"We are all made of stars"

- Moby

A little while back I floated the idea that stars are beginning to lose their power to pull in a guaranteed audience. Apparently, I'm not the only person questioning the foundational principles of Hollywood business models. The concept of "content is king" is penetrating every aspect of the entertainment industry.

"A movie star is mythic, a movie star is like no one you've ever seen walking around in daily life... You don't see these people walking to the drug store, and the ones that you do aren't stars, they're actors."

- John Waters

Hollywood has gone through many changes in it's just-over century long history. The introduction of sync-sound, color, television and home video, each changed the basic business model of feature films, but throughout the history of film the star has been a bankable commodity. Recent years, however, have shown a decrease in the reliability of a star's box-office draw.

"Nobody knows anything"

- William Goldman

I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A with William Goldman and John Cleese last week, an entertaining couple of hours all around. The audience was full of working and aspiring screenwriters, and the common theme throughout most of the questions being asked was, "What should I be doing to best advance my career?"

Unfortunately, the common theme through most of the answers to these questions was, "I don't know."

"If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere"

- Frank Sinatra

"Breaking in" to the entertainment industry is even harder than you think - and even fewer people than you realize have begun a career by "breaking in". Hollywood is perceived by outsiders as a closed system, but really it's not much of a system at all. It's so hard to break in because there's nothing to break into.

"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly"

- Oscar Hammerstein

Actors act. Writers write. Producers produce. If you aren't doing what you claim to be, you are merely posing. Learn your craft, build a work ethic and develop your craft - these are the only roads to success in your career.

"Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out!"

- Michael Palin

I wanted to continue the topic I began in a previous column because the topic is terribly complex, and it happens to hit close to the root of my true passion: story.

"Thou shalt count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number that thou count, and the number of the counting shall be three."

- Michael Palin

Your story has three acts. It doesn't matter if it's a two act play, a five act television show, a single feature film, or a three act play. Your story has three acts. Unless it sucks.

"It's so hard to find good help these days."

- cliché

Your mommy can't do it, your daddy can't do it and nobody else will. You have to build your career and define who you are as an individual.

"I did it my way"

- Frank Sinatra

As a child, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell adults of my dreams of becoming a filmmaker. I would often hear friends and loved ones exalting me as "the next Steven Spielberg!" which bothered me. I never said it out loud, but I usually thought to myself, "no, I'm going to be the first Stephen White." I suggest you follow a similar line of thinking in your career.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Dave."

- HAL 9000

There are a lot of gurus with a lot of theories and a lot of proven formulas to create great entertainment. Some of these gurus have great information while others are less admirable. By and large, however, they'll all agree that they may have a formula that tends to work but none of them have ALL the answers. Part of this is because there are no hard and fast rules, there are no definites, there are no guarantees. This is both an advantage and difficulty for any creative professional.

"We are all made of stars"

- Moby

A little while back I floated the idea that stars are beginning to lose their power to pull in a guaranteed audience. Apparently, I'm not the only person questioning the foundational principles of Hollywood business models. The concept of "content is king" is penetrating every aspect of the entertainment industry.

"A movie star is mythic, a movie star is like no one you've ever seen walking around in daily life... You don't see these people walking to the drug store, and the ones that you do aren't stars, they're actors."

- John Waters

Hollywood has gone through many changes in it's just-over century long history. The introduction of sync-sound, color, television and home video, each changed the basic business model of feature films, but throughout the history of film the star has been a bankable commodity. Recent years, however, have shown a decrease in the reliability of a star's box-office draw.

"Nobody knows anything"

- William Goldman

I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A with William Goldman and John Cleese last week, an entertaining couple of hours all around. The audience was full of working and aspiring screenwriters, and the common theme throughout most of the questions being asked was, "What should I be doing to best advance my career?"

Unfortunately, the common theme through most of the answers to these questions was, "I don't know."

"If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere"

- Frank Sinatra

"Breaking in" to the entertainment industry is even harder than you think - and even fewer people than you realize have begun a career by "breaking in". Hollywood is perceived by outsiders as a closed system, but really it's not much of a system at all. It's so hard to break in because there's nothing to break into.

"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly"

- Oscar Hammerstein

Actors act. Writers write. Producers produce. If you aren't doing what you claim to be, you are merely posing. Learn your craft, build a work ethic and develop your craft - these are the only roads to success in your career.

"Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out!"

- Michael Palin

I wanted to continue the topic I began in a previous column because the topic is terribly complex, and it happens to hit close to the root of my true passion: story.

"Thou shalt count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number that thou count, and the number of the counting shall be three."

- Michael Palin

Your story has three acts. It doesn't matter if it's a two act play, a five act television show, a single feature film, or a three act play. Your story has three acts. Unless it sucks.

"It's so hard to find good help these days."

- cliché

Your mommy can't do it, your daddy can't do it and nobody else will. You have to build your career and define who you are as an individual.

"I did it my way"

- Frank Sinatra

As a child, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell adults of my dreams of becoming a filmmaker. I would often hear friends and loved ones exalting me as "the next Steven Spielberg!" which bothered me. I never said it out loud, but I usually thought to myself, "no, I'm going to be the first Stephen White." I suggest you follow a similar line of thinking in your career.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Dave."

- HAL 9000

There are a lot of gurus with a lot of theories and a lot of proven formulas to create great entertainment. Some of these gurus have great information while others are less admirable. By and large, however, they'll all agree that they may have a formula that tends to work but none of them have ALL the answers. Part of this is because there are no hard and fast rules, there are no definites, there are no guarantees. This is both an advantage and difficulty for any creative professional.