I stopped watching mainstream television years ago, and while I will watch certain things on occasion, it is something that I generally prefer to live without, and I can say that I do not miss it. Likewise I only watch movies on occasion, when I want to, and for the same reasons as above. However, this is not the case with most people, and has been such for decades.
However, there have been many changes to the film and movie industry that have shaken the image of “Hollywood” to the center of its being, and now COVID-19 seems not only to have killed many people, but is now killing Hollywood as 2020 is being called an “unrecoverable” year for Tinseltown.
Already coming off a five-year low in 2019, film and television production in Los Angeles is almost assured to bottom out in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, regardless of when features, series and specials start up work again.
“As of today, with the shutdown poised to extend deep into the second quarter, FilmLA analysts predict that local Shoot Day losses are already unrecoverable for the year,” proclaims a report released by the on-location organization on Thursday.
Even with years of now buoyant tax credits from the state, the L.A. Country area was down 18% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Then, on that clearly troubled landscape, COVID-19 hit and production came to a halt in mid-March on stages and sets across the region as studios and networks moved to limit contagion – a smash to the solar plexus of an industry that has seen fairly consistent growth over much of the past several years, especially thanks to the rise of streaming services. (source)
People have not stopped watching television.
They have just changed the form which they use, and the virus has expedited that process which was already natural and ongoing for over a decade.
It will be interesting to see how- or how not -Hollywood and the large, monied interests in the business respond to these changes as they feel the effects in their wallets.