Comments | tongodeon: Movie Industry Secrecy

tongodeon

Movie Industry Secrecy

Jul 15, 2006 00:38

When I first started working on feature films I thought the security that surrounded these things was a little silly - both what's considered a secret and how these secrets are protected. Who cares whether anyone knows that Annakin rides a lizard around a cave? I've finally figured out a good way to explain what the big deal is, and why they're ( Read more... )

security, work, movie

Comments 8

rwx July 15 2006, 08:40:02 UTC

This is precisely why Snakes on a Plane is so great, because it's transcended this model and achieved goodness through badness.

dataghost13 July 15 2006, 10:46:52 UTC

So when's Aquaman due out of the can and on the screen??? (;op)

also, more simply, CYA freeasinbeer July 15 2006, 15:10:09 UTC

for both you personally and the company.

Many movies lose money, for a lot of reasons.
You do not want to be a possible target if one tanks,
or even does OK but less spectacularly than expected, and
suits need to find someone (not in the executive suite)
responsible. Likewise, your employer does not want
that kind of visibility for movies that it has been hired
to work on.

It doesn't matter if your comments actually caused
box office damage, only if someone can convince
themselves that that is the case.

It's not even that unusual. The same is true if you
were hired to work on some aspect of the next ipod.
"Hey! I do industrial design, and I've been told that
our next ipod-boombox has to look good in *green*!"

So, we shut up.

Re: also, more simply, CYA tongodeon July 17 2006, 00:11:32 UTC

I remember somebody from the Ranch getting sued for leaking the prerelease version of Star Wars EP2. The film made a few bajillion dollars but the lawsuit (which had to show damages) claimed that he would have made a few *bazillion* dollars if the leak hadn't happened.

haineux July 15 2006, 21:01:36 UTC

Man, the secrecy is all very well and good, but I just want the animations where superman etches a love message into the pavement outside Lois' with a stream of super-urine.

Don't act all coy with me. I KNOW IT EXISTS AND I GOTTA SEE IT MAN.

ikkyu2 July 15 2006, 21:15:37 UTC

This seemed obvious to me. Basically a movie has to be seen by millions of people to break even. In order for this to happen, millions of people must be a) aware of the movie and where it can be seen, and b) they must want to see the movie. Both of these things have to happen before they see the movie, which means that the merits of the entire movie can't be used to cause them to happen ( ... )