Inspiration, pt. 1

Two articles I've read lately have stuck in my head and will no doubt play a large part in deciding what kinds of projects we do going forward. Both speak to the lack of originality in movies these days, one discussing why it's happening and the other gives a solution on what we can do about it (sort of).

"The Day the Movies Died" by Mark Harris - GQ magazine, Feb 2011

Unsurprisingly, the fanboys online hate this article as much as the studios probably will. There's a fair amount of blame to go around and nobody gets off so easily. But Harris is right about one thing: we need more intelligent films aimed at adults and that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon. Maybe the studios will hit another creative low-point and we can have another boom like the 60s and 70s. I'm ready for it. I'm a big believer in the whole "Give them what they don't yet know they want" philosophy of filmmaking that the article touches on.

"Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die" by Patton Oswalt - Wired magazine, Dec 2010

I've been feeling this for awhile but this article puts it into words much better than I could. Thanks to the internet, we're all geeks about something (movies, sports, comics, food, whatever) and while that's undoubtedly a good thing, maybe we've gone too far. At this point, we're just recycling other people's original creative ideas and if we don't start coming up with new ones - and soon - pop culture will implode. 

So where do we go from here? I don't know. We'll figure that out along the way.

--Scott