FilmThreat's Chris Gore on What's up with Hollywood?

What happens when filmmakers and creative people begin to self-censor?

This episode of the Forbidden Conversations Podcast has me going back to my cinematic roots as I get to speak with, Chris Gore, the founder and publisher of one of the top independent film review websites FilmThreat—which he started as a zine in 1985.

In addition to to FilmThreat, Chris also hosts the ⁠FilmThreat Livecast⁠ on YouTube and is the author of several books, most notably The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide. Chris is also a filmmaker, having written and produced My Big Fat Independent Movie and directed Attack of the Doc. Chris has hosted shows on FX, Starz, IFC and appeared as a regular on G4TV’s Attack of the Show. His documentary about Attack of the Show and G4TV is coming to VOD on April 24th. For all the details, ⁠visit here⁠. You can find him on Twitter at ⁠@thatchrisgore⁠ & ⁠@FilmThreat⁠.

Like Chris, I used to run a popular online magazine that was dedicated to covering film—as well as other topics. Mine shut down circa 2003 or so. But I had continued working in film and television interviewing hundreds of actors and filmmakers, producing creative content on sets, and as a unit publicist—sometimes even getting to travel with productions to exotic locations like Morocco and, well, Paris.

Throughout our time working and playing within the entertainment industry, both of us have observed the industry around us change. Artists in particular became affected by the self-silencing plague, unable to freely express their artistic impulses for fear of offending the wrong colleague or executive and see their career ended. Audiences suffered as result, too, exposed to sanitized content. Or worse, narratives that overtly push agendas over telling compelling stories. “Today’s writers can’t write subtext,” says Chris.” And while we saw more representation on the screen and off, there were many important voices who got unfairly pushed out because they didn’t check off the right boxes—or if those particular boxes were already checked off by ‘too many people.’

Those are just some of the topics that we cover in our far-ranging conversation.