View source for David Manning (fictitious writer)

'''David Manning''' (sometimes "'''Dave'''") was a pseudonym used by a marketing executive  around July 2000 to give consistently good reviews for releases from Sony subsidiary [[Columbia Pictures]]. Several fictional review quotes attributed to "David Manning" were used in the promotion of medieval action/drama ''[[A Knight's Tale (film)|A Knight's Tale]]'' (describing [[Heath Ledger]] as "this year's hottest new star!") and [[Rob Schneider]]'s comedy ''[[The Animal]]'' ("Another winner!"),<ref name=Newsweek>Horn, John (June 2, 2001). [https://web.archive.org/web/20010609225327/http://www.msnbc.com/news/581770.asp?cp1=1 "The Reviewer Who Wasn't There"]. ''[[Newsweek]]''.</ref> the latter of which generally received mixed to poor reviews by real critics.

== Details ==
Manning was named after a friend of Matthew Cramer, the Sony marketing executive responsible for the insertions. Manning was credited to ''[[The Ridgefield Press]]'', a small [[Connecticut]] weekly that actually published movie reviews written by the father-and-son team of Mark and Jonathan Schumann. During an investigation into Manning's quotes, ''[[Newsweek]]'' reporter John Horn discovered that the newspaper had never heard of him.<ref name=Newsweek /> The story emerged at around the same time as an announcement that Sony had used employees posing as moviegoers in television commercials to praise [[Mel Gibson]]'s ''[[The Patriot (2000 film)|The Patriot]]''. These occurrences, in tandem, raised questions and controversy about ethics in [[movie marketing]] practices.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/sony-fake-film-critic-story-4062655|title="Did Sony Once Create a Fake Film Critic to Praise Its Movies?"|last=McKittrick|first=Christopher|date=1 August 2016|publisher=''ThoughtCo.com''|accessdate=8 May 2017}}</ref>

On June 10, 2001, on an episode of ''[[Le Show]]'', host [[Harry Shearer]] conducted an in-studio interview with David Manning. The voice of Manning was provided by a computer [[voice synthesizer]].<ref name="leShow20010610">{{cite web | url=http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=128 | last=Shearer | first=Harry | title=le Show | publisher=HarryShearer.com | date=June 10, 2001 | accessdate=January 5, 2009 | deadurl=yes | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530051629/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=128 | archivedate=May 30, 2008 | df= }}</ref>

On August 3, 2005, Sony made an out-of-court settlement and agreed to refund $5 each to dissatisfied customers who saw ''[[Hollow Man]]'', ''[[The Animal]]'', ''[[The Patriot (2000 film)|The Patriot]]'', ''[[A Knight's Tale]]'', or ''[[Vertical Limit]]'' in American theatres, as a result of Manning's reviews.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Elsworth|first1=Catherine|title=Sony ordered to pay $1.5m for film-goer hoax|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1495591/Sony-ordered-to-pay-1.5m-for-film-goer-hoax.html|website=The Telegraph|accessdate=14 August 2015}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/david_manning/ David Manning entry] from the [[Museum of Hoaxes]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070713104150/http://www.sony-sucks.com/crime/5-sony-bucks MetaCritic and RottenTomato rankings for the movies reviewed by Manning]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/b160586.pdf ''Rezec v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.''], No. 160586 (Cal. App. Jan. 27, 2004)
{{Portal|2000s}}
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[[Category:Fictional writers]]
[[Category:Nonexistent people used in hoaxes]]
[[Category:Hoaxes in the United States]]
[[Category:Journalistic hoaxes]]
[[Category:Sony]]
[[Category:2000 hoaxes]]