The Deflation of Entertainment

                  

Is Hollywood Humpty Dumpty?

For so many uncontested years, Hollywood studios have enjoyed top dog status in the hierarchy of entertainment companies.  Over the past decade, and certainly over the past couple of years, this position has steadily eroded and one thing is becoming abundantly clear —  from the million dollar antiquated 35mm camera rigs to the 50 million dollar failed marketing campaigns, Hollywood does not know how to compete or scale properly facing the digital future. 

I’ve had many conversations with people about the state of Hollywood and how it will endure through our current financial crisis. Many cite the success of Hollywood during the Great Depression, but I always say, “yeah…but TV…AND…the internet did not exist back then!”

From iPhones to Blackberries to PSPs to DS’s, Wii’s and Kindles, the public now almost has too many ways to escape. I know, I play Fantasy Football.  On November 19th, we will have the ability to stream unlimited HD film and TV content with Netflix subscriptions for $8.99/month. BitTorrent did not exist. Sling.com did not exist.  Gears of War 2 did not exist. 

 

 

In Hollywood’s heyday, stars worked under contract for the studios.  As star iconography grew more powerful, their individual takes on films surged, and they broke away from the studio’s control.  Ultimately stars have typically always been the reason to see the film, not the film itself.  More often than not, getting a star to sign on the dotted line might be the only way a producer can get a film made!  But just as the cult of celebrity surged, in most cases, the quality of the art and story declined.  When stars are making 15-20 million a picture and the total budget is $50, it is very easy for people to make the argument that talent has bankrupted Hollywood.  Still good films still get made, but more often than not, they’re smaller budgeted productions with great stories and superb acting by lesser known actors.

This obsession with stars has crossed over into our own lives and it seems we have become our own stars. The Me Generation has produced generations who are even more obsessed with themselves…the “MobileMe” generation…  

These generations communicate through a combination of tweets, blogs, MySpace or Facebook postings, AIM, and Flickr accounts.  One could say that each young American is becoming their own star…and some would say they are just as “affected”.  They have their own likes, dislikes, favorite bands, foods, brandnames…just like Justin had in Tigerbeat! An example on Twitter, “I am going to the store. I love peanut butter!” 

I heard a story of pre-teen girls having iChat parties where they would sync the party music playlists and stay up all night video conferencing with each friend on their 24″ iMacs. These L’il Tweeters are now becoming “stars”, like the integrity-oozing Perez Hilton or Nikki Finke.  I blog and post, therefore I am.  These same girls used to pal around together in malls, spending hard earned babysitting cake on Tom Cruise and Corey Haim movies.  These girls now create stars a mile a minute on message boards.

With the deflationary combo of weak credit and poor demand, even a la carte VOD companies like Vudu and iTunes will likely have to switch to monthly or yearly subscriptions for an all-you-can-stream unlimited HD libraries.  

What does seems clear is that we’ll have some sort of local servers at our homes which will serve as the landing dock for content we haven’t bought, but “licensed”.  The content could be stored on central company servers — think Cablevision and the networked DVR – housing all of our content (or as the DECE would call it…our own personal little digital lockers…how cute) and we’ll theoretically be able to access it via any networked display device…for a price…and probably a window.

With the DECE, the studios are looking for a way to regain complete control of digital access.   One thing is also clear, the public and market at large will always be looking for a way to take it back. It will be interesting to see how DECE unravels. It all seems too little too late.

With financial markets collapsing, even Digital Cinema (too little too late people) is suffering.

Today MGM announces full length films on YouTube via an ad revenue sharing deal.  

Epson is also releasing a magnificently priced 720p HD projector with 2000 lumens for under $800.

Along wth Hulu, this MGM/YouTube venture becomes another major signpost along the path to digital media Perestroika.

Speaking of Perestroika, let’s all express our strong desire to the incoming Obama Administration. Along with the first U.S. CTO, if Obama can follow through on his promise to maintain net neutrality, we are due for a wonderfully creative ride.