What Hollywood Wants
BY ANDREA CIRILLO
Let's play What Hollywood Wants!
--a game not for the faint of heart
Per the lords of L.A., here are the trends, buzz words, and safe bets du jour:
Anything or anyone “hot” or “branded”
(Piggybacking onto someone else’s success story = no brainer.)
Something quirky
(Brilliantly offbeat is always hot. It's the "brilliant" part that gets a little dicey.)
Sexy stories and characters, even on network tv
(Yes, even puritanical America wants to be titillated.)
A big western for BBC
(Bring back Bonanza! For anyone old enough to remember Little Joe, no explanation necessary.)
Teen movies—edgy (smart) or “date” (stupid) movies
(Just like Young Adult novels, they want controversy, sex or horror/paranormal.)
Family oriented subjects
(Is Disney ever out of style? Add the animation and 3D crazes, and this market is even hotter than usual.)
Big adventures
(Man vs. Nature = great drama. Shooting in Bhutan or with the narwhal in Hudson Bay = budget nightmare, but still worth a shot.)
Smart thrillers
(Michael Clayton not Die Hard. It doesn't matter whether or not you actually understand the work-out; you just have to recognize that it's clever as hell.)
Nonfiction/Ripped from the headlines
(Who knew so many people would "like" Facebook?)
Miniseries
(Cable networks like Showtime and HBO want microseries, up to 10 hours--and then maybe more if the numbers look good. From The Tudors of London to The Borgias of Rome to...the Baldwins of Massapequa?)
Anything attached to a proven big name like Jerry Bruckheimer, Ridley Scott or Terence Winter
(Why try purple Peruvian potatoes when everybody loves french fries?)