A brave new world!

It was in 1948 when suddenly and without warning millions of people stopped going to the movies, the Hollywood studios were in massive trouble. This was a time when America was coming out of its economic depression and the good feel good factor of “the American Dream” was on the rise.  What happened? Well, we don’t really know, but the Federal Trade Commission was investigating Hollywood practices, and it caused all the majors to sell all their theatre houses. The FTC wanted to break up the monopoly that the studios had.

Now this had a catastrophic affect on the actors, directors and playwrights as they couldn’t get any work. Projects were being slashed and theatre was in a massive decline.  So what did happen? What was the effect it had on the industry?  This forced people to look for new ways to address their craft.  We welcome the teaching of The Actors Studio . This was the platform which launched the careers for some of Hollywood’s biggest name in show business today.  A few teachers turned their craft into what is known as truthful acting, portraying real characters in real life. In fact the teachings of Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner changed the shape of the industry as we know it today.

So with this, I reflect on our current situation. The Kangaroo project has just been pulled by the Competition Commission, saying that is was too much of a threat to the emerging market of online video. The advertising revenues of broadcasters are down, and there is talk of consolidation in the market. So where does this leave the Actors and filmakers alike?   

Yes, my friend, it’s time to look at the resources we have and see what opportunities we have for self creativity. We have a massive opportunity in front of us, to produce some real grass roots content. Now is the time for us to build our own “actors studio” and find some of the best talents to start producing real entertainment. Why do I say this? Well, TV viewing figures are up, some of the best Hollywood movies are being produced today and ‘in a stay at home economy’ we, as a nation, want to be entertained. 

So, what is my point? I really believe that we are about to see some exciting new forms of creativity take shape. We have the internet  which will play a massive part and we have the talent, although most of them are not being productive at the moment!

I just though leaving this video for you would help!  It’s not for everyone, but it’s still a classic

Signing off!

Realitypod.tv

Broadcasters, Films and Creative output!

In the UK media, there has been a  lot of attention on broadcasters, downsizing, ordering pay cuts and consolidation within the market. This tells us that “advertising funded” revenues they have enjoyed over the years are slowly in decline. What concerns me the most is creative output will be a lot less and it will be harder for creative people to get projects off the ground in traditional ways. Therefore expect loads of repeats on TV globally.    We have two main issues that face our industry,  “output and audiences”. It strikes me that broadcasters have to be more street smart in their approach to engage with the audience. They really need to understand the public, by  what they want to watch, when they want to watch and how we watch media.

Secondly funding projects and getting them off the ground, leaves no room for error. The competition for excellent creativity is going to be much more competitve. Whilst this is good news for our audience, Production companies, film & TV directors will have to bring something completely fresh to engage the audiences. We are seeing this now with the likes of Slumdog Millionaire breaking the UK box office record for ticket sales. We have no shortage of talent in the world, but more of a changing world. How we work, what we do and when we do things have completely changed. This gives the big broadcasters and hollywood studios a huge challenge or opportunity to adapt.

As a creative producer and someone who loves to watching news TV and films, together we will have to find explore other avenues to deliver content. Whilst internet viewing figures are on the up, I’m not entirely  convinced that web TV is the only answer, but  a mix of different platforms that will help engage the customer in the long run.. 

However, I think that Internet TV or web TV is still a great investment into the future and something that needs focusing on for it to a become viable medium.

Food for thought….

Signing off 

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