Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
This confluence of catastrophes has led to a kind of identity crisiscumday of reckoning among industry shot callers.
What does Hollywood want to be?
asks one corporate fixer who was involved in negotiations between SAG and the AMPTP.
Hollywood historically drove culture; it follows culture now.
Now that the strikes are over, it needs to find its new stasis point.
Where is it comfortable being, and what do people expect from it?
Theres got to be a lot of rebuilding work not just mending fences between guilds and studios.
Theres got to be a vision of what Hollywood does going forward.
When is the community going to recover all the money it lost?
But the strike managed to highlight both sides persistent internecine warfare, as well.
The actors weathered their own stratification.
It wasnt the AA-list people dragging this out.
We want to make a deal, Vinciquerra said over the summer.
Even though there are a lot of headlines saying the opposite.
In the end, all sides compromised.
Its not like any one of them is standing there going, Fuck yeah, we got this!
says a corporate insider with knowledge of the negotiations.
None of them feel like masters of the universe.
Secretly, the people who really know whats going on all feel like shit.
I recall when that strike ended, everyone just got back to work, says this insider.
This one feels different for a variety of reasons.
It was a big labor movement representing class-warfare income inequality.
On social media, things got very personal.
And you have to remember: Hollywood is a small town.
We export our culture and its huge around the world.
But as a business, its pretty minuscule when you compare it to other big business sectors.
Its a small business.
Its a relationship business.
I think the idea of everyone coming back together and kumbaya and everythings forgotten is a little unrealistic.
Thats not going to cut it anymore.
Selectivity is more necessary than ever as the basic costs of making TV and movie content dramatically rise.
In every situation, the corporate entity is going to be the villain.Ihate corporations!
Theyre slow-moving dickish corporations designed to make money, says one high-ranking studio executive.
But I will say our margins suck.
Netflix themselves really put stress on our budgets.
Theyve taken all the soundstages.
Which means, you want a stage, youre paying 50 percent more.
You want a triple-A actor?
Yeah, its not 20 anymore; you want Ryan Reynolds, youre paying $30 million.
And, Oh, you want a director?
We gave our directors $12 million.
You want to pay him 6?
So all the economics of the movie business has shifted.
Each company is going through their own existential crisis, adds another top talent agent.
Like, Who are we?
Comcast: Are we a buyer?
Are we a seller?
Do we need Hulu?
Do we believe in Peacock?
Youve got David Zaslav, the most hated man in Hollywood.
Hes just trying to figure out how not to get pilloried every day.
Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish, no one even knows who he is.
Which is all but certain to trigger a mass migration of spring-scheduled films into event movie season.
There is going to be a lot more Tetris happening, says another industry insider.
Its an identity crisis an avalanche of release delays cant solve.
Hollywood has bigger problems than the strike, this person says.
When was the last time the country had a monoculture moment?
I cant even think of it.
It feels like its been years because of the broader splintering of American culture politically and culturally.
So can Hollywood do that again?
Whats it going to take?
Bringing people together, creating that communal experience where theyre all actually in the same room its … complicated.
