Is Hollywood Dying? [Honest Response]
There are 2 types of media:
- Traditional media
- New media
Traditional media = newspapers, radio, and tv.
New media = media created on the internet.
There has been a lot of talk about new media killing traditional media.
However, that hasn’t been the case as of yet.
Has traditional media lost popularity?
No doubt about that.
But traditional media is not dead yet because they have tons of infrastructure set up.
They have a 5-decade head start and plan to maximize it.
There is talk about Hollywood dying.
Especially with streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO creating original content.
Is Hollywood dying?
This question will shed tons of insights into storytelling.
The Politicization of Hollywood
I read this book a while back called Independent Ed.
It was the autobiography of the filmmaker, Edwards Burns.
He started off as an independent filmmaker.
Over time, one of his movies blew up at the Sundance Film Festival.
That’s when Hollywood executives recruited him to go to the big leagues.
Which Ed did.
He had a series of hits in the movie industry.
But he was troubled by something.
‘What was that?’
The politics of it all.
The politics of dealing with Hollywood executives.
And the politics of the suits trying to influence the art.
Back then, to get a box-office hit, there had to be a star.
Booking a suitable star required months of convincing.
Which is code for:
‘I’ll kiss your ass for as long as you need.’
Soon, the politics became draining.
Ed was about to walk away from filmmaking.
One day, he and his brother were talking in a bar.
Before Ed could walk away for good, his brother asked:
‘Why did you get started with filmmaking?’
‘For the stories,’ Ed responded.
‘Well, go back to that,’ his sagelike brother said.
That’s when Ed decided to go back to independent filmmaking.
Rather than deal with all the hoopla, he decided to run a lean operation.
Why Hollywood is Dying
The reason Hollywood is dying is because they are not creating art anymore.
The intention that a lot of these studios operate with is:
‘How do we make money?’
I’m not completely against this mindset by the way.
Because people have bills to pay.
However, they are focusing sooo much on the money, that they are catering to the mass market.
By tap dancing for the mass market, they have minimal to 0 identity.
This causes the creation of artificial woke culture films, rather than organic art inspired from the heart.
The top-down dollar mindset of executives is trickling down to the creative people.
Since the evolution (or de-evolution) of Hollywood, more parties are getting involved.
Life law:
Simply introducing 1 new human being into a complex system introduces an infinite level of chaos.
Now imagine a bunch of parties coming in.
- Politicians who want agendas passed.
- Investors who want an ROI.
- Actors who have egos.
And much more.
With all that complexity, it’s easy to stray away from the art.
The stakeholders are not in alignment anymore.
The Rise of Micro
The reason that a lot of streaming services are doing well is because they have flexibility.
Netflix puts out a lot of content.
From all the content, few will be hits.
For every 50 flops, there is 1 Squid Game.
With lean companies, it’s easier to experiment.
Lean companies are like a speedboat while Hollywood is like a ship.
It’s difficult to turn a ship around.
The Rise of Micro-Micro
This decline of Hollywood goes to show how important the story is.
Not just a little important…
But important enough to have a LASERLIKE focus on it.
This is why Netflix has been stumbling as of late.
Since they have been scaling, the agendas of their investors are seeping into some of the content.
Polute the intentions of some content, and the other content seems questionable.
Beware Netflix.
Not having a laserlike focus on the story will begin the countdown to doom.
‘Why do so many companies lose sight of what’s important?’
Because of too many labels.
Henry Ford used to hate having job titles in his company.
Because when you introduce too many labels, the focus from the product strays.
Assistant managers want to become managers.
Managers want to become senior managers.
Senior managers want to become senior-senior managers.
In the future, I see lean operations making a rise.
Because with lean, it’s easier to keep the important thing the important thing.
I believe the more creative a person is, the more CONTROL they need.
- They should have as much CONTROL over the entire supply chain as humanly possible.
If you give power to the politicians, you get division.
If you give power to the artists, you get unity.
More content companies will follow the Tyler Perry model.
He started off slow.
Did plays.
Went from plays to movies.
Movies to sitcoms.
Soon, he built his own studio.
Signed his own stable of actors.
Owns his equipment.
So what he says, goes.
The artist has now become the businessman.
Final Verdict on Hollywood
Will Hollywood die?
I don’t believe so.
I believe they will have a market as long as there are theatres.
Some may say:
‘Let’s burn down the theatres too!’
I don’t think that is realistic at the moment.
There is a “fun factor” for a lot of families to:
- Get the family together in one location.
- Go on a group car ride.
- Buy the overpriced popcorn.
- Watch the movie.
- Then discuss the movie at Applebees.
Therefore, I don’t see Hollywood dying anytime soon.
But if they don’t learn how to give more power to the artists, then:
- The content will become artificial.
- The audience who is being force-fed ideologies will take their wallets elsewhere.
- Theatres will flop.
- Studios will go bankrupt.
- Actors won’t have jobs.
And the lean operations will take their place…
Evolution doesn’t only exist with life.
It exists with content as well.
For more breakdowns into storytelling, be sure to check out my book:
- The Art & Science of Storytelling: Learn How to Tell Better Stories in Conversations, Business Communication, Leadership & Brand Building
This book will teach you more about:
- Creating relatable protagonists.
- Keeping the narrative as #1.
- How to boost creativity with fun exercises.
- Simple ways to tell 1-minute stories and work your way up.
- How to make money from your stories.
And much more!
