Hey, Big Spender: Hollywood Isn’t in the Mood (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | August 29, 2010 | Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply

[abb]

JOEL SILVER stands on the Warner Brothers lot and points to the remnants of a house where he filmed parts of four “Lethal Weapon” movies. “We blasted a toilet out of that window,” he says, smiling proudly. “Over there, we drove a car straight into the living room.”

Ah, the glory days.

Behind Mr. Silver, the flamboyant producer of some of the biggest action hits of the last 30 years, is the modest set for one of his current films, an R-rated comedy with no stars, almost no budget and — for now — no title. Not that Mr. Silver was ready to call the production small. “It’s a little movie, but it’s a big little movie,” he says.

And therein lies Mr. Silver’s challenge: How does a larger-than-life, free-spending producer fit into a movie business that has been tightening up — and cutting some of its more grandiose characters down to size?

In the new Hollywood, stars count for less, whether in front of the camera or behind it. Financial firepower and technological wizardry matter more. And a generation of producers — whose principal assets were their industry connections and a remarkable degree of personal force — are having to adapt.

Mr. Silver, 58, has been a dominant studio moviemaker for over three decades, delivering blockbuster franchises like “Lethal Weapon,” “Die Hard” and “The Matrix.” The 59 movies he has produced have generated almost $10 billion in ticket sales, adjusting for inflation. The money he has made for Warner alone has won him lavish treatment from the studio — not just in compensation, but also in perks. To make him happy, Warner once went so far as to send movie props to his Brentwood mansion for his son’s birthday party.

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[catnipman]

“Hollywood is dying. I live here, and I can kind of feel it. It’s all reality shows, youtube, and video games now.”

And you can trace the acceleration of their death throes back to the 2007 writer’s strike. Just as many predicted then, once the entertainment industry found out that the scriptless dreck they used to fill in for scripted shows attracted plenty of audience, they realized they could make more money by sticking with the crapola “shows”. No need to pay for those expensive writers, stars, producers, directors, sets, etc. So there you have it, and that’s where we are today.

[bmwcyle]

More and more people are not going to see movies and waiting until they are no long pay-per-view. Hollywood has thumbed their noses at the people that pay their bills.

[abb]

What you describe is sort of analogous to what we here at FRee Repbublic do. Ten or fifteen years ago we political junkies had to make do with a handful of conservative magazines and the Sunday talk shows for our fix.

And I suggest our political commentary here is much superior.

Now we have our own meeting places online and can contact and organize with the click of a mouse. The establishment cannot dictate the terms of the debate.

[MrEdd]

It’s all reality shows, youtube, and video games now.

If you search YouTube for the good stuff, you find that talented amatures produce material as good as the best hollywood put out in its heyday.

Internet distribution has been one nail in hollywoods coffin, but sound and audio equipment most people can afford, and Hollywoods myopic leftist agenda have been two others.

Like the newspapers and the music recording industry, being gatekeepers to an expensive to play in inner circle was a requirement to Hollywoods business model. Over time none of those institutions can survive amature competition at their current size and profit margin.

[abb]

Like the newspapers and the music recording industry, being gatekeepers to an expensive to play in inner circle was a requirement to Hollywoods business model.

Exactly. See my post #24.

[GOPJ]

Also, the smartest people in movies are: ( smartest to dumbest)

Liberal college professor
Writer
Anyone connected to the ‘arts’...
Person in military if they hate the military
Any female minority
Teenage boy
Teenage girl
boy child
girl child
drug abuser
homeless person
dog or other pet
mother
minority male
person in the military ( if they’re patriotic)
cop
father
business executive
conservative
and ... wait for it - the dumbest of all:
White Christian conservatives...

Yeah, I want to go to the movies.../s

[truthguy]

Follywood!!!

I love the term. I just increased my vocabulary by one word. It's so appropriate and accurate.

Damn, wish I had thought of it! It's my first time seeing it. Congratulations to whoever coined it. I hope it becomes part of the lexicon. It's deserving.

[netmilsmom]

>>Those are ideas from the 1940’s and 1950’s. <<

Exactly. The article was about how Hollywood isn’t paying for anything that is not a sure thing.

[The Comedian]

The only down side of this effect is the shelving of the "Red Dawn" remake that was supposed to come out in a few months.

The rest of Hollywood can drown in each others' vomit for all I care.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Little Bill]

How about the first siege of Vienna as a lead in to Malta?

[A_perfect_lady]

once the entertainment industry found out that the scriptless dreck they used to fill in for scripted shows attracted plenty of audience...

It's pretty appalling, the stuff people watch. All you need is a couple camera men and some people with no class and no shame, and you've got a "reality" show. And people WATCH this! I got rid of my TV years ago, but sometimes I'll be at a friend's house and either catch a glimpse of something she likes (Dexter, Nurse Jackie, Entourage) and just be shuddering inside that this is considered entertainment, or we'll end up watching a cooking channel or a home decorating show...

I'll be pleased if Hollywood folds, I confess. I have a few favorites, but for the most part, I don't like the entire industry. I resent their snobbery.

[LS]

Somebody needs to write a book that we can adapt a screenplay from. I haven't seen one. The book we are looking at is pretty good and can be easily adapted to a story.

The key to movie making, as I'm learning, is story, story, story. Michael Bay makes crap, even though he has a bazillion special effects, because it's a bad story. On the other hand, his "Bad Boys" was a great movie because in addition to good actors and special effects he had a great story.

[LS]

We were able to get ACADEMY AWARD winning photographers, sound people, etc. on our little independent film because they need work-—and because they liked the project.

[GOPJ]

Maybe the 'sure thing' is finding writers with traditional values...

In 30 years it'll be 'BatmanXX" (20) - and Spiderman 15? People I know are starting to drop premium movie channels because there's so little worth watching.

How long can Hollywood live on 50 year old ideas?

[A_perfect_lady]

They’d have Dorothy sleeping with the Tin Man!

I'd have nailed that Scarecrow. Oops, did I say that out loud??

[netmilsmom]

>>Those are ideas from the 1940’s and 1950’s. <<

Not long, I think.
When they eliminate the theaters, the DVD rentals and go straight to your 3D Plasma tv via your PS3, I suspect hollywood will be no more.

Look at Blair Witch Project. It was huge on their homegrown marketing. Even though it was not a really good movie, the hype was amazing. If they had been able to sell it on the internet instead of using studios and distributors, it would have been even bigger.

[netmilsmom]

>>And anyway there aren’t any “triple threat” talents in Hollywood anymore, like Astaire and Kelly, who can act and sing and dance.<<

Yes, there are. They just don't utilize them well. (and Marsden is an quiet conservative married to the daughter of a country singer, shhhh or he'll never work again)

[truthguy]

Mr. Silver, 58, has been a dominant studio moviemaker for over three decades, delivering blockbuster franchises like “Lethal Weapon,” “Die Hard” and “The Matrix.” The 59 movies he has produced have generated almost $10 billion in ticket sales...

And therein lies the problem! Before I get started, I'd like to mention this is a topic that could fill a good sized book. There are so many elements involved that it's hard to write a post. I'll bet that somewhere right now there is a book on this subject. So I'll just provide a brief list of some of the problems with Follywood. I could write a lengthy post on each one and many have touched on some of those themes and have made great comments.

1. Formulaic Scripts - Not many good screenplays being written, not many good writers.
2. Technology - Too much emphasis. Way overdone. The last 3 Starwars movies were a joke because of the over reliance on tech.
3. Left Wing Political Themes- Pervasive and insulting to anyone with intelligence. No need to expand on this.
4. Violence- Way to much gratuitous violence. I despise Tarantino's movies. Total garbage but they seem to make money.
5. Movie Theater Behavior - When paying $10-Plus I don't want to hear people talking and behaving badly. There seems to be an epidemic of this.
6. No Creativity - Or very little. People have already make good comments on this.
7. Stupid Audience's - Yes, a really good movie will not attract large numbers. If a movie like say The Philadelphia Story were written and produced (assuming it could be done) would it attract an audience? I doubt it.
8. Ticket Prices - Too damn high. Maybe a rollback in prices would generate more money in ticket sales. Need to get people back into the theaters.

I sure there are more but I lack the time.

[discostu]

Silver’s problem isn’t any change in Hollywood, they still love spending mad fat cash making movies they think will be block buster (just look at the Toy Story 3 budget, the Harry Potter 7 & 8 budget, and plenty of others). Silver’s problem is he stopped making block busters. Hollywood has always been a “what have you done for me lately” place, the most successful producer out there has room for 2 MAYBE 3 flops in a row before nobody is returning his phone calls. For the last 7 years Silver has been batting about 300, the good news for him is he keeps coming up with periodic hits so they’ll keep returning his calls, the bad news is he’s had enough flops his fat budget days are pretty much over. Happens to everybody eventually, except Clint Eastwood.

[MrEdd]

And anyway there aren’t any “triple threat” talents in Hollywood anymore, like Astaire and Kelly, who can act and sing and dance

Antonio Banderas.

Someone should be writing action movie/musical hybrids to utilize him fully.