So there’s this movie out now, maybe you’ve heard of it? For a Good Time, Call…It’s apparently a story about two roommates who start a phone sex company, and I am so NOT dying to see it. I’ve written before about how movies and television portray the phone sex business, and I think part of my job is staying informed, so I feel like I have to see the movie. But I’m dreading it. Just the promo poster makes me involuntarily shudder. I’m not proud of this- I mean, I want to be supportive and positive and optimistic, and be rewarded with an amazing movie that shows the biz like it really is. But someone whose opinion I respect said For a Good Time, Call… is to phone sex what Fifty Shades of Grey is to bdsm. That does not bode well. I really really really hope I’m wrong, but unfortunately in my experience, Hollywood gets it wrong (and badly) way more often that they get it right.
I’m thinking about this a lot right now, because I’m in my creative gestation process, trying to figure out what my next one-woman show is going to be. I was lucky that I “inherited” the Threads story, that it was so unique and memorable. There was no question when I sat down to write, what story I would tell, as it was by far the most engrossing and personally relevant to me. I will continue to tour it for at least another year or two during festival season. But in looking forward to the future, I know my next project will involve sex, bdsm, and phone sex in some way.
There’s a bold, talented fringe artist named Cameryn Moore who also happens to be a phone sex operator and wrote a one-woman show called Phone Whore. I didn’t actually see it on the fringe circuit, but she came through Portland a couple years ago. I loved the play but remember thinking, “my phone sex show will be very different.” But right now there’s no idea or structure, no shape to it yet.
In slightly related news, after three years of gentle nagging, wheedling, and cajoling, Cindy has convinced me to participate in NaNoWriMo! I haven’t decided what to write about for that either, but if it ends up being sexy, who knows? It may be the foundation for my next show…If you’ve signed up for this creative craziness as well, please add me as a writing buddy on the site. My screen name is (shocker) Tonya Jone Miller.
There you have it. A damn lot of phone sex and writing in my future, and I suppose I’ll have to see that movie at some point…
Further to the point “Hollywood gets it wrong (and badly) way more often that they get it right”, Afflick’s “Argo” may have some intersect.
When “Argo” premiered at TIFF, friends of the [non-American] diplomat portrayed (but not *really* portrayed) in the film complained, bitterly, about how the fictional CIA agent came across as the hero when it was, in fact, the diplomat who _really_ saved the day.
Afflick actually listened and modified the movie (not enough to some people’s liking — historical accuraturists, bah!), so the diplomat had a stronger presence.
It turns out the changes were not just knee-jerk. Afflick got in touch with the actual diplomat — not specifically referenced in the film (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) — for input. They are now, apparently, friends.
So, the lesson here is: “Access Hollywood insiders early enough in the process and you can influence, somewhat, the portrayal of specific individuals and professions as a whole”. (Unless, of course, you embody something close to their . . . identity, that they engage in, on a very regular basis. T h e n it’s a crap shoot.)
The movie just came out on iTunes in the original R rated version or an unrated version. Rental $3.99 for SD. But I will probably still wait for it to show up on Netflix.