What If the Entertainment Industry’s Chaos Is Actually Your Opportunity?
🌟Career Coaching: The walls between “art", “commerce” and “credibility” are crumbling. And for creative professionals, that may just be the best news imaginable.
In a planetary system light years away from the world we know, when I was just starting out in the entertainment industry, the rules were very clear.
If you were on Broadway, you stayed on Broadway. TV was something “lesser”. Film was for another class of artist altogether.
If you worked in advertising, you did not call yourself a filmmaker. If you made documentaries, you were not a storyteller. You were a truthteller.
Every medium had its lane. And God help you if you tried to merge into another one. It's mindboggling now, but a Broadway producer once told me that I wasn’t fit to be the company manager of a Broadway play because I only had experience managing Broadway musicals.
There were silos everywhere. Every-damn-where.
Some of them were cultural. Some of them were financial. But most were just industry power dynamics. We were trained to believe that “legitimacy” and “credibility” came from respecting the hierarchy and working our way up as the power structure dictated.
So we stayed in our lanes. We tried to get really, really good at one thing. And we were taught to believe that mastery of that one thing would eventually open the next door.
But then something started to shift. The walls between disciplines began to crumble (metaphor switch-a-roo alert!). And instead of trying to put them back up, people just started… walking through.
The Future Belongs to the Multi-Hyphenate
The industry today doesn’t just allow for multidimensional talent. It demands it.
Filmmakers are working with brands. Advertising agencies are building documentary arms. Storytellers are toggling between podcasts, pitch decks and pilots without missing a beat. Producers have slates that include commercial films, emo bands and the occasional stage musical about a particle accelerator. The strongest creative work is emerging from this very intersection: where commerce meets artistry, where format follows feeling, where rules are reimagined.
There is no one lane anymore. No “right” way up the mountain.
And for many of us, that’s disorienting.
Because we were taught that credibility came from consistency. From playing one role long enough that people couldn’t unsee it. From picking a niche and never straying. From becoming known for one thing, even if that thing no longer inspired us.
But now, staying still isn’t safety. It’s stagnation.
The artists who are growing the fastest and getting the most exciting opportunities aren’t the ones who play by the old rules. They’re the ones who are building bridges. Between mediums. Between roles. Between industries.
They aren’t confused. They’re curious.
And their curiosity is making them unstoppable.
Embracing the Flip Side of the Industry Chaos
Yes, there’s disruption. Yes, the models are changing. Yes, platforms and technology are evolving faster than any of us can keep up.
But that doesn’t mean that cinema is “dead”. That doesn’t mean that artificial intelligence is killing storytelling. For heaven’s sake, theater itself has been diagnosed as “dying” on and off again since the dawn of time.
The breakdown of old industry boundaries is fueling creativity, not eliminating it.
Cinematographers are launching YouTube channels with millions of views (looking at you, Matt Workman and Parker Walbeck). Podcast hosts are selling film rights. Game designers are being hired to write immersive TV experiences. Narrative techniques are influencing journalism, and Rihanna is able to launch a beauty line during a Superbowl halftime show.
If that feels overwhelming, it’s because it is.
But if that feels exhilarating, it’s because you’re ready.
Because this is the best moment we’ve had in years to ask: what kind of work do I really want to make? Not just: where will I be hired? But also: what could I actually build?
The power isn’t in picking a lane, but in designing an entirely different form of transportation (and I, for one, would like a teleportation device).
Follow the People Who See What’s Changing
If you’ve been feeling restless, it’s not because you’re unfocused. It’s because you’re waking up to what’s possible.
That itch to explore a new medium? That impulse to pitch outside your lane? That desire to start something instead of waiting for someone else’s green light?
That’s not a distraction. That’s opportunity.
Please don’t waste it.
