Cue early August, where Fox - now under the command of Disney executives - cancelled almost all of their ongoing projects in development. From what I could find, that was over 276 potential films. Sure, it’s disappointing to see your favorite actor or director get their next project scrapped. It’s also easy to push it off because most of those films won’t get made anyways, but that’s not the problem. 

 

The problem is that almost all of those projects were helmed by someone new in the industry. The films that got scrapped are the new, original ideas that fix one Hollywood’s oldest problems that we complain about all the time: the endless waves of sequels, spin-offs, and series. The people hurt most by this are the consumers and the little guys, you know, people like us. Ask around this studio, with countless people working on The Reel Deal alone, and nine times out of ten they want to go into this industry or somewhere tangentially related. This is major news that isn’t getting talked about enough from our peers.

 

36 years ago in 1983, around 50 companies owned all of television, film, and media in general. Today, there’s six. These are some of the wealthiest companies with the shadiest business practices. Remember those great memories you had in your small town where you’d go to the local cinema or drive in theater? Those were great times, key word: were. Thanks to policies like from Disney, where every movie must be played for a month or two and almost all ticket sales go to said company, local mom and pop theaters one or two screens cannot afford to stay open anymore. 

 

What does that mean for our future? When we’re well into our careers where everything we’ve worked on is owned, funded, and controlled by a company that regularly rakes in billions of dollars. How do you think your voice is going to be heard? We’re two steps away from an Orwellian future where every piece of entertainment we consume is owned and doctored by a single conglomerate. 

 

I don’t want to spoil our fun here at The Reel Deal, especially on our first episode, but I firmly believe that this needs to be said. After all, we are an entertainment news show, so it is our job to at least get you thinking about all the entertainment you consume, and how it’s made. Especially since we are this industry’s future and we will have a say in this.