Who is to blame for bad movies? Producers, directors, writers?
Most bad movies in my opinion start with a bad script. Good stories with bad execution are still bad screenplays. You can't shine a turd no matter how good a director you hire or how large a budget you have.
posted by coachmike | 11:33 PM
13 Comments:
Simply put, I think movies themselves are to blame for bad movies.
Movies have become yet another way for the culture to escape the world and its issues.
And I think you can only get so far with that.
I think films need to turn around and start addressing real world issues. A film can still be entertaining without becoming a propoganda piece.
The problem is, only one side of the playing field controls the ball game at the moment, and thus any movie that does try to do more than entertain comes across as a liberal fantasy.
I just think it's time to abandon the current system and let independents have their turn.
That's what I'm moving towards, with my first feature film "BROKEN" slated for production this September (Lordwilling).
Bad movies are made by producers who have funds and want to get a movie made regardless.
I know many examples all you need is the cash and you'll have the universe at your door wanting a slice of the action.
Director get the hots at the oportunity of making a film and believe it or not often don't worry about the script.
IF you have a named actor in the bag,scripts don't matter. IF for example I had Harrison Ford agree to take leading role in my movie, investors will throw money at it without even seeing a script.
Bad movies are made out of greed and over enthusiastic film makers. I have seen it over and over again.
Don't blame the scriptwriter as many films are made without them.
Let me play devil's advocate for a moment, if I may. I read scripts all the time and not unsolicited sp's, but those that have been through the gate and into a development person's hands. 98% of these are bad and I mean BAD. Everything from formatting to story, to under-developed characters with no arcs, to just plain "who cares" about this story.
Production companies have the impression that writers in the main can't write.
So, I think we need to better prepare our scripts and tell better stories...marketable stories mind you. Not stories about favorite pets that need life saving operations, but stories large multi-demographic audiences can enjoy, without sacrificing quality writing.
I do say this with the realization that The Fantastic 4, a wonderful comic, was written by some great scribes and it still bombed as a property.
M. Night...great director, good story teller, adequate screenwriter, and then comes "Lady in the Water".
So, I again pose the question; who is to blame and why?
Well, I think that's part of the problem. We need to stop looking for someone to blame and focus on fixing the problem.
If storylines are sucking, if movies are doing horrible, why are we (the public) still buying into it?
And it comes down to a supposed need to escape, to fantasize, to whatever.
And the studios know that, as long as they can will people to the theater due to some actor or some cool gimmick, they don't have to change what they're doing.
I'm not saying "boycott movies". I am saying that I think we can do better. If independent filmmakers stop squabbling over silly issues like format and "well my 60i HDV is better than your 24p Mini-DV" junk debates, and just start focusing on their storylines, we'd see some real marketable films come out.
The thing is, you've got to make it relevant to the public. It's got to be something at least half the audience can relate to. Same reason a joke is only funny if it's told right (and to the right audience).
But I think there is a lot of human drama out there that can translate well onto film that just quite frankly isn't being tapped into due to a narrow world view of our wonderful hardcore leftwing friends.
As much as hardcore "righties" only see things one way, so it is with the hardcore "lefties", and they're the ones running the show.
That's why I think independent films are the way to go; granted a lot of filmmakers are "naturally" left minded, but you're still going to get a bigger picture.
I think so, anyway.
I agree that this is the time of the independent filmmaker. Independent films solve many of the morale dilemmas, however I think it will increase the "crap" as well. The good with the bad I suppose.
With private equity opening its eyes to film finance, I believe we will see more quality stories.
Once these starting making good money, then BIG productions companies will change their tune.
I think so, anyway.
Touche.
The floodgates will open, and many independent films will be utter garabage.
But the answer is not elitism; it is education.
I believe that film is an art. I believe that art is important to any culture.
But I do NOT believe that the culture must serve its art. I believe that art must serve its culture; otherwise, it is not art, it is business.
And I believe it is the responsibility of independent filmmakers to not only "lighten the load" of these major budgets by producing great content at minimum cost, but to educate and instruct one another.
The greatest artist is not the one who can move mountains, but the one who can reproduced himself. Long after the self-absorbed genious is gone, the common artist will live on through many, many generations because he took time out of his day to share his experiences.
That, I think, is the answer.
That is a beautiful statement. One I had to sit back and think on before replying.
Here's the only rub I could find in opposition, which is also a sad truth. Business will not divorce itself from the art of movie making, save in the rarest of examples (it makes too much money). As an artist we need to come to understand that what we write is at the mercy of business until we become powerful enough to rise above it, however all of us start at the bottom.
Again, that was beatifully put and well said.
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