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This year in Hollywood: how the entertainment industry faltered, evolved and survived a year of pandemic and racial reckoning

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This year in Hollywood: how the entertainment industry faltered, evolved and survived a year of pandemic and racial reckoning

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THIS YEAR IN HOLLYWOOD:
HOW THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FALTERED, EVOLVED AND SURVIVED A
YEAR OF PANDEMIC AND RACIAL RECKONING

by

Ryan Deloney

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR COMMUNICATION AND
JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirement for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM — THE ARTS)

August 2021

Copyright 2021 Ryan Deloney

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract...........................................................................................................................................iii
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: An industry overturned, reimagined..............................................................................7
Chapter 2: Demands for diversity from an inert industry..............................................................15
Chapter 3: Moving forward, post pandemic..................................................................................22
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................24

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ABSTRACT
2020 was a pivotal year for Hollywood, though not in the ways industry leaders or consumers
expected. The effects of a global pandemic, leading to operational shutdowns and financial
turmoil, bred a series of changes more drastic than had ever been experienced before. This period
of upheaval extended to every corner of the entertainment industry, from production delays to
calendar shuffling to shifts in release strategies. An prolific emphasis on streaming services and
over theatrical windows also created an environment where consumers could access blockbuster
films right at home. Meanwhile, after the murder of George Floyd, the summer saw a racial
reckoning that brought forth essential conversations around diversity and inclusion in
entertainment. These two historic events catalyzed not only a vastly changed year, but signaled
lasting shifts in the way Hollywood does business. The effects of those changes have been
apparent in 2021 so far and will continue transforming the entertainment industry as we know it
in the years ahead. This thesis will examine the continued effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
and 2020’s racial reckoning on the world of film and television and look ahead to what we can
expect more than a year later
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Introduction

Christmas Day, 2020.

Two movies lead that pack of holiday weekend contenders: Warner Brothers’ “Wonder Woman
1984” and Disney’s “Soul.” On the surface, this blockbuster battle seems like the Hollywood
status quo: audiences have a choice between two family tentpole offerings from competing major
studios, each vying for headlines as the definitive Christmas Day movie of the year. Over the
weekend, the industry will predictably keep a close eye on each film’s performance.

The former, a would-be superhero knockout, opens to just 16% of its predecessor’s first box
office outing. The latter, a highly anticipated release from Pixar, generates zero dollars at the
American box office the same weekend.

This is due, in part, to the fact that more than half of the country’s movie theaters are closed to
the public. (In 2021, a slew of chains will end up closing their doors forever.)

In any other year this probably would have signaled a quantitative catastrophe on a level never
before seen. After all, in 2018 and 2019, December releases from Disney and Warner Brothers
reached upwards of $1 billion.

But in 2020, everything changed.

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“I’ve been doing this since the year 2000, and I’ve never witnessed such a level of uncertainty,”
said Ellene Miles, director of multicultural marketing at Sony Pictures. There’s so many
meetings we’ve had about it, and the answer to all the questions is just, “I don’t know.”

Last year, the entertainment industry shifted its focus from movie theaters to living rooms in
response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Hollywood studios buckled under the weight of a
crisis that threatened the vitality of the theatrical model as never before. Streamer juggernauts
like Netflix and Disney+ vied for subscription domination, while newcomers like HBO Max and
Paramount+ entered the streaming race. Paid video-on-demand rentals became commonplace
exhibitors for delayed, would-be theatrical releases. Meanwhile, theater chains, upon
determining a path toward potential reopening, negotiated theatrical windows and boycotted
uncooperative studios.

To survive, an entire industry transformed the way it did business. More than half of the top 185
films of 2020 were released only on streaming platforms, according to a recent annual UCLA
study. Audiences drastically shifted consumption habits — some might argue, to the point of no
return. In less than a year, Hollywood sped up its evolution tenfold just to stay alive.

Of course, pandemic-fueled financial turmoil wasn’t the only thing to disrupt the narrative of
Hollywood last year. Police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor over the summer
sparked a widespread cultural reckoning. Protests, calls to action, and demands for change
echoed across the country and dominated discussions surrounding politics, education and

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entertainment. As the year drew nearer to a close, an impending presidential election weighed
heavily on national discourse.

“Contemporary politics and COVID-19 can’t be separated from one another,” said Harrison
Gish, an editor at Sony Pictures. “It takes a while for Hollywood to catch up in terms of
representation and what’s going on around us, but it's changing right in front of us.”

Social and political unrest, in combination with the ongoing pandemic, led to an industry climate
incomparable to any other year in entertainment history as the two topics became intertwined.
Drive-in film screenings and protests served as grassroots responses not only to the need for
physical distancing, but for social revolution. Studio productions halted for months, but
collective storytelling continued in the form of outdoor voting rallies, marches and performances.
Powerful creative organizations, such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
publicly swore an impending commitment to diversity and inclusion, even as award shows
themselves were put indefinitely on hold or held virtually.

It must be noted, of course, that even prior to 2020, the entertainment industry was in the midst
of ongoing change and upheaval — albeit at a much slower pace. In terms of release models,
creative shifts, and social consciousness, the industry has been an evolving force for some time.

Streaming companies have been challenging traditional broadcast television and the theatrical
model for close to a decade. Smaller-budget and mid-range films have decreased in number,
giving way to large-scale blockbusters and Oscar contenders as the only theater-worthy studio

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offerings. Meanwhile, demands for increased levels of diversity and transparency have impacted
entertainment discourse since the days of #OscarsSoWhite and #TimesUp. The theatrical
window in itself has been gradually shortening for years, pandemic or not.

“The theatrical window has been shrinking for decades,” said John Fithian, president and CEO of
the National Association of Theater Owners, in a zoom call to USC students. “The shortening of
that window is a natural reflection of how moviegoing has changed, which is fine. But if you
eliminate that theatrical exclusivity entirely, tons of theaters will be killed all across the
country.”

Many believe COVID-19 irrevocably sped up these processes.

“The pandemic has accelerated all these dynamics that were already happening before,” said Eric
Deggans, NPR television critic. “The average audience was turning away from traditional modes
of entertainment, broadcast television, and assuming an on-demand attitude.”

Some might argue that the ability to watch the next new superhero franchise installment or Pixar
film (the first, actually, to feature a lead character of color) from home rather than a movie
theater was going to happen eventually. Others might disagree. But it’s undeniable that if it
weren’t for the events of last year, our Christmas Day entertainment options would have looked a
lot different.

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“From a personal standpoint, I have not enjoyed going to see a movie publicly in a long time,”
said Todd Boyd, a USC professor in the department of cinematic arts. “There’s a lot of things
that were already on their way out before the pandemic, and the pandemic just kind of
accelerated it. There’s something about the convenience of being able to watch something from
the comfort of your own home. And yet, I don’t want to completely dismiss the collective
experience.”

Last year was a lightning rod for an industry notorious for being resistant to change — except,
that is, when it sees an immediate financial benefit in doing so. Some in the industry believe the
pandemic exacerbated not only necessary business decisions for entertainment companies and
production studios, but also prevalent conversations regarding social change.

“The George Floyd reaction and protests wouldn’t have happened the same way if the pandemic
wasn’t part of the conversation,” said Sherri Sneed, a film producer and industry professional.
“Everything converges, everything comes together. Someone turned the lights on.”

The widespread shifts in Hollywood created in 2020, both in terms of pandemic and social
justice movement, happened concurrently. Some of those shifts, such as the postponement of
theatrical releases, are expected to go back to some relative sense of normalcy when the
pandemic is behind us. Many hope, especially when considering long-awaited pushes for
diversity, that Hollywood will not forget its own cyclical mistakes and grow complacent once
again.

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As we look to a post-pandemic world, one thing is clear: After a history-making year like 2020,
Hollywood will never quite be the same.

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Chapter 1: An Industry Overturned, Reimagined

Summer 2021.

More than a full year after the pandemic shut down movie theaters in Los Angeles, exhibitors
once again began preparing for a summer movie season. Traditionally, the lucrative period
between May and August (flush with studio tentpoles, franchise sequels and other hopeful
blockbusters) accounts for about 40% of the year’s ticket revenue. Since the days of Jaws, the
summer months have been a cash cow for the industry.

That tradition was interrupted last year, and fans and studio heads alike grimaced at the box
office no-man's-land. While some theaters across the country ventured to reopen in the back half
of the summer, total box office revenues for the season shrank to a measly $176 million — down
from 2019’s record breaking $4.8 billion haul. Not even a theater-exclusive from power player
Christopher Nolan could offer a lifeline to an industry in peril.

In fact, only 338 films were released in U.S. and Canada theaters last year, down from 987 in
2019.

Now, on the brink of a nation ready to reopen, including Los Angeles, the big screen is back —
at least, that’s what the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) is touting as it works
with studios to rally moviegoers back to theaters. For the first time in 15 months, audiences can
look forward to a relatively consistent line up of theatrical releases. For some, it’s hard to

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remember the last time we enjoyed a steady diet of theater-ready pictures on a weekly basis.
Blockbusters like “Cruella,” and “A Quiet Place: Part 2,”did well and there’s hope that “The
Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” “Black Widow” and “Fast and Furious 9” will remind
fans of the appeal of watching a potentially thrilling summer blockbuster in the theater. Beyond
that, they’ve got to sell tickets and get butts in seats.

If the somewhat healthy —though not dramatically over-performing — returns for spring
releases like “Godzilla vs Kong” and “Mortal Kombat” are any indication, we might very well be
on our way back to movie theater supremacy. By pandemic standards, those opening weekends
were encouraging. They jolted conversations about a hearty return to the theatrical model — or
at the very least, a day when theater chains won’t be merely scraping by, or worse.

Hollywood players like NATO, the major studios and even some vocal movie stars are holding
out that movie fans will be chomping at the bit to get back to the big screen — and that those
theater devotees are growing in numbers along with the steadily rising vaccination rates. But
after more than a year of asking audiences to change their viewing habits, the future remains
unclear.

When Hollywood’s central revenue stream dried up last March, the major studios had to make
some hard choices. Impending releases, some of which might have yielded billion-dollar-hauls in
other years, were shelved indefinitely. Many of those pictures, including Marvel’s “Black
Widow” and Sony’s “No Time To Die,” still haven’t seen the light of day.

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Of course, waiting out the pandemic completely dormant was not an option for studios,
production companies or entertainment corporations. Revenue had to come from somewhere,
and it certainly wasn’t going to be from movie theaters or theme parks.

For some media conglomerates, next steps were a no-brainer.

The official commencement of the streaming wars have been hotly debated, but one thing is
clear: they weren’t ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Walt Disney Company launched Disney Plus in December 2019. Since then, the corporation
has employed tremendous financial assets in an unabashed attempt to tip the scales of the
streaming race. It’s rare that the Mouse House is given the label of “underdog,” but Netflix’s
dominance in the space has been undeniable for more than a decade.

When multiplexes closed their doors in March, Disney did what any company in its position
would have done (and, as we’ll see, many others indeed followed suit). It recalibrated. Like
Hollywood itself, the company shifted focus from movie theaters to living rooms. Disney Plus
doubled down on direct-to-streaming content, both for its own original shows and movies as well
as for some projects that were originally intended for theatrical release.

The decision to debut would-be theatrical blockbusters like “Mulan,” “Raya and the Last
Dragon,” and “Soul” on the service (the latter at no extra cost) reignited discussions about a
dwindling consumer distinction between big screen and small screen stories. If subscribers can

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see the latest Pixar film on Disney Plus for no extra cost on the service, will they ever be willing
to return to the old fashioned movie theater experience and pay for a ticket? If fans can see the
latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — even with an added fee — right at home,
will they expect the same kinds of offers for future films in perpetuity? It’s too soon to tell, but
for now, Disney is doubling down on this strategy: This summer, both Pixar’s “Luca” and
Marvel’s “Black Widow” are both debuting on the service.

Of course, Disney wasn’t the only major Hollywood studio left to reconsider its business model
last year. The other four majors took action in their own ways. Interestingly, they each land
somewhere different on the streaming-to-theatrical sliding scale.

In what’s become a notoriously divisive decision amongst the Hollywood elite, Warner Brothers
announced in December that its entire theatrical slate would be available on its relatively new
streaming service, HBO Max, which launched a few months after the pandemic began. The
studio had tested the waters in the fall with Robert Zemeckis’s fantasy film, “The Witches.” Just
a few months later, WarnerMedia (parent company to both WB and HBO Max) announced that
2021 would be a year of day-and-date releases for its entire slate, films big and small. Over the
course of a calendar year, films like “Godzilla vs Kong,” “The Suicide Squad” and “Dune”
would be available in theaters and on the service at no extra cost to subscribers on the same day.
Clearly seizing upon the opportunity to boost its low subscribership ( by fall 2020, the service
boasted only 8.6 activated U.S. subscribers compared to Netflix’s 73 million) many saw this as
the biggest challenge to Hollywood’s traditional business model yet.

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“It’s an HBO Max subscription drive, and they’re not going to kid you about it,” Fithian said.
“Nevertheless, the streaming release is a pandemic model, and they’ve made that very clear. We
understand that a pandemic model is different from a regular model, although I wish they hadn't
made that choice for the whole year.”

Another Hollywood studio with its own streaming service, Paramount, launched Paramount Plus
in March, a rebranding of the former CBS All Access. Interestingly, aside from a new
Spongebob movie at launch, the studio mostly elected to adhere to the theatrical model for its
upcoming films, albeit with a shortened PVOD window. After sitting on “A Quiet Place Part II”
for more than a year, the film finally debuted in theaters on May 28. Rather than
launching same-day on Paramount Plus, the film will remain in theaters for 45 days before
becoming available to subscribers (note that this is a reduction from the traditional 75-day
window).

So, what’s a studio to do in pandemic if they lack their own streaming service?

Universal Pictures was the first to challenge the theatrical window. The studio initially angered
massive theater chains by refusing to hold on to every film for an eventual theatrical release. In
April 2020, they pioneered the then-novel, now-standard concept of sending a theater-worthy
release straight to video on demand. Since then, they’ve settled on a kind of middle ground: 17
days in theaters before becoming available to rent or buy online. Mid-budget films like “The
Croods” and “Nobody” have benefited from this strategy, but the studio has held on to
juggernauts like “Fast 9” and “Halloween Kills,” both set to debut later this year in theaters.

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For its part, Sony Pictures mostly rode out the pandemic, avoiding splashy headlines about
streaming services, theatrical windows, and angry theater chains. Without its own marquee
service, the studio has resorted to fraternizing with existing services to generate revenue for
some of its unreleased films. Like its peers, the studio postponed many of its major releases, such
as the upcoming “Morbius” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”

“I haven't really had much product yet to promote,” Miles said over zoom. “We've had a couple
of small movies that we put in theaters just to kind of test the waters, but nothing huge, nothing
that will make or break us one way or the other. It’s just sort of a test,” she said of films like
September’s “Broken Heart Gallery.”

These five studios, and their myriad of strategies to stay alive, highlight the reality that there is
no clear-cut answer to the uncertainty of the pandemic — or the mysterious future that lies
beyond it.

A number of battles are being waged — studios vs streamers, streamers vs streamers, at-home
viewing vs theater viewing. In many ways, it’s still anybody’s game because everyone is doing
what it takes to survive.

Yet, of every major industry player, theater owners might be the ones who’ve had their backs
pushed furthest up against the wall. With little to no viable revenue options after closing their
doors last March (save for some feeble curbside popcorn sales) movie theaters across the country

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were left in purgatory. Those that could afford to pay rent for months on end without an influx of
cash scraped by; others did not.

Even when national restrictions lifted and cinemas slowly made their return, many major markets
were left in the dark. By February, roughly half of movie theaters had been given the green light
to return.

“It's a fascinating concept that for a long time, you could see a movie in Wichita, Kansas, but
you couldn’t see it in Los Angeles. It’s incredible, because when has that ever been the case?”
said Harrison Gish, an editor at Sony Pictures. “I’m under the impression that Sony is not
planning to release much until they have a better handle of what plays well. Sony has other
verticals aside from theatrical, so we have the luxury of being more cautious.”

Without major markets like Los Angeles and New York open to the public, studios refused for
months to launch their big pictures, at least not exclusively in cinemas.

“Not all the theaters are open,” Fithian said. “They don’t want to open a gigantic blockbuster
without New York and Los Angeles.”

While studio blockbusters sat on the shelves and streaming services proliferated, multiplexes and
independent movie palaces continued to hibernate. Still, the collective theater experience did not
completely die out. Drive-in theaters, a nostalgic but outdated model for film consumption, made
a comeback as moviegoers flocked to see old favorites rather than new releases. This resurgence,

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while certainly encouraging for exhibitors eager for any uptick in box office sales, only
underscored the larger lingering questions: When things return to normal, will audiences return
en masse to theaters? Which habits formed during the pandemic will outlast it, and which will
dissipate?

“Despite the pandemic, people rediscovered a different way of watching movies outside their
homes,” Fithian said. “There’s this idea that streaming has killed movie theaters and that kind of
collective experience. But these efforts show that people still like getting out of their homes and
watching movies with other people, which is really encouraging.”

That might be true. But when audiences have spent the last year with hundreds of premium titles
at their fingertips for a monthly subscription price less than the cost of a single movie ticket, it’s
clear that theaters are going to have to readjust and recalibrate to win back their attention — let
alone their devotion.

If last summer was a testament to the transformative ability of an industry generally resistant to
change, this summer will be the ultimate test of the staying power of those changes. Even though
most studio heads still throw public support behind a big return of the big screen — if it’s going
to avoid cannibalization, there’s not much room for error.

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Chapter 2: Demands for Diversity from an Inert Industry

While the global pandemic threatened the business model for the worlds of film and television,
another event shocked the country and sparked a national discourse on a level no one had ever
seen before.

Two months after the coronavirus shut down the entertainment industry, George Floyd was
murdered in Minneapolis.

That event catalyzed a summer of demonstrations, marches and protests in defense of Black
lives. As many as 26 million people took to the streets, calling for widespread reform of criminal
justice systems and law enforcement entities. Very quickly, the Black Lives Matter movement
permeated dialogues in numerous industries — including Hollywood. It wasn’t long before
studios and their mega-corporation parent companies (all generally averse to controversy and
public scrutiny) took the step of publicly condemning racism. Hollywood promised to listen,
learn and do better.

This is something that Hollywood has promised before. It’s no secret that for decades, the
business has been imbued with a patriarchal, white-supremist structure benefiting some groups in
a grossly disproportionate way to others. The #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements have
received large scale attention in the past half decade and demanded accountability. Meanwhile,
countless research studies have surveyed the institution’s glacial progression toward inclusion. In

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2020, as Black artists stepped up to share their experiences with workplace discrimination and
industry racism, it seemed like maybe Hollywood finally did start listening.

Many wondered if the pandemic, which was itself interwoven within the national discourse last
year, had a substantial effect on the diversity and inclusion conversation ignited by the
resurgence of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

“There have been a million different things that have led up to this very specific conversation,
but obviously the watershed moment was the murder of George Floyd. For me, it’s so hard
because as a woman of color, as someone who has a black husband and black sons and black
brothers, it was instantly personal,” said Karen Jones, executive vice president of
Communications at HBO and HBO Max. It was this combination of the heartbreaking
inhumanity that was displayed and the despair that so many people were experiencing — many
had lost their livelihoods, lost family members even lost their lives — now combined with this
cruelty that had been inflicted. It was just, for a lot of people, too much to deal.”

With hundreds of productions shut down, many people out of work, and hundreds of thousands
more across the city confined to their homes, it would suffice to say that the entertainment
industry was more obliged to pay attention now than ever before.
“This social justice movement paired with the COVID-19 pandemic, everything that’s kind of
been happening all at once, has actually been beneficial in some ways,” Miles said, “because
people have had a moment to stop and think, and listen.”

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As the Los Angeles streets cleared out (along with its iconic movie palaces and performances
spaces) the LA streets looked more vacant than ever. In those empty spaces, many Black artists
took the opportunity to raise their voices in a public way. With outdoor film screenings, mobile
art installations and live performances, they used deserted parking lots and blank walls to
showcase work from artists and filmmakers of color. Collective storytelling experiences did not
die out because movie theaters were closed. People found ways of celebrating cinematic
storytelling and furthering the messaging of the Black Lives Matter Movement simultaneously.

However, the industry itself remained in a transitory state. Many in the business seemed to
understand that, at least in some ways, things would not be the same after the effects of the
pandemic. For years, the Hollywood elite have paid lip service to demands for increased
inclusion and representation. But until now, the cycle has always seemed to return to the status
quo, solidifying the industry’s chronically unhurried progress toward change. Last year, with
ears and eyes opened — perhaps more than they ever had been — many wondered if the effects
of the pandemic and 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement would bring lasting change.

A slew of projects with diverse casts and crews made waves in the entertainment space in 2020.
Shows like “Lovecraft Country,” “Watchmen,” and “Bridgerton” launched on streaming services
to rave reviews, online buzz and fan adoration. Minority-led movies like “Minari” and “One
Night in Miami” created early awards season buzz. And while the needle did appear to have
moved in the right direction, many were quick to point out that this diversity push couldn’t have
been solely dependent on the pandemic and the current Black Lives Matter resurgence.

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“It’s hard to tell if the pandemic exacerbated diversity efforts, because the industry was
positioning itself to do better on diversity anyway,” said Deggans. “It was already responding,
admittedly very slowly, to this need. Content is planned very far in advance. You couldn’t have
George Floyd get killed in May and then have Lovecraft Country in September. It just so
happened that it came in the summer where people were focused on systemic racism and police
brutality.”
While the specific projects released in 2020 weren’t necessarily created as a direct response to
the movement, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t had a significant effect on the industry.

UCLA’s annual Hollywood Diversity Report, released in April of this year, signaled that the
pandemic paved the way for increased diversity measures in 2020. The study, which included
both theatrical and streaming releases, found that an increased number of women and people of
color got jobs last year in the categories of lead actors, supporting actors, writers and directors.
In fact, in the case of the acting categories, casting reached close to proportionate representation,
which means it nearly reflected the actual demographics in the U.S. population. Beyond that, for
both streaming and theatrical releases, the most popular pieces of content among audiences were
those with more diverse casts. According to the study’s authors, films with 40-50% minority cast
members enjoyed the highest median box office numbers.

The “diversity sells” narrative certainly isn’t a new one, but the numbers certainly spoke for
themselves last year.

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Some credit, in part, the higher levels of cultural attention for POC-centered stories to their
increased availability on streaming services due to the shift in pandemic release models. Many
films that might have been released exclusively in theaters, or with an added paywall on PVOD,
were made available for free on streaming platforms.

“Streaming has played a huge part in these stories being amplified and shown to more people,
which is very different,” said Etienne Maurice, chief creative officer of the African American
Film Critics Association and founder of WalkGood Productions. “When you talk about the
importance of representation during the pandemic, now more than ever, these kinds of stories are
needed. They’re the only way people are going to understand what’s going on in the world in
regards to police brutality.”

Henry Jenkins, a professor of communications, journalism and cinematic arts at USC, said that
streaming outlets helped fuel what are now highly visible, and highly successful, POC-oriented
films. “Streaming services have been doing this since the summer, creating special Black Lives
Matter sections and making films available that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to see
otherwise,’’ he said. “And hopefully we’ll see more projects about the history of Black film in
America.”

That amplification of minority narratives was also reflected come awards season. A record-
breaking nine actors of color were nominated in the acting categories at this year’s Academy
Awards. Riz Ahmed become the first person of Pakistani descent and the first Muslim to receive
a nomination for Best Actor, and Steven Yeun became the first Asian American in the same

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category. Meanwhile, “Judas and the Black Messiah” made history as the first all-black produced
film to be nominated for Best Picture.

That said, it would be naive and erroneous to assume that the pandemic was a solely positive
force for diversity in entertainment last year. For an industry that has long failed in terms of
equal treatment for minorities and representation standards, many pointed out the creative people
of color likely felt the brunt of the pandemic more harshly than their white counterparts.

According to the UCLA report, “Films with leads who were people of color or women were
more likely to have smaller budgets in 2020 than those with white and male leads."

Diversity might very well sell, but even during a pandemic, Hollywood is slow to catch up.

During a Black Lives Matter rally in June 2020, actor Michael B. Jordan spoke out about the
problem of representation and its rootedness in a lack of Black and POC staffing.

“I use my power to demand diversity, but it’s time the studios, the agencies, all these buildings
that we’re standing in front of, I wish they would do the same,” Jordan said. “You committed to
a 50/50 gender parity in 2020. Where is the challenge to commit to black hiring? Black content
led by Black executives, Black consultants. Are you policing our storytelling as well? Let us
bring our darkness to the light.”

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Miles, who specializes in marketing films to minority demographics, also said the
representational shift must come from the front end. With or without the strides and setbacks of a
pandemic year, that truth will carry on as long as the issue of systemic racism and inequality
continues.

“It’s about getting into those greenlight rooms, reading the scripts as they come in,
recommending different voices, different filmmakers, different people that they may not have
thought about, to bring those voices out,” she said. “The level of influence that entertainment has
in our daily lives is so strong. It matters to me what that content is in the front end.”

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Chapter 3: Moving Forward, Post-Pandemic

One year and three months after movie theaters closed, studios sent their employees home and
the entertainment industry was tilted upside down, Los Angeles is preparing for a full-scale
reopening. After everything that happened in 2020 and the first half of 2021, the most pressing
question now is: What will stick?

As of now, one thing is clear. Hollywood is not done changing.

Though most movie theaters have returned on some level, the streaming wars are just picking up.
Major media companies have made it all but crystal clear that challenging Netflix is their
primary objective moving forward. In May, AT&T announced WarnerMedia would absorb
Discovery — along with the company’s newly launched streaming service, Discovery Plus. Just
weeks later, Amazon announced its forthcoming purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),
one of the oldest film studios, responsible for film franchises like James Bond and Rocky. In the
coming months and years, every major studio will be forced to find ways to compete in a fiercely
crowded space. These kinds of mega-mergers might be one of the only options.

As for the films and the filmmakers themselves, many actors are already making a smooth
transition to the streaming space. Household name directors like Spike Lee, David Fincher and
Aaron Sorkin sent their flagship awards contenders to Netflix last year. A-list actors in the vein
of Reese Witherspoon, Viola Davis and George Clooney have themselves doubled down on the
power of streamers with shiny new content available to viewers right at home. Leonardo

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DiCaprio, arguably the last major movie star in Hollywood that can consistently deliver superior
box office results, is set to debut movies on two separate streamers within the next two years.

The grand test will be for movie theaters. The pandemic altered viewing habits and distribution
strategies at a pace, and on a scale, we’ve never seen before. If theater chains are going to keep
up, they’ll have to evolve with the industry. Many believe premium viewing experiences and
luxury cinemas are the future of in-person moviegoing and multiplexes.

When it comes to diversity, conversations about lasting change haven’t slowed since 2020 came
to a close. As the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder passed in May, conversations
reignited surrounding the ongoing need for change that will outlast this pivotal period in history.
With business returning to normal and projects ramping up again, Hollywood is no less
accountable now than when it promised, just over a year ago, to do better.

“When there's a giant ship in the water, you can't just turn it on a dime, it has to slowly turn,”
Miles said. “And so I think that is going to affect our content over time. I think that people that
never got an opportunity will get them.”

24
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25
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Asset Metadata

Creator Deloney, Ryan (author)

Core Title This year in Hollywood: how the entertainment industry faltered, evolved and survived a year of pandemic and racial reckoning

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism (The Arts)

Degree Conferral Date 2021-08

Publication Date 07/30/2021

Defense Date 07/28/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag box office,COVID-19,diversity,Entertainment,film,Hollywood,movie,OAI-PMH Harvest,pandemic,Production,protests,Racism,release,Studio,television

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Turner, Miki (committee chair), Anawalt, Sasha (committee member), Smith, Christopher (committee member)

Creator Email deloney@usc.edu,ryandeloney98@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC15670138

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