Native Diversity 2010 video

A video by Roscoe Pond on the success of Native actors in Hollywood this year:

Here are the Native performers who touched the mainstream in movies and on TV in 2010. There is such a thing as Native diversity in Hollywood. Let us hope for more work in 2011.Annie of NativeCelebs adds:Great idea for a video, Roscoe! Let's see if there are any more? I think these were in 2010: Geri Keams and Misty Upham in Big Love. Wes Studi and a few more in The Mentalist. Gil Birmingham in Castle. Hard to remember all of it.Comment:  I think Pond got most of the notable Native performances. The only omission I noted was Michael Horse in three episodes of Sons of Tucson. Oh, and Saginaw Grant in The Dudesons. And I would've left Tinsel Korey out.

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians and The Best Indian Movies.

Roscoe Pond or a big-name actor?

In response to Producer Says No to Pond, correspondent Jet posted an insider's look into how the "industry" works. Thanks for your thoughts, Jet. Let's continue the discussion and see how it applies to the plight of Natives in Hollywood.

For starters, Pond isn't pitching his script as a low-budget indie film. It sounds like a mid-range action movie that needs a studio's backing. So I'm not sure how your points about indie movies apply.

Johnny Depp wasn't a bankable star until Pirates of the Caribbean made him one. Judging by movies such as Public Enemies, it's still not clear if he's bankable.

What's the URL for the Forbes list you mentioned? All I see is Most Marketable Faces: A Forbes List, which is about magazine covers.

I understand that investors, studios, and distributors think they need "names" attached to a project to sell tickets and copies. I'm just saying I haven't seen any evidence that they're right.

Here's a list of the Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters and Flops. What's notable is that many of them involve a big-name actor, director, or "property." The investors, studios, and distributors who banked on the "big names" screwed up royally. They basically threw their money away. Roscoe Pond's movie would've been a better bet than these losers.

Here's a list of Hollywood’s Most Overpaid Stars. And another list of 18 Film Stars Impervious to Box-Office Flops. Why do investors, studios, and distributors keep turning to these stars? The movies they make often flounder. Explain the logic of hiring these "big names" when they're likely to lose money.

There must be tons of action and horror movies that had moderate budgets and no big-name stars but made money hand-over-fist. In fact, this kind of movie may be your best bet if you're an investor looking to earn a profit. Roscoe Pond's project falls squarely into this category.

In short, when someone shows me a study that proves the correlation between a star's popularity and a movie's sales (box office, DVDs, etc.), then I'll believe it. Until then, we're talking about what people think, not what actually is.

For more on the subject, see Jet's Film Financing Story and Fallacy of the Big-Name Actor.

Below:  Some movies that flopped despite having "big names" attached.

Producer says no to Pond

Producer Says NO to Native American Screenplay

By Roscoe PondIt is no secret that I have been working on an action thriller screenplay. It is about a Native American LAPD officer who tries to solve the murder of his brother. I had a premature "table read" of this script a few years back. It has come a long way since then. The story has stayed the same. I just felt I had to amp up the action. I received great feedback on it by many, but nothing really concrete in getting the screenplay made into a film. I even got advice from a film distributor who really liked it, but said he wanted to love it. The question in my mind is always "how can I make this better?"

Matt gave me a great response. He loved my screenplay and thought it had potential. His big concern was not having enough money for the budget of an action thriller. He told me to try and get a studio behind it. He warned though that it could be tough without the right actor. We had a long talk about "casting" the lead in my screenplay. I've had this conversation before and it is always about which "star" name could carry this film. Who can bring in money at the box office? I told him like I tell everybody else. I am the "lead" character. I don't want to direct it. I want only to "star" in it. I wrote the "lead" for me! Matt's point was that if I had a known "name" actor in the lead. The studios might take it on.Comment:  Roscoe Pond is arguably the Gene Shalit of Native movie "critics": He likes everything he sees. Therefore, I wonder how good his screenplay is.

But this "producer" doesn't seem to understand how to make money in Hollywood any better than the studios do. A "name" actor? Did Shia LaBeouf sell The Transformers? Did Chris Pine sell Star Trek? Did Sigourney Weaver sell Avatar? No, no, and no.

If you have a great story, great action, and perhaps a great director, that's all you need. A superstar doesn't sell a movie--except to the scared bean-counters--and is arguably a waste of money. Hence the fallacy of the big-name actor.

I don't know if Pond is a good actor. But he looks like he could play a tough SOB. Put him on a good movie poster and in a good trailer and you're already halfway to selling the movie.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.