Gavin Polone on Hollywood Hypocrites, Bad Film Subsidies, and the Future of the Industry

"In the entertainment industry, you see a lot of very preachy people, who are very 'Save the Bay,'" says Gavin Polone, a Hollywood producer, former talent agent and columnist for New York Magazine's Vulture.com. "And then, you know, they're getting on a private plane."

Polone, who's produced such memorable projects as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Panic Room, Zombieland, and Gilmore Girls, has a reputation for speaking his mind, even when what he's saying isn't popular. He sat down to speak with ReasonTV's Zach Weissmueller about the irritating and hypocritical preachiness of celebrities, why film subsidies are killing the entertainment industry and hurting the economy, the urgent need for the studios to adapt to new technology more quickly, and why he describes his politics as "more libertarian than anything else."

About 9.30 minutes. Interview by Zach Weissmueller. Shot by Sharif Matar, Alex Manning and Tracy Oppenheimer. Edited by Weissmueller.

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[HollywoodSheen]

This man is spot on w/his union comments. Those F'n unions have ruined so many companies. They were created to protect the worker's rights and ensure some job security, but they've evolved into corrupted entities that just block commerce.

[TheLegalImmigrant05]

"There's real value to having government" LOL made my day.

[gneissday]

I applaud Polone for speaking out. I like most of hiss statements, but his language sounds like pragmatism, the concept that there are no real absolutes, which is a mushy thought process. Ayn Rand had this to say about it: "In the whirling Heraclitean flux which is the pragmatist’s universe, there are no absolutes. There are no facts, no fixed laws of logic, no certainty, no objectivity."

[puppetsock]

Check on wikipedia for Jerry Pournelle, then look at the description of his Iron Law.

The antidote to this is "right to work" of some kind.

[Ian Dube]

that's because employment is a voluntary exchange of services for wage. when you interrupt that process you get corruption of the system-- the pimp and prostitute relationship starts to exist. Kind of like the free market, or exactly like it. Voluntary exchange of goods or services, but when regulation takes hold, ie subsidies, regulation and giant government sleeping with big industry, it gets all screwed up and the consumer gets screwed and then u have occupy wall street.

[ImNeilPatrickHarris]

US can't have it both ways, it did try to blackmail israel into giving up its nukes btw - this guy needs to read a fuckin book. why does the US get to have nukes and not israel, uh?

[ImNeilPatrickHarris]

doesnt make any sense, right? progressive state that is surrounded by countries that have tried to annihiliate in six consecutive wars holds nukes, but countries run by dictators and religious nutbags should have them as well. GREAT INSIGHT HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER. do you know where your nearest bomb shelter is?

JEWS MADE NUKES TROLL. fuck this guy.

[falchard]

Libertarianism is probably the most popular point of view in the US. The problem is the 2 party system. You can't really get a libertarian elected because the choices are between 2 half libertarians and when in office tend to be 0% libertarian. You also have the other points of view that may agree enough to gain the majority since people who have libertarian views are about 26% to 33%, while other views are still in the 20+% range. The good thing that has happened in California is primaries.

[dubified89]

Dude is wrong. Libertarianism is 100% on point. It takes a certain level of bravery to go ahead and say you're a libertarian, knowing that will alienate so many people & I think that's what he's evading.