Is Hollywood Getting Screwed? Are We?

[Wilhelm-Scream]

sdrawkcab yteicos.

bounty hunter from Attack of the Clones

 

[Addendum]

And then you have Jerry Doyle.

His previous careers were a jet pilot in the Air Force, then a corporate jet pilot, and then a decade on Wall Street as a stockbroker. He made the transition to acting in 1991, which lead to being cast on a show called Babylon 5, where he was for 5 seasons, 110 episodes (the entire series run). He then ran for office in California as a republican in 2000.

 

[lazur]

And then you have Jerry Doyle.

His previous careers were a jet pilot in the Air Force, then a corporate jet pilot, and then a decade on Wall Street as a stockbroker. He made the transition to acting in 1991, which lead to being cast on a show called Babylon 5, where he spent 5 years acting. He then ran for office in California as a republican.

There are always exceptions. But, for the most part, Hollywood is a corrupt cesspit that needs to be destroyed - not directly, but through the construction of a larger phenomenon that doesn't descriminate because you're not tall, pretty or handsome (or just overall attractive) enough.

I honestly don't believe in "talent" when it comes to acting. It's not difficult to disconnect from those observing and "pretend" to be someone else. Sure, *some* people aren't good at it, but you can teach ANYONE how to do it and how to do it well. And if you can LEARN it, it's NOT talent. Talent, by definition, is something you're born with that does not require instruction in order to "get".

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

I honestly don't believe in "talent" when it comes to acting.

I hope Ian McKellan comes and acts you to death in your sleep.

 

[lazur]

I hope Ian McKellan comes and acts you to death in your sleep.

Maybe this and the marijuana threads should be merged, since I'm of the belief that most actors (including good ole' Ian) are high, or at least buzzing, when they're acting anyway.

I should be careful. I might be giving too many Hollywood trade secrets away .

 

[y2jversion1]

bounty hunter from Attack of the Clones

Haha.. I wouldn't be surprised if it is (haven't seen that movie..)

 

[Mike_D202]

So thats still illegal stuff. if you watched a actuall dvd your see the warning that says its against thre law to sell copyrighted material and if you are holding any of that sfuff your looking at a 250,000 fine and a maxuim of 5 years in prison.

Yea and violating the P.P.O. Jessica Alba has on you is illegal too.

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

Ive heard that movies have been in a decline for the past 10 years.A combination of bad movies that are just not worth seeing,VHS and DVD along with movies on demand and other things to do are bringing the industry down.

 

[muertevilla]

i dont own anything pirated besides software...i hate the way pirated movies look anyway. i guess people like feeling important or like they are someone special just because they have a movie on dvd that is still in theaters. most of the pirated dvd covers i have seen are lame too. just feels like im shopping for clothes at goodwill when i can afford to shop at dillards.

 

[Mr. Walters]

The whole piracy thing makes me laugh. People piss and moan that movies and music and software is too expensive. So they get on their $2,000 G5 computer and download a $19 movie because $19 is too much. Or even better, they download a film that's in theatres for $7 (maybe less for a matinee) onto their $2,000 computer. Then they use their new $200 dollar DVD burner to burn it to a DVD. Then they watch it on their $2,500 widescreen HD TV ontop of their $500 entertainment center-- it never ends. Can't afford movies? Stop buying other crap for a while. See how it works out.

 

[Danalys]

it's mostly because of tv. if films can be seen on tv for free or a set monthly fee, paid for through advertising or subscription, if you're patient then the value of the movie experience goes down. the technology is all out dated in cinemas aswell. good home set ups are going to surpass the cinema experience. they already have when the cinema is particulary bad.

with things that's value scales down over time fast enough, to the point of seemingly free people are always impatiently going to want it free from the begining. or they just would rather spend that money on something they can't copy easily.

people copying stuff has saved it from being lost before. nosferatu is a good example of a classic film that broke intellectual property rights and was saved from destruction through copied prints avoiding recall for destruction.

 

[Space Moose]

Oh No!!!! The coorporate scum are losing there valuable money!! Looks like they may have to start wiping there asses with only $20 bills.

Hard times...

 

[The Apatow Crew]

You people aren't realizing its gonna be gonna be eveb harder for new screenwriter to get there scripts made And for actor/acresses to get there foot in the door.

 

[The Lizard]

Almost exactly my sentiments regarding the Doctor example you gave - we have Doctors, who give life (assist in births) and save lives who are paid a mere small fraction of what sports athletes & actors make.

But - as difficult as it is to become a successful doctor, there are many more doctors out there than there are Hollywood mega-stars. Can a doctor pull in 100 million dollars in one week? Is there a single doctor whose name is on the lips of millions of people at any given moment?

I'm certainly not saying that what the actor (or producer, director, athlete, etc) does is more important or noble than the doctor, but the actor creates a revenue flow and media focus that can't be matched by any worker who operates on a more localized level (teachers, doctors, etc).

The American public has only itself to blame. Our spending habits dictate the pay scale in Hollywood, pure and simple.

 

[Addendum]

You people aren't realizing its gonna be gonna be eveb harder for new screenwriter to get there scripts made And for actor/acresses to get there foot in the door.

 

[Revolver_Ocelot]

The things I pirate I end up buying 90 percent of the time.
Unless it's terrible and not worth my cash.

 

[SpideyInATree]

I read an article in the WaPo yesterday (it's that said that the movie industry is losing 20.5 BILLION DOLLARS a year from piracy, n terms of lost revenue, jobs, and stuff like that. Article is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801640.html

That is insane, to me, somehow. I guess I never really thought about how many people pirate movies out there. I wonder if that leads to poor production on movies that could be better, or if it prevents smaller films from ever getting made in the first place? If so, that would suck!

And why exactly is there so much piracy out there? Hmmmm.

Could it be the endless release of horrible film after horrible film with a couple good, entertaining movies thrown in for effect?

The same thing can be said about many parts of the entertainment industry. Why is there so much illegal music downloads? Because a lot of the music of today being put out is friggin' horrid and people only want one or two songs off an album.

Remember the days when you could buy a CD and ACTUALLY LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THING?

Or in the movies when every summer was like a cluster of great movie after great movie? And now it's just one carbon copied thing after another.

Instead of blaming "pirates" and "illegal downloaders" they should look squarely at themselves and focus on making BETTER MOVIES instead of the same boring repeated garbage.

 

[Maxwell Smart]

Not to mention all the film and television production happening in Vancouver, B.C. and in New Zealand.

jag

More and more films are being made in Austin, TX as well.

 

[kaylee]

This thread has had some good comments in it - like I said, lots to think about.

i dont own anything pirated besides software...i hate the way pirated movies look anyway. i guess people like feeling important or like they are someone special just because they have a movie on dvd that is still in theaters. most of the pirated dvd covers i have seen are lame too. just feels like im shopping for clothes at goodwill when i can afford to shop at dillards.

Ha. I agree, I think. I don't get why anybody would want to get one of those off the street with their crappy cases and covers, and the obviousness of the fact that some guy recorded it under his coat. And the file quality on downloaded versions is mostly bad too. I don't get the appeal, I guess. I'd rather go see it in the theater, or buy it in the nice, real version that looks good, IMO.

And why exactly is there so much piracy out there? Hmmmm.

Could it be the endless release of horrible film after horrible film with a couple good, entertaining movies thrown in for effect?

I'm not quite sure I understand this argument. I'm not even debating that there are often released movies that are not particularly good. How does that legitimize piracy? I don't get that. I could see the point of an argument that box office numbers are lower because there are fewer good movies, but that doesn't make it okay to pirate it either, I think. And i'm sure in some way, that it does ripple out and perpetuate that problem - studios will probably bankroll fewer small indie type films because they want to make sure that their movies will make money, so I imagine it does in a way affect the types of movies that are released.

I wonder how online downloading stores like the iTunes movie store will ultimately affect piracy? I think a lot of people will be drawn to the convience of that.

 

[The Apatow Crew]

Damn it! Don't ruin my future! It's the only thing i can rely on.

 

[Addendum]

Damn it! Don't ruin my future! It's the only thing i can rely on.

 

[The Apatow Crew]

Or i will hunt you all down like the savage downloading beasts you are!

 

[7Hells]

I'm a big fan and supporter of independent artists, filmmakers and software developers, personally. Not just because their product is usually much better, but because I know that when I pay my money the person who actually created that product is going to benefit the most rather than some fatcat a-hole who's giving the artist bare minimum and keeping the rest for himself. In today's day and age, there's little need for these big corporate run conglomerates. The production and distribution channels, and even marketing, are all available to nearly anyone who wants them.

jag

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Actually piracy probably is not the problem. It's television. Television shows both in DVD and on TV currently outsell new and DVD movies. I also recently heard rentals stores such as Blockbuster rent more TV shows now than movies (although I would not hold anyone to that statistic).

Ticket sales are fine right now, in fact movies seem far more interested now with money than they ever were in the past. The summer "blockbuster" is a fairly recent phenomenon. Movies have not always been about blow up this, show this chick naked, scare me with this shocking image, etc.

I buy a lot of movies. But the movies I tend to buy (besides superhero films) are movies like Memento, Goodfellas, Mystic River, Alien, Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Exorcist, 12 Angry Men, Scarface, etc. Every once in a while something new might peak my attention, but usually I find the older movies that were about talent and script and characters to be far more interesting.

So unless I think a movie of that caliber is coming to theatres or hitting DVDs, I really won't invest in it...unless I have some other reason to, like it adapting a comic I enjoy.

So really if Hollywood has any problem it's that TV shows and Series Boxsets of shows are growing in popularity. And two: they are not producing movies with the longevity of the "classics" and therefore not building a long term audience.

 

[Holly Goodhead]

**** you pirates.