I doubt that writers, producers and animators will, anytime soon (read, the next hundred years or so), be able to produce pure CGI performances with the depth, nuance and general sophistication that the best acting provides. But that doesn’t mean that a great deal of throwaway story telling won’t be possible with CGI “actors”, just as the basic quality of an orchestral composition can be heard by a good synth mock-up.

We still need real guitarists, and real trumpet players, with all the power of modern synthesizers and software plug-ins. Some of them continue to be in high demand, and command considerable celebrity power in certain quarters. The same will be true of good actors for quite some time, I hope.

Personally, I dont like what is replacing Hollywood any more than I liked Hollywood. But I do enjoy seeing the demise of these arrogant narcissistic Hollywood pukes.

I for one am sick to death of being lectured and hectored in all forms of media by Liberal sychophants sucking up to their progressive betters. I know it’s wrong, but I feel so much satisfaction watching them twist in the wind.

What a change! I spent my Junior year in High School playing hookey and going to the library in the morning and the movies in the afternoons. .

I worked in Hollywood writing, directing and producing on air promos for CBS and ABC TV movies but before going to Hollywood, via a lover in Mallorca, I learned of the climate of fear in Hollywood where you could so easily get blacklisted (for everything BUT communism) It happened to me later.

The reason movies are so bad is that “Produders” exercise their non-existent creativity by rewriting what they don’t have the talent to write in the first place. It happened to me. It happens to everyone.

When Mel Gibson couldn’t get his movie THE PASSION distributed, so he found alternative methods of distribution and made a fortune.

Tyler Perry, a black writer-producer did the same with his plays, showing them in movie houses and other venues. Now, he has a series on cable on his terms as well as several successful films.

Writers have never had power in Hollywood. They were seduced with swimming pools and lavish lifestyles but never given power. You hear Robert DeNiro (as Irving Thalberg) say it to Jack Nicholson in THE LAST TYCOON.

The studios always had power of distribution which gave them an iron grip. Now, you can make a film and sell it on Amazon.com. You don’t need to show it in movie houses to get it seen.

I sometimes watch a series called THE DIRECTORS and it seems to me that writer-directors whose work I admire can’t get jobs.
Well, be creative, guys. Do a single set film, pay everyone scale and points on the back end, and use the profits from that film to finance your next film.

Your audience awaits you.

World of Warcraft has 9 million subscribers who paid any where from $20-50 for the software another $50 for the expansion (don’t have the numbers on how many bought the additional expansion) and pay $15 a month subscription fee. The net earnings per quarter was in the $100,000,000s range. Studio execs would cream for those numbers.

You are spot on…

Interactive story telling through gaming is the future.

“But look at music – despite the small size of the files and ease of piracy, cd sales completely dominate the charts. Sure, they are down, but downloads are almost neglible as a percentage.”

Are you crazy??? Have you really looked at the numbers in the music industry? I used to work in that industry and still know people in the highest levels and believe me they are singing a much different tune, pardon the pun. Why do you think Jay Z just left as the head of Def Jam to go full time into the hotel business. And although download sales are up a bit, the industry is in decline over all.
You should do much more research before making statements like that:

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/12/volume-goes-up.html

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117444575607043728-lMyQjAxMDE3NzI0MTQyNDE1Wj.html

For someone who is involved with new media, you are very backward thinking when it comes to the future of Hollywood. We both know that Hollywood is losing buckets of money yearly. Before the strike it was losing 6 billion a year alone in piracy and who knows how much in declining ticket sales. And while you are right about who controls distribution controls the industry as it stands, you have to admit, that like the music industry, the film and tv industry are losing control.

“Now, to be clear, when I say “easy,” I am speaking of the (relatively) “easy life.” I am not saying television and movie writing is easy. It clearly is not. Very few people can do it. The Writers Guild has only 12,000 members not because it is a difficult union to get into – it isn’t – but because few people are good enough to get hired by a signatory company, the minimum requirement for membership.”

If this were the case, then every movie and every tv show should be a classic. Funny, the example you, yourself give of great movies that can’t be made at home, are films that are over 30 years old. But there are no hacks in Hollywood, are there? Air Bud indeed…

“But from the inside it is obvious that senior studio executives are better business people than most writers and other creative types.”

Really? Obvious to whom? Are you aware of the profit margins of studios? The internal rate of return of these studio units on average are in the single digits and sometimes not even that. They have no vision on how to handle piracy and no future vision. I know of a few who don’t think Hollywood studios will be around in 10 years. They are as clueless as the music industry execs. Look at production costs for most major motion pictures, the more technology makes post production easier and cheaper, the more these great business minds spend on films. It’s like a big junket party for the producers, directors, and their friends. Go try pitching an effects film with a constrained budget (ie if you say you can do more for less with technology), they look at you like you just told them that Bush was the greatest human on earth.

Look to the music industry to see which way the wind is blowing and ask yourself how many A&R guys felt the same way you do now 5 years ago.

I think the unions and agency system have stifled any entrepreneurial tendencies in the rank and file, but as younger people start wanting to get in the business how many of them will by pass this process and start making films on their own? The Red Camera is a 4k digital camera that is about $16k, something that anyone with decent credit can obtain. Some one will figure out a smart way to distribute product over the internet using smart software to match viewers to product that will interest them. The theater experience is so dismal for most people that this will be a much preferred way to get entertainment. And don’t get me started on the future of gaming, cause I could write for hours about that and how that will develop.

But Roger, you hang on to the old way of thinking and the old model and see how well that works out for you.