I know Jon. Had a great dinner with him a few years ago where, yes, he asked for script ideas about a screenplay about colleges.
Hollywood has several problems, many of them resistant to being fixed by just one or two well-meaning people.
*The woke is still strong there, despite a few studios acknowledging that it is killing their box office. Rather than remove woke, I’ve noticed this pattern: in streamers for the first 2-3 episodes-—or even the first season-—they will be plain old entertainment-driven with no woke. (Think “Mandalorean” season 1-2). Then, confident they have an audience no matter what, they begin to homo/transoid it up. (Season 3 was horrible). Other series still ignore the massive backlash and Lesbo up a series in the first 30 minutes (”Tracker”).
*A recent study found that nearly 80% (!!!) of all “new” movies are either spinoffs, remakes, or “universe” expansions. There is NOTHING original, even if you can get past the woke.
(Look at the success of “Minecraft,” based on a popular game, that has already grossed $850 million vs “Captain African American: Brave New World” which, last I looked, was around $415 million (or a $200-300 million LOSS).
*Length: every single movie now is over 2hrs, many close to 3. That’s not an afternoon or evening, that’s a near day long commitment if you have to drive.
*Villains: right now, there are only a couple of acceptable villains: Russkies or white American anti-climate men. This makes it really, really hard to tell a truly diverse story, let alone one that identifies the world’s worst satanic forces of China, Islam, and African chowdermissiles.
*Cost: making a first rate drama is pretty much going to cost at leat $30 million; an action flick with even moderat SF, at least $50 m. That means that to recoup investors’ money, a film needs to pull in at least $75m (more like $80) for the former and $160-170m for the latter. With movies like “Captain African American,” you’re looking at nearly $900 m to break even.
*Marketing is diffuse and watered down. There have been movies I would go to that I didn’t even know were out yet. In fact, I may go see “The Amateur” today. Breaking through the noise is extremely difficult.
That’s so awesome you were able to hear straight from the source and your insights are remarkably enlightening! Thank you. :)