Hollywood: Where Creativity Went to Die

Modern screenwriting is in a crisis. From Hollywood to the peanut gallery, nobody is happy about the most important part of the storytelling business: the storytelling. Just as we are beset by soulless franchise installments, faithless adaptations, and remakes that nobody asked for, we are awash in some of the lowest-quality writing in the history of moving pictures.

“Craft in writing has often been replaced by pure arrogance,” says David Zucker, whose directing credits include Airplane!, Top Secret!, and the first two Naked Gun installments. Part of the problem is the “increased corporate control of Hollywood,” he tells me, unlike the days when “real creatives such as executives Michael Eisner and Barry Diller, and brilliant creatives like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg,” ran the show. There are still pockets of creatives, Zucker adds, “but mostly the business has been taken over by mediocre little people.”

About the Author

Becket Adams

Becket Adams is a columnist for National Review, the Washington Examiner, and The Hill.

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Modern screenwriting is in a crisis. From Hollywood to the peanut gallery, nobody is happy about the most important part of the storytelling business: the storytelling. Just as we are beset by soulless franchise installments, faithless adaptations, and remakes that nobody asked for, we are awash in some of the lowest-quality writing in the history of moving pictures.

“Craft in writing has often been replaced by pure arrogance,” says David Zucker, whose directing credits include Airplane!, Top Secret!, and the first two Naked Gun installments. Part of the problem is the “increased corporate control of Hollywood,” he tells me, unlike the days when “real creatives such as executives Michael Eisner and Barry Diller, and brilliant creatives like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg,” ran the show. There are still pockets of creatives, Zucker adds, “but mostly the business has been taken over by mediocre little people.”