More and more, I've been talking to producers, filmmakers and agents who don't seem to understand how to function in today's three-tiered universe. There's the big studios and their tentpoles, formula genre fare and comedies, the occasional star-driven vehicle that the studios wouldn't make without a George Clooney on board, like Leatherheads, and there's the studio subsids and indies. In the middle is a raft of indie financeers and suppliers who play both sides of the street, some geared toward the foreign market.

It's tough to put movies together these days, and even studio heavyweights like Scott Rudin have to lower their expectations to get their more difficult projects made. (In his new incarnation at Disney/Miramax Rudin is like a man unshackled from his chains--he's running like the wind with such pics as No Country for Old men and There Will be Blood (both in partnership with Miramax and Paramount Vantage). But other producers aren't as resourceful and powerful as Rudin. Many are having mroe trouble adapting to a world where they --and not the studio--have to do all the work.

Here's my column about post-studio stress disorder.