I went into screenwriting knowing full well the uncertainty and instability of the profession. As I’ve taken various screenwriting classes during my time at university, I’ve come to realize the harsh truth about the industry. While I understand this is a third-person perspective of how Hollywood really works, considering I haven’t had any experience dealing with studios themselves, I’ve noticed trends in what has been happening over the past few years and I think I have some idea of what sells nowadays in good old Tinseltown.

I think the defining characteristic of modern studios is their proclivity towards franchises and reboots. I mean, it isn’t a difficult concept to grasp: these types of films are familiar to audiences, thus increasing their chances of seeing them, which ultimately means more money for the studios. While this has proven to be a nearly foolproof method of bringing in the big bucks, it is an extremely safe one, and studios need to wake up and smell the popcorn and listen to what audiences are saying.

How much longer can this practice be lucrative? Pretty soon, we’ll get to the point that there are no more original stories worth buying. This isn’t to say that there will be no more original stories to be told, just that these stories will no longer be valued by the studios and, subsequently, the audiences paying to see these stories on the silver screen.

I hear about studios greenlighting iteration after iteration of comic book movies and book series with such frequency it seems like all they are producing is franchise material. I’m not averse to this practice necessarily, but the rate at which they are being churned out by the studios is too fast for each film they produce to be of a decent quality.

I’m lucky to have come of age in a time when more and more stories are able to be heard, thanks to decades of technological advancement that were not available one hundred or even fifty years ago. But studios make their decisions based on trends, so visibility is unfortunately dependent on what the latest trend is. However, there has been no better time than now to put yourself out there in the hope of having your story heard. I believe there is an audience for just about everything, and if you cast your line, someone is bound to bite. If you go out there with good timing and a bit of luck, who knows? You just might become the next trendsetter in Hollywood.