Build Back Blockbusters: How Hollywood Can Go From Zero to Hero in 5 Easy Steps.

If you're one of the happy few who've been to the movies over the last few years, you've no doubt noticed a few changes: higher prices on everything, an eerily quiet lobby, and a distinct lack of, well, audience. The days of an enthusiastic crowd filling the velvet and leather seats of a darkened theater are now seemingly but a distant popcorn-scented memory. You could blame any number of culprits for this mass exodus from the movie house: inflation, lingering COVID fears, countless streaming services playing new releases from the comfort of one’s living room, but the cinema ghost town's raison d'être is a bit closer to home, and frustratingly commonplace in the industry today. 

You see, kids, Hollywood has forgotten how to make good films.

As a screenwriter and lifelong cinephile, it pains me to see movies and the theaters that show them reduced to a shell of their former shining selves. This tragedy could have easily been avoided, had studio executives been more concerned with quality material than they were with playing it safe or making a personal statement. The good news is, all is not lost. There is a way to make movies great again, though it will no doubt require a few filmmakers to step outside their comfort zone and actually tap into their limited creativity.   

Now, I've sounded this alarm before in my previous blogs, but this time I'm addressing this post directly to creators, writers, and executives, offering them a step-by-step solution to this ongoing problem. It's a playbook, if you will, on how to get butts in seats and good films back in theaters. So, listen up Hollywood. I only want to say this once. 

1. Bring back quality storytelling. 

Once upon a time, you could rest assured that a trip to your local cineplex would be met with a rollicking, captivating, and emotionally satisfying journey that kept audiences buzzing about the movie long after the lights came up. The catalyst for this phenomenon can be summed up in three simple words: Damn. Good. Storytelling. Plunking your audience down in the dark and taking them on a two hour plus journey requires giving them a hero they can connect with, a villain they despise, and stakes they care about. Anything less is an insult to your audience and sets yourself up for imminent failure. 

Nowadays, filmmakers and studio executives are far more focused on checking boxes, selling "The Message," and writing for the lowest common denominator than they are with giving audiences a reason to fork over $15 and two and a half hours of their time. True, every now and then a real gem (reel gem?) makes its way onto the marquee, but it has sadly become the exception to the rule. Resist the urge to insert overt messaging or revert to lazy writing and remember your audience is here for entertainment and escapism.  

A solid high-concept story with intriguing, fully-formed, three-dimensional characters has always been the formula for a successful film, no matter the audience who’ve seen it. A universal theme and a compelling cast of characters transcend culture, language, and even time itself if they'e bolstered by a good story. Remember the teachings of Joseph Campbell, William Goldman, Robert McKee. For God's sake, remember the film school classes that required you learn the methods of these masters while taking out a hefty student loan! Don't let the countless quality stories that came before you be in vain.    

2. Hire talent, not activists, to create product.   

Call me crazy, but I've always believed that whether it's making movies or balloon animals, the most qualified candidate should get the job - that means the person with actual talent! In cinema (and just about everywhere else), a certain level of talent and creativity are required if you hope to actually produce a product that stands a snowball's chance in Gehenna of making a profit. Unfortunately, Hollywood has fallen into the trap of hiring so-called creators who have almost negative talent and an axe (or three) to grind. The result has been a cavalcade of crap.  

Show-runners, writers, and even some studio executives with personal or political agendas have taken once-successful franchises hostage and warped them into something unrecognizable and undesirable to audiences. They've "re-imagined" and re-written material from decades past, bastardizing it to "reflect the audience of today." They've outright ignored beloved and proven source material to create their own soulless versions of these properties and have ignored cries for something better from the very fanbase they promised to serve.     

Guess what? Audiences have noticed. It's why they're staying away from theaters in droves. There's no incentive for them to spend their hard-earned money on movies that insult their intelligence, ridicule their values and worst of all, waste their time with political posturing and virtue-signaling gobbledygook. It's why studios have been bleeding money on nearly every half-baked endeavor over the past ten years. Audiences can smell the sermonizing from a mile away and they are avoiding it like the plague. 

Instead of giving hacks a soapbox, why not hire talented creators with a passion for the craft, a reverence for source material, and a respect for the audience? People who pour their heart and soul into every line of dialogue and every frame - disciples of quality storytelling. They're out there, we've seen their work and we're thirsty for more! Let us drink from the fount of their blessed pen.                 

3. Stop insulting your fanbase.       

I'm not just talking about insulting fans with crap content here, I mean stop literally insulting your fanbase every time a film is met with derision or a less than enthusiastic reception. We've seen it too many times before: a trailer drops or a film is released (typically a franchise film) and because the response is not what the filmmaker was hoping for, the fans are insulted, ridiculed, and marginalized. Stop doing this. It makes you look like a petulant child and doesn't win you any more fans or sympathy. 

Your fanbase is your lifeblood; lose them and it's game over. Without fans or at least a dedicated audience, all of your hard work is for not. I don't care what the critic’s score is on Rotten Tomatoes, it's the audience - the fans - who decide what's a hit and why. Remember, you're not entitled to success; you have to earn it. The cold hard truth is not every film is going to be a hit and blaming your audience for a poorly executed film is not only bad form its bad business.    

Instead, take a moment to reflect on the failures of your movie. Was it sub-par writing? An un-original concept? More virtue-signaling and a nauseatingly preachy message? There are a whole host of reasons why a film falls flat or fails to connect with the audience that have nothing to do with them. Go back, figure it out and do better the next time. Leave the name-calling to the kids. 

4. Learn from your past successes (and failures).  

It's said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If that's true, then Hollywood of the 21st century is a case study in madness. For every excellent bit of well-received escapism like Top Gun: Maverick or Everything Everywhere All At Once, there is a Bros or Thor: Love and Thunder, movies so incompetently written, so maddeningly sophomoric, it makes one wonder if the industry is purposely trying to fail. 

It doesn't have to be this way! Look back on the decades of successful films like Casablanca, The Godfather I and II, Saving Private Ryan, The Shawshank Redemption, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Gladiator, Braveheart, Lord of the Rings and a thousand other titles that have wowed moviegoers for generations. All of these films hold a special place in the hearts of the audience and for good reason: they asked nothing more of them but to sit back and enjoy the ride. 

Explore these films, mine them for the gold that lies buried beneath each spellbinding scene and inspired line of dialogue and you may discover the ingredients of a film worth watching. Then, go out into the world and use those ingredients to create inspired, original material and watch as moviegoers flock to see it. To borrow a phrase from another timeless classic, "If you build it, they will come."   

5. Start taking calculated risks again! 

Over a hundred years ago, immigrants from Europe braved venturing to a strange new world, seeking prosperity and opportunity. When these proved hard to find, they blazed their own trail and made a legacy for themselves. Names like Warner, Fox, Goldwyn, Mayer, men who rose from obscurity to create media empires. These men took a risk; they could have lost it all. Luckily for thousands of studio employees today, they didn't and we’re now allowed to play on the backlots built by their vision and tenacity. 

In his insightful autobiography, The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger wrote, “Nothing is a sure thing, but you need at the very least to be willing to take big risks. You can’t have big wins without them.” Hard to deny the man gets it, as his tenure as CEO has involved big risks that continue to pay dividends for the company to this day. He isn’t the first studio head to take a leap of faith but, regrettably, he has become something of an anomaly in a world where so many opt to play it safe. 

Hollywood was built on risk taking, it's always been fueled by opportunity and the prospect of success. Unfortunately, too many industry gatekeepers have grown comfortable with the status quo and the "sure thing," resulting in creative products that are anything but. Originality has given way to banality, and innovation has surrendered to the insipid, resulting in content that has bored and jaded the moviegoing public. There are only so many CGI-heavy comic book movies and live-action remakes you can throw at someone before they burst into tears - or their eyes bleed. 

Do yourselves a favor: the next time an unknown or up-and-coming writing team steps into your office, bursting with ideas for original content, hear them out. I mean, actually listen with intent! Some kid fresh out of film school wins a few laurels at a local film festival with an out-of-the-box flick? Give that lucky son of a gun some work and see if they’re worth their weight in film stock. I'm no Nostradamus, but I think you'll be surprised what taking a chance will get you. In the words of the incomparable visionary Walt Disney, "Sometimes it's fun to do the impossible!"   

Well, there it is, Hollywood. Some free - if unsolicited - creative business advise from yours truly. You're welcome. Now, don't just sit there! Roll up your sleeves, start building back blockbusters, and remind millions the world over why there ain't no business like show business!