TUESDAY'S BIZ TIP:

WHAT DOES HOLLYWOOD WANT?

You are certain your new script is going to start a major Hollywood bidding war that will make you the hottest screenwriter in the world. Your story is a dramatic mystery, similar to IN THE BEDROOM (which made every critic's Ten Best list a few years ago) and GOSFORD PARK (which won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar a few years ago). Everyone who has read your script has compared it in quality to these two films - what studio would dare pass on this script?

All of them.

Even though IN THE BEDROOM made every critic's ten best list, it was NOT a big financial success. Sure, it probably made a little money for Miramax because it was made on a very limited budget and the critical praise turned it into a high-profile film... but the picture only made $35 million... and Miramax has to split that with the theaters. Hey, but what about GOSFORD PARK? Surely an Oscar Winner makes a lot of money, right? Well, GOSFORD made $40 million in 124 days of release... less than SPIDER-MAN 2 made on its opening day (a Wednesday).

Okay, what about the prestige of winning an Oscar? Those days are gone. Sure, everyone likes to win an Oscar, but from the STUDIO'S STANDPOINT winning an Oscar just means you can re-release the film and make a couple more bucks. You see, a film studio is a business - just like any other business. In the old days they used to like to win Oscars because it was great publicity - the studio could claim to be the home of quality films. But studios don't need publicity anymore - studios ARE publicity. A huge corporation like Sony or Newscorp or Time-Warner owns studios because they are "sexy" - they create an interesting identity and generate glamourous publicity for companies that make radios or own newspapers or do something else that's mostly boring. You want to hear something strange? Disney, which has already closed their traditional animation division, announced about a week ago that they were scaling back their film division - making fewer films - and concentrating on *other* divisions in the vast Disney Empire. You may think of Disney as a movie studio, but Disney thinks of itself as an entertainment company, where one small division makes movies. The studio itself is the publicity for that big corporation - so the number of Oscars they win every year doesn't really matter. What matters is the bottom line - did the film make any money?

Remember, to the businessmen, this is a business.
The shareholders at Time-Warner can't spend an Oscar.

GOSFORD PARK made half as much as SNOW DOGS (same year)... and neither was an expensive film to make. SNOW DOGS - not a great movie, not even a hit movie, made over $80 million. If the studio had to decide between making a film like GOSFORD PARK and a film like SNOW DOGS they are going to pick the dogs. It's a business, and what matters is how much the film makes, not whether it wins and Oscar or makes every critic's Ten Best List. A movie like KISSING JESSICA STEIN may get nothing but great reviews, be the talk of the town and the best film you and your friends have seen all year... but it only made $5.6 million. I really liked the film, but that doesn't change the bottom line... it made as much in its entire run as the awful JASON X made in 3 days!

Just because everybody thinks the film is great doesn't make it a good example of the type of script you can sell. Often you have to be careful about films that you THINK were hits because everyone liked them... many of these films were financial flops. No studio wants to buy a script that is similar to a film that lost money or broke even. They DO want to buy a script like a film that made lots of money. That should explain why they are making DUDE WHERE'S MY CAR 2... the first film made over $70 million on a $13 million budget. If the studio had to decide whether to but a script similar to GOSFORD PARK or DUDE WHERE'S MY CAR you know what the answer is - they're going with the dude!

Here's the real bottom line: when a producer reads your script, he's thinking like a businessman. He knows that a film is going to play to a worldwide audience of 600 million people. Is your story so amazing that 600 million people will pay to see it? The average film costs $106 million by the time it hits your cinema screen - is your story so exciting that it's worth a $106 million gamble? Your script will not be the only movie released that weekend - will the audience pick your story over the other films that open that weekend? What if your script - the one you are writing now - were up against THE DARK KNIGHT... would people chose to see your story instead? You may think that's unfair, but it IS fair! They will make a third BATMAN movie and for all you know your script will open the same weekend. Or maybe it'll be the weekend the next HARRY POTTER film opens. You may joke about this new MUMMY movie, but it's a tired, beat up franchise... and it made $40.5 million in its opening weekend... We may be in for another MUMMY movie! Every weekend there are usually 3 new films opening - is your script BETTER than any of those films? Will the audience pick YOUR story over the others that open? Those are the exact questions the producer will be asking when he reads your script.

What does Hollywood want? They want to make money. Just like any other business.
Will *your* script make them money?

It doesn't have to be dumb, but it does have to appeal to a mass auience. The great thing about DARK KNIGHT and IRON MAN and WALL-E is that they are intelligent films that make you think about current issues... indie films at their core... but also big action packed summer films. Just because a film is popular doesn't mean it has to be dumb or bad. Find the way to combine intelligent and popular.

If you intend on selling your script, it has to be something that someone wants to buy.
If you intend on going the Indie route and making the film yourself, that IN THE GOSFORD BEDROOM script is okay... provided you can find the funding!

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