Park Slope's Own Morgan Spurlock Teaches Us A Thing Or Two About Failure

Photo by Linus Hallesnius

Morgan Spurlock is the first person to make failure feel alluring. For me, at least. 

The documentary filmmaker (and Park Slope dad) responsible for the Academy Award-nominated Super Size Me, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Hulu's A Day in the Life, and a bunch of other amazing projects that I'm totally obsessed with, is in the midst of a 365-day endeavor called Failure Club, which airs on Yahoo Screen and follows the lives of 7 New Yorkers who are all chasing dreams that they'd previously been too afraid to pursue. 

"My father used to say to me growing up," Spurlock said in an early episode, "There's two kinds of people in this world. There's people who do what they say they're going to do, and everybody else."

DAY-UM, you guys. Did an invisible tail just droop between your legs because you fall into the latter category? If so, now's as good a time as any to get off your ass and DO THAT THING YOU'VE BEEN TOO SCARED TO DO, because none of us are gettin' any younger. If I've learned anything from watching this show, it's that once we get past the fear of failure, our outlook on the world changes. As Morgan puts it, "The worst thing anyone is ever going to tell you is 'No'." 

Failure Club documents the successes, failures and overall growth of each participant who has a specific goal in mind. There's Elizabeth, who wants to write a world famous Christmas song that becomes a top ten hit on iTunes. There's Eric, who knows ziltch about motorcycles, yet plans to build one from scratch and take it on a ride with friends of his father, who recently passed away.

And then there's Meg.

Meg is a Project Manager who dreams of performing a 20-minute stand-up comedy set in front of 200 people. Her biggest obstacle? She has ZERO material and crippling stage fright. Meg is by far my favorite person on this show. She may have bombed at her first open mic (who wouldn't?), but since then I've watched her confidence grow and her jokes gain momentum (Meg, if you're reading this: YOU FUCKING ROCK, GIRL).

In short: I am hooked on this show.

I recently stopped by Morgan’s Soho office to chat about Failure Club, his thoughts on the reputation of a Park Slope parent, and how he'd turn our neighborhood into the subject of a documentary.

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