How Hollywood Drove Its Business Model Off a Cliff

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The trouble brewing in the media and entertainment industry has become one of the most interesting—and truly perplexing—business stories in the world. How does everything seem so bad at the same time? The domestic box office is still in a recession. Pay TV is a nightmare. Streaming is a money pit. And actors and writers are on strike. How did this happen? And could it get worse before it gets better? Today’s guest is Julia Alexander, director of strategy for Parrot Analytics and a writer with Puck News. We discuss a brief history of Hollywood, how we got to this point, how Disney’s plight in particular tells a story of how streaming has roiled this town, how the strikes fit into this picture, and what these companies should do now. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. You can find us on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@plainenglish_ Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Julia Alexander Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You may find this hard to believe, but 60 saws that explain the 90s.
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0:21.3	all with even less restraint than usual.
0:24.6	Join us once more on 60 saws that explain the 90s every Wednesday
0:29.6	on Spotify.
0:31.2	Today's episode is about the trouble brewing in the media and entertainment industry,
0:36.0	which has in short order become one of the most interesting and truly perplexing business stories
0:42.9	in the world. And if I had a boil down the perplexing,
0:46.7	interestingness of Hollywood to a single question, I think it would be this one.
0:52.1	Why does everything seem so bad at the same time?
0:57.0	So where do you want to start? I'm going to see Oppenheimer later this week.
1:01.3	I'm breathlessly excited for that one. So let's start with the movies.
1:06.1	The domestic box office is still in a recession compared to before the pandemic.
1:11.2	Several big movies this year have already disappointed. A couple superhero movies,
1:15.7	a couple Disney films, The Flash, New Indiana Jones,
1:19.2	Now over at the watch, another excellent ringer podcast, Andy Greenwald said of the latest
1:24.8	Indiana Jones film, which he did not like, that it was evidence that Hollywood was,
1:30.5	I think this is the direct quote, feeding on the necrotic tissue of a dying culture,
1:36.8	which is very disgusting, very dramatic, and pretty hard to argue with.
1:41.5	The top films this year by domestic box office are Super Mario, Spider-Man 8,
	...

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