In a promotional interview for the final season of The morning showReese Witherspoon was asked about how Hollywood has changed in recent years.
“Streaming was the biggest thing for three or four years, and there was a constant, never-ending boom for content, and like we could literally sell anything,” she said. “What I’m seeing right now, based on the buying and selling landscape, is that part of the strike was probably a reset for these studios that are not profitable – the streaming services – and a opportunity for them to resize, rework and cut costs In other words, she believes the writers’ strike has had a big impact and will have a lasting impact on the amount of content created.
“So we’re probably going to see less of that, which is probably a good thing, right? It was just chaos. It was a flea market. We can slow down a little. But there’s going to be more intention around it, and it’s going to be a little more difficult.
She expresses herself not only as an actress but also as a producer through her company Hello Sunshine (she is also executive producer The morning show), so on the backend and sales side, she knows what she’s talking about. As for the acting side, she wonders what the future will be.
“Are careers like ours possible again? » she asked, beckoning him Morning show co-star Jennifer Aniston. She hinted that working with streamers meant not completely understanding a project’s ratings: “Are there opportunities for people to really emerge as a star?” How can we know without data transparency? How can we even know if something worked well or not? »
Netflix is “pretty transparent” about the data it references, she said, but “other people [streamers] don’t do it. And it’s difficult as an actor: how to negotiate? How does a producer work? How do you market? If you don’t know where you fit in a landscape, how do you value something?
She explained that the data exists; she just doesn’t have access to it and says, “They don’t want you to have the advantage, and that’s hard.”
Aniston agreed but seemed to have less information about ratings, streaming, etc. “We started in this industry at a time when it was so glamorous and so fun, and [you would] just go to auditions and auditions and just hope that you make it. And if you get the movie of the week and you’re hoping to get that little guest star Quantum leap,” she said. “When it was so simple, and now it is… it’s too much sometimes.”
As for the emerging threat of AI, Witherspoon was surprisingly optimistic.
“It’s here to stay, so get used to it.” And I think AI is not coming for your job; people who know how to use AI are coming for your work. So find out. It should be a tool on which we place our own creativity, our own humanity and our own ethics. It’s just a whole conversation – for women, people of color and people who are sometimes marginalized in these development spaces, we really need to get in there…let’s not be afraid, let’s dive in.
So, in summary: Reese Witherspoon wants writers — especially female and BIPOC writers — to learn how to use AI to write prime-time cable shows that she could star in.