When movie actors are interviewed, they often refer to a "new project
I'm working on." Whence cometh this substitution of "project" for
"movie"? Architects wouldn't speak of a new project, but rather a new
building or bridge design. Surely the actor realizes that his or her
use of "project" is interpreted to mean "movie." What purpose, then,
does this less-than-precise synonym serve?

---

Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 28 Oct 2004 11:39 PDT

Hundreds, if not thousands, of "movies" never become movies at all.
Some fail before they are finished (for a variety of reasons like
budget constraints, embezzelment, death, war, etc.) and others get
finished but never make it to the editing room before production is
halted. Still others are completed but never make it out of the can -
in other words no one wants them or buys them and they languish into
obscurity, never actually becoming a "movie" at all. Having said that,
until a film actually becomes a motion picture, it is safe (and
probably somewhat chic) to refer to the pending finished product as "a
project".

How's that for an answer?

tutuzdad-ga

---

Clarification of Question by nautico-ga on 28 Oct 2004 12:15 PDT

Sure, make that your answer. I would venture to say, however, that
most all of the actors worthy of TV interviews work on "projects" that
become movies 99% of the time. Tom Cruise routinely uses the word
"project." I agree that "project" has become chic. The word seems
intended to convey something of terribly serious import, not a mere
movie!

Dear nautico:

Thank you for allowing me to answer your question. While you are
probably right that many of the actors and actresses worthy of
interviews who refer to their movies as projects are virtually
guaranteed to have their "projects" actually made into movies, I think
you'd be surpised at how many of these same people do "projects" that
don't become finished movies.

In addition, I think the mindset of individuals who work on movies
tend to view the "project" as "their" effort toward the making of the
movie and little more. Even though the general public assumes that the
finished product is "their" movie, this is often technically incorrect
since they usually don't own it, but merely worked on it. The term
"project" then is likley more politically correct when referring to
the effort they put forth toward the making of the motion picture. It
isn't uncommon for lighting companies, camera men, editors and the
like to seek projects to work on, without particular concern for the
movie itself, so much as the opportunity to work their craft. If you
search for [movie "seeking projects"] and [actors "seeking projects"]
you'll see just how prevalent this is, especially with regard to
technical and financial entities involved in making films.

GOOGLE SEARCH
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=movie+%22seeking+projects%22&btnG=Search

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=actors+%22seeking+projects%22

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Makes sense to me!

From what I have observed, when an actor refers to a movie as a
"project," this often means that the actor is wearing several hats in
the development of the planned movie. If an actor is just a salaried
performer, he's less likely to use the term "project" than if, in
addition to performing, he is involved in details of production and/or
financing. Many actors (and the companies which they've founded)
actively develop "projects" which may or not become vehicles in which
the actor in question will star. In such cases, I don't see anything
pretentious about the use of the term "project" by an actor.

Thanks, Pink. You are a veritable fount of arcana.

It's interesting that, in both film and popular music, actors and
singers have expanded their roles to include what used to be done
solely by others, namely, directors, producers, and song writers &
lyricists. I suppose that the principal motivation came from wanting
both a bigger piece of the financial action and total control over the
artistic component. One wonders whether such elimination of
compartmentalization has had on balance a good or a bad effect on the
finished product from the point of view of the audience.