I wasn't at last night's Irish Frock & Tuxedo Awards, although I have been an attendee in the past when asked to do jury duty on a few occasions (Best Short Frock, best new talent in a Frock or Tuxedo etc).
Nor did I see the televised (as live) version of the show on RTÉ last night. If Twitterland is any measure then it was not a success. At all. Much talk of inadequate stage management and a complete disregard among chattering attendees for what was happening on the stage.
This should not come as a surprise. It's been a feature of the awards ceremony that has been becoming more evident each year.
But don't forget, these are people who know how to be quiet on set. In fact not just quiet, but absolutely and completely silent. No rustling papers, no stepping on a creaky part of the stage, no whispering to the crew or cast member beside you. If a 2nd AD says "Quiet on set!" even the mightiest ego will be stopped in their tracks, silenced.
So, what's going on? I believe it's a demonstration of complete disrespect for and lack of faith in the whole IFTA process. It's not about the presenters, award winners or fellow professionals, it's an unspoken determination to turn a charade into a knees-up and thumb the nose at the organisers.
If the event is to survive this year's nadir the 'Academy' will have to take ownership of the entire process and lay down some standards of transparency and accountability. Otherwise the IFTAs party is over.
(another view... Irish Times 7 April)
Sunday, April 6, 2014
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2 comments:
I was there on Saturday. It was shit. It's always shit, just different shades. The audience behaved like pigs because they were treated like pigs by IFTA - what a debacle of a show. Amateur Ireland strikes again. The truth is the 'Academy', as the organizers fancy calling it, would die a death if RTE decided not to broadcast it. It's a racket and has no credibility. The reason people behave themselves at the Globes etc is because they respect the organization and in turn are respected. The whole fucking IFTA thing should be scrapped and a proper classy credible awards ceremony set up by people interested in film-making NOT run by PR tarts only interested in the fucking red carpet. Death to IFTA.
I think the 'Academy' is literally a nominal entity (and a source of some cash). If there were a real Academy, and it were in the driving seat with power to hire or fire people then there would be a very different attitude to the awards process and the event itself.
Someone told me recently that no IFTA accounts have been filed with the CRO since 2011 and yet it's still being funded, presumably, with a lot of public money.
A lot of questions need to be answered. The event and the TV broadcast are just symptomatic.
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