Hollywood: The Slowest Industry to Grasp Tech Changes?

When I was at Disney last week, tech SVP Bob Lambert shared a great quote with me. It's from an article several years ago in Broadcasting magazine... an interview with Amos Hostetter Jr., who at the time was chairman of Continental Cablevision.

"I have been told that the movie industry is probably the slowest industry to grasp technological changes of any industry in American society. They had the ability to do talking pictures before they did it, they had the ability to do Technicolor before they did it; they are just techniphobic."

While I agree with the general sentiment, what's most interesting to me about the way Hollywood responds to new technologies is that it delays and delays and delays -- and then embraces them just in time to save the business. It's like someone about to fall into a chasm who grabs that wonderfully well-placed vine at the last possible moment.

The movie industry loves a cliffhanger.