The Hollywood Model
As the business world changes quickly, organizations are facing new and different problems that need new ways to solve them. One solution is the Hollywood Model, which is a project-based, short-term way of running a business that is becoming more popular in many fields. This model lets people put together dynamic teams to work on specific projects instead of relying on a fixed set of organizational skills.
The Hollywood Model is very flexible, and its usefulness in a world where things are changing quickly is becoming more and more clear. In this article, I'll take a close look at the Hollywood Model. I'll talk about its pros and cons, what it means for the future of work, and how we were inspired by it as a marketing agency.
How Hollywood works in real life
The Hollywood Model comes from the movie business, where it was made to deal with the unique problems of making movies. A project would be chosen, and a group of people would be put together to work on it for the exact amount of time it would take to finish. When the project was done, the group would split up. With this method, the film industry was able to bring together the many different skills needed to make a successful movie.
The Hollywood Model is used in many different industries today. People use it to build bridges, make apps, and start restaurants. Ad hoc teams work on large, complicated projects that need the skills of many different people.
This model was crucial in helping our marketing firm create the label Bright & The Future. In a marketing world that changes quickly and is very competitive, it's becoming more and more important for agencies to be agile and flexible, able to respond quickly and effectively to new challenges and opportunities. The project-based, short-term structure of the Hollywood Model is meant to do just that by putting together teams of experts with the right skills and experience for each project.
This method lets us be more creative and unique, using a wide range of skills to solve new and difficult problems. By putting together the right people for each project, we can avoid mismatches and knowledge gaps that can happen when an organization has a fixed set of skills. This lets us take on bigger projects and come up with more creative solutions.
The Hollywood model and the future of work
Short-term, project-based work arrangements are becoming more and more common. The Hollywood model has many benefits, such as being able to put together teams of experts for specific projects, using resources more efficiently, and having a structure that can be changed more easily. But putting the Hollywood model into practice is not easy. In this part, I'll talk about some of the problems and chances that come with using the Hollywood model.
Challenges
Building and keeping a network of experts: Building and keeping a network of experts is one of the hardest parts of putting the Hollywood model into place. Finding and bringing on the right people for a project takes time and money. Also, once the project is done, it might be hard to keep these experts on board and make sure they are available for future projects.
Communication and coordination: Communication and coordination are very important in a project-based model. It is important to make sure that everyone on the team knows what the project's goals, timeline, and expectations are. When people come and go from a team, it can be hard to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Resource allocation: It can be hard to put the right amount of resources on each project. It is important to make sure that each project has the money, talent, and technology it needs. Getting the right amount of resources to each project can be hard.
Opportunities
More flexibility and adaptability: The Hollywood model allows for more flexibility and adaptability, so organizations can respond quickly to changes in the market and customer needs. This gives organizations the freedom to grow or shrink quickly and focus on specific projects without being bogged down by red tape or bureaucracy.
Innovation and creativity: The Hollywood model creates a place where innovation and creativity can thrive. With a team that changes all the time and the ability to put together experts for each project, there are more chances for original ideas and new ways to solve problems.
Increased efficiency: The Hollywood model can increase efficiency and cut costs by preventing people from doing the same things twice and making better use of resources. By putting together the right team for each project, organizations can waste less time and money and focus on efficiently reaching project goals.
Conclusion
The traditional, centralized way of running a business can be replaced with the Hollywood Model, which is a more appealing way to run a business. The short-term, project-based structure of the Hollywood Model has been shown to work well for big, complicated projects that need a lot of different people with different skills. As the economy changes to become more chaotic and fast-paced, it's becoming clear that organizations that take a Hollywood-style approach are most likely to succeed.
One organization that has been influenced by the Hollywood Model is our own marketing agency. We rethought how we serve our clients by keeping a "day-one" mentality and always pushing the limits of what we can do. We now use more creative ways to do things, better tools and processes, and a more effective way to get results. We even wrote an e-book about it, which you can get here for free (no email required). As the marketing industry changes and new trends and technologies come out, it's important for marketing agencies to not only stay up-to-date but also change every day in order to stay competitive. The Hollywood Model could show how to do exactly that.
Sources:
McClure, Dan. “The Hollywood Model: Dynamically Built Teams for Creativity at Scale — Outsight.” Outsight, 22 June 2020, outsight.international/blog/the-hollywood-model-dynamically-built-teams-for-creativity-at-scale.
Davidson, Adam. "What Hollywood Can Teach Us About the Future of Work." The New York Times Magazine,5 May 2015, nytimes.com/2015/05/10/magazine/what-hollywood-can-teach-us-about-the-future-of-work.html
Bright & The Future. "The Future of Marketing Services: How Bright & The Future Is Leading the Way with a New Approach." E-book, 2023, brightandthefuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/E-book-The-Future-of-Marketing-Services.pdf