From Don Murphy's message boards:
--- Thanks to those of you who saw SHOOT ‘EM UP and loved it. It seems that if people saw it they did indeed love it. I will always be most proud of it because it was the first Montford/Murphy credit of many and because it is a film that slipped under the radar and should not exist. People shooting at babies and hiring lactating hookers. Subversive. For those commenting on the box office, just note that we showed up on very few screens comparatively and New Line seems to have been unable to make people that aware of the film. Our hope is, since no new action film arrives for over a month, that we’ll have some staying power. But who the hell knows. It’s a great film and all you can do as producers is TRY to make great films. I’m proud of my partner Susan, of Rick who also produced the film and of Michael Davis who is just amazing. If you haven’t seen it, check it out.
--- For those of you most anxious about TRANSFORMERS 2, the silence you hear is primarily because people are fretting about a presumed strike in June 2008. Will it happen? I don’t know- does the public care about strikes anymore in this day and age? What do rich people have to strike about anyway? I don’t have any side here ( you hear about the writers and the Producers but that actually means the STUDIOS) I just think stopping work is kind of pointless. But since no one wants to be filming IF a strike happens, everything needs to be done filming by the end of May 2008. So this is affecting the lack of news about Transformers 2 at least for now. Stay tuned.
I included the Shoot Em Up bit cause I found it to be a very entertaining over-the-top escape movie. I recommend seeing it if you haven't.
As for the strike, this is referring to a writers strike that may occur in Hollywood if negotiations between the Writer's Guild and the various studios fails to work out an agreement when the current one expires in May 2008. A strike would stop the production of scripts therefore no movies and television shows to put to air. As a result of the probably strikes, most studios are banking movies and only greenlighting movies that will be complete before the deadline. The reason for that is odds are the actors and directors will also support the strikes by not necessarily striking but not by making things easier either since their own contracts will be up soon and any "progress" the writers make will be a benefit for them later on.
What is the strike about? The usual - money. In this case, the writers want a larger slice of the both in first runs (TV, theatres) and later runs in DVD sales, rentals and online purchases of movie and television productions. The studios, of course, would rather not give them this money.
Personally my sympathy falls on the studios. Yeah big business and all, but its real simple to me - They put up the risk, they should therefore benefit from the rewards. They pay to get the movies we enjoy made. Where do you think the $200 million for Transformers came from ($150 for film + $50 marketing). It didn't come from the actors, directors, or writers. They where paid by the studio for their work. The studios invested the money. They should get the profit. If those other groups want a piece of the profits, they should play a part in the investment, ie paying out some of that $200 million cost of the film.
The actors, the writers, producers, etc, they got paid for what they put in. Their risk, and therefore their reward should be the same - their paychecks. If the movie succeeds, they often benefit in the form of bonuses, backend deals and the like. If it fails, they shrug it off and move on. The studio though loses. Often a lot. See Bruce Almighty. Its cost $150 + marketing to make, only make around 60 million. That's over $100 million they lost on the gamble. Did the actors have to pay back their fee for the failed movie? The writer? The producers? The director? Of course not. They invested their time and got paid for it.
What really annoys me is they want sympathy from john q average. I have said it before and will say it again, I really wish Hollywood business was the way the real world business worked because then all of us would be rich. Imagine if on the team that developed the iPod and iPhone. In real world business, they got paid for services rendered. Apple owners their work and benefits from it. The team probably got a bonus and a pat on the back. In Hollywood business though, they would get 5% of every iPod, accessory, and song sold for the device. If later the tech is used in other devices, they would get a percentage of that. If 20 years later, the tech popped up again on something, they would get money for that too even if had nothing to do with it. They would be stinking filthy rich if the real world business followed Hollywood business. What if you get paid a percentage of every burger flipped, report filed, program built, and so forth? I think we would all love that.
In Hollywood though, the creation is its own entity that doesn't recognize it exists because someone with deep pockets allowed it to exist. Instead its perceived was only the efforts of the writers, directors and actors that cause it to exist at all and make money. This idea also ignores that nowadays probably the most important ingredients of equal stature if not greater are the set people, makeup, various effects crews, and the other legions that get a film done right. Transformers might not have been as good without the director and actors, but it would have failed no matter what if those other crews where not equally on the ball.
The whole strike thing just bugs me because its sold as a gesture of nobility when really its pure greed. The Guilds decry studio greed while themselves are doing the same thing. At least the studio is putting up the risk. When actors, directors, and writers start doing more then just taking a paycheck for services rendered, say actually themselves writing checks that get films made, then I really don't want to hear about unfair it is that their lack of investment isn't getting them more money. Real simple, share in the risk, then can share in the reward, until then its a bunch of noise that is summarized as "give me more".
As for Transformers 2, it sounds like no official announcement will be made until an agreement is reach between the studios and the Writer's Guild. If a strike takes place, that could be awhile to. On the plus, once its annouced, to make up for lost ground and lost money, things will probably move forward very quickly.
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