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November/December 2003 Living Now
The Movie Mystic

by Stephen Simon

A Broken Pact

Stephen Simon

The financial model for Hollywood Studios no longer works and the studios know it. Regardless of box-office receipts, the bottom line is bleeding red ink, the corporate takeover of the studios has destroyed innovation, and there is a quiet panic in the hallways of power.

Hollywood Studios have gone the way of network television--lowest common denominator programming. Much as in cable programming in television, the only interesting and imaginative filmmaking today is happening with Independent films.

The classic "moguls" of Hollywood’s storied past made their decisions about films and instructed their marketing divisions to devise a way to sell them. Today, Marketing divisions are consulted very early on in the process and have been quietly given veto power. Of course, the studios deny that-but the denial does not make the truth any less stark.

In their unfortunate and desperate quest for the "under-25" film audience, Hollywood Studios have turned their backs on and alienated adult filmgoers who no longer attend movies on a regular basis. This is a sad and relatively recent phenomenon. Even though studios have always sought young moviegoers, the studio chiefs maintained a loyalty to adult subject matter as well. The corporate dismemberment of creative thought and entrepreneurial passion today has cancelled that commitment. The studios now pack all their adult films into the last 3 months of each year so as to qualify for Academy Awards. The Studios have dedicated the other 9 months of the year exclusively to the release of projects which the corporate managers have designed for youth and action seekers; consequently, adults -young and older-who seek a return to storytelling have lost the movie-going "habit." In addition, even many films designed for this audience suffer because they are indeed packed into a 3-month window. With the target audience out of the habit of going to films, many quality films fail and, in a dazzling "Catch-22" rationale, the studios then claim that there is no audience. Well, folks, there was – until the studios chased them away.

Mayer, Thalberg, and Selznick must be turning in their graves in sadness and disgust. Until someone comes along and re-establishes trust with the audience, Hollywood is on a collision course with obsolescence.

Storytelling has disappeared and has been replaced by an ever-increasing emphasis on effects, sequels, and dumb comedies. But there is an antidote. A way of returning to classic storytelling.

Spiritual Cinema presents the opportunity to regain a huge segment of that audience by incorporating a 21st Century version of shamanic storytelling into filmmaking and releasing at least one to three films per month--every month. Spiritual Cinema is the New Millennium version of shamans sitting around a campfire, passing down the myths of the culture to an enrapt audience. Spiritual Cinema is the communications medium through which we now have the most powerful possibility of both reaching the world with inspiration and also instilling messages of hope for the future. These films ask two eternal questions:

Who are we?
Why are we here?

These movies allow us to look at who we might be when we operate at our very best. This genre, which the press and mainstream Hollywood refuse to recognize, has been around for 70-80 years, the grandfather probably being It's a Wonderful Life. In my book, I discuss 75 titles such as The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Oh God, Field of Dreams, Sixth Sense, Ghost… and there are hundreds more.

Some of you may ask ‘how do you distinguish between spiritual entertainment and religious entertainment’? The two are very different. While mainstream media often implies that "religious" and "spiritual" are synonymous, "religion" reflects the teachings of particular organized religions that commonly present specific rules, regulations, and rituals that must be followed in order to experience a connection with the Divine which is usually identified as male and outside of humanity. ‘Spirituality’ entails a more personal, inner-directed, and individual experience of the Divine, which is represented as an integral aspect of our own humanity.

We are committed to this type of storytelling. We will not water down the themes. We will not "dumb" them down to make them accessible to everyone and thereby lose the chance to make them enthralling and engrossing for anyone.

Hollywood has left the land of storytelling and moved on to more barren terrain. Spiritual Cinema will illuminate the landscape of our evolution and stir us to remember who we can be when we reach beyond the seen into a realm where we engage the magical aspects of our human potential.

Stephen Simon has just directed and produced the new film Indigo www.Indigohemovie.com and has also produced such films as Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come. His book The Force is With You: Mystical Movie Messages That Inspire Our Lives, published by Walsch Books/Hampton Roads, is now available. Stephen also leads seminars, telecourses, and inspirational Mystical Movie events around the world. For more information, please visit MysticalMovies.com. Stephen welcomes your comments by email: Stephen@MysticalMovies.com