“It’s like a whole world of intellectuals and artists got a multibillion-dollar grant from the tech world... But we mistook that, and were frankly actively gaslit into thinking that that was because they cared about art."
A fascinating article on Hollywood, the writers' strike, and the state of film and television. There are so many incredible quotes...
https://harpers.org/archive/2024/05/the-life-and-death-of-hollywood-daniel-bessner/
@danwagstaff
Wow, this is spot-on analysis, at least seen from my perspective inside the industry. I've been complaining about how insanely risk-averse and short-sighted executives are, and Apple treated the animated show I was on the same as in the article: no viewership numbers, no release schedule, strung along for months about season two without saying 'no' (despite evidence we were a top-viewed show).
What I didn't expect was the same private equity firms that @pluralistic has been writing so incisively about to have been at the root of it once again.
@bitcrush_io @danwagstaff @pluralistic
Interesting that what those with resources and power in that system are effectively doing is the same as what AI would accomplish: to present the most common cliches that (they think) will be the most attractive to the greatest number of people. That system has become human AI: a greatest-probability machine. Funny that for an industry whose bread and butter is the unexpected in creativity, it is fully focused on working for its opposite.
Dan Wagstaff
bitcrush.io
Van Sice
JW prince of CPH