I'm Answering the Million Dollar Question & My Conversation With Al Fine!
What Hollywood & Higher Ed Have In Common Right Now
When I listen to conversations like this, my first instinct is to pick up my Kaweco pin and poke my eyes out! Dramatic, I know, maybe I should have been in the movies too.
If you haven’t listened to this conversation about both Obsession and Backrooms, the takeaway is that Hollywood is baffled why Gen Z went to see movies created by Gen Z and is wondering how they can keep this going.
What is interesting about this conversation is that the hosts continue to speculate about this moment: “Wow, can you believe Gen Z went to the movies?” “Must be because they got their start on YouTube!”
But the story is so much more interesting than what this conversation surfaces, and it’s a conversation that is actually happening across entertainment and higher ed.
A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at an institution of higher education about AI. Not to convince them to use AI, but to understand it and have an informed POV about it. It did not go well. To say the faculty revolted would be an understatement.
I left the engagement sad at first, but then thrilled. What was sad was that some of them had never even engaged with the technology, yet had very strong opinions. What was thrilling was to realize it was the beginning of the end for institutional monopoly and that a greater evolution is upon us and already creating momentum, as movies like Backrooms prove.
The history of development tended to be:
Institution>student/creator>audience
We now live in an era that has given individuals the opportunity to rework that.
Student/creator>audience>institution if needed
This era has been on the rise with technology, but now becoming more obvious than ever as institutions find themselves in an identity crisis while simultaneously asking for the highest amount of tuition and ticket prices consumers have ever seen.
Kane Parsons in many ways embodies Eric Reis’ Incorruptible (Book Club July 29, free event email me to register). He is deeply attuned to purpose and meaning-making. He rejected multiple offers of distribution that would have corrupted his craft.
What I ultimately think was happening when I was at the institution for higher ed, is that the faculty thought they were defending higher ed against AI. But what they’re most afraid of (yet not in touch with) is the distribution of eduction and where their role might become increasingly less relevant if they do not re-evaluate the purpose and meaning of higher education. An identity crises years in the making.
Kane Parsons wasn’t aligned to Hollywood, he was aligned to storytelling and meaning. Hollywood was simply one possible distribution for him, not the only channel.
That’s what makes Backrooms so interesting.
The success of the film wasn’t created by better distribution, it was created by deeper alignment with his own vision and what was meaningful to him.
I suspect that’s what institutions across entertainment and higher education are wrestling with right now. They’ve spent decades optimizing distribution, credentials, rankings, scale, and access. They are masters of External Validation!!
But purpose, meaning, and orientation come from somewhere else entirely.
They come from internal validation. From knowing who you are, what you are building, why you are building it, who you are serving, and what matters enough to protect, even when a faster or more profitable path presents itself.
Kane Parsons understood that instinctively. He protected the meaning before he protected the distribution. That’s why audiences responded.
Alignment creates gravity.
People feel it. They may not always have language for it, but they recognize it.
Distribution doesn’t create gravity.
It amplifies gravity that already exists.
The mistake institutions continue to make is believing those two things — alignment and distribution — are the same. This is why the existence of a powerful distribution channel or globally recognized brand is no longer enough. Star Wars and Marvel were once expressions of a strong creative orientation. Over time, many institutions begin treating the distribution system as the asset and the orientation as optional. But audiences respond to alignment, not amplification.
And increasingly, the organizations that thrive will be the ones willing to rediscover the purpose underneath the structure. The ones that align first will have much more opportunity for relevance, sustainability and growth.
Because purpose creates meaning.
Meaning creates alignment.
Alignment creates gravity.
And gravity is what people ultimately follow.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Al Fine of Dame! I loved this conversation with Al, who I’ve been working with for 7 years! We really get into cofounders, leadership, capitalism and AI. I hope you enjoy it!