Why are so many movies
so bad? From my own experience, I’d say that most of them were better at the
script stage. They get progressively worse the more people that get involved.
In an interview in the Harvard Business Review, Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull
said much the same thing in the course of explaining how they work differently
there:
“…We as executives have to resist our natural tendency to avoid or minimize risks, which, of course, is much easier said than done. In the movie business and plenty of others, this instinct leads executives to choose to copy successes rather than the try to create something brand new. That’s why you see so many movies that are so much alike. It also explains why a lot of films aren’t very good. If you want to be original, you have to accept the uncertainty, even when it’s uncomfortable, and have the capability to recover when your organization takes a big risk and fails.”
I’d say the same applies to us as individuals. The most corrosive thing I experienced working in Hollywood was that after a while you don’t wait for your bosses to censor you—you start doing it yourself. And if you stay there long enough, you stop noticing that you’re doing it (that’s one reason I got out).
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