Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood. • Hacker News Board

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#481

Post by aestetix_ » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:41 AM UTC

I think pg is actually completely 100% on the money here. Kudos to him and YC being bold enough to come out and say it so bluntly.

Here's why I agree with him: I see a lot of comments from people suggesting that Hollywood works on a cycle, where things move along, start to stagnate, and then a dark horse director comes along and creates magic. Altman, Lucas, etc all fit this bill, and they've produced amazing hits. Using money from Hollywood.

So, if this cycle is indeed perpetual, and Hollywood simply has to wait for the next big thing, then why don't they? Instead, we are seeing prosecutions on a massive scale, and grossly out of touch legislation proposed like SOPA and PIPA.

If Hollywood were so confident, and had so much money, why should they care about these infringers? Is it that copyright infringement makes Hollywood lose that much money, or is it that the economic model has changed dramatically, the execs are scared shitless, and are trying dearly to hold on to their once-empire?

I don't think anyone can challenge the assertion that the field has changed dramatically. I also don't think anyone, including the Hollywood execs, has a clue where it's going now. Laws like SOPA seem to be about preventing this change from happening, to keep the power where it was. It sounds like YC's approach is to encourage people to be creative and try to come up with a viable suggestion as to where things are going.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#482

Post by waterlesscloud » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:42 AM UTC

tlb wrote: post #276

armandososa wrote: post #5

I hope whatever kills hollywood also kills distribution by regions. In the third world we are people too.

It was supposed to be just price discrimination in favor of the third world. Regions allowed Hollywood to sell the same movie for less in Africa or China than in the US. But because of weird business arrangements in international distribution, it sometimes meant they got movies late or never.

Global distribution territories are like a maze of twisty passages, none of which are alike.

Combining the other recent pg essay about schlepping, this is a major schlepping window of opportunity. If someone could find a way to make it easier for filmmakers to reach markets around the world, that would help the overall issue.

I don't just mean slap up a youtube clone and call the problem solved, I mean provide access to theatrical and tv gobally.

Major schlepping there, but probably a good opportunity too.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#483

Post by chegra » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:45 AM UTC

My tweet about a month ago in my ideation session for a weekend project: "I'm thinking cinemas are obsolete, and movies should be streaming in my house on their premier." https://twitter.com/#!/chegra/status/150519505636950016

I was thinking maybe groupon / kickstarter for movies. A studio large or small[ie individual] creates a trailer and people pledge to it. Initially, I was thinking about streaming, but now I'm think just have a download of the movie[better quality].

In terms of what would happen in 20 years, I'm banking on the singularity would have happened by then. Films would be generated on the fly to match your mood, personality and preferences to guarantee maximum pleasure.

Coming back to the present, the advancement of strong AI[1] would be the natural end to Hollywood.

Edit: Took a look at this picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PPTSuperComputersPRINT.jpg . Apparently 2013 is the year when we are suppose to have enough computing power to simulate the human brain[feels less crazy for suggesting it.].

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_AI

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#484

Post by _delirium » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:45 AM UTC

ctwk wrote: post #475

anactofgod wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original post ends by asking the wrong - and an extremely limiting - question. Technological innovations of camera/film/projectors (and later broadcast & receivers) made motion pictures possible . These came first. The current "Hollywood" production-distribution-revenue model came after, as a result of the economics of what it took to make motion pictures profitable . So, "Hollywood" is less the entertainment, an…

I agree that the question is limiting, but not necessarily wrong. By creating a new form of entertainment, one can take over a portion of Hollywood's revenue pie and that in a way will create havoc for Hollywood, but not necessarily killing Hollywood since there will be bound to be people who likes Hollywood productions (especially since Hollywood has the finance to fund multi-million dollar productions in a whim). W…

> By creating a new form of entertainment, one can take over a portion of Hollywood's revenue pie

That's what the videogame industry has done, isn't it? Their total revenue is now actually larger than Hollywood's. It's not clear it's greatly harmed Hollywood, though; it's possible people are just choosing to spend more total money on entertainment, rather than videogame spending displacing film spending.

It's possible some future form of entertainment will compete in a sense that's more directly a substitute for Hollywood's entertainment, but it's not clear to me that that'd necessarily be the case, unless it were literally a substitute in the sense of just being an alternative financing/distribution mechanism for standard films.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#485

Post by Quiark » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:47 AM UTC

ohyes wrote: post #269

skb_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you guys consider video games? I think that's already a viable alternative form of entertainment. I would argue video games already killed Hollywood, they just never pulled the sword out. $50 for 100+ hours of content vs $10 for roughly 2 hours? No contest.

Video game industry is nearly as bad as Hollywood.

But I think indie games are more visible, they even get some space on Steam (yay!), so maybe all is not lost.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#486

Post by Keyframe » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:50 AM UTC

I am a director, I can speak on this from experience. Primary problem with producing movie/TV shows is money. It costs A LOT of money. Even shows you think can be done with a lower budget, it can't... currently. Reasons for high costs are numerous and I can expand on them (and will if someone asks me), but lets take that as an axiom for this post.

It costs a lot of money, which means people who invest in content production need to offload a lot of money and wish to guard their investment as much as possible, since that's what it is - an investment in a project. Financing cycles and budgeting is as lean as possible in showbusiness, and a lot of money is involved both upfront for production and later when gathering yield.

IF someone can disrupt financing side and securing measurable projected yield in this business - only then we will have a disruption. That is where one should look at for disruption, everything else is futile, because it's as lean as possible.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#487

Post by ramanujan » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:51 AM UTC

Keyframe wrote: post #486

I am a director, I can speak on this from experience. Primary problem with producing movie/TV shows is money. It costs A LOT of money. Even shows you think can be done with a lower budget, it can't... currently. Reasons for high costs are numerous and I can expand on them (and will if someone asks me), but lets take that as an axiom for this post. It costs a lot of money, which means people who invest in content prod…

Please do expand on these reasons. What costs a lot for fundamental reasons? And what can be attacked with software?

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#488

Post by _delirium » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:55 AM UTC

jerf wrote: post #298

marshray wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's insightful, but your term "Internet industry" sounds like an anachronism like "recording industry". RIAA members are a big system that now encompasses a wide range of activities oriented around entertaining via audio and clearly they think a lot more about lawsuits and marketing than literal recording. So who is the "Internet industry"? Literally it would be vendors of networking gear and ISPs. But I think wha…

"Do we have a good name for them?" No. I agree it's klunky, but it seemed like a diversion to try to nail the semantic jello to the wall. It's an amorphous, fuzzy group, but there's definitely a group of companies and interests who were directly threatened by SOPA.

I agree the name isn't a big problem, but unfortunately I think a group who will really consistently be on "our" side (vaguely EFFish) is quite small, regardless of the name. When it comes to lobbying, the tech industry is for the most part just another special interest like Hollywood, taking whatever side is best for profits in any given dispute. Sometimes, like with SOPA, that's good. Other times, like with Apple/Microsoft's pro-DMCA lobbying, it's bad.

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#489

Post by waterlesscloud » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:56 AM UTC

chegra wrote: post #483

My tweet about a month ago in my ideation session for a weekend project: "I'm thinking cinemas are obsolete, and movies should be streaming in my house on their premier." https://twitter.com/#!/chegra/status/150519505636950016 I was thinking maybe groupon / kickstarter for movies. A studio large or small[ie individual] creates a trailer and people pledge to it. Initially, I was thinking about streaming, but now I'm t…

Experiments along these lines have already been performed. The struggle between VOD and theatrical is one of the major battles underway in Hollywood right now.

Contrary to what you might initially suspect, the studios are in favor of VOD over theatrical.

It's the exhibitors (theaters) that are fighting it.

Here's a youtube interview with the NATO (theater owner trade association) president which focuses a lot on the VOD issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5_Habwshog

Re: Request for Startups: Kill Hollywood.

#490

Post by Keyframe » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 10:58 AM UTC

sambeau wrote: post #214

Here's my suggestion: Trailer Pitch This is a simple design for a site and business where filmakers can crowdsource investment. It uses a simple mechanism to sell tickets and shares in advance based on the popularity of premade movie trailers. It uses a mechanism based on ideas tried by Pinboard, Kickstarter, YouTube, Vimeo, Betfair and Louis CK. One: filmakers make compelling trailers for films they would like to be…

Idea based on pitches with short or expanded (up to 15 minutes) trailers could work, because that's how it's done for independent productions looking for money now. Thing is that this would work only for low budget movies and shows (up to $20 million)... I don't see how could this raise budget for a high budget movie ($200+ million) - that would need a serious coverage.