Another article about the implosion of the Hollywood film industry

When those that produce content don't get paid content stops being produced. Free suddenly becomes free what?


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I'd like to see that on a t-shirt: "Free What?"

Don't be silly. "Free" is the new business model. It worked out so well for the porn industry that Hollywood is following our footsteps, showing once again we are true innovators.

They've lost half of their bottom line the article says - simple math - reduce budgets by half. Will Smith and Tom Cruise can get by on 10 mil per movie rather than 20. The music industry has been gutted, now it's the movie industry. I read the other day that Madonna was the highest grossing music entertainer this or last year - all from her tour. And do you know how much the legendary pop diva made from her recorded music last year? One and a half million dollars, which is nothing - doctors and lawyers make that.

Creators and producers right now are at the mercy of the middle men - ITunes, Netflix, the cable companies and cable channels - that isn't going to last much longer, the big studios will sell directly to consumers.

I find it incredible that Hollywood can't get Congress to tear up the DMCA and come up with a new law that redefines the safe harbor to protect copyright owners rather than pirates and those who profit from them, making sure to be specific enough so that the pirates in sheeps clothing, Google, Facebook, YouTube et al can't threaten again to shut the Internet down in their noble attempt to save free movies, music, games .........er..........speech for all on the Internet.

There's a federal obscenity law in the United States, but no real definition of what constitutes something as obscene - Potter Stewart, sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States couldn't define obscenity, declined to even try to, as it pertained to hardcore movies but wrote the famous words 'I know it when I see it'. I trust judges and juries presented with evidence could come up with the right answer most of the time as to what's real piracy and what isn't.

DMCA is pretty much useless, I don't know why lawyers don't avoid that piece of shit law in piracy cases and just sue for theft, tortious interference and whatever other laws are applicable when somebody steals from you and ruins your business.

what will happen is smaller character driven movies I think with less 'big stars' and 'spectacle'....

good - remember the 70s and all the amazing character driven movies - Star Wars changed Hollywood, for the worse if you're over 14.

and the premium cable channels are now doing the character driven stuff and people love it

^ You're right about the 70s, but wrong movie. I think Jaws is generally considered to have kickstarted the whole summer blockbuster thing.

It was inevitable, being a different generation of writers and directors.

You said something right there.

Great article. Thanks for the post. Hollywood deserves its nightcap.

na man. obscene cable bills is the golden goose of the TV industry. Thats why you never see a la carte channel options. thats why there are now channel blackouts every year as the big studios double their fees, & the cable guys just pass the buck to the customer.

Jobs wanted to make an apple TV a la carte to break this business model. even his clout could not make it happen.

shit the cable cos & media cos are one & the same. time warner, comcast. they are stifling the expansion of broadband speed so that consumers don't turn off the cable bill. you will never see HBO stream online, a la carte. & if it wasnt for google fiber, nobody in the USA would have 1 gigabit per second broadband.

its all an example how monopolies stifle innovations & price gouge consumers. the feds of 1913 would never have put up with this shit. 100 years later they just take the lobby money & rubber stamp the mergers.

Bullshit. Television was paid for by ads, and movies by people paying to see movies in a theater. Cable TV came along, and we were paying for cable TV with no ads. Now... We pay for cable TV AND see ads.

And don't give me shit that movies are having problems. I paid to see Skyfall in the movies, on DVD, and also on my Kindle. I bought that movie three times in three different formats.

I can definitely agree with you on this one.

Exactly!