Last week we highlighted one commercial shark diving companies stance on a proposed 2009 Shark Week shoot at their site in Fiji.The stance against this shoot was admirable and in line with a global shark diving industry that is just now realizing it's impact on the perception of sharks beyond educating divers in the water.
The shows working title is "Deadly Waters".
Shark programming is a double edged sword, it has the capacity to do the most good by educating people to the reality of sharks, it can also continue the myths of sharks as nothing more than frenzied killers or worse. To be fair there has been some excellent shark programming over the years at Discovery but the overall recent trend has been more towards shark porn than actual shark programming. It's a slide many within our industry have been increasingly vocal about and for good reason.
The animals often portrayed on Shark Week are not the animals we encounter on a regular basis in the commercial world.
For shark programming to work industry members must be engaged to create programming that is balanced. You can have "teeth and conservation" in the same show while working with most budget constraints. For the most part non shark people produce the shark programming you see, using our industry as guides to the premier sites for their programming decisions.
Our industry has for too long "enabled" the lack of vision with productions. As a shark diving industry member you have a say in how shark productions are conducted in your waters. To highlight how potentially damaging these productions have become we are posting the proposed production shoot for "Deadly Waters". This 2009 Shark Week shoot is based on an ongoing series of "experiments" and shot at multiple well known shark locations worldwide.
If we as an industry are going to ask Discovery to change it's programming for the betterment of sharks, we have to start by "locking the gate" to this brand of proposed shark filming when it comes knocking on our door.
Fiji is now leading the industry by example.
Editors Note: We have avoided mentioning the production company by name and stripped out the names of those involved. Any industry re-posts of this blog please do the same. Click image for full size to read:
Part Three: Back from the abyss, a "return" to shark programming for Discovery.
8 comments:
Wow perhaps the most anti shark shoot I have ever seen.
Frenzy 1-2-3-4. What's the point of getting someone bitten by a Bullshark?
From the looks of this one sheet all of these so called experiments have been done before on Shark Week.
Every year I see the same things done with the same sharks at the same dive sites.
This is not science, these are not experimints. This is a stunt and irresponsible filmmaking. If Discoverty accepts this they better be prepared for another Shark Group campaign.
Hi David,
This production company has a two show deal in the works for the 2009 Shark Week. This is the second show with an in house host doing it.
Same team that dressed a human dummy in a wetsuit and for a Tiger to attack it in 2008, same team that threw a side of beef, a whole turkey, a ham and a license plate at a Tiger and Great White in 2007 just to see what it would eat.
This show is in the works. As I understand it it has been sold already, now they have to produce it.
Fortunately Beqa and Mike shut them out, so Fiji is off the table. If you really want to see and end to this kind of shark-sploitation get some more filmmakers to make some noise, it will happen.
The commercial shark diving operators hold the ultimate key to what gets shot in their waters.
Hopefully they will get on board well. We cannot afford more of this.
I was one of those who signed the DC petition in 2007. Obviously they did not take any of the well respected industry names on that petition seriously or they would no be doing this kind of programming.
The Tiger attack in the Bahamas was poor programming.
Next steps? David?
Having spent over a dozen years in the TV commercial/motion picture business, my opinions on what motivates networks comes from a very bottomline perspective.
I have sat down with programming execs and presented the same arguments. They listen politely - all the while knowing that the majority of their 29+ million viewers are not all made up of concerned shark conservationists, but more like guys sitting on the couch in Kansas with a bag of pork rinds waiting to flip the channel to NASCAR if they don't see a shark attack soon (a car crash will do).
Ratings = advertising dollars, and that's what pays their bills.
We need a two-fold campaign that 1.) literally gets people to turn away from current programming (lower ratings) and 2.) let the advertisers know there is a demand/need for better programming (which can justify the dollars they spend).
As long as Discovery is able to tout the high ratings nothing will change because their advertisers are happy. It's business - plain and simple.
Wolf posted a great response to this:
http://fleander.blogspot.com/2009/01/watch-out-for-real-shark-enemies.html
Underwater Shooter,
If you are going to post here there are some ground rules:
1. Know what you are talking about
2. Do not slander another unless you have the details
Your shoot in the Bahamas with that dummy and Tiger really pissed off the Bahamaians, damaged the credibility of all the operators that use that site, and did nothing for sharks. If you cannot see that you are the problem.
Clown suits and Luke Tipple are two things you will never see in the same frame, or on any shot list.
Go back to the hole when you came, get your facts, and you may post here once you have them.
Neptunic? Better check with the man about that.
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