It’s reflective of what’s happening everywhere - the equity folks buy up everything and strip the industry. Was just reading about the veterinary profession is undergoing. Sheesh.
The vet hospital I used to take the kitties to for 20 years got sold to VCA (Veterinary Corporation of America) when the last original partner retired. Before, when I went there, the vet actually Solved The Problem. When I stopped going there was when I realized that all the vet did was recommend High Priced Tests. As Andy Abshier can testify, the young vets at a VCA animal hospital are graded for promotion on how many tests they sell per visit. Actually solving the problem is never mentioned. And sadly, that outlook is getting passed now to the few "independent" veterinarians left.
Thanks,TC, so sadly interesting. What really caught my eye is the fear in the industry....how many writers wanted anonymity to comment for the article, fearing they would lose future work. Blackballing, the "McCarthy List" tactics, punishing and ostracizing whistleblowers, all bullying tactics by "powers that be" who ban criticism and critical thinking for the sake of the bottom line. Add AI to this and artists, especially writers, will continue paying the price long into the future.
( suggestion: once you have finished your War books ( or even now because you can chew gum and do almost anything else) how about taking on Hollywood History. You were there and know the players and the developments. Just a thought!
Spanking good idea. Watched a YouTube* of a very old documentary about movie stuntmen who'd worked during the silents and early talkies. The then retired veteran stuntmen were interviewed and shed a fascinating light on movie production. We've had plenty of history about the film stars but little about the infrastructure of movies, writers and production staff. I'm with Carol, Tom. Please give it a thought after you finish the one you must be working on.
*You Tube is itself a killer of creative big movie screenwriting because its content is more accessible. One guy carved out a niche in which he visits cemeteries wherein the remains of celebrities are interred, and he walks about taking videos of the headstones and giving thumbnail accounts of the prominence of the individual deceased. Lots of Hollywood's deceased.
I have thought since the last strikes began that the fight against AI is a doomed crusade. AI represents the progression of technology and now that it has been let loose there's no getting it back. Why would producers who control the money want to fill a writers room with people they have to pay when they could pay one writer to sweeten up scripts that AI has generated. AI can easily generate scripts with character development, story evolution, scene development for commercial breaks in the case of TV and precise timing so that they fit network requirements or theatrical screening needs. Actors are terrified because the chance of being discovered like the next Harrison Ford just got infinitesimally smaller, Extras are still probably cheaper to use than CGI, but that too will change. The industry is changing, it always has been, since the first silents evolved into talkies, and then B&W into color. I came from the camera world where a BNC Mitchell and a Worell head took 4 strong men to move from place to place, now one average size person can operate a video camera hardly bigger than a SLR on a Steadicam rig and get shots that a BNC could never get. I got out just as video was starting to come in, I loved making films using film cameras, it was a very analog creative experience. Digital is very different, I use it for still photography and love it for that, my mirrorless camera can make images comparable to a 5x7 or maybe even a 8x10 view camera. My point is that you can either embrace change or be left behind by it, you can't stop it, it's relentless. The industry that Tom and I evolved in is not the same as when we started, we both have great memories and stories to tell, but it can't be rewound to start over. I'm OK with that.
Dick, I was hired as a reporter at the ABC affiliate here in Orlando in 1976.
6 months later we made the transition from film to ENG!!! I have always been happy that I got to experience both “ eras” And, you are right... we have to befriend change or become a Luddite!!
the cover story in "Harper's" an issue or two ago was also about the "death of Hollywood as we know it" and the reasons were essentially the same. the story (I forget who wrote it and can't find the issue but it's easy to find) leaned heavily in the direction of blaming the mindsets of the people who "own" the studios but, since they all tend to be venture capitalist types, they buy the studios to sell them to someone else at a profit. at no point does anything like "story telling" come up in their equations. say what you will about the assholes who ran the studios, they ALL had a commitment to telling stories. movies tell stories very well and even the worst dudes of that bunch (I'm thinking Mayer and Kohn and Hughes et al) could at least TALK about telling stories.
big, big difference.
I hate that prick Zaslav "with a vengeance," as used to say. in that recent Warner Bros. puff piece you can see--obviously--on Max, Zaslav sits behind Jack Warner's actual desk (he'd exhumed it) and talks about this "rich tradition" of storytelling about which he knows nothing. he "made his bones" with Reality TV, which is a blight on the world. thing is...a desk can't make you Jack Warner (a pretty poor example for a human being to begin with) because Jack Warner was one of the several guys who created the whole idea of a "movie business" and a "studio head." those studios were run like factories but they were factories creating a product that, bottom line, enabled the telling of STORIES.
when I was working in public schools, Bloomberg became mayor and pushed this idea that a school is a little corporation and the Principal is its CEO. the minute this shit happened, everything changed and got demonstrably worse. looked at purely from a sort of systems perspective, Hollywood has a lot in common. ultimately, they're both about NUMBERS (test scores, weekend grosses, etc.).
a lot of the newer TV writing I've been witnessing (and I watch much too much TV) might not have been directly written by AI, but COULD have been.
but yes, a whole generation of screenwriters is fucked, good and proper. and, very possibly, forever.
the current crop of professors who teach Screenwriting in film schools need to level with their students about the real deal. back when I was in graduate school, it became clear that jobs in college teaching English were going to disappear (which they did), but nobody on the faculty knew what to say, so no one said anything. still, a few people got lucky and had good jobs they kept until they retired. another thing is...there's nothing anyone can do to control luck. that's what makes it luck.
in the meantime, for the rest of us, this shit really sucks.
I remember pissing off the entire screenwriting faculty of UCLA Fillum Skool when I said that I - not a "leading writer" - had more produced credits than the entire faculty combined. Which was true. Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, become film critics.
I didn't realize how bad it has gotten, Tom. Any art form is risky these days, and probably has always been. I am glad the writers and actors went on strike. I think it woke up a lot of us to see that it's not just ordinary working people who are suffering from nearly 50 years of upside down economy where, instead of spreading to wealth to benefit the majority of citizens it has gushed up to the tip-top of society to benefit only the wealthiest. Including the Hollywood moguls. I wish all the writers best future.
The difference is that the crises that happened before led to artistic advancement. The fact the audience stopped buying the classic 1930s-50s type of studio films in the 1960s led directly to the Golden Age that began in 1967 with the release of "Bonnie and Clyde" and the great films of the 1970s and 80s and early 90s. This "revolution" will be more destructive for the Hollywood community than the advent of sound was.
For that, I am truly sorry, Tom, for you and all the artists that strove so hard to entertain. We are a very destructive species, Homo sapiens, Especially of things of value.
This is just so damn sad. What's left for creatives? Find a wealthy private patron? Oy.
Back to the Middle Ages....
It’s reflective of what’s happening everywhere - the equity folks buy up everything and strip the industry. Was just reading about the veterinary profession is undergoing. Sheesh.
The vet hospital I used to take the kitties to for 20 years got sold to VCA (Veterinary Corporation of America) when the last original partner retired. Before, when I went there, the vet actually Solved The Problem. When I stopped going there was when I realized that all the vet did was recommend High Priced Tests. As Andy Abshier can testify, the young vets at a VCA animal hospital are graded for promotion on how many tests they sell per visit. Actually solving the problem is never mentioned. And sadly, that outlook is getting passed now to the few "independent" veterinarians left.
Same in our part of the world. And the quality of nursing homes is in the tank.
Thanks,TC, so sadly interesting. What really caught my eye is the fear in the industry....how many writers wanted anonymity to comment for the article, fearing they would lose future work. Blackballing, the "McCarthy List" tactics, punishing and ostracizing whistleblowers, all bullying tactics by "powers that be" who ban criticism and critical thinking for the sake of the bottom line. Add AI to this and artists, especially writers, will continue paying the price long into the future.
( suggestion: once you have finished your War books ( or even now because you can chew gum and do almost anything else) how about taking on Hollywood History. You were there and know the players and the developments. Just a thought!
Spanking good idea. Watched a YouTube* of a very old documentary about movie stuntmen who'd worked during the silents and early talkies. The then retired veteran stuntmen were interviewed and shed a fascinating light on movie production. We've had plenty of history about the film stars but little about the infrastructure of movies, writers and production staff. I'm with Carol, Tom. Please give it a thought after you finish the one you must be working on.
*You Tube is itself a killer of creative big movie screenwriting because its content is more accessible. One guy carved out a niche in which he visits cemeteries wherein the remains of celebrities are interred, and he walks about taking videos of the headstones and giving thumbnail accounts of the prominence of the individual deceased. Lots of Hollywood's deceased.
Damn, I thought the strike solved many of the problems. Very depressing as this looks like a problem made worse by the industry itself.
I have thought since the last strikes began that the fight against AI is a doomed crusade. AI represents the progression of technology and now that it has been let loose there's no getting it back. Why would producers who control the money want to fill a writers room with people they have to pay when they could pay one writer to sweeten up scripts that AI has generated. AI can easily generate scripts with character development, story evolution, scene development for commercial breaks in the case of TV and precise timing so that they fit network requirements or theatrical screening needs. Actors are terrified because the chance of being discovered like the next Harrison Ford just got infinitesimally smaller, Extras are still probably cheaper to use than CGI, but that too will change. The industry is changing, it always has been, since the first silents evolved into talkies, and then B&W into color. I came from the camera world where a BNC Mitchell and a Worell head took 4 strong men to move from place to place, now one average size person can operate a video camera hardly bigger than a SLR on a Steadicam rig and get shots that a BNC could never get. I got out just as video was starting to come in, I loved making films using film cameras, it was a very analog creative experience. Digital is very different, I use it for still photography and love it for that, my mirrorless camera can make images comparable to a 5x7 or maybe even a 8x10 view camera. My point is that you can either embrace change or be left behind by it, you can't stop it, it's relentless. The industry that Tom and I evolved in is not the same as when we started, we both have great memories and stories to tell, but it can't be rewound to start over. I'm OK with that.
Dick, I was hired as a reporter at the ABC affiliate here in Orlando in 1976.
6 months later we made the transition from film to ENG!!! I have always been happy that I got to experience both “ eras” And, you are right... we have to befriend change or become a Luddite!!
AI will tell us all what to think and believe. Plots decided, Scripts already written, the sheep assemble and partake. HAL is on the job…
With bated breath (cough) I await the fall of illiberalism.
the cover story in "Harper's" an issue or two ago was also about the "death of Hollywood as we know it" and the reasons were essentially the same. the story (I forget who wrote it and can't find the issue but it's easy to find) leaned heavily in the direction of blaming the mindsets of the people who "own" the studios but, since they all tend to be venture capitalist types, they buy the studios to sell them to someone else at a profit. at no point does anything like "story telling" come up in their equations. say what you will about the assholes who ran the studios, they ALL had a commitment to telling stories. movies tell stories very well and even the worst dudes of that bunch (I'm thinking Mayer and Kohn and Hughes et al) could at least TALK about telling stories.
big, big difference.
I hate that prick Zaslav "with a vengeance," as used to say. in that recent Warner Bros. puff piece you can see--obviously--on Max, Zaslav sits behind Jack Warner's actual desk (he'd exhumed it) and talks about this "rich tradition" of storytelling about which he knows nothing. he "made his bones" with Reality TV, which is a blight on the world. thing is...a desk can't make you Jack Warner (a pretty poor example for a human being to begin with) because Jack Warner was one of the several guys who created the whole idea of a "movie business" and a "studio head." those studios were run like factories but they were factories creating a product that, bottom line, enabled the telling of STORIES.
when I was working in public schools, Bloomberg became mayor and pushed this idea that a school is a little corporation and the Principal is its CEO. the minute this shit happened, everything changed and got demonstrably worse. looked at purely from a sort of systems perspective, Hollywood has a lot in common. ultimately, they're both about NUMBERS (test scores, weekend grosses, etc.).
a lot of the newer TV writing I've been witnessing (and I watch much too much TV) might not have been directly written by AI, but COULD have been.
but yes, a whole generation of screenwriters is fucked, good and proper. and, very possibly, forever.
the current crop of professors who teach Screenwriting in film schools need to level with their students about the real deal. back when I was in graduate school, it became clear that jobs in college teaching English were going to disappear (which they did), but nobody on the faculty knew what to say, so no one said anything. still, a few people got lucky and had good jobs they kept until they retired. another thing is...there's nothing anyone can do to control luck. that's what makes it luck.
in the meantime, for the rest of us, this shit really sucks.
I remember pissing off the entire screenwriting faculty of UCLA Fillum Skool when I said that I - not a "leading writer" - had more produced credits than the entire faculty combined. Which was true. Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, become film critics.
Puck has been all over the Paramount mess. https://puck.news/how-david-zaslav-could-benefit-from-paramount-mess/?sharer=462850&token=d469629b8979fe3bd35606c0c5f102f5
I, too, can't stand Zaslav.
Yes, the Puck reporting on the Paramount fakakte is excellent.
I didn't realize how bad it has gotten, Tom. Any art form is risky these days, and probably has always been. I am glad the writers and actors went on strike. I think it woke up a lot of us to see that it's not just ordinary working people who are suffering from nearly 50 years of upside down economy where, instead of spreading to wealth to benefit the majority of citizens it has gushed up to the tip-top of society to benefit only the wealthiest. Including the Hollywood moguls. I wish all the writers best future.
The difference is that the crises that happened before led to artistic advancement. The fact the audience stopped buying the classic 1930s-50s type of studio films in the 1960s led directly to the Golden Age that began in 1967 with the release of "Bonnie and Clyde" and the great films of the 1970s and 80s and early 90s. This "revolution" will be more destructive for the Hollywood community than the advent of sound was.
For that, I am truly sorry, Tom, for you and all the artists that strove so hard to entertain. We are a very destructive species, Homo sapiens, Especially of things of value.