Gambling is Bad, Just Not on Screen
We live in a “what have you done for me lately” kind of world. Apparently, that means I’m not doing enough.
Here’s my dilemma. The studio is on me pretty hard about my next project. I have two or three scripts basically ready to go. Two of them are rather straightforward. They have an easy story to market, familiar tropes, and themes. Some might call these cookie-cutter. The third is a little out there, so of course I had to pitch it.
In a world where kicking ass is the only currency left, one llama must rise above the rest. He is a master of Jeet Kune Do, but to save his village he must become more. His adversary? An evil genius fox leading an army of robotic hippos with one goal: world domination.
From the creators who brought you The King's Speech …
Yup, that’s about as far as I got before being fired and booted off the lot. I guess it really is a tough business, even in this completely fictionalized representation of it.
They said they wanted something big, a blockbuster that no one has seen before. Tell me that’s not what they’re getting with Mecha Hippos vs. Fighting Llama (trademark pending).
That’s the dirty little secret about Hollywood. From the outside it looks like a bastion of creativity, artistic expression, and vision. In reality, it’s just a machine designed to make money, something that yes, it does fairly well. But at what cost?
If you ask me, it comes at the cost of moving the art forward. Things have become too formulaic. Big studios seem to be more concerned with keeping their bottom lines intact than actually taking risks.
Guess what? The whole thing is a risky business. It always has been, always will be, and always should be. There is no other way. All those charts, computations, and assessments don’t mean much. Maybe they help the bigwigs sleep at night, when really the only thing they're doing is prolonging their decline. Because that is what happens when you take the brush away from the painter, when you stop taking real chances. The art form suffers.
Let’s take a look at a film that just about everyone has seen or at least heard of: The Wizard of Oz. When it was released in 1939, it did so after overcoming multiple hurdles. There were concerns about the ballooning budget, the revolving door of directors, and the implementation of Technicolor. The whole thing could have been a disaster for MGM. That’s not even mentioning the film’s story, based on L. Frank Baum’s fantasy novel, which was unproven in mainstream cinema and could have easily turned audiences off. In fact, during The Wizard of Oz’s initial release, MGM lost money. It was only later, through subsequent re-releases, that they were able to make it back. Nonetheless, what they gave the world was a timeless classic.
Today, I really don't know if a big studio would have the guts to greenlight an unproven IP like MGM did, and then stick with it when things got tough.
Tell me how an IP is supposed to become proven unless it’s actually put to the test? That’s right, every proven property that exists today was once an unproven gamble. Imagine a world where The Godfather is turned down because its runtime is too long or Jurassic Park is scrapped due to its projected return not being high enough compared to its budget.
A lot of these studios are trying to chase the results that can come with taking risks rather than actually experiencing them. That’s why we see basically the same movies every year like clockwork. It’s a couple of Marvel movies sprinkled between some other over-the-top action flicks.
It would also be disingenuous if we didn’t give credit where it’s due. Recently, we’ve had movies like Sinners, along with One Battle After Another, show the world that good storytelling is alive and well, that it is still evolving, and that, if given the proper treatment, is still capable of giving us something to smile about, even if the commercial numbers don’t always show it.
Now, here’s the harsh reality. The studios probably don’t want to see a Bruce Lee-inspired llama duke it out with robo hippos – unless they do. I mean, I think they should. In which case, I’ll clear my schedule.
Seriously, though, I would like to see a little more skin in the game. Let’s put the charts, the prognostication, and the timidness aside for a moment. You can send the meteorologist home too, because this isn’t about raining on anyone’s parade. This is just a reminder that every great film, every story, has to contend with the same voices in their head, the ones that question, that second-guess everything, and tell them to go home. It’s an unavoidable feeling, yet more often than not, you have to keep the lights on, push the project through, take the leap.
This is all I’m really asking for. Not to reinvent the wheel. Not for bigger budgets. Not a remake of The Wizard of Oz. Please, we’re a long way from Kansas now. Instead, give us a plot twist. Show us a willingness to try something new. I know it won’t be easy. The time has come, though, to let some fresh air in.
If you don’t want to take it from me, then just look at the past. This art form wasn’t built by always playing it safe, and it’s not going to survive that way either.
