Hollywood Inc.

This article first appeared in The Age on May 3, 2003

Here are some Hollywood facts. Several hundreds of films are pitched to each studio each year, a handful of those are made and most of those fail. Some years Hollywood would make more by not making movies and putting their millions in the bank. A child thought one of its biggest recent successes, Shrek. Films need to recoup four times what they cost to make a profit because of the costs of marketing and distribution. Advertising has gone up 800% in the last 20 years. Nicholas Cage dies his receding hair black.

Hollywood Inc. (ABC, Wednesday, 8.30pm) is a three-part documentary that gives insight into the juggernaught that is Hollywood. And while, at times, I wished it had been braver, it still gives its audience more than enough gossip and hard facts to keep them chewing over their popcorn for some time. The following quote, delivered with great earnestness, was a highlight: 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a post-content film'.

A recurring question in Hollywood Inc. is why so few movies make a profit. (One in ten). Here's one reason: most stars and directors have a 'Pay or Play' clause in their contracts. This means that they get paid regardless of whether a film is made. So, for example, you have a film like Gladiator, whose director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe were being paid big bucks, while the film was still being written. Production costs are usually around $500,000 a day and all the while Crowe was throwing tantrums or waiting till he was 'in the mood.' Bill Nicholson, the writer who went on set after Crowe had the previous writer fired, described the set as a 'war zone'. (To put this in perspective: Charlies Angel's used 18 writers.)

While I had always known the star system was nuts, I don't think I knew how nuts. Take Dr Dolittle. The makers of that film persisted with Eddie Murphy after they found out he was scared of animals and couldn't be on set with them. This, on top of the fact he had just been caught by the police giving a ride to a transsexual prostitute and had a heap of non-kiddy-movie press. Understandably, this put him in a bad mood and the result was an unfunny film that had to be saved by hiring 20 comics to dub the voice of the animals. The results earned $300 million worldwide and the sequel is on the way.

In some cases though, most famously after the death of Oliver Reed during the filming of Gladiator, the actor is hardly necessary. There is a fascinating description of how he was 'reconstructed' using editing, existing footage and body doubles.

There is also lots of down and dirty money talk. A film I liked, such as Fight Club, was considered such a flop Murdoch sacked the head of the studio. (It earned a mere $37 Million). Ones I hated were the successes. Pearl Harbour made $451 million. Planet of the Apes took $558 million. Tombraider, $275 million. Shrek, which I did like, has made $476 million.

What makes Hollywood Inc. entertaining TV is the great interviews it has managed to get, with key people like Alan Ball (writer, American Beauty), Wes Craven, Jon Landau, Bill Mechanic (ex-CEO Twentieth Century Fox), Ridley Scott, Pierce Brosnan, Denzel Washington, Tim Bevan (Producer, Bridget Jones) and Dean Devlin (Producer/Writer, Independence Day). So perhaps that is the deal Hollywood Inc. had to make - to get good interviews, with serious players, they had to pull their punches and not state the obvious. Hollywood has a high failure rate because it is run by fear and beaurocrats and is so top heavy it makes Schwaznegger look anorexic.

Posted by Sophie at 03:04 PM