The Empire Carpet Commercial Never Ended

The Hollywood writer's strike never ended.  

During those dark times, the lost landscape of traditional filmmaking found an unlikely ally in a pastime often associated with retirees and business networking: golf. 

More specifically, VR Golf.  No, really.

What started as a casual diversion evolved into a new medium of creative expression.  The first step towards VR + AR + AI was made.

We focus in on a Wes Anderson project tentatively titled Ben Hogan and the Left Hand Path, a Muppet Babies reboot that begins communicating messages interpreted as “troublesome”. 

The new Muppet Babies were caricatures of classic professional golfers in the style of Jim Henson:  Jack Nicklaus, the painter; Arnold Palmer, the musician; Ben Hogan, the quantum mechanic; Tiger Woods, the polymath; 

John Daly, the hero.  Michelle Wie, the product.

These Babies play and compete in VR Golf, a troublesome platform seen to be communicating new religious dogmas embedded with occult secrets.  

The film was planned as a blend of animation and live action.

Prior to production, Meta introduced VR to Anderson by sending him 100 headsets and a pitch for possible cross-promotion with the Meta Quest 3 release.  They envisioned celebrity golf tournaments with actors from the live-action parts of the film.

Anderson fucked around on VR for a few days, but didn’t make much of it.  Then instructional golf videos began invading his algorithm.  Infuriating at first, he was struck by the accuracy of the advice. 

Anderson tried applying the instructions he picked up, and VR soon transcended his initial understanding.

SAG-AFTRA

With shooting schedules disrupted, Wes Anderson became obsessed with VR Golf.  This obsession led him to court new players.  The 99 head-sets trickled into the possession of actors and writers, who found themselves having meetings with Anderson and others on the Pebble Beaches of the virtual world.  

Over the course of 100 rounds between an now expanded A-List collection of Anderson’s friends, a revelation was unlocked: VR and AR could offer the first genuine cinematic application that was both immersive and interactive, a complete fusion of stage and screen, where actor and audience were decentralized.  

In the course of three months, Anderson began turning living rooms into interactive AR environments where scripts were not merely performed but improvised. Writers and actors collaborated to create responsive scenes, breathing life into avatars in a fusion of AR and AI. This wasn't merely storytelling; it was a living theater tailored to individual participation. 

The Fourth Wall wasn't just broken; it was redefined.

The first production involved watching the Super Bowl with Bill Murray.  The second was a weekly cup of coffee with Owen and Luke Wilson. Every Wednesday, at 6:30 am, both Wilsons walk into your kitchen and have a cup of coffee with who ever is sitting at your table.

“The experience would include live commentary and pre-recorded behaviors, directed by your own reactions and inputs. A custom-tailored spectacle in the comfort of your home.

This intersection of technologies may have birthed a new form of art, emerging out of necessity, born from a strike that threatened to cripple an industry. Instead, it might just reinvent it. A future where improvised digital series by random groups of people could intersect into a completed form and then be as critically acclaimed as any Oscar-winning film”

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