Join your host Ryan M. Perez as he sits down with Daniel Bessner, college professor and host of American Prestige, to discuss the history of Hollywood’s financialization and the decline of the middle class in the entertainment industry. The conversation explores how Hollywood evolved from the studio system of the 1920s-1950s into a gig-based economy following the labor strikes of the 1960s, and eventually into a financialized system dominated by conglomerates, private equity firms, and streaming platforms. Daniel breaks down how deregulation, asset management companies, and the collapse of mass culture transformed the industry, creating growing instability for working artists and reshaping what it means to sustain a career in entertainment today.
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