Is Hollywood Worth Saving?

Back in the 90's, it used to be a truism in online media that, to find innovation, you would first look to the porn sites. Credit card payments over the internet? First gained popularity in the porn industry. Micropayments? Again, porno inventiveness. Now, that porn has eaten itself with profit-free amateur videos on the internet, even the porn industry doesn't know where to turn to figure out how to make money. Where is our weathervane of futurist thinking when it comes to movies and media?

Turns out, it's over on this Christian blog, Q Ideas:

Is Hollywood Worth Saving?

"This 100-year-old Hollywood system remains in place not because it works but because no one dares propose anything different. Consider how many executives have worked their way up to the corner suite only to find that everything they learned is no longer a viable solution: critics and television ads are losing influence, stars aren’t selling tickets, and your target audience is now splintered across ten thousand blogs. The execs just want to hang on for a few more years, and then sneak out the back door before making too many mistakes.

Change will not find its name at the velvet rope guest list; it crashes the party like any outsider would: out-of-the-blue and awkwardly brash through the backdoor. "

Admittedly, some of the ideas put forth by contributor and movie distributor Erik Lokkesmoe probably won't go over big with audiences or filmmakers ("allow smartphones to remain on in the theater", for instance, seems like a big misstep). But many of the others - build a brand, make it personal, make a film for audiences instead of acquisitions executives - are good advice, given by somebody who's on the front lines of distribution and knows what he's talking about.

Give it a read.