by Jon Price

Created on: November 06, 2008

Studios in Hollywood operate on one simple, underlying principle: Make as much money as possible. This may seem overly simplistic, but it's the most obvious reason when considering the question, "Why are there no new ideas in mainstream cinema?"

Each year a typical Hollywood studio has a certain budget with which to make its slate of films. Usually they'll only be able to make about 8-15 each so choosing which ones will be made can be a very difficult process for most studio heads. They hear hundreds, even thousands of ideas each year and read thousands of scripts. They have teams of development executives reading novels, newspapers, magazine articles and every other kind of media there is, seeking the next great idea for that summer's huge string of blockbusters. Many new ideas come across the desk of a studio head, but the underlying question becomes "will this idea make any money?" There are clearly many determining factors that impact whether or not a film will be successful, but initially, before one frame of film has been shot, this has to be weighed by the studio. So, necessarily, this is where most unique, creative ideas will die.

Hollywood executives typically have a very specific kind of short term memory. They remember what films did great for them in the last couple of years and what films completely tanked. And more importantly, they remember the genres and basic storylines of each film. So in their mind, if a certain kind of film did well last year, then it'll probably do ok this year. This is one reason we've seen an influx of terrible horror films the last few years - it's a cheap kind of film to make and they always carry a pretty hefty profit margin. Even though a few of them seem to not do too well in the box office overall, you must look at how much the film cost to make to decide if the film was a success or not.

So, over the years, as we moved into the studio system we are in today, the number of fresh ideas and genres were whittled down to a handful to be re-told over and over again. There is a general formula that seems to work for Hollywood and they usually will stick to it. Studio execs that take chances and don't succeed will soon be looking for a new line of work, so most take the safe route. It's a safe bet that if you want true creativity and originality you should probably look outside the mainstream Hollywood offerings.

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