Like many of your readers, Scott, I've been watching this fascinating "box office nuclear winter" series of yours with great interest and, of course, thanks so much for doing this.

So, in my opinion, what does it all amount to?

Zero. Zilch. Bupkis.

I think movies and film as a medium are a bit more resilient than we give them credit for. If all originality is truly dead in Hollywood, then some other avenue will come along for us, the underclassmen and women of the spec screenplay. Perhaps Hollywoodland II will open up in Nevada or Louisiana or hell, even Altoona. (well, okay, no reason to get outrageous here...)

You know it's the wild west when even the prognosticators are unable to prognosticate anymore.

So what are we writer's to do?

Simple.

Write BETTER. Write the BEST damned script you possibly can. Are you sad because you can't coast along by falling back on convention? GOOD.
Those days are over. Bummed because there were no nibbles on the 100 querry letters you lobbed into the middle of L.A. like a dirty bomb? Fine, write 200 more.

After reading all these posts about the state of Hollywood moviemaking, I find no reason at all to alter or change my processes. I'm still TRYING, each and every day, to pen the best screenplay ever written that will hopefully become one the greatest movies ever made.

I would hope, friends, that you will go and do likewise. Otherwise, what are we in this for?

It's been awhile for me, but this is something I've been thinking a lot about.
One is want I see is a disconnect between film makers and the audience. Scripts are chosen for all the wrong reasons.

The recent Black List scripts haven't been doing well - some LOOK atrocious (Cedar Rapids).

Too many movies are made for the development execs and too few for the post-Facebook demographic - wait that's everybody - those people are feeling left out and many only see movies because they're there not because they are well-done and exciting.

Also the country is more diverse than ever but movies aren't really addressing this.

There's the heroic white guy and then everyone else. There's a lot of blame to be given to writers also who don't seek to diversify their offerings but only try to be more clever rather than heartfelt.

Then there was the "Bromance" which I feel totally destroyed creativity and replaced it with fluff.

But then my first shot at a production was a short about a gay couple so I could be wrong.