When Seoul Beats Burbank
When we made Heroes in 2006, NBC was obsessed with international sales. Every story decision got filtered through "Will this play in Germany?" We did the transmedia dance - comics in different languages, localized web series. But we were still the gatekeepers. Stories came from LA, got translated, shipped out. Hollywood created, the world consumed.
That model is dunzo.
Netflix's biggest hits? Squid Game, Money Heist, Physical: 100. Not born in Hollywood. International productions that went global. The real disruption will be more than AI replacing scribblers. It's AI replacing Hollywood's monopoly on production capability.
The Tools Went Planetary
For a century, Hollywood didn't just make movies. It made the machinery that made movies. You wanted to make something people could see? You came through LA.
That's toast. A filmmaker in Manila with a phone and Runway can make something comparable to what’s getting a greenlight in Burbank. Nigerian creators are dropping AI-generated telenovelas direct to audiences. A French director made Tribeca with five people and some laptops.
On Hannibal, Bryan Fuller obsessed over making every frame beautiful. Cost a fortune. Now I'm watching shorts from Vietnam with the same visual control - for basically zero dollars. AI didn't make those creators talented. It enabled their talent to execute on a vision.
Your Weird Is Your Weapon
Hollywood Guilds are panicking about AI replacing scribblers. Wrong fear. The real threat is AI erasing Hollywood's advantage in access. The equipment, infrastructure, distribution - it all fits in a backpack now.
What actually travels? Not algorithms mimicking visuals. Emotional truth.
The Gates Are Gone
If you're a scribbler trying to break in, good news: you don't need Hollywood. Bad news: neither does anyone else.
Build stories that speak to your place but resonate beyond it. Stay emotionally weird. That's your advantage. You can waste energy breaking through the gates of the legacy system, or recognize the new system doesn't have any gates.
Global storytellers aren’t waiting for permission to film their flicks. Neither should you. Keep scribbling!
