Fresh off the largest commercial success of his career, Martin Scorsese has signed a four-year first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to produce and direct across multiple platforms.
One unusual part of the agreement is that Paramount has an option on anything Scorsese does outside the studio to own half of the project, along with co-distribute the film, says Variety.
Referring to Brad Grey, a producer on "Departed," Scorsese said:
"I have had a great personal relationship with Brad Grey for several years now and am looking forward to working with him at Paramount, a studio rich in cinematic history and responsible for making some of my favorite films -- 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Shane' and 'The Heiress,' among others."
Variety weakly tries to make this out as a type of bucking of the trend to be fiscally responsible and manage studios better by saying that this deal shows that studios still want to hire directors with talent and that can especially draw talent. In other words they're still willing to spend tons of money according to that argument.
The problem with that statement is that it's counter to the historical reality of movie productions that we talk about here all the time. And that is that star power or a director's ability are the least factors in success of a movie, rather, it's the key ingredients in a story, and the story itself that makes the difference.
Take almost any actor or director and look at their list of projects they've worked in and see that it's true.
The one thing great directors and right casting can do is enhance an already good story and make sure that it's told in the highest quality way. Superstars have nothing to do with that.
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