“Hollywood Studios’ Message to Executives: Embrace Digital or Die.”
That was the title of the piece in The Wrap.
It focused on the ascent of two newly upped Hollywood execs, one heading Paramount’s TV division, the other leading Warner Bros.
They didn’t get their new gigs because of their “traditional” experience, writes The Wrap:
They got these positions because of their handle on new business models, new opportunities and new talent. In other words, they have a vision for where Hollywood is going, not where it’s been. Rich Raddon, the former director of the Los Angeles Film Festival who now runs the Los Angeles-based start-up ZEFR, told The Wrap a few weeks ago.‘In five years time, you won’t have a studio chief who doesn’t come from digital or understand digital in a deep way.’
In TV and movies, digital is not just viewed as a means of non-traditional revenue supplementing broadcast channels. It is central to the business models of the future – which will be the only business models that survive.
Paramount’s new TV chief describes her vision for the company as “more like a startup than a TV studio.”
Is that how you would describe your company? “More like a startup than a radio company”?
So what does Hollywood know that radio doesn’t?
Hollywood knows that the clock runs forward only. Hollywood knows that genies never go back into the bottle. Hollywood knows that younger consumers shape virtually all trends, and woe unto us if we don’t pay attention to them. Hollywood knows that promotions should go to the executives who understand trends, not those who tow the line and kiss the…ring. Hollywood understands the critical value of innovation and new ideas.
Hollywood would never cling to a distribution channel in the face of an explosion of distribution options. Hollywood would not put FM chips on mobile phones – instead, it would distribute compelling content to consumers who use those phones wherever they are and however they would like to experience that content. Hollywood would never sugarcoat changes in audience attention and argue to the world that they don’t exist. Hollywood would never surrender its future to a ratings methodology that listens without hearing and votes without caring.
And Hollywood puts their money – and their C-suite corner offices – where their future is.
“New business models, new opportunities, and new talent.”
That’s what Hollywood knows that radio doesn’t.