Why screenwriters root for movies to succeed
From BoxOfficeMojo:
Following three-straight months of year-over-year declines, the movie business took a slight turn for the better in January 2012. Overall box office came in at over $831 million for the month, which is a 10 percent improvement from January 2011. That’s not a high standard, though, considering the absolutely miserable state of the box office at this time last year. January 2012 did wind up down 21 percent from 2010 (which had Avatar) and 18 percent from 2009 (Gran Torino, Paul Blart), and was even a bit off from January 2008. Aside from last year, ticket sales were at their lowest levels since 1995, indicating that the business isn’t completely out of the woods yet.
Well, maybe not that much of a difference. Still to start the year up 10% is way better than last year’s January which was atrocious.
Why should screenwriters care whether movie revenues go up or not? Let me tell you a story. I was in a pitch meeting and we were schmoozing before we launched into our bit. Conversation veered toward a movie from a rival studio that was coming out that weekend. The buzz on the film was pretty bad and I made some lame joke about it bombing. The mood suddenly changed. One exec stared at me and said, “Look, we’re rivals. But nobody in Hollywood wants any movie to bomb. It’s bad for everyone.” I looked around the table, a gaggle of heads bobbing up and down.
I explored this subject over time with a variety of people in the business and discovered many reasons behind this attitude. For example, if a movie bombs, it is an indictment of Hollywood’s system of acquiring, developing, producing and marketing films.
If a movie bombs, there is a fear that it may sour the movie-going audience, at least temporarily, and drive numbers down in the short-term.
But mostly I think it goes to this: If a movie bombs, that is a stark reminder it could happen to anyone. Everyu movie is a potential disaster. As someone once remarked, “Making a movie is like flying the Space Shuttle. There’s a million things that can go wrong.”
So as a rule of thumb, screenwriters want movies to succeed. Yes, even mediocre ones. We want the buyers to be flush with cash, happy campers and feeling on top of their game. That way their comfort level is much easier to hit when our scripts land on their desktop.
For more of the article, go here.
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