© Imran Anwar, 1999
by Imran Anwar
As 1999 rolls along its merry way, I cannot help but comment on two totally different industries, but which are intertwined, and promise to be even more so in the future - entertainment and technology.
Not long ago entertainment was the industry that created name recognition for people with talent, and Million$ even for people without any talent. After all, movies like The WaterBoy prove that pure junk, produced by a pure lack of talent can make millions for all concerned. The nerds of the world, in the meantime, would work away in their little cubes in Silicon Valley offices, eating donuts, and drinking Pepsi. Making millions was about as far from their dreams, as it was to go on a date with Michele Pfeiffer.
Sure, a few big name CEOs from Silicon Valley were known globally, but most of the money and the glamor belonged to the showbiz folks. Then came the Internet. A networking technology, the basis of which has been in existence for decades, suddenly became hot, big, important, heck, even sexy.
On top of that prices of technology continued to fall as its horsepower increased dramatically. There was no suspense in guessing that both industries would gravitate to each other.
On the one hand the Internet is so hot that any company can get a few million in funding just by coming up with an e-idea. Whatever it is, if you prefix it with an i- or an e- , you can get money for it - faster than you could for a movie script to be produced! Suddenly, the nerds were, figuratively, on top, with their six- and seven-figure salaries and stock values, while the Hollywood writer or creator, especially the poor sod with a real original idea, still walked from door to door seeking financing.
The irony is that a lot of the growth of the Internet is coming with the real use and perceived potential for its ability to deliver entertainment on demand. People already have real time stock quotes, who cares if your email gets to me in 10 nanoseconds instead of 10 milliseconds?
But people do care if your video clip takes 2 minutes to download instead of 2 seconds. They want to watch their movie of choice even without having to wait for it on HBO at night. So, the Internet is growing, enriching some talented geeks and some lucky nerds, for being in the right industry at the right time. But there is still the demand, and promise, for real time live full motion video, at low cost, and on demand. Trying to create machines for such systems ensures IT stocks and players will continue to be hot for years.
On the other side, there is a double irony. Real talented people with original ideas are begging, borrowing, and yes, alas, trying to sleep their way for funding. In the meantime big studio Hollywood is making Billions, mostly with movies that cost multi-millions to produce....not using people, but e-talent, and effects. From the Armageddon space shuttle take-offs to the Titanic's sinking, computer generated effects are making movie-making possible with incredible realism.
So, what am I complaining about?
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE technology. I surround, immerse, and deluge myself with it. It has the power to take me from being a niche syndicated journalist appearing in a few newspapers in some country, to having a global audience, with the same "reach" as the best known names in the business. It enables readers like you around the world to seek opinions half way around the globe.
The only place where I am hoping and waiting for the effects of this marriage of technology and entertainment is in helping the movie industry's real talent to shake off dependence on the studios and the money men.
Just like a journalist with a $19 per month web site can be heard the same way as the New York Times, one day soon, I hope, video and computer based shooting/recording, editing, production, and distribution online will enable Hollywood's struggling or underfinanced film-makers to show the world their fresh ideas, original productions, and creative genius, all, hopefully on a $49 per month web site.
That day is almost here, when a Sony Firewire camera, an Apple PowerBook G3 or G4, with a Quicktime editor, and web based streaming video server will enable high-production-quality movies to be made and distributed for under $5000, with a global audience of millions, even billions, paying a few cents only (going straight into the movie maker's online account), to watch movies on demand, yet generating enough income for the creators to ensure that real talent will once again own the entertainment industry.
HR 1/10/99
© Imran Anwar, 1999