NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > HOLLYWOOD OFFICIALS FINALLY ADMIT THEY ARE OUT OF IDEAS

HOLLYWOOD OFFICIALS FINALLY ADMIT THEY ARE OUT OF IDEAS

September 7 2009

Hollywood, CA – Hollywood has long been the city of dreams. The rise in popularity of films throughout the 20th century has been unlike any other artistic medium before. Along with that rise in popularity so too have the fortunes, literal fortunes, of
those lucky enough to have their hand in the world of cinema. Its popularity though isn’t the only thing that has made the film world unique; its stories have often been drawn from pre-existing sources, typically novels and comic books, making it one of the least original creative forms ever.

That lack of originality has never been more in focus than it has in recent years. With the rise of remakes, sequels to marginally popular films, and adaptations of B-grade content the criticism against the major studios has continued to grow. Now with the announcement of such projects as ‘Big  Momma’s House 3’ and an adaptation of ‘The Green Hornet’ on the way Hollywood officials are finally relenting and admitting publicly for the first time that they are indeed completely and totally out of ideas. Peter Chernin, CEO of Twentieth Century Fox, was the first to address the dearth of ideas being felt across the industry.

“Look, a lot of people criticize us as being only interested in money and having little or no interest in making the audiences happy but that just isn’t true. We are all movie lovers, that’s why we got into this industry in the first place. There are plenty of other places we could work but we decided to work in the dream industry and we are here to make movies,” said Chernin. “People just don’t realize how difficult it can be to come with stories that appeal to both moviegoers and our bottom line. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing a project and making it work and for a long time we played it safe, I admit that. Now though there just aren’t a whole lot of good ideas out there, never have been, and now we, and by this I mean Hollywood, are just plumb out of ideas. That’s why you are seeing so many sequels and remakes. No one, anywhere, has any good ideas and that’s making life in this industry a little difficult.”

Fox has been a particular target of critics whereas other studios have largely escaped criticism. It’s not immediately clear if certain studios have a larger stockpile of worthwhile ideas than others.

“Creativity has never been something that one can turn on an off. It’s particularly difficult when there are so many external pressures, particularly financial, bearing down on the people trying to produce new works, The popularity of Hollywood has meant incredible opportunity but with that comes a huge burden that can often stifle creativity,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “The biggest issue in Hollywood is that they have serious limitations as to the content they produce. Things that would fly in say the literary world just won’t work in Hollywood so they have limited choices. There are lots of ideas out there, just not the right kind for the movies.”

The hundreds of films produced every year are believed to be part of the reason that the industry is struggling with many studios turning to remakes and reboots of previously produced content now being the norm.

“It has been said that Shakespeare wrote all of the great western stories and that everyone since him is only reworking his plays to fit their times. There is some truth to that but that doesn’t mean originality doesn’t exist in those pieces. That’s largely true of Hollywood and in the past some of their remakes have been quite successful, like say ‘Scarface’,” continued Temple. The heart of the problems is that they are tasked with producing films consistently and after so many years they’ve just run the table on their pre-existing content. Other fields such as literature and comic books have been faltering in recent years and totally unable to keep pace with the demands Hollywood puts on them. That means that they have to go back and mine past tales just to have something on the screen.”

Thus far there have been few remakes of remakes but experts predict that might not be far off. For the record Chernin admits that very few studios are making much of an effort when it comes to coming up with new ideas.

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent

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