Week Of November 20, 2006 - Mon / Wed

November 20, 2006

I really seem not to want to write a column lately. And as I sat to write this one, I realized why…

It's Thanksgiving in a town where there is a constant argument over whether the glass is half-empty or half-full.

The truth is, the glass is overflowing and multinational corporations are trying to figure out how much they can pour out of the glass to maximize profits.

And the discussion we need to be having, you and I, is what a good version of the future would look like, so perhaps there can be some influencing of the owners that there is a financial value in doing something other than treating the whole industry like any widget in the box.

I am actually open to optimism. There is a great opportunity to make things better. And there is a great opportunity to make things much, much worse.

Moreover, a wall really was hit a couple of years ago. As always, change is on a time delay. But the correction we are now witnessing was inevitable in the summer of Troy, I, Robot, and Van Helsing.

2006 is likely to be remembered as The Year Of The Rise Of The $20 Million Movie.

2008 is likely to be remembered as The Year Companies Trying To Capitalize On The Rise Of The $20 Million Movie Went Out Of Business.

And frankly, I don't want to longer in the ugliness of that on this holiday week.

Ten other columns I will have to force myself to write before the end of the year - perhaps I can consolidate a few - that speak to where we are in 2006 and where we are heading are…

The Outsourcing of Hollywood

The Year The Auteurs Failed The Future Of Hollywood Auteurism

Traditional Media Burns Out Its Entertainment Advertising Welcome

Hollywood's Private Money - Buying In Two Years Too Late For The Business Model

Studios Bailing Out Of All But Marketing, Distribution & Occasional Investment

The Intentional Reduction Of Per Film Revenues

Studio Dependents Going Out Of The Indie Business

True Indies Finding It Harder To Generate Enough To Float

How Hollywood Might Regret The Damage It's Willing To Do To Theatrical

Why Don't Any Of The Fuck Ups Get Fired?

And so… I will do some blogging this week… there will be a Thanksgiving column on Wednesday and by the time I start cooking on Thursday, I will be thinking happy thoughts.

And when the weekend ends, back to the grind and the search for some happy stories about 2006.

We are in a transition.

And we must maintain hope while not falling into foolhardy optimism.

E Me.

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