On one of my favorite sites, The Movie Blog, about a month back John (The founder) brought up an "Are movies just for the money" argument.

Is that the only reason they get made? Or are their still people in Hollywood that make movies for the sheer love of it?

Your thoughts.

This is set up to be a fallacious argument.

You cannot say something is entirely either this or that, as it could be a little bit of this or a little bit of that, or something completely different.

For example, your question: "Do people in hollywood make movies simply for money, or do they do it because they love making movies?"  My answer is neither.  Some people do it for money, some people do it because they love it, most do it for a little bit of both, others do it for the fame, others do it to try and change the world.

Point is, the question you asked cannot be logically argued with much merit.

A better question might be to ask what motivates us simplyscripters to write, but thats sort of a boring question, sooooo......yeah.

I'm gonna go work.

And the discussion about why we write has been discussed before so I'd keep that out of it.

I agree that it is a mixed pool.

Even Uwe Boll probably does it for the love of making movies.

Movies in Hollywood and Bollywood for that matter are made for a profit.  It's a business - anything that is a business is hopefully run for profit.  That is not to say that some individuals involved do not do this out of love for making movies - in fact  - the business probably thrives on a number of people whose whole life is about making movies.  That's what makes people willing to put in the long hours necessary to make one.

I think the independent scene is probably a bit different, where you get people making things pretty much because they are driven to do it to express themselves. It has to be something they really want to do to put up with the process of making a film independently.  You must love movie making to do that.

I'm pretty sure directors, producers, writers, actors etc. in general do it for the love of the craft. The big Hollywood studios probably do it for the money. And why shouldn't they? We all got to make a living.

Quoted from sniper I'm pretty sure directors, producers, writers, actors etc. in general do it for the love of the craft. The big Hollywood studios probably do it for the money. And why shouldn't they? We all got to make a living.

I would say people like Will Smith would do it for the love of seeing himself on screen because he's probably rich beyond his needs for the rest of his life.

Although i wish he would retire now and not ruin Oldboy but we can't all have our wish come true.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley Although i wish he would retire now and not ruin Oldboy but we can't all have our wish come true.

I just wish Hollywood would stop remaking Korean garbage.

I like quite a few Korean films.

The general poor quality American product with pretty visuals is the real problem and the people who buy into it calling it classic.

Quoted from sniper I just wish Hollywood would stop remaking Korean garbage.

Old Boy is one of the best films of recent times. Park Chan-wook is also one of the better directors around at the moment.

Personally I think many Korean films piss all over current Hollywood offerings. Their plots tend to be unpredictable and deal with far more intelligent issues.

I do agree that Hollywood should concentrate on it's own stuff (I find it sad that a company like Dreamworks with the talent they can control and attract are remaking A Tale of Two Sisters), but it's a bit offensive to call Korean Cinema garbage. It's one of the few cinemas left worht watching IMO.

Quoted from Aaron On one of my favorite sites, The Movie Blog, about a month back John (The founder) brought up an "Are movies just for the money" argument. Is that the only reason they get made? Or are their still people in Hollywood that make movies for the sheer love of it? Your thoughts.

There are a lot of reasons why films get made. Some for artisitc purposes to reveal new insights into the human condition, some just to make money.

The Hollywood system relies on money to fund its films, so naturally there are numerous projects that are made with profit in mind above all else.

Without money there are no films so it becomes a bit of a vicious circle. You end up having to try and make films you think will sell, rather than films you necessarily think are good.

I think Korean films are great.

It's a real shame that Hollywood has resorted to remakes from the far east.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley I would say people like Will Smith would do it for the love of seeing himself on screen because he's probably rich beyond his needs for the rest of his life. Although i wish he would retire now and not ruin Oldboy but we can't all have our wish come true.

For the second time today you've made me laugh at Will Smith.  

Re this topic. I have no idea why I aspire to write to write a feature length screenplay. I really don't.  

I guess it might be because I really love movies and therefore want to write one. Or maybe it's because the creative part of me that wants to connect with the rest of the world. I feel weird saying that.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you want to know why people want to make films perhaps you should look at why you want to write screenplays.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley And the discussion about why we write has been discussed before so I'd keep that out of it. I agree that it is a mixed pool. Even Uwe Boll probably does it for the love of making movies.

This isn't a discussion about why we write, this is about the movie part of it, the production

Quoted from Aaron This isn't a discussion about why we write, this is about the movie part of it, the production

I think that's the same discussion. And it's over because there's no right answer to the question. Are movies made just for profit? Yes and no. It all depends on what side of the production table you're sitting at.

As many have said, there are multiple reasons.

Typically, you can tell the ones that were made for money versus the ones that were made because the person--

Let me re-phrase. A person may love making movies. But usually, you can spot movies that are for money and nothing else.

Example: your average re-make. Trying to capitalize off the success of its predecessor.

Other example: summer blockbusters. Movies that you KNOW will top $40+ in its opening weekend.

Then, on some occasions, you have people who are naturally good at writing, so they can create a summer blockbuster while still keeping the quality and integrity of the movie intact.

So, really, in the end, it comes down to the individual person.

You got a good point there

I have yet to see 1 summer blockbuster invoke any emotion out of me to date... Transformers, Spiderman... Harry Potter... Iron Man... Terminator Salvations. You name it... take them all away.

Mindless entertainment for people who are into them and nothing more. People, lets face it, by and large are idiots. The people who attend these movies are the same kinds of people who sit around and watch "MOST SHOCKING" "DUMBEST CRIMINALS" and copious amounts of You tube videos where people inflict bodily harm on others.

Give me a Magnolia any day of the week over that junk. It might not have made what Spider man 3 made or Transformers, but it's a helluva lot better movie with a helluva lot better meaning behind it.  Give me something that means something and Hollywood can take their money elsewhere...

Consider that the majority of the people here in the States (atleast at my age) see movies as purely for entertainment and escape. I can't tell you how many times I've been told by people that "movies aren't supposed to make you think. They're just supposed to be fun. Any movie that you have to use your brain for isn't very good." I would say that the movies made for this crowd are larely 'made JUST for profit' since there are so many of them. Obviously the more money you pend to make something, the more you need to recoup your investment or you won't be able to make any more movies.

Even films made to win Oscars ultimately have a profit in mind. Last year's 'Benjamin Button' had a reported $50 million Oscar campaign, and for what? A golden statue? No, because they thought "Come see Benjamin Button" was a less effective sales pitch than "Come see Benjamin Button - Nominated for 13 Oscars."

The times when you'll see movies made for more than just profit are passion projects which normally have very small budgets because their filmmakers go in right from the beginning with the expectation that it won't appeal to very many people and thus can only recoup its cost if that cost is rather small. In these cases I don't think movies are 'made JUST for profit' but are instead made to break even. The filmmaker is so concerned with getting his or her vision out there that they could care less about bringing back a profit, though most would probably prefer to not be bankrupted by the process.

Back in the day studios may have financed popcorn films that were guaranteed to make a profit so that they could turn around and use the profit to finance passion projects that may not make their money back but would have a more significant lasting impact. These days, since all of the major studios are publicly traded companies, setting aside funds for money-draining artistic expression isn't easily justified to the stockholders.

Long story short, not all movies are made JUST for profit but the majority of them are.