ZDONK

At this point it’s pretty evident that the Studios are focusing primarily on culturally known properties — sequels, old films, TV shows, video games — basically anything that already has a built in audience. It kind of sucks, cause original ideas are becoming less and less frequent, but I understand the plight of the studio being strangled by their money losing conglomerate parent companies. After all, marketing any film will cost the studio up to three times the production budget, so they better be certain they have a hit on their hands.

Also affecting the studio’s decision making to focus on brand name properties are licensing fees. A variety article that covered the Licensing Intl. Expo in Las Vegas noted that just last year the studios saw a $191 billion dollar intake from licensing fees.

Karen McTier, exec VP of domestic licensing and worldwide marketing for Warner Bros had this to say about the current state of affairs in Hollywood: ”What is new is what is old…what retailers want is proven successes. In this environment they can’t take any chances.”

Studios cannot afford to make original ideas in this economy if it means that the $191 billion in licensing fees will take a hit.

The first annual “Produced By” Conference brought together many Producers, both large and small, to the Sony lot to discuss amongst other things, the Producing profession, how to finance and distribute your indy films and, most popularly, hilarious and entertaining stories on being a Producer in the film industry. 

Some of my favorite panels were Jim Cameron on the future of 3-D, a profile of Larry and Mark Gordon that resulted in a hilarious Q&A session, a panel discussion with Executives from Pixar about their development process, a speech by Marshall Herskowitz (head of the PGA) on “producing for film, television and the internet”, a session with Clint Eastwood and his producing partner, Rob Lorenz, on the “Malpaso Way” and, the last session I attended, a profile of Marvel Studios with their President, Kevin Feige.

It was hard to determine what the PGA’s goals were for this conference. Was it to recruit more PGA members thereby adding advocates to their very admirable task of honoring the “Produced By” credit in film? To provide an event where aspiring producers could network and gain insight from those who have succeeded in the profession before? Or was it simply to bring together many of the great minds mentioned above and allow people to pay a reasonable sum to hear them speak? I feel they accomplished the first and third of these goals with flying colors but can’t say Zack or I were able to do too much networking. Not that it wasn’t possible to start a fulfilling conversation (we had several), but it’s just too difficult to pinpoint individuals with an actual professional crossover with you when “producer” is such a broad term.

Here are some of the PGA members talking about their vision for the conference:

All in all, it was great to hear so many brilliant minds discuss the profession and to watch the PGA attract enthused “producers” from around the world to their cause of respecting the “Produced By” credit and taking it away from, as Clint Eastwood hilariously put it, “brother-in-laws, lawyers, stylists…”.

The PGA also gave us an ad in the program…we kept it simple

7th ANNUAL LA IMPROV COMEDY FESTIVAL
June 1st — June 6th // iO West // 6366 Hollywood Blvd.
Up and coming improvisers + Cast members of Reno 911!, Sarah Silverman Program, Broken Lizard, The Office, etc.

HUEBEL & SCHEER PRESENT: CRASH TEST
MON, JUNE 1 // 11PM // $5 // UCB Theatre // 5919 Franklin
Rob Huebel, Howard Kremer, Sean Conroy, Steve Agee, Bill Burr
Standup + Sketch.

COMEDY DEATH RAY + CDR SCKETCH
TUE, JUNE 2 // 8:30PM + 11PM // $5 // UCB Theatre // 5919 Franklin
CDR Standup (8:30PM): Howard Kremer, Rob Huebel, Charlyne Yi, Andy Kindler, Sean Conroy, Hosted by Brendon Walsh
CDR Sketch (11PM): James Adomian, Charlyne Yi, Marisa Pinson & Josh Simpson, hosted by Dave Horwitz & Mookie Blaiklock and more!

BIRTHDAY BOYS + A KISS FROM DADDY
WED, JUNE 3 // 8PM // $5 // UCB Theatre // 5919 Franklin
Sketch comedy from two very funny sketch groups.

THE ARMANDO SHOW: Featuring The Cast of the Sarah Silverman Show
THU, JUNE 4 // $20 // iO West // 6366 Hollywood Blvd.
Hour-long improvised comedy show.

COMEDY DEATH RAY: MOVIE SERIES
FRI, JUNE 5 // 8PM // $14 // Silent Movie Theatre // 611 Fairfax Ave.
Sarah Silverman screening Carl Reiner’s WHERE’S POPPA? w/ interviews, etc.

THE MIDNIGHT SHOW
SAT, JUNE 6 // Midnight // $5 // UCB Theatre // 5919 Franklin
Variety show hosted by Fred Willard. Musical guest: Giant Drag. Cast includes: James Adomian, Abby Elliott, Josh Fadem, etc.