I'm going to assume that most of you are seriously interested in working in Hollywood at some point and therefore you need to have a daily interest in what is going on there -- not the gossipy stuff, but the trends in the industry. With that in mind, here's today's NY Times' "Hollywood puts the squeeze on talent."
Here's a taste:
"Hollywood is in the midst of a strategic shift. The average cost to make and market a movie has skyrocketed — to $96.2 million last year, from $54.1 million in 1995 — while lucrative DVD sales have flattened. Major film studios are fending off illegal piracy, which industry executives say accounted for $1.3 billion in lost revenue in the United States last year.
The growth of new media threatens to undermine traditional businesses, while studios are flummoxed about how to take advantage of the new opportunities they represent. And movies and TV also face tough new competition from video games and online social networking sites. Even cellphones have become a favorite diversion among the young.
As in so many other show business debates, money and control are at the heart of the matter. And without solutions to these problems in sight, relations between talent and the studios are more strained than ever.
“No matter how successful you are, you are not invincible,” said Brett Ratner, who directed the blockbuster “X-Men: The Last Stand” and is an executive producer of the television show “Prison Break.” “The studio is writing the checks. It’s all about leverage and who has the power. The goal is to get the biggest deal you can, because you are going to have to give something back to the studios anyway.”
Any of you that have the time might want to read this in its entiretly. I don't dispute its assessment of the business, but I wonder if Ratner is a fair representative of the talent side, given that he has none. Would most directors agree that "the goal is to get the biggest deal you can ..." Or am I just being a naive academic, and idealist, or even a disgruntled fanboy?
As potential filmmakers or industry people, what do you think?
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