I'm proud to be a Hollywood studio executive. I know that sounds about as sensible as saying, "I'm proud to be with the D.M.V." these days, but the truth is that I've been proud of it for fifteen years. Hollywood movies gave me a window on the world when I was a trapped geek in Brooklyn. (The first film I saw in a theater was A Man Called Horse, not a good film to watch in terms of offering up a use for a man's nipples.) They inspired me to go to film school, to get a college education, and they've given me countless moments of joy and thoughtful provocation over the years.

So why does everyone dump on Hollywood? You've got film fans who complain about quality and blame the execs, you've got conservative critics who complain about a lack of traditional values and blame Hollywood for every single social ill, and you've got baby boomer Monday morning quarterbacks who just complain that "Everything was better back in the '70s, when WE did it! Dagnabbit!" Yet every weekend a significant number of Americans spend a few bucks to forget their troubles and to be moved, or not, by a story offered up by a studio. If everything sucks so bad, why are each year's grosses exceeded by the next?

The answer is that things do not suck so bad. Is it possible that we're being at once too cynical and also too naïve about Hollywood? Here are a few common misconceptions that continue to demonize the industry:

1. You guys suck because you suits meddle with the Filmmakers:

Well, Hollywood is not a community of artistic patrons. It's a community of financing institutions that make investments in products and expect to see a return on that investment. Execs are simply money managers. Anyone who forgets this simple reality should not come out here looking to make films. Film is the only art form where its cost (most of the time) demands its unholy alliance with commerce. Now, having said that, there are great money managers in this town who happen to love films and can walk that line between art and commerce very well. But make no mistake, if you come out here looking to spend $30 to $150 million of someone's money for your artistic statement, you're going to get a few notes.

Martin Scorsese actually has a great attitude about this "alliance" and you can hear him talk about it on his incredible video collection, A Personal Journey Through American Movies. He describes the filmmaker as "smuggler." Which is a neat way to say, "Yeah, we make a pact with the devil but we can still sneak in what we want to say." The point is, "know the beast going in!"

2. You guys suck because your stuff is totally immoral:

Hollywood has always somewhat reflected the personal taste and morality of the individuals making the production choices at the various studios. These choices change, of course, over the decades as the old gets old and the new comes in. One thing, however, that has not changed is the wonderful eclecticism and real variety in the stories being presented. From The Grapes of Wrath to Taxi Driver, from West Side Story to Forrest Gump, Hollywood has presented every shade of the human condition.

Isn't that a good thing? Isn't that to our credit as a society, that Hollywood has embraced artists and storytellers with many different things on their minds? It is, and I say this with the utmost sincerity, gloriously democratic and very American. Would it really be better if we only portrayed one facet of our lives? Of our experiences? This is not to say that any of us should wallow in the same shallow swamp of exploitation, but a certain willingness to explore our failings, as well as our virtues, can only help shed light on our darkest moments.

3. You guys suck because too many of your movies are crap!:

Well, can't really argue with this one. We are all guilty of not exercising enough taste. We are all guilty of taking shortcuts, racing towards release dates without fully developed scripts, and we are all definitely guilty of not embracing new talent fast enough.

Too many sucky movies are, in my opinion, the real reason people tend to roll their eyes when they hear about Hollywood. (Okay, egos don't help either, but c'mon, stars are stars, either onscreen or in the highest executives suites.)

Again, it would be too cynical to just accept that this is the way things have to stay. And it would be too naïve to think that no one out here cares. The writing is already on the wall and there is a quiet transition going on at most of the major studios. The baton is being passed from one generation to another. For the first time in a long time, new stars are being created because the mainstream Hollywood establishment is taking more risks. That's happening because a changing of the guard is going on in the executive ranks.

Going into the 21st century, you've got such "New New Hollywood" films like Fight Club and Three Kings coming out of major studios. You've got baby boomer players like Joe Roth sponsoring filmmakers like Wes Anderson and moving on to create a new studio of his own. Everyone is finally learning what New Line had to know years ago simply out of survival…

What is the only way to keep the industry vital and combat rising costs?:

New blood.

It is the answer to everything. It will result in better films, people will get less sick of us and we'll all be less angry and much happier.

I know this from painful experience. When I've followed stale formulas or compromised my own standards because a certain established star was willing to climb on board a "decent" script, I've managed to greenlight some pretty awful films. However, when I've taken the "New" in New Line literally, we've been on fire. The introduction of fresh voices and new faces and creative risks in the status quo must be maintained. It will prove to be the only antidote to the reasons why people hate Hollywood.

In 1994, our release slate reflected a desire to take risks. Our frugality forced us to be inventive. Casting Jim Carrey in The Mask while Ace Ventura was in the can proved to be both inventive and precognitive that year. And that decision gave us our first $100 million film. By the end of 1995, the same process gave us Se7en, our highest-ranking worldwide grosser. The inventive thinking there proved to be David Fincher, knocking it out of the ballpark on film number two.

Since then, I've watched Mike Myers create Austin Powers, I've watched Paul Thomas Anderson create Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and in turn I've watched those films create new stars. There's a beautiful ripple effect about the success of something new. It lives on and seeds the ground for even more fresh, new success stories. Having done everyone's first films from The Farrelly Brothers to F. Gary Gray, from Ice Cube to Brett Ratner, from Gary Ross to Gina Prince-Bythewood, I can tell you that there's no better feeling than changing the status quo. With Wag the Dog, we even changed the very vocabulary of political commentary.

This is the Hollywood I'm proud of. This is the Hollywood I believe we're seeing take shape, all over town. Let's hope it continues, because if it does, I believe that being a studio executive might start to rank a bit above "tax lawyer" on the appreciation scale.

The good news is that despite how anyone's felt about it in the past, this is NOT your father's Hollywood anymore.