“IN A MARKET FILLED WITH TENT-POLES, SEQUELS AND REMAKES; WE AREN’T GIVING CONSUMERS NEW PRODUCTS.”
— JA

THE FAILURE OF THE MOVIE BUSINESS

  • too much competition from all entertainment; streaming, social media, sports, etc.

 

  • the convenience of streaming has an inherent advantage over theatrical movies. Entertainment where you want it, when you want it.

 

  • movies cannibalize each other with a business geared solely to the opening weekend.

 

  • marketing costs have spiraled out of control with a movie’s success predicated on how it does opening weekend.

 

  • difficulty in building audience awareness means studios only want to make pre-awareness titles such as sequels, remakes and branded entertainment.

 

  • studios focus on event-size movies to try and differentiate products from TV.

number of tickets sold

millennial movie attendance per capita

STUDIOS DON’T DEVELOP SCRIPTS ANYMORE

  • they’ll buy a spec and pay for a rewrite, but if the draft doesn’t come in, they'll shelve the project.

 

  • everyone wants the baby, no one wants the labor and the nine months.

 

  • the onus is on the screenwriter to either sink or swim. It isn’t enough to simply sell a spec anymore. The sold spec needs to be well structured and executed so that it’s potentially one draft from a greenlight.