Getty Images
Editor's note: This is the latest installment in the Deadline series “Hollywood Contraction,” which examines the damage that job losses caused by ongoing industry-wide cost cuts have had on various sectors of the entertainment community.
Matthew Hobin is a producer who has worked on the following series: kitchen nightmare and hell's kitchen, He was driving for Uber Eats when he discovered the Netflix cooking series Fresh, freshly fried, crispy He was nominated for four Daytime Emmy Awards, including his own nomination for Best Director.
Mr. Hobin ran OU812 Productions and was co-executive producer of truTV. storage hunter Andrew Zimmern Executive Producer strange foodtold Deadline that he stopped his car, celebrated for 30 seconds, and went back to delivering food.
His story is emblematic of a broader issue in the unscripted industry that affects a significant number of people.
Patrick Caligiuri is a producer who has worked on programs such as: big brother, great race and american idol and most recently was a co-executive producer for The CW. fight to surviveis facing a similar situation.
Caligiuri told Deadline that while some of the people who work at DoorDash have five Emmy Awards on their mantelpieces, they also drive for Uber and earn money from their “grandmothers” for a living. Some people even sell “jewellery inherited from the ancient times,” he said. He recently posted a TikTok titled “Reality TV is Dead” on his LinkedIn page, which went viral. The post had nearly 2,000 comments, eloquently illustrating how the current state of the business is “squeezing” entertainment workers.
“I don't think anyone across the country knows how bad it is in Hollywood, because we're still fed the assumption that the economy is strong right now,” he told Deadline. told Line. “There's a trickle-down effect. First of all, you're going out of business, but then you can't hire caterers, you can't hire drivers, you can't hire cube trucks, you can't hire production space.”
It's not just producers and other bottom-line workers who are suffering. As Deadline reported, there is also a “full-blown recession” among unemployed business owners.
“One of my favorite network executives was fired a week after he won an Emmy,” said Hobin, the son of a steelworker.
Caligiuri says he doesn't want this to become an us-versus-them issue because everyone is struggling. “There is a great deal of sympathy.” [from executives]. “Someone said it felt like being on the Titanic's lifeboat and watching the ship sink and everyone was swimming,” he added.
According to one senior agent, people working in unscripted roles are “depressed, depressed and scared.”
Another official said it was difficult for small and medium-sized producers to compete with large, financially powerful companies. “The top half of my roster is doing well. The bottom half, I think he's 30% to 50%. [unscripted] “Production companies will go out of business within the next 12 to 18 months,” he added.
Deadline has heard of multiple cases where production companies without scripts have fired their development teams, only to hire people on a freelance basis instead. Some big, long-running shows are also cutting back on the number of executive producers, including some who have appeared on hit shows for years.
“Television Darwinism”
Some believe that what one producer described as “TV Darwinism” is a natural progression of the field.
“The field has become so bloated that the number of producers pitching shows exceeds what the system can support. This is literally the Darwinism of television, where the most advantaged survive,” he said. said. “If you look at the business as a whole, performance has shrunk significantly. We went through 15 years of an explosive content bubble. There just isn't enough money in the system to support all the people who were doing that. We need to let the air out of the balloon, but the market can't support that.”
There's obviously less money in the unscripted world than there used to be. Networks are cutting back on the number of originals and cutting back on episode orders.
For example, cable networks that previously ordered 16 episodes now buy 8 episodes. 8 weeks of pre-production turned into 4 weeks and 10 weeks of editing turned into his 7 weeks.
“We're making some of the highest quality television ever made. Beautiful, cinematic, gorgeous production, great stories, but this level of pressure and near-impossible expectations… Under the hood, the finished product is better than ever. What seemed crazy is now the norm,” Hobin said.
Unscripted television is not immune to what is happening on a more macro level, such as the general cost-cutting measures that have affected other areas of entertainment as a result of the expensive entry into streaming. .
The cable TV business also shrunk significantly. For example, 10 years ago, a male-biased reality series would attract up to 12 buyers; now it's only a handful.
Cable networks that previously ordered hundreds of hours of original programming no longer do so.
Nat Geo and A+E Networks' History Channel has largely moved away from bulk orders, focusing instead on a small number of premium documentaries.
The former has worked with the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie and James Cameron, while the latter just released more than 2,500 hours of programming featuring President Obama, LeBron James and Derek Jeter.
“We need Tom Hanks to sell the show!” a source texted me after revealing a new World War II documentary series sponsored by History magazine. big Star.
NBC Universal cable station, Paramount Network, which includes MTV and Comedy Central, and Warner Bros. Discovery Network are no longer ordering the same amount of programming as before.
Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Discovery's U.S. network group, acknowledged that last year was a “tough” time in the unscripted market. She told Deadline that producers shouldn't “focus” their attention on networks like TNT or TBS. Earlier this year, TruTV, formerly home to the following series. hardcore pawn and lizard lick towwhich essentially became a sports network.
However, there are some bright spots. True crime is more popular than ever, and networks like Investigation Discovery and Lifetime are capitalizing on this trend. networks such as Bravo; genuine housewife and below deck The franchise is booming, and The CW is shopping around again.
Streamers are also gradually ordering more products. Netflix just hired Jeff Gaspin to continue its search for unscripted hits, while Amazon is figuring out an unscripted strategy (it might help if they can get Travis Kelce to a deal for a reboot) Are you smarter than a 5th grader?). Hulu put new money into unscripted programming, and Peacock found great success with shows like Traitors.
“Overall. We're seeing more series being lit than this time last year, but it's still a long way from 2018,” one agent told Deadline.
Broadcast networks also still rely heavily on classic programming. ABC still has it Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, Shark Tank and bachelorThe latter has contributed to unscripted's recent success in broadcast television, with CBS doubling down on 90-minute episodes. Survivor and of great race.
NBC has found success with new Jimmy Fallon shows such as: password and that's my jambut still relies on long-running hits such as: America's Got Talent, The Voice and american ninja warrior. Fox orders new reality shows including: floor, Jamie Foxx Executive Producer we are family and Quiz with balls Alongside Gordon Ramsay-style kitchen cupboards.
fox's masked singer It's probably the last big broadcast reality show to break through in the past five years.
“Each network is renewing these shows at a higher rate than before, so real estate is decreasing,” a source told Deadline. “In the past, if a show was getting millions of viewers, you would have thought they could do better. But I think they realized they couldn't do it anymore. So… I just have to do more.”
This has also slowed down the development pipeline, with shows that used to take six months to finalize now taking a year.
All this comes as the corporate future of some of these companies remains up in the air. Paramount is in the process of being sold, and Warner Bros. Discovery could begin another M&A move within three weeks when the Reverse Morris Trust lockup expires on April 8th. This would likely hint at rumors of a new round of partnership with NBCU owners. Comcast.
Outsourcing also has a big impact on below-the-line workers. Caligiuri pointed to a show being produced in Cape Town, South Africa, about Asian gangs in San Francisco.
Fox produces a number of programs in Ireland. Next Level Chef, Beat Shazam, Name That Tune and Don't forget the lyrics, Meanwhile, other networks are also eyeing the show in Europe.
Hobin jokes, “I can't sympathize with the devil.'' However, despite all this, there is still optimism that this is just cyclical and the situation will improve.
“There's a lot of optimism now because people feel like their voices are being heard. That's the biggest takeaway,” Caligiuri said. “This is a community and there is a collective voice.”
“My entire career has been based on unbridled optimism,” Hobin added. “It's not a question of who to be angry at. It's just a matter of shedding light on the situation.”
