Did the Writer's Strike of '07/'08 Ruin Films?

[Blumf]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%9308_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike

This is a wild stab in the dark, but I've been wondering about why so many recent Hollywood films seem to have such half arsed scripts.

Yeah, it's not like the industry hasn't always had crap writing, but it seems that a lot of recent big films have suffered from what I call 'agile' script writing; continual reworking with some really deep changes, even at a late stage. In the process the films lose a lot of focus and cohesion. (Yes, pretty much all scripts change over the production, I'm talking about the huge changes we seem to be getting pretty regularly these days, adding/removing entire arcs, characters, etc., lots of reshoots)

So it occurs to me, has Hollywood been trying to limit their exposure to and dependence on writers since the strike? And is this 'agile' style film making the result?

The other option is just that producers have retreated into focus groups and audience testing because of the huge costs involved in top movie budgets, but I think the timing matches up with the strike. Neither is exclusive though.

[greenman]

The biggest shift you could argue is that writing for blockbusters has shifted much more towards work to order, the idea of a writer coming up with an original script which is then turned into a blockbuster seems to be pretty much dead.

[thecuriousorange]

I think "The Internet" has become the focus group, with negative responses to trailers right there in black and white. Rogue One had a corny line in the trailer which was then absent from the released film and we all know what happened with Sonic.

[Dewt]

Going to post this at every opportunity: https://twitter.com/nsilverberg/status/1140300647922831361?lang=en

[Dex Sawash]

Going to post this at every opportunity: https://twitter.com/nsilverberg/status/1140300647922831361?lang=en

something something 538

[bgmnts]

Going to post this at every opportunity: https://twitter.com/nsilverberg/status/1140300647922831361?lang=en

Shut up Marvel films are ace!

[Urinal Cake]

I think "The Internet" has become the focus group, with negative responses to trailers right there in black and white. Rogue One had a corny line in the trailer which was then absent from the released film and we all know what happened with Sonic.

This is it. A work in progress for a multi million dollar film. It doesn't seem to have affected tv series that much though probably due to a stronger creator focus.

[Mister Six]

Going to post this at every opportunity: https://twitter.com/nsilverberg/status/1140300647922831361?lang=en

They missed (FALLS OFFSCREEN) "I'm all right."

[Urinal Cake]

Remember when Trump got elected and people said, 'Oh this will be like the last days of Rome and we'll get some great entertainment out of this'  Only if we let Trump start making movies.

[MojoJojo]

The other option is just that producers have retreated into focus groups and audience testing because of the huge costs involved in top movie budgets, but I think the timing matches up with the strike. Neither is exclusive though.

Another side is markets other than the US (e.g. China) becoming more important, and films being tweaked for individual markets. Didn't Shrek have a character that was voiced by a different celebrity in every area (think it was Cleese in the UK)?

(The Fourth Wall by Walter John Williams covers this a bit)

[Noodle Lizard]

Another curious thing that's happened is that very few writers are "new" anymore. You're either someone who's been in the industry since the 90s (and are about 50, writing Avengers movies) or you're a hip new "writer/director" who's about 30 and has been going to Sundance since they were still in their teens, but will almost certainly never make a "blockbuster". The days of a script by an unknown being turned into any kind of "proper" movie are definitely over. There's also a growing trend in franchise movies  not even having proper  scripts whilst they're being made, so it's hard to even properly credit writers for it.

It's all a bit of a mess, but I think that's got more to do with technological and associated consumer/social advances than anything else.

[greenman]

Another curious thing that's happened is that very few writers are "new" anymore. You're either someone who's been in the industry since the 90s (and are about 50, writing Avengers movies) or you're a hip new "writer/director" who's about 30 and has been going to Sundance since they were still in their teens, but will almost certainly never make a "blockbuster". The days of a script by an unknown being turned into any kind of "proper" movie are definitely over. There's also a growing trend in franchise movies  not even having proper  scripts whilst they're being made, so it's hard to even properly credit writers for it.

It's all a bit of a mess, but I think that's got more to do with technological and associated consumer/social advances than anything else.

Probably has a lot to do with Hollywood shifting towards franchises/existing properties. Its rarely the case a script is the impetus for a film being made anymore, normally a studio decides a certain film is going to be made and then looks around for someone with a track record to write it.

[Urinal Cake]

Probably has a lot to do with Hollywood shifting towards franchises/existing properties. Its rarely the case a script is the impetus for a film being made anymore, normally a studio decides a certain film is going to be made and then looks around for someone with a track record to write it.

I presume most original writers are writing for steaming services rather than the movies. Also studios have always tended to buy movie scripts just so another studio couldn't get their hands on them. I gather this has increased with further competition but  it's also less likely that they'll be dusted off and put into production.

[SavageHedgehog]

Didn't Shrek have a character that was voiced by a different celebrity in every area (think it was Cleese in the UK)?

Shrek 2 had an obvious Joan Rivers caricature that was voiced by Kate Thornton in the UK release, and a character played by Larry KIng in the US but voiced by Larry King in America and Jonathan Ross in the UK. As far as I know Cleese was in all versions. But that was all the way back in the glory days of 2004. Shrek the Third didn't bother replacing Larry KIng's returning character, but the localised voice casts thing does still happen occasionally (e.g. Tom Baker and some YouTube celebs in Wonder Park this year).

[dissolute ocelot]

I presume most original writers are writing for steaming services rather than the movies.

Assuming you mean streaming services rather than working in laundries, this is undoubtedly it. Film studios aren't making intelligent mid-market, mid-budget films any more and intelligent writers and filmmakers are doing stuff for HBO or Netflix, not studio films. One exception might be Pixar which stills put a lot of care into plots and character and seems to be the only studio that actually cares about what's in a film beyond "what's the least we can get away with?" But animation writers aren't even in the same union as live-action.

[phantom_power]

Is there also not a backlash against the indie-turned-major directors like Josh Trank and Richard Kelly who fucked up in a very public way when given big budgets to work with?