It's Not All About Money - Or Is It.

I received a few comments from readers saying that I was cynical regarding the movie business being all about money.  That the art of movie-making is not all about profits and grosses but done for a great cause - an artistic endeavor.  Alright, have it your way.  But to bolster my case following are a few recent examples of Hollywood 'good deeds' :

- The American Federation of Musicians of the U.S. & Canada filed a law suit last week accusing the major film studios of "recycling old soundtracks in new movie releases".  The Federation claims that the studios, including Disney, Paramount, and Sony have violated the terms of their contract with song writers by using previously recorded film scores or parts of scores in later movie releases.

The law suit names a number of examples where this 'recycling of film scores' has occurred. For example, there was 1 minute/10 second clip of the 'Titanic' used in 'This Means War', a 33 second clip from 'Castaway' featured in 'Bridesmaids', a 35 second clip from 'Battle of the Planet of the Apes' used in 'Argo'.  These and many other examples were cited in the law suit.

The studios are in agreement that "all music soundtracks already recorded, will not be used at any time, for any purpose, except to accompany the picture for which the music soundtrack was originally prepared."

Well, how cheap and greedy are the studios.  They can't compensate the music writers for use of their songs or scores.  How much money does this save?   Hmmmm ........ but Hollywood's not about money.

- Gender inequality in movie actor pay - that is the current mantra of movie actors. Equal pay for equal performance.  It seems that the leaked emails for the Sony Studio hack indicated that the studios are not paying female stars the same amount as their male co-stars. This has now reached the stage where it begs the question: are these actions on the part of the studios illegal discrimination.

The stuff that leaked through the internet when Sony was hacked speaks for itself.  The emails between executives at Sony indicate that, for example, 'American Hustle' stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence were paid less than their male co-stars.

Again, it's all about the money. The solution for this is simple - for the studios. Just pay the male actors less!  Bring their pay down to the level of the female actors - problem solved.  So, instead of making $10 million for their role the male stars make $8 million. They are all over-compensated anyway.  Everyone knows that most films are not star-driven anyway. What?  There have been 5 or 6 Batmen, 3 or 4 Supermen, 3 or 4 Spidermen - you got my drift. It's been proven time and again that a movie doesn't need a star to make a big gross.  Ok, Ok. That's one solution. But honestly, it should be equal pay for equal work without exception.

What is a movie-star. anyway?  Defined as an actor who has become famous for their acting roles or is deemed marketable and whose name is used to promote a motion picture.  Really well known and recognized movie-stars become super-stars.  But are there really any super-stars now?  In the past there were people who sang, danced, acted, and played an instrument - all with great genius. These people were not just movie-stars they were entertainers - and you don't find them in today's Hollywood.

Best
Jim