Content Creation is a Semi-Glamourous Business
Andy Marken August 1, 2024
0 Comments
They worship everything, and they value nothing. - Sebastian, LaLa Land, Lionsgate, 2016
One of the toughest jobs in the world is to be a boss/CEO of a company.
Worse? Being a CEO in the Americas.
Worse yet? Being a CEO of a tech/entertainment company in the Americas.
How did we arrive at this epiphany?
Logic! because you have to pay some idiot an exorbitant amount of money along with a huge backend payment to take the job.
According to the Booth School of Business, the average salary of a CEO at a Fortune 500 company is about $15M and entertainment CEOs get a lot more.
The job is so tough that when Sheri Redstone (family fortune so it sorta' doesn't count) and the board blew out Bob Bakish, she had to convince three guys to share the blame job - Chris McCarthy, George Cheeks and Brian Robbins. Then she could focus full attention - along with the board - to decide if they're going to keep the old girl together, sell her as a single diamond or cut her up into smaller gemstones.
Safe Landing - A for hire CEO always needs a well-crafted exit package or golden parachute because well, paying boss gigs are tough to come by.
In addition to having some small consolation knowing it took three folks to replace him, Basich was given time to clean out his desk and got his monthly stipend ($258K/mo.) until the end of October.
Oh yeah, he had a soft landing like most CEOs who get fired with a $48.5M ++ severance package.
Hollywood may be a tough business, but it pales in comparison to tech firms. Elon Musk is so broke he asked (demanded) that his $56B compensation package be reaffirmed. Wonder how much he gets paid every time he goes to the bathroom?
It's Tougher - While we have a world economy, it's obvious that being a boss in the US is tougher than anywhere else so you have to pay the guy (most of the time it's a guy) because, ah well because.
Sorry, got sidetracked, but being CEO for an American company really has to be tougher than anywhere else in the world.
After all, they have to get paid so much more than their counterparts in other parts of the world to be convinced to take the thankless job.
According to Bloomberg analysis, US CEOs average $14.3M annually more than double their counterparts north of the border and 10X more than those in India.
There are a lot of different reasons for the discrepancies - many of the world's largest companies are located here, there's a higher cost of living (you know about that, right?) and well stuff.
Of course, their jobs - making their numbers - were made even tougher by all of the strikers (actors, auto workers, etc.) who wanted a living wage, healthcare, holidays (EU folks get a month) and simply drug the strikes out, quibbling over little things.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median US worker made about $31.43/hr. last year but actors were paid $17.94/hr.
While the negotiating bosses still got paid, folks on the picket lines lived off savings (?), the kindness of others and union health plans.
Most actors aren't stars, most creators aren't Tarantino or Nolan; stunt folks have it a little tougher than Fall Guy's Gosling; production folks only get in front of the camera to clean the lens and most postproduction folks grind away hours on end in dark rooms staring at screens.
Sorry to crush the kids' dreams of heading to Hollywood, getting discovered serving coffee, becoming instantly famous, living in a Beverly Hills mansion and wallowing in money.
That s*** doesn't even happen in the movies!
But ever since the golden era of Hollywood, media industry executives have always been highly paid. And over the past bunch of years, these tormented executives have been through the grinder.
There was the MeToo period, the pandemic, those troublesome worker strikes and the total upheaval of the show/movie food chain. But through it all, top executives at Disney, Warner Bros and others got paid an average of $34.8M last year (more than double their counterparts in other US industries).
Salary Plus - Executives - or their agents - may have to negotiate how much they get paid but there's an entire industry built around executive compensation that helps them ensure they get theirs first.
True, stock awards make up most of their compensation packages and they're granted at the beginning of the year.
So, it probably doesn't count that all of those shelved video projects (regardless of how far along they are) that create tax savings and folks being layed off rather than adjusting their salary, are important management decisions.
After all, the pandemic was behind us and obviously, people were going to flock back to theaters even though they had been cutting back on high ticket prices and expensive popcorn for years.
Not Going - Certain segments of the entertainment industry don't like to admit that the cost (time/money) of a movie makes it less attractive for a lot of people to go to movie houses today especially since they have options.
In fact, according to most research, only eight percent of folks consider themselves frequent movie attendees while 59 percent say they rarely or never see movies in the theater.
And we hate to break the industry, but that just ain't gonna change!
The other change, which has been equally as slow and insidious, has been the petering out of the pay TV gold mine.
Folks have options lots of options.
Past Prime - Prime TV viewing is past its prime as the cost of the payTV bundle continued to grow along with the number of ads networks/services packed into each hour. Consumers have begun switching to economic and quality options.
Actually, FX CEO John Landgraf coined the term Peak TV a few years af
North America Stories
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
12/11/2026
Disney, ESPN and the NBA will present Dunk the Halls, the third real-time animated NBA game using Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, on Chr...
12/11/2026
Van Wagner has launched Van Wagner RELAY, a digital platform for official athlet...
12/11/2026
Deal brings together two of the industry's most established graphics brands and significantly expands Vizrt's footprint in U.S. sports and regional broa...
12/11/2026
Euro TV Production GmbH of Austria has upgraded its outside broadcast vehicle with Lawo technology. The mc 36 Classic console in service since 2019 was replaced...
Content Creation is a Semi-Glamourous Business 
