• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 9, 2024

Quality over quantity. How do you know you are getting the former -- or able to juggle with the latter?

Walt Disney now says Marvel-based TV series content is moving toward a two projects a year versus four a year. Does this mean less is always better? 

When it comes to franchise-like brands like Marvel, or other creative concepts, we need to believe that legacy TV production companies are not cutting corners.

Is there any way to tell? Not always. Troubled TV shows and movies will often pull producers (for TV) and/or directors (for theatrical films) in the process of finding the right formula.

But there is a struggle here -- especially now in attempting to build new businesses such as streaming/CTV platforms.

There is an ongoing need for production to fill out platform lineups everywhere -- now that streamers have been added to the distribution points that still include linear TV and movie theaters.

Brand-wise, of course. It can be too much of a good thing. But how do you balance with ever-hungry theatrical consumers who want more Marvel, DC Comics, or other superhero content, stories, and amazing technological onscreen wizardry?

At the same time, all this corporate intent for quality versus quantity works well with Wall Street investors who believe in stricter financial operations, where young streaming operations need to cut costs to present a better bottom line.

Increasingly, legacy and other movie and TV show producers may be finding it harder to go over the line.

The bottom line: we may need to more clearly define "peak." Is that the measure of viewers, pricier production budgets, longer prep time, Rotten Tomatoes critic scores, or just plain old entertainment awards hardware?

Will generative AI come to the rescue to solve this complex algorithm? Perhaps creative entertainment executives need a helping hand.

Or someone to blame.