Andrew Sullivan: Money bleeds Hollywood of its movie magic

"The problem with Hollywood is the worthless Writer's Guild union is so full of idiots that do not have any creative imagination in their heads they have to constantly ruin older and better films with a newer version that isn't worth the trip to the theater to see."

This 20-plus-year Writers Guild union member might suggest that your assessment is a mite harsh. Writers have never driven the business. I am one of thousands of produced writers who have taken time off from paying gigs and written new, original scripts that were met with, "Wonderful! But no one will ever make it" (too different, off-center, "controversial," etc.).

I am not speaking of the great wide public that stands back and hurls invective at everything Hollywood without really considering how the business works. I am speaking of professional writers in the industry. They know how to do a producable script. But subject matter, or approach, or whatever aced out that original. The lack of "creative imagination" you mention should probably be tempered with that in mind.

As for their tendency to "constantly ruin older and better films with a newer version that isn't worth the trip to the theater to see" (syntax notwithstanding): They neither "ruin" nor "improve." They get hired to jump onboard a train that has already left the station--studio, and likely producer, director and even a star or two are already on board. By then, the writer is just a high-paid typist. Rhetorical: Why would any of the men and women who turn out the above-mentioned "original" scripts choose to work on something that, usually, was already done better 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago?

the acting rarely gets beyond movie-of-the-week quality.

The answer in a nutshell. Superannuated adolescents are incapable of doing a convincing job of acting in adult roles. If actors were judged by developmental age, none of them would be allowed to work without their parents' consent.

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