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Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

ycombinator.com

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Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#3
post #2

Why was my submission killed? --> http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3491539 Edit: incidentally, because this submission was made after my submission, when I saw it I flagged it thinking it was a dupe. Now it seems I've lost the ability to flag entirely. :(

I saw pg's submission first, and it got killed. (Or deleted.)

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#4
post #3
post #2

Why was my submission killed? --> http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3491539 Edit: incidentally, because this submission was made after my submission, when I saw it I flagged it thinking it was a dupe. Now it seems I've lost the ability to flag entirely. :(

I saw pg's submission first, and it got killed. (Or deleted.)

Yes you're right, I actually didn't see that... What's going on?

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#6
"The people who run it are so mean and so politically connected that they could do a lot of damage to civil liberties and the world economy on the way down. It would therefore be a good thing if competitors hastened their demise."

This seems hypocritical considering YC's funding of companies like Cloudant that go on to work with companies (Monsanto) actively engaged in the worst kind of subversive geopolitical work. Compared to Monsanto, Hollywood is a shinning beacon of freedom and peace.

Of course, going on to read the rest of the article it sounds as though YC is more interested in the financial interests of killing Hollywood than the potential political impacts.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#7
Hollywood and the MPAA isn't about making movies.

Rather, it's about maintaining a distribution chokehold on mass produced popular entertainment. This in turn means controlling what goes into the pipeline, and how the output from the pipeline is delivered to the consumers, and how the MPPE is marketed -- for example, the whole star system, Oscars night hype, and so on.

What is needed is a better distribution channel, and that's why they keep trying to kill anything that looks like it might become one. The solution is thus going to start with (a) invent something, and (b) lawyer up, a long way prior to public launch.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#8
post #4
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw pg's submission first, and it got killed. (Or deleted.)

Yes you're right, I actually didn't see that... What's going on?

I've had a bunch of random stuff killed recently too. It's so fast it has to be an automated thing.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#9
Incidentally, Paul Buchheit deserves all the credit for this idea. The YC partners were having lunch yesterday and he suggested posting this RFS. Whereupon we all turned to Jessica, who is usually the one who talks us out of doing crazy things. I was kind of surprised she didn't try to talk us out of it.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#10
At least to me, the most important part of trying to make a current media killer is remembering that storytelling is still a fundamental part of society, and not all forms of entertainment (including a subset of video games) do not scratch that itch. To truly replace Hollywood I think you need to come up with new ways of filling that need.

Since books obviously don't quite do it (need for visual/audio component for some people, perhaps?) something else will need to do it.

Perhaps focus on interactivity with real story behind it in games and taking that to the next level? Lots of potential, but have to keep in mind what niche they're filling.

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