The Vitally Important Lesson For Copywriters from Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'

What's your idea of a good time?  Probably not watching a movie about a guy whose name rhymes with "bore" -- as this guy gives a PowerPoint presentation on the silver screen he readily admits he's given 1,000 times before.

Right?

That was my trepidation as I went in to see "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary about Al Gore's quest to raise awareness about global warming.

I'm not an environmentalist, although I am worried about this phenomenon and the politicization of science at the expense of, quite possibly, our future on this planet.  I'm not particularly proud that my country is one of only two (the other being Australia) that isn't abiding the Kyoto accord... just so you'll know where I'm coming from on the issue.

Anyway.

The one saving grace I was looking forward to in the 1 hour 40 minute program involved something I had read about a week ago in an article by Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Garofoli interviewed the movie's director, Davis Guggenheim.  Something he said really caught my eye:

Guggenheim waited until filming was nearly completed before approaching that terrain [Gore's personal life, which for all kinds of reasons was potentially off-limits.  But including some of Gore's personal life] ... would be critical to the film.

Finally, in a Los Angeles hotel room, the director did something "that most filmmakers would think was crazy": He spoke with Gore without any cameras. Just a microphone. Alone. When they started to talk, the sun was pouring into the room. Three hours later, they were sitting in darkness.

"As a filmmaker, you're always looking for a truth, but it's an 'emotional truth,' " Guggenheim said. "I wanted to go deep, deep, deep with him. That was what would resonate with a lot of people, no matter where they stood on global warming."

Yeah, you could make a cheap joke and say that for historical and political reasons, the emotional truth of Gore's life would turn out to be an inconvenient truth for the filmmaker.  But let's not go there... <groan> ...

Here's the golden thread for copywriters:

Against some valid, legitimate concerns, Gore opened up about his life in that room with Guggenheim and his recording equipment. 

What resulted was an extraordinarily personal, unscripted and unvarnished commentary which later turned into a surprisingly compelling voice-over throughout the film.

It truly did put the human face on Al Gore that his public presentations always seemed to lack.  It made me feel, maybe for the first time, that I had some sense of this man as a person, as another fellow human being.

He talked about how he felt being out in nature. 

He talked about the death of his sister to lung cancer, and how his family stopped growing tobacco on their farm. 

He talked about nearly losing his son at a young age in an accident, and how this changed the way he viewed things profoundly. 

He talked about traveling the world and hoping to spread his message with enough impact so that people take action before it's too late.  As in, forever.

Now. 

• When you write your copy, do you add a human face to it? 
• Do you put a human voice in it? 
• Do we get to know about the circumstances that incited the product, service or whatever it is you're promoting? 
• Do we understand the emotional truth of what motivated the individual or group behind what you're promoting, to come up with it?

By the way.  How does this "emotional truth business" translate into box office... you know: bottom line... ching... jack... cash on the barrelhead?

Pretty well. $17 million so far.

The movie is the third-highest-grossing political documentary of all time, after "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine." 

But... and this is a big 'but'... it's filling theatres in parts of the country that do not find Gore politically appealing in the least.

Hmmm... think about that.

David Garfinkel
Publisher, World Copywriting Newsletter 

Comments

[John Ritskowitz]

Hmm. I've been meaning to see that movie. Now I've got to see it just for the part you mentioned. I always throught global warming was real, but I thought it was so far off that by then we'd have the technology to fix it. Now I'm not so sure, once we go past the "tipping point" (and if we're not already at that point).

I've been seeing much more thunder storms, heavy rains, and record heats here in the Northeast (and even a tornado last week...not something we get up here very often). Don't know if it's a cycle thing or if it's related to warming, but my weeds and lawn are out of control!

John

[Andrew Cavanagh]

I'm from Australia and I saw An Inconvenient Truth in a cinema in Grand Junction Colorado just a few days ago.

Not having seen Al Gore much in our media I was kind of wondering how George Bush was elected over what seems to be an eloquent, comitted leader.

Now I understand.

If only the creator of this movie was involved with Gore's presidential campaign.

We buy from people we trust and we trust people we relate to - people we see as fellow human beings.

Online this personalization has become even more important because you don't see the people you buy from.

Great post David.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[Jacob R. Miles III]

Documentaries are evolving into the new generation "reality films"
They are indeed becoming big business not just for non-profits anymore. There is no question that more attention needs to be paid to global warming. The bottom line is that here in America we must address the automobile issue.

We must insist that car makers come out with enviromentally friendly cars. The only thing our politicians react to is money and votes. We need politicians that break from the pack and focus on things like poverty (education) and the enviroment both global issues as his or her economic platform.

This person would seek campagin funds only from individuals and companies that sign his list of pledges that support his platform. Unfortunately he probably would not win but he would put this topic top of mind for Americans for many years to come.

I support what Al Gore is doing to bring this issue to the forefront. As the CEO of Grapevine Star Entertainment Inc. We work on programming for children, teens and families everyday. The response to our enviromentaly friendly and up from poverty stories are quietly growing in popularity.

I predict that you will see more and more "reality films" and we will be there as part of this growing positive impact on life for profit business.