A Word on Acceptance Speeches

After watching the Golden Globes last night, I would like to see a renovation on all things acceptance speeches.

One person after another rattled off a list of thanks to their dozens, speaking in scattered jibberish as their time drew to a close.  One even banked on his spouse’s air time at the podium to thank the people he forgot, for heaven’s sake.

So, what about  a new approach?

How about, when you receive your nomination, you begin working on your thank you notes and gifts to the people who got you where you are?  How about a personal investment in thanking them, rather than listing their names as one of thirty while the clock ticks down?

What if humility ruled the stage, and if instead of making sure everyone got their due credit, what if we, the audience, could perhaps learn something new?

I think it would be so much more compelling if nominees were granted, along with their nomination, a list of intriguing questions and answers to prepare, should they win.

Perhaps they could share an anecdote from the filming process.  Perhaps they could tell something they’ve learned from someone else’s work.  Perhaps they could share a life lesson.

And the conversations of those who didn’t win an award could be published in a book of The Speeches We Didn’t Hear.  Guaranteed Best Seller every year, and it wouldn’t even have to be a tell-all memoir.  Just wisdom on a page.

I think I’m on to something.  And it would be far more interesting and beneficial than all the back-patting that goes on, one person after another.  I would love to see them shine with a new ray of light into the craft, the artistry, the industry, the personhood of creativity.

Not just wobble around on their high heels and reveal the underside of their breasts (which I don’t understand, on so many levels).

Leadership is influence.  Celebrity is responsibility.

I’m just saying.