The Academy Gala Went on a Chicken Shop Date: Notes on the New Hollywood

At an evening honoring Oscar contenders and their stars, like “Jay Kelly” (George Clooney, Adam Sandler, and Laura Dern), “Sentimental Value” (Elle Fanning, Renate Reinsve, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), and “Deliver Me from Nowhere” (Jeremy Allen White, Scott Cooper, Jeremy Strong, and Bruce Springsteen), social cutdowns weren’t top of mind — but they may be the format in which (parts) of these films are most widely seen.

Woods knows his report doesn’t necessarily deliver a popular message. He often gets variations on this question: With a hazy monetization strategy, exactly why should companies do this? The answer, so much as there is one, is don’t kill the messenger.

“Is it better to be able to offer [brands] that holistic message whereby you can say, ‘We can reach audiences — our classic audiences through our broadcast channels, through our streaming channels, and also by the way, we manage the relationship for all of the social audiences and we know exactly what they look like and how they differ?’ I think that’s a powerful message that you’re going to want to try and control rather than not,” Woods said.

And if you don’t — well, nature hates a vacuum. “If you don’t embrace it, you’re going to see situations which we’re already seeing whereby brands are going direct to consumers with entertainment content, whether that’s Dick’s Sporting Goods, whether that’s the Waitrose supermarket in the UK with its really popular video podcasts, whether that’s the Tinder dating app creating a reality TV series akin to ‘Love Island,’” he said. “I think the creator economy has created a license to entertain for anyone.”