(4) DREAM FACTORY
In California entertainment was turned into an industry. And for ages Los Angeles has been the dream factory of the world. Feature Films and TV Movies have spread the image of Californian lifestyle from Reykjavik to Capetown. Hollywood stars have become the ultimate icons of modern times. California is the headquarters of the world‘s collective consciousness production.
Even though the glamour of the fifties or sixties seems to have been replaced by just glamorous fees and a glamorous remoteness of Hollywood trom the real world. „Dream factory“ takes a glimpse behind the facades of the movie star world in Hollywood and the Beverly Hills. We peep into everyday life of the entertainment industry, where waitresses are looking for stardom, producers meet for power lunches and screen writers from all over the world will try almost everything – for just one hit movie. Pictures from a world that feels strangely familiar – just like the guys on tv.
We are meeting Leonard Nimoy aka Mister Spock in Pasadena, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his „Terminator“ director James Cameron on Hollywood Boulevard, Clint Eastwood claims that he doesn‘t enjoy to be in Warner Bros studios in L.A. (he rather spends his time in Carmel by the coast), and Crocodile-Dundee superstar Paul Hogan is almost of the same breed. But this is Hollywood, where dreams are made effortlessly. And the money and the people are here, who know how to handle that business. Peter Guber, producer of hit movies such as „Easy Rider“ admits: „In the end the only question that really matters is: How much have we earned?“
Even though the glamour of the fifties or sixties seems to have been replaced by just glamorous fees and a glamorous remoteness of Hollywood trom the real world. „Dream factory“ takes a glimpse behind the facades of the movie star world in Hollywood and the Beverly Hills. We peep into everyday life of the entertainment industry, where waitresses are looking for stardom, producers meet for power lunches and screen writers from all over the world will try almost everything – for just one hit movie. Pictures from a world that feels strangely familiar – just like the guys on tv.
We are meeting Leonard Nimoy aka Mister Spock in Pasadena, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his „Terminator“ director James Cameron on Hollywood Boulevard, Clint Eastwood claims that he doesn‘t enjoy to be in Warner Bros studios in L.A. (he rather spends his time in Carmel by the coast), and Crocodile-Dundee superstar Paul Hogan is almost of the same breed. But this is Hollywood, where dreams are made effortlessly. And the money and the people are here, who know how to handle that business. Peter Guber, producer of hit movies such as „Easy Rider“ admits: „In the end the only question that really matters is: How much have we earned?“
The California Dreamin‘ series first aired in May and June 2001, always at 19.30 pm on ZDF.
Ever since then California Dreamin‘ has been the German documentary series with the most re-runs ever. Between 2001 and today the series was broadcast 85 (!) times.
The extensive aerial photography of California Dreamin‘ (by heli cam operator Peter Thompson) served as a blueprint for Germany‘s most successful documentary series and movie „Germany From Above“.