Jerry Seinfeld: ‘The Movie Business Is Over’

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
3

Jerry Seinfeld and Martin Scorsese have at least one thing in common: They both are lamenting just how much the film industry has changed within the hierarchy of media.

Seinfeld, who makes his directorial debut with Netflix’s Pop-Tarts origin story “Unfrosted,” told GQ that fellow filmmakers have “no idea” that the “movie business is over.” Or, well, at least not what it once was.

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“It was totally new to me,” Seinfeld said of directing the feature which he also co-wrote, produced, and starred in. “I thought I had done some cool stuff, but it was nothing like the way these people work. They’re so dead serious! They don’t have any idea that the movie business is over. They have no idea.”

Seinfeld continued, “Film doesn’t occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives. When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we’re walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see.”

It’s led “confusion” to set in. (And perhaps even worse abstract nouns.)

“Depression? Malaise? I would say confusion. Disorientation replaced the movie business,” Seinfeld said. “Everyone I know in show business, every day, is going, ‘What’s going on? How do you do this? What are we supposed to do now?'”

Meanwhile, the standup says, standup comedy is on the rise due to the “trust” associated with the art form.

“Audiences are now flocking to stand-up because it’s something you can’t fake. It’s like platform diving. You could say you’re a platform diver, but in two seconds we can see if you are or you aren’t,” Seinfeld said. “That’s what people like about stand-up. They can trust it. Everything else is fake.”

He concluded, “I’ve done enough stuff that I have my own thing, which is more valuable than it’s ever been. Stand-up is like you’re a cabinetmaker, and everybody needs a guy who’s good with wood. … There’s trees everywhere, but to make a nice table, it’s not so easy. So, the metaphor is that if you have good craft and craftsmanship, you’re kind of impervious to the whims of the industry.”

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