[Feature] Hollywood and the Game Industry

By Cindy Bowens | May 20, 2007 | | Filed under: Features | Tags: California, law enforcement, player, President, psychology professor, Ralph Morgan, Screen Actors Guild, writer

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Contributor Cindy Bowens of Seashadow Consulting looks back at how the movie industry grew around Hollywood and compares it to the now growing games industry.

When I was young girl, I had a fascination with old Hollywood. I watched old, classic black and white movies and read novels written during those times.
They were about all of those young starlets that were discovered on street corners and in malt shops. How they came to Hollywood (always from a small Midwestern town) and they worked as secretaries or waiters until they finally got their big break and became a star! It was all so glamorous and exciting!

When I grew up, I began to read more that was written about those glory days of Hollywood, rather than materials that were published during those times. The picture was not quite as pretty. You see, there was this new technology called ‘talking pictures’ and it was turning everyday, normal people into “stars” and making a lot of people a lot of money. The notion of running off to Hollywood to become a star was a popular one. People from all over the world and from all walks of life flocked to sunny California to make their dreams come true. I guess they were all reading the same stories I was reading when I was a kid.

This was a brand new industry, different from anything before it. Not only was it an industry that attracted thousands (from actors to directors to film-makers), it was an industry that generated great amounts of money. It was also the first industry that could almost instantly turn anyone into an international celebrity.

I have been working in the MMOG field since 2000. I tend to make a lot of friends and I like to keep in touch with people whenever I can. It turns out that many of us in the gaming industry are a pretty transient bunch. Oh, sure, you have the occasional long-term employee who spends his or her entire career with one company. But I have found them to be rare. Most of the people I know in the industry have worked for more than one company (many for several) over the course of their careers.

The result is that I have friends throughout the industry. Some are still in the MMOG field, others are working on console projects now. I know people from dozens of companies of various sizes. Some are at huge publishing houses and others are working on quiet, little yet-to-be-named projects. I have the opportunity to talk with people at all levels of success in this industry. Some are now very successful and well known. Some are still trying to work their way up the ladder from entry level jobs. Some have given up or gotten burned out and gone back home. But I have heard all of their stories about their adventures in this industry. Some are thrilled with the company for which they are working. Others are frustrated and disillusioned.

Either way, the longer I am in this industry and the more stories I hear, the more I think it mirrors the early movie industry. And as my psychology professor was so fond of saying, the greatest prediction of future behavior is past behavior. So we may even have an indication of where this industry may go from here.

Everyone Wants In!

Just like thousands flocked to Hollywood hoping for their big break, people will leave their lives behind and risk everything to take a chance on making it in the game industry. I have seen people leave great jobs, families, school, everything that was dear to them to take a minimum wage job in an over-priced area such as Southern California to try to get their break. I know many who were former fire fighters, in law enforcement, in the legal profession… all willing to give up secure futures for the chance to work on games. I have received hundreds of emails from gamers begging for a chance to get their foot in the door, often even offering to work for free just for the chance.

Most of us are familiar with the EA case (link) in which workers sued over unpaid hours and poor working conditions (in the form of unreasonable demands of overtime). For many outside of the industry, this was an eye-opener. For those that have been around a while, it was no surprise. Stories about many of the practices mentioned in the lawsuit have been common in this industry. Obviously, it varies from company to company. Some are better and some are worse.

In my opinion, this problem will always arise when you have an overabundance of people that want to fill a limited number of positions. There inevitably seems to arise an attitude that says, “If you don’t like it here, leave. We can always replace you with someone else who is more eager to please and will work for less.

No Love if You’re Not a Star!

Some of those old Hollywood stories were sort of true… some people did get discovered and they became stars. They were able to live lives most of us only dream of, finding great fame and fortune. But most of them didn’t make it. For every starlet that saw his or her name in lights, there were thousands of bit players no one ever heard of. And although many of these folks worked just as hard and did just as much to contribute to a picture, they never saw the financial profit or the benefits afforded to the stars.

This industry has to work out many of the same issues. Who should collect royalties and residuals? Only those that had direct creative input or everyone that worked on the game in any way? What about retirement? Most of us will not retire from the company at which we started and smaller projects often offer few benefits to their employees. So what happens to the guy that has bounced from small project to small project? Not much security there.

Who’s in Charge Here?

In the early days of Hollywood, the studios had complete control over the production. They called the shots for everyone from the writer to the two-bit player. Stars were under contract and under the complete control of the studio. Everyone else was expendable. There was no such thing as an independent film.

In today’s MMOG environment, it’s pretty tough, maybe even impossible, for a small independent company to finance a major game. Because of their long development cycles, they are expensive and they are a risky venture financially. We have seen more and more small companies be bought up and integrated into the larger corporations. The question often arises who really has control over the project itself… the creators or the publishers?

Show Me the Money!

The development of new technology made it possible for many companies to continue to make money from re-releasing movies and television broadcasts (and much later, there were videos and DVDs as well). Because there were no contracts in place regarding these matters, often the creators and stars of these pictures got nothing and all of the profit went to the studio. There are stories of stars that died in poverty while the studio raked in millions from their work from re-releases and re-runs.

The game industry faces some similar challenges. If you created a game, then leave the project and it is re-released or updated, should you still get a cut? And what about the guy that did the artwork? The programming? What about your Customer Support team? All of these people make an MMOG what it is. Should they continue to profit from a creation if it continues to make money, even if they are no longer with the company? These are all things that I think will continue to need to be addressed over the coming years.

And what about secondary sales? There are millions being made by companies that resell game items (explicitly against most User Agreements). Do these folks have the right to make money from the creative sweat and tears of others? What rights do the creators have in this area? Who should have control?

What’s next?

In 1933, the Screen Actors Guild was formed. From the SAG website (link):

Both idealism and outrage motivated the Founding Fathers and Mothers who created the Screen Actors Guild. Idealism, in that they believed they could succeed in doing, as Guild President Ralph Morgan once said, “the greatest good for the greatest number” by building a respected organization to protect actors. And outrage primarily over long, grueling hours and workweeks that they found intolerable in Hollywood.

A series of lawsuits against the studios followed, eventually winning rights and benefits for everyone working in the industry, whether they were a star or not. SAG has been involved in everything from standardizing work hours and conditions to ensuring that contracts kept up with technology to benefit the employees as well as the distributors. This organization was formed to protect the little guy, the one that worked just as hard as everyone else but maybe never made it to stardom. They even have their own retirement and benefits programs. And they are to this day the watchdogs of the industry, vigilantly assuring that standards are met and laws are adhered to.

I would not be at all surprised to eventually see the game industry’s version of SAG, a watchdog group of people from throughout the industry that will help to raise standards, change laws and champion the causes of its workers. The EA lawsuit resulted in the formation of a site that could even be the beginnings of something like this, with involved individuals launching the site Gamewatch (link). Who knows? That could be a starting point.

As mentioned above, we have already seen one lawsuit settled out of court. I don’t know yet if that will be enough to make everyone behave appropriately. I doubt it. I think instead we will eventually see more lawsuits to bring the needed changes for many companies. Doesn’t it usually take lawsuits to finally change things in this country?

I can certainly envision more lawsuits by employees. But I would also not be surprised to see court cases over control of projects and creative freedom, not to mention issues such as royalties and residuals as this market flourishes. And if a SAG-like union should spring up, I can see them taking on issues such as the secondary market.

I predict that over that next couple of decades, we will see lots of these types of lawsuits. I think we will eventually see the game industry grow up in much the same way the movie industry did. Hours and conditions will become standardized and monitored, publishers will have less creative control over developers and the independent development studio will resurface.

Ok, not everyone will be able to become a star. But I do think we will eventually have a more stable industry. When someone takes a job, they won’t have to wonder if they got lucky and have an employer that won’t take advantage of them (and yes, there are still plenty of those) or if they are still in the Dark Ages and will expect them to give up their lives for the chance at a job making games. And an industry with better workers and less exploitation is bound to produce better products.

I’m no psychic and I have been wrong before. But so far, we have mirrored the movies pretty closely. I hope I am still around in a few decades to see whether or not the trend continues.