Back to IndieWire

Venture Capitalist Who Suggested There Should Be Texting in Movie Theaters Writes “Another 1000 Words Proving [He’s] an Asshole”

Venture Capitalist Who Suggested There Should Be Texting in Movie Theaters Writes "Another 1000 Words Proving [He's] an Asshole"

Aug 8, 2013 11:12 am

Or so that’s what Hunter Walk, of the Silicon Valley venture firm Homebrew and formerly of Google and YouTube, thinks we might say about his screed that defended his brief suggestion that people who don’t go to movies because they want to be able to text during them should be able to have their own screenings.

The original post on August 3 started, “In my 20s I went to a lot of movies. Now, not so much. Over the past two years becoming a parent has been the main cause but really my lack of interest in the theater experience started way before that. Some people dislike going to the movies because of price or crowds, but for me it was more of a lifestyle decision. Increasingly I wanted my media experiences plugged in and with the ability to multitask.”  He goes on to list a number of things he might want to do — visit IMDb, chat with others, or do work — during a film like “Superman” or “Pacific Rim.”

But before you get all up in arms, he doesn’t want to ruin your experience.  “Instead of driving people like me away from the theater, why not just segregate us into environments which meet our needs.”

Walker should know that his idea is not new.  The Grand Poobah of the anti-texting-in-theaters set, the Alamo Drafthouse’s Tim League, wrote a long post discrediting people like Walk in 2012.  Midnight screenings at Regal of the so-bad-it’s-good “Sharknado” encourage tweeting, making it a real-life Mystery Science Theater 3000.

People online already gave Walk a hard time for his proposal.  In an August 5 post defending himself, called “You Literally Represent Everything Wrong with the World,” he groups the backlash into three categories:

“This shouldn’t exist, you’ll ruin my movie experience.”  

“You are disrespectful to the movie industry.”  

“You literally represent everything wrong with the world.”

After saying he’s being misunderstood (thinking like this is just what venture capitalists do!), he defends the first attack by reiterating that he wants to segregate movie audiences into people addicted to their Twitter feed and, well, people who can go two hours without a tweet.

The second and third attacks, though, he ends up defending his “community,” Silicon Valley folks glued to their phone, and takes down Hollywood.
While he might be forced to reconsider now, Walk’s impulse that he could disrupt the movie industry comes from the fact that Hollywood’s in trouble.  But what he points out in his defense is that as many people are becoming more drawn to working, socializing, and playing on their mobile phones, Hollywood is using enhanced technology to make vapid films that are all spectacle.  Spectacle, in fact, that isn’t very imaginative.  
Walk’s post begs the question:  Will Hollywood studios seek for solutions to problems that aren’t there — to disrupt the moviegoing experience with the ability to text during screenings or any number of other gimmicks — or will it just concentrate on making better content.  Just as Hollywood is having a terrible summer, Woody Allen’s having his best summer ever.  Films like “Mud,” “Spring Breakers” and other smaller titles have been huge break out hits.
Maybe having film screenings with enhanced wifi and the no-cell-phones ban lifted would be good for this guy and his friends, but don’t think that’s the solution, Hollywood.  The fact that ticket purchases haven’t absolutely plummeted proves that there’s still an audience out there eager for good storytelling; the fact that the Hollywood fare is tanking also proves that there’s still an audience out there eager for good storytelling.
Walk’s not giving up, though.  Confident that he’s onto something, that he’s (can I say it one more time?) disrupt the moviegoing experience, he tweeted on August 6, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you all watch Ghostbusters together w WiFi.”
After which League offered to debate or spar, to which Walk said he’d rather just meet up, perhaps in San Francisco if League’s in town for the Alamo launch there.

Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.

This Article is related to: Features and tagged ,


Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox

Newswire

ad