Yeah, just decide more in advance what the topic will be and let the discussion play out, whether it's 25 minutes or 30 minutes or 45 minutes. But I certainly wouldn't want it to devolve either into "What did you do/watch this week?" or "Top 5 greatest movies about dogs" or whatever.
I think the Final Cut Pro debacle might make for an interesting episode. I know nothing of the software, but I think the dynamic from insiders is interesting (as long as it's not a total bitch session, that is).
"Trends in visual effects" might also be good. What will define this period of movies in terms of effects look? Particle effects? Wonky green screen? Lifeless motion capture? (Like opticals defined the 30s and 40s, rear projection and bad models defined the 50s, avoidance of effects defined the 60s, etc.)
I'm also interested in things that still hinder the movie industry. It's always amazed me that it's apparently cheaper to hire a guy (plus orchestra) to score a whole movie than to license pop songs—even ones that weren't big hits. (If nothing else, it seems like old movie scores would be recycled.) It seems like even crappy low budget films have good visual effects, props, costumes, "film stock," and sound, so what do the Robert Rodriguezes of tomorrow or even the major productions still struggle with?
