Here’s my rule of three:

Whenever I hear the same comment from three or more people, whether that’s “Ken, I don’t like that actor’s costume,” or “Ken, you should really get involved with Kinky Boots,” or “Ken, have you thought about blogging,” .  . . I take action.

Three or more suggests some kind of trend, and a good way to do business is to give the people what they want.  (A great way to do business is to give the people something they don’t know they want . . . yet!)

Last week, I got about ten emails from some of my most faithful readers, all pointing to this article asking for my response.

Before I even read the article, I knew I needed to respond.

And then I read it.  And you should too.

But the quick recap is this:

Last week, Steven Spielberg told a group of USC film students who were all paying big bucks to prepare themselves for a career in film . . . that the film industry was about to implode.  (USC refused to give tuition refunds, FYI.)

Yep, he said that he foresaw massive changes coming to tinsel town, including different prices based on demand for the content ($25 for Iron Man versus $7 for Lincoln) . . . and he even said that the release of films might start to trend more like Broadway shows (!), where there are fewer released each year, but they stick around longer.

Shocking.

Then George Lucas stepped in and joined the implosion revolution saying that it costs too much to market these films, and Hollywood was too focused on commercial success, and wasn’t (or couldn’t afford) to make movies for niche markets.

Sound familiar?

Was Spielberg right?

Well, the man tells stories for a living.  Great ones.  Dramatic ones.  And I think there was a little “E.T.” going on in this speech as well.

I don’t see an implosion happening in Hollywood, but I do see massive changes on the horizon (just like the record industry turned upside down when digital music became a thing).

And I don’t see an implosion on Broadway happening either (although sometimes I’d love a little market correction – but read this post to see why I don’t think it’ll happen anytime soon).

But I do see massive changes coming . . . and massive changes are necessary if we’re going to maintain any sense of profitability.

But Broadway will never implode and it will never go away.  It’s too much of an institution, and it is the nucleus of the Times Square economy.

But it could go entirely non-profit.

Let’s make sure it doesn’t.

Read the article here.

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