Dear grasshopper,
I told you about Weinstein months ago…
Not directly, but his downfall is part of a much larger event. At the dawn of ScottyLeaks, I exposed the Hollywood Cabal. What you see happening is a symptom of a much larger, systemic issue.
Look at it this way. The allegations against him, were proven multiple times beginning decades ago. It was an open secret in the industry. Which begs the question: why now?
When he was untouchable for so long, why did Weinstein fall so suddenly?
In short: he was expendable. The industry in its archaic form has been on a severe decline. Whereas, even as recently as 2 years ago, he was too big a part of the industry to lose, today the industry and its most valuable asset has outgrown the traditional model.
Here’s what that means and why your career stands at a crossroads…
For nearly 100 years, Hollywood has been an oligarchy of sorts. It has been controlled by less than a handful of individuals, institutions, and a foreign government. The price of admission into the inner circle was quite high and there was no way around it.
You play by the rules laid out by a very small group of people or pack your bags. But, the tides have turned. If you needed any further proof that the old system has failed and is on life support, this is it. One of the oligarchs has fallen.
It’s akin to Prince William being kicked out of the royal family (not that there are any similarities of course).
This leads us to the next question: why and how did he become expendable?
Like I said above, the industry’s most valuable asset outgrew it. They took for granted the thing that you and I seek to get the most of: the audience and their attention.
Since its inception, the industry has enjoyed a monopoly on attention, without any real challengers. This grew over time and reached further into our lives. Actors became heroes, and entertainment became culture.
What the industry oligarchs failed to account for was a fast moving wave of personal technology at the turn of the millennium. With the advent of blogs, social networks, and smart phones that allowed you to be plugged in 24/7, it became more interesting to watch someone “fire in the hole” at the drive through window, than it was to venture out for several hours just to watch another predictable and formulaic film.
This paved the way for an entirely new breed of actors: the reality stars and the social media stars.
In case you’re not already aware, I hate to break it to you…reality shows are highly scripted. Netflix “Unreal” and watch a few episodes and you’ll see what I mean. It’s pretty much a reality TV documentary.
Rather than embracing what should have been a natural evolution of the industry, the elites fought it in order to preserve the status quo. It wasn’t until they gave up on this idea and embraced the marketing machine that these personalities brought to a project, that the industry began leveraging this hidden asset. More on that in a bit.
Look at this way. Amazon could go away tomorrow, but you can’t undo what it created. That genie is out of the bottle and there’s no way of getting it back in there.
And that is phenomenal for you. It means that there’s no oligarchy standing in your way. You can literally start to create the career of your dreams today.
See, when I talk about the industry crumbling I don’t mean that Hollywood will cease to exist. The industry is a living, breathing, being and at present it’s purging itself of the parasitic entities that have hindered it for so long.
What we are about to experience is an industry with bountiful opportunity for those that are ready for it. More on that in a sec.
With this industry evolution will come some growing pains that we’ll have to go through. There’s no way around it, so just buckle up and prepare for a bumpy ride. Weinstein-gate is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s the first domino that will start the chain reaction.
Unfortunately, even more things will come to light in the near future. What they are, I don’t care to speculate for multiple reasons. Here’s what I know for sure...
Gary Vaynerchuck has said “the major networks will no longer be ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX…they will be social media and tech companies turned into studios.”
The only question is whether you will change along with it or wish for the good old days to come back…spoiler alert: they never do. I get so worked up and passionate when I talk or write about this because it’s super important for every one of us that have dedicated our lives to the industry.
Sadly, if you try to engage in conversation about this with your actor friends, you just might get a blank stare. It’s pretty much business as usual for everyone that is out of the loop.
Now that you know, what will you choose to do about it?
Here’s the crossroads.
You can choose to ignore this and go on about your day as if nothing will change, or feeling that there is nothing you can do to facilitate change.
OR
You can strategize for the coming change and be prepared to move to front of the line, leapfrogging all of the actors that didn’t heed the call.
It’s true that we’ll see an industry devolution of sorts. It’s part of the growing pains I mentioned earlier. That will take place during the reluctant passing of the baton from the old system and the oligarchs, to the new system of alternative media and the new studios.
It should be short lived and that means two things.
- You have to prepare for it now because the window will be open for a very short time
- By the time you notice it, the shift will have already occurred and you will have missed your chance at being first in line to take advantage of all of the new casting opportunities.
See once we ride it out and get through the bumpy transition process, the industry will be built anew and operate in ways that we can’t even imagine yet.
What we know for sure is that you will need two things. A stellar reputation and a great social media presence. Here’s the fix for both of those.
I’m sure you’re seeing it already. Our job as actors has split into two parts. We no longer have the luxury of only being creatives. We also have to create a marketing machine and that’s where this comes in.
Here’s what I find most exciting about this. We’re looking at a future wherein the industry is controlled by tech companies. They specialize in innovation, so who knows, maybe sound studios will become a thing of the past as we hop aboard a Space X capsule and shoot on location in the milky way. That might be a stretch but whatever happens I hope to…
See you at the top,
Scott