I think this is the most important paragraph of the story:
"Paradoxically, the list of the top-grossing movies of all time includes an impressive number of originals that spawned countless sequels and imitations: "Star Wars," "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Independence Day," "The Sixth Sense" and "The Matrix." Even "Titanic," the mother blockbuster of all time, came from the fertile brain of James Cameron."
Other big films with original screenplays are Raiders of the Lost Ark and Terms of Endearment. I'm sure there are many more, but the point is that originality and high grosses are not mutually exclusive. The public will respond to originality. The problem is, studios don't know what the public will respond to, so they tend to rely on what they know they've responded to in the past. As William Goldman famously wrote, in Hollywood, "nobody knows anything."
The good news is that money can be made from films that don't gross in the multi-millions. "Lost in Translation" is just he lastest example of this. So there will be a market for small, original scripts -- it's just under the smaller "classics" division of the major studios.
Will studios get more creative and take greater risks on unknown talent anytime soon? looking at today's political climate, I'd say no. We're in a era that is the mirror opposite of the 60s and 70s, when the old guard studio execs felt they were out-of-touch with the youth in America and handed the reigns to a new generation of inventive and original filmmakers. It seems now we're more likely to see more films about the Bible and big-studio backing for the "Left Behind" series.
Who knows? Personally, I try and find themes that anyone can relate to when writing. David Mamet recently wrote that good drama addresses enternal human conflicts that have no solution. I think that's what people respond to, stories that they can relate to, and in term spark something inside of them.
