Everybody in the media, entertainment and communications world must read this essay by the LA Times' Patrick Goldstein. Goldstein discusses why the Writer's Guild strike has gone on so ridiculously long and it is this: nobody knows the value of anything anymore.
The real problem that keeps the studios and writers from forging a compromise is that the value of intellectual property in general, whether it's music, TV shows, movies, Interent videos or even art, is up for grabs these days. As Sony Pictures Chairman Michael Lynton says
If no one has a clear understanding of what entertainment is worth, then no one really knows what they're negotiating about.
The Internet has undermined "a long-held consensus over the value of information and entertainment" and it's almost impossible to assign reliable values to web-based entertainment efforts. I know this all too well because that's what I do and increasingly it's really, really hard to size the market, make projections or even come up with a coherent framework for calculating anything. It never used to be this difficult.
What's daunting is film producer Michael Shamberg's prediction that there will be "300 different economic models for different kinds of entertainment." That's almost like saying there will be no economic model at all, that the formula for financial success on the Internet is always idiosyncratic, a chaotic state that analysts like me can't analyze.
I don't think that's the case (but I admit I fear it might be). Sooner or later everyone will adapt to the radical new shift in entertainment that the Internet has created. It's just that right now, at this point in time, the world hasn't caught up with the challenges of making money in this new open and uncontrolled landscape.
Cynthia Brumfield at 9:49 AM|Comments(0)
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