Your Predictions, Fears, Hopes for Hollywood 2026: ‘Find Your Way to Stick It Out’
Writers, directors and execs (Amazon, CBS, Warner Bros.) share hard-earned advice and candid takes on what the industry needs and must shed to move forward
I cover TV and host Ankler Agenda. I scooped UTA’s move to drop intimacy coordinator clients, wrote about film schools scrambling to address industry disruption and reported on agents’ concerns about a Netflix-Warner Bros. deal. Email me at elaine@theankler.com
Series Business readers, I asked you to give me your unvarnished thoughts on the industry, some predictions for 2026, and a little reflection on your career this past year, and you all delivered. I heard from scores of television executives, talent managers, producers, writers, editors, directors — across Los Angeles, New York, the Midwest and even as far away as Italy.
There are things you would really like Hollywood to leave behind in 2026, including AI and “geriatric CEOs,” not to mention “the worst people you know making all the decisions” (big eat-the-rich energy in the responses), but there are also things that get you excited about the next year of your careers, like the bustling feature film spec market, which my colleagues Nicole LaPorte and Sean McNulty have both written about.
Would I call you optimistic, collectively, about the future? Yes and no. Nearly two-thirds of you are feeling good about your own personal careers, but a little more than half of you saw your salaries decrease this year, plus you have concerns about the way artificial intelligence and corporate consolidation are going to further impact the business. But not all your predictions are doom and gloom.
For instance, former Amazon Studios scripted series development head Marc Resteghini thinks we’ll see more original ideas championed in the new year, on the heels of the success of Warner Bros. film studio (see: Sinners, A Minecraft Movie, Superman). “I’m thrilled to see the success that Mike [De Luca] and Pam [Abdy] have had at WB by betting on bold filmmakers and original stories,” he writes. “We need more of that in Hollywood and the world right now.”
Resteghini was one of a few who were game to go on the record, while others preferred anonymity in order to be fully candid (and ouch, they were). Here’s what else they told me:
What (and whom) you’d eject from Hollywood — from outmoded thinking to out-of-touch execs (including one brutal take on age)
Why so many creatives are questioning life in L.A. — and whether you plan to stick it out as costs soar and SoCal production shrinks
What you really think about AI — and what executives aren’t saying publicly about its impact on jobs and development
Seven blunt rules for “sticking it out” in a fundamentally changed industry
How young creatives should start now — even if some of you would point them somewhere else entirely