Saturday, July 23, 2005
From the ashes, the fire of the Phoenix
I'm writing again.
Short explanation: I need to, and I lack anything better to do.
For someone who wants to be a screenwriter, I don't go to the theater much. Time's a factor in this, but mostly nothing about the movies that are out right now excite me. "Batman Begins" was the only real exception, and that was only because I trusted the director (Christopher Nolan, who also directed "Memento").
There's a baseball analogy I'd like to use here (anybody who reads what I write knows I like to make such analogies).
Most people think that the big homerun hitters in baseball do so by using brute power to "will" the ball over the fence. In reality, hitting is so delicate that it can't be forced. You're trying to hit a round object squarely with another round object not much wider than the target itself. So unlike sports such as football, brute power doesn't get you very far. (This is one reason steroids aren't the factor everyone makes them out to be.) What you have to do is concentrate on just making solid contact while not swinging at pitches you have little chance to do anything with. You do that, and the homeruns will come.
Hollywood is the baseball equivalent of Texas Rangers second baseman Alfonso Soriano: swinging at everything, trying to hit homeruns all of the time. That's why you see so many sequels and "blockbuster" movies. Producers aren't content to smash a solid single or double: they always want the big homerun, the big money-making smash hit.
Alfonso Soriano is a useful hitter, because he does indeed hit homeruns. However, he makes so many outs trying to will a pitch two inches off of the ground over the fence that even if he does indeed hit that ball out every once in a while, it's still a net loss, because most of the time he strikes out. So it is with Hollywood, as they try to make certified bad ideas such as "Alexander" or "Catwoman" into cash cows.
For one thing, Hollywood has got to stop stunt casting people because they look good in magazines. Halle Berry, Oscar or no Oscar, is not an actress who can carry a good movie, and oddly enough, she's even worse in a supporting role (Her Storm in "X-Men" is awful, although part of that is the writing as well). Hollywood is convinced that actors are what sell movies, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Look at Batman Begins: they went with a lesser-known, but better fitting actor in the lead role, and it resulted in a much better movie. And that's what sells movies: quality. No movie can survive those who view it telling their friends that it's an awful waste of seven bucks. Conversely, any movie, even one with a no-name cast, can be moderately to insanely profitable if word of mouth gets around.
If Hollywood wants to make money, all they need to do is dump all of the gimmicks and focus on stories that bring out emotions and draw in the audience. Sure, casting Jane Who instead of B. Breasted Supermodel will reduce the visibility of a movie.
But the blinders will come off. They always do.
Short explanation: I need to, and I lack anything better to do.
For someone who wants to be a screenwriter, I don't go to the theater much. Time's a factor in this, but mostly nothing about the movies that are out right now excite me. "Batman Begins" was the only real exception, and that was only because I trusted the director (Christopher Nolan, who also directed "Memento").
There's a baseball analogy I'd like to use here (anybody who reads what I write knows I like to make such analogies).
Most people think that the big homerun hitters in baseball do so by using brute power to "will" the ball over the fence. In reality, hitting is so delicate that it can't be forced. You're trying to hit a round object squarely with another round object not much wider than the target itself. So unlike sports such as football, brute power doesn't get you very far. (This is one reason steroids aren't the factor everyone makes them out to be.) What you have to do is concentrate on just making solid contact while not swinging at pitches you have little chance to do anything with. You do that, and the homeruns will come.
Hollywood is the baseball equivalent of Texas Rangers second baseman Alfonso Soriano: swinging at everything, trying to hit homeruns all of the time. That's why you see so many sequels and "blockbuster" movies. Producers aren't content to smash a solid single or double: they always want the big homerun, the big money-making smash hit.
Alfonso Soriano is a useful hitter, because he does indeed hit homeruns. However, he makes so many outs trying to will a pitch two inches off of the ground over the fence that even if he does indeed hit that ball out every once in a while, it's still a net loss, because most of the time he strikes out. So it is with Hollywood, as they try to make certified bad ideas such as "Alexander" or "Catwoman" into cash cows.
For one thing, Hollywood has got to stop stunt casting people because they look good in magazines. Halle Berry, Oscar or no Oscar, is not an actress who can carry a good movie, and oddly enough, she's even worse in a supporting role (Her Storm in "X-Men" is awful, although part of that is the writing as well). Hollywood is convinced that actors are what sell movies, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Look at Batman Begins: they went with a lesser-known, but better fitting actor in the lead role, and it resulted in a much better movie. And that's what sells movies: quality. No movie can survive those who view it telling their friends that it's an awful waste of seven bucks. Conversely, any movie, even one with a no-name cast, can be moderately to insanely profitable if word of mouth gets around.
If Hollywood wants to make money, all they need to do is dump all of the gimmicks and focus on stories that bring out emotions and draw in the audience. Sure, casting Jane Who instead of B. Breasted Supermodel will reduce the visibility of a movie.
But the blinders will come off. They always do.
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