How do bad movies get made?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

This is inspired by the "Worst Movie You've Ever Seen" thread...or whatever it is titled.

We've all seen the movies that are just bad. Nevermind the bad acting or the bad directing; what about when the movie is just BAD. Bad script. Bad plot. Bad dialogue. Bad concept. It's so bad you expect to see it wearing a trenchcoat buying underaged baby harp seal porn from a rancid cheese in a back alley.

Movies take a long time to make, even indies. Dozens of people are involved in pre-production. They read the script over and over again as they rehearse and plot out the logistics. And judging from some of these films someone had to front the money and we're talking tens of dollars (pun intended).

In all that time, with all those people spending all that money why doesn't someone stop and say, "You know, if we keep this up this is going to be a real stinkeroo."

Why do people spend money on these things? Is it a tax dodge? Do people just become star-struck and lose their better sense?

[dembotoz]

1. perhaps "it seemed like a good idea at the time"

some times you just guess wrong?

Don't think many people plan to fail.


We have all told jokes that nobody laughs at but the person telling the joke.

[av8rdave]

2. Kevin Costner decides to do a film that's not about baseball

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk

[driver8]

14. That is awesome!!

I work at a major movie studio, and my department runs the dailies on a lot of movies that are being made. We will sit there in disbelief at some of the shit that gets made -- and are even more surprised at some of the crap that actually makes it into the movies!

[Bucky]

4. by committee

[gmoney]

31. I think this is often the answer

[Rhythm]

5. Maybe we should ask these folks?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvuopBG7tBc











:hide:

[dawg]

7. Are you kidding?

That looks awesome!

[Rhythm]

8. You. Frighten. Me.

:scared:

[dawg]

9. Boo!

I'm not very scary, but I do like scary movies. The good ones are thrilling. The bad ones are unintentionally hilarious. :rofl:

[TZ]

12. You had to go there, didn't you.

You are becoming more and more like the freaky math douche everyday...:P

[Rhythm]

16. Oh come on, TZ... you KNOW it had to be done...

And i couldn't resist being the one to do it!

:hide:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. Allow me to wax poetically.

I remember a xkcd strip that has an alt-text joke saying, "I wonder how they managed to shock the Goatse guy".

Well, the answer to THAT came later in the form on 2girls1cup.

Then I wondered, "How would one shock the 1cup girls?"

Well, THIS is the answer.

Which begs the question:

How does one shock the people involved in THIS film?

Sleep tight.

[hibbing]

37. well...uh...okay

Hi,
That is frightening in more ways than I can articulate. Thanks for sharing!

Peace

[dawg]

6. Ever watch American Idol?

Not the final rounds, I'm talking the first few weeks when all the tryouts are happening. Many of those sad, horrible people actually think they can sing. Apparently, their families and friends either agree with them or have not been willing to tell them any different.

Ever seen a guy in his 40's with a bad combover, clothes that are way too "young" for him, and his shirt open all the way down to his paunchy stomach. He thinks he's pretty hot, but that doesn't make it true.

I think it works something like that. They are so bad - they don't know they're bad.

[jobycom]

10. Badly. nt

[Yavin4]

11. All Movies Are Screened for their Commercial Potential

Both domestically and internationally, with the latter having a greater say than the former. So, kids movies, super hero movies with a huge following, romantic comedies, action movies all get move ahead in line.

Second, movies that have a bankable star attached to them also get moved up. Anything that Adam Sandler wants to do, gets made. No questions asked.

Finally, truly original, great stories have to fight to get made. If they don't have a bankable star or a director, they have to seek funding from various sources and then look hard for a distributor. Hurt Locker went down that path.

Bottom line, bad movies get made because they were screened to have a high commercial impact for one reason or another.

[Dulcinea]

26. We have a winner! *ding*ding*

Studios don't care if a movie is any good. They only care that they can sell it. (Personally, I think Adam Sandler sucks.)

[Swede]

33. "No one sets out to make a bad movie"

I heard that somewhere. Sometimes there are just too many cooks making the soup.

[Blue-Jay]

13. Someone "important" thinks it's a good idea.

Understand, this VIP doesn't give two ratfucks whether the movie is good or not. The guy only cares if the movie will make him a few bucks. If saying 'yes, do it' will make him 5 grand or a million, he's gonna say YES! The people in control of the big production companies don't really give a shit about the quality of the movie. Why should they?

Luckily, a decent film is made once in a while. Don't get me wrong; I'm no movie snob. (I have an affinity for low-budget horror films and bad sci-fi) Still, good movies occasionally get the greenlight.

[edbermac]

15. See a film called The Player by Robert Altman

[MicaelS]

17. Simple answer... Egos, enormous ones...

Someone who has previously produced, directed or starred in a movie, or movies that made a ton of money, gets an idea in his / her head. They "pitch" it to a studio, and convince studio execs to make the movie. Especially if "big talent" says, "You do this for me, and I'll do YOUR next great idea." Or "If you don't do this for me, and I will not do YOUR next great idea."

Too many studio execs are in love with the idea of the "bankable" whomever, guaranteeing a big payday. And often are not willing to accept the idea is terrible or the script horrible.

And studios juggle their books. They will say Movie X, did not "make" a profit, even though it sold $500,000,000 worth of tickets worldwide, and only cost $50,000,000 because they will use the profit on that picture to offset the cost of several flops. That way they have to pay few taxes, AND fewer points to those that worked on the $500M picture. Everyone gets screwed except the big names who got the money upfront.

The statement is often made, that to break even, a picture has to make 2.5x its budget in ticket sales, since theaters and others get a cut. So a $50M picture has to make $125M in ticket sales, before it can make a profit.

[old mark]

19. Watch The movie "Ed Wood" and any movie actually made by Ed Wood.

His methods were revealed very well in the movie about him, and he was for many years regarded as the worst film maker ever.
Some of his films were not released for years because he could not pay the lab fees.

mark

[dawg]

21. Alan Smithee is a pretty bad director, too.

:crazy:

[old mark]

23. There are a very few who raise "bad" to new heights.....nt

[dawg]

20. Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity encourage bad movie makers

When a low-budget flick breaks out and makes a ton of money, it encourages at least a hundred others that really, really stink.

[KurtNYC]

22. Low budget movies are like restaurants -- people dabble

they are convinced they have a great idea or a great angle on the market. And many of them just run out of the money it would tak to fix a good movie gone bad during production. And when they show what they have to investors they can't get more financing so the film gets released in whatever mess it is in at that point.

Disney was convinced that the market was ripe for "Tron" when they made it. "Warlock" was a hot property that couldn't miss. "Silver Surfer" was thought to be a more modern comic book than Spiderman with more block buster potential. Few set out to make a bad movie.

[Dr Morbius]

25. There's a Silver Surfer movie?

I thought his film debut was FF2. And it wasn't a great movie but was a pleasant enough timewaster, I thought.

I think your analysis is mostly correct, but sometimes they don't run out of money. Sometimes, it was just a bad idea to start with, and MANY times, the producer or director has no clue how to craft a good movie.

And also sometimes, a studio will take a bath on a project because it keeps key "talent" happy.

[Fire Walk With Me]

24. I'm not entirely certain, but I'll bet that greed plus not listening are involved.

Or just one or the other.

Perhaps ambition plus insufficient training could be involved, regarding filmmakers such as Ed Wood?

[AmyDeLune]

27. Actor Bruce Campbell has a *great* response to that question...

...unfortunately, I can't find the full article on his website anymore, but I was lucky enough to hear him answer in person. Someone in the audience to a book signing Q&A asked, "Why do you make so many bad movies?"

The reply was something like this;

Bruce Campbell: Okay, you're a big Hollywood producer and I'm gonna pitch a film to you. You tell me whether you're gonna green light it and make the movie or pass.

Poor Sap: Okay!

BC: Okay! It's based on a best selling book by Michael Crichton. We've got Frank Marshall directing, we've signed Laura Linney, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, and Tim Curry to star; are you interested?

PS: Yeah!

BC: Wait, that's not all! We've got the cinematographer from "Lawrence of Arabia", Jerry Goldsmith is doing the score, and Stan Winston is doing the effects. Still interested?

PS: Yes!

BC: So you're greenlighting it? You're giving me the money to make this movie?

PS: Yeah!

BC: You're sure?

PS: Yes!!!

BC: Congratulations! You just greenlit "CONGO"!!!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112715/combined

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

28. Ask Jerry Bruckheimer

:evilgrin:

[Akoto]

29. It begins with, "SyFy Channel, have I got a script for you ..." n/t

[Tikki]

30. Some people are not-it-alls...

Sometimes people are afraid to take on the hierarchy. Sometimes someone
in power has a lousy idea they can't let go of and if you want your paycheck...better shut it up.

And sometimes it is a producer who is trying something new or a different take
on the same and it just doesn't work out.

Cra**y movies happen.


Tikki

[gmoney]

32. I wonder the same thing about ugly clothing

Someone has to design it, design/select the ugly fabric, convince someone to manufacture it, then convince stores to carry it, then someone actually has to see it and BUY it, then choose to wear it out in public.

How does so much ugly crap end up in America's closets? Guess a lot of us have no taste. Or weird tastes.

[The2ndWheel]

34. It's a mass production industry

But there is no standardization in the ultimate product.

It's a job. Writers write. Actors act. Directors direct. Cameramen camera. The more movies made, the more people are employed. It's not about the art, on a general level. It's not about the craft. It's the paycheck. It's the circulation of money. The job is to create a movie. Movie, after movie, after movie, after movie. If it's no good, there's always another one coming along that might be.

[Chan790]

35. Lots of reasons (I used to work in the film industry in NYC)

Actually I still screen-write recreationally.

There is not one simple answer. Without rehashing those things said by others in-thread, these are common reasons as well.

I've seen bad movies made because some star fell in love with the project or idea of it and their influence was enough to insure the damned thing was being made no matter how bad it really was. (See Churning into Butter, a film that serves as little more than Sarah Jessica Parker's personal vanity project. It's not merely terrible, it's abysmal. The fact that she can still find work mystifies everybody I know who worked on that project...actually it's solely because of the success of Sex in The City that she still works.)

I've seen great films destroyed in the editing room (you really don't understand how much influence an editor has to truly fuck up a film...you never notice a great editing job, but a bad one can ruin an otherwise workable film.) A lot of these are the result of young directors wanting to edit their own films in order to preserve their "vision". I think it's different when an old hand wants to edit their own direction because doing so requires a realization that comes with experience...a director's job is to make it look good on film and to get the shots and performances necessary to build a cohesive narrative; an editor's job is to make it look good on-screen. They're not the same thing, the "subtle" difference is massive.

I've seen great performances and direction and craft wasted on some shit scripts too. There is no way to salvage a bad script.

Increasingly common is what I like to call the dilettante filmmaker. Someone who has no talent or skill or experience decides they want to be a director or a screenwriter so they have rich parent/grandparent/significant-other/f*ck-buddy foot the bill for their fantasy. The person putting up the money calls the shots or defers that power to the dilettante; in either case it comes down to "baby gets what baby wants" no matter how awful or ridiculous it is. A lot of these films don't ever see the canister thankfully...the dilettante decides to bail once they realize that it's not glamorous, it's actually work. Enough of these get made though to fill the shelves of your local Blockbuster or get shown on IFC at 4am as filler.

[Zavulon]

36. When a studio insists on a sequel or a remake, or

when the budget is so low that the movie could be shot by college freshmen.