I get the yelling. I’ve done it myself, after a pickup fell through, after a slate evaporated overnight, after months of work unraveled in a single email.

The frustration is real. The fear is real. And anger is human.

But here’s the hard truth: yelling doesn’t change systems.

We’ve already seen the numbers: premieres down double digits, budgets shrinking by design. Those cuts aren’t coming back.

Arithmetic, Not Fairness

That’s why yelling doesn’t work. It’s not because anger is misplaced. It’s because the system doesn’t respond to emotion, it responds to arithmetic.

Networks aren’t cutting orders because they dislike talent. They’re cutting because they can’t afford the same volume. Streamers aren’t ordering fewer episodes because they doubt the audience exists. They’re ordering fewer because the economics demand it.

No amount of yelling changes those numbers.

Overseas Economics

That’s why shows are now being shot in Ireland — it’s 25–40% cheaper, even after flying 100 Americans across the Atlantic. Nostalgia doesn’t beat math.

That’s not because Irish studios are “better.” It’s because the economics are better. And yelling won’t erase that math either.

The Nostalgia Trap

Nostalgia says “bring back longer runs and bigger crews.” But the system has already moved on: toward fewer shows, smaller crews, automated coordination, even offshored shoots.

When the system moves in one direction, yelling for it to move the other way is wasted breath.

What Works: Building

So what works? Building.

I’ve seen it with my own eyes:

• Editors who leaned into workflow architecture, stitching together Frame.io, Box, and delivery systems, keeping shows on track even with leaner teams.

• Coordinators who shifted into rights and automation, structuring contracts and metadata so projects could flow.

• Producers who retooled themselves as platform-facing showrunners, building projects around distribution metrics, not just Nielsen ratings.

• Assistants who became clearance operators — running approvals through a single logic layer so “who signed off” stopped being a daily fire drill.

• Post supervisors who rebuilt their role around integration — mapping every review platform, storage bucket, and delivery path into one survivable system.

These people are still working. Not because they yelled louder. Not because the system suddenly remembered their value.

They’re working because they rebuilt themselves into the workflows the system can’t live without.

Survival Posture

That’s the posture shift this era demands: from yelling to building.

Yelling is nostalgia.
Building is survival.

Yelling says, “Give me the jobs back.”

Building says, “I’ll adapt to the roles the system still values.”

And that’s not inspirational fluff. It’s survival math.

I’ve Been There Too

I don’t write this from a distance. I’ve felt the same anger. I’ve sent the frustrated texts. I’ve asked myself how an industry I gave years to could shrink under my feet.

I’ve been lucky in this current cycle. But I’ve also felt the sting.

And what I’ve learned is simple: yelling won’t change it. Building might.

The Fork in the Road

So here’s the fork in the road:

You can keep yelling. Demand more orders, bigger teams, longer runs. But the system isn’t listening.

Or you can build. Position yourself in workflows the system actually needs: rights oversight, creative judgment, system design, distribution logic.

One is nostalgia. The other is survival.

What Are We Building Toward?

That’s the question I’ll explore next.

If yelling doesn’t change it, and building might, then what exactly are we building toward?

The answer isn’t nostalgia. It’s infrastructure: the invisible plumbing that keeps productions alive when the old volume of jobs is gone.

I get the yelling. I’ve done it myself. But the only path worth our energy now is building.