Why it's hard to find people to run film studios

There is a remarkable sentence in the middle of today's NY Times article about Rich Ross' resignation as head of the Disney movie studio after just two and one-half years on the job. Reporter Brooks Barnes writes that it will be difficult to find a replacement for Ross because "running a movie studio has become one of Hollywood's least coveted jobs". Did you know that? It surprised me. I'll declare right now that I'm interested in the job, if Bob Iger or anyone at Disney is reading this. Of course, that's not the point. They'll find someone to run the studio. What I want to write about is why Head of the Film Studio is no longer a plum job. After all, studio heads still get fabulous salaries, tremendous perks, invitations to all the big Hollywood parties, and most important, the ability to greenlight movies. It's the greenlighting of films where the danger lies. A studio head must make decisions about whether to spend hundreds of millions of dollars or not on films based on a script and the elements -- director, star, subject matter, track record, etc. They have to decide if this film will be popular and successful two, three, four, five, or more years in the future. No one makes the right choice every time. The pressure is tremendous because the stakes are so high. A cheap movie costs $50 million, and a flop like "John Carter of Mars" can cost a studio hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. The pressure causes studio heads to make the safest choices possible. They make sequels, adapt popular books, comic books, plays and television shows. They choose films with stars, because stars "open" movies -- except when they don't (see my post on why good people make bad movies). In the end, the quality of the script is one of the least important factors in the decision. They're not greenlighting scripts, they're greenlighting movies. If you're being considered for a studio job, you probably have other options. You may be the head of a talent agency, or, like Rich Ross, a very successful head of a television channel. Ross got the studio job because as Head of the Disney Channel he developed lucrative and popular franchises like "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical." That didn't help keep him in the movie business after two years of posting $200 million losses. That's why its tough to find a good studio head. The best people are already doing well in their current jobs. Why take a chance? Of course people will. The glamour of the movie business weaves a powerful spell. But if you want to create content and you're offered that job, think twice, if not three or four times, before accepting it. After all, the studio head gets to pick the films, but he doesn't get to make them. He depends upon the producers and directors to create them. The fate of your job is ultimately in the hands of other people. One other point for content creators -- understand that you're going to fail as well as succeed. Persevere. If studio heads don't pick the right films all the time, why should you expect everything you create to work perfectly? Keep working on several projects and keep trying to improve them. If the audience responds positively, that's great. If they don't keep on working. And if they do, keep on working.