Hollywood realizes they are in the entertainment business…

As you know, I intend to be an entrepreneur Pook. This means I intend to create my own business system rather than work in someone else’s. While there are many business systems to create, I prefer to create one around my passion so it never seems like work. This way I can do my dreams and get rich too!

So I have been studying the entertainment industry lately. This includes all entertainment: television, movies, books, radio, and so on. I am especially zeroing in on the video game industry as that industry seems to be turning inside out at the moment especially with its console transition (direction of Microsoft and the future of Sony will depend on these little game consoles. …So cute).

There is another reason why I am studying the entertainment industry. I believe the Internet Revolution has only completed its first round. During the 90s, the Internet was utilized for information which we saw the rise of Yahoo, Google, and other such companies. Absolutely tremendous growth! But the Internet has not yet been utilized for entertainment. The next huge wave, round two, is rising in the distance and the tidal wave will soon be upon us. So far, companies such as Apple and their I-Tunes store are using the Internet to replace distribution model (such as Microsoft’s Live Marketplace). But distribution is not enough. The very nature of entertainment will change just as the very nature of information seeking has changed. Sure, we have digitized dictionaries but that didn’t make Google into what it is today.

The Entertainment Business is very intriguing. One of the common things businesses do is market research. They say, “We need to reduce risk on our next investment. Let us poll the people on what they think of what should surprise them.” This is stupid. How in the world can you do market research with entertainment? You can’t. Hollywood is now realizing this.

“In this Wall Street and corporate world, the discussion has become: What is the proven, unique selling property of this product?” said Warren Beatty, the actor, who is upbeat about the industry’s prospects.

But he, too, agreed the industry was in transition. “The problem is you can’t sell entertainment the way you sell cars or air-conditioners,’’ he said. “Entertainment is dependent, to some extent, on surprise.”

Indeed. This is one of the reasons why I try to mix things up on this blog so you can’t predict what Pook will post next (not sure if I’m successful or not with that though haha). When you become predictable in the entertainment business, you are through. After weeks of not looking at my hits tracker, I’ve found that the audience of this blog is growing. Whatever has happened, I haven’t scared everyone away yet.

I HATE how Hollywood has focused on creating franchises instead of movies. I HATE how video game companies are focusing on creating franchises instead of games. To hell with the franchises! They aren’t surprising in any way. If Hollywood wants to recapture its magic, shift the creativity of the movies from the director to the writers. This is what Pixar has done and their movies are generally well written. In Hollywood, directors rule. Let the writers flex their muscles.

One thing that Hollywood could do is to make smaller cheaper movies and sell them digitally. This can be episodic or not. I’m sure many guys wouldn’t mind paying a dollar or so to beam an episode of Battlestar Galactica into their TVs when they want it, how they want it, rather than wasting time on torrent sites. The show 24 could work with this as well. Heck, the Internet could remake how shows are done rather than distributed. Whoever young enterprising person figures out how will become very…very rich.

Some people have asked me why I haven’t written a book. The answer is that the book industry has collapsed. I hate the business model currently for the book industry (it works almost like the video game industry…yes, it is that stupid). Books are routinely sent back to be burned, even Stephen King and J. K. Rowling books. There is so much of a problem between the publishers and retailers that it feels like a waste of money and time. Also, another big problem is that if I wrote a book, I would be expected to sell it through the same ways: book signings, TV appearances, showing up in public, etc., etc., etc. There are many ways to sell a book than these book signings. Besides, I cannot let anyone know who I truly am. So if I ever wrote anything, I’d rather create a business model around it on the Internet. I want to make writing and reading profitable on the Internet. I’m still looking to find out how.

Surprise is king in the entertainment industry. Some comedians and theaters rely on ‘shock value’ for such surprise (which isn’t long lasting). The movie industry has been doing the same thing over and over again: more special effects and bigger budgets. Now, people are bored.

Strangely, the same has occurred with the video game industry. Games have been relying on more special effects and bigger budgets. But gamers are getting bored. Major investors are warning about a shake up in the games industry (which appears to be occurring as the collapse of E3 symbolizes). Both Microsoft and Sony are going into major red ink (billions) with going the tried and true way of more special effects and bigger budgets with their consoles. What is curious is that Nintendo has decided to put its money into the controller. “We believe this will surprise the consumer the most,” Nintendo says. If they are right, it could be lightning in a bottle. What you are not hearing is that from their financial statements, Nintendo is being very aggressive with their console. 6 million systems will be shipped for the first Fiscal Year (ends in March) but there are rumors that this number has increased to 6 million just for the holidays. Apparently, Nintendo’s system must have received tremendous feedback from retailers (who ordered more). I actually hope a fourth console company will come in and shake up things even more.

…But enough of that. People say that video games have become the masculine domain. So what is with these metrosexuals? No wonder some of you guys have problems! Ack!

And be warned about clicking on this. I stopped gaming LONG LONG ago but what in the world is going on here? Talk about gaming gone sissyness!