The entertainment industry is slowly returning! Across the nation crews are carefully starting to come back to set, but I don’t think we know yet what the ‘new normal’ will become. Since March productions have halted, movie premieres have shifted or postponed their release and creatives have quarantined. Like so many I have wondered both, when it will be safe for movies to start shooting again as well as what does the future of entertainment look like? Is this forced break a blessing in disguise — giving us all collective time to rethink the way we work and how we can be the most effective in our storytelling?
I think the answer is yes, and if we just look at the metrics — the entertainment industry is crucial to both the US and overall global economy. In 2020 the market value of the US entertainment and media industry is expected to be valued at over $720B and the global market valued at over $2.14T. The entertainment industry decreased by 34.7% in the first quarter of this year and was one of the 17 industries that contributed to the US decline in GDP. Hollywood alone supports more than 2M jobs. Entertainment is not just important because it is a powerful storytelling tool, but because it is a financial driver of the global economy. That is one of the reasons why I think the impact of halted production was felt so acutely. TV, movie and theatre productions are made up of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, a lot of whom are unable to work from home and do not have the clout of people who work in front of the camera or onstage.
As has been seen via public earning numbers, streaming services are doing better than the average player in entertainment. Mostly because they have flexible content that can be consumed from the safety of the consumer’s home on any device. That being said even some of the big players, who have had notable success in the past two quarters, are itching to get back on set in a large scale way and this is because I am not sure anyone knows what will happen when production studios stop creating for a long period of time. It has not happened in multiple generations, not even during WWII.
Studios, independent filmmakers and streaming platforms are using the time in a variety of ways. A few filmmakers and production studios have still been able to find innovative ways of making movies and shows — like Malcolm & Marie starring Zendaya, the Parks and Recreation reunion, or the Dave Chappelle special released on Youtube via Netflix. I have also seen large streaming platforms, like Netflix, use this time to do some self reflection leading to the continued rise of Strong Black Lead. My question now is — if we all had a magic wand — what would the ideal entertainment industry for us look like? Based on what I have heard from others, read in publications and thought about myself here is where we may be heading…
1. More financial freedom for all stakeholders
In a time of multiple pandemics, one notably about the BLM movement, every company under the sun has sent their consumers* an email and/or released a statement saying they stand in solidarity with black people. Some even pledge to be anti-racist, but few so far have taken notable steps (that external stakeholders can hold them accountable for) to ensure that a culture of racism ceases to exist in their organization. People are paying attention and have held company’s feet to the fire which has led to some results. I think this trend will continue and representational groups like Strong Black Lead will continue to be given the space and financial freedom they deserve to create for larger audiences. Leading to tweets like this:
2. Smaller sets
New guidelines are now enforced on set. On some sets cast and crew are asked to have a mask on at all times unless they are shooting a scene or getting their make-up done, temperatures are checked regularly, craft services are not serving meals and snacks buffet style and the usual waiting period group banter in between scenes is cut. By default, crews are naturally becoming smaller and more distributed to lower germ pool exposure. This is conjunction with the fact that filmmakers have had more time than normal in pre-production should lead to more time sensitive sets, and I think lean, agile teams will stick around (only those that need to be there, at that time, will)
3. Leveled Exposure Opportunities. Helping to Level Access to Funding
As alluded to above, the need for more diverse stories on screen and stage is a must. Storytelling is about bringing people into your world and for a long time those worlds have been narrow in scope. Large studios will have to and can dream bigger. Otherwise they will get left behind. Some of the more traditional barriers to entry are slowly falling — the two main ones being access to capital and key relationships. A growing number of brand exposure opportunities are going virtual therefore leveling the playing field. If there are more ways to get people with check writing ability to see your story funding sources may become more equitable. If everyone is seeing content online and has access to virtual film festivals both more content will be consumed and ideally more people will view your content. I think virtual film festivals are here to stay and large film festivals will continue to use a virtual format in order to expand their reach and give them the freedom to deliver content in a new way (i.e. via AR, drive-ins, multi-channel, streaming platforms and podcasts).
I am an optimist, so this is my take. Would love to hear yours and we can get a discussion going. Let me know (via this form) if you are an entertainment professional that would be open to discussing on greenRm. You can also use the link to stay up to date on the conversation.
*Because I think some of these places only got my email from when I signed into their wifi.
