Writers have more creative freedom on cable ... one reason they're working there ... part of the problem is writers don't really seem to have a lot of creative rights when it comes to film ... unless they also happen to be a writer-director, the writer is never thought of as the creative visionary ... so I'd bet that some good scripts get pounded into bad, etc ... just by the process.

Not that their can't be great creative commercial films ... there can ... and the same is true of indies ... what matters is, are the people doing the buying and selling able to recognize it? Mostly they following marketing trends, and such marketing trends would tell them that there is no market in the US for a foreign language film set in India with no stars ...

They don't seem to consider that there is a market for really awesome, unique movies that entertain people even WITHOUT stars ... and they're surprised when it happens ...

It's curious to me ... during my research for DOWN AND DIRTY, what the genius behind the Weinsteins was that they LOVED movies and if they found a great film, no matter what language it was in or who was cast in it, they moved heaven and earth to let the whole world know it's a classic that everybody MUST see.

and quite often, audiences responded.

Anyway, that was a mini-rant ... sorry!

Slumdog is a great example for another reason... Warners was going to send it straight to video.

Let that sink in -- The frontrunner for Best Picture this year, was something one of the major studios was debating on whether or not they should even release it straight to DVD.

We' not talking script. We're talking completed film that had already made its rounds on the festival circuit.

Is it young film makers of today? Or is it the new studio execs?

I'd lean toward the latter. There's plenty of content out there that pushes boundaries. That is not only personal, but also commercial.

Hollywood execs simply don't have the balls the Mayers and Goldwynns of the past did.

The pessimist in me wonders if "Slumdog Millionaire" will teach Hollywood anything. That is, instead of looking for more great movies that are different than everything else out there, studio executives are going to be looking for films that follow the Slumdog formula.