Szabe at 2011-01-21 15:13:48:

This is a really valuable post - thanks for writing it. As a young screenwriter who has had no experience with Hollywood, though, the thing that baffles me is that studio execs would not be smart enough to come to the same conclusion as you. This phenomenon obviously comes around every so often with every sub-genre, every director, every star, etc. So how is it that Hollywood learns the same wrong lesson every time? Are studio execs just dumb? Or is it the rest of us?

Jeff at 2011-01-21 15:27:06:

Dumb, Szabe? Certainly not.

Terrified out of their gourds that they could lose their careers? Absolutely.

And let's face it. Intellect is usually the first thing to go when fear rules the day.

Szabe at 2011-01-21 16:18:36:

I hear you, Jeff. It's just strange that the wondrous invisible hand wouldn't eventually lift organizations & individuals who are governed by something other than fear up to the top over time.

Scott at 2011-01-21 19:43:25:

@TT: Here's what Wikipedia says about "black comedy:"

Black humour (from the French humour noir) is a term coined by Surrealist theoretician André Breton in 1935,[1][2] to designate the sub-genre of comedy and satire[3][4] in which laughter arises from cynism and skepticism.[1] Black humour is often a satire on the topic of death.[5][6] Breton identified the originator of Black humour in Jonathan Swift, particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants (1731) A Modest Proposal (1729), A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick (1710), and a few aphorisms.[2]

Seriocomedy is more drama-comedy, it's comedy with serious elements or tone, but not so much satire, skepticism, or death.

However these genre categories are all moving targets. At the end of the day, stories are organic and any categorization is something extrinsic laid upon it, not innate to it - if that makes sense.

The Unknown Lyricist at 2011-01-22 06:46:42:

Pronouncing a genre dead is a standard feature of Hollywood journalism. All it takes is one hit in a genre or sub-genre to turn today's conventional wisdom on its head. And anyway, who is the arbiter of what movie falls into what sub-genre?

I thought the "Social Network" was pretty funny in parts, so does that mean it's a serio-comedy or a semi-serio-comedy.

As Scott said, write the best script you can in whatever genre or genres it's in.