Hollywood on Its Last Legs
The way we watch and consume media has completely changed
From the BBC:
"As a whole, the number of US productions during the second quarter of 2024 was down about 40% compared to the same period in 2022. Globally, there was a 20% decline over that period, according to ProdPro, which tracks TV and film productions.
That means less new movies and binge-worthy shows for us."
They're not making as many films or TV shows. We can either view this as a temporary economic issue, or we can see how everything has changed for good.
Netflix killed cinema, we can have no doubt about that. You might say to me "I still love the cinema," and that's great, but you're not going as often as you used to and nor is anyone else.
And if you really are one of those rare people, going to cinemas to see movies as much as you did when you were fifteen, I applaud you, because there's barely anything for you to see out there.
We hated on Netflix for killing movies but then we settled in and enjoyed the show because they were making remarkable content. But now, there are so many services. Some nights, you just wanna switch on your TV and watch a Denzel Washington movie. But there aren't many on Netflix, so you go over to Amazon Prime, not many there either. You remember you just subscribed to Apple so you go and look there. Nope - not finding the film you want - so you zip on over to Disney+.
"Netflix crashed – all the other companies crashed. Netflix has since recovered – but the others are really struggling to get to profitability.”
Of course! There's too many of them! Most of them have nothing worth watching. I subscribed to Paramount+ and there was ‘Tulsa King’ and an extremely misjudged new series of 'Frasier', that was about it.
We have all of these streaming services but they neglected to remember the shows need to be watchable.
Our viewing, listening and reading habits have changed so much in recent years. We love movies, but so few of the new ones are any good. And the ones that are good are rarely in the cinemas, and often not on the streaming platforms we’re subscribed to.
It's not just film and TV, it's happening everywhere. I'll load up the New York Times to find something to read, but I rarely find it. I end up on Substack instead, and find myself reading for hours. This wasn't even fathomable a few years ago.
Netflix think they're competing with Amazon Prime and Disney+ but they're probably competing with TikTok and Instagram. Sure, part of the problem is that we're addicted and wasting time, but there's also great talent on social media. There's fascinating debate. We're all tired of the news and the politicians, we'd rather dive onto the socials and discuss things amongst ourselves.
The entire culture has changed.
The hard part is that people's livelihoods are at stake. I used to dream of writing Hollywood movies but now I dream of building an audience on 'You've Got Media' and through my own independent filmmaking work. This is a more tangible, realistic avenue, because this is where the attention is. This is how we consume things now.
We'd all love a golden era of films to appear, but is it going to happen?
We all love a good TV series, but how many different services are we expected to subscribe to?
And we'd all love to sit in front of the TV and watch the same shows as everyone else, but we're all watching different things. You're watching 'Baby Reindeer' but the other guy is watching 'Tulsa King', and the person living next door is watching old 'Ally McBeal' episodes.
“The entertainment industry is critical to the economic vitality of the Los Angeles region,” Bass said announcing the plan, explaining it is a “cornerstone” of the city’s economy and supplies hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Recent data shows the entertainment industry contributes over $115bn (£86bn) annually to the region's economy, with an employment base of over 681,000 people, the mayor said."
I hope Hollywood survives. Partly out of tradition but mostly because of everyone being out of work, and they all have mouths to feed.
But if you look at how you consume media compared to ten years ago, it's clear to see that the world is very different now, and none of us are quite sure what will happen next.
I don't know if I've changed that much from 10 years ago. I had Netflix then, I have Netflix now. I went to the cinema to see films of interest, I do so now. I think the biggest change is the quality being produced. So much of it is just uninteresting or bad, and the good series gets cancelled by the service after one season so why even bother?
My husband and I live in LA and took great interest in reading this BBC article this weekend (we are both English.) My husband is a film and TV composer, and it's been the toughest year for him since we first moved out here ten years ago. He's lucky to finally be working again now that some of his shows have started up additional seasons. But it's been so tough for ALL our friends in the industry. My take is that it comes down to risk aversion on the part of the studios and screening services due to their NEED to make a profit. On social media, for the most part, people follow their creativity and inspiration for themselves and NOT for their shareholders. Time and again, Netflix will create an amazing new series that gets cancelled immediately based on their algorithm for what they consider a successful show. Whereas you have other shows that aren't as good being renewed for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th seasons because so many people watch them. I don't know what the answer is. It's a bit of a mess. It seems to me that the current system is designed to reward low-budget content that has high views, such as reality TV, and that with the decline of movie theatres, the meatier projects are getting left behind.