“What Ails Hollywood? Six Movie Experts Weigh In On a Cure”
From The Wrap:
At the dawn of 2012, TheWrap asked six industry experts what the future holds for Hollywood and what, if anything, can prevent the business from being a casualty of the digital revolution taking place around it.
Wall Street expert Harold Vogel, analyst and author Edward Jay Epstein, producers Mike Medavoy and David Hoberman, critic Joe Morgenstern and director Gavin O’Connor all weighed in with a range of observations from a pessimistic “there is no cure” to an optimistic view of burgeoning creativity among young artists.
A few key points. From Medavoy:
The decision to rely on remakes and sequels at higher costs either makes people feel that they have seen a movie and can either wait and see it on the after-market or miss it all together.
Fresh and different helps in the long and short term.
From Morgenstern:
There’s been a dismaying spectacle of studio ineptitude. “Bridesmaids” was the one studio film that emerged from the meat grinder unflawed and that was only because [producer] Judd Apatow had the power to protect it.
It was a raggedy film and not everything worked, but I’ll take raggedy over expected any day. It was complex, funny, raunchy, and all of those elements were done with zest and conviction.
From O’Connor:
It’s about being entrepreneurial and creating content that I care about and that I think people will respond to.
“May you live in interesting times.” A saying we’ve all probably heard. Certainly any of us involved in the movie business, Hollywood or otherwise, or aspiring to work in it find ourselves in an interesting time. On the one hand, technological advances have never made it easier to make and distribute a movie, so in theory we are on the cusp of some sort of great cinematic democratization. On the other hand, I don’t know anyone who looks at the state of mainstream movies today and doesn’t wonder, “Is this the best we can do?”
It’s anybody’s guess how things shake out, but one thing I take away from the current situation in Hollywood: Filmmakers and writers who can bring something unique to the table are and will be in great demand. Everyone is looking for someone… anyone who can tell a story that brings a jolt to the marketplace. Yes, for the major studios, the stories have to fit within well-known genres, but a script with some distinctive element — premise, characters, plot twists, voice — will be at a premium. In other words that basic Hollywood operating principle ‘similar but different’ may be skewed nowadays a bit more toward different than it has been.
For more of the article, go here.
What do you think? Where do you see Hollywoood’s state of affairs in five years? Ten years? What opportunities exist for screenwriters in light of the current business and consumer climate?