finish. But too often they make or remake scripts and franchises that they shouldn't be touching with a ten foot pole and leave aside a great idea because it doesn't have a built-in audience. I hope my website can quantify said built-in audiences for established properties and start "building in" new audiences for original ideas that are worth pursuing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX8hNALRR_E&feature=player_embedded Q: Your Amazing Spider-Man in 25 Minutes video was one of the first big breaks you had on the Internet. What persuaded you into making that video? A: The fact that so much footage was out there that we started wondering what we hadn't seen from The Amazing Spider-man and the answer was: almost nothing. Every major scene from that movie was online in short form and it was a colossal screw-up that became too significant to ignore. I did it to make people laugh at how ridiculous movie marketing had become and that's pretty much how it played out. We all had a really long and loud collective laugh. I remember Devin Faraci at Badass Digest posting something along the lines of: "They released almost A QUARTER OF THE MOVIE as marketing... Wow... Just, wow." Whether my video has influenced studios will be perceivable this summer when the blockbuster marketing machine kicks back into high gear and even more so next year when the second Spider-man movie comes out. How they go about marketing that sequel will be interesting to follow. Q: What type of attention did you see yourself receiving after that video made it big? Did anyone from Sony have a particularly charged response? A: Overnight, I got a horde of interviews and features in online publications and print media. The Toronto Star ran a full page piece and I got to have coffee with their chief critic Peter Howell which was pretty surreal. Variety ran it as their front page story and it was making the rounds in credible news sources from around the world like Jornal O Globo in Brazil and Le Figaro in France. I remember standing at the back of a downtown elevator and the girl in front of me was telling her friend "have you heard about this Spider-man video that went viral?" That was a fun, geeky 'Peter Parker moment' for me. As far as Sony goes, they reviewed the video internally, got their legal team to assess the situation and decided to leave it alone. I don't know if anyone lost their job as a result. I certainly hope no one did. Nobody was aware of how much footage was out there until I mischievously digged for it, least of all the marketing team at Sony.