Joseph Gordon-Levitt plugs hitRECord.org

Wednesday night, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt strode onto the stage at Irvine Auditorium. Aiming a video camera at the audience, Gordon-Levitt said, “I actually heard someone told you to turn your cameras off. They were perfectly wrong …You can record this whole damn thing if you want, and I’d love it if you do.”

With that, the Penn community was introduced to the Social Planning and Events Committee Film Society’s fall speaker, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Although Gordon-Levitt has starred in such films as (500) Days of Summer and Inception, his presentation focused on another aspect of his career: his open collaborative production company hitRECord.org, which launched in 2005. Gordon-Levitt asked the audience to engage in the collaborative process throughout the evening: “I don’t want to talk to you,” he said. “I want to talk with you. Do me a favor and upload what you’ve got to hitRECord.org so we can make art of it.”

As he paced back and forth across the stage, Gordon-Levitt encouraged attendees to post questions to Twitter throughout the evening. Several times, Gordon-Levitt reached into the pocket of his jeans and grabbed his iPhone, which he used to check the Twitter stream generated by audience members. Gordon-Levitt called attention to several Twitter posts in order to actively engage the audience.

Gordon-Levitt’s presentation also emphasized the uniqueness of hitRECord.org and explained the guiding principles of the website, which are outlined in what he has dubbed the “hitRECord Accord.” Gordon-Levitt elaborated, “I do think that intellectual property laws are sort of outdated, but as a creative recording company, we need to respect the law.”

Of Gordon-Levitt’s appearance, SPEC Film Co-Director and Engineering sophomore Blair Canner said, “I’m glad that we were able to put this on because it’s so different from other speakers we’ve brought to campus. Plus, we incorporate the arts section at Penn, which is often ignored.”

College freshman Brittney Jones-Ali appreciated the style of Gordon-Levitt’s presentation. “I liked how he utilized Twitter to get people to ask questions,” she said.

Other Penn students felt inspired by Gordon-Levitt’s speech. “He definitely inspired me to go back and do film,” College sophomore Rebecka Zavaleta said.

Some students, however, were disappointed by how little Gordon-Levitt talked about his career.

“I thought it was kind of weird how he was just marketing [his project] to us,” Nursing sophomore Jenny Kim said.

College junior Meg Krasne agreed, explaining that while although she thought it was probably really interesting for some people.

Before the evening concluded, Gordon-Levitt advised the audience to pursue their passions even in the face of rejection. “In the end no matter what your friends say, what your teachers say, what your parents say, you’ve just got to do it,” he said. “I’ve had people tell me I suck, and I guess I’m just used to it.”

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