For decades, the FBI has been using pop culture to enhance its image. Well, that's all right. The main quote of the article - "If we do not tell our story, the fools will gladly tell it for us." The FBI is actively involved in the field of cinema in particular. And ours would not hurt to take note.
Here's an article on how the FBI works with Hollywood
When filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin asked the FBI for help while working on the cyber-drama No Connection (2012), he wanted comments on how realistic the script was. But he suspected that they needed something more.
“They understand that perception is everything,” Rubin told BuzzFeed News. "The better people think of them, the easier it is for them to work."
He recalled that an FBI officer reviewing a draft of the script had suggested changing the scene in which two agents aggressively interrogate a journalist.
"I distinctly remember how he told me:" This is not how we work. " The consultant said the FBI's approach to people "at least outwardly" appears to be "kind and allied, and this attitude is usually far more effective than suspicion and aggressiveness." Ruby changed the scene.
The director was right in thinking that the FBI is very concerned about how society perceives him. Hundreds of pages of documents obtained by BuzzFeed News in response to a freedom of information lawsuit show that the FBI seeks to control and improve its image through consulting work on filming. Over the past five years, the FBI's public relations team specializing in Hollywood has played a role in the development of hundreds of television shows, feature films and documentaries. Examples include the recently released Watergate. The Collapse of the White House”, a biopic about the famous Watergate anonymous source“Deep Throat”; the 2012 American comedy film Undercover Agent starring Miley Cyrus; film from the documentary series "Fatal Encounters". As stated in the docs, these projects are viewed as marketing tools for the bureau,who desperately wants to create a new "brand" for the FBI.
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“If we don’t tell our story, the fools will gladly tell it for us,” said an August 2013 Power Point presentation that guides Bureau staff on how to use the media to their advantage. "Most people form their opinion of the FBI through pop culture, not the two-minute news story."
There is also a clause: “According to Nielson [The Nielson Company - the largest metering company providing data and marketing information - The Insider], every week more than 100 million Americans watch TV series and documentaries about the FBI.
Slide from FBI presentation received by BuzzFeed
According to this presentation, the FBI's PR department, which acts as an intermediary between the entertainment industry and the Bureau, handled 728 requests for assistance in media coverage in 2012 alone, ranging from novels to big-budget blockbusters. FBI advice is free for filmmakers (but not for taxpayers). They are of a different nature, from a cursory exchange of letters to days of filming in the Edgar Hoover building (FBI headquarters).
In most cases, the requests are for minor details like a quick fact check or permission to use the FBI logo. In one brief consultation in March 2011, the FBI seriously considered an application from the screenwriter for the zombie horror comedy Diamond Dead. The writer "tried to insert the FBI chase after zombies into the plot because he felt that the FBI might want to chase zombies." A Bureau employee wrote in the documents: “I advised him to try with someone like the Department of Health, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or other government agencies that specialize in health and medicine. This is not of interest to the FBI unless the zombies have committed a crime."
Writer and producer Andrew Gatie, who called the Bureau with this question, told BuzzFeed News: “I always like to do some pretty serious research. My main question was what the FBI will do if they suddenly find zombies."
The FBI not only responds to requests from filmmakers, but is also active when an opportunity arises to advance its own public relations interests. Several years ago, an agent came across a story about a film in which Sylvester Stallone was supposed to play the famous mobster and FBI informant Gregory Scarpa. The agent was intrigued and decided to contact Nicholas Pileggi, the screenwriter for Nicefellas, who also wrote the script about Scarpa, offering cooperation from the FBI. Pileggi, apparently, was interested, he replied that he would contact "when he is ready to start the project." A screenwriter's representative did not respond to a request for comment and the film is still in development.
Christopher Allen, head of public relations, told BuzzFeed News that the FBI cannot provide updated figures for the number of projects it has helped with since 2013. But the production with the participation of the Bureau is actively continuing. Watergate was released on September 29th. In October, Netflix launches Mindhunter, a series about agents who investigate and track down serial killers, and CBS's 280th episode of Criminal Minds will air. Netflix consulted directly with the FBI, and former agent John Douglas, who wrote The Mindhunter, is the show's regular consultant. The creators of Criminal Minds have also consulted with the Bureau, and this season, the show's agent has even been promoted to producer status.
While the Bureau says unequivocally that it “does not edit or approve filmmakers' work,” working with the FBI often means portraying the Bureau in a favorable light. According to the documents, the FBI sometimes refuses to use the logo for minor reasons: in 2008, one request was denied because the FBI had too little role in the film. And in some projects - for example, "The Silence of the Lambs", "Johnny D.", "Die Hard 4.0" - the Bureau provided tremendous assistance, assigning agents to answer all questions, allowing multi-day filming on the FBI premises. In addition, the Writers Guild hosts regular FBI 101 seminars to guide scriptwriters on the Bureau's work. An invitation to one such event in June said, "This is your opportunity for direct collaboration with the FBI."
Slide from FBI presentation received by BuzzFeed
Matthew Cecil, an FBI image researcher, told BuzzFeed News that the FBI's relationship with Hollywood has been going on for eight decades. The Bureau's PR strategies have been "surprisingly successful" in advancing the FBI's goal of getting people to "accept the existence of such a powerful organization." Cecil, who wrote Hoover's FBI Branding, distinguishes between the PR Bureau and the CIA (which has the Entertainment Industry Agency). He says the CIA "was never good at it at all."
The FBI is still hiding how it interferes with Hollywood filming. It took three years and a lawsuit to get these documents. But about a dozen filmmakers who spoke to BuzzFeed News speak openly about this interaction, and in a positive way. Most of them said that they were deeply impressed by the professionalism and thoroughness of the FBI staff. “They were very smart, they could easily see the main idea of the script and predict its development,” says Peter Woodward, who wrote the 2010 film Unthinkable with Samuel L. Jackson.
The filmmakers explained that they are contacting the FBI because they want their work to be more realistic. "I have always considered the FBI to be a very open, cooperative organization … In fact, they were as involved in my story as I was," said Michael Felt.
According to the documents, the Bureau's mission is "to develop a public image and provide an accurate portrayal of FBI personnel, past and present events, and to foster collaboration with the FBI." Before making a decision on consulting, providing assistance to the project, it is assessed how loud it will be. The department needs to know whether "the project has been sold, whether it has been given the green light, or is it still at the concept stage."
The 44-page spreadsheet, which has over 200 queries from 2005 to 2014, lists Tom Hanks' name three times (Captain Phillips, Parkland, and Watergate films). Another document regarding the start of filming of the blockbuster "Die Hard 4.0" indicated that the film was not about the Bureau - most of their screen time FBI characters describe the aftermath of a hacker attack. Yet PR approved the two-day filming at the Edgar Hoover Building, and an agent from the Los Angeles office was actively involved in the production, including attending meetings. In comparison, a note on another project referred to "limited help because this is the first job of a novice screenwriter."
To Ed Saxon, producer of Silence of the Lambs, the personal benefit of the FBI was clear. The terms of the agreement caused him some bewilderment: "We had concerns about how closely we work with the FBI and how much we heroize their characters, while the history of the FBI as a government agency is, to put it mildly, complicated."
This prompted director Jonathan Demme to add a civil rights agency line to the film. “It was very important for Jonathan to make this film more than just an advertisement for the United States Police Department,” Saxon says. The production team knew that the FBI was looking at the project as a way to recruit women. The producer is confident that "a picture with a heroic female agent or trainee agent as the central character was in line with their goals."
Saxon's version matches FBI records. The Co-operation Bureau's recommendations are usually about following the facts, but sometimes they directly indicate how to represent the office. Some documents say that the goal is not only to maintain the original image, but also to change it in a more favorable direction. One of them reads: “Hollywood authors usually do not seek to show our contribution and often misinterpret it. So when there is an opportunity to advise writers / producers, we can help portray the FBI in a positive and more realistic way.”
There are also indications that the Bureau needs to remind the public that agents are people too. In 2000, the FBI came up with a proposal to interview agency officials for a special release on DVD, the documents explaining that it "would satisfy the public's request to learn more about the FBI by showing them the human side of agents."
The documents state that the ideal FBI on-screen character is polite, approachable, and not a spy. In April 2012, one of the creators of the Empire State action movie with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson contacted the FBI with a request to use the Bureau's seal in an episode of the film. The request was denied, in part due to the fact that the script featured agents who were rude to local law enforcement officials: "The script does not accurately portray the actions and employees of the FBI, therefore the request to use the official seal was rejected by email on 2012-27-04." …
In the case of Johnny D. The Bureau also adhered to this position. But while the FBI provided significant advice, the document notes that the film "exacerbates the perception of the FBI as an agency seeking to achieve its goals by whatever means necessary," and this is an unflattering portrayal.
The FBI has long wanted to stop being associated with secret surveillance. As Cecil writes in the book Hoover's FBI and the Fourth Estate, in the 60s and 70s, it was strictly forbidden to show wiretapping in the series in the production of which the Bureau practically participated. This rejection still exists today. In 2012, one request was denied not only because the agent "has an incredibly small role", but also because the agent was "portrayed in a bad light (used intimidation tactics, wiretapping and other surveillance methods)."
And in 2015, on Crime and Science radio, public relations specialist Betsy Glick said that the Bureau formed an artistic image so that people “did not have the wrong, negative perception of the FBI as Big Brother because show the media”, clearly referring to the book“1984”.
It is noteworthy that one of the most famous recent films that criticized the FBI, Selma (2014), which depicts the surveillance of Martin Luther King, was filmed from books, documentaries and disclosed FBI documents. He did not rely on advice from the Bureau itself. Director Ava Duvernay was unavailable for interviews, but her spokesman confirmed to BuzzFeed News that she never approached the FBI for help, as did screenwriter Paul Webb.
“How does the FBI solve crimes? - Glick said on the same radio air. - We solve crimes when people are open to talk with an agent, when he knocks on their door. And if people see negative and false images in cinema and pop culture, they will not be willing to cooperate. Our mission is to build the confidence of the American people in the FBI, then they will help us fulfill our mission."