How’s It Going In Hollywood?

James Bartlett, Euroscript's man on the ground, gives us the lowdown

​All of 2024’s top 10 grossing movies were sequels, or stories with previously established characters.

​Three of them grossed over a billion dollars, with one (Despicable Me 4) close to that benchmark. In 2023, two movies grossed over a billion dollars (Barbie and the Super Mario Bros Movie, believe it or not). Oppenheimer was also close, at $975m or so). 

Clearly the movies aren’t dead.

So why are the studios and streamers laying people off left and right, and what's the outlook for stories that seem to be - gasp - original?

​There are reasons why the industry is on the ropes. 

There’s COVID of course, which helped streaming become an even more regular part of our viewing experience, while the recent actor/writer strikes stopped everything here in Hollywood, and things were very slow to get going again.

The recent fires that blasted across huge swathes of Los Angeles affected the industry; movie-related businesses were burned out, and many people above and below the line lost their homes. Lots of them will leave the state to start again somewhere else.

On an even more practical level, some regular shooting locations are now gone forever.
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Then there are the worries about A.I. writing scripts, reading scripts, and essentially putting everyone out of a job, at least once they have enough data to replicate everything so accurately and effectively that audiences don’t realize nor care.  

​So why bother to write your screenplay and go through the process of entering a competition, or trying to attract a producer, or get funding of some kind?

And more than that, what chance has your speculative or “spec” script (i.e. one that hasn’t been commissioned and is usually by a new writer) got anyway?

As a glance online will tell you, many spec scripts have been made into movies, including Thelma & Louise, Good Will Hunting, American Beauty, The Long Kiss Goodnight and the recent Nike/Michael Jordan drama Air. 

​Spec scripts still sell, too.

Recent sales like Break, a drama about two pool hustlers, or Three Hitmen and a Baby (no need to guess what that’s about; a good title and memorable high concept idea are always crucial) may be familiar-sounding – especially in the latter case – but they still sold: there was something there. 

And why? Because the monster still, always, needs to be fed. 

Millions are watching and want content, and so it will be the best stories – and the best writers of those stories – that will win through, especially in terms of new or emerging talent (and even more experienced players), because producers and studios, now as ever, are looking for writers who can ideally write in any genre.

Being able to do this makes you more employable for longer.
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For writers, arguably the most perfect time is when you’re writing and rewriting your script and it hasn’t been sent out anywhere yet. You are unlimited by budget, or time, or realities: you can write a $500 million space adventure, or a one-room two-hander. 

Whether it gets made or not is another matter – it probably won’t, as almost nothing does – but if you can show your knowledge and skills with plot, structure, dialogue, characters and the other crucial elements, then there is a chance you could have a career doing something you love.

That’s still worth trying for, no matter how bad things look today (and remember, a movie will take a year or two or more to get made, if it even gets that far, and by then things will be different again anyway).

​After all, the late and legendary screenwriter William Goldman, whose spec script for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, summed up the movie business perfectly and accurately by saying something that still applies today:

“Nobody knows anything.”

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About James Bartlett

James initially worked in UK, Ireland and EU developmental funding, providing project assessment for short and feature initiatives. 

Since moving to LA in 2004 he has worked for commercial studio, production and management companies, continuing to partner with UK and Irish agencies.

​He has read for scriptwriting competitions including the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, AFI, WGA and Sundance.

He has also assessed scripts for National Geographic Films, New Regency, the New Zealand Film Commission and private clients.

Alongside script reading and story editing, he is also a travel/lifestyle journalist and award-winning true crime author.

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