Lets say you're a studio boss...

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  • Lets say you're a studio boss...

    Reading the other threads about what a miserable year Universal is having (which to me seems to be both Monday Moning QB-ing and schadenfreude) inspired me to ask you people to play Studio Boss for a minute.

    The following films are scheduled to be released in Sept/Oct 2010. All you have to do is pick 3 films that you would have green lit and then 3 that you would have killed.

    I guarantee there’s not a person here who can get all 6 right, because to me, box office is a combination of luck, marketing and the arbitrary whims of film goers. Though I’d love someone to prove me wrong.


    The American
    Going The Distance
    Machete
    Resident Evil: Afterlife
    Alpha & Omega
    Devil
    Easy A
    The Town
    Jack Goes Boating
    You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger
    Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga’Hoole
    Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
    You Again
    It’s Kind Of A Funny Story
    Bagman
    Let Me In
    The Social Network
    Life As We Know It
    My Soul To Take
    Secretariat
    Conviction
    Jack Ass 3D
    Hereafter
    Paranormal Activity 2
    Saw 3D




    For the sake of argument, lets say a hit has to earn back 1.5 times it's budget worldwide and a bomb would be .5

    Obviously, this thread will die for a couple of months but then we'll see whats what.

  • #2
    Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

    If I'm a studio head, I'm trying to make money, so I would greenlight Jackass 3D, Saw 3D and Resident Evil.

    I'd kill Jack Goes Boating, Devil, and The American.

    That is not what I'd do if I'm me.
    Chicks Who Script podcast

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    • #3
      Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

      See, personally, I'd probably kill every sequel and exploitation film on there, but I know they'll make money.

      In order to make a valid judgement, it'd be nice to have links to the IMDB info for all, just to cut down on the massive amount of procrastination this interesting challenge will cause. Just sayin'...

      GOD, I should be writing right now...

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      • #4
        Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

        I'd greenlight RE: Afterlife, Machete, and Paranormal Activity 2. I'd kill The Social Network, Going the Distance, and Saw 3D. The first two will undoubtedly flop and the the third is uneccessary. As for "Monday morning quarter backing." I could have told you Pilgrim would have flopped from the get go. Some things are just obvious. Pilgrim should have had a $30M budget max, and lower level marketing relying heavily on social media (which is free) and word of mouth. It would have made the same amount but at least stood a chance to make it's money back, and MAYBE turn a profit in DVD sales. Some things are just logic.

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        • #5
          Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

          Secretariat, Legend of the Guardians, and Alpha & Omega or another kids movie. I'd definitely concentrate on kids movies if I was trying to make money.

          That's not my personal taste though.

          On a side note, it's funny how The American is being promoted as a Bourne type action movie when it's clearly more of a drama.
          Nobody's perfect.

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          • #6
            Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

            Secretariat because I like horsies and I'm a sucker for horse-racing movies and You Will a Dark Stranger because I love Woody Allen. Jack Ass 3D because I need to make money to pay for the two above.

            I would have never greenlit Social Network.
            Last night, Jesus appeared to me in a dream and told me that loving me is the part of His job He hates the most.

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            • #7
              Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

              A Woody Allen drama about getting old can't possibly make any money.

              That's why he has to shoot overseas and get international financing.
              Nobody's perfect.

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              • #8
                Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                I haven't picked mine yet. Lots of thinking to do. It's interesting to hear different people's reasonings. To me The Social Network seems like a no brainer given the number of people on Facebook all over the world (not saying they'd care, but at least there's a huge awareness level).

                PA2 seems like an easy hit. The budget is almost nothing.

                Machete seems like a huge risk, given how hard Grindhouse flopped.

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                • #9
                  Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                  Good point about Social Network. I've had friends on Facebook post the trailer and these guys never watch dramas. Right before Inception, they played the trailer with the Creep song and you can tell they were captivated.

                  I wonder if people aren't Paranormal Activity'ed out. The hype's died down a bit.
                  Nobody's perfect.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                    I tried to think like somebody in marketing and do this as scientifically as possible.

                    Now my screen is broken from throwing darts at it.
                    "Only nothing is impossible."
                    - Grant Morrison

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                    • #11
                      Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                      Ha.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                        Actually, as a studio boss (who seem to have SKY HIGH turnover these days) with my overextended personal expenses (lol) I'd read ALL OF THOSE SCRIPTS or at least three different coverages of each.

                        And based on the ones I chose, I would supply detailed notes on marketing, budget constraints, etc to each respective department (which is what a CEO should do, btw.)

                        And I've read neither of those scripts. Reading the scripts and/or varying coverages would allow me to not only give notes on marketing the movie but also how much/little to spend on production/marketing, etc.

                        That's the problem. These studio "bosses" just follow this generic paint by the number's formula with every project thus FORCING the process into a game of "luck".

                        Hollywood's been at this for about a century now, they should be in the business of making their own luck by now.

                        Nowadays with social media, youtube, etc, studios should be doing more detailed focus groups using quick 2 to 3 minute trailers (made with no name actors just to give a feel for the project) as well as other research before spending $200 mil on ANYTHING.


                        But instead, they just follow their baseball formula (I call it "baseball formula" because it only hits 30% of the time) and prepare to pass the blame and the buck when that 70% flops.

                        And if studio bosses are greenlighting projects based on the same amount of info as we have on that list of films (as non-industry insiders mind you) then that speaks for itself.
                        "U don' know me, muddafugga..."
                        - Al Pacino, Carlito's Way

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                        • #13
                          Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                          Originally posted by Greenwood View Post
                          Actually, as a studio boss (who seem to have SKY HIGH turnover these days) with my overextended personal expenses (lol) I'd read ALL OF THOSE SCRIPTS or at least three different coverages of each.

                          And based on the ones I chose, I would supply detailed notes on marketing, budget constraints, etc to each respective department (which is what a CEO should do, btw.)
                          That's in a perfect world. But there's way too many variables.

                          Let's say you run Summit and you just greenlit The Beaver based on the #1 Blacklist script and a low >$20M budget. Seemed like a good move.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                            Originally posted by kintnerboy View Post
                            That's in a perfect world. But there's way too many variables.

                            Let's say you run Summit and you just greenlit The Beaver based on the #1 Blacklist script and a low >$20M budget. Seemed like a good move.
                            The concept in itself would've kept me from greenlighting it (Mel Gibson with a hand puppet? Jim Carrey, maybe, but Mel Gibson? I wouldn't greenlight this if it was RIGHT AFTER BRAVEHEART.)

                            Especially with the ticking time bomb Gibson is (and was when this was shot in September, keep in mind this "recent" phone recording wasn't his first fu<k up)

                            But with some good focus group results, buzz, and a solid script, I would have given a lot more thought than something with $200 mil pricetag.

                            If hollywood were only losing money on their $20 million movies, the movie industry would be pulling TWICE what it's pulling in now.

                            The reality, however, seems to be that the low to moderate budget films are breaking even or making profits at a much better rate than the high budgets. And the studios are steadily shying away from the low/moderate flicks. Go figure.

                            Like it was said in a earlier post -- It's just logic. I know you wanna play devil's advocate here, but right now you're basically saying...

                            "...But what if the turd had whip cream on it? Would you eat it then? How bout caramel? Honey?"
                            "U don' know me, muddafugga..."
                            - Al Pacino, Carlito's Way

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                            • #15
                              Re: Lets say you're a studio boss...

                              I never would have greenlit The Beaver unless I was sure it would star Steve Carrell. Which it was meant to. But when he dropped out, I would have then approached Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, or possible some other smaller comedic actors like Aziz Ansari....and if all passed, then I would have considered a rewrite where the lead character was a female and approached people like Amy Poehler, etc. And if THAT failed, then I would have cut my losses in money paid to the writer(s) and just axed the film. No question about it. Whatever the hell broke down in a studio's mind that told them that Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster should be in this film just can't be fixed. I mean seriously....what idiot thought that those two has beens could sell a film, and a weird comedy no less?! I respect them as veteran actors, but come on!

                              When I think creatively, I take into account who can pull something off. There are VERY few people who could pull off something like playing someone who walks around with a friggin Beaver puppet and Mel Gibson ain't one of them. I think some studio buddy of his probably said "Hey Mel, it'd be so funny, people think you're crazy, so play REALLY crazy. And oh oh, even better, we'll get a closet lesbian to both co-star and direct this movie called the BEAVER. Hahahaha, it'll be so funny if we do that!"

                              *facepalm*

                              Well, guess they learned their lesson. Not the one expected (a bomb), but close enough (a shelving).

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