It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
I sure as heck second you on this. “Drive” was the featured new release on streaming for upwards of three months.
“Thor” and “Captain America” were their featured june releases, so Im not sure the Paramount deal was even that great.
If you like French movies, documentaries, or Korean romantic television shows, I guess it’s still worth it. And I think their TV offerings are still relatively decent; it’s worth paying for a couple of months if you’ve never seen Mad Men or Walking Dead or Breaking Bad, etc.
But if you want Hollywood content…yeah. No.
Yeah I renew every few months to catch up on foreign or more obscure indie and doc fare…in June saw the excellent “Tomboy,” “Weekend,” “The Double Hour” “We Were Here,” “Nostalgia for the Light” and “Elite Squad 2,”….and the decent “Outrage,” “Tyrannosaur,” and “Mill and the Cross.”
And promptly canceled for another 3 months.
As with many things New And Digital NETFLIX has rushed into
streaming pretty much without a plan . . . . and are busily
cannibalizing something that has worked and worked well for
some something that doesn’t work well.
Streaming content is poor and the image quality is worse . . . .
one wonders why people tolerate it but then people also tolerate
bad cell phone service.
The consumer is the real victim here . . . . as NETFLIX rushes into
The Next Big Thing AKA Streaming they are deliberately and systematically killing the Blu Ray and DVD service which was wonderful . . . . with great content and great quality.
NETFLIX has become sort of like IMAX; they made their reputation on great looking 70mm FILM projection . . . . and then pissed it away on digital . . . . so they could show a different 3D movie every two weeks.
NETFLIX streaming is short changing the consumer on content and quality and they should be angry about it . . . . but consumers still put up with bad cell phone reception to have a smart phone . . . .
And so it goes.
-30-
The markets don’t much like the Netflix news either. Down over 20% in Wednesday morning trading.
I personally like Netflix (and still maintain a DVD and streaming account) but it definitely seems like diminishing returns on a near monthly basis. You browse through the streaming collection and it seems like a good percentage of the movies are expiring in the next couple of weeks — yet there is ZERO information about new stuff coming to streaming. They’re doing a horrible job on a perception level — highlighting the negative while doing nothing to highlight the positive.
They’re going to need to reverse direction now BEFORE the mass exodus of customers starts. Frankly, I’m amazed that Reed Hastings hasn’t been taken to the woodshed yet. Smart guy who clearly seems to be in over his head at the moment.
I used to love my Netflix, but I hate the streaming and the content in the DVD section is not as great as before. I am about to cancel mine and try Redbox for movies I don’t check out in the theater, and look to other streaming possibilities. On demand for cable is a much better option for streaming.
Though I have been on this Netflix tip for a long while, I feel a little sorry for Reed Hastings. I think he knows when I think I know… that the technological shift created a short window for Netflix as a stand-alone, highly successful company.
The company should have been sold 18 months ago. But the stock was so strong, the price was too high for anyone to pay and the stockholders would have revolted and sued had they sold the company off for less (and more than it’s worth now).
I feel he got screwed by two groups, both of which were offering fool’s gold. First, the stock market. Second, the movie/television studios, who raped Netflix as soon as the union/guild strikes ended, setting a financial standard that no one could match a year ago, today, or 5 years from now. (In a decade, it will probably be different.) So now, all that Netflix has is international expansion.
And despite what Hastings claimed yesterday, Sky and Virgin are pushing Hard (amongst others) to make Europe a better post-theatrical/post-TV-broadcast atmosphere than here. (BBCiPlayer is like Hulu and HBO Go combined.)
There is still value in Netflix. It’s not Blockbuster. It still does what will be standard for decades to come. But it can;t afford to have a huge content blanket as it once did. So it will never be what it was when it was a true leader in innovation, both in shipping DVDs and then streaming.
Do you think Redbox Instant will fill the void and level the competition? People aren’t exactly taking to iTunes or Amazon either for streaming, and they really seem to be on the offensive, snapping up the Blockbuster kiosks.
I’m kind of in the dark as to the studio restrictions on this, but iTunes especially could be in real trouble rental wise going up against this service.
Netflix is slowly moving out of the movies business and into the tv business. I think their model is HBO, which has increasingly become more about series than second- or third-run movies.
Our household mainly uses Netflix streaming for TV and the very occasional movie. We have a 4 year old, so streaming is a godsend – lots of PBS and Nick shows with lots of episodes with no commercials and no switching DVDs or accidentally deleting things from the DVR. Mom & Dad watch lots of British TV series (this selection has really exploded on Netflix in the last year or so) and comfort TV (Frasier, etc.) whenever we want it. And we keep the 2-at-a-time DVD plan for all the movies we don’t see in theatres because date nights are rare and expensive. I have no idea what Netflix’s bottom line is, but to us this is very much worth the sixteen bucks a month we pay for it.
Still love Netflix streaming. Right now I’m on season 4 of Friday Night Lights and rewatching Twin Peaks. Recently watched Thor, Goon, Rampart, and Conan the Barbarian 2011. There is always plenty to watch. It’s worth every penny.