Film Industry "May Never Reappear In Its Previous Form"

Just because the SAG contract has been ratified doesn't necessarily mean that everything will now get back to business as usual.  Some may assume, understandably, that with the WGA strike a mere spec in the rearview mirror and SAG satisfied with their new contracts that everything in Hollywood is A-OK and film production will commence churning with Model T consistency.  But will that actually be the case?  Jonathan Handel says, "Unfortunately, no. Although we'll see a brief spike in production, the business we once knew may never reappear in its previous form."

You may be asking yourself, "never?  That's a long time.  But movies are still coming out on a weekly basis."  While that's true, you have to remember that many films coming out now were greenlit before the WGA decided to strike and SAG decided to throw a hissy fit.  In fact, some scripts were rushed to be completed before the writers strike and many feel that the quality of some of these films, like Terminator Salvation, suffered because of it.  But still, never?  Never covers a lot of how ground.  How could film production never get back to normal?

For one thing, production could cease again in 2011 when both the WGA and SAG contracts expire, casting a "specter of a joint writers-actors strike."  On top of that, let's not forget that box office admissions have been dropping since 2002, DVD sales have been dropping since 2004 and "state tax credits are imperiled by budget cuts. Presales and gap financing are harder than ever to realize, and Indian and Middle Eastern sources haven't lived up to the hype."  And that's just half of it.  We haven't even touched on further repercussions of the recession or the fact that the Internet is devaluing content.

Now can you maybe begin to see the justification for the use of "never?"  To read Jonathan's complete breakdown, read his article in Variety.

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