There Are Two Hollywoods

Let’s face it, writers and creators, up until now, you’ve largely been treating Hollywood as a singular system with clear social mobility. You grow your craft, build relationships, and make your own work in service of upward motion toward the ultimate goal.

Sure, you don’t think it’s a “fair” industry per se, but you assume great work will rise to the top because the business is small and eventually you’ll get to the place of being secure, established.

So you've been playing by the prescribed playbook - worshipping at the alter of amassing credits, paying dues, and waiting on long-standing relationships to bear fruit.

But then we hit this moment of industry contraction, and things that didn’t make sense before make even less sense now.

Suddenly, it’s easier to see clearly what’s been hiding in plain sight for years - that the Hollywood hierarchy is stratified like never before, and upward movement is largely an illusion sold to aspiring creatives to get them to accept the crumbs on offer from our industry.

These “opportunities” feel valuable because they’re hard to get. There are lines out the door in this town for Writers’ Room PA jobs. Auditions for just two lines of dialogue on TV will get hundreds and hundreds of submissions.

Scarcity and narrative create perceived value.

I’ll say it again. Scarcity and narrative create perceived value.

And we’re in an industry that thrives on perceived value.

For those who are walking that noble path, the path of dues, the path of merit - you’re not there because you’re passionate about getting coffee, or “forwarding the story” with your two lines of dialogue, you’re only there because you’ve been told it’s a necessary step on the ascent.

But what if it isn’t?

What if I told you that you’re playing the wrong game?

What if I told you that feeling you have that you’re stuck is because you’re actually stuck?

What if I said that there are two Hollywoods? And the one you’re playing in - of mid-tier film festivals and one-day Guest Stars, of Office Assistant and PA jobs, of the Lord of The Flies-like frenzy for the last remaining staff writer jobs in Los Angeles - just isn’t worth your time.

It’s a con, a shell game.

You see that Hollywood - let’s call it the B team Hollywood - has a clear ceiling on how far you can ascend. It pretends that mobility is on offer, but it really isn’t.

And the A team Hollywood, with bigger budgets and salaries you can live off of? The Hollywood with access to top tier talent? Less of a ceiling, and the barrier to entry is the same.

You just need to think of the industry less as a ladder and more of a ramp.

How do you do it? Relentlessness. No fucks given. A killer concept artfully executed. Something meaningful and unique to say and a dedication to staying on message. The practiced skill of highly detailed and specific world building.

The biggest problems I see with early to mid career script writers are the fear of making the wrong person angry with boldness and directness, issues of self belief, and an underdeveloped scope of vision.  

A real world example

I have a client. Let’s call her Aviva.

Aviva wrote an 8-10 million dollar movie. First feature. Right out of the gate.

Aviva has an executive producer attached, first money, and is having conversations with top talent.

Are there obstacles left? Certainly. But she’s checking off the early boxes to getting a film financed and produced.

And she has a great script, so more and more folks in the industry are coming out of the woodwork to affiliate themselves with her project.

Still, everyone in Aviva’s life tells her she made a grave miscalculation writing a movie with so large a budget, that she should have written a sub 1 million dollar movie.

What the heck, Aviva? Who do you think you are? Folks in her circle are agitated.

But then - when she surveys her friends who are writing movies with sub 1 million dollar budgets she notices they’re at the same step, fighting for funding, fighting for interest from production co’s - but top talent isn’t coming because they don’t want to work on a one million dollar movie. There’s not enough cash to attract the right people.

Let’s call this 1 million dollar project Iggi’s movie.

And movies like Iggi’s - those 1, maybe 2 million dollar movies are largely passion projects. At the very very best, and I mean all the stars align - Iggi lands at a top festival like Sundance, gets a few nice write ups, get signed to idle on UTA’s backbench roster, has a real moment of respect amongst the filmmaking intelligencia - but because of the lack of top talent, the lack of top production values and often the absence of a buzzy concept - Iggi will have trouble getting distribution and recouping costs to his investors.

If Iggi does get distro, the film lands at the edges of a streamer’s algorithm, largely unseen and often unnoticed. In that best case scenario, Iggi might buy himself some pedigree - and I understand for some, pedigree holds weight - but he’ll still be quite aways from true influence and moviemaking power.

Now the 8-10 million dollar movie - Aviva’s movie - is built to recoup costs. It’s a genre film with a well-tuned concept that - at times - crosses over into horror. It has roles for breakout talent. It has searing cultural commentary. Like Iggi’s film, it was born from a piece of the artist’s heart, but Aviva also a keen eye for the business, on positioning her work, on crafting a sustainable career.

Like all debut-ish films - Aviva’s movie still a lottery ticket - but it’s a higher percentage lottery ticket for a much bigger purse, it puts Aviva on the edges of A team Hollywood if she can get the movie made at 80% of her vision. It puts Aviva in the ranks of filmmakers who earn studios and production companies dollars, which then begets real options. Aviva’s project reeks of none of the wrong fucks given and all of the right fucks given. Aviva’s relentless. She cares little for pedigree. She’s pissed some people off. But she’s always kind and polite as she tells people what she won’t settle for. She’s always thoughtful and wise when she's being audacious.

So who do you want to be, writing folks?

If this was 1994, and movies like The Brothers McMullen launched careers directly out of Sundance, I’d want to be Iggi - no doubt. But that mythology hasn’t been valid for a decade.

This is 2025, and I’m backing Aviva.

And you, writers, creators? Iggi, or Aviva? Same barrier to entry, much higher payoff.

“There Are Two Hollywoods” is a strategic framework. Knowing the brutality of the landscape and then choosing to only work at the highest levels requires support, emotional fortification, and the ability to pitch.

You don’t just try this at home.

Write back “Aviva” if you want to get on my waitlist for late Summer/Early Fall. We’ll go from ideation to execution to strategy and position your project to make waves in the market.

Nick