Netflix and Apple are upending Hollywood hierarchy with studio deals

Rebecca Keegan, Hollywood Reporter:

In a Viacom earnings call on Nov. 16, Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos described a new, multipicture deal his studio had set — not with a producer or star, but with Netflix.

And:

Movie studios are no longer making films just for themselves, but for the deep-pocketed technology companies that have become Hollywood’s latest conquistadors.

Fascinating article. Makes me wonder if this will be the undoing of the traditional studio model, one where the studios choose the people to make into stars, then feed the distribution system that provides revenue for movie theaters.

Will Netflix, Amazon and, eventually, Apple, be the new movie star makers? Will movie theaters be shut out of this new supply chain, forced to watch as people consume content without them?