I am a little concerned that such a democratic creative process will lead to the redditification of motion picture; only kumbaya-style movies that make you warm inside, approved by the hive mind will ever be made, while controversial pieces of works that ask questions or raise issues most people are not prepared to listen to yet will never be realised. Which would be a shame because that's one of the important roles of contemporary art in our society.
Amazon studios
41–50 of 91 posts
Re: Amazon studios
#42I am a little concerned that such a democratic creative process will lead to the redditification of motion picture; only kumbaya-style movies that make you warm inside, approved by the hive mind will ever be made, while controversial pieces of works that ask questions or raise issues most people are not prepared to listen to yet will never be realised. Which would be a shame because that's one of the important roles…
Well, I'm not a Redditor, but I've seen some of the most controversial topics make it to the top page. Heck, even the whole SOPA debate, which hardly got any traditional media coverage, was king of HN and Reddit these past few weeks. And yesterday I read a great AMA from a former prostitute. Let's see that subject get any traditional media time.
Re: Amazon studios
#43I am a little concerned that such a democratic creative process will lead to the redditification of motion picture; only kumbaya-style movies that make you warm inside, approved by the hive mind will ever be made, while controversial pieces of works that ask questions or raise issues most people are not prepared to listen to yet will never be realised. Which would be a shame because that's one of the important roles…
Well, I'm not a Redditor, but I've seen some of the most controversial topics make it to the top page. Heck, even the whole SOPA debate, which hardly got any traditional media coverage, was king of HN and Reddit these past few weeks. And yesterday I read a great AMA from a former prostitute. Let's see that subject get any traditional media time.
The SOPA thing is certainly an instance of "hive mind" behavior, albeit toward a worthy end.
Re: Amazon studios
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it's a pretty lousy deal. The upside is there's at least a chance your script will get picked, versus Hollywood where there is virtually no chance. So it's a "shitty deal vs no deal" situation.
It's basically a tradeoff. You have a higher chance of getting picked, but a much lousier payday if you do. Nevertheless, it might actually be a decent bet for newbies to the screenwriting trade. As you've mentioned, and as I concur, your odds of getting discovered in Hollywood are somewhere just shy of your odds of getting beamed aboard the Enterprise. So Amazon's system represents a slightly better way to get a cal…
Actually, I just realized I have no idea how much a scriptwriter makes if they sell a script.
Does anyone know the average payday for a script writer for large-scale Hollywood productions?
Re: Amazon studios
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's basically a tradeoff. You have a higher chance of getting picked, but a much lousier payday if you do. Nevertheless, it might actually be a decent bet for newbies to the screenwriting trade. As you've mentioned, and as I concur, your odds of getting discovered in Hollywood are somewhere just shy of your odds of getting beamed aboard the Enterprise. So Amazon's system represents a slightly better way to get a cal…
Actually, I just realized I have no idea how much a scriptwriter makes if they sell a script. Does anyone know the average payday for a script writer for large-scale Hollywood productions?
During the writer's strike of 2007, there were a few interesting articles about this. This NYTimes article is pretty good:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05writers.h...
Re: Amazon studios
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could be, but for now their official stand is: The goal of Amazon Studios is to work with Hollywood to turn the best projects into major feature films.
"Some of the best ideas may initially look like they're serving the movie and TV industries. Microsoft seemed like a technology supplier to IBM before eating their lunch, and Google did the same thing to Yahoo."
I agree that just because they work with the studios doesn't mean they don't fit the bill.
I think they don't fit because it's boring. It's scaling up and updating of "I'll help you sell your screenplay" newspaper ads. Open to everyone but with predatory terms.
Another middleman to the studios.
It's not innovative and it's not killing anything.
Re: Amazon studios
#47Amazon's product introductions are like a mixture of Apple's product videos and Sesame Street
Re: Amazon studios
#48Amazon has got it's fingers in so many pies ... and they all taste so good,
Amazon's monopsony in the e-book market scares me.
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/11/cutting-...
Re: Amazon studios
#49> What is a test movie? > An Amazon Studios test movie should be an inexpensive, full-length movie > that tells the whole story of the script in a compelling way, with very > good acting and sound. Somehow, I don't think this will work. "Make a movie, to make a movie" doesn't seem like an attractive offer. I'm not a filmmaker, but from what I understand, it is much more convenient to send out a script than it is to p…
Watch "I think my Facebook Friend Is Dead". I was skeptical about test movies too, but that one is watchable and entertaining enough that you can see how a little production values and more professional actors could make a good movie. It's all about mindset while watching.
Re: Amazon studios
#50I am a little concerned that such a democratic creative process will lead to the redditification of motion picture; only kumbaya-style movies that make you warm inside, approved by the hive mind will ever be made, while controversial pieces of works that ask questions or raise issues most people are not prepared to listen to yet will never be realised. Which would be a shame because that's one of the important roles…
Well, I'm not a Redditor, but I've seen some of the most controversial topics make it to the top page. Heck, even the whole SOPA debate, which hardly got any traditional media coverage, was king of HN and Reddit these past few weeks. And yesterday I read a great AMA from a former prostitute. Let's see that subject get any traditional media time.
The SOPA debate was hardly a controversial topic for HN/Reddit.
Websites like Reddit definitely have great content, but as parent commenter pointed out, this content is necessarily the kind of content that appeals to the average user, and there is no room for outliers.