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- Studios chose profits over storytelling. now we're all paying for it...
Studios chose profits over storytelling. now we're all paying for it...
Jordan Schwarzenberger
July 14, 2025
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Right, now that's out the way...
I'm on absolute smoke today so buckle up for a pessimistic rant lol.
I think I might have finally figured out why movies and tv shows feel so… boring right now.
Why nothing hits like it used to.
Why even your favourite franchises leave you feeling all empty inside.
We're witnessing the slow death of cinema.
And i can pinpoint the exact moment studios chose profits over storytelling.
Think back a few years.
Game of Thrones. Avengers. Breaking Bad.
Every single person you knew was watching, theorising, feeling the same emotional moments together.
These were cultural events.
We all had the same references.
The same inside jokes.
But there's only one thing to blame...
Over-commoditisation.
The moment studios realised they had golden geese, they decided to squeeze out every last egg.
No franchise is safe anymore.
Your favourite universes are now content factories churning out endless sequels, spin-offs, and reboots.
We went from carefully put together stories that took years to develop to assembly-line content designed to fill streaming quotas.
And it really shows doesn’t it.
Look what happened to star wars.
From arguably the most beloved franchise in history to... what exactly?
the mandalorian, boba fett, obi-wan, andor, ahsoka, acolyte - and counting.
Each one diluting the magic a little more.
The mcu followed the same path.
After endgame, they went from telling one epic story to desperately trying to recreate that lightning in a bottle with phase after phase of forgettable content.
Turns out you can have too much of a good thing.
Why invest emotionally when you know they'll just make seventeen more versions?
Why get attached to characters when you know they'll be back in six months for another cash grab?
The economics are completely broken.
Studios would rather make ten mediocre projects from one successful ip than risk creating something genuinely new.
To top it off, they’re now fighting for attention with tiktok, instagram, youtube.
Not just other studios.
And they're losing, badly.
Because what these billion $ studios don't understand...
Audiences can feel when you don't care about the story.
When profit becomes the only motive, creativity dies.
And when creativity dies, culture dies with it.
We've moved from appointment tv to background noise.
Remember when everyone would clear their schedule for a season finale?
When you'd avoid social media until you caught up?
When spoilers actually mattered because the story was worth protecting?
Now it's just... content.
Endless, forgettable content designed to keep you subscribed, not to make you feel something.
What's even worse is this obsession with "proven ip" is killing new stories before they even get a chance.
Why greenlight something original when you can make star wars show number 26?
Why take a risk on fresh voices when you can milk nostalgia for another quarter?
The result? a cultural wasteland where nothing feels important anymore.
no more watercooler moments
no more shared cultural experiences
Just billions of people consuming different content in their own little bubbles.
We're lonelier than ever because the stories that used to connect us have been commoditised into oblivion.
I’m genuinely kept up at night thinking about this:
What if we applied the creator mindset to storytelling?
What if instead of squeezing every drop out of existing franchises, studios took risks on original stories?
What if they cared more about cultural impact than quarterly earnings?
What if they understood that scarcity creates value, not abundance?
The sidemen could teach these studios a thing or two about building something people care about.
We don't pump out content just to fill a quota, we make stuff we genuinely want to watch.
And people can feel the difference.
maybe that's the lesson in this slightly pessimistic rant 😅
start thinking like a storyteller
stop optimising for engagement
start optimising for emotional impact
Because at the end of the day, nobody really remembers the last mcu spin off.
But they'll never forget the first time they watched the lord of the rings.
Told you I was on smoke today.
Remember, the creator mindset is all you need to grow 🌱
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