Whatever happened to the golden years of Hollywood? The attention economy, apparently.
This episode of The Speed of Culture podcast welcomes Gerry Rich, film marketing consultant and author of Chasing Hollywood: A Marketing Chief’s Lessons on Breaking Through.
Bringing over three decades of experience marketing films across Columbia Pictures, Miramax, MGM, Paramount, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, Gerry explains why creating mass awareness has become harder.
He zooms in on what makes a trailer genuinely break through, why engagement matters more than raw views, and Gen Z’s appetite for originality.
The conversation also explores the growing importance of talent’s social presence, the risks of volume-driven filmmaking, and how AI can support the work without replacing the authenticity audiences expect.
About the guest:
Gerry Rich is a film marketing consultant and the author of Chasing Hollywood: A Marketing Chief’s Lessons on Breaking Through. For more than three decades, Gerry has held marketing leadership roles spanning Columbia Pictures, Miramax, MGM, Paramount, Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.
His career has taken him from scrappy campaigns with limited budgets to major studio releases, giving him firsthand experience of how movie marketing has changed as audiences, media habits, technology and the Hollywood business model have evolved.
Key Takeaways:
[01:32] Sophisticated Targeting Cannot Replace Mass Reach — Hollywood once had broad-reach television environments capable of driving awareness above 90%. Gerry says studios are now often hard-pressed to reach 50-60% because audiences are spread across more channels and can skip past advertising almost instantly. Digital offers sharper targeting, but precision does not automatically recreate scale. For marketers, the challenge has shifted from simply buying exposure to finding creative strong enough to survive a fragmented attention environment.
[04:18] Views Tell You Reach. Engagement Tells You Resonance — A huge view count can still hide a weak campaign. Gerry argues that shares, comments, conversations, and organic momentum provide a better indication of whether the work is actually connecting. Studios can also use social listening after a trailer launch to understand which characters or story elements audiences are responding to, then adapt the campaign around those signals.
[07:16] Gen Z Only Wants the Theatre if the Idea Is Fresh — Gerry rejects the assumption that younger audiences have abandoned long-form theatrical experiences. He points to Gen Z enthusiasm for original movies, and the communal energy of watching films such as horror with hundreds of other people. The bigger challenge is giving younger audiences something they have not already seen. They are quick to dismiss formulaic work, but equally quick to spread the word when something feels original.
[13:20] Volume Diminishes the Rigor That Creates Hits — As studios increase output, Gerry worries that quality becomes harder to protect. Every film requires intense attention throughout production and marketing, including real-time adjustments as audience feedback comes in. When teams are managing too many releases, the biggest films can absorb the strongest resources while the middle fights for dates, attention, and internal bandwidth. Scale may create more content, but it does not automatically create more cultural moments.
[18:34] Don’t Let Your Audience Feel Your AI Use — Gerry sees clear practical uses for AI, including adapting assets into multiple formats, sharpening targeting, and reducing costs behind the scenes. His line is authenticity. Younger audiences are increasingly discerning, and if technology makes the work feel cheap or disconnected from the artist, the efficiency stops being an advantage. The strongest use of AI should enhance the experience without becoming the experience.
