No Pants 2k9

[Agent Todd]

Complete info on the history of The No Pant Subway Ride:
http://improveverywhere.com/missions/the-no-pants-subway-ride/

Leave Agent Reports for global No Pants events here:
http://improveverywhere.com/2009/01/10/no-pants-2k9-regional-reports/

[ZENMEN22]

DC and Baltimore: how can we get involved?

[.mrt]

Hello,

just coming from the nopants in vienna.

worked nicely! ;)

although it is freezing more people than expected showed up. video coming soon.

i've got one question for other no pants organizers, especially hamburg and NY.

there was a production company showin up at our meeting point intending to film the event with a big broadcast camera.
we told them that this is impossible in the metro and that they are only allowed to film discretely with handy cams (worked more or less...)

we also let them sign a on the spot contract assuring us the material which they filmed.

they told us that their production crews are also filming the event in hamburg and NY. any knowledge about that?

how do you cope with this situation in general? whats your agenda towards mainstream media?
from the Improv everywhere site i know that broadcasting stations were involved in past NoPants actions.
whats your opinion?

p.s. looking forward for next year. we already discussed improvements :)

[Mr. Dee]

Yeah, speaking for the Hamburg group one member of this network said he was from an RTL-produktion-company and that the wanted to film the event.
i told him that our group wasn't interested in appearing on tv and so there was no filming team on the meeting point. it wouldn't have been that much of a story anyway, as we were only 5 pantless people, but it was a lot of fun anyway.

generally speaking I'm not much of a friend of the mass media, as they are, at least for biggest part, just deliver stupid "entertaiment" and imo don't understand wants the point in urban pranksterism. So I was a little bit afraid there would be a big film crew, but as I said above we had a bit luck.

[.mrt]

well...
...if you and agent todd discouraged them then it was propably no coincidence that they didnt contact us in advance but just showed up...

we mentioned in every message that people who want to film should get in contact with us in advance...

... we are currently discussing a media agenda and will be prepeared next time!

thanks for the info! cheers .mrt

[Agent Todd]

RTL did contact me in NY and I discouraged them from filming the event. My policy this year was to tell news crews to film the aftermath, when everyone was walking around outside pantless after it was over.

The media LOVES No Pants. It's the perfect little light-hearted story for them with just the right amount of sex appeal thrown in. It's an uphill battle for me to keep them away, but no matter how clear I make it in the email, on the website, or in person at the meeting point, some members of the media don't care about anything other than their story, and are willing to sacrifice everyone's fun by taking out their huge camera and getting the shot they need.

[Jeff]

You're dead on, Todd. We had the same problem with the media in Phoenix just ruining and attempt at covertness. I finally had to talk to them to try and get them to leave. One station used an HD Flip so was more circumspect, but even that got a bit much.

We will definitely make it more clear next year and try to keep on top of it by herding them to our meetup points afterwards.

[.mrt]

Just started a discussion about filmingrights in our group.

i'm interested which rights we have. maybe we can just forbid them to film or to air their material...

[Agent Todd]

It's a tough situation. We are doing things on public property. You can't really tell the media they can't film something in public. This isn't a problem for most Improv Everywhere events because they are secret and not announced in advance. But for a big annual party like No Pants, they are certainly going to find out. In previous years I've included "No Media" clauses in my event details, but sometimes I get flack for that from people who want to yell about freedom of the press. Ugh. The Montreal event was apparently canceled when more media showed up than participants.

[.mrt]

just found out today that you have the right to get the filmed material showing you in every case.

so we will at least get their raw footage.

will keep you informed about that, maybe they got something we can use ;)

greetings .mrt

[.mrt]

i wish they'd contacted us in advance.
it was certainly a damper to have the redaction lady complaining if please everyone could wait just two more minutes because her cameraman is not ready yet...

we were certainly ran over a bit there. we'll have to make up a policy for that sort of thing.

i wonder how they will air it. which spin the story will have...
today i found out that RTL is showing reality Formats where "Stars" have to do all sorts of disgusting things like eating Bugs to escape a Jungle where they are held as "Hostages"...
..thats exactly the kind of thing which is makeing me hate tv.

I really regret that this station has now footage of our event. i dont trust them and they dont deserve to be part of it!

what i like about Missions such as No Pants is that it motivates people to move, to act and at the end of the day they benefit because they experienced real things which they created themselves. thats satisfying.
RTL does the opposite. their number one criteria is to produce at the lowest standart so a minimum of people will be challenged. over time that leads to a unsatisfied brainwashed society.

hmmm... well anyway. the next time I will try to forbid them completeley.
we dont need them for documentation of events (its better and done with more tactfulness by ourselves) or broadcasting and they just ruin the act by being there.

[Marian]

trying to get Seattle off the ground. agents will report back if successful.

[Lazer Elena]

Salt Lake is trying to get a group together again. ^_^