Hollywood needs to produce more diverse movies.

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Aspiring Mogul

The Los Angeles Times has an article on Hollywood betting big on blockbusters, but the theatre owners are also complaining about a lack of diversity. Hmmm, on the one hand, artiste movies that are off-the-wall never sell, but, on the other, people want something different.

I'd say there's a lucrative niche in here somewhere. I wanna make action movies that deal with a social or political message - my favorite example are the old Star Trek episodes, which often dealt with the issues of the day, like racism or the Cold War.
 
Hollywood is gambling big on science fiction and comic book movies with occasional human interest movies because they have a history of making profit for their investors aka Wall Street.

They will not take chances on anything new or original.

CBS News just showed that for this year's agenda which is a traditional agenda for them in recent years.
 
I think it's a good idea to make an original movie but also put some ingredients in that will appeal to mainstream audiences. For example, movies like Inception, or The Matrix, are not usually the type of complex stories that mainstream audiences go for. But the filmmakers stuck in action sequences, cause audiences love those and it was a key component to filling the seats.
 
It doesn't have to be an original movie; Iron Man 1 built on a franchise that is decades old, but it deal with a serious political issue; the next two didn't have anything other than action sequences.
 
I'd like to see more movies like Act Of Valor. Not only was the plot realistic, I liked real Navy Seals playing Navy Seals. Some people didn't like their acting. But, I got into the movie because actors with their pretty boy faces trying to play tough warriors is more distracting for me to watch. I want to get into a movie as something believable. And, Act Of Valor did that for me.
 
2001 Productions said:
Everybody blames Hollywood, when it's audiences who vote with their ticket purchases.
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What he said.......


Anything that isn't mainstream is a huge financial risk.

If you are going to take a major risk there had better be a huge upside if the "experiment" goes awry. When it's your own money - say, $500 or $1,000 "risked" on your indie film - the only person who cares about losing the money is you. The big upside is you have had a chance to gain some experience, hopefully work with some cool people, and you may even have a nice piece for your reel that may lead you to further opportunities.

When you are putting up $50 million, $100 million or $250 million you avoid as much risk as you can. That means at the very least breaking even, and in the corporate film world that means recouping the entire investment in the first month of theatrical release.


Here's a few questions for you... How many indie filmmakers have a few dozen producers breathing down their necks from preproduction all the way through opening weekend. How many indie filmmakers have an opening weekend? How many have a producer? How many have a producer with a board of directors looking over the producers shoulder and second guessing every decision? How many indie filmmakers recoup their investment? How many indie filmmakers entire career rests upon how successful their film is financially? (You know, if that were the case, maybe there would be better indie films, or at least fewer crappy ones.)

No one in the corporate film world gives a rodents anal sphincter about art or diversity; they care about PROFITS. To earn profits means appealing to the lowest common denominator. Actually, the lowest common denominator is true diversity; what film can be made that appeals to the widest (most diverse) possible audience?

Art/Diversity is going to have to come from the indie film community. As has been demonstrated the corporate film world will happily invest a few million to "clean up" a decent indie project and a few more millions to promote it.

One more thought...

The blockbuster mega-movies have to make up for all of the "small" films that break even or lose money. Does anyone here think that "What Maisie Knew" or "Greetings From Tim Buckley" are going to be big money-makers? Or any of the 40 or 50 other films to be released this spring and summer? They're the "diverse" "niche" films that the corporate film world is putting out; most will not make much money, but they're making them anyway, aren't they?
 
I think advertising also has something to do with it. When I go to a movie it seems that they always want to advertise comeides, and fantasy/action movies in the coming attractions, more than they do drama. And the comedies they are advertising are often certain kinds of comedies for mainstream audiences. So I think that by doing this the market is attracting that audience more since they are seeming more of those trailers, compared to other genres.
 
Aspiring Mogul said:
I'm reading Goldman's classic, "Adventures in the Screen Trade", and it's pretty pessimistic. If no one knows anything, why get into film? :(
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Why to arrogantly shove our opinionated 'art' pieces down people's throats and edumacate them, of course!

Or, you know, 'cause we like telling stories through the medium of film? YMMV.
 
harmonica44 said:
I think advertising also has something to do with it. When I go to a movie it seems that they always want to advertise comeides, and fantasy/action movies in the coming attractions, more than they do drama. And the comedies they are advertising are often certain kinds of comedies for mainstream audiences.
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Trailers before films are generally representative of the target demographic of the film - they're trying to sell similar films to an audience that has expressed their interest in that kind of film through their ticket purchase. If all you're seeing is comedies and fantasy/action trailers it's a pretty good indication that that's the only kind of movie you're paying to see...
 
I'd like to see some more movies in the fantasy genre, such as LOTR. There's hardly anything good in that genre, particularly high-budget.
 
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