Nirvanna: the Band: the Movie?!

[Ferris]

A total throwaway remark from Matt while promoting his film BlackBerry (which sounds great) around 21-22 minutes in

Basically the whole Hollywood filmmaker thing is a scheme partially motivated by a desire to get more industry clout to release season 3 and make more NtBtS.

I mean not entirely, but to some extent, which is great.

[Ron Superior]

God, Matt's so fucking cool. Thanks for posting this. Very exciting about the NTBTS news. It's really heartening that he's using this interest to get NTBTS back on track.

Really looking forward to seeing this film. I read in another interview that he's working on another film, actually about Vice, specifically one of the Canadian writers for Vice running a massive drugs ring.

[Ferris]

BlackBerry is the first film in a long time I'm willing to go pretty massively out of my way to see.

He's sort of forcing his vision and style into the mainstream. Jay Bird helped with the music so it's a NtBtS film in production even if not in subject.

[Ron Superior]

Did you see the news somewhere too that they're working on doing Matt and Bird Break Loose as a cartoon for adults? I really enjoyed the 3 EPs they did.

[Led Souptin]

Love to hear this!

What I don't get though is that season three is apparently finished and they're just waiting for somewhere to release it or presumably a big tele company to distribute it. Its been years!!! Wasn't the last ep of season 2 2018 or something? Pop it on a crowdfunder you mad bastard

I do get that they probably feel like that in this point in their career with the cult following that ntbts has, they shouldn't have to return to self releasing but daaaaammmn son how long can you sit on something?

Great news that it's going to come out in "our lifetime" though. And very much looking forward to blackberry

[The Mollusk]

OMFG this has made me so happy today! God I love this bloke so much.

[Ron Superior]

Love to hear this!

What I don't get though is that season three is apparently finished and they're just waiting for somewhere to release it or presumably a big tele company to distribute it. Its been years!!! Wasn't the last ep of season 2 2018 or something? Pop it on a crowdfunder you mad bastard

I do get that they probably feel like that in this point in their career with the cult following that ntbts has, they shouldn't have to return to self releasing but daaaaammmn son how long can you sit on something?

Great news that it's going to come out in "our lifetime" though. And very much looking forward to blackberry

I believe at least some of this has to do with what Matt talks about a lot, which is the legal involvement in the show, mainly to do with their reliance on Fair Use policy. I remember him saying the show was incredibly cheap to make so they could use a lot of the budget on Vice's extensive legal team. I guess they don't want to risk releasing it themselves and end up with insane legal bills in the event of a claim. Likewise, this whole thing might be off-putting for many potential new channels.

[Ferris]

Yeah, it's a really tough show to pitch to networks who are pretty conservative by their nature.

"Want to release this cult show for us? Nobody really watched it at the time and it might cause some massive legal headaches. I mean it won't but it might. No? Fair enough."

If you're a TV exec and commission something new and interesting and good that no one watches: it gets canceled and you get fired. Commission a "safe" sitcom that your advertisers like but is awful: you get a nice bonus. Even if nobody watches the "safe" sitcom (because it's bad) and it gets canceled, you're in the clear as long as you can demonstrate you were doing something "safe".

It's why you can watch as much Young Sheldon as you like, but you can't see season 3 of NtBtS (which is literally complete) because no one in a suit wants to take the career risk. That calculation will change as Matt becomes a bigger name (and BlackBerry will help a lot) but only because an exec can make the argument that it's a safe move ("he's a hollywood director") rather than any act of bravery on their part.

[Ferris]

My understanding if they self released - it would just take one or two legal actions from a large copyright holder to negate any profit from the show. Even if the lawsuit was brief/frivolous and their fair use defense was completely watertight, lawyers and lawsuits aren't cheap and who wants the hassle of that?

Also they don't merchandise so if the self-release/stream profits all go into defending a stupid lawsuit, then the whole project has been (financially) a waste of time. I assume it's a ton of work to write/shoot/perform/edit the show and they shouldn't have to work for free, especially if there's still a decent chance of an actual network picking it up.

[Twilkes]

I don't know the show - what footage/legalities are they risking?

[Led Souptin]

okay i hadn't thought of all of the legal implications. does make sense.

I don't know the show - what footage/legalities are they risking?

clips and music from tv shows / films mainly. lots of pop culture stuff that serves as a jumping off point for plots or certain jokes

[Twilkes]

okay i hadn't thought of all of the legal implications. does make sense.

clips and music from tv shows / films mainly. lots of pop culture stuff that serves as a jumping off point for plots or certain jokes

Ah okay, can see that. People tend to cite 'Fair Use' but that's really for journalism/critique, not as part of a separate creative endeavour, especially as this looks like scripted fiction from the clips I saw online. Like sampling in music, I guess companies could insist they pay to use their clips, which would change the economics of the whole thing.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

The cost of litigation is a major factor in the US in the legal system, and is used at great length to force people who can't afford going to court and pay a legal team for a few years to still pony up some money.

An infamous example that involves copyright and fair use is the 8-bit version of "Kind of Blue" that Andy Baio, a tech entrepreneur and blogger had put together 15 years ago. He wasn't sued by Sony Music or the estates of Miles Davis or Bill Evans (he had a proper license for the rights to the music) but by the photographer of the cover, which was shown in a pixellated rendition on the site for the music. The original photographer had extremely deep pockets, due to buying for a pittance the historical building where he lived in Manhattan before the costs of real estate soared there, and he sued Baio for $105,000. Baio preferred to settle out of court for $35,000, even if a court would have most likely regarded it as fair use.

https://www.techdirt.com/2011/06/24/kind-blue-using-copyright-to-make-hobby-artist-pay-up/

So, it would just take a couple of random lawsuits, even frivolous, against Matt Johnson, to put him in a world of pain if he can't rely on a corporate partner. And a third season of NtBtS, written and shot in a guerrilla style before the legal service of a major corporation approved of everything, isn't exactly something that many distributors want to commit on their own. But if it's part of some package with a film that offers them some commercial potential, they may want to take the risk. Actually, the connections, on their own, may be enough to dissuade most of the copyright owners to try something against somebody who could get some serious legal assistance.

[boinks]

Love this news, thank you!

[Ferris]

Interesting video on the making of the ROM heist

[The Mollusk]

LETS FUCKIN GOOOOOO

[PlanktonSideburns]

Making a legally unpublishable tv show, then having to make a film to get it published is such a  ntbts idea

[privatefriend]

Nothing to add other than I would love to see this movie.

[weaseldust]

WHAT

YES

[boinks]

YES, go Matt go!

[QDRPHNC]

Interesting video on the making of the ROM heist

That's fucking unreal how they did that.

Edit: And wow, that cut from Bay to Lower Bay station. Bloody hell.

[Ferris]

Yeah part of me doesn't want to know how the show works, but the answer (here, anyway) was as impressive as the show.

[Ja'moke]

Apparently this is going to be filming in Toronto (and Italy) in June. And I'm going to be in Toronto in June! I hope I manage to catch Matt and Jay out and about.

[QDRPHNC]

Increase your chances by loitering around the Rivoli.

[Ferris]

Take the 501 east to parliament and look at my old apartment (from a distance).

[QDRPHNC]

Thanks to this thread, started a rewatch with the boy and got curious about where their house is exactly:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/107-Shaw-St-Toronto-ON-M6J-2W4/2062424073_zpid/

Looks like it might be a tattoo place these days.

Tattoo place is gone, just got leased for $4800/month, which doesn't sound too bad a for house that size.

[Ferris]

It's quite weird to see a corner of queen street I know very well (it's just round the corner from Bellwoods!) and think that a show was filmed just right there.

[weaseldust]

https://www.reddit.com/r/nirvannatheband/comments/138l8ic/matt_tonight_in_nyc_on_ntbtm_get_hyped/

1:15

[Ron Superior]

Ahh, my boys, my boys.

No exciting news or anything unfortunately, but a nice little new vid from them for MEGA64

[madhair60]

this bodes well for more coming

several big laughs in this