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Some choice quotes: > ...but Matti pushed the angle. And as the challenge went on we discovered that he had cornered Jon in a room to try and get him to speak

by naiyt 13y ago

Some choice quotes: > ...but Matti pushed the angle. And as the challenge went on we discovered that he had cornered Jon in a room to try and get him to speak poorly of Zoe, the only negative “story” they could muster out of all fifteen contestants. > “Two of the other teams have women on them. Do you think they’re at a disadvantage?” Silence. It was like the wind was sucked out of the room behind the barrier, but the floor was so loud only the two all-male teams heard the question. Mark answered diplomatically that the teams actually had a huge advantage by having more viewpoints, though everyone was strong regardless because of their skill. Matti cut him off, pulled back the camera, and coughed, “Stop filming. We’re not getting a story here.” It's a pretty long article, so here's a TL;DR: Maker Studios is a very large YouTube network (the one that was just bought by Disney for $500 million). They tried to create some sort of game jam, and invited some teams of indie devs to participate. It devolved into being some sort of awful corporate-backed reality show, and the devs were consistently disrespected. The guy with the misogynistic quotes above was the main problem, according to a lot of the people there. Trying to push contention, etc, for the sake of the "reality" aspect of it. That dude got sacked, and the devs all walked away. Apparently the whole thing cost $400,000.

mcphilip 13y ago
> UPDATE: Rumors are going around that the writer of the article was fired from his Polaris/Maker gig. Technically he was a contractor and not an employee of Polaris. He didn't get fired (you can't outright fire contractors), the remainder of his contract was canceled. I suspect this is due to some perceived breach of the contract related to his reporting on GAME_JAM. The author mentioned upfront that he didn't necessarily expect to come out unscathed after the article, but he stuck to his guns and did what he felt was right. Respect.
- naiyt 13y ago
  Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what's going on with that so I removed that part of my post for now. The author just tweeted again saying "he wasn't fired", so maybe they haven't actually cancelled his contract. There will probably be more solid info once the dust settles.
  - frandroid 13y ago
    Semantics.
  - Jare 13y ago
    https://twitter.com/notquitefrodo/status/450759909303255040 https://twitter.com/notquitefrodo/status/450759909303255040 "CLARIFICATION: @PolarisTweets never let me go! I am still there in my old capacity. It was really scary miscommunication, thank God." To be honest, his writing in that article is terrible and his ability to miscommunicate something like that is scary.
    - baking 13y ago
      The article was hard to follow, but I respect him for writing it. I sure hope he keeps his day job. ;)
    - Blackavar 13y ago
      It looks like the miscommunication was _to_ him, not _from_ him. He was called in to collect his stuff, but then not fired once he got in with his boss. Personally, I had no trouble following the article.
    - VintageCool 13y ago
      The article assumed that the reader already knew what he was talking about and the people involved. It takes 11 paragraphs before he tells you what GAME_JAM is. Then the article names people like Zoe and Robin, gives their perspective, and describes them doing things long before we meet Zoe or learn what her role was in GAME_JAM.
      - eropple 13y ago
        For the most part, readers of IndieStatik probably do know who they are. It's the closest thing I can think of to an indie gaming trade mag, in the sense that a lot of people read it (though not in the "writing for people who aren't already plugged in" sense). I think they get too close to their subjects too often for my liking, but the most part it's not a bad read.
jsmthrowaway 13y ago
The "guy" in question isn't just anybody, it's Matti Leshem. Leshem is extremely well-connected in the Los Angeles production and marketing networks (I know of him tangentially from my television work), and his company, Protagonist, is Pepsi's primary strategy consultancy. I'm pretty sure TBWA\Chiat\Day is still Pepsi's marketer of record, but Protagonist drives the social push, broad strategy, and so on. They've worked with him over a decade so Leshem is basically a Pepsi man and the Mountain Dew angle of GAME_JAM makes a lot more sense in that context. Based on what I've heard of him, Leshem turned a career making soap operas into one of those "high-energy brand power" sort of consultancies, the marketing equation solved to its limit that disgusts everyone when they think about "marketing." He and his wife represent a big Hollywood power couple -- she's high up at Warner Brothers and responsible for movies like Se7en and Benjamin Button, he's responsible for cultural triumphs like "USA Rock Paper Scissors League" (sponsored by Amp Energy, a PepsiCo brand, of course). This article should explain a lot, from Variety in 2003: http://variety.com/2003/scene/news/branded-tv-bubbling-up-from-leshem-1117893691/ http://variety.com/2003/scene/news/branded-tv-bubbling-up-fr... -- I have no doubt in my mind that Matti Leshem showed up on set thinking "YouTube vehicle for Pepsi" and acted accordingly. Which should tell you a lot about Pepsi, honestly.
- mercurial 13y ago
  It's revealing that selling your body results in social ostracism but selling your soul has the opposite effect.
  - fleitz 13y ago
    Selling your soul is bad business, you want to rent it out so at the Oscars you can still rail against the man.
    - muhfuhkuh 13y ago
      ... while taking a Samsung-sponsored selfie with the man.
      - 13y ago
x0x0 13y ago
Trying to "explore industry sexism" by attempting to trick these devs into talking shit behind each others' backs is amazing. Particularly combined with the contracts, about which: "another [sic] clause allowed for willful misrepresentation for the sake of drama [...]", this could have ended poorly for a lot of these folks. Let me guess: at least one of those women was going to be a raging bitch and at least one of those guys was going to be a women-hating misogynist bro. At least by the time it hit youtube. Regardless of what they said or whether they had to stitch sentences together ala chef's death on south park. Props to all of them who told the producers to diaf.

by naiyt 13y ago

mcphilip 13y ago

> UPDATE: Rumors are going around that the writer of the article was fired from his Polaris/Maker gig. Technically he was a contractor and not an employee of Polaris. He didn't get fired (you can't outright fire contractors), the remainder of his contract was canceled. I suspect this is due to some perceived breach of the contract related to his reporting on GAME_JAM. The author mentioned upfront that he didn't necessarily expect to come out unscathed after the article, but he stuck to his guns and did what he felt was right. Respect.

naiyt 13y ago
Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what's going on with that so I removed that part of my post for now. The author just tweeted again saying "he wasn't fired", so maybe they haven't actually cancelled his contract. There will probably be more solid info once the dust settles.
- frandroid 13y ago
  Semantics.
- Jare 13y ago
  https://twitter.com/notquitefrodo/status/450759909303255040 https://twitter.com/notquitefrodo/status/450759909303255040 "CLARIFICATION: @PolarisTweets never let me go! I am still there in my old capacity. It was really scary miscommunication, thank God." To be honest, his writing in that article is terrible and his ability to miscommunicate something like that is scary.
  - baking 13y ago
    The article was hard to follow, but I respect him for writing it. I sure hope he keeps his day job. ;)
  - Blackavar 13y ago
    It looks like the miscommunication was _to_ him, not _from_ him. He was called in to collect his stuff, but then not fired once he got in with his boss. Personally, I had no trouble following the article.
  - VintageCool 13y ago
    The article assumed that the reader already knew what he was talking about and the people involved. It takes 11 paragraphs before he tells you what GAME_JAM is. Then the article names people like Zoe and Robin, gives their perspective, and describes them doing things long before we meet Zoe or learn what her role was in GAME_JAM.
    - eropple 13y ago
      For the most part, readers of IndieStatik probably do know who they are. It's the closest thing I can think of to an indie gaming trade mag, in the sense that a lot of people read it (though not in the "writing for people who aren't already plugged in" sense). I think they get too close to their subjects too often for my liking, but the most part it's not a bad read.

jsmthrowaway 13y ago

The "guy" in question isn't just anybody, it's Matti Leshem. Leshem is extremely well-connected in the Los Angeles production and marketing networks (I know of him tangentially from my television work), and his company, Protagonist, is Pepsi's primary strategy consultancy. I'm pretty sure TBWA\Chiat\Day is still Pepsi's marketer of record, but Protagonist drives the social push, broad strategy, and so on. They've worked with him over a decade so Leshem is basically a Pepsi man and the Mountain Dew angle of GAME_JAM makes a lot more sense in that context. Based on what I've heard of him, Leshem turned a career making soap operas into one of those "high-energy brand power" sort of consultancies, the marketing equation solved to its limit that disgusts everyone when they think about "marketing." He and his wife represent a big Hollywood power couple -- she's high up at Warner Brothers and responsible for movies like Se7en and Benjamin Button, he's responsible for cultural triumphs like "USA Rock Paper Scissors League" (sponsored by Amp Energy, a PepsiCo brand, of course). This article should explain a lot, from Variety in 2003: http://variety.com/2003/scene/news/branded-tv-bubbling-up-from-leshem-1117893691/ http://variety.com/2003/scene/news/branded-tv-bubbling-up-fr... -- I have no doubt in my mind that Matti Leshem showed up on set thinking "YouTube vehicle for Pepsi" and acted accordingly. Which should tell you a lot about Pepsi, honestly.

mercurial 13y ago
It's revealing that selling your body results in social ostracism but selling your soul has the opposite effect.
- fleitz 13y ago
  Selling your soul is bad business, you want to rent it out so at the Oscars you can still rail against the man.
  - muhfuhkuh 13y ago
    ... while taking a Samsung-sponsored selfie with the man.
    - 13y ago

x0x0 13y ago

Trying to "explore industry sexism" by attempting to trick these devs into talking shit behind each others' backs is amazing. Particularly combined with the contracts, about which: "another [sic] clause allowed for willful misrepresentation for the sake of drama [...]", this could have ended poorly for a lot of these folks. Let me guess: at least one of those women was going to be a raging bitch and at least one of those guys was going to be a women-hating misogynist bro. At least by the time it hit youtube. Regardless of what they said or whether they had to stitch sentences together ala chef's death on south park. Props to all of them who told the producers to diaf.