In addition the stars, awards, and speeches, the Golden Globe awards displayed the power of free markets, the real star of the night. Whether it was in TV or film, the ceremony featured a wide-range of production strategies that demonstrated the market-driven innovation of the entertainment industry.
In TV, online streaming continued to prove its viability with the Amazon original series “Transparent”taking home numerous awards. “Transparent”’s win for Best Series marked the first time an online streaming-service has won a Golden Globe for the category. Netflix joined Amazon as online streaming victors with House of Cards’ actor Kevin Spacey win for best actor in a TV series—drama.
Left out almost entirely were traditional broadcasting networks. The big four of ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox all failed to win awards for their television lineups. The Internet – an illustrious success story of the free market – has unlocked an unprecedented amount of choice offered to television viewers. Online video services such as Amazon and Netflix are making up an increasingly larger portion of content viewing. This is just one half of the benefit that free markets are bringing to viewers.
The other half comes from the traditional broadcasting network side. These networks are still major players in television but with the rise of online competition, the major networks have been forced to get more creative with their content. Unlike other major industries in the U.S. where unfair government regulations and special tax treatments pick market winners and losers, consumers will be the ultimate judge of who is doing the best job.
Similarly, on the film side, the award-winners demonstrated the ability of markets to provide original content. The winners came from a wide range of producers that took creative risks to try to stay ahead of the curve.
Demonstrating the ingenuity of the film industry was the winner for best drama, “Boyhood,” which follows a young boy’s journey to adulthood in real time. Taking 12 years to film, the movie was funded by IFC Films and cost a reported $4 million but has already taken in over $43 million worldwide. This novel idea has turned into a huge success as Boyhood has already become one of the biggest films ever for IFC..
Foreign competition took home awards for numerous domestic categories as well. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” won best motion picture – musical or comedy. The film was produced by British-German companies and financed by German financial corporations. British film, “The Theory of Everything,”received two awards as well. These films may have been shut out if not for the openness of the industry.
The entertainment industry relies on innovation and originality to create value to the highest amount of people with the best results being right before our eyes: products that people want – whether it’s from a big time network or an internet show – and a continually creative, growing and healthy industry.
