Kieth Merrill Body Slams Richard Dutcher

[SeattleUte]

A pox on both their houses.

[Detroitdad]

The only movie of Dutcher's that I have seen is God's Army, which I thought was pretty weak, but passable in comparison to its predecessors. So I am not an expert on his work. He has been a bit of a loose cannon, and it makes him look pretentious and high handed.

But Merrill is correct when he says that what he has done does not dignify a response. Then Merrill proceeds to personally attack Dutcher at excessive length and in an intensely personal way. Merrill succeeded in doing something that Dutcher could not do on his own: made him look good in comparison.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

You may not like what Merrill had to say as a whole, Jeff, but there are some good quotes in here:

That's not the point, Indy. There's an old rule of thumb that I like to follow when I write a long, nasty e-mail in response to some personal insult. I wait a day before sending it. In most cases I decide not to send it at all and in the other cases I tone down the rhetoric drastically. This is what Merrill should have done. By responding the way he did, he came off looking like an unprofessional idiot. He could have gotten so much more mileage by taking the high road.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

That's not the point, Indy. There's an old rule of thumb that I like to follow when I write a long, nasty e-mail in response to some personal insult. I wait a day before sending it. In most cases I decide not to send it at all and in the other cases I tone down the rhetoric drastically. This is what Merrill should have done. By responding the way he did, he came off looking like an unprofessional idiot. He could have gotten so much more mileage by taking the high road.

His letter was surprising for somebody in the public arena. It's not as if Kieth doesn't know how statements are received; that's essentially a small spin on what his profession is.

OTH, it may be that Kieth perceives Dutcher to have been a competitor, so he's trying to up his competitive advantage for funding of proejects within the LDS market.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

That's not the point, Indy. There's an old rule of thumb that I like to follow when I write a long, nasty e-mail in response to some personal insult. I wait a day before sending it. In most cases I decide not to send it at all and in the other cases I tone down the rhetoric drastically. This is what Merrill should have done. By responding the way he did, he came off looking like an unprofessional idiot. He could have gotten so much more mileage by taking the high road.

Be that as it may, I think the two quotes I included are very pertinent observations and ones that deserve serious contemplation by members and filmmakers alike.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

Be that as it may, I think the two quotes I included are very pertinent questions and ones that deserve serious contemplation by members and filmmakers alike.

What's the pertinent question in your opinion?

It seems that the "LDS" genre is a market nobody wants. You won't find major producers clamoring for it, and the few who've catered to it, exhaust the subject matter fairly quickly.

Dutcher hasn't exactly eaten up any market. Why? I suppose he's only moderately capable at his craft. He can do a workmanlike job, but he's not star material.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

What's the pertinent question in your opinion?

It seems that the "LDS" genre is a market nobody wants. You won't find major producers clamoring for it, and the few who've catered to it, exhaust the subject matter fairly quickly.

Dutcher hasn't exactly eaten up any market. Why? I suppose he's only moderately capable at his craft. He can do a workmanlike job, but he's not star material.

Go back and read the two quotes I posted on the first page.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

Go back and read the two quotes I posted on the first page.

I did, but they didn't seem very pertinent or stimulating. Dutcher and Merrill just aren't raising points that matter.

IMHO, if you produce a film that is watchable, my family and I will go see it. If you don't, we won't.

I'm not looking for the "LDS label of approval." There are plenty of PG 13 action films, feel good stories and other genres that will entertain and uplift.

Why haven't LDS producers been very successful? They aren't very good.

[SeattleUte]

Here's what's going on here. Dutcher is yet more evidence that there is much money to be made from exploiting LDS beliefs and popular culture, and some people see that and set out to do that, and Duthcer succeeded to an extent in the movie industry, a very tough venue (I bet that author of the Work and the Glory is a BYU fat cat by now). Meanwhile, Merrill has gained some critical acclaim producing small, low budget, low earning documentaries that do not exploit LDS beliefs or culture. Merrill has regarded himself as taking a vow of poverty and producing real art, while Dutcher (he has thought) has raked it in being an opportunist and producing shoddy stuff (bad art is the inevitable result of producing art that panders to religious beliefs). Merrill sees himself as Mozart, and Dutcher as Salieri.

To a large extent Merrill has been justified in these perceptions, but still at bottom he's professionally jealous. Everyone wants to be rich and famous, deep inside, but as Tolstoy once famously put it, artists can only produce what they can produce. Now Dutcher has to some extent become a victim of the karma he made for himself, and Merrill is letting all the pent up bile and invective he has harbored all these years pour forth.

As I said, a pox on both their houses.

[Indy Coug]

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/218124/