For years, Hollywood has been a dominant force in entertainment. But behind the glitz, signs of its impending collapse have been growing.
Recent insider accounts, including that of former actress and filmmaker Justine Bateman, reveal a disheartening picture. The industry is not only facing economic strains and labor issues but also undergoing an existential crisis that could signal the end of the Hollywood system as we know it.
Bateman, an actress and writer-producer, recently highlighted that even actors with a wealth of experience and a dense portfolio of roles are struggling to find work. With fewer productions being greenlighted, and streaming platforms turning to a different economic model, jobs are simply not as abundant as they once were.
The situation has reached a point where even name actors now compete for roles that would have once been considered below their level. This phenomenon is reshaping the talent pool, effectively limiting upward mobility and creating a bottleneck that stymies career growth.
Related: “Hollywood Is in Shambles”
Hollywood’s financial strain is not limited to the actors themselves. It’s now affecting the talent agencies that represent them. The well-established agency Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin & Associates recently had to suspend its franchise with SAG-AFTRA over issues with paying its clients. This example is just one in a larger trend that has been intensifying as movie revenue streams dwindle.
For actors, losing agency support can be devastating, effectively stalling their careers. When reputable agencies are having trouble compensating talent, it’s a bad sign for the overall health of the industry.
And that doesn’t just mean the film industry. The decline has also infected television.
Related: Not Even King Brandon Can Get a Movie Made
Once the lifeblood of network TV, pilot season has dwindled dramatically. According to industry insiders, the major networks have drastically cut back on the number of pilots they produce. While they once averaged around 100 combined pilots per season, the count has now fallen to roughly eight.
Why? Production costs, especially those associated with plague lockdowns, are one reason for the cutbacks. But the shift to a year-round development model, combined with the rise of streaming services, has also changed the calculus. This decline in pilot production reduces opportunities for new talent and creative ventures, prompting a pivot away from the traditional Hollywood model.
Nor should the entertainment industry count on streaming to save them.
Streaming services were once viewed as Hollywood’s saviors, promising endless content and an infinitely profitable business model. But that promise has failed to deliver.
After years of aggressive IP acquisition and production, platforms like Netflix are feeling the squeeze. Subscriber growth has slowed, budgets have been slashed, and executives are cutting back on original programming. As Bateman points out, the endless need for content has led to a glut of mediocre material that can’t sustain itself. The streaming bubble may finally be bursting, and with it, one of Hollywood’s most important revenue sources.
And messing with people’s money is the best way to get them mad.
The recent SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes have further disrupted Hollywood’s business model. These unions demand better compensation, more job security, and higher residuals in an industry where traditional revenue models are breaking down.
Bateman has voiced her support for these strikes, emphasizing that creatives are right to demand income security. But even if the unions win some concessions, there is a real chance that studios will simply double down on AI or outsource work to cheaper international markets, leaving Hollywood creatives with no future.
Related: Why People Are Fleeing Streaming Services in Droves
On the bright side, Hollywood’s decline may signal an opportunity for smaller independent creators. Platforms like YouTube, Kickstarter, and Patreon have allowed creatives of all kinds to reach audiences directly, bypassing traditional Hollywood gatekeepers. As younger audiences continue to shift their attention toward a wider variety of niche entertainment, Hollywood’s grip on popular culture weakens. Independent creators are now able to find loyal followings without the budget or infrastructure of a major studio, providing audiences with fresh alternatives.
So, what does all of this mean for the future of entertainment?
As it stands, Hollywood’s traditional model is being eroded by internal pressures, financial shortfalls, and a fractured media ecosystem. While the industry may continue to limp along for years, these factors suggest that a reckoning is coming. Old Hollywood may soon be replaced by a decentralized model whereby independent creators and streaming platforms drive entertainment. Major studio output could shrink to a handful of tentpole franchises while viewers increasingly turn to global, digital outlets for their entertainment needs.
Hollywood isn’t dead yet, but evidence is mounting that the industry as we know it is entering its twilight. The future of entertainment may be a world in which smaller, more agile creators deliver movies, music, and books directly to fans, leaving behind an industry that, for all its power and glamor, could not keep up with the times.
Get early looks at my works in progress, the chance to influence my writing, and VIP access to my exclusive Discord.
Sign up at Patreon or SubscribeStar now.
Thrill to the best dark, not bleak, fantasy
Quest with relatable heroes against overwhelming odds
After reading this, it seems a bit odd to me that Hollywood would look to streaming for salvation. It sounds like the economic friendliness of streaming cut a huge pipeline of income for hollywood. What used to be a $12 per movie experience, became a $12/month movies and tv shows viewing experience.
Not that I claim to understand the math behind it all, but on the surface, that’s what it looks like to me. Couple that with the persistent making of bad movies, and you have a greater recipe for disaster.
It does seem like we are fast a approaching a time where there are no professional or industrial artists (as we understand it now), only hobbyists and successful hobbyists. Hobbyists can make more with less and that’s what Hollywood isn’t programmed to do anymore.
Streaming has been a disaster for Hollywood. The last writer’s strike you were supposed to care deeply about or else you were a heartless monster was supposed to be about streaming profits for writers. It ended in a stalemate, because there is no profit in it and no way to gauge how popular or successful anything is and therefore there is no way to even begin to decide who should be paid how much. There’s nothing there. They’re sinking billions into disasters like that Tolkien fanfic and receiving nothing in return for it.
There’s no future in streaming, but there’s also seemingly no way to ween audiences off of it at this juncture. That model is what they currently want. Therefore, they’re stuck like a bleeding pig in a fence.
It isn’t as if television and movies are going to disappear tomorrow, but it’s becoming very clear that they are going to outlive Hollywood. That busted system is breaking down into nothing and now is the perfect time to begin building alternatives.
“That model is what they currently want. Therefore, they’re stuck like a bleeding pig in a fence.”
The old Hollywood model had a division of roles. There were studios, distributors, movie theater owners/local TV stations, and later cable channel TV operators and cable TV companies. All of those people need to get paid in order for the system to operate.
Hollywood post cultural ground zero seems to have wanted three things simultaneously. Streaming gave them an opportunity to cut out all the middlemen I just listed. They also seem to have dropped any pretense of making content with wide appeal. Every new movie is just Sundance art movie message slop. They had a lot of cultural control before, but it appears they were tired of the pretense of popular aspect of pop culture. On top of all that, they also wanted to move away from project/gig work income. Ideally they would have monthly revenue streams directly from consumers and advertisers alike. Cable TV started ad free, so there was no reason to assume that ads could not be added later on to streaming. Monthly payment security is apparently the dream of every corporation in 2024, regardless of if it makes any sense to even try.
Hollywood went all in to be paid to do work on their schedule, producing content they liked, while cutting out almost everyone else. That includes even their mega fans who probably would still pay big money for quality content on physical media. To this day, people still buy print physical books/comic books/etc particularly of their favorite content. But physical media was project work that involved…work.
Anyway, none of their streaming dreams have panned out. Netflix by rights should not be left standing in what was arguably the most incompetently waged war ever.
Hollywood today seems to be the cautionary tale of killing the golden goose.
“Monthly payment security is apparently the dream of every corporation in 2024, regardless of if it makes any sense to even try.”
This is the easiest part of the whole situation for me to understand, at least from a cash flow perspective. A steady, predictable stream of top-line revenue is the corporate equivalent of a steady paycheck. A steady stream of residual income, I would imagine, is the same thing, but for artists of various sorts collecting royalties. The alternative, the old system, was a boom-bust cycle. If one loves one’s art or craft well enough to risk that, okay, but it’s got to be rough. Most of my schoolmates with theatre degrees aren’t using them to make a living because being a working stage actor works along the same principles. Even community theatres deal with the cash flow issue between productions. The lights have to say on every month, even when there’s not a show on stage bringing in money with which to pay those bills.
Convenience is a hell of a drug and an ever worse god to appease. At this point convenience is a modern day monkey’s paw.
I will play a dirge for all these people on the world’s tiniest violin. Even the most hardened of men would crack a smile at Hollyweird hanging itself amidst its own hubris and utter contempt for the people that (ultimately) provide their pay.