
Tax Incentives Won't Solve Hollywood's Problems
Andy Marken March 18, 2025
0 Comments
Taking the wrong boy was a lucky break. In other words, this doesn't count. But you have to pay anyway. You're a fool to pay, but pay you must. Ginjiro Takeuchi, High and Low, Toho Studios, 1963
California, or more specifically LA (Los Angeles), or even more specifically Hollywood, has been the center of the video content industry since C.B. DeMille directed/shot the first feature-length movie in the area in 1913.
It took ten years before city fathers christened the area with its now famous (infamous) Hollywood sign (originally Hollywoodland but )
Since then, the town has been the self-anointed movie/show capital of the world.
For years, it did an outstanding job of hiding secrets and hyping the overnight success of stars, directors/producers, production crew members and post-production magicians who stuck it out and survived.
TV was going to be the movie industry's demise, but it only boosted the industry.
The networks needed content to fill their weekly schedules with scripted/unscripted series, talk/game shows, ad work, movies, stuff.
Nearly everyone with talent, expertise and ability was working.
The town was running on all cylinders and quickly became the center of the creative content industry while controlling as much as 40 percent of the world's video content.
People stood in lines to get their seats in theater seats. Other folks turned on their sets the minute they got home and watched whatever was on until they dragged themselves into their beds. What no studio head would tell Wall Street, his (yes, it was usually a male) shareholders or the public at large is that it is at best a marginally profitable business.
Coin Flip - The content industry promotes its major hits (moneymakers) like crazy while quickly overlooking the red ink projects but it's about a 50/50 chance of a film/show making money.
People cost money. Equipment costs money. Studio/location shoots cost money. Sets/lighting/electrical cost money. Feeding folks costs money. Hyping the shows/movies costs money. Money costs money.
Source - Warner Bros
It's only because studios have some of the most creative accountants who do things with numbers, columns, rules and regulations that enable them to make Wall Street/shareholders happy and keep their bosses out of jail.
The studio heads were free to hob nob with the rich, famous, politically connected people who like to associate with folks in the fun, profitable business.
Okay, maybe just a kinda' fun business, but it's the best paying job studio execs could find.
None of them gave much thought to the guy in Silicon Valley who determined he could sign people up to download shows/movies from the internet so they could watch the stuff when they wanted, where they wanted and on the screen they wanted.
In fact, when Reed Hastings switched from sending discs to subscribers in red envelopes to streaming, they probably said, Sure we'll license our stuff to his little company and make even more money because folks want it, we got it. After all, we rule the creative universe!
Under Hastings and Ted Sarandos and later Sarandos/Greg Peters, home entertainment changed.
As FX's CEO, Fred Landgraf, has said they marked the beginning of the slow demise of peak TV.
With that modest beginning, Netflix had more than a decade to spend at a loss, build scale (capturing an estimated 80 percent of households in the Americas and then move internationally) and achieve profitability.
Studios and networks had become masters of theatrical distribution, syndication sales/channel programming.
But those channels are different from building a streaming platform and making it work efficiently, effectively.
At the same time, they often had to do it to the detriment of their proven money sources.
Despite the streaming red ink, they were learning rapidly, painfully and making inroads until the year-long pandemic.
Then they were hit with the six-month plus strikes of the WGA (Writers Guild of America), SAG/AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and associated trade unions.
Source - Paramount
The strikes delivered major concessions/agreements for the working stiffs and the union leaders about their victories and were ready for people to go back to work.
The problem is the world has changed over the years and most rapidly in recent times.
Global Entertainment - Probably from the outset, Netflix set its goal of being not just a video service for people in the Americas but for folks around the world. They knew great films/shows ignore country borders.
As quickly as two years after Netflix began streaming services in the Americas, they made it known they were going to be a global streaming video service.
They left few countries off their map - Syria, China, North Korea - and shortly after that the Russians found it difficult to watch their films/shows.
Today, they have 84.8M subscribers in the Americas and more than 283M globally.
One of the key agreements to deliver entertainment in the 190 countries was that 30-40 percent of the projects had to be created/produced locally.
No prob!
Global Facilities - In countries and cities around the globe, new modern film studios are being built incorporating advanced technologies. At the same time, countries are training their citizens in the latest creative/production techniques to attract projects such as Hungary's Korda Studios (l) and Dubai Studio City (r).
While studios and networks had focused on investing in projects, not facilities, many of the studios/sets were showing their age.
However, organizations and governments had been busy building new state-of-the-art facilities in England, France, Poland, the Middle East,
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Composition Builder 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: The Composition Builder 2025 application for macOS enables TV stations and Live Event broadcast...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAr just:live pro 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: just:live pro 2025 is a Single Channel Live Production Playout solution for video and static or real-t...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAr just:play pro 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: just:play pro 2025 is a Single Channel automated 24/7 Master Control playout solution with SD, HD and ...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAr live:cut 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: live:cut is an option to just:in mac pro 2025 and enables multicamera production workflows for up to 16 cam...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Just In Mac Lite NDI 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: The Just In Mac Lite NDI application is a streamlined media capture solution designed specific...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Just In Mac Lite 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: The Just In Mac Lite application is a streamlined media capture solution designed specifically for...
03/12/2025
ToolsOnAir just:in mac pro 2025 Boilerplate
More Details: just:in mac pro is a macOS-based client-server multichannel capture solution to record SDI, HDMI, N...
03/12/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, Thomson's Young Journalist of the year 2025 is hoping the accolade will be a springboard to more cross-border collaboration between ...
03/12/2025
MLS Cup 2025 Production To Feature Four iPhone 17 Pros as Game-Coverage CamerasStay tuned to SVG on Friday for our in-depth story on this year's MLS Cup pro...
03/12/2025
SVG LIVE! 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAYThe inaugural event placed a spotlight on the exciting world of live entertainmentBy SVG Staff
...
03/12/2025
(L-R) Peter Scriver and Seth Scriver introduce their documentary Endless Cookie for its premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. (Photo by Andrew H. Wa...
03/12/2025
For the fourth time, Bad Bunny is the most-streamed Wrapped artist on Spotify gl...
03/12/2025
The wait is over. It's time to look back at the audio that defined your year with 2025 Spotify Wrapped, our annual celebration for fans, artists, creators, ...
03/12/2025
Por cuarta vez, Bad Bunny es el Top Artista Global de Wrapped en Spotify, con 19...
03/12/2025
Spotify Wrapped is back, and as always, it's powered by the billions of streams that fans around the world delivered throughout the year. From the artists w...
03/12/2025
Spotify Wrapped is the moment when hundreds of millions of fans around the world...
03/12/2025
With more than 700 million listeners around the world turning to Spotify to soundtrack their lives, it's time to look back at the audio that defined the yea...
03/12/2025
Con m s de 700 millones de oyentes en todo el mundo usando Spotify para acompa ar su d a a d a, es momento de mirar hacia atr s y ver el audio que marc el a o....
03/12/2025
From page-turning thrillers to inspiring memoirs, audiobooks are becoming a core...
03/12/2025
Com mais de 700 milh es de ouvintes em todo o mundo recorrendo ao Spotify para embalar seu dia a dia, chega o momento de revisitar o udio que marcou o ano. Nos...
03/12/2025
Spotify Wrapped celebrates the audio that defined our year, and the annual globa...
03/12/2025
COLUMBIA, Md. Lionsgate and its TV syndicator subsidiary Debmar-Mercury have selected LTN to launch and deliver the new MovieSphereGold all-movie digital networ...
03/12/2025
VIENNA, Austria Video streaming solutions provider Bitmovin and ThinkAnalytics, a provider of AI-powered data analytics for TV, have formed a strategic partners...
03/12/2025
SAN FRANCISCO & THE COLONY, Texas Dolby Laboratories is making what it is calling a new chapter in its retail efforts as part of an agreement with NFM (Nebras...
03/12/2025
MONTREAL Grass Valley has delivered a 4K Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) outside broadcast (OB) truck to Guangdong Radio and Television (GRT), in partnership with B...
03/12/2025
Our users spoke and we listened. December's Maxon One release delivers long-awaited improvements across Cinema 4D, Redshift, ZBrush, and Red Giant.
Whether...
03/12/2025
DHD audio reports a successful 2025 with new additions to its range of broadcast-quality audio production, post-production and routing equipment.
DHD innovatio...
03/12/2025
Grass Valley recently delivered a cutting-edge 4K Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) outside broadcast (OB) truck to Guangdong Radio and Television (GRT), in partnersh...
03/12/2025
CINCINNATI GatesAir has introduced Maxiva XTK, an update to its Maxiva XTE software-defined TV exciter. XTK is a new cost-efficient model primarily developed fo...
03/12/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications is partnering with Haivision, a global provider of mission-critical, real-time video networking and visual collaboratio...
03/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar acquisition for Tegna and set deadlines f...
03/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
03/12/2025
NEW YORK Great American Media said it plans to launch Pure Flix Familia, a dedicated Spanish-language platform, in 2026....
03/12/2025
SOUTHPORT, Conn. Main Street Sports Group has announced that the FanDuel Sports Network app is now available directly on Vizio and on smart TVs with Vizio OS. T...
03/12/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced that Telia, the second-largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's c...
03/12/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. Sinclair said Jay Zollar, vice president and general manager of WLUK-WCWF here, will retire Dec. 31 after 26 years running the stations. Station...
03/12/2025
Wuppertal December 3, 2025
Riedel and Haivision Join Forces to Advance Wireless Video TransmissionRiedel Communications today announced a new partnership with...
03/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Strengthens Longstanding Commitment to Southeast Asia ...
03/12/2025
Breaking the Trend: Small Business Creation Jumps 69% as Entrepreneurs Bet Big on Growth Published on Dec 3, 2025 Categories: Data and insights
LinkedIn Co...
03/12/2025
Tell us a little bit about your job I am a Digital Marketing Executive working on Paid Social, PPC, and Organic Social. I joined the team in May 2025 and am enj...
03/12/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. and VIENNA - Dec. 3, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) and Normann...
03/12/2025
The top 10 most intelligent open-source models all use a mixture-of-experts arch...
03/12/2025
S an Nollaig
Celebrate 2025's top Irish sporting stars with RT Sport Awards live from RT Studios on RT One and RT Player
RT pays tribute to Ror...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
Epic rematch: DAZN on bringing Eubank Jr v Benn II to spectacular life with 1080...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...