Missed Opportunities: Iron Man II

[MDS]

I have a few friends who have scene the new Iron Man movie at a showing out in LA, and from what they say the ICS really missed the boat with this one.

There is a big set-piece battle involving a "Grand Prix" race in America, that pretty clearly is supposed to be Long Beach about 20 minutes into the film. It's been in all the trailers and is apparently a big moment in the movie.

From what one of my partner's movie connected friends said the makers of Iron Man approached the League, but either couldn't or wouldn't work out a deal. He said the ICS asked NASCAR money for their co-operation and Marvel decided it would be cheaper and easier to proceed without them since the league didn't really offer anything in way of cross promotion.

I'm pretty sure we can mark this up to a Tony George error, and the league's lack of a name sponsor and the stability that went with it. If the IRL were smart back then they would let the film shoot at Long Beach and/or Toronto (Union rules make it far cheaper to shoot in Canada) and offered up every image and right to the producers for free, in exchange for some advertising, and a two-race sponsorship of a team.

It's prohibitively expensive to shoot on the streets of L.A. because of local politics and unions, but because of the permitting involved with Long Beach the IM2 guys could have shot on that location under the IRL's filming rights and saved a money and effort. Instead they filmed at the Monaco GP because of tax and union rules.

The IRL should have had a merch trailer wrapped in Iron Man 2 colors selling film merch and an IM2 show car at St. Pete, Barber, Long Beach, Kansas and Indy. The film's stars should have been on hand Long Beach and Indy as part of the media junket and in IM2 wrapped cars for the Celebrty race, specials filmed of Robert Downy Jr., Gwenneth Platrow, Don Cheedle in the two-seaters, and most importantly there should be a red and gold Iron Man car at Long Beach and Indy. Also it would have been cool to have a black and white "War Machine" car and play up a rivalry between the two.

Studios like Marvel and distributors like Paramount spend millions in promoting a film like Iron Man, and it would have made sense to spend $500,000 to get a car at Long Beach and Indy, less if you went to a team like Penske which has two teams without primary sponsors, or Ryan Hunter Reay at Andretti, and even less if they worked out a deal with Target, one of their existing partners, for one of the Ganassi cars. But, they could have had Graham Rahal in a car at Long Beach and Indy with either AA, NHL or possibly a third Ganassi Car as well.

Promotional events like that build credibility with other advertisers, and appearances in popular culture increase credibility with the public. Iron Man 2 offered a chance to showcase the sport, one that was passed up, and likely will not come again for a long time. Hopefully now the IRL will be in a position to take advantage if Transformers 3, Cars 2, or another franchise comes knocking.

[Lousada]

From what one of my partner's movie connected friends said the makers of Iron Man approached the League, but either couldn't or wouldn't work out a deal. He said the ICS asked NASCAR money for their co-operation and Marvel decided it would be cheaper and easier to proceed without them since the league didn't really offer anything in way of cross promotion.
If that is true it is a huge error. I almost say they should be paying filmstudios for this, not expect to get paid.



Promotional events like that build credibility with other advertisers, and appearances in popular culture increase credibility with the public. Iron Man 2 offered a chance to showcase the sport, one that was passed up, and likely will not come again for a long time. Hopefully now the IRL will be in a position to take advantage if Transformers 3, Cars 2, or another franchise comes knocking.

Exactly :\

[NickFalzone]

If true then that would be a huge mistake on the IRL's part. Iron Man goes after exactly the target demo that the league is looking to attract. Even if it cost the league $1-2 mill to get involved with this movie, it would have been well worth the effort. I've seen early reviews of the film and they say this "Grand Prix" section of it is a significant part of the story. This does sound like a Tony George (or Hulman-George) error and something that I think Bernard would not have allowed to slip through their fingers. The total lack of mention on Indycar.com lately of Iron Man 2 despite the obvious connection said to me that something went wrong there. Pretty disappointing when you hear about the league missing out on things like this, on what will probably be one of the top-5 biggest films of the year.

[EagleEye]

I have a few friends who have scene the new Iron Man movie at a showing out in LA, and from what they say the ICS really missed the boat with this one.

There is a big set-piece battle involving a "Grand Prix" race in America, that pretty clearly is supposed to be Long Beach about 20 minutes into the film. It's been in all the trailers and is apparently a big moment in the movie.

From what one of my partner's movie connected friends said the makers of Iron Man approached the League, but either couldn't or wouldn't work out a deal. He said the ICS asked NASCAR money for their co-operation and Marvel decided it would be cheaper and easier to proceed without them since the league didn't really offer anything in way of cross promotion.

I'm pretty sure we can mark this up to a Tony George error, and the league's lack of a name sponsor and the stability that went with it. If the IRL were smart back then they would let the film shoot at Long Beach and/or Toronto (Union rules make it far cheaper to shoot in Canada) and offered up every image and right to the producers for free, in exchange for some advertising, and a two-race sponsorship of a team.

It's prohibitively expensive to shoot on the streets of L.A. because of local politics and unions, but because of the permitting involved with Long Beach the IM2 guys could have shot on that location under the IRL's filming rights and saved a money and effort. Instead they filmed at the Monaco GP because of tax and union rules.

The IRL should have had a merch trailer wrapped in Iron Man 2 colors selling film merch and an IM2 show car at St. Pete, Barber, Long Beach, Kansas and Indy. The film's stars should have been on hand Long Beach and Indy as part of the media junket and in IM2 wrapped cars for the Celebrty race, specials filmed of Robert Downy Jr., Gwenneth Platrow, Don Cheedle in the two-seaters, and most importantly there should be a red and gold Iron Man car at Long Beach and Indy. Also it would have been cool to have a black and white "War Machine" car and play up a rivalry between the two.

Studios like Marvel and distributors like Paramount spend millions in promoting a film like Iron Man, and it would have made sense to spend $500,000 to get a car at Long Beach and Indy, less if you went to a team like Penske which has two teams without primary sponsors, or Ryan Hunter Reay at Andretti, and even less if they worked out a deal with Target, one of their existing partners, for one of the Ganassi cars. But, they could have had Graham Rahal in a car at Long Beach and Indy with either AA, NHL or possibly a third Ganassi Car as well.

Promotional events like that build credibility with other advertisers, and appearances in popular culture increase credibility with the public. Iron Man 2 offered a chance to showcase the sport, one that was passed up, and likely will not come again for a long time. Hopefully now the IRL will be in a position to take advantage if Transformers 3, Cars 2, or another franchise comes knocking.

Great, great post. Cross promotion here would have added value to the series by promoting the teams, and sponsors. Considering the success of the first Iron Man, there is a built in fan base for the sequal. Considering what companies PAY for brand placement, the league should have bent over backward to make this happen.

Reason number 1001 why the previous management team, just did not get it. These type of promotional opps only come around once in a long while, and they should have jumped at the chance.

As is, opportunity lost.

[SoCalPVguy]

Or- on the other hand.... It could be the next "Driven" and the league sure doesn't NEED that !!! LOL

[NickFalzone]

Or- on the other hand.... It could be the next "Driven" and the league sure doesn't NEED that !!! LOL

Considering the current tv ratings, even a Driven would be helpful promo for the series. And Iron Man 1 was I believe the biggest or 2nd biggest film the year it came out. The sequel will do similar box office, no chance it bombs with all the marketing that goes into a big film like that. Driven was actually relatively low-budget by comparison.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Iron man isn't about the racing, so there was no danger of this being another "Driven". Having Robert Downey's character driving an IRL car (film it in Toronto or Edmonton if you like for the cheaper union rates) would have made GREAT sense. Alas, we know who was still running the show last year...and we know how he just didn't get it. Enough said...

[Civic]

From the trailer it looked like Monaco to me.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810026429/trailer
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/

[downtowndeco]

A second hand rumor with none of the details known and suddenly it's all TG's fault again.

Things have been looking up the last 12 months. Some say it's because TG is gone. I'd say it's because he laid the building blocks and it's finally started to come together.

[MDS]

A second hand rumor with none of the details known and suddenly it's all TG's fault again.

Things have been looking up the last 12 months. Some say it's because TG is gone. I'd say it's because he laid the building blocks and it's finally started to come together.

Maybe its unfair to blame TG for missing out on Iron Man 2, but one of two things happened. Either Marvel Studios didn't consider the IRL and went their own way without contacting the league, or they contacted the league and couldn't work out a deal. Neither option speaks well of the IRL management. The League either had a profile that was too small (Largely thanks to Tony George) or something kept the deal from happening (Probably Tony George, or a legitimate conflict between Audi and Honda)

There is more than a little bleed over between the Hollywood scene and the Long Beach Grand Prix crowd. I have a difficult time believing that the producers didn't make an attempt to contact the league, and from what my partner hears, and he works with distribution companies for a living, they did.

[Mark in Oshawa]

A second hand rumor with none of the details known and suddenly it's all TG's fault again.

Things have been looking up the last 12 months. Some say it's because TG is gone. I'd say it's because he laid the building blocks and it's finally started to come together.

And the tooth fairy comes to my house every night to see if I have a present for her.

I agree we have no smoking gun on this but this movie was shot LAST year and the IRL was run by Tony. If they didn't contact him, It is because he has driven this thing into the ditch they had doubts about tying their horse to this wagon, or they did contact the IRL and they dropped the ball. MDS is telling you what is likely the truth. Contact was made and the ball was dropped.

Most of what is happening now is because of the merger (proof positive that making two series was suicide, but Tony did it anyhow) and the fact they are being led towards reversing many of the past mistakes. The 500 will likely be back to the traditional start time, and the new management knows they have to get back to network TV more and more. Two things that Tony just seemed to be out on planet 9 on.

No...Tony didn't lay any foundation...he took out large sections of the structure in 1995 by doing what he did..and the house almost fell down...

[garyshell]

A second hand rumor with none of the details known and suddenly it's all TG's fault again.

Things have been looking up the last 12 months. Some say it's because TG is gone. I'd say it's because he laid the building blocks and it's finally started to come together.


This is how "king George" laid those building block:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqeepJ527Dk

Gary

[SarahFan]

Things have been looking up the last 12 months. Some say it's because TG is gone. I'd say it's because he laid the building blocks and it's finally started to come together.

thats funny

your always good for a chuckle chuckles

[anthonyvop]

I will take that rumor with a huge grain of salt.

Product placement is a huge in the Movie biz. Can you imagine the legal hassles of reconciling the ICS sponsors with IM2's? The Target car alone would take weeks of negotiations.
Then you would have to get the teams to agree to participate. What about drivers? Crew?
Would you ship your team across the country and to run a car just to be an "extra" in a movie?....Possibly without your sponsor?
Also the LB theory is B.S. The ICS can run at L.B. for 3 days....That is it. There is no way the IM2 Production team could have crammed it into such a short time period.

[ykiki]

Also the LB theory is B.S. The ICS can run at L.B. for 3 days....That is it. There is no way the IM2 Production team could have crammed it into such a short time period.

The previews make it look like Monaco. How many days are the streets of Monte Carlo shut down? Just wondering.

[MDS]

Actually they had less time to film in Monaco than they would have had at Long Beach. In Monaco the streets are shut down on Thursday for practice, open again on Thursday night, all day Friday and then closed for the course again Saturday, so all they had is before practice on Thursday, a few hours on Saturday, and then the morning on Sunday, when most of the scenes were filmed.

At Long Beach Shoreline drive closes on Wednesday morning and doesn't reopen until after rush hour on Monday, which would give them five days to film, but they could have much of the front stretch and the section going into the hairpin and turn 1. I know a good bit of course construction is done during that time, but its nothing that couldn't be worked around.

So yeah, actually the IRL is in Long Beach for five days, not three, so they would have had more time than Monaco.

As far as transportation costs, shooting at a live event would cut costs to the teams significantly. Basically what would have happened is a few low-speed passes with a backup car between practice sessions and before the race and the cost to the teams would have been minimal because they would have been on site already. If you had sponsorship conflicts with Target (although they are a partner with Marvel Productions), unfortunately there were enough cars without sponsorship or clear conflicts at the 2009 LBGP, like KV, Conquest, Doornbos' NHL car, Rafa's sponsor, Air Force, was a partner in the film, National Guard wouldn't have been a conflict... there was enough cars their the film makers could have made it look like a full field even if sponsor conflicts would have knocked out Penseke, Ganassi, Andretti, Graham Rahal and DR&R.


I've been at several NASCAR events where they've done this filming, they used to do a lot at Daytona between the Twin 125s when I was a kid. It's easy and relatively in-expensive if done during a race weekend.

[anthonyvop]

Ok Lets say they wanted to use IndyCars during the LBGP. The teams are there to race. Do you think they would be happy to run their cars for a movie when they could be prepping for the race?

It wasn't ever gonna happen.

[MDS]

Anthony, NASCAR teams do it, yeah they are better funded, but they still do it. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort to run low speed passes for a camera, and there is plenty of time in the LBGP schedule to allow them to do it.

[Chamoo]

Ok Lets say they wanted to use IndyCars during the LBGP. The teams are there to race. Do you think they would be happy to run their cars for a movie when they could be prepping for the race?

It wasn't ever gonna happen.

I'm sure their sponsors would had been quite pleased that they took the time to get them some major air time that would be seen by millions more people than all the IICS races this season.

[anthonyvop]

Anthony, NASCAR teams do it, yeah they are better funded, but they still do it. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort to run low speed passes for a camera, and there is plenty of time in the LBGP schedule to allow them to do it.


yea, NASCAR teams do it......

But.....

They do it with Spare cars, Something few IRL teams have, and they don't do it over a race weekend.

Now a few passes, as you say, is one thing, but it took up more time to film those scenes than a few passes.

[beachgirl]

This whole thread just stinks - just another gratuitous shot at Tony George, with no evidence that the scenario ever, ever happened in any way, shape or form. All that's there is "one of my partner's movie-connected friends said..". Right. And from that, almost everyone is just jumping on the stomp-all-over-Tony-George bandwagon, with NO JUSTIFICATION whatsoever.

Anyone ever play the kid's game "gossip" when you were little? This is just a big-boy's version. And just as stupid.

Grow up. The split happened. It damaged racing hugely. The split is over. People are working hard to salvage the kind of racing we all love. That's reality.

Go ahead and continue to live in the past. Spend more time pounding on Tony George. I prefer to look forward.

[SarahFan]

screw that BG...

occasionally we need to kick him while he's down just so we dont forget all the damage he did....

those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it.... or something like that right

*building blocks my backside

[ykiki]

This whole thread just stinks - just another gratuitous shot at Tony George, with no evidence that the scenario ever, ever happened in any way, shape or form. All that's there is "one of my partner's movie-connected friends said..". Right. And from that, almost everyone is just jumping on the stomp-all-over-Tony-George bandwagon, with NO JUSTIFICATION whatsoever.

Anyone ever play the kid's game "gossip" when you were little? This is just a big-boy's version. And just as stupid.

Grow up. The split happened. It damaged racing hugely. The split is over. People are working hard to salvage the kind of racing we all love. That's reality.

Go ahead and continue to live in the past. Spend more time pounding on Tony George. I prefer to look forward.

DANG! :eek:

Calm down...some of us are just interested in the logistics of shooting a movie at a race site.

[SarahFan]

I'd say it's because he laid the building blocks .

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100429/SPORTS15/4290388/1052/SPORTS01?source=nletter-sports

and it appears randy doesnt think so either

[Mark in Oshawa]

yea, NASCAR teams do it......

But.....

They do it with Spare cars, Something few IRL teams have, and they don't do it over a race weekend.

Now a few passes, as you say, is one thing, but it took up more time to film those scenes than a few passes.

You think if Tony George said to the team owners "can you make some low speed passes for the cameras for about 10 laps so we can get product placement in this blockbuster film"....you SERIOUSLY think they would say no? Seriously...the IRL is in a tough place, and all these team owners know instinctively they need product recognition and they need the publicity. They would be out there with bells on man...

[Mark in Oshawa]

This whole thread just stinks - just another gratuitous shot at Tony George, with no evidence that the scenario ever, ever happened in any way, shape or form. All that's there is "one of my partner's movie-connected friends said..". Right. And from that, almost everyone is just jumping on the stomp-all-over-Tony-George bandwagon, with NO JUSTIFICATION whatsoever.

Anyone ever play the kid's game "gossip" when you were little? This is just a big-boy's version. And just as stupid.

Grow up. The split happened. It damaged racing hugely. The split is over. People are working hard to salvage the kind of racing we all love. That's reality.

Go ahead and continue to live in the past. Spend more time pounding on Tony George. I prefer to look forward.

First off...the reason the "rumor" works so well is because we all can believe Tony would turn his nose up at the chance. See, this rumor goes no where if not for the reality of some of thing's Tony did in the past. We have no smoking gun, I give you that....but believe me, if Tony did such a great job with the IRL, we don't have thread after thread talking about how there are not enough sponsors, how there are for pay drivers, how there are issues with attendance.

The reality is, the scenario is VERY plausable based on his past and his lack of acumen for what the racing public wanted. The proof is in the results, and when we see a Hollywood blockbuster flying their crews and stars to Monaco to film a racing scene they can do in their own back yard, it says to me that likely someone dropped the ball. Under Tony, a lot of balls were not even run down and thrown to the cutoff man....

[anthonyvop]

You think if Tony George said to the team owners "can you make some low speed passes for the cameras for about 10 laps so we can get product placement in this blockbuster film"....you SERIOUSLY think they would say no? Seriously...the IRL is in a tough place, and all these team owners know instinctively they need product recognition and they need the publicity. They would be out there with bells on man...

MArk,

You are missing the point. Shooting that scene required much more than a few "Low speed passes". It probably took days.

[Mark in Oshawa]

MArk,

You are missing the point. Shooting that scene required much more than a few "Low speed passes". It probably took days.

Again Tony..where would that filming be cheaper? You telling me that they couldn't pay for some time by the crews for this deal in LB? Monaco is an expensive place...and they paid someone else to supply race cars....so really...explain to me WHY this couldn't have worked with the IRL if they were approached? The IRL of TG would have to be the dopiest people going to not want to get something going along these lines.

Believe me...if the production company was thinking...a deal could have been made with the right people. The question is, was the IRL approached? If not..why not? And maybe one might ponder how much the IRL should be looking for opportunities such as this?

[Chev_350]

I have a few friends who have scene the new Iron Man movie at a showing out in LA, and from what they say the ICS really missed the boat with this one.

There is a big set-piece battle involving a "Grand Prix" race in America, that pretty clearly is supposed to be Long Beach about 20 minutes into the film. It's been in all the trailers and is apparently a big moment in the movie.

Okay forgive me, I just read this post and skipped to the end,

It quite clearly is Monaco....nothing is done to hide this. Why would they film in a place like Monaco to pretent it is in America.

I dont know if it is wishful thinking everyone saying that the producers of the movie went to the IRL and they turned them down.

Tony Stark is a Billionare Playboy.....how many of them do you see floating around Long Beach compared to Monaco.....Monaco just worked for the movie.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

MArk,

You are missing the point. Shooting that scene required much more than a few "Low speed passes". It probably took days.

F1 was okay with it. CART was okay with it when they shot Super Speedway and Driven. But it doesn't matter whether the League management screwed this up or the teams turned it down citing your arguments. Either way, the IRL turned out to be small time once again.

[beachbum]

expensive place...and they paid someone else to supply race cars....so really...explain to me WHY this couldn't have worked with the IRL if they were approached? Honda. Since a primary sponsor for Ironman is Audi..... Even with fake race cars, that represents a "slight" marketing conflict if the IRL is even mentioned.

The examples used to show how other series "participated" in movies failed to mention that in almost all cases, the cars used were phonies, so the only question was getting permission to run a few old / fake race cars on a race weekend and how much a series was willing to disrupt normal race operation. We don't know the filming schedule either or the director's "vision", so perhaps the intent was always Monaco or a fake Monaco as a backdrop. LB is a great event, but it ain't Monaco.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Honda. Since a primary sponsor for Ironman is Audi..... Even with fake race cars, that represents a "slight" marketing conflict if the IRL is even mentioned.

The examples used to show how other series "participated" in movies failed to mention that in almost all cases, the cars used were phonies, so the only question was getting permission to run a few old / fake race cars on a race weekend and how much a series was willing to disrupt normal race operation. We don't know the filming schedule either or the director's "vision", so perhaps the intent was always Monaco or a fake Monaco as a backdrop. LB is a great event, but it ain't Monaco.

Yes..I have seen the Audi commericials with the movie tie in. THAT would explain much.....oh well..that pretty much puts a stop to things right there...

[e2mtt]

...

No...Tony didn't lay any foundation...he took out large sections of the structure in 1995 by doing what he did..and the house almost fell down...

Now that is a great quote!

[Mark in Oshawa]

Now that is a great quote!

Even a blind squirrel will find a few nuts....

[MDS]

In fairness it turns out there may have been more to the rumor than what was originally reported. One of the partner's movie connected friends is in tow this weekend and he gave a little more info about the rumor. What he says is that Marvel was looking at using either Monaco or Long Beach, and as it turns out Monaco was probably their first choice, and Long Beach/Toronto was probably their backup plan, but they were still unable to come to terms with Tony George

Long Beach or Toronto offered a few advantages, such as a longer shooting window and possibly lower production offices, but they were unable to work a deal because of finances, and it wasn't a cost on the ground thing. Apparently Monaco was extremely accommodating while the IRL was not.

He said Toronto was probably the favorite or Long Beach because of the lax union rules and it worked better for the movie, Long Beach is close to Malibu, Tony Stark's home in the movies.

Hollywood is a small town and there's a good amount of movie people who nag out at the LBGP. He said someone asked why Iron Man wasn't filming there, and he said he was told, "That pissant league shot themselves in the foot."

[Mark in Oshawa]

In fairness it turns out there may have been more to the rumor than what was originally reported. One of the partner's movie connected friends is in tow this weekend and he gave a little more info about the rumor. What he says is that Marvel was looking at using either Monaco or Long Beach, and as it turns out Monaco was probably their first choice, and Long Beach/Toronto was probably their backup plan, but they were still unable to come to terms with Tony George

Long Beach or Toronto offered a few advantages, such as a longer shooting window and possibly lower production offices, but they were unable to work a deal because of finances, and it wasn't a cost on the ground thing. Apparently Monaco was extremely accommodating while the IRL was not.

He said Toronto was probably the favorite or Long Beach because of the lax union rules and it worked better for the movie, Long Beach is close to Malibu, Tony Stark's home in the movies.

Hollywood is a small town and there's a good amount of movie people who nag out at the LBGP. He said someone asked why Iron Man wasn't filming there, and he said he was told, "That pissant league shot themselves in the foot."

Who really knows? The fact many people THINK Tony botched it says more about Tony's reputation with the hard core race fan than it does anything else.

[garyshell]

A friend of mine stopped me to tell me of an article in the Wall Street Journal on Friday with info about the filming of the racing scene in Iron Man. Apparently from what he said, it was not filmed in Monaco at all. It was done with green screen, because Bernie was too much of a pain in the ...

I have not been able to find it as the WSJ site is none to friendly for searching. I'll see if he still has the paper come Monday.

Gary

[Mark in Oshawa]

Green screen? God that can look cheesy....but I know in most movies they do some neat stuff...

Still is easier in many ways to shoot it with real cars.. but I think in the earlier posts it was pointed out the Audi tie in with the movie, and that would maybe conflict with the Honda badges on the cars....

No one is 100% sure except the producers of the movie, and they haven't said anything about approaching the IRL or not....

So while us Tony Bashers got about 3 pages of free licks in on his "legacy"...in the end, we really don't know do we?

[MDS]

Here's an article that explains how it happened.

http://jerrygarrett.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/how-iron-man-2s-wild-special-effects-were-filmed/

They still did some location filming in Monaco, but they still had to pay the Monaco Grand Prix and several other organizations, notably the Automobile Club of Monaco for the rights to use their likenesses in a film.

Like I said, I'm not certain how far this was explored, but if I had been running IRL marketing I would have been lobbying pretty hard to get one of ICS races into the film, and that's not what the IRL did

[Jag_Warrior]

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100429/SPORTS15/4290388/1052/SPORTS01?source=nletter-sports

and it appears randy doesnt think so either

Good link. Thanks for posting that. Ya know, the more I hear from this guy, the more I like him. He really seems to get it:


"Nine more years on the contract," Bernard said, sounding less than thrilled.

"Network TV is where it's at," he said. "We need network TV."

Yep, pretty much what most of us said when this turkey was announced.


Once Bernard is able to get the series the exposure it needs despite the Versus mistake, he wants to provide a product that keeps people coming back. That means making fans emotionally invested in the drivers and their stories.

"Look, I don't care about the Olympics, but I'll end up sitting down and watching a feature on an athlete I could care less about, and end up having to come back the next night to see him go for the gold," Bernard said. "Those kinds of stories get you invested. A great producer can do that."


Just a few years ago, the Kentucky Derby (and all the Triple Crown races) had ratings problems. And then they began working harder to provide "human interest" stories (with horses, no less). I'm not really into horse racing, but I really got into the story behind Smarty Jones. And then there was Barbaro, who broke his leg a few years ago. It seemed like the whole world followed that sad story. So roughly ten years ago, the Derby and the Indy 500 had similar ratings. Now the Derby's ratings are 100%+ higher than Indy's (2010 being the highest for the Derby since 1992).

So I agree with Bernard's thinking. If one can successfully personify a horse, and make people follow the saga, it seems that one could personify... well, a person! Maybe if Danica broke her leg and Jack Arute announced that she might have to be put down, more people would watch. Maybe show a shot of Michael Andretti walking toward Danica's motorhome with a shotgun in his hand. Then the camera would cut away (ending with that drum sound from Lost) and a caption: "Will Danica survive? Find out on the next episode of IRL Race Day." :eek:



*No under talented, overhyped race car drivers were harmed during the production of this post.*