Scoring Adam McKay’s Absurd ‘Big Money’ Mock Commercial

American film director Adam McKay is known for ‘Anchorman’, ‘Don’t Look Up’, ‘The Big Short’ and has just said farewell to the hit show ‘Succession’, for which he was an executive producer. But he’s still got plenty to keep him busy, having recently launched a nonprofit content production studio called Yellow Dot Studios. The aim of the company is to raise awareness about the global climate crisis by producing videos, memes and other shareable media for viral distribution.

Adam and Yellow Dot have kicked things off with a video titled ‘Commercial for Big Money’, a mock advertisement that facetiously narrates the lifestyles of the mega-rich, picking apart the gross inequalities in society and the selfishness and corruption that comes from the ‘Big Money’ companies and people who are preventing action on the climate crisis. The film is accompanied by an acoustic guitar score that, in tandem with the script, begins to unravel in a chilling way.

Yellow Dot Studios, which is financed by climate philanthropists and donors, produced the film, with Adam McKay writing the script himself. Lost Planet's Charlie Johnston edited the piece and the music company Pull provided the original score. Pull’s owner and executive producer Scott Brittingham tells LBB’s Ben Conway that they were thrilled to work again with long-time collaborator Charlie Johnston, who was offered the project by legendary film director Hank Corwin, and described the experience as “a bit of a crash and burn situation.”

He says, “When you hear the names Adam McKay and Hank Corwin you kind of jump in head-first to be part of some type of fantastic disruption. Adam’s script relied exclusively on stock footage and Charlie had about 48 hours to get a first cut together.”

He describes the film as a story that follows the “aspirational ideal” of rags to riches, and how the experience of earning money - and the freedom and responsibility that comes with it - can shape your world view. However, the video takes a dark turn as it explores how money can become an all-corrupting power and a source of greed.

Also reflecting on the writing that drew him to this project, editor Charlie adds, “Mckay's script is a brilliant satire of the despicable so-called elites and their globe-killing behaviour. The video had to be beautiful, contemptuous, funny and infuriating. And entertaining to boot!”

When first discussing the music for this project, Scott says that he didn’t necessarily approach the film as a comedic project or mock commercial initially. “The subject matter is way too existential and absurd,” he explains. After going back and forth over how dark to take the soundtrack as it evolves throughout the piece, he says that Charlie suggested to begin with “an acoustic nostalgic vibe” which then - similarly to the script - would “warp and become chaotic and fucked.”

With that being said, Scott and the Pull team ensured that Adam’s brilliantly dark and witty script would not be overshadowed by an overbearing track. “We definitely enjoyed pushing it but in the end, Adam needed the script to take the lead … until his own voice is used for the demonic beast at the end.”

Reflecting on the project as a whole, Scott says that any opportunity to utilise Pull’s talents and capabilities for meaningful causes is an “incredibly rewarding” moment - such as this project which helps begin Yellow Dot Studios’ pushback against oil companies and other ‘Big Money’ corporations’ disinformation and climate change inaction.

“Admittedly, they are projects that may conflict with our personal and political beliefs and we navigate them as best we can,” he jokes, “but in the end, we’ve got to pay for our private jets somehow, right?