Dearest Hollywood,
Where-oh-where has your creativity gone? It saddens me to see you rebooting everything left and right. Bad enough you had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and create movies from board games such as Battleship. C’mon, Battleship?? Really? And Liam Neeson actually agreed to this?
Whatever happened to the days of epic movies that sprawled across the silver screen with the glorious brilliance of Technicolor? Where we were amazed and transported out of our mundane lives and for a few hours allowed to dream right along with you?
I’ve heard the younger generation writing scripts and screenplays also long for the things of their childhood. I can understand that. I loved dinosaurs as a kid and loved Jurassic Park when it first came out. The sequels? I could have done without.
And while we’re on the subject of sequels? Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
I spoke with a close friend of mine in the Industry, asking him why this lack of creativity is happening and he said I wouldn’t like the answer. Bottom line: Your writers and producers have lost their nerve. No one wants to take a chance on anything original because they’re afraid it will fail. It’s so easy to make a sequel to something that worked once, so why not do it again? And again, and again, and again…
My source was right. Not only didn’t I like the answer, it deeply saddened me. Are there no more George Lucas’s or Stephen Spielbergs out there chomping at the bit and fired up to get their stories told come hell or a giant meteor from outer space? Where’s the sense of adventure? Where’s the indomitable American spirit that got our ancestors to California to begin with?
Risk is what makes great things GREAT! Risk makes it all worthwhile. When it works, it’s beyond glorious. Really, Hollywood, I meet writers every day who take more risks, over coming their fears by pulling their manuscripts out of the bottom of the sock drawer and bringing them to light in whatever way possible.
Are they scared? Yes. Will they have to face critics and nay-sayers? Of course. But you know what? They plunge ahead with everything they’ve got to bring their best to their audience. If JK Rowling quit, we’d never have had Harry Potter. If Lucas never followed his dreams, Star Wars would never have been such a ground-breaking experience the first time that battle cruiser crawled across the screen. Walt Disney never would have advanced the animated feature film and we wouldn’t have the classic epics like Gone With the Wind, Ben Hur or Cleopatra.
Take a chance, Hollywood. Please. Give hope to all the good storytellers out there who have yet to be discovered.
Sincerely,
Deborah A. Dorchak
Storyteller, Author and Dreamer
Photo: Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh; Gone With The Wind
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