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John Attanasio is the CEO of Toonstar.<\/em><\/p>\n I can\u2019t recall the exact moment. It might have been during an AI event that I attended last summer where a top union exec proclaimed that she \u201cprefers candles to electricity\u201d in front of a cheering crowd\u2026or it might have been last fall, post-writer\u2019s strike resolution,\u00a0when I warned\u00a0<\/a>that the challenges for Hollywood were not over and someone on X (formerly Twitter) thoughtfully responded with \u201cDie AI Scum.\u201d Or perhaps it was last month when the audience at a SXSW panel with OpenAI\u00a0loudly and frequently<\/a>\u00a0booed speakers who professed any benefit of AI. But I do know that at some point during that sequence of events, I realized the backlash to talk of AI in Hollywood was no ordinary fear of a new technology. And in this case, it\u2019s a fear that will only prolong the troubles plaguing Hollywood if it persists.<\/p>\n Fear of new technology, and the changes that come with it, is certainly not new. We can trace it all the way back to The Luddites smashing looms in England during the industrial revolution.\u00a0But the existential crisis currently facing the entertainment industry has been in the making for decades and it has nothing to do with AI. Distribution fragmentation driven by the rise of internet video and social media platforms has disrupted the gatekeeper era and the monopoly on access to audiences of the mega-network and cable days. Add to that, there\u2019s now a business model imbalance, courtesy of the streaming wars, which drove up the cost of production and marketing so high that basic economic rules (i.e. profits) were forgotten. The result? Ongoing legacy industry consolidation and the seemingly unending layoffs that have haunted the studios for more than a decade.<\/p>\n Almost any writer, actor, or agent will\u00a0tell you<\/a>\u00a0about how hard it\u2019s become to get anything sold, let alone made. \u201cStay alive till \u201825\u201d is a thing, which is apparent in the testimonials featured in this\u00a0recent LinkedIn post<\/a>\u00a0from many skilled behind-the-camera professionals who haven\u2019t worked in months, and are on the cusp of selling their homes to survive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last but not least, younger generations have new tastes and habits that have been born from legacy alternatives such as YouTube<\/a> and TikTok which have significantly challenged the media industrial complex. A\u00a0recent Harris Poll reported<\/a>\u00a0that nearly three-fourths of Gen Zers and millennials prefer original content over franchises and want more content from small, independent creators. So why not lean into this trend and give younger audiences what they want?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n