Marc Andreessen on the State of Film and Hollywood

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4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hollywood is going through a major cultural and creative reset, and Marc Andreessen thinks it’s long overdue. In this episode of Monitoring the Situation, Marc joins Erik Torenberg and Katherine Boyle to dissect the past decade of filmmaking, from the rise of “the message” in every movie to the return of genuine comedy and art. They cover the post-woke shift in Hollywood, the financial collapse of the streaming era, and why AI could spark a renaissance for a new generation of independent filmmakers. Marc also shares his favorite recent films (and the ones he thinks aged terribly), why Edington might be the first true “Capital-A Art” film in years, and how AI could democratize storytelling the way digital cameras did in the 1990s.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think movies play the role in our culture that myths and legends used to play in ancient cultures or that novels used to play 100 years ago.
0:09.0	They're the art form that is capable of basically containing and expressing and making permanent the most important aspects of a culture.
0:17.0	A row of civilization.
0:18.0	There were a lot of great films in 2019 and then just a a memory hole of what great film has come out since then.
0:24.6	Like something happened in Hollywood,
0:25.6	the scripts that are being written,
0:27.6	the types of things that are being made today
0:29.6	are very, very different than what was happening in 2018, 2019.
0:33.6	Hollywood is changing fast, and for once,
0:35.6	not because of a new technology, but because of a cultural reset.
0:39.7	On this episode of monitoring the situation, Catherine Boyle and I are joined by Mark Andresen
0:43.8	to talk about what really happened to the movies over the past decade, from the dominance of
0:48.1	The Message to the Quiet Revival of Real Art, Comedy, and Creativity.
0:52.7	We talk about our post-woke cultural moment, the economics of streaming, and why AI could
0:57.9	unleash a new generation of filmmakers, people with no studio access, no camera, the big ideas.
1:04.0	And we end on the question every creative industry is now asking.
1:07.5	What happens when the tools to make movies belong to everyone?
1:12.1	Let's get into it.
1:18.3	Mark, you've been known to monitor a situation or two. Welcome to the program.
1:22.0	Eric, how would you characterize me as a situation monitorer?
1:28.3	Extremely eager. You know, I picture you with... Thoreau. I picture you with security cameras, extensively monitoring, you know.
1:33.3	All hours of the night.
	...

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