Conversations with prominent figures about the problems in media and entertainment and how to fix them. <br/><br/><a href="https://hollywoodheretic.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">hollywoodheretic.substack.com</a>
Hollywood Heretic Podcast
Claim This Podcastby Wade Major
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6 episodes
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Podcast Overview
Conversations with prominent figures about the problems in media and entertainment and how to fix them. <br/><br/><a href="https://hollywoodheretic.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">hollywoodheretic.substack.com</a>
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Publishing Since
7/7/2024
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Recent Episodes
January 23, 2026
98th Academy Awards Nominations Breakdown
<p>Every year’s Oscar nominations bring unexpected twists and turns — and today’s were no different. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners set an all time record with 16 nominations, beating the previous record held by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land by two. Not to be overlooked is the nearly unprecedented second-place showing by another Warner Bros. release and the odds-on favorite to win the big prizes, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which clocked in with a not shabby 13 nods. </p><p>The foreign-language film curse continues to drift into Oscar’s rear window as The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value land nods for Best International Film and Best Picture, with Sentimental Value scoring a whopping four nominations in the acting categories — the most of any picture this year. </p><p>What does it all mean? Wade and his CineGods colleagues — Tim Cogshell and Mark Keizer — weigh in. </p><p><p>Hollywood Heretic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Hollywood Heretic at <a href="https://hollywoodheretic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">hollywoodheretic.substack.com/subscribe</a>
August 21, 2025
Has Hollywood Lost the Plot?
<p>This episode was originally to have posted in January — but as <a target="_blank" href="https://hollywoodheretic.substack.com/p/fire-walk-with-me?r=2ry2ig">fate would have it</a>, my world changed in a horrifying instant. Revisiting the half-dozen or so Substacks that were in the pipeline at that time has been curiously clarifying — most are no longer relevant, if they were even relevant at the time. That’s the blessing (or curse) of perspective. This interview, however, remains not only evergreen but perhaps more vital and relevant today than it was seven months ago. Hollywood’s fate — about which I’ll have more to say in a forthcoming post — continues to be vigorously debated, even after a Summer that most would say over-performed. California <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hollywood-production-ca-legislators-pass-750-m-tax-credit-1236301431/">has just passed </a>a dramatic new production incentive while Marvel’s <a target="_blank" href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/business/marvel-leaves-georgia-to-film-in-uk-gutting-states-movie-industry/">sudden decision</a> to shift its considerable Georgia production activities to the United Kingdom has had immediate and devastating consequences. The Paramount-Skydance merger, meanwhile, has finalized with the new company <a target="_blank" href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/paramount-skydance-theatrical-movies-streaming-ellison-1236488740/">making clear</a> its focus will be theatrical movies — not streaming. Box office is up about 18% over 2024, a significant increase over what some thought would only be a 5% increase, but ticket sales are still well below pre-pandemic levels. The seventy-nine wide-release studio films <a target="_blank" href="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/">scheduled</a> for 2025 is a whopping 27% higher than last year, but still only brings us back to 2013 levels while the number of wide-release indies has skyrocketed during the same time to over a hundred for the second year in a row — more than double pre-Pandemic volume. So what’s going on?</p><p>Put simply, Hollywood is having an existential “story” crisis, and any conversation about Hollywood’s problems that ignores its current storytelling deficiencies is overlooking the very large elephant in a terribly tiny room. Hollywood isn’t colloquially referred to as a “town” because it is or ever was one — it’s because everyone eventually crosses paths as they would in a small town. What naturally happens when such people cross paths? They gossip — about their town. For years now, the gossip in this town has been about what happened to the storytelling magic that once flourished like grapes on the vine. Is it dead? Or hibernating? And how can we get it back? </p><p>For insights and answers, I went to the brightest story mind I know — <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/profile/6303486-david-wisehart">David Wisehart</a> — who just also happens to be a former film school classmate (and, full disclosure, a one-time writing partner). </p><p>In addition to writing, directing and producing video games for 20th Century Fox, David has worked as a writers' assistant on the hit TV show Queen of the South, is currently an Amazon bestselling author and with his Substack “<a target="_blank" href="https://davidwisehart.substack.com/">Character Secrets</a>” he’s imparting of his wisdom to help other writers improve their craft: </p><p>I’m both happy and proud to say this is one of the most enjoyable conversations I’ve ever had about movies — and I’m sure this Substack’s readers and podcast viewers/listeners will feel likewise. </p><p>If you want more of David’s wisdom and personal adventures, you can visit his “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@charactersecrets">Character Secrets”</a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@charactersecrets"> </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@charactersecrets">YouTube</a> channel, check out his book “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00USHIM3M">How to Write Great Characters</a>” on Amazon and join him on some epic human odysseys on his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@DavidWisehart">personal YouTube</a> channel. </p><p><p>Hollywood Heretic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Hollywood Heretic at <a href="https://hollywoodheretic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">hollywoodheretic.substack.com/subscribe</a>
October 9, 2024
2024 Summer Wrap and Fall Preview
<p>Five years on from the COVID contraction, and a year after the dissonance of Barbenheimer and the Summer of Strikes, Hollywood is still struggling to get its groove back. No one is quite sure what to make of the landscape. Is exhibition on its way out or staging a comeback? When will they start making movies again? Has streaming peaked? What will become of Paramount under the aegis of the House of Ellison? Is the DirecTV/Dish merger too little too late? Was this a comeback Summer or a disappointing bust? Will the Fall awards season measure up to last year’s historic crop or lay a giant collective egg? To sort through the tea leaves I invited two of the smartest industry analysts I know — as well as two treasured friends and longtime colleagues, Tim Cogshell and Mark Keizer. Together we take stock of where we’ve been — and where we are likely headed. </p><p><p>Hollywood Heretic is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Hollywood Heretic at <a href="https://hollywoodheretic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">hollywoodheretic.substack.com/subscribe</a>
6 total episodes available
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