Death of the Small Town Movie?

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  • Death of the Small Town Movie?

    Has Hollywood essentially killed movies in working stiff/small towns (Westerns not included)? Venues that are not big cities; not wealthy suburbs; not glitzy international locations - places where characters are more likely to be carrying a 6 pack of Rolling Rock as opposed to a baguette when they leave the market.

    What are some commercially successful films since 2000 that took place in these creatively fertile slices of Americana? I come up with:

    GRAN TORINO
    NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
    THE HELP


    others? what do you see as the future for films in these venues?
    Seven years dungeon --- no trials!

  • #2
    Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

    Originally posted by tucsonray View Post
    Has Hollywood essentially killed movies in working stiff/small towns (Westerns not included)? Venues that are not big cities; not wealthy suburbs; not glitzy international locations - places where characters are more likely to be carrying a 6 pack of Rolling Rock as opposed to a baguette when they leave the market.

    What are some commercially successful films since 2000 that took place in these creatively fertile slices of Americana? I come up with:

    GRAN TORINO
    NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
    THE HELP


    others? what do you see as the future for films in these venues?
    Not sure "The Venue" is what made these films successful. For example, maybe you should be asking: "What 'bankable screenplay' can be shot in a small town".

    What made those example bankable:

    Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood

    No Country For Old Men - Coen/Bardem/Tommy Lee

    The Help - Civil Rights/Women's Issues (Very in vogue the last several years)


    Get that rollin', and it doesn't matter where you shoot...

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

      Gran Torino happens in Detroit. It also depicts problems that are more typical for big cities.

      If you mean movies that happen in blue collar neighborhoods with blue collar characters, I don't see The Help fitting that categoria.

      So I'm not sure what the question is.

      But looking at last year, Super 8, Horrible Bosses, Bridesmaids, and Bad Teacher and Water For Elephants might fit the criteria. Or maybe not, since I'm not sure what the criteria is.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

        Well, Annie Hall and The Avengers both take place in Manhattan, so I'm not sure of the relevance of "venue" as an evaluational criterion.

        How about

        Frozen River
        Winter's Bone
        A History of Violence

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        • #5
          Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

          I honestly do not understand this question. It's like asking what color shirts the heroes of the flicks wear.

          HH

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

            Gran Torino is set in Detroit, so if you're including working class neighborhoods of major cities, you'd have to include half a dozen Affleck/Wahlberg/Eastwood films set in south Boston. Plus other Detroit films like 8 Mile and Four Brothers.

            As for smaller town movies, I can think of quite a few just off the top of my head:
            1. Twilight franchise
            2. Friday Night Lights
            3. Little Children
            4. Sideways
            5. A History of Violence
            6. Insomnia
            7. The Tree of Life
            8. Give Me Shelter
            9. Moonrise Kingdom
            10. Napoleon Dynamite
            11. Garden State
            12. Elizabethtown
            13. Brokeback Mountain
            14. Big Fish
            15. Signs
            16. The Lovely Bones
            17. Bad Santa
            18. Donnie Darko
            19. Juno
            20. Adventureland
            21. The Notebook
            22. The Proposal
            I'm curious why you think the number of movies set in small towns is declining. Has there ever been a time when a large percentage of movies were set in small towns? I'd like to see some statistics to back up your assumption, because I think your assumption is wrong.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

              Originally posted by Paul Striver View Post
              Gran Torino is set in Detroit, so if you're including working class neighborhoods of major cities, you'd have to include half a dozen Affleck/Wahlberg/Eastwood films set in south Boston. Plus other Detroit films like 8 Mile and Four Brothers.

              As for smaller town movies, I can think of quite a few just off the top of my head:

              [LIST=1][*]Twilight franchise - HUGE Book IP
              [*]Friday Night Lights - True Story Book IP
              [*]Little Children - Book IP
              [*]Sideways - Book IP
              [*]A History of Violence - Graphic Novel IP
              [*]Insomnia - Foreign Film remake
              [*]The Tree of Life - Terrance Malick
              [*]Give Me Shelter - writer/director
              [*]Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson
              [*]Napoleon Dynamite - co-writer/director
              [*]Garden State - writer/director (known actor)
              [*]Elizabethtown - Cameron Crowe
              [*]Brokeback Mountain - Pulitzer Prize-winning writer short story IP
              [*]Big Fish - Book IP
              [*]Signs - M Night
              [*]The Lovely Bones - Huge Book IP
              [*]Bad Santa -
              [*]Donnie Darko - Super High Concept, writer/director
              [*]Juno - shit hot writer/director team
              [*]Adventureland - writer/director
              [*]The Notebook - Book IP
              [*]The Proposal -
              So... most of these might have had a much harder time as specs. I think this breakdown proves that small, non-spectacle movies have a much easier road if they:

              A) Come from a writer/director (filmmaker) with a unified vision, and usually someone who has already made some headway in the entertainment industry.

              B) Come from a Book or foreign Film IP that was proven as a commodity.

              C) Have the Coen Brothers as executive producers - who did uncredited rewrites along with director Terry Zwigoff - in the case of BAD SANTA.

              D) THE PROPOSAL. Not sure if this started as a spec or an idea at Mandeville that was developed with Peter Chiarelli.

              But yeah, THE PROPOSAL is a pretty standard romantic comedy, of which there will always be a market for a certain cadre of actresses (Bullock, Heigl, Witherspoon, etc), and could likely do okay as a spec from an unknown.

              So. Lessons learned:

              If you want to set up something *small*, have a GREAT hook or super high-concept idea

              or

              Be a writer/director and write something you can conceivably raise the budget for yourself (something like PRIMER comes to mind as even more doable)

              or

              Be able to secure the rights to a viable IP

              and/or

              Make sure you have an ability to cast really talented actors (Natalie Portman, Saarsgard in GARDEN STATE, Melissa Leo in FROZEN RIVER, JGL in HESHER, etc)

              and maybe

              Become a stripper, blog about it, and get discovered before supposedly even attempting screenwriting.

              The most "doable" of all the films listed in this thread is probably NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. Again, a writer/director at the helm though (co-writer at least). As just a spec sent around town I don't know that it would have attracted buyers. Sometimes people need to see it to believe it.

              Always a market for good comedies though - not easy to pull of of course, but dramas and thrillers (think Linklater's TAPE, for instance) REALLY need great acting and directing to play well.

              Not trying to be a naysayer here, but I do think the indie realm favors writer/directors over mere writers. Auteurism still has a place there and in foreign films (thank the lawd)... but if you want your movie playing in the local mall it's all about bringing spectacle (outside of high-concept comedies or a proven IP) these days.

              Explosions play in any language. Small talking heads movies don't have the same legs overseas.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

                I object to one of those observations. Diablo Cody was hot BECAUSE of Juno, not before it. The spec script is what got the talent attached.
                Chicks Who Script podcast

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

                  I agree with Big Lips. I almost posted earlier in the thread that a chunk of the titles bantered about were adapted novels, published fiction, etc. While others, as he noted, were writer/director works.

                  He makes solid points. I've had to come to grips with the fact that the stories I'm most passionate about are not likely to do be considered commercial specs by the industry. Not commercial enough to to take the risk with an unsold writer.
                  Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

                    Originally posted by emily blake View Post
                    I object to one of those observations. Diablo Cody was hot BECAUSE of Juno, not before it. The spec script is what got the talent attached.
                    Yeah, but she also wasn't an unknown trying to query with it.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

                      All that said, write what gets you off and what you're passionate about.

                      The script that got us a manager and agent, led to our first gig, and still makes fans to this day is a small town heist flick. Your first script is often just a sample or gets you signed as a development client anyway.

                      BUT - make sure you have a bangin' logline and a solid hook, or you'll likely never get it in front of the right eyes in the first place.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

                        Originally posted by ihavebiglips View Post
                        So... most of these might have had a much harder time as specs. I think this breakdown proves that small, non-spectacle movies have a much easier road if they:

                        A) Come from a writer/director (filmmaker) with a unified vision, and usually someone who has already made some headway in the entertainment industry.

                        B) Come from a Book or foreign Film IP that was proven as a commodity.

                        C) Have the Coen Brothers as executive producers - who did uncredited rewrites along with director Terry Zwigoff - in the case of BAD SANTA.
                        I honestly don't understand the point you're trying to make. ALL movies, regardless of scope or subject matter, are harder to get made as a spec than if they're developed by an established writer-director or come from popular underlying IP. That's no more true for small movies than large spectacle movies; in fact, it's less true for small movies, i.e., it's harder to get a large spectacle movie made from a spec than a small talking heads flick.

                        But to the OP's question, the setting of the movie -- small town vs New York City -- has very little to do with whether a movie gets made or not. It's not harder to get a small town story made than a big city story. Hollywood's not opposed to making movies set in small towns. (Granted, there are more movies that require big city settings -- e.g., nobody wants to see an Independence Day where an alien mothership blows up city hall in Pella, Iowa, or watch Jason Bourne zip around the uncrowded streets of Dumpytown -- than the opposite.)

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Death of the Small Town Movie?

                          Originally posted by Paul Striver View Post
                          I honestly don't understand the point you're trying to make. ALL movies, regardless of scope or subject matter, are harder to get made as a spec than if they're developed by an established writer-director or come from popular underlying IP. That's no more true for small movies than large spectacle movies; in fact, it's less true for small movies, i.e., it's harder to get a large spectacle movie made from a spec than a small talking heads flick.
                          Maybe a more instructive list would be a list of the specs that are selling nowadays - which would look much different from this list in question and the projects on it.

                          As to your last point I would agree - unless you mean within the studio system.

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