I watch a lot of foreign movies. I would say my foreign to domestic consumption is 75/25%
Question: Is this impeding my ability to develop scripts for our market?
I must confess that I recently watched Guardians of The Galaxy and The Avengers for the first time.
I love little ideas steeped in a culture that makes an simple story a full blown drama.
For example;
A mentally challenged young man falls in love with a profoundly disabled young woman. He is sent to prison for molesting her. She is unable to explain that she is in love.
A couple trying to have baby, after spending years and serious money, have an argument. She goes off, has a one night stand, gets pregnant.
A man selling blood finds out his first born son is not his, throws the boy out. The boy continues to love his 'father' throughout all the rejection.
Those stories seem universal but shown in the nuances of the particular country they are gems.
So am I doing myself harm?
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Wow. I've wondered the same thing about myself. I watch a lot of Asian movies and TV and not that much Hollywood. Of course, I'm in my 60s, so my formative movie years was the sixties and seventies, a golden era. I think that's why I like writing scripts with actual stories that you think a lot about afterward.
Since I'm outside of Hollywood, I don't know what to recommend. However, if those stories move you, then I would focus on them. A lot of these high-concept movies don't have much of a story. Maybe find watch a few successful Hollywood movies and try to mimic them. If you can get inspired to do so. I'm struggling with that myself. Good luck.
It may be making you more interesting. See all those films, not Hollywood.
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Hollywood is not a place, it’s more of a state of mind. Some folks are happy doing “Roger Corman” type movies, some want auteur driven movies, and some aim for a Ridley Scott-type to direct. There’s a whole range of movies to choose. So Do the ones you feel passionate about. Spend a day at a film market convention; thousands of movies are looking for distribution homes, and streaming platforms like Apple, Hulu, Quibi- they are buying content that fits their company brand.
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I'm with Craig on this one. I believe it adds diversity to your imagination and storytelling. Even if certain stories may be universal, what matters is your twist on it. Your knowledge of foreign movies may be the factor that adds that spin on it that makes the story original and fresh for the market.
Hollywood is also morphing. It is an infrastructure. Like all infrastructure it needs renewing as it ages. But it is also failing under its own weight. Hence the pushback against Netflix and Amazon being allowed to be considered for an Oscar.
All the Star Wars prequels were made in Sydney as was the Matrix and some of the Mission Impossible stuff.
Write what you write. It is a big world with even bigger possibilities.
There are more billionaires in Russia than the USA and even more in China. Hollywood is a tradition. There are many doors into the room.
Craig, The U.S. has almost 700 billionaires. China (338), Germany (152), India (104), and Switzerland (99) all have more than Russia (96).
Maybe you're thinking of the number of Stage32 writers who you claimed in a previous post have Stockholm Syndrome?
Maybe bring it to a 50/50 or reverse it if your plan is to write for the Hollywood market. Hollywood and foreign movies typically have a different rhythm to them. HW more 3 act structure oriented and foreign more unconstrained. But you can learn from everything. Traditional Hollywood narratives are most proven with wide audiences, hence, money. It takes time to learn this rhythm, so paying more attention to it is a good idea.
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That's a hard question to answer in a general way. It's not like you can say "Swedish films are more cerebral than American films, and my scripts are now influenced by that, and I have to make it more American", or "Indian films stifle more local oppression than American films, and my scripts are now influenced by that, and I have to make it more American," or "Russian films never bad-rap the ruling party, and my scripts are now influenced by that, and I have to make it more American", etc. etc.
But Italians always do it better! Heh-heh.
But there have been a lot of academic papers and research on different periods of film in different countries - in countries with well-developed cinema outputs and that are in their 3rd, 4th, and 5th "wave", and in countries with developing cinema outputs that are in their 1st or 2nd wave. There are generally agreed-upon conclusions in the ideologies and politics of the country's "prevailing attitudes" in those periods, and in the tolerances and limits that are generally presented by most filmmakers in those periods - with emphasis on "most." Not all filmmakers are affected by a type-of consensus/prevailing attitude in any wave or in any country - except maybe in the countries where tyranny and firm rules regarding subject matter flourished during those waves. So if, say, you only watched Indian films from the pre-global period that was in it's 2nd wave, you might have a kinda skewed version of what films convey today, and what you, as a writer, might write about today. That's a natural outcome in that type of condition.
But just remember the most important conclusion now, Peter, with this new age of global filmmaking, and where universal attitudes are more prevalent than ever before, and no matter which country and which wave it is: Italians always do it better! Heh-heh.
Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Peter!