Hollywood has a hierarchy. Gone are the days of the big studios with cigar-chomping dictators at the top, deciding what, when, where and who. Today it’s mostly a corporate CEOs (Disney, Fox, 20th Century …) that decides what is made … based on profits. Wait long enough, and Fast and Furious 24 will be at your local theaters.

CEOs influence small studio heads, as they provide financing and distribution. Studio heads influence producers (who frequently own their own min-studios). These producers influence writers who work for them and who submit stories on spec in the hopes of getting their own a deal.

With all this influencing going on, certain formulas are found to work and are repeated over and over again, with the dedication and mind-numbing consistency of a McDonald’s churning out Big Macs.

Homer Simpson and the Family Guy will live on because people watch and laugh. Why they watch and laugh … that’s probably a great subject for a PhD dissertation.

Good article. 😉