Boom to Bust

A timely investigation into the rise of Peak TV and the perfect storm that led to the rapid decline of Hollywood work.

The 2023 strikes of Hollywood writers and actors drew attention to the rapidly changing nature of film and television production. Combining interviews with working professionals and economic and cultural analysis, industry studies experts Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller capture the lived experience of Hollywood in crisis. Boom to Bust follows major changes-from streaming services becoming studios to the production of record numbers of series during Peak TV, to safety concerns from #MeToo and COVID-showing how key factors transforming labor and compensation had been mounting for well over a decade. The authors use the strikes of 2023 and their aftermath to explain how studios, creative workers, and workers' unions needed to renegotiate the terms of work. Preparing readers to understand Hollywood labor negotiations, the authors provide a road map to make sense of Hollywood's present-and what comes next.