Friday, August 8, 2014

Interview With Dan Bloom on Why Hollywood Has Embraced ''Cli Fi'' While the Literary World in New York and London has Gatekeeped it

>Question: Recently, Dan, you have been changing your focus away from cli fi novels and their acceptance in the literary world to a new focus on the power of cli fi to impact Hollywood movies and therefore impact the world. Can you explain this change in focus?



Dan Bloom: Yes, glad to. It seems that the entrenched powers in the literary world controlled by book editors and book reviewers at such publications as Publishers Weekly (Jim Milliot), The Washington Post Bookworld (Ron Charles), The Los Angeles Times Book Section (Carolyn Kellogg, Hector Tobar, David Ulin), the New York Times (Pamela Paul, Dwight Garner, Peter Lattman, Alexandra Alter), the Guardian (Claire Armitstead, Alison Flood) and the Financial Times (Pilita Clark) simply are not interested in the rise of the cli fi genre term among novelists and short story writers and seem to be bent on keeping the cli fi term out of their pages altogether. I am not sure why, but maybe it has to do with literary critics and book section editors feeling that literature is a sacred calling and only these editors -- as gatekeepers -- can decide what's real and what's not in the literary world. So be it. They are the gatekeepers and they are apparently not interersted in the rise of cli fi as a literary genre term.-------------------


Question: So?

Dan Bloom: So the more I thought about it with my PR team, in terms of our PR efforts as climate activists promoting cli fi as a wake up call genre, not a mere literary genre to pick apart and debate, the more I began to realize that the print novel is basically dead [in the rising waters of AGW] and has nt power anymore to influence people or impact society. It's just a bunch of gatekeepers and the gatekeepers don't care. They have their own agendas. Like being cool and trendy and avantgarde and the like. Climate change is not on the menu at the hip restaurants where they dine.


  Question: And?

So I feel that in fact the real power of cli fi to change the world, to wake people up lies in Hollywood and world cinema, indie cinema as well. And Hollywood and the media covering Hollywood, much more than the entrenched literary world gatekeepers in New York and London and Washington and Los Angeles, are getting the cli fi message much better and much more directly than the print media gatekeepers.

Hollywood and the media covering Hollywood has really embraced cli fi and that is where the real power now lies I feel.

Novels about climate change still will have a place in our culture but a very limited one, and one getting smaller day by day in this digital world of 500 channels and multiple distractions. Speculative fiction and eco-fiction still find readers. Look at Margaret Atwood! Look at Nat Rich! Like at Ian McEwan! Look at Barbara Kingsolver.

So I noticed that in fact Hollywood was much more with it, in terms of "getting" the cli fi message. When TIME magazine did a big cli fi spread on summer cli fi movies in its May 19, 2014 issue what went worldwide with its readership, I noticed a sea change in the way the media was handling the new, mushrooming cli fi genre. After the TIME article by Lily Rothman, who took the time to interview me for her story by telephone from New York, the New York Times Room for Debate picked up the Hollywood angle for cli fi movies, talking about films such as SNOWPIERCER and INTO THE STORM, GODZILLA and NOAH and INTERSTELLAR. So I came to realize that Hollywood is where cli fi can have its biggest impact, since print novels are dead in the water (see above) and the few that do get published by the major publishers are reviewed only by the gatekeepers at the Times and the Post and the LAT and the Guardian.
Gatekeepers working for their own ''gatekeepers''. That is to say their paymasters.



  QUESTION: Do you think the future of cli fi lies in Hollywood?

DAN BLOOM: Yes, definitely. From Mashable's Andrew Freedman to the New York Post's PAGE SIX gossip column, there was more ink about Hollywood and cli fi than anywhere else.

The print novels industry is blind to cli fi. Books are dying. Few people read anymore, on a large scale. Novels have little impact anymore. Movies reign supreme, and this is where I want to take the cli fi genre now: Hollywood. Hollywood players get it, Hollywood media gets it, and even print media gets that books are dead and movies rule the day now.

So I am following my gut instinct and my media radar and moving the cli fi genre into the realm of Hollywood film directors and producers and writers. There is a future for cli fi in Hollywood. There is no future for cli fi in novels. The gatekeepers won't let it in, and the gatekeepers don't want to be social activists or God forbid, climate acitivists!

Movie directors get it and they want to change the world. So that's where cli fi has found its true home. And it's good, this is a good development. I plan now to focus my PR campaigns for cli fi in the film world, and not just in the USA and but worldwide too. Cinema has the power to impact the world over important issues of climate change and global warming. Novels have no such power anymore. Sad, but true.

And with the gatekeepers busy gatekeeping, speculative fiction novels and eco-fiction novels still have a place there, though, and good novelists will find readers in those genres. They won't find readers in the cli fi literary genre because the gatekeepers won't let them in. So Hollywood is where it's at.

  QUESTION: You're serious, aren't you?

Dan Bloom: Very serious. You know me, I take the cli fi genre very seriously, and I am committed to finding the best home for it. Hollywood is where cli fi belongs. The literary world does not care, and won't let the people in who do care. Do the math: movies reach millions. Novels reach 3000 people, if that many. And the liteary gatekeepers make sure that nobody gets in they don't approve of first.

Question: Thanks for your time and thoughts here, Dan.

Dan Bloom: Thank you for seeing where all this is leading.

6 comments:

DANIELBLOOM said...

SEE?

Film review: Mother Nature’s power is unleashed in ‘Into the Storm’


By Noah S. Lee
Aug 08, 2014 •
2,145,664 views

“Into the Storm” pits Mother Nature against people. Photo by Ron Phillips

What the not half bad “Into the Storm” lacks in above-average storytelling and acting, it makes up for in visual turbulence and stylistic behind-the-camera flair.

With climate change and global warming becoming increasingly regular news topics — as if they hadn’t already years ago — I think it’s safe to say we can expect Hollywood to flood our multiplexes with so-called “cli-fi” movies.


SEE?

MORE BELOW
For moviegoing audiences, that means the merger between entertainment and the Earth is pretty much inevitable, whether we like it or not.

Regardless of our opinion on the matter, we get to travel “Into the Storm.”

Within a short period of time, the town of Silverton is devastated by an unprecedented tornado onslaught.

Every man, woman and child is at the mercy of these deadly and unpredictable twisters, all the while the worst is preparing to unleash its fury.

Many people take shelter as some search for their missing loved ones, while others pursue the storm in the hope of capturing the wrath of Mother Nature.

What is immediately noticeable about “Into the Storm” is the fact that it is presented in a first-person POV style, courtesy of the cameras carried by several key characters.

This technique places the audience directly in the middle of the onscreen events, producing an immersive effect that makes the apprehension in the atmosphere feel all the more tangible, both before and after the torrential rain, winds, and debris start flying all over the place.

DANIELBLOOM said...

''With climate change and global warming becoming increasingly regular news topics — as if they hadn’t already years ago — I think it’s safe to say we can expect Hollywood to flood our multiplexes with so-called “cli-fi” movies.''


SEE?

''For moviegoing audiences, that means the merger between entertainment and the Earth is pretty much inevitable, whether we like it or not.''

rpauli said...

Cli-Fi may be a temporary thing.

Keep in mind that global warming climate destabilization is a progressively worsening condition. The sea levels will rise, the heat waves increase - drought, famine, refugees - all increasing exponentially and it may be a runaway hyperbolic condition.

That makes it the dominate issue for all of civilization to consider...The future literary category may just as well be "Everything that is NOT Cli-Fi"

DANIELBLOOM said...

Why Hollywood Has Embraced ''Cli Fi''

With films like "Noah" and "Into the Storm" -- and "Interstellar" coming in the late fall -- Hollywood has seen the handwriting on the wall and embraced the emerging new genre of "cli fi." And there's more to come.

But while Hollywood and studio marketing people (and online social meda reporters covering new film releases) have welcomed cli fi into the fold, the entrenched powers in the literary world controlled by book editors in New York and London seem to be aloof to all this and show little interest in the rise of the cli fi genre term.

I am not sure why, but maybe it has to do with literary critics and book section editors feeling that literature is a sacred calling and only the all-powerful editors -- as gatekeepers -- can decide what's real and what's not in the literary world. So be it.

The more I thought about the disconnect between the literary world of the book industry comparied with the open arms in Hollywood, the more I began to realize that the print novel is basically dead -- in the rising waters of global warming -- and has little power anymore to influence people or impact society. It's just a bunch of gatekeepers and the gatekeepers don't seem to care about climate change. They have their own agendas. Like being cool and trendy and avantgarde and the like. Climate change is apparently not on the menu at the hip restaurants where they dine in Manhattan and London.


So I feel that the real power of cli fi to change the world, to wake people up lies in Hollywood and world cinema, indie cinema as well. And Hollywood and the media covering Hollywood, much more than the literary gatekeepers in New York and London and Washington and Los Angeles, are getting the cli fi message much better and much more directly than the print media gatekeepers.

A sea change is happening: Hollywood and the media covering Hollywood have really embraced cli fi and that is where the real wake-up call power of public awareness now lies.

Novels about climate change still will have a place in our culture but a very limited one, and one getting smaller day by day in this digital world of 500 channels and multiple YouTube distractions. Speculative fiction and eco-fiction novels still find readers. Look at Margaret Atwood; look at Barbara Kingsolver.

I've noticed this sea change as Hollywood directors and PR mavens have recently become much more with it, in terms of "getting" the cli fi message. When TIME magazine did a three-page cli fi spread on summer cli fi movies in its May 19, 2014 issue what went worldwide, I began to notice the way the print and online media were handling the new, mushrooming cli fi genre.

DANIELBLOOM said...

After the TIME article by Lily Rothman came out, the New York Times ''Room for Debate'' forum picked up the Hollywood angle for cli fi movies, assigning academics and experts to talk about films such as "Snowpiercer" and "Into the Storm" and the upcoming "Interstellar."

So I came to realize that Hollywood is where cli fi can have its biggest impact, since print novels are dead in the water (see above) and the few that do get published by the major publishers are reviewed only by the gatekeepers at the New York Times and the Guardian in London.

I see a big future of cli fi movies in Hollywood. Big.

Look around in the social media world: From TIME to the New York Times, from Mashable's Andrew Freedman to the New York Post's Page Six gossip column, there has been more ink about Hollywood and cli fi than anywhere else.

The book industry is blind to cli fi. Books are dying. Few people read anymore, on a large scale. Novels have little impact anymore. Movies reign supreme, and this is where I see cli fi blooming now: in Hollywood. Hollywood players get it, the Hollywood media gets it, and books are dead and movies rule the day now.

So I am following my gut instinct and my media radar and hoping to see cli fi genre turn into a real bonanza in the realm of Hollywood film directors and producers and writers. There is a future for cli fi in Hollywood.


Movie directors get it and they want to wake up the world. And make a little spare change along the way, sure. It's a business. So cli fi has found its true home not on Publishers Row in Manhattan but in Hollywood, and just in time. And it's good, this is a good development.

Cinema has the power to impact the world over important issues of climate change and global warming. Novels have no such power anymore. Print is dying, cinema is alive!

Of course, speculative fiction novels and eco-fiction novels still have a place in our culture, and many of these novels will be adapted as screenplays and see the light of day as popular movies, so writers still have a role to play in all this.

As a climate activist and PR guy, I take the cli fi genre very seriously, and I now see that Hollywood is where cli fi belongs, front and center.

Do the math: movies reach millions. Novels reach 3000 people, if that many.

Therefore: cli fi has come to Hollywood and its about time.

DANIELBLOOM said...

So Mary yes .......no longer interested for doing climate PR work in climate fictional novels (print books) : nobody seemed to appreciate my work and all I got was mostly flak. Who needs it? RE: ''.... I did not know that you were no longer interested in the fictional novels. What about films based off these novels? For instance, I think Atwood's trilogy is getting an HBO series?'' The Atwood HBO series is just a ''maybe will get made , maybe will not get made'' Hollywood gossip item at this point. If it does get made, maybe 2020 or so. So no, the Atwood Arofosky thing is not on my radar or interest menu now and won't be until the movie gets made if ever. Here's what I wrote about my leaving the climate themed print novel world of books last August, and not because i dont like novels i love books still, but since the literary editors in New York and London refused to show an interest in my earlier cli fi PR press releases (and never even answered me) and because I detect a huge animosity and loathing for the cli fi motif by the very people I was hoping to interest, ie, novelists and writers, so i can see the hand writing on the wall. the way to go is your way, eco-fiction and nature writing. So I decided to leave the divided world of fictional novels where the main thing is not the genre per se but the content, and i will just watch as writers create their content for print books. Good luck to them of course. But it's no longer my bailiwick. It's your bailiwick now and good luck to your and your followers. Creating good content is key, the story is everything. BUT i have moved on, and here's why, if you did not see this earlier: ''Why Hollywood Has Embraced ''Cli Fi'' While the Literary World in New York and London has Gatekeeped it'' -- http://korgw101.blogspot.tw/2014/08/interview-with-dan-bloom-on-why.html

I am now studying how Hollywood works and am hoping that people there will be more open to what I am doing than the welcome I found in the literary community. And that's okay. I started out with the literary community but they don't seem to care and most don't seem to appreciate the cli fi term, which is how i got here in the first place, so.......I'm outta here. So fr the welcome among film people and film critics and Hollywood marketing units has been fantastic. The studio press releases for INTO THE STORM called the movie ''a cli fi movie'' based on the TIME magazine article on May 18 and the reviews for INTO THE STORM, many of them, took the pres release term and ran with it, with many newspapers and websites in Spanish, Portugeues and French languages reporting INTO THE STORM as a ''cli fi movie.!" So that lifted my spirits to see that kind of weclome in the film world, and that was my wake up moment: to leave the world of fictional novels where there was little acceptance of my work -- and i accept my collossal FAIL there, c'est la vie -- and move in a new directionw where people's heads were more open to what I want to do as a PR climate activist. I am not a literary critic and I am not a movie critic. I am just putting in my two cents come what may. I see the movie world as more accepting now. Less gatekeeping, more pioneering spirit.