Hustlin’ & Flowin’ On The Web

Most successful movie producers would cringe at the thought of streaming their pet projects on the web. But producer Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) didn’t hesitate to premiere his latest work, $5 Cover, on MTV.com simultaneously with the 15-episode series’ debut on MTV. Here are excerpts from a recent conversation I had with Brewer about his vision for $5 Cover – which focuses a wide lens on upstart musicians trying to make it big on the Memphis music scene — as well as his affirmation of the web as a viable vehicle for both long and short-form content.

RTU: When you conceived of $5 Cover, did you see the project as a television show or as one created specifically for the web?
Craig: At first I thought this was going to be three to four, one-hour movies that we would show on public access. This was before Hustle and Flow and Black Snake Moan when I was just a local Memphis filmmaker making movies on my video camera. I envisioned this world that you would just drop into where some things would be narrative, some things would be documentary — where all the lead characters would be real musicians and would be playing themselves in an improv piece. But it was all geared for the purpose of making audiences feel more intimate with a band or a musician that they may see and maybe then buy their music.

RTU: How did you hook up with MTV on the project?

Craig: It really wasn’t until I bumped into (MTV New Media executive vice president) David Gale– he used to run MTV Films and bought Hustle & Flow — that it began to materialize. He said the great thing about the online world is its completely open. That’s when I started thinking that this experience is something that should not be shown in a traditional movie or television form.
You don’t have to sit down for two hours to experience something – you can watch seven-minute clips, six- minute documentaries or three-minute music videos – yet they all belong to one creative whole.

RTU: As a movie producer,  do you view the web as a viable distribution outlet for your projects?

Craig: I think that new media is exciting on a couple of levels. Everybody is now on their computers, and in the past year I’ve been surprised how many people are watching one-hour live broadcasts on Hulu or downloading them on iTunes. From an audience’s point of view it’s a fun place to get new content, and at a very young stage, so it’s just going to get better.
What I’m more excited about with new media is what it means for local independent, guerrilla filmmakers. This project was a 100% Memphis community effort – no crews came from outside of the city. Every single person who worked on the project from the musicians to the actors to the cameramen was in Memphis, and through that you establish street cred. You’re not having someone come in and do their interpretation of what your community and music scene is like. We hope that $5 cover can be a channel or a portal where you click into a music community and they are giving you the entertainment and documentary, not some outside movie producer.

RTU: Do you consider “$5 Cover” a scripted show or a reality show?

Craig: It’s hard to say – I didn’t write a script for it. I had some idea as to how all this all needed to go, we showed up, we did a lot of improv — I didn’t tell my cameramen where to put the camera. I know what you’re asking and I want to provide you with a definition, but I find that it’s all really changing – I’m not sure that young audiences care so much about that gray line between journalistic portraiture and narrative. So I would say it was perhaps semi-scripted but there wasn’t a script – I don’t want to say its reality, but everyone in it is real and playing moments in their lives. But at the same time they’re not real. We have people that have heart attacks in the show, and I can assure you that they did not have a heart attack. But these are interesting times – I wouldn’t call it a reality show, but at the same time we’re immersed in reality.

RTU: I know we’re talked mostly about $5 Cover, but I’d like to switch topics and talk about Hustle and Flow. Are you surprised at how much influence the movie has had on popular culture?

Craig: I really feel excited that it’s actually become part of the lexicon. I can’t tell you how many people do various riffs on its hard out here for a pimp. There’s that famous story about when Sting knew he was famous when he was in some hotel and the window washer was singing Roxanne. I went to a restaurant once and I heard the waiter doing the opening monologue from Hustle and Flow. It was one of those moments when I realized  that this movie was really sticking with people. But I think what’s resonating with people young and old is essentially it’s a movie about not waiting for anyone to hand you a check in order to be creative. People feel they have a story or a song inside of them – we turn on American Idol or watch various talent shows, and we all sit there and say, “maybe I can be like that, or maybe I have something like that.” Hustle and Flow is basically about me and my family making my first digital movie in my crappy house where we were building sets in the living room. I think people respond to that struggle – I’ve met so many people who say they watched Hustle and Flow and went home to start that book they always talked about. It didn’t have to be about rap or even about music — I think it’s about starting out being all talk and hopefully ending up walking the walk.