The recent open letter signed by Mark Ruffalo

Film and Television Industry at a Crossroads: Accept the Inevitable and Continue Creating Value The recent open letter signed by Mark Ruffalo and thousands of film and television professionals opposing major mergers, such as Paramount with Skydance and potential Warner Bros. Discovery deals, highlights genuine concerns within the industry. Fears regarding job losses, reduced creative freedom, cultural diversity, and excessive concentration of power are legitimate and deserve serious attention. Robust antitrust scrutiny and appropriate safeguards are indeed necessary. However, simply resisting industry consolidation and scale-building will not solve the structural challenges nor effectively preserve cultural value. Streaming has become the dominant consumption model. Fundamental and irreversible trends — including shifting audience behavior among younger generations, content oversupply, margin compression, and AI-driven cost reduction in production — are reshaping the entire landscape. Refusing to confront these changes will only intensify internal friction and accelerate the industry’s decline within outdated frameworks. The music industry offers a clear and valuable precedent. After the collapse of the CD era, the sector underwent painful disruption but ultimately recovered. Global recorded music revenues have grown steadily, with streaming now accounting for nearly 70% of the market. High-value creators benefit from transparent, data-driven royalty systems, while independent artists enjoy greater direct access to global audiences. Niche genres such as jazz and classical have not disappeared; they continue to thrive through intimate live performances, community preservation, and specialized platforms. The film and television industry currently enjoys a better window for transformation than the music industry did at its turning point. IP is not an eternal moat. The companies and creators who endure across generations are not those who merely protect past successes, but those who possess the ongoing ability to create new IPs, reinvent existing ones, expand story worlds, and adapt across media platforms — as demonstrated by Disney, Nintendo, and Netflix. In the AI era, content production capacity is exploding while audience attention becomes the scarcest resource. The risk of ceasing to create and clinging to past achievements has never been higher. The real challenge has never been change itself, but how to rebuild sustainable value within that change. For the industry, the priority is to pursue strategic consolidation and partnerships while IPs still hold strong value. This includes developing hybrid release models (theatrical event windows + long-term streaming value), leveraging technology to reduce costs, and building new IP ecosystems — rather than waiting until cash flow dries up and assets are sold at distressed prices. For creators, the core competency lies in continuous creation. Embracing new tools, data insights, global fan economies, and diverse storytelling formats is essential to maintaining relevance. Cultural value can be preserved and renewed through arthouse cinemas, film festivals, digital archives, interactive experiences, and other emerging channels — not by clinging to obsolete industry structures. For academia and regulatory bodies, the focus should shift from merely “protecting the old industry” to “enabling cultural value to survive and flourish in the new economic model.” This includes modernizing copyright systems, developing fair AI-era royalty mechanisms, supporting independent creators, ensuring platform competition, and nurturing talent for new media. History shows that many industries failed not because they lost to technology, but because they attempted to address new-world problems with old-world mindsets and institutions. Do not mistake protecting the past for protecting the future. Every technological revolution divides people into two groups: those who try to stop the world from changing, and those who recognize the shift and reposition themselves to keep creating. The film and television industry has the opportunity to learn from the music sector’s experience and navigate this transition more smoothly and effectively. Accepting reality, identifying the real issues, committing to change, adapting to new conditions, and continuing to create — this is the most responsible path forward for the industry, its creators, and culture itself. In this great era of transformation, challenges and opportunities coexist. Talented creators will be able to reach global audiences with lower barriers than ever before. We hope the film and television industry will position itself wisely and reach new heights in the emerging order. A Concerned Audience of the Film, Television, and Music Industries May 2026