Ask Scott Goldstein to name the career accomplishment he is most proud of, and he doesn't mention either of the two Emmys he won for producing L.A. Law. And nothing from his four years as supervising producer of NBC's Today Show comes to mind either. Instead, he names “The Point of View Diner,” an interactive video installation he created for The Museum of Tolerance, which is the educational wing of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
“My wife first asked me that question and I kind of surprised myself because my immediate response was The POV Diner,” Goldstein says. “I think it's because I got to combine my background in news and drama, and add to that an interactive element. And I really feel that the Diner is making a difference in people's lives. It's far more rewarding than anything I've ever done.”
Ironically, Goldstein never set out to get involved in interactive video or multimedia museum installations. He started his own production company in 1993 after the cancellation of Doogie Howser, M.D., which he produced for the series' entire four-year run on ABC. He says he was “pitching projects like everyone else in [Hollywood]” when he was approached with the diner idea by Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Wiesenthal Center. Goldstein was intrigued by the interactive element, but the project seemed daunting, if only because it was so undefined.
“Rabbi Hier gave me one line to work with: ‘A diner's a place where people talk and schmooz,’” recalls Goldstein, doing his best impression of the rabbi. “I said ‘OK, what else?’ He said ‘It should be interactive.’ That was it.”
As it turned out, that was all Goldstein needed. He began studying the museum's existing exhibits, which focus on two central themes: the dynamics of racism and prejudice in America and the history of the Holocaust. Within these interactive exhibits, Goldstein discovered another theme. “It seemed the link in all of the exhibits was that at some point people abrogated responsibility. They didn't want to get involved,” he says.
Developing that theme, Goldstein designed a 1950s-style diner in which controversial topics are “served up” on video jukeboxes through cutting-edge video-on-demand technology. Each diner patron is seated at the diner's counter or a booth, where they watch one of four video vignettes.
In “Prom Night,” an inebriated 17-year-old boy is killed in a car crash, while his date and a 12-year-old girl cling to life. After the scene is played out, Goldstein's unique script allows diners to question any of the characters in the video. Visitors are then asked to vote about the characters' varying degrees of personal responsibility for the incident. The results are immediately tabulated and shown on large screens. The voting is followed by news-footage examples of how the abrogation of personal responsibility can contribute to wars, child labor, and even genocide.
“The point of the diner is to get people to talk about these issues even after they leave,” Goldstein says. “I didn't set out to entertain people for 15 minutes, I wanted to reach them on a deeper level.”
In the four years since it opened, The POV Diner has become the centerpiece of the Museum of Tolerance. There are plans to open a second facility, The New York Tolerance Center, sometime in 2002 in New York's Times Square. Goldstein is also in talks with PBS to develop a television series based on his experience in interactive video. The show, which has the working title Endgame: Ethics and Morality in America, will premiere sometime in 2002 if funding can be secured. David E. Kelley, who got his start with Goldstein on L.A. Law and now produces T.V.'s Ally McBeal and The Practice, has written a script for the project. “[The concept] would take what I've done already to the next level,” Goldstein says. “It would be part video, part live guests, and part Internet.”
Goldstein is also pursuing other museum projects that will incorporate his newfound interest in interactive video. “Interactive video really gives people a sense of empowerment, and it's very rewarding artistically to create something that affects people so deeply,” he says.
