Awaiting the Industry Plant Committee

Who are they and why haven't they called me?

ALLEGED INDUSTRY PLANT

I was sitting the other night with several black men who've been in and around the entertainment business for a minimum of three decades. A director, an actor and a tech executive who've had hit projects and been adjacent to important films, records, TV etc. Someone asked, "Have you been approached to be an industry plant yet?" And we all cracked up. "Where does the committee meet? We'd like an appointment."

Recently Kevin Hart, an affable comedian whose built an expansive business as a brand ambassador and movie star after establishing himself as a stand up comic, was branded an "industry plant" by a talented, but lesser know comic. The jealousy that underlined that accusation is pretty transparent, but the root of the disdain is worth a few words.

Black success, especially when it accompanies building a large white audience, has always been a fraught topic. In the '80s it was called "crossover" because of the stratified nature of media. You crossed over from a black audience to a larger, whiter pop audience, meaning the arc of success was build a black fan base, make a project (record, movie, series) that expands your followers, and then make a lot more money. But, in the process, risk being viewed as someone who sold out the black community in the process.

In truth, that career path was a lot more complicated than that, yet the “sell out” narrative was powerful. I know in my '30s as a journalist I was often very skeptical of how many artists pursued that path, though I always did my best to acknowledge the artistry of the individuals involved. Because the way that careers are developed today is different in the era of social media and streaming, the old crossover conversation is very different. You can use social media and YouTube videos to create an global audience outside the old systems. However, in comedy if people don’t find you funny, you don’t get very far. Kevin Hart has filled stadiums with laughing people. The industry plant committee is pretty powerful if they can make people laugh at jokes they don’t find funny.

In "industry plant" I hear someone being accused of being chosen by "them" (white gatekeepers) over more worthy artists or, implicitly, artists who were more authentic (or blacker.) It's part of the anti elite conspiracy rhetoric that is rampant these days, a logic that discounts talent or natural appeal, replacing it with the sense that our stars are "chosen" by an group of agents, managers and executives.

Those who believe in this organizing theory of life won't be dissuaded by my skepticism or the lived experience of me and my friends. It's the reality they believe in and keeps their life simple. It's never their fault or limitations that got in the way of success. It is always the fault of outside forces who control everything. They just weren't chosen or, even better, they were too virtuous to take the call.

Hart, wisely, hasn't said much about it, since denying you're an industry plant is not a very good use of your time. He's got a new movie on Netflix, a new ad campaign, and a documentary about his stand up career on Netflix too. I suspect one of the perks of being an industry plant is that you're so busy working there's no time to piss on your peers.

Meanwhile my friends await a long overdue call from the industry plant committee. I can reached directly here on Substack. Anxiously awaiting your DM.)