Fela, the Toronto- and L.A.-based prodco co-founded by renowned music video helmer Director X, is teaming with Canada’s Insight Productions (a Boat Rocker company) on a new documentary series examining the history of the music video format, Video Star.

Currently in development, the 20 x 30-minute series will explore the creation and cultural impact of the music video from its beginnings in the 1970s, through the launch of MTV and other music video TV channels in the 1980s and onto the genre’s heyday in the ’90s, as budgets swelled to seven figures.

Each episode of the series will look at the artistry, craft and cultural legacy of one iconic video, featuring interviews with music writers and pop culture pundits to place each video within a historical context. Among the spotlighted videos and bodies of work are Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf”; Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice”; Madonna’s catalogue; Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”; Missy Elliot’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”; George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90”; Beyoncé’s “Formation”; and Childish Gambino’s “This Is America.”

Speaking with Playback sister publication Realscreen, Julien Christian Lutz (pictured) — who’s known professionally as Director X and has helmed videos for artists like Drake, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Usher, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Alicia Keys and more — says the new series is an opportunity to not only chart a groundbreaking medium that seemed to emerge out of nowhere to become a major cultural force, but also to give music videos their due as contributors to the broader culture.

“This has been my career, this is what brought me into filmmaking,” says X. “I really love the art form, love the potential, love the things that you can do with it… This series will be that place that says, ‘These [videos] are the ones that really shaped the culture, moved the planet, changed fashion, changed dialogue, changed dance.’ The impact of these things were massive.”

X speaks passionately about the effect that music videos had on film and television, citing such acclaimed Hollywood filmmakers as David Fincher and Michel Gondry, who got their start directing eye-catching clips for the likes of Madonna, George Michael, the Beastie Boys and the White Stripes.

“Just get in your mental time machine and remember what movies and TV shows used to look like before music videos, and then remember after it,” he says. “There’s a direct line from these music video guys into the film [and] television world. There’s one part that’s cute and culture-[focused] and, ‘Yeah, this is when everyone started doing this dance!’ And then there’s the [larger aspect] of, no, this was what changed everything, and your movies and TV shows would never look the same without this guy.”

For Insight, which has produced plenty of music-based content — from dozens of Juno Awards shows to series like Canadian Idol — Video Star fit right into the company’s slate.

“We’d seen in recent years shows that would focus on the anatomy of songwriting, but there wasn’t anything that delved into the composition of a music video and how it affected our culture,” Tanya Low, Insight Productions’ VP of development, tells Realscreen. “And certainly none from an inside lens, such as someone as iconic in the industry as Director X. So this makes so much sense for us.”

Insight VP and executive producer John Murray agrees that Director X was a perfect fit for the project, making connections between generations that will broaden the appeal of the series beyond Gen Xers looking for a nostalgia fix.

“If you talk to X for any period of time, he starts to draw these connection lines between things in the ’80s and videos in the ’90s and videos today,” Murray says. “There will be references to the whole history of videos and the evolution of videos in every episode. So there will be sort of a taste of everything in every episode, because all these connections are there.”

Video Star is executive produced by Fela co-founders and managing partners Director X and Taj Critchlow, as well as Fela COO Dean Rosen. Murray and John Brunton are executive producers for Insight Productions, with Kari Hollend serving as producer and originator of the concept, while Tanya Low is VP of development.

This story originally appeared in Realscreen

Photo: Lane Dorsey