How I accidentally changed the way movies get made | Franklin Leonard
Вставка
- Опубліковано 27 лис 2018
- How does Hollywood choose what stories get told on-screen? Too often, it's groupthink informed by a narrow set of ideas about what sells at the box office. As a producer, Franklin Leonard saw too many great screenplays never get made because they didn't fit the mold. So he started the Black List, an anonymous email that shared his favorite screenplays and asked: Why aren't we making these movies? Learn the origin story of some of your favorite films with this fascinating insider view of the movie business.
Check out more TED Talks: www.ted.com
The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more.
Follow TED on Twitter: / tedtalks
Like TED on Facebook: / ted
Subscribe to our channel: / ted - Фільми й анімація
For those who are downplaying the blacklist, I think you're looking at it the wrong way. This is not about the next "set the world on fire" movie. This is about breaking the death-lock that conventional wisdom has on the market for scripts. If you weren't already a recognized author, your movie had a snowball's chance, even if it would have made a good movie. Not a "world on fire" movie, but a "good" movie.
It's a way for new authors to be seen by the industry. A chance for them to become well known, not great, not incredibly rich, just known as a good author of scripts. Future efforts by these authors will receive added attention because they had that earlier success that they were unlikely to have because their script did not fit the conventional wisdom. Even authors who appear on the blacklist and don't have a movie made of that particular script are more likely to receive additional attention for their next script. Not because a movie was made of their first script, but because that first script made the list.
As he said, a number of the movies made from the blacklist would never have been made under the conventional wisdom. They may not have set the world on fire, but they broke through the conventional wisdom on what makes a good movie. The listing of awards only showed that the blacklist has merit.
For the industry that has to pick out decent scripts, the blacklist makes their job easier. They have a ready source of scripts that had a positive influence on other people in the industry. Those people may not have picked up the script for many reasons; it didn't fit their model; it didn't fit their stars; it was rejected by upper management who were focused on conventional wisdom. By responding to the survey and getting that movie on the blacklist, there's a better chance that some other industry member reading script after script will pick up the one they couldn't. One that their producers are willing to work with. One that they may have missed under the blizzard of drek that they have to slog through. And who knows? A script that their management rejected may end up on the list and be picked up by someone else.
That's all it is, a chance. A chance for an author. A chance for a script. A chance for a movie. A chance to break through the conventional wisdom and produce something that is truly new and different. You may not get an award winner, but as long as it makes money rather than losing money, it's a "good" movie from the POV of the producer.
In fact, that might be a way to measure the objective value of the blacklist. Of the movies made from that list, how many made money rather than lost money? How much money over all did the blacklist movies make? Even if many of them lose money, if the overall result is making money, then the blacklist still has value. Unfortunately, there's a great deal of disagreement on which movies made money versus lost money. This is because the different entities who are involved in making movies have different accounting methods. Some are more interested in having a decent tax write-off, rather than what I would consider honest accounting. The percentage of movies that lost money runs from 36% to 80%. Obviously there's some serious disagreement on what accounting methods to use.
nailed it
@S. I. V. Nope. If you compress the message far enough to make a tl;dr, it becomes a sound-bite, not an attempt at conversation. Feel free to attempt to write a tl;dr that doesn't fall into that trap.
@S. I. V. How so? Did he initiate a persistent change in how scripts are selected? Yes. It doesn't change the whole industry, but the blacklist is now an accepted alternative way to find good scripts. Was it intentional? No. He had no idea it was going to make such a change. That seems to cover the title.
@Aviri Char Seriously, thanks. People have fallen too far into the habit of not making the effort to understand others. Insisting that complex messages be compressed into easily digested sound-bites that loose far too much of the meaning.
Writing is something almost everyone can do, but few can do well. Writing for any medium. not just film, is difficult to break in to. It's often been said that to get published you need an agent, but to get an agent, you need to have been published. When I was a teen (several decades ago) I was a regular reader of the science fiction magazine Analog. I'm reminded of that because the editor allowed it to be known that he maintained what he called a "slush pile," a stack of stories submitted on spec by amateurs. Once in a while, one of those stories would make it into the magazine, and a new talent would be discovered.
Why the blacklist works is simple:
Instead of one person reading (bits of) every script, you have 'everybody' read every script. It is no longer about "The next big thing" but about... "I'd love to see this movie". The name of the maker became relevant because it is on the list. Not as a selling point.
It is a brilliant idea. Brilliantly executed and I wish it a long and creative life.
Yes, this is great and it works, but I can't see why the blacklist is not conventional wisdom? It works on the same principle as the industry before the list. And it just uses the Internet as a way to connect many different agents together and exchange the information. Basically, the blacklist is what happened in science when the Royal Science Society was grounded.
@@ostelaymetaule Well. I see your point but.... Let me put it this way. Is isn't a source like in science where one discovery is stacked on top another. Every blacklist script is in essence a unique find unrelated to anything else. So there is a measure of luck involved in discovering a gem *and* acknowledging new and good things in that script. It may well have passed unnoticed or even rejected by others and takes a special person to see it's worth. So ending up in that list makes people look differently at those scripts.
Like Aladdin, "The diamond in the rough." And it isn't the script that is rough but the way they are normally processed. So not scientific method of collecting data at all.
@@HenkJanBakker I agree! But also it is a collective work with shared results, a huge tool to process more scripts and find more good ones. And like the Royal Science Society, their work is shared beyond the borders of a single agency/studio so other studios have access to the rating as the scientists back then have exchanged the results of their studies. Yes, of course, everyone has a different perspective and looks for different scripts, but if the script is good but somehow not the stuff your own studio is ready to produce(because of different reasons, money, image or timeslots), you share it and it will eventually be looked into by others.
@@ostelaymetaule Peer review. Yes. I see where you are going.
That last quote was straight fire, "All convention and no wisdom... and at what cost?"
Very true, good line to make you think. Makes me take a step farther and think about the social groups trying to force their ideas to be the new conventional wisdom.
"We tend to default to conventional wisdom.
How much of our conventional wisdom is all convention, But no wisdom, And at what cost?"
-Franklin Leonard
"Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public and/or by experts in a field"
For real.
Legacy contracts are are great for some, but for progress? NOPE!
This guy tells a good story. “All convention and no wisdom.” Brilliant!
A great talk by an incredible speaker. Love his use of language.
"Conventional wisdom" applied to people = "prejudice". And we know that prejudging has many pitfalls to be avoided.
Crowd-sourcing a herculean task - great idea!
I wondered what caused an uptick in the quality of movies in the last decade. I'm very glads there are people like Mr. Leonard out there. And I'm thankful for Mr. Leonard's efforts starting and then perpetuate this practice.
Your idea is a part of a nice way i think.
The central thing is: neither the audience nor the directors know what the audience wants.
The audience doesn't know what they want until they have SEEN it.
The directors don't know it, because of the same thing. Noone can really know what anyone will really like or not like until they have experienced it.
I think the central idea is that movie watchers have to understand exactly the above. That they sometimes have to kiss the frog to really find out what it's like to kiss the frog. Open up.
If you don't you get the mainstream: essentially the same story repeated again and again and again.
that was a good talk good on him he presented himself very well and explained the entire situation very well
I TOTALLY WANT TO SEE THAT TOXIC VOLCANO STORM MOVIE!!!
@chungquang thanhnhantung SPAM!
Well, SyFy has made several Sharknado movies, so... Your dream might just come true!
It'll be bigger than Sharknado.
Super Storm coming soon to a theatre near you!
Kinda already been made, it's called Geo Storm starring Gerard Butler and the movie is atrociously bad.
One of the best TEDx talks ever. He's a good presenter and is actually talking about a topic that deserves a talk.
I read a lot of the comments and I think most of those commenting don't remember the movies that used to be made before smartphones existed that were more commonly a big hit name or a popular storyline. The titles he mentions are definitely more unconventional in what they are about and I agree that bringing something to light and get it to be talked about is all it takes to make a shift somewhere.
One of the best talks I’ve watched in a long time
Literally created a new playlist because this TED talk was so awesome.
*Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.*
DiscoverYourAwesomeness True:-)
@@jasenkavukelic5047 :)
I see the value in both movies and books. They are different, true, but they both have value.
It's weird to glorify literally every book. Like there is no bad book, no boring one, dull.
You comment is a book😉
Thank you Franklin for this awesome story, and the courage to do what you did.
At first I thought hmm bit of a bold statement there, but ultimately very interesting and I can see why he might say that (or maybe the title was chosen for him) Who knows? ;)
I had heard of the "blacklist" but had no idea where it came from. Amazing speaker and amazing idea.
Thank you so much. I love to learn about the craft.
Love this guy, I love anyone who breaks the system.
This is a great talk! I wonder how many times Mr. Leonard has given it.. very intriguing... sounds like content Barry Katz would want on his podcast... 🤔
Shout out to Cardiff! I always find it odd when we get a shout out. I feel we're so concealed in wales sometimes, so what could have lead to that reference? Maybe it's just me.
This is actually one of the best ted talks I’ve seen
This guy is really fascinating. He was recently a guest on the Keep It podcast, and he talked a little about the percentage of submissions by men vs women. He mentioned that, while more men submit scripts to the site, women submit better written scripts. Anyway, if you look the list up on Wikipedia, it's impressive the movies you'd recognized that appeared on the list.
Ha! watching this in Columbus GA. Sounds like you've played a large part in spawning the" golden age of television". Innovative ideas and tech go a long way
I’m just saying that, on the weekend after this was posted, I did carry myself by foot to a cinema, in Cardiff, Wales. Lol
It was to see Bohemian Rhapsody, a film originally from the blacklist.
"Literally, what is the difference between correlation and causation?", by Franklin Leonard.
Since 2005 which movies that are going to be GOOD and considered for Oscar review have been incredibly streamlined and I Thank you for that. Before 2005 I remember searching for worthwhile movies and the quest was exhausting. Now I just look at the list of movies being released at the beginning of September to the end of December and the ones that require at least 2 minutes of thought or are visually stunning are the winners. Then I'm ready for the Oscars. THANKS Franklin.
nice talk. good pace and delivery.
That was lovely
I know right!
I can understand the temptation to take short cuts but I can spot dumbed down cookie cutter movies a mile away . In order to spend my hard earned money and time it has to be something special that speaks to me !!
Independent Film is where it's at. I'll take independent over commercial/blockbuster any day.
Yooooooooo this was wild!!!!
This dude speaks wisdom.
I hate most ted talks, this one is different - this guy is legit and knowledgeable.
Finally a speaker who delivers as promised!
Books: _I have the best original stories that you could have ever enjoy to read and/or listen._
Movies: *hold my whiskey*
Except movies are most of the time based on a written story.
@@InMaTeofDeath I immediately thought of To The Moon ;-;
@@InMaTeofDeath Video games are not story telling medium. The story is driven by the game, not the other way around. Which is why the games' approach to being accepted as an artisitic medium are futile as the art of a game is the interaction, not the story. Art can only happen when you use the medium in its specific way to communicate what no other medium can do. Telling stories is simply not part of that.
@@Schmidtelpunkt then what are visual novels?
@@artema. Not games in the same sense. But in a way they are doing a better job, as they don't try to be games but also not to be graphic novels, making use of what differentiates them from either. The point is to reach a state in which the story does not interrupt the game and the game does not interrupt the story. There are clearly games which are better at that (eg. Half Life, which does not feature cut scenes, but for the price that the storytelling is very much limited, proving that it is not a story driven game) and games which are worse (like pretty much all AAA titles which start with a cut scene, then have some game element which could be attached to any kind of story, as nothing told before or after really matters for it, just to get the gameflow again interrupted by a semi-related cut scene).
Great talk!!
So I guess it's like a screenwriting version cloud computing where things connect to process more information.
one of the best ted talks
What is the name of website he mentioned?
Damn, son! Brought tears to my eyes.
What's the name of website??
@Daniel Ferrigolli thnxx
this sounds like an excellent movie. seriously.
Good for you brother!
Although I have no interest in any of those movies and have not seen them, I still believe it to be a good thing that they were made. Not for the monetary aspect, but for the range of choice now offered.
Good talk
That was excellent.
Awesome story, can we get a movie about the great molasses’s flood made
Brilliant.
thank you all very much
That's powerful!
Wow, you reinvented the Delphi method.
what's the site to submit a script?
blcklst.com/
The conversation about The Blacklist aside; what he talks about shaking of conventional wisdom in the evaluation process is prescient at least. This examination of process, review, and reset, is essential if we're going to survive as a species, much less keep going to the theater.
In summary, conventional wisdom is not always good
Better yet "if we apply some computer science and divide the work among N smart people, we get more work done"
Amen, brother!
Guy looks like he hunts aliens for a living.
That girl at the end seemed to love it
Nice one! :)
I have written a script. How do I get it onto this list?
blcklst.com/
blcklst.com/register/writer/
I only looked at this because I thought it was Jason Mamoa.
Thought it was Ryan Shaw.
#metoo
Yes
r/oopsdidn'tmeanto
Speaking of movies. When is the avengers 4 trailer dropping? Any leads?
The payola to be on that list must be insane.
He went to Harvard though so he must be quite smart
Going to a great school does not in any way guarantee that someone is truly smart. All it means is that you can memorize and spit back what a teacher wants, and perhaps have the capacity to be a sort of human calculator. It lacks, for want of a better word, the capacity for insight when faced with a problem, as well as being creative enough to come up with new solutions. While these schools admissions officers do try to find individuals like that, they often fall far short, demonstrated by many of those who have graduated from all of those hallowed halls.
Sherm..?
I love Juno
1:30 I know it's pedantic but did he say "between 1996 and 1990"?
convention would have him say "between 1990 and 1996", but at what cost?
@@bananenkip Brilliant!
I replayed that moment multiple times in my head making sure I understood him correctly. *cringe*
Don't know if he's breaking convention on purpose or just made a mistake.
It may be on purpose; it's a good trick to get your audience to listen actively instead of sitting there and letting the words wash over them without actually processing them.
I still love reading a book
I am a big person in a big town
(of course you can't take credit for those films)
Notes:
1) You love the script.
2) It's not going to be in cinemas by the end of this year.
3) You found out about it this year.
"How much of that conventional wisdom is all convention, and no wisdom?"
Too much of it, I've said it for some time now ... Common sense: So rare it's a goddamned superpower.
Well... please world listen to this and apply it to everything please....
☺❤
Franklin, I loved your speech it was brilliant and very inspirational to me. Thank you for creating the Blacklist, and all of your hard work, and inspirations you are a true hero. I look forward to having a chance someday to meet you and also work together on future entertainment projects.
Happy New Year 2019.
David Ferrari, Show Producer, Director from David Ferrari Productions Las Vegas, NV
www.DavidFerrariProductions.com
Watch MAINSTREAM at www.HomeVideo.net to find out how Hollywood screens out new talents... especially screenwriters.
I changed the movie industry, grrrrr tik tik tik tik.
Is this why studio movies don't win best picture anymore?
Make scripts open source on the internet and have the world vote. simple.
Have you checked blcklst.com ?
Then the world votes for 23 sequels to Transformers and The Avengers. Majority vote doesn't mean educated or informed vote.
The avenger would have won Infinity War.
That is simple! It's also remarkably stupid.
Titanic 2: Boaty McBoatface
Cinema-going is mostly not a sacred ritual, it is a profane ritual (in the sense of non-sacred).
Wow
This guy has said he was a nerd and outcast growing up and that is how he got into movies. You gotta respect what puberty combined with genetics can do. Clearly and sadly the value of good screenplays has been crowded out by the growth of special effects.
Wahoo go Taika!! Go kiwis!! 🇳🇿
A beautiful story about how corporations are not always helping us see great new films, without even setting out to do so. Open minds are hard to find these days. One more freaking zombie movie and I am going to burn the world down!
What it means to be human.
I think he's jason momoa
I would not say that conventional wisdom was wrong, I prefer to look at it as it was to narrowly focused. This also works like open source software works with "many eyes". Just give me one script you have received in the last year, even if it has no chance of being made into a movie, but you thought it was a really good script. For the most part conventional wisdom is right. No one wants to see a bad movie. No one wants to see a bad movie about superheros. It is slightly easier to watch a bad superhero movie where they are at least beautiful. No one wants to watch a bad movie about a woman over 40, etc. We do want to watch a great movie about a woman over 40. We do want to watch a great movie about a boy from India. We do want to watch a great movie about some mans struggle...who happens to be black. The black list is just a way to use "the wisdom of the crowds" to find quality in non-conventional places.
THOR RAGNOROK? MORE LIKE BORE RAGNOROK
I'm unable to get this. How can you know which movie is good or not? Because it's your perspective not of other billion people living. If you are removing toxic movies, why movies are flooded the market. The rate must be minimised cuz it waste lots of time in watching movies.
TMI....so much skn...where;s trhe divide? too much whiskey... do ir!~!!!!!
"between the years of 1996 and 1990"....that's not how years work
TED posting TEDx videos still, I see. What a shame. Why have 2 channels?
Laziness changes lives.
ohh look!!
its fishman!!
Big words making me dizzy
Simply put, he didn't.
This is incredible; this is a machine learning problem, and if Hollywood adopts machine learning elements, we are going to see increasingly better stories and movies. Let's hope at least, because these remake, remake, remake cookie cutter movies are getting me down
@Thomas Ruehr That turns it into a question of teaching machines to do the opposite thing from conventional wisdom, but it can still be done, I think. I wouldn't want the AI to be the only voice but I'd dearly love for it to BE a voice, just to see what happens, and maybe more than one AI with paradigms that differ from each other, experiment with it over time.
This is fun and pleasant to watch as more and more different industries adopt some informatics basics, like "divide and conquer". Really those "internets" are moving the civilisation as the printing press back then.
Love the message here. As a woman of color, I completely agree.
2
aCciDenTaLLy”