Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Where has ingenuity gone?

OK, I am SOOOO SICK of all the rehashing being done across the board. We don't need another 80s sitcom turned movie...another movie turned broadway play. We need more new/fresh ideas.

It was announced today that the GRINCH will make his broadway debut this winter. Admitedly, this came from a book which then became a cartoon and a movie...so the franchise itself has had legs of its own. But still, I want to see more new and unique ideas on screen and stage.

I'm not really in the mood to shell out $10+ to see Miami Vice on the big screen or $40+ to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Charlie Brown on stage. While the productions might be (and sometimes are) very entertaining...the fact still remains that apart from minimal changes, these are shows that we've seen before.

I know the 80s and 90s had their fill of remakes as well, usually remaking films from the "golden age" with updated special effects, pop culture references and new over the top actors. But the past few years seem to have been even worse...just a sloshing of uninspired work 80% of the time. I also acknowledge the old adage that there are only 4 or 5 plotlines in the world...but that adage only truly applies in the "nuts and bolts" stripped down world of summaries and blurbs.

To all you lurking writers, directors and other unique souls out there on the Internet...please, bring your dreams to fruition and get us something new and exciting that hasn't been seen or done before.

In a day and age when Bollywood makes more money per year than Hollywood, there must truly be something wrong.

2 comments:

Kevin said...

Amen. I have felt this way for a long time now.
There is one caveat though. You have to be careful what you ask for. There is some very weird stuff out there. I won't go into details here but there is some scary stuff that people would put under the label 'unique' or 'new' or 'fresh'. That fear shouldn't stop us from hoping, even demanding new things but we just have to be careful. I think that one aspect is money. Money is so pervasive in so much decision making nowadays that it is very difficult to get people to 'take a chance' or to 'risk' something. But, how often do we see something that was a risk that goes huge and really takes off. It happens fairly often. I think it could happen more if people were willing to take a little more risk.
Unfortunately, I don't think this problem will be fixed anytime soon. Too many people with talent out there including yourself are playing it safe. I don't say that to be mean or provocative but I really believe it. I understand why decisions are made. I have had to make them myself but the desire is there for me and I think it's there for you too. You just need to make it more of a priority, reach, stretch and try harder and it will happen. So, yes, I am throwing your edict right back at you!!!

Okie said...

I fully agree with you and don't worry, I had already thrown my own words back in my face. I've spent the past few weeks/months trying to get back into a standard writing routine and I hope that I'll have something to show for the fruits of my labors before too long. :)