From: NewNowNext
Richard Cook is a British TV producer who recently uprooted to NYC earlier this year to make a documentary with fashion designer Nicola Formicetti.
Back in England, his work as an executive producer included documentaries with and about Madonna, Queen and recently helping out on the film Amy, about the tragic life of the legendary Amy Winehouse.
Asked about some career highlights, Cook shares the time Mariah Carey asking if she could do an interview lying down because it made her look thin and when he reviewed the tapes from the camera being ripped out and thrown away by Britney Spears’ people after she made some “choice comments” and having a very weird moment filming in Hugh Hefner’s Love Grotto at the Playboy Mansion.
Let’s just say Cook’s got some good stories.
But perhaps most interesting of all about Cook is an LGBT-focused Instagram “project” he undertook in January, 2015 that will continue through 2016.
Below we chat with Richard Cook/@richardcook01.
Can you explain the unique way in which you use your Instagram?
Every month I take a different color as a theme and build a series of pictures based on that color, the idea being that if you scroll through my Instagram quickly enough you will see the colors of the rainbow flag. Being that there are 6 colors in the flag, every 6 months I start a new ‘flag’. The first go-around, I just took pictures of anything I would see during the day that I thought interesting in that color. As it went on, I realized it was testing my creativity a lot – it would have been easy to take a picture of a red apple for example, but no one would give a monkey’s ass would they? So I started to really think about what I was taking pictures of – that’s when it really became serious for me.
For the second ’flag,’ the pictures became more considered. I wanted the photos to only have one bit of color in them and everything else to be white (or flesh). This was a good idea until I moved in to my apartment in NYC and there were no white walls to shoot against. I quickly had to get the paint out and make one.
What gave you the initial inspiration to do this?
I was in a bar in London last December with a cool looking glitter ball in the shape of a skull. My friend and I battled to take a picture and post it on Instagram the quickest. Afterwards, I got really annoyed with myself as I realized I hadn’t put any thought in to the picture; it didn’t really mean much. I work in a creative industry and I realized my Instagram wasn’t a good advertisement for my creativity. I thought about the colour idea because it was Christmas and there was so much red around my family home at the time, so I started taking pictures of just red things. The gay rainbow flag idea then came as I wanted to make a subtle nod to my sexuality, without ramming it down people’s throats (so to speak).
Why Instagram for a project like this?
I think Instagram is the most creative platform, it’s not just a place for your friends to see what you’re up to (Facebook) or for wittering sarcastically in 140 characters (Twitter), it’s about being visual and although I’m no photographer by any means, I love taking pictures and I like that there’s a place to show them off
What’s been your favorite/least favorite color to photograph with?
I really, really hate purple. It’s the color of bruising and injury. You don’t see purple around too much either (apart from on Prince album covers). It’s a shame that purple is the last color of the rainbow flag – it’s made December a bit crap for my Instagram. It’s definitely been my least creative month I think.
Do certain colors gain more ’likes’?
No, I don’t think it’s the color that gains more likes but how creative you are with the picture. Sometimes I can be a bit lazy and take a picture that hasn’t had that much thought put in to it. For example me in a hat or a when I painted my hand green, rightly those don’t get many likes, but then when you put a lot of effort in, like when I spray painted a chicken blue for the Thanksgiving picture, or crawled in to a red coffee table (really difficult when the self time goes off after 10 seconds), they get a good response.
What is your plan for Jan-Jun 2016?
Thankfully it won’t feature me anymore [laughs]. I’m taking pictures of people within the LGBT community who inspire, influence and generally excite me. It will still be color themed, but I will think about the biography accompanying it a lot too. I’ve already taken a few and I’m happy with them. It’s a great excuse to reconnect with some of my friends, too. I am looking for some interesting subjects for the upcoming months. DM if you want to be featured.
What do you want people to glean from your Instagram?
I know a lot of my friends think I’ve gone nuts, especially when I take pictures of me with nothing on but a Velvet Underground album covering me, but I hope that people look at it and find it funny, probably a bit silly or sometimes clever. I put a massive amount of thought in to – it’s my main hobby now – and it’s lovely to get positive feedback and hear that people enjoy it.
What do you feel like is the most important issue facing LGBT going into 2016?
I really worry about all the cases of drug abuse that I hear about within our community, I really want to see the new film Chemsex which addresses the problem but I know it will be upsetting. It’s a shame to see people ruin there lives over something so stupid.
What do you do when you’re not “rainbowing it up” on IG?
I spend most of my time thinking up ideas for television shows as part of my job. I’m lucky I get to do something I love for work. I’m still discovering New York too, so am really enjoying walking around the city visiting museums, seeing plays – I saw the play A View From A Bridge the other week, it was really amazing. Russell Tovey steals the play.
What do you love most about being gay?
The sex.
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