Do creatives need Hollywood?
Why do we need the studios anyway? If the creatives band together, start our own studio and distribute via streaming, seems everybody could get a fair share - with a little bit reserved as seed for future profits.
This goes far beyond just 'actors', it includes makeup, hairdressers, camera operators, stunt people, coordinators, set designers, catering, animal handlers, gaffers, sound engineers - everybody in the credits who isn't a producer.
True, United Artists tried this years ago, but they did not change any paradigm and expected different results. We can do better in 5 easy(?) steps.
1) Incorporate the new studio entity as a non-profit. This doesn’t mean there is no money, it means there are no shares in the corporation, and thus nobody gets a magical cut of cash off the top. This method also provides a few restrictions on business dealings, and I would hope it would keep some of the greedier rif-raff out.
2) Everybody working with this new studio concept gets a vote in perhaps quarterly business meetings. That’s where we set amounts aside to budget into projects, annually set executive pay levels, and collectively decide where the money goes. Business meetings could be in any location(s) with video feeds for everybody involved and electronic voting.
3) Credit where credit is due. I don’t think this is one-size fits all, and should vary depending on the project.
a) If it’s a musical, then the composer, orchestra or bands, and sound engineers should get a bonus, unless it is just borrowing from established music libraries.
b) If it’s a tightly written spy thriller or murder mystery, the writer and script development should get a bonus.
c) If special effects wins the day, they should get a bonus.
4) Emphasize the people skills and minimize (or prohibit) use of Artificial Intelligence. AI may develop into a useful tool, but remember that it is only emulative, and cannot be truly creative of its own accord.
5) Leverage an existing, or develop an independent streaming platform. There’s no point in fighting to get into theaters when everybody can stream from home.
There are hundreds of heroes who do not have a story on the screen. George Washington Carver, Madame Curie, hey - we can even tell the truth about Thomas Jefferson without too many powdered wigs and whatnot. More grist for the writers - Vincent Van Gogh, Charles Darwin, Sherman’s march through Georgia, or Lewis & Clark with Sacagawea, slaves, dogs, boat and all with authentic Native American dialog. Why not? One of my heroes is Nicolai Tesla, who had a mind as complicated as Oppenheimer’s and he just liked making stuff work. There’s gotta be a story to tell in there.
As much as I love the noisy action movies (Avengers, Mission Impossible, 007) I think to get started if we concentrate on effectively told human stories, we’ll be on the right path. I’d love to see more movies like A Beautiful Mind, Dead Poet’s Society or Like Water for Chocolate. I think a new, more thoughtful Huckleberry Finn would be interesting.
Why stay wage slaves? Yes, keep taking turns on the picket lines, but there is a chance here to abolish the patriarchy in the Hollywood and television studios, and start something really new for once. Then we will have established a new studio under careful management, empowered by democratic principles, and dedicated to the health, safety, and welfare of everybody in the house.
Then we can also set aside an annual percentage for those less fortunate - since Congress is broken and nobody else is stepping up in a big way.
Why would this not work? Let the existing studios be empty monuments to greed! What are your thoughts?
