Thank you, Society 54! Honored to be one of your Outlaws! This intro tho (blushing!) … wow!
“Discover the extraordinary leadership of Roy Sexton, the driving force behind Clark Hill Law’s marketing, branding, and communications triumphs. With over 25 years of rich experience in the fields of marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning, he’s a true mastermind. His crowning achievement? Serving as the 2023 International President of the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International. Together with his exceptional team, Roy is forging a new path in professional services marketing. Meet the man steering the ship to success.”
Roy is a highly accomplished professional with a wealth of experience in marketing, branding, communications, and business development. He has spent more than 25 years in the industry, honing his skills and expertise to become one of the most sought-after experts in his field.
Throughout his career, Roy has worked with numerous organizations across different industries, helping them develop and implement effective marketing strategies that drive growth and success. He is known for his exceptional abilities in strategic planning, identifying new opportunities for businesses to expand their reach and improve their bottom line.
Enjoy getting to know the Outlaw, Roy Sexton!
Q: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? A: Being in a particularly boisterous crowd who won’t let me finish one story.
Q:Where would you like to live? A: Narnia, Wonderland, or Oz … my hubby would like to move one day to Portland or Seattle (but we probably should visit there first!)
Q:What is your idea of happiness? A: Having a quiet, slightly rainy day with zero requests from anyone, my husband on the couch napping with our dogs Henry J and Hudson, and me in my chair with a big pile of comic books.
Q:Who is your real-life hero? A: My husband is one of the most generous, selfless people I know with a deep commitment to his friends. I aspire to be more like him as I fear I’m a mile wide and an inch deep where relationships are concerned.
Q:What is your motto? A: “Tell people what they mean to you in the moment when it will mean something to them.” – Susie Sexton … also, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde
Q:What is your greatest fear? A: Filling out questionnaires where I say something too revealing, stupid, or misspelled.
Q:To what faults do you feel most indulgent? A: Is there a word count limit here? Talking too much, co-opting others’ stories with my own, overstaying my welcome, buying too many action figures, wearing costumes when other people simply wear clothing, eating too much fried food, wishing to rescue every homeless animal …
Q:Finish this sentence: “If I could have one super-power, it would be…” A: To make sure people never act like smart alecks with each other, never tease each other, never act snide, and always simply support one another
Q:Who are your favorite authors or what are your favorite books? A: Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Eugene O’Neill, Toni Morrison, Tennessee Williams, Alice Walker, Tony Kushner, Susie Duncan Sexton
Q:If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why? A: Jennifer Garner. She just seems like a deeply decent human being who doesn’t take herself too seriously but would still have wicked stories to share.
Q:What got you into working in the legal industry? A: Serendipity. I had been in health care strategic planning and marketing for over a decade. And I’d grown tired of that bureaucracy. I threw my resume out there in 2011 and was hired by my first firm. That said, I also joined the Legal Marketing Association then as well, and that’s when I knew I’d found my calling.
Q:Your favorite musician or band? A: Madonna. Janet. Kylie. Britney. Beyonce. Gaga. Do you really need to ask?
Q:What is your current state of mind? A: Loopy. I think I’m generally loopy. But when I embrace it, magic happens.
Q:Your favorite virtue? A: Decency. It takes so little to simply be decent. It takes so much more energy to act like a jerk.
Q:What would you consider your greatest achievement? A: My relationship – 25 years strong. My professional network – 32,000 and counting on LinkedIn. And serving as the 2023 International President of the Legal Marketing Association – including singing with a drag queen in Florida at the height of their governor’s homophobia.
Q:Finish this sentence: “If I won the lottery tomorrow I would…” A: Build the biggest animal rescue the world had ever seen.
Q:Who would you have liked to be? A: Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, or Hugh Jackman.
Thank you, Sheila Pursglove, Joel K. Epstein, Brian Cox, Brad Thompson, and crew! Front page above the fold TWO WEEKS in a row? It’s the hair, isn’t it? Tell me it’s the hair. In all seriousness, thank you for the kindness, friendship, and support – it means the world.
Roy Sexton leads Clark Hill Law’s marketing, branding, and communications efforts in collaboration with the firm’s team of marketing and business development professionals. He has nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning.
Sexton is passionate about problem solving, facilitating business growth, crafting communications strategy, and enhancing law firm culture. He works closely with the marketing team to advance the firm’s digital and social media presence and external engagement, using multi-channel distribution and data collection. This enables the team to quantify results and use those results to produce thoughtfully and strategically organized content for clients and prospects. He also advises attorneys on marketing and business development strategy by curating relationships among external publications and media outlets and creating the appropriate platforms and opportunities for attorneys to promote their knowledge and practice.
A resident of Saline, Sexton has been heavily involved regionally and nationally in the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International (LMA) as a board member, content expert, and presenter. He will serve as the LMA’s president in 2023. In addition, Sexton is a published author of two books: “ReelRoyReviews,” Volumes 1 and 2.
What would surprise people about your job?
People still seem pleasantly surprised that I have a global focus. Clark Hill is a huge firm with an international footprint, and, while Michigan will always be home, my responsibilities span the U.S., Mexico, and Ireland. And my fab boss Susan Ahern, our CMBDO, is based in Dublin. I’ve learned to become quite savvy about time zones!
What’s your favorite law-related TV show?
I always say “The Good Wife.” The trials and tribulations of Alan Cumming’s character in particular. In a law firm, no two days are the same when you hold a marketing role. It’s thrilling and sometimes comical how your work runs the gamut from the sublime to, well, I won’t finish that sentence.
If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be?
Weird as this is to type, I’d trade places with my mom Susie Sexton (who recently passed) so she could have a good chance to say goodbye. She left this world rather abruptly (heart attack), and, having sheltered away for months and months because of COVID, I don’t know that she got a chance to reconnect with people she loved before she vanished. I don’t mean all that to seem as dour as it reads, but I wish she’d had one truly happy day before she was gone.
What do you do to relax?
My inner introvert shines on days off. Admittedly, I have to get through any and all chores first. I also eat the things I don’t much like on my plate first too. But once I’m free and clear, it’s pajamas, comic books, bad pop music, playing with our fur baby Hudson, having a quiet dinner with my husband, and watching some escapist TV.
What other career path might you have chosen?
I have a master’s degree in theatre and thought for a while that I would get a Ph.D. and go into academia. But I wanted to eat. I still wonder what would have happened if I’d tried the “chuck it all and audition for Broadway/Hollywood” route also. But I have such a happy and fulfilling life that I have zero regrets.
What would you say to your 16-year-old self?
Enjoy the moments with people you might not know you will see again. We are always all so enmeshed in petty dramas or accomplishing some task or rushing off to the next event that we miss the moments that matter. I wish I’d curbed my rampant collecting habits (books, movies, music, toys) early on and put more energy into collecting experiences. And I wish I’d enjoyed being skinny! I was so self-conscious back then about not looking like a Men’s Health model, and I should have just appreciated being me!
Favorite local hangouts?
Seva Ann Arbor has become our “Cheers.” We are vegetarians and still a bit cautious about getting out and about too many places. The food is glorious but it’s the staff who have made us feel so welcome and loved. Every Saturday night – and sometimes Fridays too. I also am a bit obsessed with Target, and I love Vault of Midnight (comic book shop). I really need to get a life!
Oh, I’m such a menace on all social media apps. And I still love iTunes/Apple Music (lord, I’m a dinosaur). And Layout is a great little app for simple photo collages.
Favorite music?
I’m a gay man raised in the ’80s: Madonna, Janet Jackson, Tori Amos, Cher, Whitney Houston, George Michael, New Order, Kylie Minogue, Annie Lennox, k.d. lang … basically any and all dance pop with a slight edge to it. And that sensibility continues: Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry … well, you get the gist.
What is your happiest childhood memory?
I didn’t have many birthday parties. I am an only child, but it just wasn’t something we did. My birthday is December 28, which coincided with my parents’ wedding anniversary. Smack dab in the middle of the holidays, not super conducive to adding another gathering to the mix. But I remember one (of two) childhood parties where my parents, grandparents, and a couple of friends all gathered in our dining room for cake and ice cream. And it was all just quiet and loving and warm. I had a wonderful childhood, and have so many memories but that one sticks out right now as I just turned 50!
What is your most treasured material possession?
When he died, my grandfather Roy Duncan left me his mother’s college ring with “1900” (her graduation year) emblazoned across it. He wore it every day of his life, and I’ve worn it every day of my life since he passed in 1983. In fact, my fingers are so fat now I can’t remove it even if I wanted to. And I don’t! I just think it’s a beautiful reminder of legacy.
What do you wish someone would invent?
Something that makes everyone less reactionary and adversarial over the smallest things. As I age, I just find it harder and harder to understand why people point out flaws, undercut others, argue to prove a point … it’s just so much time wasted. And when I’m being ugly or receiving ugliness, I just feel it as tension in my chest, and I don’t know why people want to walk around like that.
What has been your favorite year so far and why?
2000 – the year I met my husband. It was also a very tough year – I came out to my parents (didn’t go well … like spectacularly so) and John ended up getting a foreign assignment in Japan just months after we met. But it was a year that brought him into my life, it was a year that taught me resilience, and it was a year that set me on a path to genuine happiness.
What’s the most awe-inspiring place you’ve ever been?
Tokyo, Japan when I was in high school. The U.S. Senate had a program in the ‘80s with Youth for Understanding where they sent two “youth ambassadors” from each state to Japan for the summer. I’d never been anywhere. To be immersed in such a vibrant, dynamic, bustling environment with so much to see and try and do, it was overwhelming in all the best ways. A transformative summer. I still feel electricity in my bones when I’m in big city like that.
If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Help everyone be a bit kinder. It’s easy and lazy to be mean. It takes a little effort to show appreciation. But is so much more rewarding.
What’s one thing you would like to learn to do?
Play the piano. Not ever gonna happen. I’ve tried a few times. I don’t have the discipline. But I wish I could accompany myself as a singer. Would save money!
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I wrote a column for our hometown paper in high school. It was called “AdoleSENSE” and was about my experience in small town America. I also wrote the occasional feature story, and the longer they were, the more money I got. I could write a LOT … which bought me more comic books. I also won the national PTA Reflections writing contest three (or four?) years in a row in elementary school.
If you could have dinner with three people, past or present, who would they be?
Jennifer Garner, Wanda Sykes, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Mindy Kaling, Kelly Ripa, Parker Posey, Aidy Bryant, and Jane Fonda. Yes, I know that is triple the requested number. This answer has evolved for me over the years. Now I just want to have dinner with nice people who will make me laugh or inspire me.
What’s the best advice you ever received?
From my boss Susan Ahern: “Take the pause. Not everything has to be rushed. Pick up the phone before the e-mails escalate. You don’t need to feel pressured to entertain or make everyone laugh. Just be.” It’s a paraphrased compilation of thoughts, but her advice has been transformative.
Favorite place to spend money?
Seva Ann Arbor, Target, Vault of Midnight … and Amazon.com! Heaven help me.
What is your motto?
“It’s okay to not be okay.” Something more recent, but I have a lapel pin with that thought and I wear it frequently. As much to remind myself as anyone else!
Which living person do you most admire?
My dad Don Sexton has been through a lot the past couple of years. He retired, lost my mom, began a new relationship with a wonderful soul, transformed his home (still working on that), travels, and has remained buoyant and resilient throughout. I admire how he has embraced life when others might have crumbled. It’s kept me from crumbling myself just to observe!
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Staying true to myself. I’m odd. Some have called me quirky. But (mostly) I’ve not twisted myself into some unrecognizable version of Roy to get ahead or to be liked. At least I hope that’s the case!
What is the most unusual thing you have done?
I don’t know if this qualifies, but my husband John Mola is a fan of the singing group 98 Degrees. Over the years, we’ve seen them multiple times as they’ve devolved into a career of casino performing. Consequently, their meet and greets are pretty affordable, and we’ve gotten to the point of affirmative facial recognition from them when we show up! Jeff Timmons even follows me on Twitter. Ah, we’ve arrived!
LMA is pleased to announce its 2023 International Board of Directors. The slate of candidates was ratified on September 2, 2022, and the newly elected and continuing officers and directors will begin their terms on January 1, 2023. More: https://legalmarketing.org/2023-International-Board
Legal Marketing Association – LMA International welcomes:
President Roy E. Sexton Director of Marketing Clark Hill Law Detroit, MI (Midwest Region)
Immediate Past President Brenda Plowman Chief Marketing Officer Fasken Vancouver, B.C. (Canada Region)
President-Elect Kevin Iredell Chief Marketing Officer Lowenstein Sandler LLP New York, NY (Northeast Region)
Secretary Amy Payton Verhulst Senior Business Development Manager Jackson Lewis PC Houston, TX (Southwest Region)
Treasurer Andrew Laver Business Development Manager Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Philadelphia, PA (Northeast Region)
Treasurer-Elect Rachel Shields Williams Director of Knowledge Management Sidley Austin LLP Washington, D.C. (Mid-Atlantic Region)
Member-At-Large John Byrne Chief Marketing Officer Gould & Ratner LLP Chicago, IL (Midwest Region)
Member-At-Large Jessica Haarsgaard Business Development Manager Burr & Forman LLP Greenville, SC (Southeast Region)
Member-At-Large Diana Lauritson Senior Marketing and Business Development Officer Hogan Lovells Washington, DC (Mid-Atlantic Region)
Member-At-Large Trish Desilets Lilley Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer Stroock New York, NY (Northeast Region)
Member-At-Large Jaime Lira Marketing Director Cohen & Malad, LLP Indianapolis, IN (Midwest Region)
Regional Leaders’ Committee Chair Robin Devereux Gerard Chief Marketing Officer Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC Newport Beach, CA (West Region)
Chief Executive Officer Danielle Gorash Holland Legal Marketing Association Chicago, IL
So darn excited to work with these amazing souls, all of our fab volunteer leaders, our incredible membership, and marvelous HQ support team next year. ✨
REGISTER:https://bit.ly/3wwtImc … “Law firms and legal service providers: Know who’s gonna join us for Stack Ranking, Part 2 on 9/30?
“Meet our special guests: Roy Sexton of Clark Hill Law; Drew Hawkins of Womble Bond Dickinson US LLP; and Gordon Braun-Woodbury of Calibrate.
“Our esteemed colleagues will weigh in on the 2022 RubyLaw Legal Marketing Tech Study and opine on our insights. Come hear what they have to say!”
I seem to have started a flame war with Britney Spears 😂 – Britney, we do love you, but please stay kind.
“Show up every day and keep moving forward, my friends!” – Heather Reid. And indeed she and Carolyn Manning and Dominic Ayres did today on Legal Marketing Coffee Talk with Rob Kates and yours truly! There may have also been appearances by Cher, Elvis, Britney Spears, Homer Simpson, a blue cow, Baby Yoda, and Mr. Ed. 🙌
Mostly we had a warm, substantive, candid, joy-filled, inclusive chat about culture and communications and (to swipe the title of Dominic’s fab new book) “How to Advance Your Career in Professional Services Marketing: Be More Purposeful and Strategic with Your Career Direction.” (Which you can order … right here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PLR7322/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_7AW38R2HCE6Y2CKBZQWH.)
Along the way, we talked about the Legal Marketing Association – LMA International’s fab #LMA22 conference this March in Las Vegas, tiny dogs who don’t like snowmaggedon, failed guitar lessons, creative heirloom family quilt displays (thank you again, Shoppopdisplays!), the rogue habits of grooms and their wedding registries, and more!
Thanks to these viewers for the love, support, and engagement today: James Barclay, Amy Payton Verhulst, Tahisha Fugate, Nancy Leyes Myrland, Marcia Delgadillo, Don Sexton, Rich Bracken, Gail Porter Lamarche, Jay Linder, and Susan Hunt – with shout outs in the show to Susie Sexton, Heather Morse-Geller, Deborah Farone, Jessica Aries, Laura Toledo, and more.
I had a ball chatting with Christopher Johnson today. Thank you, Brenda Meller of Meller Marketing 🥧, for connecting us. Terry Bean, if your ears were burning, watch. 🤣 We chatted about the power of family, great parenting, the arts, human connection, narrative power of marketing, trends in digital, Britney Spears headsets, and so much more. Enjoy!
Mentions include Don Sexton, Susie Sexton, John Mola, Clark Hill Law, Legal Marketing Association – LMA International, Ronald McDonald House Charities Ann Arbor, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, and more!
I’m officially official and deeply honored to be “ratified” as LMA’s 2022 prez-elect and 2023 president!
On today’s episode, we chat with the divine Roy Schwartz about his book Is Superman Circumcised?from McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers and the Jewish context for comic book icon Superman. Schwartz is an accomplished legal marketing professional, and he details how his appreciation of storytelling, graphics, character, and effective narrative have enabled him to help lawyers discover their business development super powers.
We *may* also talk (a lot) about comic books.
Rob Kates and I also chat with my mom Susie Sexton about fleas, the Olympics, and the joys of marriage. Other topics addressed in today’s show, in no particular order: Britney Spears, Bill Cosby, Jack Kirby, Stephen Colbert, cosplay, pool toys, Richard Donner, Christopher Reeve, Superman and Lois, writing, Halloween costumes, Schneider, and heaven knows what else.
Shout outs include Richard Pinto, Scott Neitlich, Merry Neitlich, Andrew Laver, Jessica Aries (happy birthday!), Kimberly Schwartz, and more!
“Camp is the answer to the problem: how to be a dandy in the age of mass culture.”
“Camp taste turns its back on the good-bad axis of ordinary aesthetic judgment. It doesn’t argue that the good is bad, or the bad is good. What it does is to offer for art (and life) a different—a supplementary—set of standards.”
“The connoisseur of Camp [finds pleasure] in the coarsest, commonest pleasures, in the arts of the masses.”
Some of us old geezers might recall that auteur filmmaker Todd Haynes once directed a biographical film treatment of Karen Carpenter’s life – Superstar – using only Barbie dolls. Either Mattel or Karen’s creepy brother filed a cease and desist, and the film has only seen the light of day in bootleg copies on eBay.
Part of me doesn’t want to write a word as I don’t want to spoil any of the loopy fun for you. How do I net this out? Sublime Richard Payton channels Angela Lansbury‘s TV classic amateur sleuth/crime novelist Jessica Fletcher, now hosting an au courant pandemic “true crime” podcast. Pop singer Britney Spears, the recent subject of a tell-all documentary (#savebritney) appears to have been abducted and possibly murdered.
Spoiler alert, but as the cat is out of the bag via Ringwald‘s promotional materials, local legend Dave Davies is arguably the perfect thespian stand-in for Ms. Spears. He may be worth the price of admission alone. Never ridiculing his character, but fully in on the joke as to how absurd it is that he is playing the “Toxic” songstress, he is an absolute riot, both in TikTok style “found footage” and in podcast interview mode. I dearly hope there is a sequel.
Ringwald’s merry band of usual mischief makers is on hand in supporting roles. Joe Bailey is a gleeful Sherriff Amos Tupper, Fletcher’s dim bulb sidekick whose outsized adoration of Spears leads to a series of comedically nonsensical allegations. Suzan M. Jacokes is understated genius as harried producer Andrew Lark. Joel Mitchell nails Gene Smart, a store clerk whose great tragedy in life is being assigned his least favorite cash register. Nicole Pascaretta channels the sheltered charms of Britney’s baby sis Jamie Lynn. Dyan Bailey commands her moment as a Linda Ellerbee (remember her?) style newscaster. And Donny Riedel and Cory Shorter nicely round out the team as (respectively) hellzapoppin superfan Chris Crocker and louche hairdresser Jeffrey Bean.
The genius of the Ringwald is that they mine every aspect of pop-culture for mash-ups that are as unexpected as they are strangely logical. These are smart people using silly situations to comment on the real life comic tragedy of modern America. Susan Sontag meets Charles Busch meets Carol Burnett.
But back to the Barbie dolls. One of the great pleasures of seeing Ringwald’s evolution in pandemic is the way they are leveraging video production, one of the highlights of their prior stage work. Brandy Joe Plambeck deftly directs (with assistance from Dyan Bailey, Vince Kelley, and Katy Schoetzow) from a jam-packed script by Kelley and Matthew Arrington. Much like last winter’s Have Yourself a Misery Little Christmas, their filmed format has allowed the troupe to step up their production values exponentially. In that context, the lunacy has a beautifully heightened quality. The polish is in nice juxtaposition to the camp.
As for the dolls, when Sheriff Tupper devolves into his multiple theories surrounding Britney Spears’ disappearance, the reenactments are staged using Barbie dolls, playhouse furniture, and assorted other pink plastic accoutrements. It adds a layer of meta-commentary on American materialism and shallow celebrity obsession that is chiefly comic but more than a bit haunting. As another layer, the sequences employ the chilling orchestral version of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” from Promising Young Woman’s pitch perfect soundtrack. And if you have been wise enough to check out that essential film, the Barbie doll scenes take on an even more devastating quality.
Back to Payton for a minute. Ultimately, his Jessica Fletcher is the ringmaster of this circus. Payton’s anarchic intelligence is like a wildfire across every scene. He is both eye of the hurricane and instigator. And his impish genius elevates any and all material he touches. I can‘t see him perform enough. Utter brilliance.
And do yourself a favor and stick through the credits. The cast vamps through Britney’s seminal hit “Baby One More Time.” You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Joe Bailey shimmy in a door frame.
The Ringwald’s press release follows, including dates and ticket information.
The Ringwald Theatre is pleased to announce the release of their latest show, Murder, She Podcast: Baby One More Crime. Several Ringwald favorites have come together to (safely) film The Ringwald’s follow-up to their smash Yuletide release, Have Yourself a Misery Little Christmas. As with that show, Ringwald stalwarts Vince Kelley and Matthew Arrington return as writers.
In Murder, She Podcast: Baby One More Crime, bestselling author, amateur sleuth, and trenchoat aficionado Jessica Fletcher is recording her latest podcast with her trusty sidekick and co-host, former Sherrif Amos Tupper, at her side. Today’s topic is the mysterious disappearance of music sensation Britney Spears. Where has the Pop Princess gone? Is it just a disappearance, or is something more sinister at play? As the investigation deepens, you will be asking, “Where’s Britney, bitch?”
Murder, She Podcast: Baby One More Crime was developed prior to the release of the Framing Britney documentary. The Ringwald firmly stands in support of the pop icon, and shares this piece of art with love and affection.
Murder, She Podcast: Baby One More Crime stars Richard Payton as Jessica Fletcher, Joe Bailey as Sherriff Amos Tupper, Suzan M. Jacokes as Andrew Lark, Joel Mitchell as Gene Smart, Nicole Pascaretta as Jamie Lynn Spears, Donny Riedel as Chris Crocker, Cory Shorter as Jeffrey Bean, and a super special secret guest star as Britney. Brandy Joe Plambeck directed with assistance from Dyan Bailey, Vince Kelley, and Katy Schoetzow. All safety precautions were observed during filming.
Tickets for Murder, She Podcast: Baby One More Crime are available at www.theringwald.com at three different giving levels: $20, $50, and $100 and can be purchased Friday, April 16 through Sunday, May 2nd. The performance will be available to stream through May 10th. Once you purchase your ticket, an email will be sent to you which will include links for Murder, She Podcast: Baby One More Crime and a virtual program. The video is hosted on Vimeo. You can watch on your phone/computer/tablet or, if you have the capability, you can stream the production to your smart TV.
The Ringwald opened the doors to their Ferndale location 13 years ago on May 11, 2007 with Fatal Attraction: A Greek Tragedy. Quickly, The Ringwald became a mainstay of Detroit’s theatre community. Past highlights include: Head Over Heels, Clue, Company, Merrily We Roll Along, The Rocky Horror Show, Heathers The Musical, The Legend of Georgia McBride, Mr. Burns: a post-electric play, Angels in America, Into the Woods, A Streetcar Named Desire, August: Osage County, Mercury Fur, The Book of Liz, and Evil Dead: The Musical.
Enjoy this fun chat with my buddies Jon, Kristen, Gia, Rob, Renee, Jennifer as we discuss all of the amazing things in store for next week’s Legal Marketing Association – LMA International annual conference. There are also rich conversations about the importance of diversity and inclusion, a renewed focus on mental health and resilience, the challenges of managing workflow and engagement in pandemic, and the details of our fantastic talent show. I also may stumble through #StevieWonder’s classic “As.” Also, shout outs in the show to Sheenika Shah Gandhi, Jill Mason Huse, Brook Weeks Redmond, Jasmine C. Trillos-Decarie, and … The Ohio State University. Go Bucks!
Episode description: “Are you ready for #LMA20? On Wednesday, October 14th, Legal Marketing Coffee Talk brings you a very special episode. Hosted by the Conference Co-Chairs Kristen Bateman Leis, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP & Jonathan Mattson, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer Stinson LLP. They are joined by Gia Altreche, Director of Business Development & Marketing, Newmeyer Dillion; Renee Branson Founder | Principal Consultant, RB Consulting: Resilience. Bounty; Jennifer A. Manton, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP; & Roy Sexton, Clark Hill, Director of Marketing, who will all tell you about what they are presenting at this year’s conference.”
Oops … I Did It Again!Don’t Rain On My ParadeI Will Wait For YouAs You Like ItPure ImaginationLike A … Legal Marketer?Putting It Together Thank you to Alex Aksenchik of Intapp for the out-this-world surprise in tonight’s mail! #BabyYoda
I’m not a fan of extraneous sequels to sweetly self-contained high-concept comedies. I loathe cash-grab second or third chapters to the kind of original, fresh, humanistic sleeper hits which dumbfound Hollywood execs who believe the only way to climb the corporate ladder is by churning out one superhero opus after another. Often, the follow-up overemphasizes any buzzy kitsch that defined the first film and buries any shaggy underdog appeal in a mountain of glib slapstick and opportunistic product placement.
To me, Pitch Perfect 2 was, ahem, a perfect example of this commercial phenomenon, taking Rebel Wilson’s free-spirited second-banana “Fat Amy” and turning her into the unfunny, overexposed Mater (see Pixar’s Cars 2 … no don’t) of a cappella singing franchises. Poor Anna Kendrick (Into the Woods, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates), normally a luminous scene-stealer in any film, didn’t stand a chance.
I’m happy to report that Pitch Perfect 3, while still utterly unnecessary, is a fabulous course correction to the enterprise, featuring the sweet harmonies and girl-power shenanigans of the now graduated-from-college “Barden Bellas” in all their goofy show choir glory.
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
Directed by series-newcomer Trish Sie and written by Kay Cannon and Mike White, the threequel takes us on a European road trip as the Bellas, generally dissatisfied with the let-down of workaday adult life, stage one last hurrah, joining a USO tour alongside a surly power-pop-punk quartet (led by delightfully arch mean girl Ruby Rose), a Li’l John-adjacent rap act, and a mullet-wearing bluegrass jug band. What could have been a cliched let-down (European road-trip … really?) ends up a zingy meringue (albeit still pretty cliched) in the capable hands of the film’s solid cast.
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
The vocals, as ever, are impeccable and guilty fun, as the Bellas aca-remix one overplayed pop radio ditty after another. The ensemble is populated with pros (Anna Camp, Hairspray‘s Brittany Snow, True Grit/Edge of Seventeen‘s Hailee Steinfeld, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Chrissie Fit, Alexis Knapp) who know how to spin sitcom stereotypes into compelling and relatable human beings.
Blessedly, Kendrick is again in the driver’s seat narratively. The film reorients the series-focus back to her Beca character, still exhibiting outsize talent in a mediocre world that doesn’t know what to do with a whip-smart woman who isn’t particularly interested in playing reindeer games.
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
Yes, series regulars Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins also return as caustic a cappella competition commentators who seem to have landed in the Pitch Perfect films on their way to a Christopher Guest satire (e.g. Best-in-Show, A Mighty Wind). When asked by Kendrick where they came from when the duo materializes from thin air on an Air Force tarmac, Banks deadpans, “A little town called persistence.” They are a total hoot, even if they do appear to be in an entirely different film from everyone else.
There is a jarringly odd subplot involving Daddy’s Home 2‘s John Lithgow (must he be in every movie this holiday season?) as Fat Amy’s sleazy Eurotrash high-stakes criminal father, and it’s a testament to the film and to Lithgow and Wilson that their rapport works as well as it does. The subplot seems tonally out-of-place with the rest of the proceedings, but it does give rise to a truly killer aca-cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” by the Bellas. The number runs twice in the film, and it is so sharply executed that it could have appeared a third time and not overstayed its welcome.
[Image Source: Wikipedia]
Pitch Perfect 3 is a holiday trifle but a welcome one as it marries genuine wit and heart with a celebration of friendship and song and female agency that is always needed onscreen. A fourth entry in the series seems inevitable, and I won’t complain (much). The easy, warm, and inclusive dynamic of this cast is one I will gladly leave on repeat.
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[Image Source: Wikipedia]
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital). In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.
Let this be a lesson to comic book nerds everywhere: don’t buy tickets to some superhero extravaganza 18 months in advance on the promise of a state-of-the-art immersive experience in the four-color world of funny book lore.
The stage
‘Cause a year and a half later, that magical cape-and-spandex fever dream to be? It’s basically Spider-Man Ice Capades … without the ice.
That about sums up the arena-touring Marvel Universe Live! which we had the misfortune of taking in this afternoon at The Palace of Auburn Hills, alongside a lot of gobsmacked kids and their grimacing mothers and fathers.
Captain American arguing with Iron Man about who has the worst lines
Seriously, if we escape this experience unscathed from the stomach flu or an ear infection, it will be a minor miracle.
The show runs under two hours, including an interminable 25 minute intermission, designed chiefly for parents to empty their wallets at the carny-esque merchandise carts clogging nearly every aisle. It is a Disney enterprise after all.
Oh, what have we done …
The plot, or what passes for one, is a hodgepodge of elements cribbed from a decade’s worth of Marvel movies (Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor) and a bit or two from the comics (those characters like X-Men or Spider-Man for whom Disney doesn’t necessarily hold the movie rights in Mickey’s four-fingered paw).
The Avengers, or a loose confederation of badly costumed heroes bearing a passing resemblance to said superhero team, are chasing down bits of that damned Tesseract (“Cosmic Cube”) – the boring MacGuffin that has dominated Disney/Marvel’s film output: a glowing device that gets chopped up in a million bits which, if brought back together, will let any number of bad-deed-doers take over the world, monologue an lot, and shake their scaly fists at the sky.
Motorcycles. Lots of motorcycles.
Woo boy.
The show is an enterprise intended for kids, so I should just stop being a jackass and note that, for any child under 10, it will be the. best. freaking. thing. they. have. ever. seen. (I was heartened to see as many girls as boys in the audience, possibly indicating a break in the Disney Princess stranglehold on post-millennial prepubescent gender identity? We can only hope.)
There are motorcycle and aerial stunts aplenty with enough pyrotechnics to make a vintage Van Halen fan weep. The dialogue (the program actually lists a team of writers on this thing, and surprisingly not 18 monkeys in a room of keyboards) is phoned in from somewhere left of the moon, as the poor souls playing these comic book icons are required to lip sync every line. And I thought Britney Spears had it bad … and that ain’t good.
Loki and his vacuum/fish bowls of death
The costumes are pretty hit or miss. Some folks, like big bad Asgardian Loki, are almost note-perfect, while others, like Wolverine, look like they were garbed in leftovers fished from the remainder bin at Halloween City.
Believe it or not, the show has its standout performers (though for all intents and purposes, the actors remain nameless/faceless entities).
Spider-Man is a hoot, assigned the zippiest quips (not saying much) and imbued with an acrobatic whimsy that comes as a welcome relief from all the paper-doll posturing on-stage. Captain America is a delight as well, with some great stunt work and a bit of the light comedy his eponymous films wring from Cap’s anachronistic circumstances.
Spider-Man hitching a ride from his buddy Green Goblin
The backdrop
For the true comic nerds in audience? For middle-aged people, like yours truly, who have no business going to a show like this, at least without the cover-story of dragging a niece or nephew or random neighbor kid grudgingly along?
Finale … thank heavens
Well, for geeks like us, the joys are limited. You get to see some random fan-favorite characters like Captain Marvel, Black Cat, assorted AIM Agents (with those silly beekeeper outfits), and Madame Hydra in the flesh, and there are some nifty items in the merchandise booth (the program with commemorative comic book and a few of the shirts are keepers). Otherwise, just stay home, save your moolah, and revisit your old super-favorites the way we always have … by reading.
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Drawing of yours truly as a superhero by Lee Gaddis of Gaddis Gaming
Reel Roy Reviews is now TWO books! You can purchase your copies by clicking here (print and digital)In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the first book is currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan. My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common Language.
