After Watching ‘Ren Faire,’ King George Coulam Gave Jeff Baldwin His Old G.M. Job Back
Chris O'Falt
VP, Features Strategy
Apparently, the succession plot twists at the Renaissance Fair in Todd Mission, Texas did not end with the conclusion of the three-part HBO docuseries “Ren Faire.” In fact, according to director Lance Oppenheim, it was the airing of the last two episodes on June 9 that actually led to the latest chapter in the saga.
“George [Coulam] watched Episodes 2 and 3, and he loved the series so much that he actually cleaned the office out again and he gave Jeff [Baldwin] his old job back, so now Jeff is the new general manager,” said Oppenheim on an upcoming episode of IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast. “Jeff is back in charge.”
This is the position Baldwin was in at the start of Episode 1 of “Ren Faire.” The loyal, dedicated employee of 43 years, had risen from being the festival’s long-serving entertainment director to its new general manager, in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the multi-faceted multi-million dollar enterprise that Coulam had built from scratch. At the start of the series Baldwin is under the impression Coulam, the 86-year old mayor-owner-cosplay king, plans to steadily step aside in the coming years (seeking the companionship of a yet-to-be-found younger woman in his Golden years), handing over the reigns to Baldwin and his team. But at the end of Episode 1, which Oppenheim coined “Jeff’s Ego Death,” the rug is pulled out from underneath Baldwin when Coulam decides to sell the festival (in a deal that ultimately falls apart) to kettle-corn vendor Louie Migliaccio, who doesn’t respect Baldwin.
To make matters worse, Coulam humilated Baldwin by making former elephant trainer Darla Smith co-general manager, and the de facto boss, before eventually firing Baldwin in brutal fashion. In Episode 2 and 3, Baldwin is crestfallen and depressed, supplying Oppenheim’s story its Shakespearean tragedy. To Baldwin and his wife Brandi, the festival employees are like the children they never had (something he says in his tearful toast at the end of the festival season), and the fantasy world gave his life meaning. By the end of the three-part series Baldwin is a different man, having lost weight (through surgery) and his purpose in life, he begs Coulam for his old-old job back as entertainment director — telling his former employer he was right, Baldwin himself sees he was never fit to run the festival.
According to Oppenheim, in watching the last two episodes of “Ren Faire,” Coulam was able to see how cruel and unfair he was to the dedicated servant.
“The way Jeff describes it, he says that the documentary was sort of like the three [spirits in Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’], the Ghost of Christmas past arrived and woke up Scrooge,” said Oppenheim, describing the affect watching the documentary had on Coulam, who, according to Oppenheim, apologized to Baldwin after watching the series, before firing his office staff and rehiring Baldwin to run day-to-day operations as the new general manager.
Oppenheim warns against seeing this latest twist as a hopeful sign of a new beginning. As Episode 3 makes clear, Coulam will never let go, the same cyclical patterns will repeat itself until the king dies.
“You’re with someone who has given 43 years of his life to that cycle, hoping that that one day it will change, it’s almost like a real life version of the Don Quixote chasing the windmills, it’s a fantasy that ultimately entombs everyone,” said Oppenheim. “It’s exactly what George wants. He wants to go the way of an Egyptian Pharaoh. He has a mausoleum on his property, he wants to be buried in it, and he wants to take everyone with him.”
Oppenheim feels certain the same patterns he saw repeated the three years he documented the festival will repeat themselves again, including Coulam flirting with the idea of selling to Migliaccio.
“George is sending Jeff to India to go to a chocolate convention, and you know what’s going to happen when that happens, the same events: Louie is going to meet with George, and there’s going to be a phone call to Jeff,” said Oppenheim, making reference to Baldwin’s all-expenses paid research trip to Germany in Episode 1, which is when Coulam once again (it happens every year) tried to sell the festival to Migliaccio, and he delivers the phone call leading to “Jeff’s Ego Death.”
“The same thing is going to happen forever, and I think there’s something extremely tragic about that,” said Oppenheim.
Look out for IndieWire’s “Toolkit” episode with Lance Oppenheim on podcast platforms (Apple, Spotify) in July.
