"The great thing about the business is how Darwinian it is. We have to swim or die - if you are found wanting over a period of time, you've either got to change what you're doing or find something else to do"
About this Quote
Calling Hollywood "Darwinian" is Soderbergh doing what he does best: puncturing the romance of the movies with the cold mechanics of survival. He frames filmmaking less as art-with-a-capital-A than as an ecosystem with predators, prey, and a ruthless food chain disguised as awards season and box-office weekends. "Swim or die" isn’t just macho imagery; it’s an admission that the industry’s praise is provisional. Your last project is your résumé, and it expires fast.
The subtext is almost a dare: don’t confuse talent with tenure. Soderbergh came up in a system where a breakout (sex, lies, and videotape) could mint you overnight, but he’s also lived through the hangover - shifting studio appetites, the collapse of mid-budget adult dramas, the algorithmic turn in distribution. His career has been a running experiment in adaptation: bouncing between prestige and genre, theatrical and streaming, big ensembles and iPhone minimalism. So when he says "found wanting over a period of time", he’s talking about the slow, unglamorous attrition that eats most careers: a couple underperformers, a shift in taste, a new executive, a younger voice.
There’s a pragmatic edge to the kicker: "change what you're doing or find something else to do". It’s not inspirational; it’s labor advice. The intent is to demystify the business while smuggling in a philosophy of creative resilience: evolution isn’t betrayal, it’s how you keep making anything at all.
The subtext is almost a dare: don’t confuse talent with tenure. Soderbergh came up in a system where a breakout (sex, lies, and videotape) could mint you overnight, but he’s also lived through the hangover - shifting studio appetites, the collapse of mid-budget adult dramas, the algorithmic turn in distribution. His career has been a running experiment in adaptation: bouncing between prestige and genre, theatrical and streaming, big ensembles and iPhone minimalism. So when he says "found wanting over a period of time", he’s talking about the slow, unglamorous attrition that eats most careers: a couple underperformers, a shift in taste, a new executive, a younger voice.
There’s a pragmatic edge to the kicker: "change what you're doing or find something else to do". It’s not inspirational; it’s labor advice. The intent is to demystify the business while smuggling in a philosophy of creative resilience: evolution isn’t betrayal, it’s how you keep making anything at all.
Quote Details
| Topic | Business |
|---|
More Quotes by Steven
Add to List
