Netflix's Shot in the Dark follows stringers chasing stories all over Los Angeles

Icarus112277

Well-known member
"If the 2014 Jake Gyllenhaal film Nightcrawler was your jam, you are going to love Shot in the Dark. Available on Netflix now, the 8-episode docuseries follows freelance journalists, also called stringers, who chase news stories all over Los Angeles throughout the night. And if you thought Gyllenhaal’s performance was intense in the film, just wait until you see this show."

Watching it now, pretty cool

https://decider.com/2017/11/17/shot-in-the-dark-review-netflix/
 

tarzan

Well-known member
The Netflix show was good, but Jake Gyllenhaal and Bill Paxton were horrible in Nightcrawler.

As a TV news guy I heard a lot of non-TV people mentioning how much they loved that movie and asking me what I thought, and I tell them it was one of the dumbest movies I'd ever seen.

The Netflix show captures the competitive spirit between the stringers, but it's a realistic human commercial competitive spirit. They compete with each other, but at the same time they're all good friends with each other and respect each other.

Nightcrawler just goes way overboard with that and a lot of other things. Bill Paxton making fun of Gyllenhaal for missing the money shot, or yelling at his assistant, "COME ON, GET THE OTHER ANGLE, WHAT THE F*** AM I PAYIN' YOU FOR???" Gyllenhaal going into the house where a mass shooting just took place and shooting all the carnage before the cops got there, and then selling it to a TV station, and the station airs it? Or how about insisting that he get paid, what was it, $15,000 for some raw spot news footage? Or insisting that in exchange for him continuing to do business with the TV station, the executive producer (Rene Russo) be his girlfriend. And instead of just telling him to #*** off, she actually has a dilemma about that, as if her news product's overall ratings totally hinge on having his stringer footage. Give me a BREAK.

And the worst part of all this, is that people who don't work in TV news see Nightcrawler and think that's how ALL TV news people behave. Overall the main character played by Gyllenhaal is portrayed as a psychotic villain.

Just another news-media-bashing movie as far as I'm concerned.
 

Lensmith

Member
I binge watched "Shot In The Dark" and liked it.

Especially since each one of the three groups reminded me of some folks I know and how they each approach "the business" with different goals and attitudes.

I was worried they were going to make the folks looks stupid like the Night Crawler film did.

Instead...I thought this was so well shot and edited...plus the situations were "real", just like things we've all dealt with over the years.

I give the series a 9 out of 10 rating...only because...nothing is "perfect"! ;)
 

svp

Well-known member
Apparently they already shot season 2 but Netflix has yet to sign on to distribute it. On one of their Facebook posts they mentioned Netflix wanting more international views so its up in the air right now if their will be a season 2 on Netflix. I thought the show was great. A little over the top at times but I think its because they got so close to some scenes, such as fires, that they'd never be allowed to do here in this market without getting arrested.
 

satpimp

Well-known member
I will have to check out Shot In The Dark. I hated Nightcrawler. Similar genre, but a favorite for me is, Bang Bang Club. I remember the still image at it's crux, as well as the time frame and characters depicted. IMO, A wonderful indie film about photo journalism, it's impact and costs.

Cheers,
 

svp

Well-known member
I will have to check out Shot In The Dark. I hated Nightcrawler. Similar genre, but a favorite for me is, Bang Bang Club. I remember the still image at it's crux, as well as the time frame and characters depicted. IMO, A wonderful indie film about photo journalism, it's impact and costs.

Cheers,
Go to YouTube and search "Stringers LA". Same guys in that show are the stringers in Shot in the Dark. Also, the stringing companies profiled in Shot in the Dark each have YouTube channels where they post raw video of things they covered, including raw from stories they covered in season 1.

Loudlabs
RMG News
OnSceneTV

The show is nothing like that stupid movie. Its actually pretty spot on. Its just obvious all the driving shots to breaking news were shot after the fact. What happens while actually shooting breaking news looks pretty legit.

Do you remember this chase in LA where a photog went right up to the window of this van and they guy inside had a gun? A TV stations chopper shot video of it and everyone across the country was talking about how stupid that guy was for doing that. Well, he was one of the stringers in this show and that is brought up in one of the episodes of season 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrGBzNXHPAU
 
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FeedingFrenzy

Active member
Who Remembers ENG

OK, who remembers the Canadian TV show called ENG? It was a weekly series from back in the late 80's early 90's.
 

Run&Gun

Well-known member
OK, who remembers the Canadian TV show called ENG? It was a weekly series from back in the late 80's early 90's.
I do. I think I was in jr. high when I stumbled across it. Used to watch it every night, because I believe it was already in syndication here in the US.

I had to go and look it up, because I couldn't remember the exact years, but it ran five seasons from '89-'94.
 
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