Talk:Branded entertainment

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Branded Entertainment: Form follows function

by Stephen Mitchell

Form follows function. Louis Henri Sullivan

Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union. Frank Lloyd Wright

The original quote by Sullivan and the follow-up by Wright were spoken as architects, but nothing could be truer as it applies to the art and craft of screenwriting. Movies have always had the task to entertain, sometimes to inform and occasionally to educate. Most of the learning process for screenwriters has been to integrate characters and action and to reconcile them with the theme. Along with this, one hopes to learn the nuances of genre and come to understand the demographic constituency of the audience. Until recently, that was enough. Not anymore, it isn't.

The transformation the film industry has gone through since motion pictures like Sunset Boulevard and Lawrence of Arabia were being made has changed the form and function of movies and how and why they are made. Today's movies are mass marketing vehicles intended to sell a lot more than theater tickets. It might surprise you to know that each of the major Hollywood studios has a department that sells `space' in their movies to corporations wanting their products seen in the movie as a sort of commercial. If you saw Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, you will recall that the movie sold out to `standing-room-only' proportions as far as product placement is concerned.

Once product placement became an imperative for the film studio and corporate advertiser alike, it was only a matter of time before branded entertainment and product integration would come on the scene. Whereas product placement is the presentation of a watch, liquor or automobile within a movie in a complimentary context, branded entertainment is where project and product are "joined in a spiritual union."

Someday, this subject will be incorporated into screenwriting curriculum. Today, if you are even aware of the subject you are ahead of the curve.