This was something I always believed: Places without futures dwell on the past. On our first visit to Boston in '89 I couldn't help but notice all of the Revolutionary War era plaques & commemorations. Yet Boston is long past a center of American revolutionary thought.

My home town, LA at the same time, had failed yet again to get a film festival off the ground (was this the late "Filmex"?). But so what? Even if the studio system was gone LA was still the undisputed center of US film & TV. It was an ongoing film & TV festival.

Now technology, economics & viewer expectations are changing that. Even in the past decade it's shocking to see the number of films & TV shows shot abroad, on location or in other studios (e.g. Atlanta ... forgive me while I puke!).

So, good point.