It’s been awhile since we had a Monday Morning Movie Musing. Longtime readers will remember when MMMM was a regular thing. The news of the week has me a bit wound up — and thus brought it back.
You saw the Jobs Report, right? Although 303,000 jobs were added, broadcasting and content provider jobs plummeted by 2,300, to 341,500. Movies and sound recording jobs caved by 2,600, to 438,400. Are we preparing for the AI takeover? We still have that to look forward to too.
In trying to help producers find a path to a sustainable life, I counsel all aspirants to find a side hustle aligned with their goals that helps them earn while they learn. Perhaps you read my prior post on the twelve new side hustles that are most needed in our FKATheFilmBiz so-called industry. I am shifting that policy a bit. I think it is wise for all of us who are currently or previously employed in these content mines to adopt that practice. Which of course begs the question “why would anyone with half a brain choose to enter this field now by choice?”. It is unstable, unsustainable, inhospitable, and unfair. ‘Tis a pity we love it so!
I was texting with a friend who shared: “There's a film shooting where I am in Brooklyn. I spoke to the key grip and he said “I don't know anyone on my team that considers this full-time work anymore. We're all trying to figure it out (for the) first time in my 30 year career. I don't really have a full-time job." The grip continued, "I'm tired of hearing how great the economy is. I work so hard to make movies, but there really is no future for us. I don't understand why no one is doing anything about it." We – the folks that drive the creative economy – have ALL become gig workers. We are just a step up from fast food workers, holding down BK, McD’s, and Chucky Cheese all at the same time. Oh and did you see Apple just laid a bunch of folks off. Yup, there’s that too.
Another friend told me how happy they were to get their sub-$4M dollar film financed. He’s been on it three years, I think. They will have producing partners. Let’s just assume that as producers get 5% of that budget. That’s about $200,000. Let’s just say the next year is production and post. That’s Y4. Since it is an indie, let’s say they do my recommended long and slow distro approach: a year of festivals and a year in release. Six years, baby. Granted, not all are intense as production so you can get a little in on the side. But six years all in. Without healthcare. Without payment for years one through three. And remember there’s also a partner to split that fee. $100K over six years. $16,667 a year. They say a family of four needs to make at least $318,406 a year to live comfortably in New York City, according to a new report. That would mean you only have to produce nineteen such films a year to make such a normie life work. Whew! EZPZ, right? Maybe they could sell one of the kids to make up the deficit?
Yet it is a miracle my friend got a film financed these days. I once knew how to do that too, back in the days before The Differential. I still try — but I have my rules: treat us fairly, share in success, make sure it will have impact. EZPZ again, but good luck getting it made.
Knockknockknock on those doors though. Once we worried about exposing material too early. Get it right. Make it feel inevitable. A lot of that was predicated on the belief that you got one shot with each financier. That was before the days of the revolving corporate job door though. The nice thing about folks going in and out, in and out, is you can keep bringing the project back. Same company, new executives next week. Pity the poor junior gatekeeper with no room for advancement or longevity — that is unless they are committed to the new mediocrity. Don’t change things. Don’t take risks. Make sure it all smells like the last hit someone else had. CYA FTW!
Meanwhile, the people on the top are making bucketloads. They are supposed to be leaders, right? But what they seem to really be doing is looting the store. You know what REAL leaders would do, right? They would say “we have to solve this problem”. They would get together and come up with solutions. They would make sure that the people that make the movies —like the aforementioned Joe Grip-On-The-Brooklyn-Street — have the confidence that they will make a sustainable living. They would make sure that the producers don’t need 18 side hustles to make ends meet. They would make sure that supply doesn’t dwarf demand. They would reward their executives who dared to reach high and take risks (when they were right). They would make sure new talent on both sides of the camera are coming into the system to keep it all thriving. They would make sure they don’t only make superhero fantasies. Or video game adaptations. They’d do more than IP brand extensions. They would, they would, they would.
They could. And should. But they don’t, do they?
Time to get to work. Glad I have nothing but side hustles now to get in the way.
My writer and director friends ask me why I am not shooting films these days. I explain it is because of The Differential. “The differential?”, you ask. Yup. That’s the name of the horror film we are all living in: The Differential has become all filmworkers’ Truman Show.
The differential is the percentage comparison of what it costs to make what is needed and the rate they are willing to pay for it. At the minimum, I see the industry undervaluing films by 30-40%. At. A. Minimum. Granted it is not scientific, but after all my time in all the different roles and positions I’ve played, I can predict the minimum number of views on films. Or some what close to. In the universe dominated by the GSPs, I also think it is not unreasonable to attribute one dollar of earned value for each view. I would be willing to bet my salaries or job on hitting my minimum estimates. And that number is consistently higher by at least 30-40% than what the sales agents, talent agents, financiers and studio suits tell me the market will value it at. Sometimes it is substantially higher than that. That’s The Differential.
And it’s not that the agents and other experts are are wrong. It is that the market is deliberately underpricing material to increase their margins. It’s what if we had a regulatory body truly focused on our industry they would recognize it and sing the unfair competition song. We need to recognize the market is not some phantom menace. It is people that have jobs and those jobs have goals and bonuses. Since people still do most of the work, they can push back. They can say “this does not make sense”. They can say “I don’t want to make more of this crap. It’s bad for business!”. They can. And should. But they won’t, will they?
When outsiders — civilians — hear of the fuckery inside the FKATFB, they ask how anyone gets away with such shenanigans. Don’t we see we’ve run a good thing into the ground. But I say it is not just on us. I ask them how they watch movies these days. In The States and probably virtually everywhere else the answer is “NAA….” — Netflix, Amazon, Apple
And there lies the rub. When there are only three choices that folks use, the picture is clear. Everyone is dependent. Everyone else has been shut out. There is no competition. There is only one path. If you want to get your movie made, you have to play that game. That’s the unfair competition song.
This is where in our story we have to cry “foul!” and find a new way to play the game. Why now? Because it is going to be getting worse and fast. A friend of mine was speaking of how Zemeckis cast the 22-year-old Tom Hanks in his latest. Yup, the old one played the young one. My friend went on to tell how McConaughey didn’t leave his backyard when they captured the green screen footage for his latest car commercial (sorry that I can’t find the link!). He reckons we can just take all the work out to Latvia and shoot on the LED stage and never again pay anyone an honest wage they can feed their family of four on —at least, here in the land of the free, home of the brave.
Unfortunately, that’s how the Big Bosses recommend we solve the riddle of The Differential. By exploiting the workers. Oh! That song, again? ! You know it will happen. It already is. The work is leaving. The old guys now play the young guys and they are not passing the baton; they are digging in their claws. The Olds aren’t going to Latvia. Their kids can manage the careers of their avatars. The new breed can play the body to the real star’s head. And if you are an American worker who is top of their game in the art and craft of filmmaking, you are shit out of luck. What happens if you don’t want to make manna for the masses? What if you want ambitiously authored work and nothing but? Hear that sucking sound? Welcome to the suck, folks.
Let’s be really, really, really clear. You are not getting paid what you deserve, but NOT because of the Hollywood budget cuts; if that is what you say, you are obscuring the whole picture. This present day hell is not just because of infrastructure neglect; the bridge falling on the boat is another wonderful metaphor for the suck. Sure, it and all of its siblings is part of it, but if you stop there, you got off in Synecdoche — seeing a piece and thinking it is the whole world. You have to look at the root causes. These aren’t bugs in the system. It is not a glitch; it is the design. These problems are intended. They. Are. Meant. To. Happen.
Squint your eyes and you can see in bullet time. The force is with you. Rewrite the text to expose the whole truth. Remix the movie. This is not theirs. You make it. Not them. You can control it. Flip the script.
I am excited that others everywhere are starting to sing the same song though. Is "Our Ecosystem Is Broken" sung to the same tune as The Beatles' "Revolution", Dylan's "Maggie's Farm", The Chamber Brothers' "Time Has Come Today", or The Temptations' "Ball of Confusion"? Or is just some sort of performative karaoke where everyone just mouths the words like Milli Vanilli?
Yes, this is where we better learn to say no. No fake singing dancing. None of that please. Or else. Say goodbye to all the good things we have ever loved about our industry and livelihood. This is where we remind ourselves that there is a better way. We don’t need to open a liquor store by the beach, Christine. We can build the something better today. We’ve done it before. We can do it again. There are steps to take. Know what you want. Know what you are willing to stand for. Hold true. Have hope for film. Examine where we are. Know where you want to go. It is a wonderful thing worthy of our sweat and labor, our love and effort.
The only problem is also the solution: we have to invest our labor in service of the world we want. And we all deserve to be paid for that work. If we can agree on that, we can get some things done. Seems like simple things to have everyone agree to, doesn’t it?
If the US wants to retain its place as a major exporter of culture, our government is going to have to start funding the film industry. $100M/year - for 25-50 indie films/year and 1-3 higher-budget movies/year. No money for agents,or bloated Hollywood producers or actors. With a festival week each year at chain movie theaters, where audiences pick their favorites. Or we can just let the film industry die.
I think if we concentrate on working together and we make films that the public wants to see, we become our own sales agents and will have our films pretty much presold. We will be able to skip by all the gatekeepers and movie moguls who are becoming less and less relevant and the industry will really be turned on its head as the talented filmmakers, and their casts and crews will rule. No, it's not a fairytale, we can do it, if we learn to work together.