IanSchafer.com

Wake Up, Hollywood.

Kara Swisher at WSJ's new blog area (blogorrhea?) All Things Digital (which has some real good potential) covers the EconSM Conference put on by PaidContent -- specifically a dinner panel featuring Variety Editor Peter Bart and longtime producer Peter Guber, both of whom host AMC's Sunday Morning Shootout.

Kara heard something that floored her, and frankly, I'm even floored-er.

But I nearly fell off my well-upholstered chair when Bart said, in an off-the-cuff remark, that YouTube might be history within four years. He came out with this particular nugget in the midst of a discussion about the nature of the audience and its desires, which Bart said did not change that much from era to era. He noted that great love stories always were going to do well (he actually used “Love Story” as the example) and that basic tastes don’t really vary.

I could agree with that, until he also noted that today’s youth could be compared to that from the 1950s. Well, except for those iPods and mashups, except for MySpace and video games, except for cellphones and blogs and, most of all, except for the fact that they have complete comfort in a highly interactive universe and, in fact, are not ever going to allow the kind of top-down control that Hollywood has wielded for so long.

When I piped up that kids today really seemed to have a lot more digital tools at their disposal and also seemed to like the whole Internet thing a lot, with all its social networking and user-generated content and interactivity, both Bart and Guber said that that kind of media was still not very compelling and has not produced the kind of hits that Hollywood was famous for. I am not sure they were exactly calling the current digital era a fad, but it was telling to me that Hollywood attitudes still center on the unshakable belief that their businesses will outlast all comers.

Have you seen this last weekend's box office? Disturbia, #1 for the third week in a row, led the box office with a whopping 9.1 million. Several other films followed ranging from $2.5 to $7 million. Moviegoers did not turn out this weekend. You can blame it on the weak films, you can blame it on some nice weather, but you can also blame it on the fact that there are just more media choices than ever out there. Choices that compete with physically going to the movies.

Bart's and Guber's point just re-highlight the problems Hollywood is having with today's consumer. Unless Hollywood adapts to an evolving use of media by consumers, limits the amount of content it produces to better content, and embraces digital distribution while not over-relying on over-used DRM, they are going to be dinosaurs. Not only does an industry leader (on the inside of the studio system) need to step up and set a precedent by changing things for the better (think EMI's non-DRM deal with Apple's iTunes multiplied exponentially), but the MPAA needs to change its draconian stance on content sharing, selling, and distribution.

Consumers' habits, tastes, and technologies are all changing. Wake up, and step up, Hollywood.

**UPDATE**
More fuel for the fire from GigaOm.

Mashuppacultcha Rules.

Mashup culture isn't just for tech-geeks, YouTubers, and Google employees. Sometimes, it can actually enhance your life. And when two companies get together to mash their services up together, all because consumers spoke up and said it would make their lives more organized, it's a thing of beauty.

LinkedIn and Plaxo have joined forces to allow Plaxo Members to sync their LinkedIn contacts with their Plaxo address book, effectively mashing their flagship products.

I've synced my two accounts, and it worked splendidly. I feel more organized and connected already.

While mashups have been around forever (Shakespeare, anyone?) the modern, corporate interpretation (Nike+Apple, TiVo+DirecTV), holds tremendous promise not just culturally, but financially.

Bonus points if you can tell me (in the comments, please) what the title of this post is a pop-culture reference to.