Brian Flemming
Encyclopedia
Brian Flemming is an American
film director and playwright.
, and studied English at the University of California, Irvine
, graduating in 1998. Flemming immediately went to work as a script reader for New Line Cinema
while also making his first feature film, the very low-budget Hang Your Dog in the Wind
. Partly to promote his film, Flemming then co-founded a "punk" film festival in Park City, Utah
, called “the Slumdance Film Festival
”, a pun on the name of the Slamdance Film Festival
(which in turn referred to the Sundance Film Festival
).
Slumdance brought Flemming to the attention of the independent-film "guru" John Pierson
, who had previously discovered Spike Lee
, Michael Moore
, Kevin Smith
and Richard Linklater
, among others. Pierson became a vocal advocate of Flemming and his debut feature, and he later hired Flemming to work as a director and segment producer for Pierson's Independent Film Channel
magazine-style show called Split Screen.
. The unconventional stage musical is based on a story about a half-bat half-boy from the tabloid Weekly World News
. Flemming co-wrote Bat Boy with Keythe Farley and Laurence O'Keefe
. The musical grew from small beginnings in a Los Angeles theater called the Actors' Gang to winning the LA Weekly Theater Award
for Musical of the Year Award for 1999, plus four Ovation Award nominations and six Drama-Logue Award
s.
Bat Boy: The Musical made its way to a $1.75M New York production in March 2001, for which the play won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award
for Best Musical Off-Broadway and six Drama Desk nominations. The New Yorker
described Bat Boy as a “giggling cult hit”. The New York Times
wrote, “It is astonishing what intelligent wit can accomplish”. The musical ran in New York through December 2001 and has since been staged thousands of times throughout the world, including a major production in London's West End in 2004, and is published in several languages.
called Nothing So Strange
. Even before its debut, media outlets such as Fox News and the Drudge Report condemned the film as outrageous for its premise. Bill Gates said through a spokesman that he was “very disappointed that a movie maker would do something like this”. Nothing So Strange debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival
to nearly universal critical acclaim. Variety
called it, "a crackling good movie... [that] may be the ideal prototype film for the digital age". The film won the Claiborne Pell New York Times Award for Original Vision at the 2002 Newport Film Festival and received international media exposure throughout its long film-festival run.
On 23 October 2003 the film had a simultaneous debut in theaters and as an Internet download. It was released on DVD in 2004.
. Through interviews with biblical and folklore scholars, Flemming investigates the evidence for the existence of Jesus
, concluding that it is highly improbable that the Christian savior ever actually lived. Then, Flemming discusses the beliefs of conservative Christian fundamentalists, Christian moderates (who, he argues, simply enable the fundamentalists), and returns to confront the principal of the fundamentalist Christian school he attended as a child.
Flemming launched three unusual media campaigns to support his documentary:
Flemming founded the organization Free Cinema, which encourages feature filmmakers to create films under two rules:
Flemming claims that filmmaking can now be “as inexpensive as writing novels” and that the copylefting practice is a way for new artists to gain notice and distribution in a marketplace dominated by large corporations. Free Cinema was inspired by the Free Software Movement
, which is guided by similar principles of freedom. Flemming is also the owner and operator of Fair Use Press, which distributes e-books critical of public figures such as Bill O'Reilly
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
for their stance on intellectual property law.
During the 2007 Slamdance
film festival, Flemming, who had been invited to sit on the festival's documentary jury, saw a demo of the video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
and hearing about it having its nomination pulled by the festival's founder, convinced fellow jurors to award it a "Special Jury Prize" for Best Documentary (an unofficial award not endorsed by the festival). The festival's founder, Peter Baxter, later told Flemming that legal considerations prevented SCMRPG from receiving the award.
, the Bat Boy feature film (for director John Landis), and a 2000 episode of the animated TV series Rugrats
. Flemming also wrote the screenplay for the sequel to Josh Olson
's horror movie Infested. Flemming is a member of the Writers Guild of America
, a screenwriters' labor union, and participated in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
.
, London Mail on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times
and the L.A. Weekly. He has written articles for Filmmaker and Movieline
magazines, and until 2008 maintained a daily personal weblog that often featured extended opinion essays on a variety of topics, including copyright law, freethought http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/002582.html and the exploitation of sex workers http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/000873.html.
Shmuley Boteach
and Larry Flynt
.
and Playing Columbine
. To promote and discuss his films, he has appeared on CNN, NBC, ABC News' Nightline, and the Fox News Channel, which labeled Flemming "a young Oliver Stone." Profiles of Flemming have been published in the Los Angeles Times, the Austin Chronicle and Christianity Today. His work has been called "jaggedly imaginative" by The New York Times, "a parallel universe" by the BBC and "immensely satisfying" by USA Today.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director and playwright.
Early career
Flemming was born and raised in California's San Fernando ValleySan Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, and studied English at the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
, graduating in 1998. Flemming immediately went to work as a script reader for New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
while also making his first feature film, the very low-budget Hang Your Dog in the Wind
Hang Your Dog in the Wind
Hang Your Dog in the Wind was the first feature film of Brian Flemming. It was shot in black and white and Super 16 in 1993 then blown up to 35mm. Although it was not accepted by either the Sundance Film Festival or the Slamdance Film Festival in 1997, it was released as part of film festival...
. Partly to promote his film, Flemming then co-founded a "punk" film festival in Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
, called “the Slumdance Film Festival
Slumdance Film Festival
The Slumdance film festival, was founded in 1998 by Brian Flemming, and lasted until 2003, when most counterfestivals were chased out of Park City, Utah. Other festivals chased out in that year included NoDance and Slamdunk....
”, a pun on the name of the Slamdance Film Festival
Slamdance Film Festival
As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent in the film industry; it is also the only major film festival fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance counts among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the...
(which in turn referred to the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
).
Slumdance brought Flemming to the attention of the independent-film "guru" John Pierson
John Pierson (filmmaker)
John Pierson is an American independent filmmaker. He is best known for helping to produce the first works by filmmakers Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Michael Moore, and Kevin Smith...
, who had previously discovered Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
, Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
and Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...
, among others. Pierson became a vocal advocate of Flemming and his debut feature, and he later hired Flemming to work as a director and segment producer for Pierson's Independent Film Channel
Independent Film Channel
The Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
magazine-style show called Split Screen.
Bat Boy
After Slumdance, Flemming turned his attention from indie film to theater with what would eventually turn into an international cult hit: Bat Boy: The MusicalBat Boy: The Musical
Bat Boy: The Musical is a musical with a book by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming and music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe, based on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News story about a half-boy, half-bat, dubbed "Bat Boy", found living in a cave....
. The unconventional stage musical is based on a story about a half-bat half-boy from the tabloid Weekly World News
Weekly World News
The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become...
. Flemming co-wrote Bat Boy with Keythe Farley and Laurence O'Keefe
Laurence O'Keefe (composer)
Laurence O'Keefe , also known as Larry, is a composer and lyricist for Broadway musicals, film and television.O'Keefe is a graduate of Harvard College, where he studied anthropology and wrote humor for the Harvard Lampoon and sang with the Harvard Krokodiloes...
. The musical grew from small beginnings in a Los Angeles theater called the Actors' Gang to winning the LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award is an annual critics' award established in 1979, given by the LA Weekly for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California...
for Musical of the Year Award for 1999, plus four Ovation Award nominations and six Drama-Logue Award
Drama-Logue Award
The Drama-Logue Award was a theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would receive a certificate at an annual awards ceremony...
s.
Bat Boy: The Musical made its way to a $1.75M New York production in March 2001, for which the play won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
for Best Musical Off-Broadway and six Drama Desk nominations. The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
described Bat Boy as a “giggling cult hit”. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote, “It is astonishing what intelligent wit can accomplish”. The musical ran in New York through December 2001 and has since been staged thousands of times throughout the world, including a major production in London's West End in 2004, and is published in several languages.
Nothing So Strange
Flemming caused considerable media controversy, not for the last time, with his second feature film, a faux documentary about the assassination of Bill GatesBill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
called Nothing So Strange
Nothing So Strange
Nothing So Strange is a 2002 American mockumentary, written, produced and directed by Brian Flemming in the style of an "independent documentary", centering on the fictional assassination of former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on December 2, 1999...
. Even before its debut, media outlets such as Fox News and the Drudge Report condemned the film as outrageous for its premise. Bill Gates said through a spokesman that he was “very disappointed that a movie maker would do something like this”. Nothing So Strange debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
to nearly universal critical acclaim. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called it, "a crackling good movie... [that] may be the ideal prototype film for the digital age". The film won the Claiborne Pell New York Times Award for Original Vision at the 2002 Newport Film Festival and received international media exposure throughout its long film-festival run.
On 23 October 2003 the film had a simultaneous debut in theaters and as an Internet download. It was released on DVD in 2004.
The God Who Wasn't There
In 2005, Flemming released his third feature-length film, the documentary The God Who Wasn't ThereThe God Who Wasn't There
The God Who Wasn't There is a 2005 independent documentary written and directed by Brian Flemming. The documentary questions the existence of Jesus, examining evidence that supports the Christ myth theory against the existence of a historical Jesus, as well as other aspects of Christianity.- Jesus...
. Through interviews with biblical and folklore scholars, Flemming investigates the evidence for the existence of Jesus
Historicity of Jesus
The historicity of Jesus concerns how much of what is written about Jesus of Nazareth is historically reliable, and whether the evidence supports the existence of such an historical figure...
, concluding that it is highly improbable that the Christian savior ever actually lived. Then, Flemming discusses the beliefs of conservative Christian fundamentalists, Christian moderates (who, he argues, simply enable the fundamentalists), and returns to confront the principal of the fundamentalist Christian school he attended as a child.
Flemming launched three unusual media campaigns to support his documentary:
- In December 2005, Flemming's company, Beyond Belief Media, cheekily declared "War on Christmas" and sent troops of volunteers into the streets of U.S. cities to give away copies of The God Who Wasn't There. The stunt landed Flemming on Fox News Radio for the first of many appearances, where Alan Colmes interviewed him about his "war."
- In April 2006, Flemming, along with the Rational Response SquadRational Response SquadThe Rational Response Squad, or RRS, is an atheist activist group that confronts what it considers to be irrational claims, most notably those made by theists, particularly Christians. The most visible member of RRS is co-founder Brian Sapient...
(an internet radio showPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
), began the "War on Easter" to “provoke conversation about the dangers of religious belief”. Participants were invited to place DVDs of the documentary or downloaded flyers in or near Christian churches and send in photos of these actions in exchange for DVDs. Flemming posted the photos on a website. Flemming himself planted videos in Los Angeles' Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and tricked Cardinal Roger Mahony into posing with him for a photo. In May 2006, Brian accepted the offer to discuss/debate the central thesis of his video with Christian apologist and blogger Frank Turk. - In December 2006, Flemming and the Rational Response Squad started the Blasphemy Challenge, which called on participants to upload videos to YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
in which they "damn themselves to hell" by making their own statement which must include the phrase: "I deny the Holy Spirit", thus committing blasphemyBlasphemyBlasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
against the Holy SpiritHoly SpiritHoly Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
. The first 1001 users who did so received a DVD of The God Who Wasn't There. The Blasphemy Challenge was the most successful of the three publicity stunts, gaining coverage by Newsweek, NBC News, Fox News and many other media outlets, and actual participation by Penn JillettePenn JillettePenn Fraser Jillette is an American magician, comedian, illusionist, juggler, bassist and a best-selling author known for his work with fellow illusionist Teller in the team Penn & Teller, and advocacy of atheism, libertarian philosophy, free-market economics, and scientific skepticism.-Early...
, Richard DawkinsRichard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
and RaëlRaëlClaude Maurice Marcel Vorilhon is the founder and current leader of the UFO religion known as Raëlism....
. In 2006, Newsweek magazine included Flemming on its list of America's Ten Most Influential Atheists.
Activism
In addition to working in film and theater, Flemming is an activist on copyright issues. He has released Nothing So Strange as an “open source” project, which means all of the raw footage that makes up the film is released without copyright restrictions for anyone to use. The final cut of the film, however, remains protected by copyright.Flemming founded the organization Free Cinema, which encourages feature filmmakers to create films under two rules:
- No money may be spent on the production, and
- The film must be released under a copyleftCopyleftCopyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
license.
Flemming claims that filmmaking can now be “as inexpensive as writing novels” and that the copylefting practice is a way for new artists to gain notice and distribution in a marketplace dominated by large corporations. Free Cinema was inspired by the Free Software Movement
Free software movement
The free software movement is a social and political movement with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms "software libre", "open...
, which is guided by similar principles of freedom. Flemming is also the owner and operator of Fair Use Press, which distributes e-books critical of public figures such as Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
for their stance on intellectual property law.
During the 2007 Slamdance
Slamdance
Slamdance may refer to:* Mosh, a form of dance associated with punk rock and other musical genres* Slamdance Film Festival, an annual event featuring the work of independent filmmakers...
film festival, Flemming, who had been invited to sit on the festival's documentary jury, saw a demo of the video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, abbreviated SCMRPG!, is a role-playing video game created by Danny Ledonne and released in April 2005. The game recreates the 1999 Columbine High School shootings near Littleton, Colorado...
and hearing about it having its nomination pulled by the festival's founder, convinced fellow jurors to award it a "Special Jury Prize" for Best Documentary (an unofficial award not endorsed by the festival). The festival's founder, Peter Baxter, later told Flemming that legal considerations prevented SCMRPG from receiving the award.
Additional work
Between his major projects, Flemming has worked as a screenwriter-for-hire, composer/musician, journalist and photographer.As screenwriter only
With Bat Boy:The Musical collaborator Keythe Farley, Flemming wrote the screenplays for: a planned MGM remake of the classic camp film Beach Blanket BingoBeach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures beach party film, released in 1965 and was directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the beach party film series...
, the Bat Boy feature film (for director John Landis), and a 2000 episode of the animated TV series Rugrats
Rugrats
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....
. Flemming also wrote the screenplay for the sequel to Josh Olson
Josh Olson
Josh Olson is an American screenwriter and director. Olson began his career working as a production assistant in the art department on the 1987 film Masters of the Universe...
's horror movie Infested. Flemming is a member of the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
, a screenwriters' labor union, and participated in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
.
As composer/musician
Flemming composed and performed the music scores for Nothing So Strange under the name Mary Rosh and for The God Who Wasn't There under the name DJ Madson. Flemming plays guitar, trumpet and keyboards on his music scores. He played guitar and sang as part of a 2008 April Fool's Day stunt http://www.brianflemming.org/archives/002888.html in which he pretended to have converted to Christianity.As journalist and photographer
Flemming's still photography work has appeared in NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, London Mail on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and the L.A. Weekly. He has written articles for Filmmaker and Movieline
Movieline
Movieline is a website, formerly a Los Angeles-based film and entertainment magazine, started in 1985 as a local magazine and went national in 1989. Known for its cult status and popularity among film critics, the magazine eventually was retooled and named Movieline's Hollywood Life. The magazine...
magazines, and until 2008 maintained a daily personal weblog that often featured extended opinion essays on a variety of topics, including copyright law, freethought http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/002582.html and the exploitation of sex workers http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/000873.html.
Other
In 1999 Flemming created an audio documentary, The Rabbi vs. Larry Flynt, about a debate on pornography between RabbiRabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Shmuley Boteach
Shmuley Boteach
Shmuel "Shmuley" Boteach is an American Orthodox rabbi, author, TV host and public speaker.Among other books, Boteach wrote Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy, published in 1999, which openly discusses intimacy and sexual intercourse...
and Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt
Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications . In 2003, Arena magazine listed him as the number one on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list....
.
Media appearances
Flemming is interviewed on camera in the documentaries Independent's DayIndependent's Day
Independent's Day is the third studio album by Detroit rapper Royce da 5'9", released through Trouble Records on June 28, 2005.-Track listing:...
and Playing Columbine
Playing Columbine
Playing Columbine is a 2008 American documentary film produced and edited by Danny Ledonne, an American independent filmmaker. The film follows the video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG! in which players experience the Columbine High School massacre through the eyes of the killers, Eric Harris...
. To promote and discuss his films, he has appeared on CNN, NBC, ABC News' Nightline, and the Fox News Channel, which labeled Flemming "a young Oliver Stone." Profiles of Flemming have been published in the Los Angeles Times, the Austin Chronicle and Christianity Today. His work has been called "jaggedly imaginative" by The New York Times, "a parallel universe" by the BBC and "immensely satisfying" by USA Today.