Solo4114
Master Member
And I agree with you. To me, I refer to most Hollywood films nowadays as "twinkees", because they are all filler and no substance. What made films of the past more interesting was sold storytelling, not visual style. In fact, I believe where we are at right now in Hollywood is exactly where Hollywood at was at at the start of 1968, just before Easy Rider. The Hollywood System now is right back at how the Hollywood system was at before: the studios thinking they know what the audiences want, producing films that no one is wanting to watch anymore. I've been saying this for a while now, but this is what I truly think: "We need a second Counter Culture Revolution in film." Because if Speilberg and Lucas were starting out in this version of Hollywood today, with Spielberg doing an adaptation of Duel and Lucas pitching Star Wars to Fox, Spielberg would be fired after two days of being over schedule and replaced by someone else and Lucas would have been laughed out of the office for pitching Star Wars. And the reason why they succeeded originally was because they proved themselves to be reliable filmmakers.
Yep. The difference is, I think that the counter-culture revolution is more likely to happen as a result of sidestepping Hollywood -- in the traditional sense -- altogether, and reinventing how entertainment is delivered to customers. I see the old studios dying out and being replaced by new studios eventually (or the old studio MODEL dying out, even if the old studios names stick around).
I really think that Netflix has shown the path to solving several of the current problems in Hollywood via subscription-based models. Sell people subscriptions to a service and you remove the "ownership" mentality of media. You also put a damper (for the time being) on piracy.
BUT, more than that, you stand a fighting chance of being able to ACTUALLY tell people the kind of stories they want to hear, and you get FAR more direct, immediate feedback from users.
Here's what I'm talking about. Netflix has already at they're original series, and I think I saw that they're producing another. This trend will continue. But think of the benefits for systems like this. Netflix gets users to individually rate shows/films so that it can see what's popular on a granular level. You can see EXACTLY which shows are popular, and with the comment system, you can get a sense of why.
Moreover, you can tier your subscription fees or subscription packages. I actually think Kickstarter provides good examples for this. Sure, you can chip in at the minimal level for a Kickstarter project, OR you can chip in at the super-duper-OOPER level and get more bang for your buck. Past a certain point, you the consumer decide your level of commitment. So, analogize that to, say, a TV show.
Fox Studios could sell a subscription to its "Fox Sci-Fi Lineup" for a package fee, or break it down by show and at different levels. So, if fans really truly wanted Firefly Season 2, hell, they could fund the damn thing as long as Fox gives them the ability to do so. You could subscribe to Fox's sci-fi package on their delivery network, or you could say "I'm chipping in $40 a month for Firefly Season 2 alone. Because I love it."
Same goes for films. If you REALLY loved Remo Williams The Adventure Begins, rather than relying on individual one-size-fits-all subscriptions, you could let dedicated fans actually fund your sequel by offering them greater subscription values. At the "Platinum Fan" level, you get a chance to go to a meet-and-greet with Fred Ward! Blah blah blah. Then you take that money and use it to fund the sequel. And so on and so forth.
Basically, instead of relying on mass, low-level consumption, you open your business model up to smaller fan groups with high levels of motivation and a willingness to spend cash.
THAT is how I see the revolution taking place. The studios are too mired in the past to figure this out...for now. It'll take the external mavericks, the Netflixes who are willing to take a chance, to bankroll the new model, at which point the studios will catch on.