Congressional Research Service Shows Hollywood Is Thriving
from the shouldn't-congress-wonder-why-they-need-sopa/pipa? dept
The Congressional Research Service is the research arm of Congress that is widely respected as presenting (non-partisan) high quality, extremely credible research for folks in Congress. In fact, the quality is so good, that many are annoyed that the output of their research, despite being public domain, is rarely made available to the public. The only way that information is released is if the elected official who requested it decides to release it. Thankfully, some of our elected officials do just that.
Recently, Senator Ron Wyden asked CRS if it could explore the state of the movie industry today as compared to 1995 on a variety of different criteria. You can read the full report embedded below, but here are a few key points. First off, despite the industry’s regular attempt to play up its contribution to GDP and employment, the report found that the combined GDP contribution of both the “motion picture and sound recording” industries was a whopping 0.4% in 2009. Back in 1995… it was also 0.4%.
As for employment, Hollywood loves to claim that it employs millions of people. One popular number is that
19 million people have jobs in “IP-intensive industries.” Of course, we’ve discussed how misleading a term that is, as they lump in all sorts of jobs that have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with copyright. So, how many people are actually employed in the movie industry? Not that many. 374,000 in 2010 — and that includes both full
and part time workers. And that’s really not much different from the 392,000 in 1998. So it’s not like the industry has been losing employees in droves as they imply. Furthermore, that’s only slightly more than the number of jobs that Facebook’s app platform alone is estimated to have created. Hell, we’ve seen reports that have said eBay alone created 750,000 small business jobs. Perhaps Hollywood isn’t as big a part of the economy as it likes to claim.
Similarly exaggerated? Its dire straits. Let’s take a look at box office revenue:
Also interesting is the look at CEO pay at the major movie studios, then and now. It seems that Disney’s CEO (Robert Iger) made $29,617,964 in 2010, compared to Michael Eisner’s mere $10 million back in 1994. Time Warner? CEO Jeffrey Bewkes made $26,303,071 in 2010, while his predecessor Gerald Levin made $5 million in 1994. CRS apparently couldn’t find past data on the other studios, but in the present, it looks like their execs are all cashing in. News Corps’ Rupert Murdoch made $33,292,753. Viacom’s Chairman, Sumner Redstone, made $15,033,630, while its CEO Philippe Dauman famously made $84,515,308. NBC Universal was still under GE in 2010, whose CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, brought in $21,428,765. Then there’s Sony, whose CEO was the pauper of the bunch, having his salary and bonus cut to a mere $4.3 million due to “financial problems stemming from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.”
It doesn’t sound like things are that bad these days in Hollywood. So why do we need massive legal changes again?
Filed Under: business, congressional research service, copyright, data, hollywood, movies, pipa, protect ip, sopa, thriving
Comments on “Congressional Research Service Shows Hollywood Is Thriving”
We need legal changes because they are bad.
Bad people are taking our money because there is nothing legally now to help us make more money than we can. You buy or die, We kill you.
So...
Piracy has killed the movie industry? Tell that to the CEOs that make more money than most of their employees, who work so hard for so little return in comparison.
Re: So...
Tell that to the CEOs that make more money than most of their employees, who work so hard for so little return in comparison.
Yep, a bit of simple math shows that a professional making $80,000/year would need over 300 years to make even close to those numbers.
Re: So...
Small correction:
Piracy has killed the movie industry? Tell that to the CEOs that make more money than most of their employees, COMBINED
Re: So...
We don’t have to tell them. They’re the ones who made up those statistics to begin with.
Thriving like a woman being raped by Jack the Ripper!
Re: Re:
i dont get it
Re: Re:
It’s not Jack the Ripper… It’s the Boston Strangler!
Please keep your serial killers straight to avoid unnecessary confusion!
Also, But… But… Piracy!
Re: Re: Re:
You’re right. Sometimes I can’t keep my Jack Valentisms straight.
“It doesn’t sound like things are that bad these days in Hollywood. So why do we need massive legal changes again?”
So the content providers can control the internet.
Re: Re:
controlling the internet is what it is all about! it has never been about the money, the artists, jobs the economy or anything/anyone else. it’s only the politicians that are using the entertainment industries lies to get new laws passed and only then because they have been ‘encouraged’ to do so! screwing over the public and eroding their rights at the same time as introducing those laws is turning the US into a much less desirable place to be!
Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood’s holidays are off to a dreadful start: Fewer people went to the movies the last two weekends than during the box-office hush that followed the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BOX_OFFICE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-11-15-30-22
By the way, passed the 1,000 comment mark recently. But that doesn’t include 500-some that mysteriously disappeared during my vacation months starting last winter. — Mike thanks me for every one, says it’s great!
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Breaking News: Comparison of one weekend to another unrelated weekend is equivalent to a 10 year comparison.
Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
that article says “Studio bosses generally blame bad weekends on bad movies.” and “many moviegoers complain about high ticket prices”
Perhaps if they weren’t betting on the Muppets to save them and put out some good movies instead, things would be different.
Or perhaps people just have better things to do than watch movies these days? Hell, I don’t want to go out to see movies. I can do that at home on a nice TV.
Re: Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
The Muppets got great reviews, what are you talking about?
Re: Re: Re:2 Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
I doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad – it’s Hollywood cashing in on tired nostalgia, which is all they’ve done for the last decade. The film business is nothing but corporate art run by marketers and the only creativity is coming from the handful of directors who have created their own little sandbox to play in.
But I don’t really blame Hollywood. I blame audiences who keep giving their money to garbage while great, original movies go unseen. People have to get over marketing hype.
Re: Re: Re:3 Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
However, the Men in Black III….oh ya. I’m all over that one….will be the first movie in years I have gone to theater to see.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
So you’re admitting the meme that “Hollywood is in trouble” isn’t a foregone conclusion?
That’s a major breakthrough for you!
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
I like how you implied Mike waas wrong with a single link there, yet won’t contradict him directly. Presumably, deep-down you know he’s right.
But as a counter-point (not that you really had one there, but I’ll try):
Like the stock market, the economy has its ups and downs. And also like the stock market, you need to look at how you’re doing long term. Smart people don’t look at one small event and assume the entire market is always like that 🙂
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
No they don’t. The article you posted was for a *single* data point, compared to cherry-picked “low”s at other times. Considering your displayed understanding of economics (and thus statistics) I suppose this might come as a shock to you, but it’s impossible to correlate a trend from a single point.
By the way, passed the 1,000 comment mark recently.
Just think – if you’d spent that time studying statistics or economics, you might actually have something relevant to contribute! Maybe that could be your new-years resolution – to actually learn something about the stuff you post? Please?
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Hmmm? Most people are out shopping. And let’s check out the line-up of blockbusters that the cinema is running. Note that the listing shows them in order of most recent release. Don’t think any of those are your $100M flick. The latest Twilight film is probably the big money maker and that has been out over a month now and made plenty even though I hear it was the worst of the series…and that is coming from fans.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
To be fair there isn’t a good movie out right now. If there was people would have gone to the movies. Making crappy content and pointing the fingers at piracy because nobody wants to pay for it is pretty typical of the Narcissistic entitlement industry…. errr Entertainment Industry.
Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
You mean there isn’t a popular movie out right now. It’s been over a decade since hollywood put out a good movie. Hollywood is all business and no imagination. The foreign studios are way more interesting to watch these days.
Re: Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Good point. I find that the overwhelming majority of movies are so bad that I can’t even be bothered to torrent them.
In other words: nearly all of Hollywood’s products suck so badly that I won’t watch them for free.
Re: Re: Re:2 I think you mean
“…the underwhelming majority of movies are so bad…”
Re: Re: Re:2 Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
I don’t own a TV cause there’s nothing to watch, and I don’t go to the theatre for the same reason.
The last movie I watched was Transformers 3, before that was Wall-E. Before that it would have been Return of the King. Incidentally, it costs more to see a movie than it does to buy the DVD when it comes out…
Re: Re: Re:2 Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
I avoid most of them myself.I no longer care what they put out.If I can not buy it used and physical I will never see it.
And maybe I want to see 4 films a year as the rest either are remakes or they suck or they have subject material I would never want to watch.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
How the hell do you know you’ve passed the 1,000 comment mark? You don’t have an account here. If I click on the word profile next to my own name, it shows I’ve made 730 comments. What about you? How are you keeping track? Besides, number of comments alone isn’t an indicator of quality. If you want to say “I’ve made 1,000 comments, therefore, I’m great”, then logically (something you apparently don’t use) you must also praise Mike who has written several articles a day, 5 days a week for over ten years.
Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
He keeps track of it in an Excel spreadsheet on his Leapfrog “Learn and Grow” Laptop.
Re: Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Is that compatible with Office 2010?
Re: Re: Re:2 Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Is that compatible with Office 2010?
Nah. But you can open the files with LibreOffice, for free!
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Flip the Page:
Another record broken at the box office last month! Yay!
Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
“I thought I told you to put the United Way update between those two.”
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
OMGosh! Hollywood had 2 bad weekends? Will Hollywood survive? What will we do?!? If this keeps up, what will happen to the children? WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!?!?
Did it ever occur to Hollywood that the reason they might have bad weekends is because they are not putting out as much good material that people are willing to pay for, or just rehashing old movies all together. Footloose is one of the more recent ones that comes to mind. Also, the national economy is not in good shape, yet Hollywood/Recording industry still want record breaking profits. RIAA & MPAAI, I will not pay for a turd, no matter how shiny it is.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Or maybe, just maybe, enough people have heard of the SOPA/ProtectIP crap, and instead of beating their heads against the walls here, they are doing what most people do….vote with their wallet.
For the handful of vocal people on here that are being forward and debating, there is a shit ton of other people that say “Oh, gonna be greedy now? Fine. /Boycott” and never even say another word about it.
Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Yep, this is why I’m going to have to pass on Underworld4, Spiderman, and Daredevil next year (among others). Sony gets as little money from me as I can manage.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Take a wander through The-Numbers.com, a movie industry research site.
Specifically, the section on the
Biggest Combined Gross for All Movies in a Single Weekend
Looks like of the five biggest weekends, two have been in this year. The remaining record weekends were in 2008 and 2009. Then look at the chart below that one, the worst weekends were all from 2000 and 2001.
It certainly doesn’t sound to me like the movie industry has any grounds for complaint about the box office revenue this year.
Re: Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Plus, they always fail to take in to account the markets outside the US. Funny, that while a lot of movies struggle to make much money at home, other countries (many of the “hotbeds of piracy) are breaking box office record after record.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Are you really this stupid?
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
“LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood’s holidays are off to a dreadful start: Fewer people went to the movies the last two weekends than during the box-office hush that followed the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago.”
So….because you have one bad weekend in the last decade of moviegoing (during which, by the way, most years were more profitable than not, and the CEO’s are being paid FIVE TIMES what they were 15 years ago) that means we need legislation that erodes due process, civil liberties, all but abolishes the bill of rights and the 1st and 4th amendments, and makes sharing a FELONY and giving MORE jail time to someone sharing a michael jackson song than to the man who ACTUALLY KILLED MICHAEL JACKSON HIMSELF?
REALLY?
Pardon me if I take a moment in stunned disbelief to say:
FUCK
YOU
and the paid-for congressman you rode in on.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
Congratulations on your 1000, or 1,500 comments. A nice solid slap on the back.
By the way, did you have AP’s approval to copy that newsflashy sort of sentence? I’ll have you know that AP doesn’t believe in or acknowledge things like fair use so consider yourself whacked across the head with a blunt object, courtesy of Associated Press.
PIRATE!! Thief of copyright! Horrible person! Immoral, unethical bag of water and carbon!!! May you rot in hell!!!! Or at least your own delusions!
And so what that box office receipts are down? That’s supposed to prove something other than a continuing bad economy or that the overwhelming bulk of Christmas releases are, for lack of a better word, crap?
Again, thanks for all your posts, blue. We wouldn’t be the same without you.
Re: Well, the AP says otherwise. Who knows?
By the way, passed the 1,000 comment mark recently.
Quantity over quality – big time! So what?
Before...
Before the comments about how this doesn’t excuse piracy, you are right, it doesn’t. Just as it doesn’t excuse bad and apparently unnecessary law (SOPA/PIPA).
There's only one person on the planet worthy of a $1m/year salary...
…and I didn’t see Stephen Hawking’s name on that list.
Re: There's only one person on the planet worthy of a $1m/year salary...
Amen to that.
Re: There's only one person on the planet worthy of a $1m/year salary...
Well, there’s another guy worthy of a $1m/year salary, and he’s called Sir Christopher Lee. And that’s because he’s a general badass, even in his late 80s.
Beautiful
It’s amazing how a little truth can shed light on a problem.
How do we get a copy into the hands of every congressman/senator so that they’ll stop echoing the entertainment industry’s double-digit gdp percentage claims?
Re: Beautiful
Bury it in a suitcase full of money then give them the suitcase.
I guarantee that a large percentage of those 374,000 jobs are part-time. Movie work is temp work – you’re always scouting for new jobs. A person can spend two weeks on a movie set making coffee and be counted in that figure.
Re: Re:
I am sure you are right. My roommate is a production assistant who does work on movies specials, commercials, etc. She works less than a week out of each month…
I’m sick and tired of rogue governments using rogue statistics to pass rogue laws (95+ year copy protection lengths) in favor of rogue corporations and industries.
I really like data like this, but couldn’t we please have a link to the data source?
Re: Re:
Publicly available via Congress.
It's about the secondary sales
While bootleg copies of new theatrical releases are seen as a problem, I think the main reason Hollyweird wants to get the Internet under control is so they can grow profits in the secondary release market, with streaming services being the emphasis. They hate Netflix because it’s rather cheap. They want government to secure their marketplace so they can increase prices on streaming. And yes, it’s all about making more profits, not “saving jobs”.
Ok, but..
I can see where the movie industry can get 1million employees..
But you also have to understand that this also includes control of Distribution in the WHOLE of the USA.
It also shows full Control over what is shown in the theaters.
IF’ you counted all the people involved in the theaters, distribution, and OVER priced food. you could get those numbers.
Re: Ok, but..
Even then you can’t get to 0.1% of the workforce. Assuming, wrongly, that they’re all full time workers.
Figured don’t lie, but liars can figure.
Mike, how about a graph of ticket sales and ticket prices? That makes it a little clearer, how ticket sales are DOWN significantly, and the money made up only by increases in ticket prices (mostly because of the 3D surcharge).
If you are going to run with some numbers, why not tell ALL the truth, rather than just one side?
Re: Re:
how about a graph of how shitty Hollywood movies have become over the past 10 years, with remake after remake after remake that are causing ticket sales to be down significantly, therefore, Hollywood has increased the prices on 3D shitty movies in an effort to make up the difference.
see, I can do it too.
Re: Re:
If you’re so smart and all-knowing, run the numbers for him. Point out how the Congressional research was wrong and prove it.
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I may never go to a theater again. I enjoy interactive entertainment as opposed to cold rooms, sticky floors, no pausing, over priced snacks, and over priced tickets.
I would rather read, play a video game, or rent a movie.
Right now however, if someone else really wanted to go though, I would.
If SOPA/PROTECTIP passes, I will never go again, even if someone asks, on principle.
Re: Re: Re:
“I enjoy interactive entertainment “
The trend does seem to be towards interactive entertainment, and less sit on your ass and watch this crappy remake.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Do you mean sit on your ass and thumb this joystick?
Perhaps we should start calling it inactive entertainment?
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So ticket prices are down and they still have record years. That’s wrong because?
The Proof Is Staring You In The Face
You yourself said it–the valuable Intellectual Property created by the recording and film industries has remained stagnant at 0.4%. Why? Precisely because of piracy. If it weren’t for the pirates, that 0.4% could have grown to, who knows, 4%, 40%, 400% by now.
This is why we need important laws like SOPA/PIPA, to create wealth like that.
Re: The Proof Is Staring You In The Face
Do we get to include the US Congress as part of the O.4%?
Just curious.
Re: The Proof Is Staring You In The Face
[citation needed]
I know I won’t be spending more money on those things. If the price goes up, I’ll do something else.
Re: Re: The Proof Is Staring You In The Face
I misread the post. I thought it said grown by 400%, not grown to 400%. You got me.
Re: The Proof Is Staring You In The Face
“Mr Big Content, Dec 12th, 2011 @ 5:07pm
You yourself said it–the valuable Intellectual Property created by the recording and film industries has remained stagnant at 0.4%. Why? Precisely because of piracy. If it weren’t for the pirates, that 0.4% could have grown to, who knows, 4%, 40%, 400% by now.
This is why we need important laws like SOPA/PIPA, to create wealth like that.”
Create wealth? if it were jobs to be saved i could’ve agreed. but seeing how the difference in jobs is nearly 20k spread over multiple companies it might as well be blamed to the current economy state.
that as side will those laws create jobs; most likely will the money generated by those laws go to those workers? i think not as said before those CEO’s board members will likely see the majority of that on their annual bonus cheque. and I for one will not sponsor a CEO because he thinks after 15 years a salary increase of 300%+ isn’t enough.
Would like to know...
The union has been telling us that we need to support PIPA/SOPA because without it the studios and networks wont be able to afford to keep producing movies and TV and we will all lose our jobs. I’d really like to see some verifiable figures for profit as return on investment, especially for the episodic (tv series) market, i.e. if I invest $35 million to produce 22 episodes of a TV show what percentage profit am I looking at? What are gross revenues?
Re: Would like to know...
Given that some 80% of proposed new series never make it to air anywhere in the English speaking world investment in a tv series is a colossal risk. Two thirds of those that do are cancelled in 4-6 weeks these days. Mostly because they’re colossally bad.
Taken together I suspect the profits and revenues are negative once the rare hit is removed from them. One reason why the producers tend to be silent on the whole issue.
All in all bad reality shows are the best bet which is why so few of your union’s membership is working these days because reality tv is incredibly cheap to make, demands only first year film making course quality and can be shot on a $300 handy cam.
Not a pirate there at all. Except those Hollywood casts as such. Like the pirate sites they whinge on about.
Re: Would like to know...
You will never get a real answer thanks to Hollywood Accounting.
It is a similar model used by the recording industry. The Canadian arm was on the hook for up to 6 billion owed to people they “forgot” to pay, they settled for 50 millionish and one of them is trying to force their insurance company to pay off on them ignoring their obligation to pay their workers.
The Hollywood accounting made a Harry Potter film that took in tons of money, look like it was a complete loss on paper. One would think if a “Blockbuster” like Harry Potter is such a dog, why would they have made more. I’m guessing because what they record on the accounting sheets is craftily whittled down to nothingness, lowering what they have to pay out to anyone working for/with them.
The Union is using scare tactics, the truth is if they managed to get these crap laws passed then you will be out of jobs.
No one will ever find out about a new tv series, because any coverage not approved will be deleted. Any bad review will be deleted. Any fansites will be deleted, and the person running it will end up facing jail time. Consumers will be in terror of even tweeting anything about a show, less they come get them. Twitter will most likely filter tv show names to avoid the hassle of yet another delete it or be blackholed off the internet and sued for billions demand letter.
People will look for new entertainment avenues where the people producing the content understand the consumers are not the enemy and the internet can be their best freind… up until they declare every form of streaming not owned by the major corporations has to be infringing content and is blackholed with a simple form letter with no one making sure they aren’t lying about it.
OBVIOUS
WHY?
POOOOOOOOOOWER GRAAAAAAAAB.
I wonder how Hollywood would explain the fact that the most pirated film of all time, “Avatar”, is also one of the biggest moneymakers of all time.
Re: Re:
Another three of them would the the Lord of The Rings trilogy.
So...
Lots of hard workers only a few that work hard amd smart. And so they are rewarded accordingly. Noone is forcing anyone to go watch movies.