I think the problem with movies these days is that they are trying too hard to "give us what we want." There's no originality. They're playing it safe. Big name stars, expensive special effects, lots of sequels to previous movies or TV shows. They are even making sequels to movies and TV shows that were never much good to begin with. When there is something fresh and original, it does well. Then every studio tries to turn out a movie just like it, and it rarely works.

There are still lots of good stories to be made, but it's become a lot harder to get them made. Not because producers are too busy stroking their own egos, but because they're too busy counting beans. Movies have become so expensive they're afraid to fail. So they play it safe.

It's the same with publishing. The midlist has disappeared. You have a few blockbuster authors like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, and a bunch of no-name new authors, and very little in between. In that past, the midlist was a publisher's bread and butter. No more. As a friend of mine in the business put it, publishers now demand a manuscript that is "new and original, and exactly like last year's bestseller."