Film and television executives reveal how Hollywood has changed over the past ten years The movie business isn't the same anymore. THE Hollywood landscape has changed dramatically over the last ten years according to industry big wigs. Gone are the lavish after parties, the ridiculous salaries and the willingness to make movies based on gut instinct alone. Instead, the business has become much more of a business, with all decisions based solely on revenue projections. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to a number of film and television executives about what the industry was like in 1994 compared to today ... and they didn't hold back. Movie premieres aren't as big as they were in 1994: "I remember going to a premiere on the Fox lot where they built an entire ice rink," said producer Gavin Polone. There were 5,000 people on that lot. Or the premiere for Con Air, when they had three DC-10s flying everybody to Las Vegas. Nobody does stuff like that anymore. There are fewer female superstars compared to 1994: "There were a lot more movie stars and specifically a lot more female movie stars," said Carla Hacken from Paper Pictures. There was Michelle Pfeiffer, Holly Hunter, Goldie Hawn, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts. Now, when I try to buy a project and I have to think about how many actresses there are that you could actually make the movie with, it's not a lot. Holly Hunter won an Oscar in 1994 for her role in "The Piano." The expensive gifts are gone: "There were private plane rides; there were homes in the Caribbean; there were rafting trips," said Michael De Luca, a movie producer. You heard stories about cars being given out when a movie opened well to all the principals and members of the crew. There was a lot more casual luxury spending. That's all gone. It's harder to get movies approved now: "Back in 1994, the head guy at a movie studio or television network would make a decision on what sort of movie or TV they wanted to make based on what their gut instinct was," said Polone. Today you have to go to the green light committee, and then people have to go model everything based on all the different revenues that are coming in. So it's much more of a numbers game; it's much more corporate. "Forrest Gump" was the best film of 1994, winning an Oscar the following year. It's all about sequels: "A top priority was developing films for stars (in 1994)," said Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore. Now the priority is on developing franchises. A big star won't guarantee a hit these days: "Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, people used to be able to sleep at night thinking, 'That's a big movie star, he's going to open my movie,'" said producer Liz Glotzer. I don't think anyone feels that way anymore. I don't think there are more than a handful of people right now that people say, 'If you get him, I'll be OK.' They used to look down on TV stars: "There was a real differentiation between film and TV actors in those days: TV actors were kind of second-class citizens," said Hacken. Being big on television was actually a detriment to getting a film job. That started to change because of Friends and ER. I mean, when George Clooney was able to become a movie star; that was a big deal. I represented Julianna Margulies (who played Carol Hathaway on E.R.), and we were all like, 'Dang, these people are going to get movies now!' How do you think Hollywood has changed over the years? Tell us below or continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauhq George Clooney and his ER co-stars from 1995. Photo: Supplied/Universal Source: News Limited