Die, Hollywood, die!

Editorial
A common question asked of people who work in film in Minnesota is, “Why aren’t you in Hollywood?” if not, “When are you going to Hollywood?” Answers to this question are probably similar to the ones theater artists give when asked why they haven’t moved to New York to make it on Broadway: I love Minnesota, they don’t do the kind of work I like to do there, it’s easier to make a living here, etc. But now we can add another rationale: Hollywood is dying or, at least, it’s shrinking, and the shrinkage may be permanent. This may seem strange in a year when the income of Hollywood movies actually went up. But in my last year of listening to KCRW’s movie business podcast The Business I’ve been treated to episodes with titles like "Which Way, Studios?” and “Writers Face the New Hollywood Economy; Studio Shake-ups.” The salaries of stars (except Will Smith) are collapsing, top-tier screenwriters are competing to write the new Barbie movie, DVD sales are shrinking fast, and the adult drama is becoming a thing of the past (except on cable). Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson teamed up to do a Tintin movie and the studios said “No." Steven Soderberg and Brad Pitt teamed up with ace screenwriter Steve Zaillian to adapt a best selling novel, and the usually artist-friendly Sony dropped the film after investing $10 million. And on and on. Hollywood’s 15-year love affair with independent and pseudo-independent film may also be coming to an end. Walt Disney shut down Miramax Films last week, leading some to question the future of other studios’ specialty divisions. The studio bidding wars at the Sundance Film Festival seem to be a thing of the past. Even Hollywood production outside of Hollywood is facing hurdles. Remember back in the Nineties when movies like The Mighty Ducks and Grumpy Old Men were being made in Minnesota? Since then, other states and Canada have been stealing Minnesota-set films like Juno and Gran Torino with lucrative tax-break packages. But state legislatures have been questioning the benefits of such deals, and they may be soon facing the chopping block. It’s not just the bad economy that’s leading to this scaling-back. Consolidation in the movie theater business means more screens devoted to fewer films. The proliferation of wide-screen TVs, DVRs, video-on-demand, Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, etc. means that audiences have unprecedented access to high-quality filmed entertainment in their homes, often for cheap or free. To get people out of their houses, producers need to give them something that absolutely needs to be seen on a theater screen. Indeed, the “tent-pole” movie is prospering, from Avatar to Transformers to Sherlock Holmes. Not only will audiences flock to theaters for the spectacle, they will also pay for the sequels, the TV spin-off, the comic books, the action figures, the video games and seemingly endless ancillary products. These films are frequently less language-based as well, helping them in the immense non-English-speaking markets. Some suggest that what we are evolving towards is a system in which there exists only two kinds of films: tent-pole blockbusters made by Hollywood and low-budget indie films made by… independent filmmakers. If this is true, what’s the point of moving to Los Angeles, the second-most expensive city in the country? If we can aggregate enough talent here, why can’t we be the kind of small, quick mammal that thrives darting between the legs of the Hollywood’s CGI dinosaurs? Maybe we’re exactly where we need to be… Next: Truly Free Film and hybrid distribution – is indie film dying or finally coming into its own?
Headshot of Erik Esse
Erik Esse
Erik Esse started out in the arts as a founder and director of Galumph Interactive Theater (1992-2002) and a staffer at the Independent Television Service (ITVS). Taking a long detour into the worlds of worker cooperatives, organic food, and Fair Trade, he returned to the fold as Membership & Marketing Director at IFP Media Arts in early 2009. He's glad to be back.