Layoffs to Lost Guilds: Leaders, Pull Your S*** Together
→ Customize what you receive from Ankler Media. You can keep what you need, skip what you don’t. Layoffs to Lost Guilds: Leaders, Pull Your S*** Together10 man-made disasters coming this fall. It’s time to impeach the idiots
My vow since I started on this Ankler adventure was that I would always just be honest about what I saw and how I saw it, chips fall where they may. I would love to look outside onto Main Street Showbiz and say — “Wow, the future looks so bright, I need sunglasses!” rather than another walk through the gloom. But I’ve gotta write it as I see it. One of the lessons of the summer, and now heading into fall, is that we are extremely capable of destroying ourselves. Bad decisions made by powerful people, if they are unchecked or unanswered, will certainly lead us to terrible things. I said what I had to say about the political situation. And likewise for entertainment, if no one is going to do even the basic work defending this industry, well, then the ending is written. You know, it wasn’t always like this. For most of its history, I’d say right up until a few minutes ago, Hollywood had leaders who, for whatever their avarice and venality — and they had plenty of both — had concern to keep this whole thing going, and defended the reputation and survival of this industry. Until they completely lost it. Today’s situation feels closest to where Hollywood was in the late ’60s, when the last gasps of the founding generation were incapable of adjusting to changing sensibilities and seemed determined to take their studios to the grave with them. At that point, you had a generation of new artists but also of financial risktakers — the Steve Rosses and Charlie Bluhdorns — who wanted to (or were willing to try at least) do things differently and were hungry for huge, attention-getting success. Today’s leadership gives the sense of keeping their heads down until they run out the clock to their retirement. While major threats loom, they’ve kicked the can down the road for a decade now, until we’re finally running out of road. The only people with any gumption to them are our new tech overlords, who have a model of how you do things that does not involve the huge, deep ranks of decently paid craftspeople and talent that have been Hollywood’s success formula for a century. It’s all very troubling, and I fear worse is coming, and coming soon. Below, I take a sneak peek at fall’s big eight issues that our leaders could reverse, if anyone chose to stick their necks out a little. But I’m not seeing much sign that anyone will. Let’s start with the biggie that will impact everyone in one way or another… ... Subscribe to The Ankler. to unlock the rest.Become a paying subscriber of The Ankler. to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. A subscription gets you:
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