Jinkies!

Having just watched Yours, Mine and Ours in a hotel in San Francisco, it reminded me of this article. It made me a little sad, as Raja Gosnell is my second cousin. I also worked on Scooby Doo 2 with him at Warner Brothers a few years back. I feel a need to defend him, but I can't help but agree with the article on a lot of it's assessments; these directors look like pampered egoists with no talent.

But I'm gonna go for it anyway. Raja has a vision, but he also has a job and I think he approaches it as such. He is firmly rooted in the Mega-studio system, and therefore doesn't have the control that a lot of people think that directing allows. I learned firsthand that a director directs the people that make the film. In big budget productions, he rarely touches a camera. That's just how it goes.
Also (and I think this is the best redemption), many, many jaded hollywood stress balls that I worked with on Scooby told me repeated times that it was the easiest, most positive production they'd ever worked on. Raja was, in their eyes, a terrific boss. He was (is) kind, polite, humble, and enthusiastic. The studios are an industry, and frankly most of the stuff that comes out of there is crap. So if someone is a real pleasure to work with, that alone should be a saving grace.

And Scooby Doo 2 was pretty damn decent for modern kiddie fare, come on!