Exit Interviews: Part I, The Writer

First in a series as 2022 ends: a veteran scribe's closing arguments about 'fearful' execs and the state of the industry

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The Exit Interviews is a series of anonymous conversations with industry veterans on the year that was (also see The Top Producer, The Big Agent and The Marketing/PR Exec). These posts are for paid subscribers only.

So that’s about a wrap for 2022, a year that most of Hollywood would just as soon forget. The movies came back, sort of, the streamers all survived, sort of, and all the great reckonings were kicked down the road for another day.

Robert Iger returned to see if he could find the magic, one more time. Reed and Ted’s excellent adventure hurtled on, stock crash behind them. David Zaslav rode through the turbulence, searching for an opening in the clouds. The rest of us wondered: can anyone here land this plane?

But we’ve heard portends of doom aplenty from me this year, so in great Ankler tradition, we end the year by giving the experts their turn. I asked a handful of the wisest people I know in the business in various callings their unvarnished opinions — under the cover of anonymity — how it went down in 2022, and what lies ahead over the horizon. (You can read 2021’s entries here to see how things shook out.)

“They're actually pulling already made shows off of the service and into the vault as if Minx or American Pickle are Song of the South.” - our writer, on HBOMax

So here, as the days of 2022 dwindle down to a precious few, enjoy our first Exit Interview. The opinions represented here are not necessarily those of this author. Our guests being interviewed don’t all see things the same way, but they are, I find, always interesting people who know their world.

Today’s writer is one I will best describe as a veteran of TV, involved with some of the biggest hits in the streaming world. And they have a lot to say. Reminder, every day this week, the Exit Interviews will feature someone from another corner of the industry. Coming up: A top agent; a top producer, a top marketing executive and a PA to give a sense of the realities of life on the first rung.