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Good article. I've said it before and I'll say it again: we need to stop thinking of "Hollywood" as a monolothic, homogenous organization bent on a single agenda. We do ourselves a great disservice to view the entertainment and media industries in those terms. In truth, "Hollywood" comprises thousands of companies, millions of individuals, and just as many agendas, business models, goals, and products. We can no more speak of "Hollywood" as having a single org structure or driving agenda than we can speak of "America" as a unified political and cultural mass. Just as not all Americans wanted to invade Iraq, not everyone in Los Angeles and New York wanted to push SOPA and PIPA legislation. (In fact, I'd bet that a majority in the entertainment business are personally opposed to SOPA and PIPA; I know I am). Within Hollywood, there is a large and growing segment of content creators, producers, actors, writers, and directors who'd just as soon develop for technology ecosystems as they would for major movie studios and TV networks. And I believe technology firms are leading the way. Netflix is attempting to develop original programming. Microsoft is rumored to be doing the same. Apple's iTunes and App Stores represent entertainment ecosystems just waiting to be filled with direct-to-consumer content from Hollywood's best creators and production companies. Kickstarter offers an appealing platform for marketing and funding independent content. A major shift in production and consumption of entertainment isn't going to happen overnight; nor will it progress in linear fashion. More likely than not, a few big breakthroughs will inspire others. I am very optimistic that, sometime within the next two years, we'll be speaking of the first "Hollywood" series released directly -- and successfully -- to a tech platform. Once that happens, the floodgates will open in earnest. And, perhaps selfishly speaking, I am crossing my fingers that the new season of direct-to-Netflix "Arrested Development" finds a bigger audience than it did on TV. |