The Genre Director - WATERLOO

The Script Reader - Top 5 Worst/Best Foreign Accent-Putter-On-ers in Movies.

The Development Executive - From Assistant to President: A Different Take

So, I wouldn’t normally write a blog in response or in connection to another blog on this site, especially one written by someone I personally know, respect, love and work with.  But after reading Rachel Miller’s blog that mentions how often the situation arises where an assistant is promoted to a high level executive position almost over night, it sparked something in my head that needed to come out of my mouth (or at least my fingertips).

Now, I want to be SUPER clear. Rachel Miller has worked for some of the best and brightest and hands down the HARDEST people to work for in this industry and she’s GREAT at what she does. She works harder than anyone else I know, 24/7 and her clients are insanely lucky to have her in their corner. So this has nothing to do with her and she is one of the people who truly deserved to go from assistant to CEO. But not everyone out there is like Rachel. And I know the point of her blog was actually to tell you to be nice to everyone and meet with everyone you can – to always network - and she’s absolutely right, so my blog is not meant to take anything away from her point.   My point is simply an observation related to her blog – and that is: Some of these people who seem to rocket from Assistant to President – are wildly unqualified and preclude those who are, from getting these jobs.

Rachel mentioned John Palermo, whom I don’t know personally, as a perfect example of this, though I think he’s another exception to my rule because he seems to actually know what he’s doing (“Viva Laughlin” not withstanding).  But there are many more out there and like John, most of them were assistants to actors or directors. These are the most plum jobs in the entertainment industry because not only do they get all the great swag from every awards show and party their bosses are invited to, but they also become ingrained in their life, becoming tight with the agents, managers and all the producers that their boss works with. So even if their boss doesn’t start their own company and they aren’t able to get promoted that way, they have an inside track with the agencies and are able to find exec jobs through them much easier than any other assistant in Hollywood. Plus, these assistants learn all the dirty little secrets of their bosses (hello, confidentiality agreement) and make themselves invaluable to these stars who sign their paychecks (something everyone should do no matter who you’re working for).  

Yes, if you land one of these coveted gigs you’ll probably have to get coffee and clean up dog shit for a year or two, and of course put up with all the crap and innate insecurity that comes with working for talent, but if you’re lucky enough to latch on to a celebrity who becomes so successful that they start their own company, as MANY have done in the last 5 years or so, you can basically write your own ticket. I can name 50 actors who have their own company and that’s just scratching the surface. Not to mention the writers, directors and big name producers. And many are run by people who were the stars’ assistant.  But here’s my question – is it a good thing for the rest of Hollywood when people can go from poop scooper to producer or president in a years’ time? 

Of course that is the exact lure of this industry. The eternal carrot dangled ever-closer in our faces. The fact that one year we can be living on Ramen noodles and doing menial tasks 12 hours a day and the next year, we could be making 6 digit salaries and getting invites to the Oscars. And for the most part it’s all about luck. I have a friend who, when he stepped off the boat, signed up with a temp agency and the first job he got through that agency was as Tom Cruise’s personal assistant. Seriously. But the question remains - how can someone who was previously charged with keeping one person’s schedule, reading a few scripts, and making sure the reservation at the new hot restaurant was made, be able to produce a movie? That’s one hell of a learning curve. I know that after my year or two of being an assistant was over, I wasn’t nearly ready to take that step. Now, there are a couple of popular anonymous tracking boards that trash people who were perhaps promoted too quickly. But I’m not here to trash specific people (sorry) – just point out that the situation exists and in some cases, the upward mobility is unearned. 

And you don’t even have to work for a huge star. B-Listers and even C-Listers have their own companies these days. I think the only thing more depressing than reality stars starting their own film or TV Company is the fact that their star-fucking assistants become players in a game they are not qualified to play in.

Now, this isn’t to take away from the role an assistant plays. It’s a hard fucking job! We’ve all been there. We’ve all paid our dues. It’s part gatekeeper, part office manager, part accountant, part development exec, part travel agent, part driver, part bitch, and part God. And all of that is probably greatly amplified when you’re working for a celebrity or big name. And there ARE some people who learn what they need to in two years time and ARE perfectly qualified to run a company. But they are not in the majority.  

As someone who has had to look for an executive job, after already being an executive elsewhere, I can’t tell you how frustrating it was to hear that instead of a company hiring someone with exec experience, they chose someone who was an assistant because they wanted to be in business with the star that person worked for previously.

Here’s the real reason many of these people get promoted…ready? Because these stars (or directors, producers, or high level executives) can’t afford to get rid of them. They have invested their time and money in these people and who have already earned their trust and know too much about them. So instead of looking outward for people with real experience, they would rather just give their assistant a nice title bump and a cut of the profits and hope for the best. Which quite frankly, really fucks the rest of us over. Now I know what you’re thinking – I’m just bitter. Well, yeah…I guess I am (you all read my first blog right?). I don’t deny it. I wish I had been smart enough when I came out to LA to find the closest celebrity I could and ask to walk their dog and pick up their lunch.  I wish I had used my internships to become some unknown comedian’s butt buddy in hopes they’d have a TV deal five years later. And I wish I had known then that this would be the best and quickest track to success. But alas, hindsight is 20/20.

So if you’ll excuse me, I need to go wait outside Dan Tana’s with a sponge and a squeegee in hopes that some nice celebrity has a car in need of a good scrubbing, cause I want a full producer credit on my IMDB before I’m 35.

Tags: Filmmaking, Movie Blog, Filmmaker, Movie Bloggers, Movie Theatre

The Manager - ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT IN ONE DAY

There is a truism in the entertainment industry that states “an assistant one day, a president the next.”

I just heard a great story that emphasizes this point: John Palermo was Bryan Singer’s assistant on the first X-Men film. John made such a good impression that Hugh Jackman hired him as Hugh’s assistant.

From there John was promoted on each subsequent film of Hugh’s: John became the executive producer on X-Men the Last Stand and full producer on X-Men: Origins. John is now running Hugh Jackman’s production company — Seed Productions.

This just goes to show you that you always have to be nice to everyone — from the assistant all the way up to the president. (In fact, when I launched Tom Sawyer Entertainment I promoted myself from assistant to CEO.)

And in the last six months alone, one of my friends went from assistant to director of development at a studio (skipping several steps along the way) and another friend went from the right-hand person of the head of a studio to becoming the president of Sony Pictures Animation.

On the same principle as meeting ANYONE – you should meet EVERYONE in the business, regardless of what company these people are at.

Because everyone switches jobs all the time, someone can be at a company one day (a company with which you might not have the same sensibilities) but could move to a different company the next day (a company for which you are perfect).

And again, if those executives/producers/agents like you, they will remember you and will reach back out to you and try to find a project to work with you on at their new company.

True story: An agent told me about how her client refused to meet with an executive at Lifetime. Now that same executive is running drama at NBC, and her client doesn’t have a relationship with that executive because the client wouldn’t take the meeting at Lifetime and start building a foundation for a successful future relationship.

Another true story: My client took a general meeting at Hugh Jackman’s company Seed Productions. The client is a young comedy writer/actor and, while he was never going to write something for Hugh, our friend who is the executive over there wanted to meet him.

We set up the meeting and told our client that nothing would probably happen but the exec is a good person to know.

It turns out that the company was looking for a writer for the Oscars and the executive fell in love with him.  Three days later he was on a plane to New York to write Hugh’s opening number for the Oscars.

In short, meet with anyone and everyone because you never know who or where these people will end up.

Tags: Movie, Movie Blog, Film, Film Blog, Movie

The Editor - 15 Film School Tips in 20 Minutes

This Wednesday morning I’ll be giving at talk at the Final Cut Pro Users Group Superbooth at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas (booth #SL10129 in the South Hall) in which I’m going to very quickly give a number of quick tips that I’ve picked up teaching at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

There’s no way that I can really go over all of them here.  And, besides, then you wouldn’t come to Las Vegas to see me, would you? In fact, some of them aren’t even editing tips, but filmmaking tips in general.  But I thought I could drop a few of them on you so you could get a flavor of some of the basic editing tips that you may or may not already know.

L-Cuts, L-Cuts, L-Cuts

This first one is so obvious to me that it floors me that almost no beginning editors ever do it. Simply put:

Never make a picture cut at the same frame as your audio cut unless you want to emphasize that moment.

The corollary to that is:

When you make a picture cut at a different frame than your sound cut it smoothes out the edit.

Let’s take a look at what that means on a timeline:

 

Notice how the picture edit from 3G-3 happens a bit before the audio edit does. What I always try and do is extend the outgoing piece of audio (3G-3 in this case) as long as possible, starting the incoming audio (3D-5) at its first modulation — the place where the first noise/dialogue/sound effect/etc. on that clip begins.  This smooths out the edit so that any difference in the background ambinence will be much less noticeable. This isn’t going to cover plane-bys or car sounds that cut suddenly in or out, but it will help disguise general background — such as differences in wind or air or distant traffic or crowds. Because the person’s line of dialogue (in 3D-5 here) will begin at the exact same frame as the change in the background tone the audience is not going to notice that change very much. If you had edited the audio at the picture edit point all that would have changed would have been the background tone.  So they would have noticed that.

And that, my friends, will make the cut more noticeable. So, if you don’t want your picture edits to jump out at the audience, stagger the picture and sound edits.

To repeat what I said at the start — this is so helpful that it amazes me when I see editor’s timelines that every nearly every picture and audio edit at the same place. Believe me, I know where this comes from — it’s slightly harder to refine edits when the picture and sound are staggered. But this L-cutting helps the audinece relax so much more that it is worth every additional second in the editing process. You’ll get away with a lot this way.

Cut On Action

 This second tip comes from the same place — how we can help the audience not to notice the fact that we are making a picture edit. And it goes like this:

Cut on movement. Cut at the beginning of a character’s movement.

Simple statement but it covers a multitude of evils. It is axiomatic that as soon as you give an actor a cigarette or glass of some liquid that it will be nearly impossible for him/her to match their exact hand positions from take to take and set-up to set-up. The whiskey glass may be in the left hand in the wide shot and then appears in the right in the closeup.

 

But, if you cut to the closeup right as he flicks his hair back, or as he points to the window, or as another character moves his/her hand — our eye is going to be distracted from the glass and (lo and behold) the cut will roll by unnoticed.

There are other reasons to cut on action. In the example above, from Terminator 2, the T-1000’s truck smashes through the bridge into the L.A. River. What you notice if you slowly frame advance the edit, is that the editors (Conrad Buff, Mark Goldblatt and Richard Harris )actually overlapped the action at the cut. The truck smashes through the bridge in a close shot, moves a bit into the air and then, in the cut to the low angle wide shot above, actually moves back a few frames. This overlapping of the action produces a much more dynamic and energetic cut than if the editors had strictly match cut.

Which leads to a third and, for today, final tip.

Matching Action Is Vastly Overrated

 I once re-edited a film that the director asked me improve because she was unhappy with the first edit. As I reviewed the dailies I discovered that the original editor, while being very thorough about making perfect match cuts (if an actor had a glass of whiskey raised half way up in the closeup, he’d make sure that it was also half way up in the wider matching shot) completely missed character defining moments which were often 10 or 20 frames after or before the pieces that he had used.

The technical editing was great, but he had missed all of the humanity.

Once I restored the actorly edits, no one noticed the mismatches because they were following the story and the characters.

And let that be your last lesson of the day!

================ NAB =======================

So, as I mentioned above, I am going to speaking at NAB.  I’m going to be in several places and I’d love to see you there.  For a list of my talks, you can go to my blog Hollyn-wood,  I’ll also be twittering from there.  You can follow me on twitter.  My handle is schnittman and you get to me through my Twitter page. There’s going to be a party that Avid is throwing, as well as the infamous FCPUG Supermeet.

It looks like it’s going to be tons of fun, so I hope to see each and every one of you there.

Well, all of you except the person who I’ve got walking my dog while I’m out of town.  Okay?

 

Tags: Movie Blog, Movie Theatre, Director, , Filmmaking

The Showrunner - Those Who Forget The Past…

Whew — barely survived crossing the Red Sea last week with all that matzah brie and those ridiculously heavy commandments – including the 11th Commandment which says, “Thou Shall Not Be Snarky – unless what you’re saying is F***ing True.”

This week, to honor our shared heritage, we will be revisiting/updating …

Tags: Movie Bloggers, Director, Oscars, Film Blog, Hollywood

The Actor - A SPRINGTIME CHUCK E. CHEESE EASTER BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WITH BROADWAY AND BABIES ON THE SIDE

Easter truly marks the start of spring for me, and I could not be happier!  I simply love being able to wear brighter, fun, and fabulous colors out and about, in such lovely, sunny weather, without it being too hot!  This year Easter was celebrated at good old Chuck E. Cheese, for my good friend, and fellow actor, Tara’s 32nd Birthday!  She is a true kid at heart and finds joys in the simple things in life, which includes keeping the child in her alive through her love for Dainty Disney princesses, Fairytale Fun, and Buoyant Birthdays, at a childhood playground of sorts.

Needless to say, we all had a blast running around like we were 8 years old again, playing games, like the classic Skeet Ball, collecting our winning tickets, and exchanging them for little goodies from the wall of playful prizes, like fluffy, cloudlike cotton candy in petal pink!  I have included some of the pictures from our Chuck E. Cheese Easter Birthday celebration below, so you too could experience some of our rather animated adventure!

Aside from that, and since my last blog in the form of a vlog, I have been keeping busy working with the oh so talented Bernard Telsey Casting team, in town from NYC, once again, helping them with two new shows, which is always a pleasure.  One is the upcoming Broadway musical “Memphis,” which tells the story of “Huey Calhoun, a fast-talking, ego-driven white radio disc jockey who is fascinated by the R&B music being made on Beale Street” in the 1950’s.  The other is the recent Vegas hit “Peepshow,” currently starring Spice Girl Mel B, aka Melanie Brown, and, from “General Hospital” and “Dancing with the Stars,” Kelly Monaco.  The show takes “classic burlesque and modern music with live bands, singers and dancers to create a contemporary, exciting, sexy, hot show” at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

While spring has sprung, so has the baby boom, it seems, among my fabulous friends back east, with four expecting little ones around the same time, right before the winter holidays, which is really exciting!  Right now, I get to experience and enjoy all of that through my friends and take on the role that suits me best, for now, Auntie Liesl, which even my friends refer to me as, and it is one of the roles I enjoy playing the most!

Also, I am working on more video ideas to post as Vlogs in the near future, since the response was overwhelmingly positive in wanting to see more like that from me.  What you want to read and see is what I hope to always bring to you!  ‘Till next time, I hope you enjoy the pictures below, are all having a super start to spring thus far, and that things are heating up for you, in a good way, aside from just the temperature!

“An optimist is the human personification of spring.”
 - Susan J. Bissonette

Tags: Hollywood, Oscars, Film Blog, Filmmaker, Movie Theatre

The Production Manager - Interview time

So I’m back on the job market and it’s Slim Pickens out there! I’ve had a couple of interviews, both went really well and told me I all but had the job, however no firm offers yet.

It’s funny how you can tell a lot about a job from the interview process. For example, any good production person knows that “the budget and schedule are a bit tight” translates to “you’ll be expected to move heaven and earth to fit the show into this painfully optimistic budget and schedule”. I learned that one long ago!

Ironically one of these jobs is for a new MTV reality series so I’d be right back in the saddle that I just left. Unusually the management team on this show is male and I definitely got a great vibe from them. I’ve had great luck in the past working with male Line Producers; they tend to handle the stress a bit better than the women I’ve known. Before anyone cries sexism at me, sorry but that is my experience!

The other job doesn’t start for a couple of months and while it’s for a small cable channel it is with a better known company. However I’ve heard the words ‘nightmare show’ uttered far more than once and I know a few people who have already quit the show, which does not sound appealing.

But times are tough and this is the profession I chose. Some jobs will be harder than other jobs and others will be more fun. Right now I think I’d be happy just to be able to call myself a production manager and actually be working on something to back it up.

Fingers crossed on this MTV one. It sounds both fabulous and mega trash all at the same time!!

Tags: Movie, Hollywood, Movie Bloggers, Film Industry, Movie Theatre

The Development Executive - The Grand Prize Is….A Script You Can’t Sell!

I am asked all the time by writers who want to get their script made if it’s worth it to enter all the screenwriting contests they can find and my quick answer to them is NO.  Because here’s the thing about screenwriting contests - in general, the scripts that usually win – never get made! The only exception to this might be Nicholls, where many of the winning scripts have been produced including the recent winner “Butter” which is going into production.

Why won’t they sell you ask? Because what a contest looks for and what studios and the marketplace look for are very different which is why I don’t feel contests are decent barometers for successful writers. Good writers? Maybe. But successful writers? No.

Now, if you’re interested in simply breaking in and getting noticed and landing some meetings with representation, my answer would be different. Contests can be a fantastic stepping stone or springboard for a writer, not to mention make them some extra living money. Nicholls especially has launched many a career, including Susannah Grant, Jacob Estes, Ehren Kruger, and Karen Moncrieff.

There are certainly some contests out there that mean a great deal in the industry and will get you noticed if you place high enough or win, like Nicholls, the Disney Fellowship or the Creative Screenwriting Expo Contest.  But because in general, the project you win with is probably never getting made, you need to have other scripts already written that you can pitch and send to all the people you’ll be meeting with.  FYI, if you just placed as a semi-finalist in the Iowa Regional Screenwriting Bonanza – no one gives a shit. And you should definitely not write this blazing accomplishment in your query letters.

Small or statewide contests are fine if you just want to practice writing, or it’s just a hobby, or you really want to win the $250 grand prize and free dinner at the local steakhouse. But if you’re serious about screenwriting, don’t waste your time.  And being a quarterfinalist means nothing no matter what contest it is. If you only made it to the quarterfinals in a competition where only 50 or 100 scripts were submitted, then that tells us you weren’t good enough. Even quarterfinals in Nicholls, where there are 5500 submissions, still means that over 1000 other scripts were better than yours. So why would that be a selling point?

Do you know what kind of scripts win most contests? Sweeping period dramas, war movies, quirky low budget character pieces, intricate multi-character prestige pieces, or loving family films. You know how many of those are made at studios per year? Like 5. And I guarantee almost none of them were contest winners. So I don’t understand why competitions put uncommercial material on a pedestal. It almost encourages writers to write against the marketplace, and therefore hurts their chances of selling something. Now good writing is good writing and the cream will rise to the top and be noticed, but you’re never going to see the winning script of the Disney Fellowship be a raunchy college comedy, a slasher movie or an erotic thriller, no matter how well they might be written. But guess what – that’s what sells!

I met with a writer who placed really high, if not won, the Nicholls fellowship a few years ago. And I asked her what prompted her to write that screenplay. What inspired her to tell that story? And to her credit, she was completely honest and told me “Because I knew it would win the Nicholls and I really needed the money.” This was not a first time writer – she had been around – but she hadn’t sold anything, so she was still eligible to submit her stuff. And because she knew that she was good enough to make it to the finals, all she had to do was match her skills with the type of story that contests drool over, and she knew she had it made. And she did. She made thousands of dollars off that script from different contests – but it never got set up and never got made.

Part of me got angry at her for being so smug and screwing over other writers that maybe should have won but didn’t because they didn’t have the right genre of script, but more of me was so impressed with her savvy, knowing what types of projects would win the contest, that I couldn’t be angry with her. She wrote a script without having irrational or ridiculous hopes for it. She wrote a script for one purpose – to win $10K in a contest. And she did it.

I was a judge for Scriptapalooza years ago – okay actually my boss was, but guess who read every fucking script they sent over and told him who to pick? That’s right.  And what I learned was that you’re not really picking the great script, you’re picking the best script from the pile you’re given. I honestly hated every single one I read. I remember thinking – these can’t be the finalists! So, especially for smaller contests where there aren’t five thousand entries, being the best doesn’t necessarily mean you’re that good. It just means these other people sucked more.

Yes, it’s worth it to enter into a National (usually LA-based) screenwriting competition, just know what you’re getting into and be realistic about the outcome. Always give preference to your career in the long run as opposed to that single script. 

As a tip, the following contests are the ones execs are more likely to pay attention to:

Nicholls Fellowship, Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship, Sundance Feature Film Program, Scriptapalooza, Screenwriting Expo – CS Contest, USC Competition, UCLA Competition, Final Draft Screenwriting Contest, Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, Slamdance Screenwriting Competition, Screamfest (genre specific), Page International Screenwriting Contest, Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship Program, International Family Film Festival (genre specific), Moondance, Visionfest, Acclaim, Creative World Awards, BlueCat Screenplay Competition.

Let the comments commence…Am I wrong? What are your thoughts on the best contests to enter? The worst? Leave them here!

Tags: Movie Blog, Television, Movie, Filmmaker, Film

The Manager - A LETTER TO ACTORS FROM AN AGENT

I usually try to write separate posts for each of the blogs that I write for but I thought this is so important I would post it in both places:

This email was supposedly sent from a talent agent to his clients and is making its way around Hollywood. And while I can’t confirm that it was indeed sent from an agent to his clients, I think it is a very honest breakdown of what is going on in the business (for my comments, go to the end of the email).

=============================
A LETTER TO ACTORS FROM AN AGENT
=============================

I know a lot of you are getting antsy to get out more, and frankly many of you are in a tight financial pinch; as such, I wanted to describe to you all the current climate in LA and the factors influencing the current environment.

SAG STALEMATE: Since the SAG contract expired last year, there have been few to no studio feature films (this does not
include companies such as Lionsgate and the Weinstein Company who are not in AMPTP and as such have completion agreements).

Some analysts say there are up to 200 feature films on hold. Around September, we started to see a mass movement of film actors to TV projects. Many of my ‘name’ actors have done one-day guest stars (this is very typical right now), and we
are seeing a number of Guest Star level actors doing co-star roles.

Remember from November of 2007 to March of 2008, due to the Writer’s Strike, again there were no feature films shot.
So for the film actor, there has only been 4 months of work in the last 17 months.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Due to the lack of feature film production, both film and TV actors are now competing for a limited number of jobs in the episodic and pilot environments.

PILOT SEASON: During the Writer’s Strike of 2007-2008, studios adapted and used the void to eliminate pilot season as we know it. Gone are the days of hundreds of pilots. In fact, this year, there are only 67 pilots to have registered for production -of which only about 35 have been greenlit for production.

And this year, due again to a sagging economy, studios and networks believe that by committing name stars to their projects, they will receive more money from this year’s up-fronts from ad agencies. They are banking on star power
to leverage better buys at the all important up-fronts.

So, stars and pop-stars like Richard Dreyfuss, Chevy Chase, Brittany Snow, Elle McPherson, Rebecca Romijn, Ashley Simpson, Scott Caan, Skeet Ulrich, and proven TV talents like Kelsey Grammar, Eric McCormick, John McGinley, Joel McHale, Jenna Elfman, Donald Faison, Maura Tierney, Peter Krauss, Craig T. Nelson, Dax Shepherd, etc.

You do the math, 37 pilots… top stars being sought…

TV: While TV has been steady, again due to the conflagration of film and named actors doing guest starring roles, we have
seen a horrible trickle down. Many guest stars are now doing co-stars and co-stars/developmental actors (those with less
than 5 primetime credits) frankly are not getting seen much. One CD recently told me that she had over 25 women who would be considered ‘working actors’ going for a co-star role.

BOTTOM LINE: Again, due to the abundance of name and working actors, many less-developed actors are not even being seennright now.

ECONOMIC IMPACT I - THE EROSION OF QUOTES/RATES: There are really three major impacts to actors during this economic crunch. First, we are seeing the erosion of quotes. Due to the availability of so many talented actors, casting folks and producers are in the driver’s seat in negotiations.

When they say, “well, we’ve got someone else who will do it for less” — they ain’t kiddin’.

I have spoken to a number of my peers who have confirmed this erosion of pay for their actors. In short, right now, quotes
are eroding and for many, the minimum has become the maximum.

ECONOMIC IMPACT II - THE CONCLUSION OF SAG STALEMATE: Many are hoping that with the end of this stalemate, Hollywood will get back to normal.

I have to say that I am not one who necessarily believes this. First off, due to the economic conditions, most studios have
lost millions of dollars from hedge funds … and European, Asian and Middle Eastern money has dried up.

Even Steven Spielberg has had to beg, borrow and steal to get his company financed. And it wasn’t anywhere near what
he originally asked for. I believe that, even after the SAG stalemate is over, there is probably not enough money for 50 studio feature films to be done - right out of the gate.

BOTTOM LINE: While this will help us move towards normalcy, it will not be the cash cow some people think it will be. One side note is that I expect that more formulaic projects will come out the gate, as studios will be less likely to take any
significant risks - since most of these projects will be financed by both the studio and their investors. In short,
you will see more Iron Mans, Animation, and SAWs… they are money in the bank when you factor in ratios, etc.

ECONOMIC IMPACT III - OVERALL STATEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT: It is important that everyone follow the economy closely. I know it is easy to be skeptical over the studios, networks, cablers, production houses, show runners, etc., losing money, but it is a cold-hard fact right now. These entities are truly in a difficult spot. If you have read much lately, there have been dramatic cut backs at every studio and network - from firings to asking show runners to cut between 2-7% of their budgets (not to mention the 25% cutback shows like the Sarah Silverman were asked to swallow recently). Furthermore, these networks and studios are largely owned by conglomerates who have lost billions over the last 6 months.

When I attended NATPE in January, all the talk was how to get ‘thinner.’ Everything is getting tight. Budgets, marketing, staffing, etc. - and this will undoubtedly impact the actor.

Also, the foreign sales market (where much of the TV and film money is made) is being hit hard by the erosion of the dollar. So these entities are not able to recoup the costs they were in better days by the one-time explosion of the foreign
markets.

BOTTOM LINE: The economic conditions are forcing the industry to be as ‘thin’ as possible.

COMMERCIALS - INDUSTRY AND ECONOMIC IMPACTS: One analyst said last year that 2008 was the worst commercial market since maybe 1974. I would not argue with this. Think about it: three of the top products/services for ad agencies are banks, cars and other financial services - all of which were struck down in 2008 and early 2009 by this recession. This was confirmed when news struck that even the Super Bowl did not sell out advertising this year.

The good news is that the advertising industry tends to be one of the first ones to be negatively impacted by a recession, but one of the first to grow as the recession moves to an end as advertisers of products want to start accumulating market share before the turn of the economy. Another impact relates to the overall conditions of the TV/FILM/PILOT situation. Many strong actors have made enough money on TV/FILM, etc. so that they have not had to do commercials in years. Due to the last few years and the lack of work, many top actors are now back in the commercial market; thus again causing a logjam in casting.

BOTTOM LINE: The economic slowdown has caused a dramatic decrease in ad sales and the lack of work has caused more actors to re-enter the commercial market.

THE GOOD NEWS!!

Okay, so that is where we are today. You know me, I try to always call it straight as I see it. So, I am not going to sugar-coat this either.

I anticipate that 2009 will be a tough year overall for actors (and agencies). First off, the economy will not likely get
straightened out until at least the 3rd to 4th quarter of this year and so all the factors above will remain in place through
most, if not all, of 2009. Secondly, until the labor situation gets straightened out, we will not be seeing dramatic amount of film production, and this seems to be dragging along as well (as we enter the 8th month of the stalemate - it was announced today that SAG is thinking now about taking AMPTP to court for anti-trust violations). But again, even if it was finalized, there is not enough investor money to see the film production level normalize and increase for most, if not all, of 2009.

Also, since movies cost around $40 for two (tickets, popcorn, etc.) - this is not a recession-proof field anymore. During our
last significant recession, there were few choices for guilty pleasures to get away from the stress of our times - so many
people flocked to the theatres. NOT SO THESE DAYS; one can go to the web, TV, cable (not around in 1974, 1982, 1988 much), video games, Netflix, RedBox (movie for a $1). So studios are probably not in any big rush to make films - as people cannot afford this once cheap diversion - better to divert for a few bucks to all the many other sources of guilty pleasures.

OKAY, so that didn’t sound like good news …

The good news is that there are paradigm shifts occurring that make 2010 -2012 look like it might be one of the most
prolific times in Hollywood history. Due to technological developments, there are more platforms being developed than
ever. The internet is driving millions of new viewers each year.

Zillion is going to transform the way we view advertising. For those who don’t know, it has recently been unveiled by
the maker of Real Player and the ‘mouse.’ It is a system that makes you watch ads before downloading movies (they already have 14,000 titles ready for download), TV, other forms of entertainment to your TV screen. However, the consumer can choose the products they want to see (let’s say you go retail clothing and watch a Macy’s ad and love the jacket; you can immediately click on the ad/jacket and go directly to their website where you can buy it). Also, you earn points by watching the commercials that you can use towards purchases. Furthermore, Sony and others are now selling TVs that wirelessly connect to your computer, so you can download TV/FILMS at anytime from your computer (websites like Hulu, Netflix, etc.) directly to your TV.

In short, technology is making more platforms which will require more content than ever. Cablers are all embracing doing scripted shows, some have up to 5 shows this year … again, more content is needed and thus, MORE ACTORS!

BOTTOM LINE: More platforms = more content = more actors! So as long as SAG and/or AFTRA can protect your rates and solve jurisdictional issues, there will be more good compensated work than ever in Hollywood by 2010-2012.

My comments:

Whether you are an actor or a writer I think there are four things to take away from this email:

1. As less and less movies are being made the traditional way through studios, it’s getting harder and harder for a new writer to break in.
2. As less and less movies are being made by studios, the studios are going to be more risk averse than ever before.
3. Thus, you as the writer must do everything in your power to have the best script possible before you take it out, because it is too easy for people to say no.
4. Write a commercial movie. If you want to make an independent movie, write and then go make an independent movie. But if you want to play in the studio world, do yourself a favor and write a commercial movie. Again, you want to give people the least amount of ammunition for reasons to pass on your script.

For more insider advice on writing great screenplays that sell, check out my Special Reports at
http://www.showmethescreenplay.com/special-reports-entertainment-industry-insiders/

Tags: Director, Television, Movie, Filmmaker, Filmmaking

« Previous Page — Next Page »