The Young Executive

The top grossing director of all time. Check out the talk he gave at TED that inspired him to make his Hollywood blockbusters

Check it out: Cameron talking at TED

To see other talks by incredible people visit TED’s website : TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

There’s a new resource out there called SCRIPT SHADOW which reviews some the latest studio scripts out there.

Check it out: Script Shadow

Everyone who pitches a movie in this business will automatically associate it with proven successes. For example, “this is 300 meets DARK KNIGHT” or “This is SUPERBAD meets THE HANGOVER”. Its a common technique because of course people want to show where a similar movie had success. The problem with that mentality is that EVERYONE will begin to follow that trend, therefore after a movie like the Hangover is successful, every producer in town will be trying to sell something similar. The result? the market becomes saturated with hundreds of movies that are trying to be like the Hangover. The only way to have this kind of break out success is to be ahead of the pack. SET THE TREND! don’t follow it. Your idea should explore new territory and break the mold of typical material out there. Why do you think District 9 was such a success? It broke new ground.

Around the time Jim Carrey was paid $20 million to star in the CABLE GUY birthed the era of quotes. From then on actors were able to set the bar very high in terms of how much they got per movie. Recently with the decline in revenue studios no longer can keep signing the big checks. Higher production costs have led to a shrinkage in profit margins. Also fewer movies are being greenlit which leads to a  decrease in available jobs. Now actors essentially have to take what they can get or leave it.

A recent LA Times article brings up some great examples of this recent trend. Check it out: Hollywood Gets Tightfisted in Deals

Nikki Fink is a reporter that revolutionized entertainment reporting with her blog DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD. This is where nearly everyone in Hollywood gets the latest breaking news about what’s going on in the business. Its a standard resource to know in this town.

Check it out: Deadline

Check out this article that measures the overall performance of studios

Movie Studio Report Card

This is an old article from Harvard Business School but still VERY relevant and very dead on when it comes to analyzing the traits of the business. If your breaking into the business you might want to consider these 10 observations that they point out.

check it out: Hollywood Aprrenticeship

In the trend of up and coming commercial directors to get signed. Here is Arev Manoukian who just signed with WME.

Here is the short that got him signed: Nuit Blanche

I think a really good source of inspiration and sometimes source material can come from blogs of concept artists. They are constantly putting up some of their most recent work on the web that can be stunning.

Check it out: Android Jones

Also check out concept robots: Concept Robots Blog

Ticket prices are higher than ever. It’s no surprise that the bar continues to be raised for highest grossing film. Back when Titanic hit the record tickets were roughly between $5-$9. Nowadays its upwards of $15 a ticket. Therefore is it fair to call Avatar the most successful film ever? There’s a great article in the LA Times today that discusses how box office records should be based on ticket admissions rather than dollar gross. I would have to agree.

Check it out: LA Times Article on Avatar Number One Record