Market driven pictures begin with a story pitch that can be bet on as
a festival winner or box office draw. Then it evolves through a
series of industry hurdles that include attaching big names to the
project. As the process snow balls and the budget increases, the
producer's percentage based fee gets to be a large sum of money. It
can get to the point where it doesn't matter if the movie dies in the
market as long as the producer can claim critical success. The
production money gets paid to the producer, crew and artists up front.
Profits and royalties are just the gravy. With this system there is
tremendous pressure to "assemble" projects that keep the industry
going.
What would happen to the art of motion pictures if traditional
industrial processes were held at bay during the early stages of story
development? What if a participatory process of story development was
implemented to allow input from people who are not part of the "film
industry" but are active citizens and enthusiasts? What if this process
was encouraged in many distinct communities? What if casts are taken
from the community where the story is developed and what if the cast is
involved in developing the story? If skilled directors, producers and
writers facilitated this process, I believe we would have renaissance in
the art of cinema and a more inclusive industrial hierarchy would
emerge. O whole new festival structure would emerge where communities
root for their home movie company almost the same way they would for
their sports teams. Audiences across nations would be very interested
in winning best picture awards. Audiences would start to take an avid
interest in the craft of motion pictures the same way they appreciate
great skill in sports or virtuosity in music. The other profoundly
important part of this is if money is to be made, it flows back to the
community that created the movie - not a multinational corporation. And
thus the activity of creating movies would stimulate micro economies at
the grass roots, but it would be visible in a global arena. Thus we
renew grass roots democracy and civic activism plus we set in motion a
process that ensures cultural diversity around the globe rather than the
ruthless cultural homogenization that currently dominates the film industry.
Just thinking out loud here folks. Kick it around if you like.
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