The Target Shoots First (1999/2000)
"I was surprised at how early 90's
it felt this time" - Christopher Wilcha on his film
after viewing it at SXSW 2003
I missed "The Target Shoots First"
when it first showed at Slamdance in Park City in
2000 and at SXSW that same year. It was always one
of those films I regretted not having seen. Luckily
during SXSW's 10 year retrospective, they brought
it back. And filmmaker Christopher Wilcha got to attend
the screening.
In the documentary, Wilcha, fresh
out of college, lucks into a job at Columbia House
in the early 90's. An outlet for tapes and records
(and the soon to be burgeoning CD market), Columbia
House was a mail-order business that sprang forth
from the days when people couldn't buy music easily
at a local store. You know, the days before strip
malls and the Internet. Somehow, God knows how, Wilcha
is allowed to bring his camcorder to work everyday.
Wilcha is also lucky that his boss,
a pregnant woman, decides to leave the company and
he is quickly pegged to step into her proverbial shoes.
Getting the job because he seemed to understand and
in fact be a part of the youth marketplace responsible
for making bands like Nirvana stars, Wilcha is soon
chosen to head the new "Alternative" section of the
company. Intrigued by the challenge as much as he
is by the interoffice politics of the company, Wilcha
takes on the job and quickly wonders: How do you market
music designed not to be marketed? How do you promote
the sale of music that, in fact, derides and is diametrically
opposed to marketing? What he comes up with and what
he achieves is amazing.
The segment on the film that covers
the differences (both physically and mentally) between
the creative and business people in the company becomes
important when Wilcha takes on his role in the company.
Wilcha not only creates a marketing plan that revitalizes
the company, he slyly reorganizes exactly how it works
as well.
Wilcha continued to record what
happened at work on video but took a break from doing
so when Kurt Cobain died and the world of Alternative
music changed. Some of the marketing ploys that take
place in the wake of Cobain's suicide deeply affect
the na‹ve Wilcha. Those of us in the audience who
know how truly evil and soulless marketing can be
are not surprised at all at what goes on in the minds
of his bosses. Eventually, Wilcha quit his job.
Taking the look of a backyard homemade
video production, Wilcha created "The Target Shoots
First" from his footage on the job. Wisely, he sat
on it for a while at first giving him a bit of time
to gain perspective. The inside look at office politics
here are amazing and the filmmaker's ability to capture
many genuine and honest moments on film is breathtaking.
Wilcha makes us willing accomplices to the many office
parties, office pranks and interoffice interactions
that go on during his tenure. Wilcha also allows us
to be awed voyeurs to his many achievements by thinking
outside the box. (A term he would probably slap me
for using). The insider feel of the footage here,
coupled with Wilcha's heartfelt narration, makes the
film engrossing an d passionate.
"The Target Shoots First" should
be shown to anyone who is considering a career in
marketing.
Notes:
Cameos by Areosmith and David Hasslehoff.
Columbia House was owned by AOL/Time
Warner and when a cable movie company owned by the
same company wanted to show the film, it became a
bit of a sticky situation. Eventually the film was
show.
Viewed in March 2003 at the SXSW
Film Festival.
