Judd Apatow Explains The Problem With Current Studio Comedies

It says something about the state of contemporary studio comedies that the summer’s big rom-com hit, “The Big Sick,” is an independent film. That fact isn’t lost on Judd Apatow, a producer on the film, who has also had his own string of mainstream comedy hits with “The 40-Year Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up,” and “Trainwreck.” And while studios are still making comedies, more and more often, they fit comfortably into an easily sellable format (think of the countless, interchangeable raunchy comedies that have been released over the past few years). So, what happened to the days when MGM would release something like “When Harry Met Sally?”

READ MORE: Zoe Kazan Shines In Kumail Nanjiani’s Hilarious & Heartfelt New Comedy ‘The Big Sick’ [Sundance Review]

In an interview with Vulture, Apatow believes that the studios just aren’t making the investment with time or money to create or buy those kind of scripts, or rolling the dice on high concept fare. Here’s what he had to say:

When you make the list of the best movies of all time, you’re always going to put Airplane! on it. And if movies like that aren’t being made right now, it’s because people aren’t smart enough and funny enough to make them. I don’t think it’s a result of studios or audiences rejecting anything or trying to copy anything else. If someone made a movie as funny as Airplane! right now it would make a billion dollars. Occasionally people try; most of the time they fail. When you do a big, broad comedy and it fails, it’s an easy target for criticism. I also don’t think critics have a great respect for the effort it takes to make people piss their pants laughing. They think it’s more honorable to show someone in torment, but being able to do that doesn’t make you more of an artist than being able to make The Naked Gun. It’s not hard to make people cry. Kill a dog.

I also think that something has happened with studio comedies that no one ever talks about.

….after the last writers’ strike, it felt like the studios decided not to develop movies. They used to buy a lot of scripts, and they had big teams of people giving notes, and they worked for years with people in collaboration on those scripts. I feel like the studios don’t buy as many scripts now. It used to be you’d open up Variety, and you’d see a movie studio had just bought a big high-concept comedy. Now it seems like they’d rather things come in packaged: a script, a cast, a director. As a result, a lot of great comedy writers are going to television instead of sitting at home and trying to write a script for a film, write the way I was.

Apatow is totally right. Packaging movies — in almost every genre — is how it works these days. The talent assembles around a screenplay, it gets shopped, and someone buys it. There’s little opportunity at the studios to sell a pitch and take your time to hone it. So it’s easy to see the appeal of television where you can have more creative freedom to do just that. Thoughts? Let us know in the comments section.