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Why Have Movies Dropped in Quality over the Past Decade
While there is always someone arguing that movies were better in the old days, the drop in quality over the past decade has been noticeable. While the exceptional films are still quite compelling, for the most part movies focus less on storytelling, cinematography, and acting. The emphasis these days seems to be more on effects, such as CGI, and creating a memorable moment rather than telling a good story.
It’s becoming more common to see A-list actors associated with big-budget films that do not have the same level of quality today as they would have 10 to 20 years ago. So, why is this happening, and will the trend change in the foreseeable future?
Lack of Storytelling
There’s an old saying in the movie industry that from the start of making a film 1000 things can go wrong before it reaches the theater. But if the script is not good, then no amount of effort can save the film.
When looking back at movies starring Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Nicol Kidman, and even Jim Carrey, you can see quality storytelling even if the films were not entirely successful. A big part of why good storytelling is lacking is that the executive producers hired by production companies lack the experience and understanding to recognize good screenplays.
Today’s executive producers are mostly trainees at major production and distribution companies or new to the business and have no idea what makes a good movie. The result is, to paraphrase Shakespeare, a movie with plenty of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Pitching Movies
Many so called “executive producers” at major film production or any other filmmaking agencies are hanging out on film related websites where they charge aspiring filmmakers and script writers money ( $300 -$350 per script) to read the script and promise a possible production of their story. They ask how much is the budget if one says $100K, they would say we accept movies over one million dollar! If your budget is one million dollar, they would say we accept movies over $5 million dollars. It is clear that these kinds of people are trying to say that they are unable to finance the film and make it happen. They have no plan of moving forward with your script. 99.9% of them have one…
