Open Call: Pitch Reels

The Pitch:

An artistic and impressionistic pictorial of an unordinary life in an ordinary environment.

For many years, economists have thought about the logic of voting and many have concluded, why bother? At the heart of this story is one of the world's greatest living economists, Public Choice theorist, Gordon Tullock.

This loveable curmudgeon just doesn't believe a rational person would vote - and vote Tullock does not. At the same time he believes that democracy is the best form of government. How can it be then, that voting, the very thing without which there would be no democracy, is merely an irrational exercise to him?

So, what is behind Tullock's thinking? Through pixilated animations, arcane historical footage, and disembodied interviews, this piece puts into pictures, the reasoning in Tullock's mind. The point at which the sheer mathematics of rational abstention meets real life, is where this surreal tale begins.

This 3-minute piece explores the public choice branch of economics that focuses on the choices that people make in the political marketplace. But more importantly, it'll be an offbeat portrait of this unknown man and his breakdown of why it makes sense that people decide not to vote.

By utilizing a fresh and unseen approach to documentary we will provide a brief, but substantive depiction of the surreal in an ordinary environment. Following in the tradition of the Errol Morris documentary - "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" and Todd Haynes' "Superstar," but with a stylized aesthetic similar to Terry Gilliam's "Monty Python" animations, this project will be based around faux-cinema verite technique alongside strong visuals. Going beyond just a sociological investigation, the film will be characterized by a funny and intriguing human pictorial of Gordon Tullock, fully realized by interweaving historical footage, interviews, pixilated animations, and personal observations. One big collage with a keen eye and an unexpected point-of-view.