Hollywood is totally GREEN. It will use any event, place, person it can to get us to spend our money on their products. If its in vogue to have Asian women on screen then we'll see lucy Liu, Black women, Halle (I cant remeber how to spell her last name, sorry), skinny white chicks, well they are just too many to count. My point is it is a 'pimp" that will use what it can to make a buck.

It's shady.

It's green which means most of the time it's white,but the situation allows,it can be black sometimes.

It tries to stay in the black, and was once obsessed with looking for reds.

A long time ago it was black & white.

When Michael Moore was on stage for the Oscars it was bacon-and-puke colored.

For Hollywood, unlike Kermit The Frog, it's easy being green. Ms. A., you mentioned my Philly homie Will Smith- only the most successful black crossover actor since Sidney Pothier. Only the name at the top of every Hollywood studio's list to get top billing in a Summer Blockbuster- as much a hot-weather tradition as the All-Star Game, charred hotdogs, and charred bodies on beaches. If it was Two-Headed Purple/Green Mutant, he/she/it would get top billing and the $20M per flick. Why the past year has been a mystery and frustration to the suits in the studios. That Mel Gibson and Michael Moore could gross more than $500 M on two movies outside both the usual studio system and the art house (Miramax, New Line, Sundance) circuit has caused them more agita than normal. All about the Benjamins, baby.

Grrr. In a striking turn of events, tae with the fake moniker "diggs" makes a good point.

*faints*

Since money is amoral and merely takes on the heart and motives of its posessor, the fact that Hollywood is all about money basically means that what we see on the big screen is essentially the hearts, desires, and philosophies of people put into film.

Or is it not?

Oh, and good one Brian!

Hollywood tries to be green but actually it's grey, as in pinstripe lawyer grey. One of my new partners used to do film financing, which means he would put together investment packages that would be the equivalents of mutual funds. He might offer a $98 million dollar package that would cover 5 films. That way if four films bomb (which is usually what happens), then you might break even on the fifth.

What he explained to me is that if you are a film producer, that is say you were the multimillionaire owner of 'Positive Black Productions' you could spend 100 million and not get back a dime until Blockbuster gets paid, NBC & CBS get paid for the commercials that promote your movies, the talent gets paid, the distributers get paid, the theatres get paid, and all the up front operating costs of making the movie is paid.

They are all in line *first* before you get dime one, and this is why, according to my inside source, only people like Bruckheimer, Speilberg & Lucas make real money. Producers in Hollywood, the guys whose idea it is to get a film made, who put up their own money, are taking huge risks. That's why they tend to like huge payoffs.

Now that situation is bad enough. Just wait until the first asshole tries to sue. Then the money gets tied up in litigation for months and years.

The reason no 'positive' movies get made in Hollywood is because sooner or later people realize that no matter what you put on the screen, it never has the impact of black people reading 'The Bluest Eye' or 'Native Son', which you can get at the used bookstore for 5 bucks. Why risk millions to preach?

Hollywood is green. It produces whatever they believe stands a reasonable chance of making money.

T&A during the summer stands a good chance of making dough. So does the sequels on hit movies.

Some of it is living out "our" fantasies, some of it is just mindless entertainment.

basically means that what we see on the big screen is essentially the hearts, desires, and philosophies of people put into film.

Or is it not?

Not necessarily.

Make me an $12K offer to write something about the goings on in a mall, I could come up with something. But the mall is not of importance to me.

Does that make sense?

Errr, Tae, could you package up all your worthless "colored paper" and send it my way? You don't seem too attached to it, so hook a brother up :)

Anyone else who thinks their "colored paper" is worthless can send it along, too!

C'mon, man, I'm just trying to help relieve your pain! It's obvious that all that worthless colored paper is causing you deep psychological distress, and THAT makes me feel blue. I hate to see someone so down.

It's not so much that I LOVE money, I just happen to NEED money to live. If you have some secrets about colored-paper-less living, please DO tell.

Check Hollywood treatment of businessmen and white males.

Tae...there you go with the prose again. Stop please.

Last time I checked, Pee Wee Herman was a white male.

You spend much time checking Pee Wee's equipment?

The point is that Hollywood doesn't make money unless people buy tickets to the movies, and people don't buy tickets to films that don't appeal to some aspect of their belief system (or need to go into fantasy land).

I go to movies to indulge in brain disengagement.

I don't want to think. I want to be entertained.

Duuuuuhhhh...
Huh. Huh huh. Huh Huh Huh.
Duhhhhhhh....

Seriously.