Boom to Bust

"Boom to Bust is a clear-eyed, consummate examination of one of the most significant labor battles in recent American history—telling of why Hollywood writers and actors went on strike, what happened when they did, and where the entertainment industry has headed in the years since. This is required reading."—Gary Baum, senior writer at The Hollywood Reporter

"In Boom to Bust, Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller skillfully illustrate how the rise of global streamers transformed Hollywood's business practices, distribution strategies, and production methods—and, in turn, how these changes impacted the industry's creative laborers. Through lively, accessible prose, the authors chronicle the dark side of the Peak TV era of the 2010s and 2020s while highlighting how and why workers organized to fight back."—Alisa Perren, author of Indie, Inc.: Miramax and the Transformation of Hollywood in the 1990s

"Banks and Fortmueller have set for themselves a Herculean task—to produce a history of a volatile industry present—and they pull it off with skill and style. For scholars of entertainment, Boom to Bust is an invaluable resource; for news junkies and movie buffs, an eye-opener. There just aren't enough books like this one."—Annie Berke, senior editor, Los Angeles Review of Books, and author of Their Own Best Creations: Women Writers in Postwar Television

"With Boom to Bust, Banks and Fortmueller have given a gift to anyone who wants to understand the media industry's wild roller-coaster ride over the last fifteen years. In addition to detailing how streaming technologies and services prompted changes in Hollywood's traditional business practices, this book attends closely to the myriad challenges faced by media laborers during this period, resulting most dramatically in the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. The future may remain uncertain, but Boom to Bust tells us how we got here."—Daniel Herbert, author of Maverick Movies: New Line Cinema and the Transformation of American Film