The Six Market Forces That Will Reshape Hollywood by 2030

Hollywood is entering a new era of transformation driven not by a single breakthrough, but by a convergence of forces reshaping how stories are financed, produced, and distributed. From AI-powered production pipelines to the rise of the creator economy, shifting content capital, global tax incentives, cloud workflows, and the ongoing battle for audience attention, every link in the value chain is evolving fast.

To unpack what this means for studios, streamers, and creators alike, Sohonet CEO Chuck Parker breaks down six market forces reshaping Hollywood and explains why, this time, technology might truly change both the process and the bottom line.

For a deeper dive on trends explore Sohonet’s Screen Production Index for the latest production data, trend reports, and market intelligence.

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Everyone’s talking about AI driving costs down in production. What does that actually mean on the ground?

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Chuck Parker: AI is compressing the unit cost per shot. Practically, that shows up as smaller teams getting more done—faster assembly edits, faster rotoscoping and layout, and more iterations per shot before lock.  However, in previous technology driven cost improvement cycles (e.g. cost of compute in VFX rendering), the savings did not reach the bottom-line but rather more iterations ate up the savings.  Why is this time different? In simple terms, it means you can try more things at every stage of production from pre-viz to finishing in faster cycles. That gives creators the freedom to experiment, to push more versions through approval, and to ultimately get to a better result, but also allows film makers to get more from lower production budgets.

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As traditional TV money dries up, where’s that capital going?

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Chuck Parker: It’s being redeployed, not disappearing: from linear TV cashflow into direct‑to‑consumer and streaming originals, with platforms sustaining content spend to defend churn. That’s why even as linear weakens, we still model 4-6% CAGR in overall title volume, with spend shifting toward small and mid‑budget projects where AI efficiencies stretch dollars further.

Netflix keeps spending billions, but now it’s chasing YouTube for eyeballs. How do you see that battle?

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Chuck Parker: Netflix is in a volume game. They’ve got to keep people watching, and that means a constant flow of new content. But they’re not just competing with other streamers anymore, they’re competing with user-generated content. So you’ve got traditional studios trying to match Netflix, and Netflix looking over its shoulder at YouTube. It raises the bar for everybody - more shows, more formats, more experimentation -- some of which will be in other genres like live or gaming to drive eyeballs to the TV screen.

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Cloud is changing workflows. What’s the real impact for production teams?

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Chuck Parker: Hybrid is the default. The majority of shows have infrastructure they directly control (on-prem, in a private data center, etc) but burst to cloud for scale, AI, and remote collaboration. That adds two or three extra “data‑gravity” points per project as workflow integration via APIs and MCPs accelerates to solve the physical distance gaps of shooting in one place, posting in another, and finishing in a third.  This is different for small teams vs. large teams as they are using the public cloud to solve different pain points.

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Tax incentives keep pulling productions around the world. What does that mean for the industry?

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Chuck Parker: It means the map keeps expanding. Producers will follow the tax credits whenever they are co-located with industry talent - London, Toronto, New Zealand, Budapest…and that creates both opportunity and complexity and threatens existing production hubs. For Storytellers it means suddenly, you’re managing teams across multiple time zones, juggling different vendors, and moving terabytes of data around the globe. It works if you’ve got the right workflow architecture, automation and tools in place. If not, it can get messy fast.

The creator economy is booming. How does that change the landscape?

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Chuck Parker: We’re seeing creators move from making videos in their bedrooms to running small studios. Agencies are backing them, AI is accelerating them, and they’re turning out micro-features at around $500,000 a pop, a fraction of traditional Hollywood budgets. What’s new is the aggregation. These micro-studios are getting bundled together, often by agencies, into creator hubs and campuses. That’s how a large population of small teams suddenly starts to look like a new studio system, - which could fuel growth in post, VFX, and the tools those teams rely on if the magic of Hollywood drives incremental value into that content.

When you put all these forces together, what’s the takeaway?

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Chuck Parker: There will be MORE content, from more places, made faster and cheaper than ever before. We are going to generate more shots, distribute more cuts, and push bits further and faster than anytime in history - but the obvious question for everyone in the ecosystem is how they can adapt to the rapidly evolving needs to ensure their bit of the magic remains relevant AND commercially viable.

Interested in more production trends and data insights? Explore Sohonet’s Screen Production Index for the latest reports and market intelligence.