Choreographer Brian Friedman Shares Original Concept He Wrote For Britney Spears' "Toxic" music video

[PokemonSpears]

I think the whole thing is kinda sad, because we'll never really know. Even if we could ask Britney right now, she would be like "what is Toxic? everything's a blur " 

[Bigno]

Ain't this thread getting lost on the branches? Yes, choreographers can also be creative directors, this is not rare at all. Actually, is fairly common for many artists and projects. That doesn't discredit him, nor that "treatment" brings any validation to his iffy claims. My points are basically, Britney was always praised as someone who never took credit from others (like Beyoncé, for instance) and now we have this guy, almost 20 years later, who by saying what he says, is indirectly calling Britney a thief (since she stated in many occasions she came up with the main idea of the video) not only regarding Toxic, but now Overprotected and so on. A guy who should have said something years ago and who chooses not to speak about anything more transcendent like her situation, but decides to shade one of her most iconic videos and claim credit was not given during one of the most convoluted times of her public life. Sounds awfully convenient to him given the timing and context. As many have said, it's like a vulture saw an opportunity. If this were the case, why did he work with her again for Hold it Against Me after he was not properly credited for so many ideas? Why did he continually let them take credit away from him? Why would you work with an artist over and over if she is blatantly declaring "she came up with the idea" of something you created? See, I have attended many of his workshops and he doesn't strike me as someone who would just keep it quiet nd let people rip him off continually. I just thibk this is not the moment in Britney's life to be doing this because she can't even speak out. 

[BritneyWiki]

5 hours ago, Bigno said:

Ain't this thread getting lost on the branches? Yes, choreographers can also be creative directors, this is not rare at all. Actually, is fairly common for many artists and projects. That doesn't discredit him, nor that "treatment" brings any validation to his iffy claims. My points are basically, Britney was always praised as someone who never took credit from others (like Beyoncé, for instance) and now we have this guy, almost 20 years later, who by saying what he says, is indirectly calling Britney a thief (since she stated in many occasions she came up with the main idea of the video) not only regarding Toxic, but now Overprotected and so on. A guy who should have said something years ago and who chooses not to speak about anything more transcendent like her situation, but decides to shade one of her most iconic videos and claim credit was not given during one of the most convoluted times of her public life. Sounds awfully convenient to him given the timing and context. As many have said, it's like a vulture saw an opportunity. If this were the case, why did he work with her again for Hold it Against Me after he was not properly credited for so many ideas? Why did he continually let them take credit away from him? Why would you work with an artist over and over if she is blatantly declaring "she came up with the idea" of something you created? See, I have attended many of his workshops and he doesn't strike me as someone who would just keep it quiet nd let people rip him off continually. I just thibk this is not the moment in Britney's life to be doing this because she can't even speak out. 

Isn't he also the one that shaded her dancing in HIAM? What an @ss.

[bitbitboi]

6 hours ago, PokemonSpears said:

 

 

ugh I miss these eloquent days... Now she only says "cool" and "you'll have to wait and see"  The business destroyed her mind 

[Bigno]

1 hour ago, Robbyyyy said:

Isn't he also the one that shaded her dancing in HIAM? What an @ss.

He did. When he did it though I was like, OK, I get his point. As a choreographer I can understand how that environment was frustrating. But he has been getting followers, even selling the Slave choreography (he only partially created) and getting a shirt ton of attention using her. 

[MortalMarshmallow]

10 hours ago, Oxic said:

How they don't even match up? A lot of choreographers work like creative directors for MV or performances or even a whole tour, see Parris Goebel was the creative director for Justin Bieber's Sorry, Sam Smith's How Do You Sleep MV and the Jlo's show for the superbowl. They definitely complement each other, so the choreographer's work is really multidimensional, cuz the whole video is going to be molded based on their ideas and how they want to represent the song.

Sorry was 💯 dancing so of course it is directed by a choreographer but you can’t compare that to a mv with an actual narrative like Toxic for example. 

[bas che]

Wait, with the exception of actors, can someone tell me how is this different from the video that we got? 

[Steel Magnolia]

Nobody is lying. 

In the film world, these are all unique and distinct parts of the process:

- idea
- concept
- treatment
- script

It sounds as if Brian wants credit for the treatment. He's not asking for credit for the idea, the concept, or the script.

It sounds as if Britney read the treatment to Joseph over the phone, and from there Joseph wrote the script. He probably had no idea that Brian had written the treatment.