I once heard an executive speak for an hour without even coming close to actually saying something.

Best TED Talk on business I've heard. EVER!

"Don't ask questions. Just consume product, and then get excited for more product" - internet's greatest hackfrauds

This is the best explanation I've ever heard for why so many corporations in so many industries are failing miserably.

"Every Corporation on Earth thinks their customers are stupid." Sounds like projection on part of the stupid, vapid, boring CEOs onto everyone else.

That is what I call a stiff drink... too bad the people that need to ingest it aren't even in our bar.

I support everything you said. Kathleen Kennedy is a perfect example of corporate arrogance and irresponsibility. She wanted to replace a loyal fanbase with social activists who don't care about the characters or stories. The people that she wanted as a fanbase will not buy merchandise or toys. She will go down as one of the worse executives in the history. I am ashamed to share a birthday with her.

Part of the problem is geek chic culture. It used to be these Sci fi franchises appealed to a relatively small but loyal group of people. When Sci Fi became mainstream the corporate overlords wanted to maximize profit margins by trying to appeal to a broader audience at the expense of alienating the fans that made it successful in the first place

The entertainment industry MUST die. There is no other way, the purge must happen and actual entertainment from ACTUAL talented artists will rise from the ashes like the phoenix. Their ignorance and egos have reached a dead end and they dropped the bar so much even a 5 year old can compete with them creatively. And not only that. The massive political ideologies and propaganda they have worked into beloved franchises has completely corrupted everything we used to like. These people are nothing short but cultural vandals and Mao's chinese revoliton-style culture destroyers. Their goal is to destroy mankind's mind, dreams and hopes. Because such people are easy to control & dominate.

Hate to burst your bubble, this has happened everywhere. Put self promoting narcissistic sociopaths in charge and this is what you stuck with. Good honest people are usually to polite to call them out. Thank you for being the hammer of truth.

I remember Mattel back in the day. They wanted their own Conan. They put in years of R&D to make He-Man with actual kids playing to test them.

I used to feel bad for failing in Hollywood. Now I understand why it happened and I'm glad it did. Trying to create in that environment sounds like absolute hell.

Kudos for 1. An honest and realistic assessment 2. An IT Crowd reference. Bravo as usual.

This is so true. This video should be broadcast in every corporate boardroom to show how far we’ve fallen

Star Wars white board wishes category: "Dinosaurs?????" Jurassic Sith!!!

It’s time to stop pandering to those that don’t even enjoy the show/movie/book etc. when will people wake up

Ultimately, you see an industry where increasing amounts of money are spent on tent-poles with the hope of getting big paybacks, and audiences which at some point will become bored from seeing the same re-skinned movies, TV shows, etc., that they will select fewer ones to watch.

It's not just about our favorite entertainment franchises, though. It's a truth about the entire modern world. This should have a million more views.

Michael French "The voice of the people". Irony side note. Disney produced the 1934 "The Ant and the Grasshopper" cartoon. James T. Kirk; "They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings … but he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars or the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not … because … Dr. McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk … risk is our business! That's what this starship is all about … that's why we're aboard her!"

Y'know, you're explaining here every reason why I stopped going to see films years ago. I've worked mostly in the comics and gaming industries and I've left both just because of the reasons you're listing here. This corporate "cut of personality" is the coronavirus of human existence right now, creeping into art, science, business, politics, social issues... I really hope people are taking notice.

It's time to walk away and find franchises that deserve our money

"And don't blame your failure on haters. If everyone thinks you suck, they're not haters. They're right." - Daniel Tosh.

I can't wait for Sony's remake of 'Smokey and the Bandit' starring Melissa McCarthy and Lindsey Lohan!

The Peter Principle: the principle that members of a hierarchy are promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent.

Using outsiders you can blame is called risk transference. Risk transference has a place in business as a mitigating strategy, but not as the primary strategy. I still shake my head when I see executives use it just to cover themselves while damaging the company. I have hope these types will eventually move on for more innovative thinkers to emerge into leadership positions.

The corporate media is only one tentacle of the political class. Fans shouldn’t expect much (if any) worthy material any time soon.

After all of the trouble Disney has done to entertainment, mistreating their employees, and especially attacking their own customers, they deserve to be in so much turmoil. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer company.

This is, weirdly, why I've come to appreciate Michael Eisner more now than I did 10 years ago. Yes he was corporate, and yes he made mistakes, but he saved a moribund Disney by encouraging creativity and expansion of the company. Without him we wouldn't have had the Disney Renaissance, Disney Afternoon, Disney Channel, Disney Cruise Lines, Disney Store, expansion of Walt Disney World, or Disneyland Paris. Even his fetish for Michael Graves architecture (the Swan and Dolphin Resorts at WDW, the Team Disney and Animation buildings at the Burbank studios) shows some kind of creative aesthetic taste. The soullessness were all attributing to him has reached it apotheosis in Bob Iger... An acquisition-hungry corporate monolith that doesn't even know how to manage its own properties successfully. A perfect example of your whole thesis here are the new hotels they're building at WDW: these bland, themeless, corporate-looking edifices that could be off any interstate in any city.

Michael, I don't know if you've seen Ford v Ferrari, the film really tackles this kind of mentality and how it hinders creativity and getting results (even if it's ostensibly about the 1966 Le Mans race).

You can't spell "franchise" without the letters F-A-N-S.

This wins the internet! Well done Michael

25 minutes of absolute truth.

It is one of those truisms. "If you want to succeed, you should never put an accountant, a lawyer or a manager in charge." One thing about most managers is they do not like anyone in the company smarter than they are, which is most of the people that actually do the real work of the company. Once they have fired all of those people, the company is doomed.

0:30 Ironic when you realize that's the entire plot of -Disney- Pixar's A Bug's Life

As a young 21 year old on the cusp of graduating with a PR degree...you couldn't be more right. I've loved film and entertainment since I was a child. Star Wars blew my 8 year old mind, even in 2007. I love creativity and the passions that inspired franchises like Star Wars, Doctor Who, Transformers (even though that was a corporate creation, but a great one). I persued PR because I'm a good speaker and I loved the idea of one day reperesenting a media company I genuinely find compelling. Three years in and PR was the worst decision of my life. My lecturers, all experienced industry professionals held in high regard, are some of the most self absorbed, uncaring, selfish and rude people I have ever had to meet. They give us projects they half explain and tear us to shreds when they arent absolute perfection. They suck every ounch of creativity out or redirect it was much as possible through the corporate model. Our guest speakers, usually people in high regard and status within PR and/or media, are with few exceptions people obsessed only with money. In my second year, one of Europes most successful PR practitioners and someone I held as a hero told us if we wanted to succeed, it wouldn't matter if our parents were dying - if PR calls, you go. She openly talked about how you shouldnt have a family if you want to make it big. It was the hour of my life where I realised that, with some exceptions, most of the people in the media industry are like this. I say that as someone who has enjoyed some of the more controversial reworks of the last few years (Rian Johnson nd Taika Wattitis stuff particularly). I love this stuff. I loved the idea of working in this industry. But the sad reality is most of the people in it are self obsessed social climbers looking at a bottom line and seeing people (and in my case, nieve students who believe they can make a difference) as tools. Its crushing. I have no intention on ever using my PR degree unless its with a charity or something I believe in. I want to stay as far away from the media industry as possible. Micheal, I dont always agree with the specifics you mention, but I absolutely agree with your sentiment. Teriffic video. And as someone who I know isnt a prequel fan and is skeptical about new entertainment...I'm glad you highlighted Faverau and Filoni as exceptions. Filoni took the prequel era and setting and through the clone wars series made an era not only worthy of the originals, but new and innovative without leaving the core behind. He and Faverau did something similar through the mandalorian (which Id love to see you review btw)

Whilst increasing corporate ineptitude/arrogance has undoubtedly engendered creative ossification across most entertainment mediums we must also not forget the _other_ destructive component in this race to the commercial gutter: _ideological_ sanitisation. Specifically and simply put: uber corporatisation augmented by noxious _far left dogma_ is the reason why we can't have nice things anymore....

This video is required viewing for everyo e who don't understand WHY entertainment is so screwed up. GREAT series Michael.

Michael, how do consistently outdo yourself when it comes to your commentaries on pop culture and take them to a whole new level??? On a scale from one to ten.....this was a FOURTEEN! I spent virtually the entire half hour like this: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊!!!! 'When acquistion and risk aversion, take precedence over invention and creativity, you are all but destined to fail in the long-term!'🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌 This is THE best commentary/post on the current dysfunction of pop/geek culture......I have ever seen. Michael, your insights and analyses, are nothing short of EPICALLY BRILLIANT and appreciated more than you could ever imagine! ✊

This reminds me of the one creative writing class I took in college. I wrote a Japanese urban fantasy story. Most of the people in the class admitted not to finishing it because there was too much military lingo, too many words not in English(which I explained if they actually read it in context), and too much eastern philosophy. I was told it would never sell unless I made it more western and simplified the way the characters talked. Other than one person who liked it and said it made sense after she fired up her computer and googled what “Shinto” was, they all basically told to make something like the twenty something other boring stories that the rest of the class wrote. It definitely felt like a corporate meeting as described here.

Its very sad to see sci-fi go this way. I have been a collector of comics & toys of 46 years now & the way its gone in the last couple of years has made me hate a lot of new things coming out. I find myself going back to collecting older toy lines & comics now. if you can believe it the comic scene is worse then the movies coming out. If Disney didnt have the money behind them Marvel comics would have closed down. Sci-fi used to be geeky, then it became trendy, then they saw there was a lot more money to be made in it, then the mainstream crowd got involved which is killing it.

Waiting for the inevitable "HOW WAS TLJ NOT A RISK?!?!?!" Simple: Subversion is not the same as risk.

Not only do you need to know your audience,you need to know your product!

Reminds me of the old studio system in the 60s. It crashed. Then, so desperate, they unleashed new filmmakers who changed the game in the 70s.

Just caught up on this video and as someone who has worked in the Corporate hellscape, this was spot on. Nothing is more soul-draining than sitting in a meeting and listening to boring uncreative suits ramble on about this quarter without any real thought. It's a sickness that needs to be purged but your conclusion is more accurate to what is going to happen. Worst of all the things we loved for decades will be locked away in IP limbo. Forgotten when those quarterly earnings don't line up. Corporations are a plague on our society and culture.

“Outstanding, Sir!” Well said.

Watching Goodbadflicks, and listening again and again how studio interference ruined a movie, i was surprised anything creative came out of Hollywood in the first place.

If the corporate types don't understand a franchise, they should leave all development to those who do and simply sign the checks.

Assuming their customers are stupid is the biggest problem facing their bottom line and they’re unwilling to admit it. We’ve supported a brand for years therefore we must continue to do so any if anything they do with that brand fails it’s our fault for not supporting it, not their fault for taking our brand and making something terrible with it.

When you have to take moral advice from the Ferengi, you're in trouble.

The Peter Principle clearly at work. Amazing how Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who are now disposable as yesterday's trash. What's sad is that it didn't have to be this way.

“And the meek shall inherit the boardroom.”

Expand or die - A Rule of Acquisition so fundamental that it is listed TWICE. Both as number 45 and number 95...this may just be an error on the writers part but I prefer to consider it canon and completely intentional by the Ferengi Alliance. And finally on the topic of treatment of employees, I call upon Rule of Acquisition number 211 - Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don't hesitate to step on them.

It's clear you put a lot of thought into this one. I've spent 35 years at large corporations, staying on the technical side and avoiding management, and I can visualize faces that embody every point you made. Nice Job!

This is the normal process of things. You have innovators who create something, whether it's an IP, or a new technology, or whatever... they work on it until the dust settles, move on to something new, and then the managers come in. Customers/fans want it to be that same, vital, experimental thing they fell in love with, but managers don't do that. All managers *can* do is try to squeeze a few more dollars out of the current model. Look at Apple-- totally bereft of creativity, outside of coming up with new ways to rip off the customer.

Can somebody replace business schools with this video? This is one of the clearest-eyed explanations of The Cancer That Is Killing Us.

Your diagnosis is pretty spot on; there are a lot of parallels between the increasingly monopolized ownership of IPs by corporate America and what George Ritzer has written about in "The McDonaldization of Society." I only disagree with you about the proposed remedy: I question the wisdom of an exclusively fan-directed future of entertainment for many of the same reasons I think it's a bad idea for users & addicts to have control over a nation's drug & alcohol policies. I think consumers should sometimes be challenged by the content they consume, not anesthetized into complacency by having all their compulsive desires always met. A good, intelligent, concerned video though. Thank you, Retroblasting.

This is a great video Michael. I've been following your channel for a long time, but I am blown away by your eloquence here, nicely done.

It's too late. I'm done with those franchises. The moment they decided to cater to the racist and sexist and all-round toxic woke left I was out. And I took my wallet with me.

This explains Hollywood's woke culture perfectly: despising anyone with an opinion even remotely different from them.

Bravo, Michael! Couldn't agree more.

One of the most baffling things to me is back in 2012 when Disney bought Star Wars they immediately went out and said they wanted JJ Abrams to helm then new film, Seriously you have just bought the franchise of franchises and the best name you can come up with is JJ Abrams???

As more a gamer than a movie fan - I see this very clear for many years now. That's why some people say "indie is the future" and I agree with this. Indie creators are passionate about what they're doing and don't afraid to risk. They want to create a game (movie) and then make money from it, corporations do it the opposite way. Same goes for movies and music (those sound engineers that make all bands sound the same). I really hope the crisis, the virus, anything - will completely destroy all these corporations. They're not needed in the entertainment, we need more independent creators and small studios. Also this "safety first" thing is very gig in modern culture in general. Everything must be safe, children shouldn't climb trees, cars must be made of rubber, movie stunts should be CGI because why risk your health? (looking at you, Terminator...5?..6?) Also I can say why I like Star Wars: Characters Hero journey Adventure Cool costumes (Vader !!) Giant space ships Light sabers The Force Walker tanks Dogfights in space Aliens - funny, scary, cool, goofy - all the types Music .....I can talk much longer:)

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for being perceptive enough to see it, intelligent enough to decipher it, and motivated enough to communicate it. This is everything wrong with our world today.

I think a more simplified message would be better: To all the corporate companies of Hollywood. *Please stop making dumb decisions or playing the blaming game on people. Take risks and be more inventive. And remember the old saying: "Big Risks, Huge Rewards."*

Michael, I've watched twice and will probably watch another 2 times. I feel like you dropped so many gems here, I may have missed a couple. While not a Doctor Who fan, I'm definitely intrigued to find out what's going on behind the scenes.

TRUTH, well said and broken down!

I was listening to this radio show and they brought up how the talent Booker guy is always falling asleep during meetings with management, and when someone calls him out, he immediately crosses himself and says" I was just praying for your family".

Source material is forgotten ; it seems like it has hit the fans. We pay for the tickets, merchandise. I don’t mind new characters or story line. Those assholes forgot everything about Star Wars. What a steaming crock of shit. Sorry about the language; but that’s how it feels. Thanks again for your show. I do appreciate your support and perspective.👍

When films cost as much as the GDP of a small island nation it is very hard for rising stars and independent film makers to break out.

This video deserves more views, a lot more. Very well said Michael

This infinite exponential growth, shareholder centric corporate culture is the scourge of all creative industries.

As a former unskilled corporate VP, I find your premise and conclusions accurate in my case as well as in the general. Once I stopped trying to be creative, which was impossible, and just manage the asset, my career took off. Now I try to limit the damage I do by being a small business person. Very relaxing. Please keep up the great work, this is a great channel.

Had to pause on the Star Wars paper block because I saw "DINOSAURS!" on it???

Honestly the Death of Holly wood at least as it is now is probably a good thing for entertainment long term.

This video is 2 years old, and this problem *STILL* persists......

This explains so much, not just in Hollywood, but the decline of our entire civilization!

Many thanks. The best analysis of what I was trying to get my head round for a long time. For many years I have wondered why big business became more and more like extremist countries - especially socialist ones - while seemingly championing the 'freedoms' of democracy. How naive I was!

Got to say that the doctor who ratings had been going down for while

Brilliant essay. Never made the connection between corporate culture and modern day Hollywood. This is so obvious in retrospect.

This video needs to be the "power point" that all corporations play everyday before they have their dry ass meetings.

That quote from Steve Jobs wasn't saying the customer is stupid, he was actually advocating for creativity and risk taking. What he meant by that statement was that the customer doesn't know they want something that hasn't been created yet, that sometimes you have to show them something before they even realised they wanted that. That not about customers being dumb, that's just an integral part of innovation. No one knew they wanted electricity until it was invented and shown to them what it can do, that's what he meant.

Also, one reason why "corporate culture" wants to avoid risks is because they are answerable to investors. Innovators, on the other hand, take risks because they aren't. What's needed, then, is for either side to understand each other. That means being innovative but also understanding the costs of doing so, believing that not everything is about metrics but that at some point there's nothing to go by in assessing what's happening except through metrics (think of SJW producers being creative by coming up with movies that are far different from those part of the franchise but not understanding the point that audiences used to the older films won't like the new ones).

It is not just western media that has been floundering under the corporate boot, the east also has many issues that stem from a corporate mentality dictating creativity.

Whelp it's happening!

There are two sets of problems, and they involve not corporate culture but pressure from investors and competitors, and uninformed innovators. In the first, when one has run out of ideas, audiences want more of the same, and there's little time to develop projects due to competition and pressure from investors (not to mention large amounts of money at stake), then one releases more of the same as fast as possible. That's why many sequels and even prequels borrow from earlier films in the same franchise, reboots and remakes are prevalent, and they all follow the same formulae involving re-using plots, lots of computerized special effects, etc. In the second, when people who think they are creative and know what is best come in and attempt to make changes that suit their political and artistic views (and what they argue audiences should support), then they end up doing things like forcing an SJW agenda. In both cases, audiences move away and the corporation starts losing money.

This is the best corporate culture commentary I have ever seen. You’ve got yourself a subscriber.

How does this video only have 48k views? This is the best video I have ever watched in my life on you tube, and that is saying something. I am sharing this video.

This is very interesting... and EXTREMELY depressing!

The 2010's is probably one of the most corporate decades.

7:39 Six people. Six smiles. Not a single genuine one in the lot. That's sad.

One of the best things I've seen online . American ( and Western ) business only worries about the next QUARTER not long term . Japan and later China think LONG TERM 5-10 years ahead ( or longer) taking care to build a "Brand " rather than get quick profit for a short time .

I've always said I dont understand why companies like McDonald's spend so much $ on advisory boards to tell them how to change and what they are doing wrong....YOU ARE THE LARGEST COMPANY ON EARTH IN YOUR FIELD. DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING! my god

So... Mr. Dragon needed creative liquidation of a target so he acquired Mr. Hemlock by both hook and crook and ultimately failed in the end while leaving all the potentiality dead on the face of the Eiger. That Eastwood movie was way deeper than I thought.

This may be my favorite angry old man rant from you yet, Michael-- mostly because it's just so Chick full o' FACT. Exquisite work!

The homogenization/dilution/dumbing down of successful franchises isn't about abandoning the fans. It's about taking those fans for granted. A small difference perhaps, but significant.

"Something's wrong with you and I aint got time to fix it." I love Steve Harvey.

While I agree with most of your points regarding corporate culture and how it is antithetical to creativity, I think that's only one half of the explanation for the current state of entertainment. The way I see it, the studios have mostly been led by safe, soulless corporate bean-counters who depended on hired talent and outside agencies to do the actual creative work; this isn't a new phenomenon. What does seem to be a new phenomenon is the dramatic increase in ideologically-driven creators who don't seem concerned with the company bottom line at all, and instead steer the company straight toward financial ruin while loudly proclaiming that they're broadening the fan-base and entering new markets. It's a giant failing on the part of entertainment companies that they're still touting this misguided diversity rhetoric after years of it not working, but I don't think it originated at the highest levels of executive power. No, I think the old corporate model simply lacked any sort of failsafe against infiltration by people who weren't primarily motivated by a paycheck.

The creative person who built the business was in the goose raising business. The corporation is in the egg counting business.

Geeks! Back to our basements and enjoy our untainted merchandise! Let the corporate vacuum packed products rot!

OMG, there are so many truths in this video, my head almost exploded! 15 years in Hollywood here. My oh, my, how my life was/is exactly like this!