As part of the promotion for Pom Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Morgan Spurlock sat down for a roundtable and talked candidly about his experiences in making his film. Pom Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold opened today and examines the practice of placing advertisements in film and how it affects the creative process. Considering it was Spurlock's objective to show how pervasive the practice is in today's entertainment, lots of question arose as to whether or not courting corporate sponsors to pay for the entire film would result in a lack of creative control. Spurlock answered questions about production, his love-hate relationship with Heroes, the companies involved, and more.
Hit the jump for some interesting facts about The Greatest Movie Ever Sold...
Getting Sponsorships...
The "Greatest" companies that ultimately agreed to fund the film are Pom Wonderful (beverage), Amy's Kitchen (frozen food), the Aruba Tourism Authority (vacation destination), Ban (deodorant), Carrera (racing sunglasses), Solstice (sunglass boutique), GetItForFreeOnline.com (internet-based supply vendor), Hyatt (hotels), JetBlue Airways (airline), KDF (automotive advertising wraps), Mane 'n Tail (multi-species shampoo), Merrell (footwear), MoveTickets.com (online box office), Old Navy (clothing retailer), Petland (pet supplies). Seventh Generation (environmentally friendly household products), Sheetz (convenient store), Ted Baker (lifestyle brand), and Thayer's Natural Remedies (herbal medicines).
That's 19 companies and no, don't feel bad if you've never heard of a few of them. The fact of the matter is, Morgan Spurlock approached roughly 600 different companies (think of a major or small brand - they approached them): Range Rover, State Farm Insurance, Coca-Cola, etc. Spurlock never refused a company that wanted to buy in. 600 companies. 20 total sponsors. It's somewhat disturbing the level of resistance major corporations had to a film about showing the truth of advertising. So what did a company receive for becoming a sponsor? Placement in the movie and billing as the greatest (whatever their specialty is) ever. Suddenly Merrell was the greatest shoe ever, Aruba the greatest tourist destination ever, and Mane 'n Tail the greatest shampoo ever. That's the kind of advertising you just can't buy (except in this case).
Finding a theme song...
Providing the theme song for the film is Ok Go, credited with writing "The Greatest Song I Ever Heard". No offense to Ok Go, but they weren't the only artists approached. Just like with the major companies, Spurlock approached some of the world's biggest recording artists, the ones who were brands unto themselves: P Diddy (or is he Puff Daddy again?), Jay-Z, etc. They all said no. Until Ok Go said "yes".
Here's "The Greatest Song I Ever Heard".
Morgan Spurlock's disillusionment with the TV series Heroes...
Perhaps the funniest moment came when Spurlock began talking about Heroes. Like many of us, he loved Heroes' first season. It was fun and kind of a masterwork of what television could do, in it's own way. And then, the second season landed. His story of how Heroes was ruined for him starts with a brief mention of how he'd gotten used to over the top moments of product placement (like the inclusion of a Dodge and Hemi plug in The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), but couldn't believe the audacity of the route taken by the folks over at Heroes. The story goes something like this (and if you were a fan, chances are you can sympathize).
(I tried to find a clip of this on YouTube, the moment is too priceless, but to no avail. Instead...)
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Claire and her father, HRG, are leaving her high school and walking to the car after having just started their new life in a new town in Texas. Horn Rimmed Glasses turns to Claire and says, "I was gonna save this for your birthday, but..." He reaches into his pocket takes out the car keys and hands them to Claire.
"Oh Dad! The Rogue? The Nissan Rogue! Oh Dad! I love the Rogue!"
Followed quickly by a commercial break. Can you guess what it was a commercial for?
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And kablam. One of the most painfully obvious instances of advertising in a film or television show. And then Morgan got to thinking. Well, he got to thinking after getting over the sheer annoyance that anyone who enjoyed that show felt at the core of their soul after that moment.
How Morgan Spurlock views advertising in entertainment now...
It's moments like that that drove Spurlock to make The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and it's no wonder. While there are some instances of truly brilliant product integration into films, there are other times when the need to satisfy a sponsor just goes overboard and it detracts from the enjoyment of the entertainment. That's when it's the most annoying, but arguably the times 
where you never even notice the product placement consciously are the ones that are the most effective. Morgan mentioned that after making The Greatest Movie Ever Sold that he can't watch movies and television the same way. Whenever he sees a conversation in a show where two characters sit outside a Taco Bell in a car he wonders: Did the sponsor originally want them in the restaurant at a table? Did they have to negotiate how much of the restaurant's exterior would be visible through the window? Do they have to be eating the food? Once you begin to notice all the product placements and to think about the planning involved in how they appeared and for how long - the entertainment value starts to take a major hit.
It's no wonder then that Morgan went the route he did with The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Trying to make a narrative that smashes as many brands as possible into a single frame is interesting (for an example just rent Josie and the Pussycats - not joking), but creating an entire film that is essentially the process of advertising on film is the most revealing, and it lets Spurlock and the directors who chose to participate like J.J. Abrams, Peter Berg, and Quentin Tarantino have a little fun at the practice's expense.
Finally, when I asked him if he filmed each and every meeting he went to for those 600 companies, the answer was yes. Just imagine the hours of footage that would amount to. I think it's pretty safe to say there's a massive blooper/deleted scene reel to be included on that Blu-ray release.
Stay tuned for our full review of the film itself.
