Tron 3: Flynn Lives Says Something About Movies These Days and Why I (And You) Should Write Original Screenplays

There appears to be a Tron 3 movie underway. I am not sure how I feel about this. There is an animated television mini-series coming to television screens in 2012. I am not sure how I feel about that fact either. I suppose if I were to pick just one emotion it would be confusion. My confusion stems from a curiosity about why are there so many remakes and sequels these days? Over the last few years, we've seen movies remaking 1970s and 1980s television shows such as the A-Team and Knight Rider. We've seen the rebirth of franchises like Tron.

What happened to original shows? What happened to original writing? Are studios relying on established fan bases for old movies and television to turn a buck? Look, I am all for making money and I understand the strain these film studios are under in light of smaller audiences and audiences that are diversifying their time between theatres, home movies, and Internet viewing - but, come on! Isn't there an original thought out there?

Did the Writer's Strike of 2008 sour studios that much they don't want to pay for new works? Did the writers of Hollywood get sucked into a Hellmouth and beaten by the minions of Gozer into producing just another series of weak writing? (With exceptions to writers like Jane Espenson who has been doing a whole lot of good work in building current shows as well as making her own.)  Probably not. Writers, I suspect, are living and healthy and are not sitting around wondering about what shows they could remake into new and current properties. I think that the current relationship between audiences and the production companies is fractured to a point where no one knows what the next move should be.

Audiences Should Take Responsibility

Something I have been noting for a while is how people choose to interact with the programs they like. Many of us have complained since the beginning of time about commerical breaks. We first had devices like the VCR that was able to record but, at the beginning, these devices could not avoid those pesky commericals. We would either suffer through them or fast forward until the show came back. As technology developed, we had more and more devices that could automatically avoid commericals to a point where, these days, we don't have to watch commercials at all. I am sure that most of you reading this may have already come to this realization but there seems (at least, to me) a fundamental break down of this understanding.

You see, those annoying commerical breaks are how these stations make money. Plain and simple. They buy programs to show you and then they sell time for commercial breaks in order to pay for everything else. Again, this is probably not news to you. What I find interesting is the complete lack of understanding or compassion towards the companies who make these shows. They become the "tyrants" for wanting you to watch these shows as well as the commericals. We should just be able to watch and never suffer through - yet, we audience members still want to have the programs get made.

See where I am going with this yet?

Production Companies Should Stop Being Dinosaurs and Start Leading

I am beating a dead horse with this one but I have a serious note to the production houses - stop being afraid that you're going to be out of a job tomorrow. I think that production companies and television broadcasters should pull up their bootstraps and start thinking about how they can change the way they broadcast while still maintaining the bottom line. There are ways to do it and - granted - very few have found a successful answer yet but I don't see too many innovations into flexibility and creative dispersal of television programs - I see too much focus on the copyright issues and the invention of new DRM strategies. I think this kind of thing is a waste of time and far more dollars should be put into education about how the industry works. Letting audiences know that you need to spend a certain number of dollars to make the shows they like to watch really should be a two way road. We make and audiences should expect to pay something for your work. I don't see this happening successfully all that often.

Get creative or I am glad your shows wither and die.

Essentially, all I am sharing here is that both parties still haven't found a way to talk on even ground. And, sure, I am not an expert in the field of television or movie production and I am sure I am missing a whole lot here but to those in the industry with sets of numbers in front of them - you guys can stuff it. This is not about numbers. This is about education and compassion. I think we've gone too far down the road of numbers and have failed to acknowledge the human factor here - people want entertainment in their homes and they don't understand how you work for one reason: they don't want to know. They just turn on the television and - boom - it is all there. We're making this fight about the details of one side (mainly) and not the side that counts.

That's It, I Am Writing An Original Screenplay

I have been writing a bunch of fiction lately and I am trying to get something finished that I can either post here or publish elsewhere. I just haven't had a whole lot of time to finish anything. But, realizing that 2011 is chock-full of more bland repeats, I am thinking I should turn my attention to writing something worth while. I would have to choose a genre, I would think, but I don't know what that would be. If you have any thoughts about this, let me know.

So, audience, I have one final thing to say to you. Stop being lazy. If you want fewer "reality shows" and more quality programming, start letting the production companies know. I don't mean head over to Facebook and click a "Like" button - get involved. Find like minded people and find out if there is somewhere you can go to voice your opinion.

Don't get me started about UUB or Bill C-32. Augh. For what it is worth, there you have it...