Monday, February 10, 2020

The Silver-Tongued Devils of Tinsel Town

I won’t say much about the Oscars as I didn’t watch them again this year. All I know of the baboons and baboonettes (not racist as I understand the Academy once again snubbed POC) speechifying is what I read in the fake news.

Image: The 92nd Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on Sun., Feb. 9, 2020.

But if the “acceptance” speeches were especially good this year - i.e. anti-Trump, pro-progressive causes - you can thank Obama’s former homeboys, head speechwriter Jon Favreau and Tommy (“Dude, that was like two years ago...”) Vietor. They’ve followed the natural career progression from D.C. policy wonk and propagandist to Hollywood PR wonker and propagandist.

Image result for tommy vietor jon favreauBarack Obama’s former head speech writer, Jon Favreau, with fellow former staffer Tommy Vietor speak to David Gregory

Yeah, these two cool, classy dudes:
Image result for tommy vietor jon favreau hillary clinton cutoutJon and Tommy, feeling up a cardboard cutout of then Secretary of State Clinton. No wonder she lost.

Fenway Strategies is a speechwriting and communications firm founded by former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor. Although the firm’s most obvious connection is to the political arena, helping speakers prep TED talks or United Nations addresses, Fenway has branched out into Hollywood. And over the last few years the firm has helped ghostwrite awards acceptance speeches for a number of A-list clients; you definitely know them but their identities are protected by non-disclosure agreements…

“Writing for actors is a speechwriter’s dream come true,” says Koppelman. “Because unlike politicians, who are not professionals at memorizing lines or delivering them in compelling and charismatic ways, actors actually know how to deliver the lines.” (Who’s he kidding?) - New York Vulture 

If you’ve ever had any reason to doubt the intelligence of Hollywood actors, and I know you haven’t, the fact that without a script they can’t even write their own acceptance speech should seal the deal. But I have to hand it to the Obamabots who found themselves out of a job “unexpectedly” in 2017: taking their awesome skills as fantabulists to Hollywood and reinventing themselves as spokesmen for the rich and famous was brilliant. I think those clever devils deserve an Oscar for monetizing a skillset that, outside of politics, is useful only in Tinsel Town.