With the recent announcement of Amazon purchasing MGM Entertainment for $8.5 billion USD, many are wondering what it means for the entertainment industry if anything at all. Some would argue that the “invasion” by technology giants heralds the end of the entertainment industry as we know it. However, there is the potential argument that technology is merely returning to its roots.
From a high level perspective, many artists see the technology giants as a threat to their very existence. They fear the spontaneity and freedom that comes with creative endeavors will be subsumed by conformity and automation driven by analytics.
Indeed, it is not an unfounded fear. Time and again, with our current implementation of technology and innovation, we seem to have sucked the creativity and humanity out of processes.
For the majority of the past century and half, the processes we have developed have been to enable mass production of a rapidly growing human civilization. There is no doubt that we have made significant progress in the mass production of goods and services enabling the rapid rise in standards of living around the globe. However, many would argue that this has come at a cost.
There is no doubt, particularly now in a 24/7 global economy, that we have made the production and consumption of goods and services easier than ever before. The issue though is whether or not this rapid rise in production and consumption has been a beneficial tradeoff for humanity or have we sacrificed creativity for mass production and consumption. With the encroachment of technology giants into the Hollywood system, it is perhaps the arts that gives us a clue as to whether or not creativity can survive artificial intelligence and automation.
Many in the creative community would state that artificial intelligence and automation, at present, cannot compare to the ingenuity and creativity driven by the human mind. While this is true, one sometimes forgets that Hollywood is still a “machine” that has been built off the same processes as the rest of the global economic system.
Indeed, one could argue that Hollywood was the first gig economy long before Silicon Valley adopted the term after the rise of Uber and AirBnB. For all the well known celebrity A-listers in Hollywood, there are thousands of aspiring actors that move to Hollywood who find themselves facing a gruelling and unrelenting system that treats actors as interchangeable assets to meet the whims and demands of the market. In many respects, the first gig economy.
Newly aspiring actors find themselves having to work second or third jobs in order to pursue their true passions as acting jobs sometimes can be far and few in-between. Creative projects are ad hoc and inconsistent as they can fluctuate in terms of when they officially launch. Some can take months while others can take years to kick off leading individuals to have the economic self-sufficiency to survive and thrive in the interim.
If this sounds vaguely familiar, it shouldn’t be a surprise as it is a carbon copy duplicate of the current gig economy. Replace actors with Uber drivers and replace creative projects with the transportation of food and people, the system is virtually the same. The only difference is what is automated and what is not.
In many respects, the Hollywood system is the “manual” version of the platforms built by Uber and AirBnB. Instead of agents and producers, platforms use artificial intelligence and matching algorithms to achieve many of the same goals which is to ensure the most optimal completion of a “project” (i.e. one-time delivery of food).
What does this mean for Hollywood and all the individual participants with the growing encroachment of technology giants into the entertainment industry? In many respects, it can mean either not much or a fundamental change in how the entertainment industry works.
From one perspective, the encroachment of technology giants such as Amazon and others may only mean the further reinforcement and automation of existing structures that are already in place. Instead of relying on the innate instinct of agents and producers, we may end up relying on the cold calculating algorithms of artificial intelligence to develop the next Hollywood blockbusters. With those cold calculating algorithms, we may further concentrate and reinforce power and decision making in the hands of a few.
The other perspective is a more optimistic one. It is one where independent creatives find one another more quickly and effectively and are able to launch their projects with lower costs thanks to technology.
Indeed, one could argue that the two perspectives that Hollywood is facing, is one that the entire global economy is facing. What the future of Hollywood as well as the entire global economy is still up in the air.
While it may appear the paradigm of reinforcing and automating existing structures is leading, it is not a predetermined win. There are many decision points that we as a society still need to make that will determine the ultimate outcome. Hollywood is merely one of many areas of contention that will help determine that ultimate outcome.
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