Quality Over Quantity: How Hard Is It, Really?
And we’re back with One Moore Hollywood Podcast’s latest episode! This time, our hosts, Chris Moore, Katie Marpe, and Dennis De Nobile, dive into some recent conversations about quality over quantity as they relate to the film industry.
Last month, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said that due to some of their releases underperforming, Disney will now focus on quality over quantity. Last year, Netflix said something similar. So, how is “quality” content defined in the film industry? Is it even possible to determine? Let’s see what our hosts think.
What Defines Quality Content?
With streaming came a massive increase in content. No longer relegated to movie theaters and cable channels, content became accessible anywhere at any time of day. Did this increase in quantity lead to a gradual decrease in quality?
“The idea that a business could capture quality as a defining tenant of what they do is a bit of a misnomer because there are a lot of factors going into something being good.”
–Chris Moore
According to our hosts, that’s a difficult question to answer without having a society-wide definition of what makes something quality. As Marpe states, everyone’s personal film taste is different. People are always going to like or dislike movies for myriad reasons.
“It’s the repeatability of creativity that’s hard.”
–Chris Moore
So, while predicting what kind of content will succeed is getting more challenging, we know that audiences almost always respond well to good stories. Perhaps that’s what’s missing from some of Disney’s underperforming content.
How Do ‘Bad’ Movies Get Made?
Everyone can tell when a movie is bad. Even considering different tastes and genre preferences, it’s obvious when a movie isn’t very good. So, how do bad movies get made, especially ones funded by multi-billion dollar companies like Disney? Why don’t any people involved in production flag it when it starts to go south?
According to Moore, there are three main reasons for this.
There are many incentives for people who (theoretically) have oversight on a production to not stop a project from moving forward, the biggest one being that everyone’s career benefits from projects getting made.
A lot of content is created because someone is convinced they can sell it for big bucks.
Content is sometimes pushed forward because it’s some powerful person’s passion project.
So, What’s The Answer To The Quality Problem?
The Hollywood industry should be doing everything possible to create content that people will like. Instead, it often feels like it’s churning out whatever will make the most money, regardless of whether or not it’s good.
Marpe points out that an oversaturated market like this often results in audiences gravitating towards more creative, independently curated content. This movement might be starting now, judging by the increased interest in new, different kinds of stories (like the unexpected hit film last year, Everything Everywhere All At Once).
As these conversations about quality versus quantity continue, our hosts agree that it becomes ever more essential to support the production of movies by new, creative people with the passion and the talent to tell a unique story well.
Listen to the entire episode here: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio.
