It Starts At Home

1982, 24:58 min, color, sound

It Starts at Home is a song-and-dance performance sitcom in which our hapless hero Mike encounters his fifteen minutes of fame. When Mike's ordinary domestic activities are inadvertently cablecast to the televisions of a receptive viewing public, a fast-talking entrepreneur promises him cable stardom, re-making his image and marketing his life as a spectacle to be scrutinized and consumed by the audience. In a wry twist on the concept of "public access" cable, Mike subverts the medium's one-way transmission. With comic irony, Smith satirizes the insinuation of TV into the daily life of the average American and exposes the absurdity of the television image-making machine.

Performer: Michael Smith. Director/Camera: Mark Fischer. Storyboard: Mark Fischer, Carole Ann Klonarides, Michael Smith. Music: Mark Bingham, A. Leroy, Michael Smith. Dialogue: Dike Blair, Barbara Kruger, Michael Smith. Set Design: Power Boothe. Editors: Mark Fischer, Michael Smith. Producers: Michael Smith and Mark Fischer, Mike and Mark Productions.