PressEthic

While changes in the media are seriously affecting newspapers on the East Coast, changes in the media are also seriously affecting media industries on the West Coast, more specifically, Hollywood. The New York Times reported today that major movie studios in Hollywood are having to downsize, and actors are starting to complain about their paychecks.

We usually picture Hollywood to be a glamorous place, money flowing out. However, these days, Hollywood is looking more and more like the suffering newspaper industry that is being overcome by the newest forms of media.

Hollywood is in the midst of a strategic shift. The average cost to make and market a movie has skyrocketed — to $96.2 million last year, from $54.1 million in 1995 — while lucrative DVD sales have flattened. Major film studios are fending off illegal piracy, which industry executives say accounted for $1.3 billion in lost revenue in the United States last year.

The growth of new media threatens to undermine traditional businesses, while studios are flummoxed about how to take advantage of the new opportunities they represent. And movies and TV also face tough new competition from video games and online social networking sites. Even cellphones have become a favorite diversion among the young.

We all love our movies, but what is going to become of the movie industry if these studios cannot keep up with the growing demand for huge budgets and star salaries? I can't help but worry about my friends who paid some $50,000 to get their film degrees from USC and are still out of work. One might think the same about me, however, getting a degree in print journalism, an industry that many think is fizzling out to make way for new forms of media.

The same thing has happened to the music industry. Tower Records is going out of business. People can now download music online through such online outlets as iTunes. The winds of change seem to be hitting multiple facets of the media industry.

The real issue lies in the fact that people are more often turning towards these new forms of technology that cost less and turning away from traditional forms of media. However, these industries make the majority of their money through these traditional forms.

If things keep going the way they're going, we might not have movies, television shows, music, or even news of the same quality we are used to. This could have widespread affects on the way we receive media. This is not a new phenomenon, but it just seems to be more urgent these days:

But there seems to be a greater urgency now, because there do not appear to be clear answers to the industry’s woes.