Director Of Walk The Moon’s ‘Shut Up And Dance Video’ Had To Raise Money To Attend MTV VMAs

Josh Forbes was stoked when the video he directed along with Walk the Moon for the song 'Shut Up and Dance' was nominated for a VMA. Who wouldn't be?

But then, he found out that if he wanted to actually go to the VMAs instead of watching them at home, he'd have to fork over money for a ticket. A lot of money. The start at $400 for the nosebleeds.

That's a crap policy. Viacom, MTVs parent company, made BILLIONS of dollars last year. Plural. Many billions. A record number of billions, actually.

Some nice people picked up Viacom's slack, and Josh and his wife BOTH get to go to the VMAs.

The GoFundMe has brought in almost double what Josh was aiming for, so now he's trying to get another video director to the show, and he's also urging people to donate to his kid's school for the blind.

Hey everybody!

This thing has gotten out of control. But in a good way. I'm overwhelmed by the support.

I know that there's an attitude in Hollywood that everyone's a cast member of Entourage and takes power meetings in cocaine-powered-hot tubs but most of us are just regular guys and women just working paycheck to paycheck.

I'm grateful to the beast for giving me a job. And by the beast I mean the massive corporate complex of conglomerates that employ us all. I'm grateful that I can be a goofball in Lakewood, CO with a dream of being a director and that music videos have been able to facilitate that.

It's not like there's one guy up there saying "let's screw the artists. Let's screw directors! Now go kill a leopard for me!" It's just the system.

Artists and filmmakers get taken advantage of because we're sensitive people. We feel big. We're not always that great at getting our needs met and valuing our work properly because we'd be doing this for fun anyway. The truth is, the world needs us. And our work is extremely valuable. And I feel this value right now in every donation.

Now, while we are way beyond my goal, if love to direct your generosity to another director who'd like to go to the VMAs: Andrew Hines. @andyhinestv

Or, you can make a donation to my kid's school The Blind Children's Center. They are doing much more amazing work than I could ever accomplish.

http://www.blindchildrenscenter.org

Thanks guys! I'll see you at the inevitable backlash.

Love,
Josh

 

Moonman Photo: MTV/Viacom