Sundance Now Doc Club- Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam

Source:Sundance Now Doc Club.

Source:The Daily Review

Did Heidi Fleiss break the law? Well prostitution is illegal in Los Angeles, California and the United States and that is the business she had. So of course she was guilty of breaking the law and Los Angeles and the Feds were simply doing their job when they had her arrested and later convicted of running a prostitution ring. But again what is she guilty of? Prostitution, which is the selling of consensual sex. Between a prostitute and a client. The prostitute is paid for having consensual sex with their client. Generally the prostitute is a women and the clients tend to be men. And where Heidi comes in is that she's guilty of running a business that involves the selling of consensual sex. Not running a hitman operation , or selling immigrants, money laundry, or any other business where innocent people are hurt simply for doing their jobs.

So Heidi ends up doing about two years in prison in the late 1990s for running a business where a consensual service for payment is involved. She wasn't in prison for murder, rape, assault, bribery, child pornography, child prostitution, where innocent people are hurt by predators and intentionally so. She did time in a Federal prison for selling a service that two people consensually agreed to. And ends up taking resources from the criminal justice system. Law enforcement, prostitution and prison, at taxpayers expense, money that could have been used to put away, gee I don't know, about dangerous criminals. I'm not an expert on Heidi Fleiss, but I believe a big reason for why California and the Federal Government, went so hard at her, is because she was so good at it. And perhaps looking to make an example of her.

Heidi, wasn't called the Hollywood Madam for nothing. She was not only based in Los Angeles, but had a lot of L.A. clients in the Hollywood industry. Including Charlie Sheen, who in 1997-98, wasn't exactly at the height of his career. Dealing with alcohol and other drug addictions and when he was working doing movies that flopped. That is how you become a millionaire as a madam by working in Hollywood and getting confidential agreements with their clients. Because no one wants to go to jail, especially for consensual sex. Is Heidi an angel, I don't think she even looks like one, let alone is one and has personal issues with how she deals with people. But we're not talking about a criminal who hurt innocent people for either money, or because she enjoys hurting people. And this not someone who should have been in prison for what she was involved in.
Source:Sundance Now Doc Club

Oscars: Network (1976) 'Win Original Screenplay: 1977 Oscars'

Source: Oscars- Paddy Chayefsky, accepting an Oscar for Network (1976) in 1977.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Paddy Chavefsky wins the Oscar for Writing (Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen--based on factual material or on story material not previously published or produced) for Network at the 49th Academy Awards. Norman Mailer presents the award; hosted by Jane Fonda." 

From the Oscars

I got more out of Paddy Chayefsky in this fourteen-minute video than I can put in this blog. But I’ll do my best, but he made the point in a brilliant and entertaining way, that I can only hope I can come within miles away about how I critique especially the American news media and entertainment industry. Why does TV and Hollywood make so many violent films and shows back then and still today? Because it is what sells and what is what the audience in America wants to see. What sells is what makes their stockholders and their companies money. The power of the private ( not free market ) in America. The consumer decides what sells and what doesn’t.

What he showed with his Network movie from 1976 is exactly what the American media, news and entertainment is about. Which is what makes them money which is based on what people watch. You want to know why hard news doesn’t sell as much as tabloid news especially today and why CNN sometimes looks like ugly twin sister of E or Bravo, is because hard news simply doesn’t sell as much as tabloid news. CNN would make a hell of a lot more money covering Kim Kardashian’s wedding or her arriving at some airport, than they would covering the jobs report or the budget deal reached by Congress and the President. Because the tabloid news is what sells in America, because that is what Americans buy.

And if you go to the entertainment divisions of the networks, where the real entertainment is supposed come from and not the news divisions, it is soap opera whether it comes from an actual soap opera, a sitcom, a cop show, or any other law enforcement show, or it is violence. Car chases, someone getting the hell beaten out of them, who the hot detective or new person on the show is seeing or wants to get involved with, or so-called reality TV. Why? Because that is what sells and that is what the people buy to the point you now have so-called hard news shows covering tabloid stories like George Zimmerman and the trouble that some hot celebrity is in, or what is supposed to be hot in technology.

All Paddy Chayefsky did with Network was to open up millions of Americans eyes to why network TV shows the programming that they do. And give us a preview of what network news would like twenty-five-thirty-years later. When news would be combined with entertainment and so-called reality TV. Why? Because that is what Americans are buying. If it was hard news they were interested in, those shows would get a lot more time than they do. 60 Minutes would be on three nights a week instead of once on Sunday, to use as an example.

Gart Williams: Network (1976) Ned Beatty: The World is a Business

Source: Gart Williams- Ned Beatty, speech from Network.

Source:The New Democrat

"The world is a business", scary thought at least from my perspective that business's and corporations, as well as government's, not trying to sound like a Socialist here, but government's at least to a certain extent are in the business of making money as well. Whether it is for their country or their own personal interests, depending on the country. And everything that government's and private enterprises do around the world has something to do with money. Where to invest, what to invest in, how to pay their bills, who to hire and how many people to hire, how to pay for their employees and at what costs. These are all decisions that government's make as well and what the Howard Beale character was saying in this movie played by Peter Finch, is enough. That we the people so to speak shouldn't take that anymore and have more freedom over our own lives and not be dictated to by corporation's. That we watch too much TV, don't read enough, aren't educated enough and that we need to do is to standup and fight back and not see so many companies turn into so few with all of the mergers. Which weakens competition when their aren't as many companies in business. And what the Ned Beatty character was saying, "you're messing with the forces of nature". Meaning the forces of business and he wasn't going to allow for that.
Source:Gart Williams

Prem Panicker: The West Wing- Why is Liberal a Bad Word?

Source: Prem Panicker- Jimmy Smits as Matt Santos.

Source:The New Democrat

Matthew Santos played by Jimmy Smits, a great actor, doing a solid job of defending liberalism against Arnold Vinick played by the great actor and comedian Alan Alda. This of course was part of the last season of The West Wing with a lot of focus on who was going to be next President after Jeb Bartlett played by the great Martin Sheen. And the Democratic nominee was Representative Matthew Santos played again by Jimmy Smits and the Republican nominee was Senator Arnold Vinick played by Alan Alda.

I wouldn't consider Matt Santos to be the liberal in this election, but the candidate who was furthest left at least amongst by major party presidential candidates on this show. He advocated for eliminating school tenure for public school teachers, which is something I support as a Liberal. Not the point of this post, but then he advocates for nationalizing public education in America and putting the Federal Government in charge of schools in America. That was from the early days of this campaign, which was on season 6.

No real Liberal would advocate for nationalizing public schools in this country. I'm not sure I can come up with a more anti-liberal position than nationalizing the school system. I mean talk about top-down over-bureaucratic government agencies, nationalize the school system where Washington tells Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas and Atlanta and everyone else in the country how to educate their kids and you'll see exactly what I mean. With a school system worth trillions of dollars and a huge part of the American economy.

I said Matt Santos did a solid job of defending liberalism. And I meant that and I just laid out where this fictional character came up short as a Liberal and looks more like a Socialist. But where he did a good job was talking about expanding rights and freedom in this country, which is the main point of liberalism and the main reason for being a Liberal. Not expanding governmental power, but expanding the power of individuals over their own lives. And he gave great examples including ending slavery, women's right to vote, Medicare and Social Security.
Source:Prem Panicker

Flanagan: Network (1976)

Source:Flanagan- Ned Beatty, "the world is a business!"

Source:The New Democrat

Anyone who's interested in modern network news should watch the movie Network from 1976.  It's almost forty years old now and except for the modern technology, the new players and the new stories they'd be hard pressed to see any differences between the two eras.  Shows in both address what people will watch and assume that hard news is boring and that most people get the news in which they are interested from their smart phones (today, anyway).   They work long days, come home and are only interested in what some celebrity did at some party, what they wore or some other celebrity gossip.

Network is about a struggling TV network called United Broadcasting System (UBS) and its struggling news division, UBS News. Their lead news anchor, Howard Beale (the great Peter Finch) has a nervous breakdown live on his nightly newscast, perhaps because of his awful ratings (the movie does  not make that clear).  He starts swearing on national network TV back when cable TV was just getting going and not yet a major medium.

The news executives and other network executives conclude that Beale has to be taken off the air completely but give him one last newscast to say goodbye to his audience (the two people remaining outside of UBS) because of his long distinguished career in journalism and with UBS News.  Beale takes this opportunity to continue his rant and tell his audience that the whole world is bullshit and that people should be mad as hell and not stand for it anymore.

Well, to get Network you have to first understand the times. This movie takes place in, I believe 1975, even though it came out in 1976.  America was going through a rough recession combined with high unemployment, high inflation, high interest rates, high costs of living and everything else that makes life expensive.  Beale, here, is presenting this to his audience and saying that they shouldn't stand for it anymore.

Fay Dunaway's character is a program executive at UBS who sees a big opening for herself and a way to profit from Beale and the malaise that the country is suffering.  She gives him his own new show, a nightly rant about everything that sucks in the world.  The show is a hit, at least at first,  This is one of the first instances of network news becoming a money-making business first and public service second.

Network foretold CNN, MSNBC, FNC and all of the so-called reality TV networks 30-35 years before their time.  I'm not aware of a movie before or since that was so prescient.  With its great writing, cast, and humor it is one of the best movies of all time and one of my personal favorites.

Source:Flanagan