tgd@clyde.UUCP (Thomas G. Dennehy) (09/29/83)
It's pretty questionable that the ultimate bad film is one
never released. There's money, often lots o' money, at stake.
An extreme example. Keep telling yourself, "it's only an example".
Heaven's Gate. I never saw it (it came and went very quickly)
so no artistic judgements will be made. IT'S ONLY AN EXAMPLE.
You're the producer. You have hired the hottest director in Holly-
wood, a guy clutching an Oscar and a fistful of kudos for his Vietnam
epic. He's got a great story idea and a plan. It'll cost you
maybe $20M, but what the hell, it's a can't-miss deal. He goes off
to the dust bowl with an enormous cast and crew and shoots. And
shoots. And shoots...
Reports filter back. It's chaos on the set. No one knows what this
guy wants. Scenes are being written on the fly, you've got a three
hour epic on your hands. It has cost you $45M. You consider sending
Martin Sheen up the river to terminate him, but no - you have faith.
He's an artist.
You don't understand the film. You wonder if anyone understands the
film. But you have faith.
It opens in New York and is immediately panned by anyone with a pen.
You yank it. Suddenly you're looking at a $50M loss. No insurance -
the film got made. You get your thinkers together. Edit the thing
down to an hour-and-a-half. Release it everywhere. It's too late.
The public is aware of the critical castigation of the original,
and won't give it a chance. Total loss. Heads roll.
Conclusion: if there is enough money at stake, a film will be released.
No matter what state it is in.
Movies are a business. "Porky's" was thought up by a Columbia Business
School MBA type. It's profit and loss, return on investment. If it
takes Disney almost two years to break even on "Tron" despite
cable and video game sales (on a total investment of $40M) they'd be
better off investing in blue chips than making movies. Your avereage
drive-in producer thinks "what kind of film can I get for $2M if I
limit shooting to two weeks." The next thought is "Who cares? You-ve
got two weeks, get it done, no excuses" The thing is released, makes
a couple million profit and disappears, all in the space of six months.
That's good business. Lousy filmmaking, but good business. And with
cable channels desperate for material, this thing might get shown 10
or 12 times a month, and people will watch it and say "what a bad film"
But by that time, the money is made.
HBO people don't miss out.
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Tom Dennehy AT&T BL Whippany, NJ {clyde!tgd}