I know we're creeping off the subject of music videos here but with regards to Michael's points on the decline of the film industry I think it's worth looking back to the 60s just before the directors you mentioned (Scorsese, Coppola etc) really started coming into their element - Hollywood was in a massive decline thanks to huge amounts of money wasted on re-making older films and taking few chances on original material, coupled with the domination of a new medium (TV) the result being people lost interest in Cinema - Hmm, sound familar? It was this decline that (with other factors) resulted in the experimentation and originality of New Hollywood directors like Scorsese etc. - It could be argued that a similar thing happened in the 90s with the boom in Indie cinema following the boom (and then decline) of the big budget High Concept films of the eighties. Therefore, couldn't it be possible that we are just in another cyclical slump caused by a new medium and Hollywood's slow response to what people really want from films; something fresh and exciting which makes them think? Maybe I'm being over optimistic but I reckon we're about ready for another Hollywood rennaisance - we're just at the low point of the dip