We don’t know yet how the entertainment industry will adapt and respond to the traumas of 2020 when production resumes full time. But from an Oscar winning director to gig workers behind the scenes, there’s broad agreement that not everything in Hollywood should return to the “good old days.”  

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and Casting Director David Rubin predict how the crises of 2020 will be represented by Hollywood’s storytellers, from scripting to casting. And Indie filmmaker Ana Lydia Monaco tells how she was able to shoot a short film in July, despite the challenges of Covid-19 safety protocols.

Glenn Close is hoping for a new “golden age of storytelling;” costume designer Ruth Carter is hoping for a new Hollywood with a much wider world view. But if there’s one thing they have in common, it’s that they can’t wait to get back to work.

Full Frontal’s” Samantha Bee and Ramy Youssef, of Hulu’s “Ramy,” are making us laugh despite the times we’re living in.  But in their different ways, each is also trying to be an agent for change in how, and by whom, stories are told on television. 

When Netflix began its streaming service in 2008, the movie studios were happy to sell the company their old films and shows.In doing so, they ended up inadvertently creating their biggest rival. As Co-CEO and Chief Content officer Ted Sarandos says, being fast and nimble, and not fearing their bigger competitors, turned out to be Netflix's superpower. 

With the FX series "Pose," writer/director Janet Mock became the first trans woman of color to write and direct a TV episode. The show features more transgender actors in regular roles than any other scripted series. That kind of representation, Mock says, has real power to change attitudes and behavior toward trans people. She also believes that the industry gatekeepers are beginning to realize that she’s able to tell more than one kind of story.