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The Choice of Material

© Ken Nared

What hits the screen in any given year reflects what filmmakers thought would sell some three to five years before. This job of prediction sometimes finds the movie industry trying to guess the mood of their audience based on what is being brought at the present moment and what people have gone to see in years past. This attempt at crystal ball work is fueled by both art and money but it is the bottom line that finally ends up determining the validity of the studios choices. The green light to make a film, which comes after some phone surveying and gut checking, sets the process in motion that all involved hope will make a hit film. That not all films make it is apparent, but why they don't is not always apparent while the film is being made.

The choice of material the studios consider for film comes from a myriad of sources, not the least of which is the speculation script which has fueled the movie industry since the beginning. Though many ideas come from executives or directors and even agents, spec scripts keep film healthy by suppling a life blood of ideas that otherwise would never have made it to the screen. Books through the history on the movies have supplied a fair share of material to the screen. From Sherlock Holmes to Jack Ryan book have fed the screen the same way spec script have.

The choice of material moving from ideas to the screen has changed over time with the mood of the movie going audience. Certainly what was shocking in the 30's and 40' is tame to the point of being boring for todays audiences. Much of the experimentation in the 60's with non linear stories and plot lines that went no where have given way to more traditional fare, but todays story tellers far from resting on stale material are striving to put a fresh face on old story lines. Mythology that would have been set in some sword and sandal epic is now found in science fiction films such as "The Matrix" and "5th Element."

A new source of material for the screen is comic books. This staple of entertainment for decades has been tapped for movies such as "Superman", "X-Men," and several others coming up. This fertile source has come into its own because Hollywood recognized that comics like movies deal mainly in images supported by dialog. This perfect match for the screen has so far proved to be box office gold with this years "X-Men" taking in well over a hundred million dollars. Material that finds its way to the screen will continue to come from several different sources. This will keep the industry fed with plenty of good themes for new movies.

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