Pusillanimous Dept.

Comic-Con '09: Peter Jackson talks to Capone about DISTRICT 9, THE HOBBIT, and the state of the film industry

... the film industry is in a really weird position at the moment. If I think about it too much, I get depressed because I don't think it's in a very good state, and we're all responsible for that; I'm not pointing fingers because it's easy to say "Oh, look at what the studios are doing." But it's the filmmakers as much as anybody; it's the authors of the of the movies, the writers and the directors. We're all got to be doing our part. And I think there's so much nervousness about dropping attendance, or so people say, and plummeting DVD sales that suddenly everyone is working from a defensive position. The creativity that's going into films is almost like playing a defensive game, instead of playing an attacking game.

... Everyone wants to create these little safe harbors, which are franchises. And you create your franchise, which is going to lead to three or four movies, and it'll all go to the bottom line and that goes to Wall Street. It's all this corporate stuff, and the film industry and the world of finance and Wall Street have all kind of blended in a way that's not good for creativity at the moment.

The concept of "safe harbor" is of course not limited to the current situation. It's the way Hollywood and commercial filmmaking has operated since forever; they always work with what's bankable or safe, never mind what damage is done to creativity or originality in the long or short run. Such are the hazards of the supply chain, rather than audiences, being the real consumers of filmmaking.