The Future of Dramatic Cinema and Television

The business of dramatic cinema and television needs to change. Power must be decentralized and shared more widely and democratically. The biggest obstacle to this is the fact that the dramatic film and television production industry, as it is currently constituted, is a self serving box. This is a problem because the box is a power trap that sucks creative energy away from the life giving forces that nourish healthy communities and make dramas that are relevant, hilarious and inspiring. So do we serve the box or do we serve people?

There is a paradox at work here. The harder we try to meet the demands of the market place or ape some box office hit, the more we will fail our artistic integrity and the people who are our audience -and therefore most of us (including our audiences) will make less money while only a shrinking few make more. This is ludicrous and irresponsible. It results in cultural homogenization. But if we use our cinematic skill to nourish individual communities everywhere, we will not only regain audience loyalty, we will renew the art of cinema in a truly authentic way -and there is a good chance that wider prosperity will ensue.

Seeking strategic advice from established industry professionals may seem rational when it is not. Ironically, I am an industry professional, but I believe a more balanced approach is required. One that makes community development part of the equation. The film and television industry has been and still is dominated by priorities that diminish social responsibility and inadvertantly foster public apathy. The forces of the market place tend to exploit and dehumanize rather than nourish healthy, active people and communities. The facts speak for themselves.

So how do we renew cinematic art and audience loyalty? We make the cinema development and creation process relevant to ordinary people as well as artists. We change our focus from chasing a capricious and ruthless market to long term community cultural and economic development. We support our professional film makers to be community artists in residence across our country. We charge them with the task of involving people cinematically in their own unique stories, dreams and issues. We simply choose, for the time being, not to compete in the world market. We regroup more as a creatively inspired people rather than uncritical minions of an industrial process. We choose instead to enlighten, entertain, and nourish our communities at the grass roots. When we do this, a new kind of cinema will emerge. Money from hits will go back to the communities where they were made instead of to centralized media corporations. The financial energy of successful cinema will be shared more equitably. The world will be a better place.

The age of greed and celebrety must pass. The age of authenticity, community ensemble, love and craft must arise.