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This sounds very interesting! Care to elaborate? What is how it's done in Hollywood, and what is this thin ice he speaks of?
I haven't followed this too closely of late but anybody who tries to bully his fellow actors/directors (like my son) doesn't get many acting jobs. "Getting discovered" by Hollywood is like winning the Powerball or MegaMillions Lotteries in the US, or EuroMillions in Europe. A lot might have to do with who wants to sleep with you, but we hope those days are over. You also have to be a brilliant actor and persistent but brilliant actors are ten-a-penny, it seems.
Going with a script you need a CV, which goes like this
You fund you first marketable production by hook or by crook.
On the strength of that, you get a bigger budget to do a better show. Streaming channels are good here.
Maybe take 2-3 more steps up with Holly wood in mind, then
Sell your next show in Hollywood. You need contacts to open doors. They will immediately want a rewrite which makes junk of the script, but if the idea succeeds as junk, you've made it.
You get more editorial control if things continue to succeed. You also get rich.
That, I believe, is the process. It's easy to set a lower bar and go for easier targets like Netflix and other streaming channels or making set film in a foreign location. BBC do great stuff quality-wise but what they pay is buttons. They will, however take chances on some very odd people, (particularly in comedy) and usually get repaid many times over.
There are also some invariable rules, about doing whatever's current. Like, after a century of belittling white women as dumb sex objects, and stereotyping all races of mankind, Hollywood finally got the message, and is changing those roles around, while attempting to preserve the stereotypes. So the latest Ghostbusters featured dumb women action heroes; The later Star Wars killed off the powerful male characters like Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker, (who put posteriors on seats for Star Wars movies) and replaced them with women. All the rigorous training Luke Skywalker did to make him into a Jedi was apparently worth nothing, because some woman just stepped into his shoes. Characters from the LGBTQ community are scatter through movies; but in an action movie, we're not really supposed to care about someone's sexual preferences as much as if he/she manages to stay alive. So why bore folks with half an hour on that subject? What's current now also is $10 million on special effects, etc. Write those in, or Hollywood will.
BBC is just as biased. The British class system must be rigorously respected, and the villians must be lower class. The lead detective and all above him must be 'posh', although his underlings may have local accents, of which Britain has many. Film budgets are pathetic. Roma or other rejected groups (e.g. refugees) may only make brief appearances as victims, suspects, or recipients of charity.
The thin ice is
The bottom line. Eddie Murphy's last three movies bombed, I believe. Lousy scripts. But who wants him in their next hopeful blockbuster? I imagine Eddie Murphy has gone through the thin ice.
'Verbal correctness.' What has happened in recent years has been a backlash against deeply ingrained prejudices. But there's no character reform - the prejudices just got muzzled. Now, after Harvey Weinstein & Jeffrey Epstein, if someone articulates a view that's not kosher, all his sponsors drop him, he is deselected for any upcoming parts and falls through the thin ice. I seem to remember vaguely some fuss about folks to present the Oscars?
On a side note of refugees, personally, I think it is a profound act of courage and love for a parent to undertake the long, uncertain and dangerous trek a refugee must must make in the hope of bettering the next generation, as you know too well it will hardly benefit themselves.
Last edited by business_kid; 04-20-2021 at 06:42 AM.
Here are a couple more. I think that they are dumbing these down the last couple of years. Also dislike the continuous obnoxious background music that they have to have on them. I would rather watch Leopards without the noise.
Thanks, teckk, but really: I didn't have a poor opinion of the Queen, or the Duke; their children are less of a success, but the parents were and are highly thought of in Ireland generally. But is there anyone who hasn't had enough bigging up of Prince Philip?
I saw the BBC version of Extinction - the facts, and I noted your previous comments that you rarely watch American TV. Thanks for the PBS links, but I imagine many of us aren't that hard up either.
Thanks for taking the time.
Most of what you describe sounds like an(y) extremely rigid and large business sector with ingrained, unwritten rules...
I guess my question was more about how that affects content:
Quote:
There are also some invariable rules, about doing whatever's current. Like, after a century of belittling white women as dumb sex objects, and stereotyping all races of mankind, Hollywood finally got the message, and is changing those roles around, while attempting to preserve the stereotypes. So the latest Ghostbusters featured dumb women action heroes; The later Star Wars killed off the powerful male characters like Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker, (who put posteriors on seats for Star Wars movies) and replaced them with women. All the rigorous training Luke Skywalker did to make him into a Jedi was apparently worth nothing, because some woman just stepped into his shoes. Characters from the LGBTQ community are scatter through movies; but in an action movie, we're not really supposed to care about someone's sexual preferences as much as if he/she manages to stay alive. So why bore folks with half an hour on that subject? What's current now also is $10 million on special effects, etc. Write those in, or Hollywood will.
Sadly, I have noticed all this also.
It was exiting the first few times (I tend to love a film simply because it has a heroine), but now it's just a new rule. Lip service, as they say.
Quote:
The thin ice is
(...)
'Verbal correctness.' What has happened in recent years has been a backlash against deeply ingrained prejudices. But there's no character reform - the prejudices just got muzzled. Now, after Harvey Weinstein & Jeffrey Epstein, if someone articulates a view that's not kosher, all his sponsors drop him, he is deselected for any upcoming parts and falls through the thin ice. I seem to remember vaguely some fuss about folks to present the Oscars?
There seems to be a general lack of tolerance on both sides of this discussion. I blame social media algorithms.
Obviously that also reflects into the movie business.
Does your son also know if "Hollywood" is still somewhat bound to that area of California, or is the geographic location not so important anymore? Are there other "Hollywoods" in the states?
I guess it is still important, because making movies is naturally dependent on places, and large structures...
Agreed, I like diversity, not stereotypes. It's refreshing to see genuine intelligent women doing genuine intelligent things, and the many extremely intelligent folks of all races making the most of their diversity. I(t's also good not to see them forced to do stupid things. But good actors can (and sadly do) play stereotypes if the money is good enough.
Sure, Hollywood uses locations. The "Game of Thrones" stuff was filmed in Northern Ireland. Not 5 miles from me is Marlay House in Marlay Park. It's a manor house, with scenic views out some windows which is period furnished. The County Council pimps it out to Irish and other film makers. I imagine several other houses are similar. In fact my first cousin made a business for a while out of finding locations for film scenes in Ireland, from here and abroad.
People are the problem in choosing a location. Your chance of getting a location in Singapore or Monaco is 0%. But once you get to a sparsely populated place, you can close roads without issue, etc. Oz would be OK for that if you wanted desert/outback. The ideal is empty places with nearby facilities. Ireland has that.
Management is still Hollywood centred, I believe, and all the decadent side of film making goes on there, AFAIK. Many "stars" live there. But we had a Hollywood crew set up camp in a tiny fishing village for a week or 10 days here shooting a scene in 2019 (maybe 2018?) and I remember reading about it. Some big actor actually behaved himself and made a big impression on the locals. But it's a business, and as such, all producers must compete. Some Dublin Graphics firm landed a feature length cartoon film (Anime?) from Hollywood some time back and has had people working hard on it since. I think it has gone out and is now getting fine tuned. I don't even know what it's called. It could have been released.
The way graphics have advanced, a car chase can be filmed on a road with speed limit signs, and you see none of them, but the background behind them. They digitise out (or in) telegraph poles, Electricity pylons, mobile masts, (increasingly) wind powered Electricity generators, etc.
I'm not in touch with my thespian son much, but I believe a specialist can set up anywhere, but the "Mecca" is still in Los Angeles. Others probably have better information.
I am by no means the world expert on Hollywood … I don't even have much time for the place. But I am exposed to folks on the few talk shows I am forced to watch, and they explain it. Maybe there's better talk shows in your neck of the woods.
Well, after scraping and renaming, I gave it a once-over. The Courier is set in 1960--> when cold war between Russia and the US was peaking. The locations are not greatly inspiring, the acting seems average, but it got long enough only to decide I wasn't watching it today.
EDIT: I decided It couldn't reasonably be watched because it was so dark. Does celluloid darken over time? Did they film in with no lights on?
Last edited by business_kid; 04-24-2021 at 11:13 AM.
I just started watching Shadow and Bone(, can only take centuries to fight the times we're living in,,,) from Netflix; not sure if it comes from a book series but it seems pretty well-written. It's kinda predictable though...
(I eat meat too! )
Last edited by jamison20000e; 04-27-2021 at 02:17 AM.
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but f standards. -_-
