Narrative Assets

Has Technology Killed The Hollywood Story?

Will the advent of technology and developments such as YouTube, reality shows and video games mean the end of business as usual for the Hollywood system as it exists?

In the March 2008 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Michael Wolff describes what Hollywood would be like without its driving force of plot driven narratives. A world where legions of producers, directors, agents, executives and writers cease to operate as "business as usual", because the medium in which they were taught to write and operate no longer exists. When scores of writers are taught to write for a medium that no longer exists - and the Hollywood elite (fast approaching their 70's) have no idea how to adapt their business for radically different audiences and distribution systems - what happens to story as we know it?

The business of Hollywood is the business of story. Without a story, there is no film. Conventional storylines are plot driven with many replicating proven formulas that have a good chance of driving box office receipts.

But what happens when the formula changes? What happens when the new audience is radically different than the old one? What happens when the technology changes to include radically different new means of distribution? Will Hollywood as we know it, cease to exist?

Reading Wolff's article leaves me with mixed feelings of sorts. On the one hand, traditional storytelling faces potential extinction as video games continue to rival box office receipts. In 2007, video game receipts totalled $8.7 billion, while box office receipts came in at $9.7 billion. On the other hand, should the migration towards more interactive and mobile technology not trigger some sort of business opportunity for Hollywood's power elite?

If Hollywood players could find a way to incorporate story into the increasing demand for more interactive types of technology and network television, then perhaps story as we know it wouldn't be dead. Maybe the opportunity is just sitting there, waiting to be reborn.

It's time for Hollywood to take notice, and shift their way of thinking from being players in the entertainment business to being players in the technology business. Wake up Hollywood - a new world awaits!

How do you see Hollywood capitalizing on new technology? Is there some way to incorporate elements of moviemaking and storytelling into video games and reality shows? Is technology such as YouTube a threat or an opportunity to the traditional Hollywood establishment? What's the new form of story in the future?

   

A Christmas Narrative (Courtesy of Charles Dickens)

Since this blog is called "Narrative Assets", I thought I would close the year with a snippet from Charles Dickens Pickwick Papers.

Dickens words capture the true story and spirit of the holiday season - the story of families coming together, of laughter and shared companionship. He describes the ability of Christmas to transport us to the days of our youth, and to help the more "seasoned" regain a sense of their own. Christmas is all about storytelling, and its power to transport us to places that have real meaning in our lives.

To all of my loyal readers all over the world, I would like to wish you a fabulous holiday season and best of luck in 2008. May the New Year give you the opportunity to write the story of your life.

And now, some words to capture the spirit of Christmas from Charles Dickens:

"And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment. How many families whose members have
been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then re-united, and meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual good-will, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight, and one so incompatible with the cares and sorrows of the world, that the religious belief of the most civilized nations, and the rude traditions of the roughest savages, alike number it among the first joys of a future state of existence, provided for the blest and happy! How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christmas time awaken!

We write these words now, many miles distant from the spot at which,
year after year, we met on that day, a merry and joyous circle. Many of
the hearts that throb so gaily then, have ceased to beat; many of the
looks that shone so brightly then, have ceased to glow; the hands we
grasped, have grown cold; the eyes we sought, have hid their lustre in
the grave; and yet the old house, the room, the merry voices and smiling
faces, the jest, the laugh, the most minute and trivial circumstance
connected with those happy meetings, crowd upon our mind at each
recurrence of the season, as if the last assemblage had been but
yesterday. Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions
of our childish days, that can recall to the old man the pleasures of
his youth, and transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of
miles away, back to his own fireside and his quiet home!"