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After a drama-filled 2023, Hollywood faces an uncertain 2024.
Legacy media companies are straining to figure out a sustainable structure for the industry as the linear TV business declines and streaming profits remain elusive. Getting viewers' attention is as competitive as ever with a glut of streaming options, not to mention other diversions from podcasts to TikTok. Artificial intelligence's encroachment on content creation and other parts of the entertainment pipeline is just starting to be discerned.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.On the frontlines of facing these hurdles are the up-and-comers who are driving the industry into its next phase. Business Insider profiled 25 rising stars of the entertainment business — talented producers, marketers, and deal-makers from top Hollywood players like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon.
We asked these future industry leaders to identify the industry's biggest challenges in 2024, as well as unpack the opportunities alongside them. From navigating the post-peak TV era to AI's potential, here's what they said.
What comes after peak TVThe days of massive numbers of limited series and lavish spending are over as streamers and broadcasters shift largely to lower-cost, ongoing series with mass appeal. But buyers will still need fresh titles to keep people subscribing and renewing. Working within these new constraints will be one of the biggest demands facing creators and the creative executives who develop their work for streamers and other platforms.
"It's fewer buyers, and buyers that are less inclined to take big swings," said documentary film producer Trevor Smith, co-founder of This Machine Filmworks. "So it is about finding new ways to make high-quality storytelling that fits into that lens — that narrowing lens."
"We have to be more creative in the way in which we make deals; buyers won't just buy anything nowadays," said Zita Brack, director of business and legal affairs at MRC, the production company behind shows like Peacock's "Poker Face" and Hulu's "The Great."
Emerald Wright-Collie, director of creative content for Sony Pictures Television's kids' division, particularly anticipated hardships for animation, where contraction has led to layoffs at companies like Dreamworks and Pixar.
"Everyone is looking for that North Star. And in the past few years, the compass is pointed toward either known IP, original content, or co-viewing," she said. "This has resulted in a bit of a pause for buyers causing a standstill in the industry, but I'm hoping in 2024 that opens up a bit more and there is some more enthusiasm when considering new content."
In a tougher selling environment, independent studio execs like Maxfield Elins, SVP of scripted TV at Lionsgate TV, are hopeful they'll have an edge.
"Because we're an independent studio, we can be nimble in our deals," said Elins, whose company credits him with selling more than 20 shows across streaming and cable in 18 months. "We have pretty much sold and developed everywhere."
Winning the attention warsWinning the attention wars was the other most commonly cited challenge of this cohort. Peak TV may be over. But audiences still have a daunting amount of choices they can hopscotch among when it comes to streaming.
It's a multi-pronged problem. For legacy media companies, they still need shows that serve their linear broadcast and cable as well as streaming audiences. Streamers need to find buzzy, ongoing shows and continually promote them in new and unexpected ways if they want to hook and keep subscribers. Movie makers need to get people back in theaters, which still haven't recovered to their pre-pandemic health, Barbenheimer notwithstanding.
"With all of the theatrical successes this year, I think the challenge, but really the opportunity, is that we keep creating content that brings audiences back to theaters," said Jacqueline Garell, a creative executive at Universal Pictures. "I think we've reminded them how going to the movies is such a fun, communal experience and especially in a post-COVID world. And it's our job at the studio to keep the creative content really flowing."
Diego Nájera, director of narrative film at Participant, pointed out that coming out of this year's writers' and actors' strikes, which halted most production, there will be fewer films in the pipeline for 2024 as many big studio tentpoles got pushed to 2025.
"It's going to be very interesting to see what people respond to when there's less competition for attention and see if people reframe in any way their habits, and they end up finding movies that were getting lost before," he said. "But at the same time, the challenge will be to try to keep their faith that we're going to continue to be able to entertain them with impactful culturally relevant stories."
Keeping the industry's momentum in diversityWhile some creatives worry about a demise of risk-taking in storytelling, others wonder about Hollywood's commitment to correcting past wrongs. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, people of color have benefited from entertainment companies' efforts to improve diversity on screen and behind the camera. But optimism has turned to concern as some young leaders worry that those nascent gains will be lost as a weary industry's focus shifts to other challenges.
There were improvements in representation after George Floyd's murder, but only to a degree, said Prince Baggett, head of film for Confluential Films, which focuses on projects created by and featuring people of color.
"It's been one of the things I think that people focus on for a second, and it quickly shifts," Baggett said. "That ultimately has seemed to have now gone by the wayside as we're dealing with so many other industry issues."
Nájera cited significant progress for Latino-centered stories in 2023, citing DC Studios' "Blue Beetle" among other projects "that are allowing Latinos to be seen and to play in different kind of spheres," he said. "But at the same time, what we need is more executives and more decision makers" from diverse backgrounds, he added.
AI's impactLooming over Hollywood, along with just about every industry, are the implications of generative AI for the business.
Much of the gen AI work in entertainment so far has focused on de-aging and other special effects as well as dubbing, recreating voices of bygone actors, and restoring old films and TV series, helping streamers keep up with the demand for content. But there's fear that the tech could undermine the industry's creative essence by using artists' content without compensation or replacing scriptwriters — AI was a key issue in the Hollywood strikes as both writers and actors sought guardrails on its use. There are also worries about the tech being used to deceive viewers and exploit actors.
These feelings are reflected among BI's next-gen leaders, who expressed fear and uncertainty about the tech's potential, but also acceptance and optimism.
"It's a sort of a terrifying world to imagine losing creative voices to machine," said Nick Graves, a creative executive at SMAC Entertainment. "But I think there are a lot of positive or potentially positive things that could come of it."
There's a recognition that gen AI is here to stay and creators and producers should use it, coupled with the awareness that there need to be limits on its use.
"We want our employees to know: Use it, use it now. It can make you more efficient with your job and the people that don't use it, they're gonna be kind of left behind," Baggett said.
"It would be great to use it in marketing but the moment you do, you could lose trust with the consumer," said Nick Walsh, a director of social media for originals at Hulu. "The technology is fantastic, but consumers are wary," he added.
This article was originally published in December.
Reed Alexander, Madeline Berg, Alison Brower, and James Faris contributed reporting.
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