Why the film industry needs disrupting • Hacker News Board

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#11

Post by missy » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 2:27 PM UTC

Sad to hear that these schemes are used to broadly in business. But not just the business but also from a human side I ve often been left disappointed.

I had my bubble as 12 yr old burst about the innoncence of TV / Media when I was with my parents at some Restaurant that had a big playground. There was a TV shooting in that playground for some Fundraiser of a Down Syndrom Suffering Child.

I just remember standing next to the camera who was having a cigarette break a bit on the side from the family, and he said (more or less, I was 12) to his colleage " Ok, just one final shot of the spastic running into the parents open arms. Always a classic shot to raise money".

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#12

Post by Sharlin » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 2:37 PM UTC

kitcar wrote: post #3

While I do believe the film industry needs "disrupting", I do not believe this was the point of the article, nor does it make any good arguments to back up a thesis of "disruption". "6. Tricky Hollywood Accounting" - this is purely a contract negotiation issue, and it is is no way a hollywood-specific problem - in all lines of businesses you will find companies which try to setup "royalty fee" or similar buyer-contro…

"3. Copyright Bullshit" - this is a US specific problem, not a film business wide problem, as copyright laws change by country. It could also be viewed as a good thing for producers in the film business, as they can profit off their films longer.

Unfortunately, anything the US does on this front, others will follow. The media giants very much prefer internationally consistent copyright laws, and they have the power to lobby the US government to exert considerable political pressure on other countries. It's not just the lobbiers themselves we have to worry about here in the Euroland.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#13

Post by DevX101 » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 2:39 PM UTC

kitcar wrote: post #3

While I do believe the film industry needs "disrupting", I do not believe this was the point of the article, nor does it make any good arguments to back up a thesis of "disruption". "6. Tricky Hollywood Accounting" - this is purely a contract negotiation issue, and it is is no way a hollywood-specific problem - in all lines of businesses you will find companies which try to setup "royalty fee" or similar buyer-contro…

The author never said Hollywood needs disrupting. The HN poster did.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#14

Post by Jun8 » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 2:57 PM UTC

Well, the most important item is not on this list: Hollywood doeant have a frigging clue about what makes a film successfull (except some obvious metrics, like big names, that anyone can think about), they're completely divorced from the audxience reality. There are many movies that become blockbusters to the great suprise of producers and vice versa, despite the many preview audience screenings, market research, etc. I don't know of any other industry that shares this characteristic.

With top-notch video camears as low as $2-3K now, I'm forever expecting a DIY movie explosion, which never happens. People explain this as "it' difficult to shoot,edit, etc. a movie" which is true but I think the much bigger factor is the stronghold these companies have on distribution.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#15

Post by jackfoxy » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:00 PM UTC

DevX101 wrote: post #13

kitcar wrote: post #3

While I do believe the film industry needs "disrupting", I do not believe this was the point of the article, nor does it make any good arguments to back up a thesis of "disruption". "6. Tricky Hollywood Accounting" - this is purely a contract negotiation issue, and it is is no way a hollywood-specific problem - in all lines of businesses you will find companies which try to setup "royalty fee" or similar buyer-contro…

The author never said Hollywood needs disrupting. The HN poster did.

Real title "6 Things the Film Industry Doesn't Want You to Know About". IMO there are few legit reasons for changing an article name for a HN posting. This lowers the quality of HN.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#16

Post by jws » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:19 PM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #14

Well, the most important item is not on this list: Hollywood doeant have a frigging clue about what makes a film successfull (except some obvious metrics, like big names, that anyone can think about), they're completely divorced from the audxience reality. There are many movies that become blockbusters to the great suprise of producers and vice versa, despite the many preview audience screenings, market research, etc…

Popular music has a similar dynamic. The studio model is to grab a bunch of likely artists, get them in front of the public and see which ones get traction.

Restaurants are similar. Only about 50% will get traction and survive. That is a well studied business with a replicable model and still it's a crap shoot.

You might even extend it to HN style startups. Lots of expertise in choosing, funding, and guiding, but you still can't say with confidence which will succeed.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#17

Post by vacri » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:26 PM UTC

kitcar wrote: post #3

While I do believe the film industry needs "disrupting", I do not believe this was the point of the article, nor does it make any good arguments to back up a thesis of "disruption". "6. Tricky Hollywood Accounting" - this is purely a contract negotiation issue, and it is is no way a hollywood-specific problem - in all lines of businesses you will find companies which try to setup "royalty fee" or similar buyer-contro…

That was a lovely piece of spin-doctoring, breaking down the argument into small atomic parts to neatly excise the 'whole is greater than the sum of the parts' essence.

Also, "everybody does it" is not a defence for shady ethics or illegal activity.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#18

Post by Cushman » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:35 PM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #14

Well, the most important item is not on this list: Hollywood doeant have a frigging clue about what makes a film successfull (except some obvious metrics, like big names, that anyone can think about), they're completely divorced from the audxience reality. There are many movies that become blockbusters to the great suprise of producers and vice versa, despite the many preview audience screenings, market research, etc…

I think you're underestimating-- making a movie is really, really hard. It barely matters how much the camera costs. Producing video of the quality audiences now expect takes dozens of people who all know exactly what they're doing. That's the major expense.

Anyone with a PC and a HD camcorder can easily produce good video for, say, the early 90s. But people now don't want to watch video from the early 90s, so it still costs a hundred million bucks to make a film.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#19

Post by Cushman » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 3:47 PM UTC

jackfoxy wrote: post #15

DevX101 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author never said Hollywood needs disrupting. The HN poster did.

Real title "6 Things the Film Industry Doesn't Want You to Know About". IMO there are few legit reasons for changing an article name for a HN posting. This lowers the quality of HN.

"6 Things the Film Industry Doesn't Want You to Know About" sounds like I'm accidentally reading Gawker. "6 places for disruption" sounds like people are talking about startups.

Re: Why the film industry needs disrupting

#20

Post by technoslut » Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 4:18 PM UTC

kitcar wrote: post #3

While I do believe the film industry needs "disrupting", I do not believe this was the point of the article, nor does it make any good arguments to back up a thesis of "disruption". "6. Tricky Hollywood Accounting" - this is purely a contract negotiation issue, and it is is no way a hollywood-specific problem - in all lines of businesses you will find companies which try to setup "royalty fee" or similar buyer-contro…

>1. Stealing Scripts" - This is just not a film business problem. People steal ideas everywhere, all the time. Stealing ideas is easy, creating a good product is hard.

It sounds as if you're trying to justify this approach as well as the others listed. We all know this but the reason it happens is because the writer needs a studio to finance the film. This the most reprehensible of all those listed because it punishes creativity.