Why Hollywood & tech can't be friends

Since the beginning of time - the relationship between the Silicon Valley and Hollywood has been,  well,  err ... complicated. The New York Times takes another swing at this today,  and determines its about comparing the size of executive airplanes. 

The Hollywood G4 clearly loses out  to Sergey and Larry's Boeing 767 Jet.  But comparing jet sizes not withstanding - the real complexity of the two worlds isn't about stock options  or pay-grades.  Hollywood is fueled by scarcity. Silicon Valley is fueled by abundance. And if  you look down the road - its pretty clear that abundance is on the rise.

Just think about it  -  the Valley has brought us WordPress,  Movable Type,  YouTube,  Flickr,  Delicious (ok NY),  Apple TV,  Joost,  Skype,  Final Cut,  MP3,  Twitter, Facebook,  Ustream.. the list goes on and on. Each and every company i've listed is a software platform that in some way dis-intermediates the role of Hollywood on content creation and distribution. Let's look at the before and after of the content creation system;

So,  as you can clearly see,  what's happening in Tech is about democratizing the tools of content creation.  And then,  users,  faced with an increasing avalanche of content - turn to the emerging social recommendation solutions to find content that suites their interests and needs.

These trends are fueled by tech,  encouraged by tech,  and couldn't be accomplished without the innovations that are shifting the power in content creation.   All of this is almost inevitable when you realize that broadband has democratized what used to be the regulated and scarce airwaves.  Broadband gives filmmakers a new way to the livingroom,  and the widescreen TV is for the first time creating a theatre experience without leaving home.  Video has been somewhat safe from the economic upheaval that is roiling the music industry - but not for long.  As storage prices come time,  bandwidth becomes ubiquitous,  and devices that make and discover video go from early adopter status to mainstream entertainment technology - video is set to be 'Napsterized.'


https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/technology/15hollywood.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bridging+the+gap&st=nyt&oref=slogin