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June 24, 2004 The entertainment industry is dying. Almost every movie spawns a sequel, others get re-made and recording artists release cover versions by the bucketload. Question: where have all the writers gone? Have we become a society that no longer cares about the quality threshold? Or is the movie industry so much chewing gum for the eyes? It'll be interesting to note which direction the major studios will take after every plausible comic book property has been bought up and filmed. I can see it now at your local multiplex: 'Teen Slasher Flick XVI' followed by 'Falling asteroid/tidal wave/evil aliens in New York XXX'. Soundtracks to both productions, featuring cover versions of cover versions performed by a tribute band, available in the foyer. What went wrong? It seems for every 'American Beauty' or 'Lost in Translation' we get yet another 'Scream if you know what I did last Halloween'. Obviously there is an audience out there who wants this, but for how long? There will come a time when the lowest common demoninator, both in films and in music, will no longer satisfy. Someone needs to catch the studio system when it falls. When everyone finally runs out of repetitive scripts and Joe Public decides more substance is needed the question is, are there screenplays gathering dust somewhere to kick start an industry already on life support? The same can be said for music; incredible laziness seems to have crept in. No longer do musicians form a band, write songs, play small venues to two men and a dog and work their way to the top. Anybody who tries this and is lucky enough to land a recording contract simply doesn't sell in large quantities (Juliana Hatfield, the most unrated songwriter of our generation, comes to mind). Instead we have record industry puppets, told what to think, what to wear-and what to record. It's our fault, of course. We all buy the theatre tickets, rent the movies, buy the CDs. Even me. Yes, it's true. I enjoy the 'X-Men' movies as much as the next guy. And 'Scooby Doo'. What I have no desire to see is 'X-Men XII-The Retirement Years' as our intrepid heroes sit on the porch swing and reminisce about what super villian did what to whom. Is there an answer? Quite simply, yes. Whoever is responsible for this trend needs to take a stand-and a chance. Take a chance that a good, solid and original screenplay by an unknown writer may or may not win a dozen academy awards and may not gross hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide-but shoot the thing because it is simply a worthwhile script. It may only take one studio to do this and, knowing the industrys' prediliction for copying whatever everyone else does, we could find the trend being reversed; for every sequel or re- make, we could two new exciting releases. I want to be entertained and informed as much as the next guy, but I also want to be surprised. TV used to do it but I note some of the best American shows either coming to a natural conclusion ('Buffy', 'Frasier') or being cancelled ('Charmed', 'Angel'). I heard a rumour the aforementioned vampire with a soul has been given the boot purely to make way on the scheduling for more reality TV. If that is really the case, heaven help us all. We could boycott that sequel and kill the franchise. Ignore the re-makes and the third rate cover versions of fifth rate songs. Switch off reality TV and force the industry suits to do the one thing I suspect many of us want-hire new blood in the writing department (hint! hint!) I hope I don't come across as elitist, I'm just bored of the same old same old. There are writers out there who may be sitting on a coaster with the idea for what could out to be the most succesful movie of all time jotted down on it. All I'm saying is: forget the dollar signs and the statuettes and look around, studio executives. Someone once refused to sign The Beatles, rejected the manuscript for 'Gone With The Wind'. You don't want that to be you, do you? ------------ About the author Nathan de Ravin: You can read all about me at Writers Net. Meanwhile, as I hope to contribute more articles here, my endless search for an agent continues! Email: Nathan51@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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