October 2009: Other Stories
For the last few weeks of the year, I’m going through stories I saved, but never posted. Today’s stories are from October 2009:
* With the shift in management at Universal Pictures, there were a number of articles reflecting on the current movie studios’ business model. Here are three of them. First, from TheWrap this piece that begins with a quote from new Universal Pics chairman Adam Fogelson:
Interviewed by TheWrap on Monday,Fogelson was asked about his vision for change. “In terms of my vision, it’s our vision,” he responded vaguely. “Donna [Langley] and Rick [Finkelstein] and I have spent a lot of time over the past few days making sure we all felt good about something we could accomplish together. “
He added: “One of the goals is to redouble our efforts to make sure every time we greenlight a movie we are taking a responsible risk.”
In other words, focus on the bottom line. Well, that’s not new.
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If the movie industry is headed toward crisis, it is not at all clear that the new group of executives have some secret insights about how to forge Hollywood’s future.
Indeed, the fundamental skills of a movie mogul may not be about understanding Twitter at all.
It may instead be about re-embracing the fundamental skills that go into making and selling entertaining movies.
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And independent producers, who are struggling as never before, will tell you that it’s about teasing out the right stories, and making them for the right price.
Anyone with common sense will tell you that many movies have gotten too expensive, and that audiences are less easily fooled today by schlock.
Then from the L.A. Times:
As the lineup of newly elevated studio executives scramble for solutions, expect an even greater emphasis on so-called “branded entertainment”: sequels and movies based on toys, old television shows and other familiar themes. Movies already in development include one based on the View-Master children’s toy and an adaptation of the board game Battleship, scheduled for release July 2011, the same month as a third “Transformers” film. There also will likely be far fewer adult dramas and less reliance on movie stars — many of whom can no longer draw ticket buyers, and are seeing their guaranteed salaries slashed.
“You’re not going to get away with the old business model,” said Hal Vogel, an entertainment industry analyst who runs Vogel Capital Management. “They still haven’t found a new business model to replace the old one.”
My read? “responsible risk” + “old business model” = more “branded entertainment.”
Finally some thoughts from the always insightful Patrick Goldstein:
What’s fascinating to me is that even as Universal is totally revamping its executive team and Disney has named a successor to studio chief Dick Cook, who was abruptly fired two weeks ago, no one seems to have given much thought to the complex array of skill sets needed to run a contemporary movie studio.
Until a decade or so ago, it was pretty easy to identify what it took to run a movie studio. The best executives had the same kinds of skills — they were movie pickers. They could identify a good script, figure out the kind of talent who should star in it and hire the right filmmaker to make it, all the while having a relatively good grasp of its commercial potential. But studios aren’t movie-idea incubators anymore. They’re brand businesses, always on the lookout for a project that can be transformed into a franchise that not only has worldwide appeal but — even more crucially — can be duplicated over and over in sequel form.
Now that they are so dependent on the franchise business, studios need leaders with a skill set that is something closer to an advertising brand manager. It’s hardly a surprise that Disney, which is now largely a collection of identifiable brands (Pixar, Bruckheimer, DreamWorks and Marvel) has replaced Cook with Disney Channels chief Rich Ross, who has overseen the creation of such successful young teen brands as “High School Musical” and “Hannah Montana.”
But if I were hiring a new studio chief today, I’d be looking for someone young and hungry with the eyes, ears and voracious appetite of a real pop-culture fan, because it’s the vast landscape of comic books, graphic novels, cult TV shows, webisodes and video games that will provide studios with the raw material for the next generation of mainstream movies [emphasis added].
That’s a great point. The recent management shifts at Universal and Disney are ‘safe’ bets, but only insofar as they reflect the ‘old’ way of doing business. The paradigm is shifting and typical of technological advances and their concomitant influence on culture at an increasing speed. Can these ‘old farts’ keep pace? I don’t think so. Which leaves a huge void — and another reason I’m optimistic about indie filmmakers staging a new revolution based on digital production, distribution, and marketing.
* For no good reason, I started to aggregate a comprehensive list of so-called ‘screenwriting gurus.’ With your help, this is what we’ve got:
Will Akers
Pilar Alessandra
James Bonnet
Amnon Buchbinder
Paul Chitlik
Linda Cowgill
Keith Cunningham
Dan Decker
Charles Deemer
Pamela Douglas
Alex Epstein
Syd Field
Denny Martin Flinn
David S Freeman
William Goldman
Paul Gulino
Heather Hale
Michael Halperin
Michael Hauge
Neil D. Hicks
Marilyn Horowtiz
David E. Howard
Lew Hunter
Karl Iglesias
Christopher Keane
Jeffrey Kitchen
Viki King
Richard Krevolin
Tom Lazarus
Dara Marks
Bill Martell
Billy Mernit
Robert McKee
Philip Parker
Thomas Pope
Christopher Riley
Mogens Rukov
Armando Saldana
Ellen Sandler
Linda Seger
Blake Snyder
Chris Soth
J. Michael Staczynski
Ron Suppa
Rob Tobin
David Trottier
John Truby
Jennifer Van Sijll
Christopher Vogler
Richard Walter
Stanley D Williams
Cynthia Whitcomb
Victoria Wisdom
Who are we missing?
* More movement in indie filmmaking:
Call for Content: Project Accessible Hollywood has launched a guerrilla filmmaking competition inviting participants from the LA-area to create digital entertainment by using pro-sumer cameras and mobile phones with video-capturing capabilities. Post your submissions on the PAH website for a chance to win cash and have your work screened at this year’s PAH-Fest Oct. 25-Nov. 1. The event’s celebrity panel of judges includes Francis Ford Coppola, Julie Corman, Tom Waits and Elmore Leonard.
Featured Events
Mobiflicks Competition
Do you have a story idea that would make a great short film? One with local flair and a regional interest? Submit it to the Mobiflicks Competition, and if your story is chosen, you and your team will be invited to PAH-FEST to make your 6 minute movie during the festival.
Cellphone Art
Shoot a one minute piece of video using a video-enabled cellphone or one provided. A surprise topic will be given before the contest and the contestants will have just a few hours to create their piece.
DigiPortraits
This contest will feature a short video portrait of you or another person. B.Y.O.G. (Bring Your Own Gear) or use equipment we provide for you — including an Adobe editing system.
Circus Vision
A new concept for PAH, kids 14 and under will be able to participate in a smart phone visual treasure hunt and win a prize for themselves and their schools.
Poems
Using a video-enabled cell phone, participants record imagery that visually expresses an original musical composition. Computers, editing software and technical support are provided to help participants edit and complete their pieces.
* And finally, what would autumn be without the announcement of the Annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Begun at San Jose State University in 1982:
An international literary parody contest, the competition honors the memory (if not the reputation) of Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873). The goal of the contest is childishly simple: entrants are challenged to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Although best known for “The Last Days of Pompeii” (1834), which has been made into a movie three times, originating the expression “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and phrases like “the great unwashed” and “the almighty dollar,” Bulwer-Lytton opened his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the immortal words that the “Peanuts” beagle Snoopy plagiarized for years, “It was a dark and stormy night.”
And this year’s ‘winner’ is from David McKenzie, a 55-year-old Quality Systems consultant and writer from Federal Way, Washington:
Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the “Ellie May,” a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin’ and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.
Now that is a bad opening to an imaginary novel!
Tomorrow — stories from November.