The film and television industry is in turmoil. This is a topic we discussed for the last couple years.
Unfortunately, for those involved, things are accelerating.
It appears that we are at the post-election cleansing. Cable news entities face a shakeup. One, CNN, already announced that it will lay off hundreds. This includes many on-air personalities.
One who is reported to be on the firing line is Anderson Cooper. Personally, I am not worried about him. His $20 million annual salary that he had means he should be okay. The same is true for many Hollywood celebrities.
What is overlooked is the people behind the scenes. Here is where a disrupted industry sees the carnage.
Hollywood Workers Cannot Find Work
The plight of the struggling actor stretches back generations.
We all heard the stories of those looking to break into the business waiting tables or driving cabs (Uber these days) to try and make ends meet. This was done while honing their craft.
Over the last 14 months, life in Hollywood was tough. Outside the top notch celebrities, everyone is taking it on the lip. This is not something that affects only the lower end of the spectrum. Many higher up on the scale are feeling it.
Of course, the longer things go on, which is certain since the industry is disrupted, the worse it gets for people.
Life in Los Angeles is done for many of these people. The question is whether they realize it or not.
They are having to confront the fact that their industry, at least locally, is downsizing. This means they are going to have to look for alternative work. Here is where another problem arises.
Hollywood has long been full of upstart creatives who work side hustles — waiting tables, driving Ubers — to sustain themselves before they make a livable wage in the business. But now, amid a brutal and prolonged contraction in the entertainment business, a twist on that rite of passage is occurring: Workers who have already achieved success and expertise in the business have been looking for work on the outside as a stopgap, side hustle or a longer-term solution.
It seems the tradition of finding something outside the industry to carry one over until a better gigs arose is fading also.
Many, with extensive resumes, are finding the non-Hollywood employment tough to come by.
Other job seekers are wondering whether having entertainment credits on their résumés helps or hurts their chances of finding other work. Some have noticed hesitation on the part of select employers due to their showbiz backgrounds, which they attribute to a perception that they are just looking for temporary jobs during the contraction. At an interview for a Whole foods overnight restocking position, production manager of 24 years Sidnee Lewis-Avila (The Hills: New Beginnings) says she was asked, “What happens if you get a call for a show or the industry bounces back?” She says, “They fear that I’m going to put in my notice and bounce.” (Lewis-Avila recently worked in concessions at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights with the goal of making it through a probationary period, after which she can apply for backlot jobs at the studio.) Beth Kushnick, a renowned set decorator with credits on The Good wife and Fringe, has long worked part-time gigs in addition to her production work; she’s currently doing interior design for private clients, staging apartments and working on an upcoming event for a commercial business in the absence of industry jobs. But at one point recently, she says, “I was up for a very big job out east, and they were afraid that I was going to get a movie.”
Even career change becomes an issue since many of the skills used do not translate to other industries.
As noted, some can translate their skills into projects they can do on their own, perhaps setting up a business. Most, sadly, cannot.
This is what an industry that is disrupted looks like. We see the "bodies" far and wide. It is not a situation where the newbies or low hanging fruit is axed. Instead, it is all throughout the industry.
Of course, those who drew the huge paychecks will likely weather the storm. The others have a less enviable future.
Technological Carnage
Blockbuster Video provides a lesson. So does Kodak.
There were two companies that basically controlled their industries. Blockbuster was the top video rental chain while Kodak dominated the film (camera) industry. Both industries ended up obsolete due to technology.
It resulted in tens of thousands of people losing their jobs. When it happen, few even blinked After all, how many care when thousands of video check out people end up out of work. Most will give a "that's sad" and it is the end. This includes the media.
What is happening with Hollywood is higher levels are affected. People who were extremely successful, and earned a good living, are finding themselves without many choices. It seems only the best of the best are being hired.
It is the lesson of technology. As it advances, the carnage works it way up the chain. careers (and the skills associated with them) are being destroyed almost overnight.
The key is we are not dealing with the missteps of any one company. This is industry wide and there is nothing that can be done about it. A decades long monopoly on distribution means that, as the ability to create content got better. eyeballs scattered.
As anyone can guess, this means less money. When that happens, regardless of the industry, jobs are the first to get hacked. Hollywood is no different.