Hollywood starting to get it?

Rushfield at The Ankler interviews Jon Glickman, head of Miramax, who claims to be optimistic about the future of entertainment.

My first thought was: Related to Dan? Yes, Jon is Dan’s son. I met Dan a few times when I was politically active in Kansas in the 80s. I didn’t know that Dan moved out of politics to head the Motion Picture Association, more famously headed by Jack Valenti. His son followed the latter part of Dan’s career path.

Discussing the threat of Altman’s AI, the son is thinking in the right direction, maybe not quite there yet:

= = = = = START GLICKMAN:

It might seem dire at this instant. But the birth of VHS was called ‘the Boston Strangler’ by Jack Valenti, the head of the MPAA. Lew Wasserman sued to stop people from being able to record stuff in their houses, and it ultimately became a huge revenue center. Many up-and-coming filmmakers were able to enter the business because of home entertainment. So, I think we’ll get through it, and we just need smart people to navigate us through it, to cooperate between the studios, labor and consumers. We all need to work together.

= = = = = END GLICKMAN.

An earlier parallel is the music union suing radio to halt playing of records. Radio solved it the Canadian way with live music, cultivating and paying LOCAL musicians. Radio thus became an alternate entry point for musicians, especially for unfashionable genres and places.

When a predator thinks he’s got you locked into a monopoly, build your own life instead. You can’t fight a predator in official ways.

Carver:

Start where you are.
Work with what you have.
Make something of it.