I once asked an activist friend how they managed to go viral every single day. They said, "I tap into a conversation that's already happening."
That's what came to mind when I saw the news about Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes' new documentary, You Can See Everything.
What keeps you relevant is your proximity to other relevant people.
Every story about this surprise film has said that Elizabeth Holmes asked Nathan and Lance Oppenheim, his co-director, to document her last days of freedom before prison to "clear her name." But if you want to clear your name, you don't bring a documentary crew into your house and you certainly don't work with Nathan Fielder. This is the guy who designed a giant puppet version of someone else's mother with the capability to breastfeed him. You get Fielder involved because you know you're about to fade into obscurity behind bars. Coasting off his popularity to keep people talking about you makes clemency much more likely.
As for Nathan, he's never needed star power (or scam power) to get viewers, but it doesn't hurt to make a movie with a certain je ne sais con. Elizabeth's one of very few people who is as hard to read as Nathan, as demonstrated in their haunting trailer. The absurd unraveling of the character she created paired with Nathan's desire to be the most off-putting person on screen is sure to be an attractive chemistry for audiences. Perhaps it's an interesting artistic challenge for him, but Holmes' involvement also makes his film immediately more palatable to a wider range of people than his past projects. Notable that it premiered at Telluride, a film festival that caters to the rich—unlikely to be Nathan's core fanbase.
I really hate that I'm most definitely going to watch it but I didn't come here to craft an essay about documentary film. I want to talk about why more of us need to leverage each other's salience the way Fielder and Holmes are here: Your proximity to people who are already in the conversation is what keeps you relevant.
I was diagnosed at a young age with starting conversations people don't want to have.