Has Corporatisation benefitted Bollywood?
This has been a topic of debate right from the time the corporates entered into film production that whether it is good for the industry or will lead to more chaos.As it happens with every change there are both pros and cons
Lets talk about positives first- it has definitely made the industry more organized and reduced the risks.Film making is a crazy business and corporates have brought method to madness.When did we last hear a producer selling his house or getting bankrupt? The pumping of money by corporates has finally reduced burden in many ways.
In earlier days,even stalwarts like Guru Dutt,Raj Kapoor and Sunil Dutt suffered huge losses when their ambitious projects failed miserably and they lost huge money.In early days it was common for producers to put their own property and money at stake to produce movies.Hindi film industry although had started on a good note in 1940s following the studio system and studios like Bombay Talkies(kickstarted the careers of icons like Ashok Kumar and Dev Anand) ruled the roost.The actors would work on payroll of the studios and the industry was organised,but the business after becoming bigger gave rise to star system which eventually lead to breakdown of studio system and gave rise to independent producers and raising finances became a herculean task for them.This is also one of the reasons which gave to rise of underworld funding and and also funds by some other shady sources
The whole industry was disorganized and paper work was rarely done and all things worked mostly on verbal commitments be it actors' remuneration or paying the crew,or actors reporting to the sets on time and neither there used to be a bound script(first an actor was signed and mostly post that script was written keeping their image in mind and actors made producers dance to their tunes).No wonder the industry has always been infamous for discrepancies in money matters and it was common for actors and crew complaining about non payments of dues and vice versa
This continued for next five decades till 2000 when the film industry was accorded 'Industry' status and the institutional funding came into being and many corporates were also willing to invest in movies and their organized approach benefitted both producers and other stake holders.
It helps producers by making the whole process more organized and by introducing the concept of pre selling the movies.Most producers try to make as much money as possible before the release itself not depending entirely upon the theatrical revenue which can be tricky.This includes home video,music rights, satellite rights and other brand tie ups.Since corporates are better at striking business deals and brand tie ups, their core knowledge of these things comes in handy for the producers who may not be very good with these things even if they know everything about film making.
Take the example of ABCL which was launched way back in 1995 to corporatize the film making process but even someone like Amitabh Bachhan who knew the business of film making in and out could not make it work simply because he was not good with managing money or lets say business in general despite having the domain knowledge of the industry.If he had tied up or entered in partnership with a corporate house,ABCL would have been the credited as the company which brought corporatisation to the industry but leave corporatisation it made him bankrupt
Of course,while selling films to the distributors,producers are the ones who can negotiate better since they are more familiar with that process.If the movie is by a big production house or has a big star it gets sold before the release itself for ex-Dabanng 2 too was sold within few days of its announcement,even the satellite and home video rights of big movies are sold beforehand ex-Agneepath and forthcoming Talash.This relieves producers of losses and they can concentrate entirely on making a good product
It also helps the actors since they get paid more and hence can concentrate on one project at a time and hence can be more professional and get involved in other departments too.Also bound scripts are must and it cannot be changed at whims and fancies of the producers or directors.This also lead to the trend of actors not taking fee upfront but share the profits,if the movie scores in terms of theater earnings too they get a bomb.In fact this organization of the whole process has lead to most actors becoming producers,since they can enter in partnership with a corporate and concentrate on the creative aspect leaving financial worries to the corporates.They can do so with independent producers too but in that case chances of interference and creative differences increase since independent producers themselves are aware of all the areas of film making
But there is other side of story too.The most common complaint which producers have is that corporates at times interfere in the creative part too about which they don't' have any knowledge and sometimes they fail to understand that there is a difference between selling steel,iron or garments and a movie.The creative part should be completely left to the creative people,of course its not as easy as it sounds because if the corporates are putting their money they do need to see if it would fetch them returns,that is where the compatliblity between film makers and corporates come into the picture some like Vishal Bhardwaj and Ashutosh Gowariker have had excellent experiences with them but some like Mukesh Bhatt swear not to work with them
Also the corporates need to understand that unlike their core businesses movie making is not something in which pumping more money and increasing their capacity can generate a better output.Nobody ever has ever cracked a formula for a successful film.If an automobile company increases its plant's capacity it can produce 10 more cars every month and hence more profits but if one invests more in a movie either by taking a big star or investing in foreign locations it doesn't' necessarily guarnatee a successful movie.No wonder some corporates burned their hands and dont' want to make a movie again like Raymond and Oswals
The most important thing corporates need to do is to include industry veterans as consultants while green lighting the projects.Even though nobody knows the formula for a successful film but at least industry people have more idea about what works and what not,a brand manager of a big corporate house cannot decide which project should be funded and which should be rejected,they can definitely help out with the marketing and selling process but not funding.They also need to train their executives regarding a thing or a two about film making by making them interact with the film makers and the whole process,in this way they can handle it better.A person may be hugely successful in selling consumer durables or cars but he/she may not be successful in marketing movies if they dont' know how the industry works
Indian film industry is in a very interesting phase now and the business is getting bigger and it expected to grow at a CAGR of 15%.The coming of corporates has been a welcoming trend not only in terms of disciplined approach to film making but also in churning out a wide variety of movies.
Since corporates have more money at their disposal they are more risk averse and can try out making experimental movies and in case even if they fail they can bear the losses but the only worry on that front is that the creative process doesn't' get hampered and the quality of movies don't' suffer.These days since the promotion and hype are even making average movies work and some good movies losing out because of lack of it,it may happen that corporates may concentrate more on promoting the movie than taking care of its content because at the end of the day its the profits which matter of them rather than an independent film makers who have more passion for making movies and bothered about content too
Lets talk about positives first- it has definitely made the industry more organized and reduced the risks.Film making is a crazy business and corporates have brought method to madness.When did we last hear a producer selling his house or getting bankrupt? The pumping of money by corporates has finally reduced burden in many ways.
In earlier days,even stalwarts like Guru Dutt,Raj Kapoor and Sunil Dutt suffered huge losses when their ambitious projects failed miserably and they lost huge money.In early days it was common for producers to put their own property and money at stake to produce movies.Hindi film industry although had started on a good note in 1940s following the studio system and studios like Bombay Talkies(kickstarted the careers of icons like Ashok Kumar and Dev Anand) ruled the roost.The actors would work on payroll of the studios and the industry was organised,but the business after becoming bigger gave rise to star system which eventually lead to breakdown of studio system and gave rise to independent producers and raising finances became a herculean task for them.This is also one of the reasons which gave to rise of underworld funding and and also funds by some other shady sources
The whole industry was disorganized and paper work was rarely done and all things worked mostly on verbal commitments be it actors' remuneration or paying the crew,or actors reporting to the sets on time and neither there used to be a bound script(first an actor was signed and mostly post that script was written keeping their image in mind and actors made producers dance to their tunes).No wonder the industry has always been infamous for discrepancies in money matters and it was common for actors and crew complaining about non payments of dues and vice versa
This continued for next five decades till 2000 when the film industry was accorded 'Industry' status and the institutional funding came into being and many corporates were also willing to invest in movies and their organized approach benefitted both producers and other stake holders.
It helps producers by making the whole process more organized and by introducing the concept of pre selling the movies.Most producers try to make as much money as possible before the release itself not depending entirely upon the theatrical revenue which can be tricky.This includes home video,music rights, satellite rights and other brand tie ups.Since corporates are better at striking business deals and brand tie ups, their core knowledge of these things comes in handy for the producers who may not be very good with these things even if they know everything about film making.
Take the example of ABCL which was launched way back in 1995 to corporatize the film making process but even someone like Amitabh Bachhan who knew the business of film making in and out could not make it work simply because he was not good with managing money or lets say business in general despite having the domain knowledge of the industry.If he had tied up or entered in partnership with a corporate house,ABCL would have been the credited as the company which brought corporatisation to the industry but leave corporatisation it made him bankrupt
Of course,while selling films to the distributors,producers are the ones who can negotiate better since they are more familiar with that process.If the movie is by a big production house or has a big star it gets sold before the release itself for ex-Dabanng 2 too was sold within few days of its announcement,even the satellite and home video rights of big movies are sold beforehand ex-Agneepath and forthcoming Talash.This relieves producers of losses and they can concentrate entirely on making a good product
It also helps the actors since they get paid more and hence can concentrate on one project at a time and hence can be more professional and get involved in other departments too.Also bound scripts are must and it cannot be changed at whims and fancies of the producers or directors.This also lead to the trend of actors not taking fee upfront but share the profits,if the movie scores in terms of theater earnings too they get a bomb.In fact this organization of the whole process has lead to most actors becoming producers,since they can enter in partnership with a corporate and concentrate on the creative aspect leaving financial worries to the corporates.They can do so with independent producers too but in that case chances of interference and creative differences increase since independent producers themselves are aware of all the areas of film making
But there is other side of story too.The most common complaint which producers have is that corporates at times interfere in the creative part too about which they don't' have any knowledge and sometimes they fail to understand that there is a difference between selling steel,iron or garments and a movie.The creative part should be completely left to the creative people,of course its not as easy as it sounds because if the corporates are putting their money they do need to see if it would fetch them returns,that is where the compatliblity between film makers and corporates come into the picture some like Vishal Bhardwaj and Ashutosh Gowariker have had excellent experiences with them but some like Mukesh Bhatt swear not to work with them
Also the corporates need to understand that unlike their core businesses movie making is not something in which pumping more money and increasing their capacity can generate a better output.Nobody ever has ever cracked a formula for a successful film.If an automobile company increases its plant's capacity it can produce 10 more cars every month and hence more profits but if one invests more in a movie either by taking a big star or investing in foreign locations it doesn't' necessarily guarnatee a successful movie.No wonder some corporates burned their hands and dont' want to make a movie again like Raymond and Oswals
The most important thing corporates need to do is to include industry veterans as consultants while green lighting the projects.Even though nobody knows the formula for a successful film but at least industry people have more idea about what works and what not,a brand manager of a big corporate house cannot decide which project should be funded and which should be rejected,they can definitely help out with the marketing and selling process but not funding.They also need to train their executives regarding a thing or a two about film making by making them interact with the film makers and the whole process,in this way they can handle it better.A person may be hugely successful in selling consumer durables or cars but he/she may not be successful in marketing movies if they dont' know how the industry works
Indian film industry is in a very interesting phase now and the business is getting bigger and it expected to grow at a CAGR of 15%.The coming of corporates has been a welcoming trend not only in terms of disciplined approach to film making but also in churning out a wide variety of movies.
Since corporates have more money at their disposal they are more risk averse and can try out making experimental movies and in case even if they fail they can bear the losses but the only worry on that front is that the creative process doesn't' get hampered and the quality of movies don't' suffer.These days since the promotion and hype are even making average movies work and some good movies losing out because of lack of it,it may happen that corporates may concentrate more on promoting the movie than taking care of its content because at the end of the day its the profits which matter of them rather than an independent film makers who have more passion for making movies and bothered about content too
from my point of view it has helped bollywood
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