Hollywood has had quite an interesting history throughout time. We have seen it endure a golden age from the late 1920s to the 60s and today endure the rise in usage of CGI. Like most things in life, things in Hollywood can be improved. If I could change the industry for the better, the first would be to make it easy for writers, directors, actors, and whoever to breakout and become attached to projects for major studios. Second, there are independent studios such as A24 and Amazon Studios get more attention as they both make very much acclaimed films. Finally, I’d make award season more equal for those that are campaigning. All of these aspects will be in an effort to make the film industry fairer.
As I said in my first point, I’d make it easy for anyone to breakout. Primarily for actors, Hollywood seems to reject more of them than people of a technical aspect. In a theatre class that I took my first semester of college, my professor said that if you can see yourself do something other than performing for a living, go with that because the industry is only for people who can only see themselves doing so. It’s a harsh point to make, but she makes sense.
I do feel as if only the people who are strongly dedicated to performing on any platform (stage, big screen, small screen) should be able to get the recognition of their talents. It would provide leverage to those same people as we see a lot of the same people in similar movies. How many action flicks do we see of Dwayne Johnson saving the world or how many comedies do we have to see Michael Cera play a sensitive dork? In other words, by giving people roles that bigger stars would normally take over, those lesser-known actors that deserve a breakout get a shot at being in a film from a major studio. Along with the hope of gaining the attention their famous counterparts would get.
Next, along with lesser-known actors, independent studios like A24 and Amazon Studios will get more attention, particularly A24. Yes, Amazon Studios should have massive attention as a film studio, but it already has garnered that kind of attention just by its name. Over the past few years, A24 has made a name for itself by being the most successful independent film company in Hollywood. In its early years, it was a film distributor but as time went on, it eventually got into film and TV production.
In 2016, it won three Academy Awards, two of which were Best Documentary (Amy) and Best Visual Effects (Ex Machina). The following year, the film Moonlight won Best Picture at that same ceremony, making it the first A24 film to do so. Since then, A24 has gained a mass following for its smaller films such as Uncut Gems, Lady Bird, Hereditary, The Witch, Eighth Grade, and more. Some of their movies get noticed like Ex Machina, The Disaster Artist, and Moonlight, but then there are the ones like Midsommar, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and Good Time that fly under people’s radars. My overall point here is that studios like A24 should get recognition on a bigger scale than they already do.
