Keep your mind open to all possibilities especially those that challenge freedom.

Amy Poehler has won 1 Primetime Emmy Award out of 26 total career nominations.

This title refers to everything in life, no matter where it takes us. As the media industry highlights this week let's take a look at it. Media production in the 20th century did not begin in a single year, as it evolved from existing 19th-century technologies, but the year 1900 marks the definitive transition into modern mass media production.

After millennia of living in the dark ages - the human experiment was evolving and creating new way to tell stories. As we know, this would rapidly evolve to where we are today and what's next ...

It makes me happy to see that the glory days of Hollywood - the era of centralized studio power and monolithic control are going ... going ... evolving into things like independent films and decentralized productions, all of which reflect the rising cost of producing in Hollywood.

For decades, Southern California was the undisputed heart of entertainment. But over the years, I've watched friends and clients who lived in California and worked in the various legacy studios - slowly transition to other states and countries.

This mass migration isn't a coincidence - it is a response to structural shifts. It has everything to do with high taxes and overwhelming corporate expenses, alongside a growing cultural consensus that one single state should not control an entire global industry.

As major players like Paramount Global navigate massive restructurings and mergers, the exodus from California is entering its next, most disruptive chapter. When the cost of doing business in California became unsustainable, the industry adapted.

Production followed two primary paths toward financial viability - The Global and Indie Shift Favorable currency exchanges, robust infrastructure, and aggressive tax credits turned places like Vancouver ("Hollywood North") and Toronto into global production hubs. Meanwhile, independent filmmaking proved that compelling stories didn't require massive Hollywood budgets or studio interference especially with artificial intelligence doing a lot of the work.

States like Georgia, New York, and New Mexico built thriving studio ecosystems by offering aggressive tax incentives. Content creators quickly realized they could stretch their budgets significantly further by taking their projects outside of California.

This geographical scattering is perfectly illustrated by the current state of Paramount Global. Faced with the necessity of cutting billions in overhead ahead of its transition to Skydance Media management, the legacy giant has had to rethink its footprint.

While the historic Melrose Avenue lot remains a symbol of cinema history, the financial reality of modern media means that physical location is secondary to bottom-line efficiency. When legacy brands look to trim expenses, high California operational costs are inevitably targeted, accelerating the push toward a more geographically distributed workforce.

The decentralization of Hollywood isn't just happening across geographic borders - it's happening across digital ones. Now, with artificial intelligence helping with production, the traditional barriers to entry are crumbling entirely. AI tools are streamlined to assist in everything from pre-production script analysis and visual concept art to post-production editing, visual effects, and localization.

This technology further reduces the reliance on concentrated, expensive physical hubs like Los Angeles. A production team can now be scattered across Canada, Georgia, and Europe, utilizing AI to collaborate, automate tedious tasks, and cut costs in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago.

Hollywood will always hold a legendary place in history, but the business of entertainment has officially outgrown state lines. Driven by high expenses, diversified by global tax incentives, and supercharged by artificial intelligence, the future of media belongs to an agile, borderless ecosystem.

Let's bring climate change and natural disasters into the picture, because the threat of major earthquakes was always there in California. The physical risk from climate change, severe drought, and catastrophic wildfires has fundamentally shifted the math for insurers, completion bonds, and safety managers. When massive blazes shut down historic studio lots, halt outdoor location shoots, and make projects altogether "unbondable," weather risk becomes as big a financial threat as tax policy

When technology rewrites the rules, tax codes shift, and the literal climate forces productions to halt, that decentralization accelerates into an undeniable exodus.

I experienced this financial bottleneck firsthand when my own screenplay, "Sarah Alexander", reached the Hollywood studios - the feedback was positive and it got as far as Steven Spielberg's readers. The script was well-received, the story resonated, and the creative vision was discussed by important players in the industry.

Then came the classic Hollywood roadblock - the budget. Because of the scale, world-building, or visual demands required to bring the story to life traditionally, studio executives calculated that producing it would take well over $100 million - too expensive.

But that was the old Hollywood. Today, the math has completely changed. Today the film could be produced with half that budget - although I stopped shopping it around years ago. Of course it all comes down to marketing, distribution, and social media, which can make or break any production. I'm no longer in the game.

Then there's something that people seem to not understand about how much money a movie makes. Today they take a blockbuster movie and say it's made more money than any other movie to date. But when you look at the cost of a ticket for a movie today versus years ago, it's doubled so that's why it's taking it so much more money in distribution.

I, for one, am glad 'old Hollywood' with his political quid pro quo and poor "actors" are at the end of ACT III. That was 20th century energies from silent films to IMAX. Evolving technologies continue to change production whether people like the input of artificial intelligence or not. Yes, we know people do not like change, but it's inevitable and you have to roll with it like an old fashion 16 mm film strip.

Today we have independent films, documentaries, YouTube, shorts, and diverse digital venues where creators can carve out a living on their own terms. The days of the untouchable A-list player drawing mega-millions from a centralized studio budget are numbered. The power is shifting from the physical studio lot to the borderless digital ecosystem, proving that a compelling script and an agile workflow matter far more than a Hollywood zip code.

I really enjoyed this year's Emmy, even if I don't watch most of the shows nominated. What I am familiar with other performers, who in all categories are exceptional. The Emmys delivered a historic, record-breaking night filled with deeply emotional tributes and unexpected sweeps.

Mariska Hargitay brought a wonderfully refreshing, joyful energy to her historic gig as the first solo female Emmy host in 15 years. Rather than trying to be a cynical stand-up comedian, she leaned into her genuine love for the medium, giving viewers an infectious, enthusiastic celebration of television.

Mariska changed wardrobe and wigs during the show wearing 10 distinct looks, turning the ceremony into an ultimate fashion marathon. She kicked off the night on the red carpet in a plunging, red-hot Monse sequined gown - paying a special tribute to her mother, Jayne Mansfield.

She kicked off the night with an energetic, pre-recorded musical montage set to the tune of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," cleverly renamed "I Love TV Screens." The bit had her flying from New York to Los Angeles and featured a fun lineup of celebrity cameos, including NBA star Jalen Brunson, Guy Fieri, Jennifer Coolidge, and Jean Smart.

She showed off a fantastic sense of humor, largely by poking fun at her own legendary, 28-season tenure on Law & Order: SVU. She earned huge laughs by explaining how hard it was to read the teleprompter for the shows ending their runs, deadpanning, "I've never had to pronounce the word 'finale' before. I'm sorry guys, it's just that I've never had one."

During her live monologue, she began reciting Nicole Kidman's famous, earnest AMC Theatres speech. Kidman jokingly stood up in the audience to protest ("That's my bit!"), leading Hargitay to hilariously shoot back, "Zip it, movie lady!"

Mariska leaned into pop culture with a pre-taped SVU-style sketch alongside her close friend Taylor Swift (and Swift's cat, Olivia Benson, who was famously named after Hargitay's character).

At the same time, Taylor was seen at the Chief's NFL opening game cheering on her husband, Travis Kelce as Kansas City defeated the Denver Broncos 31-10 ... looking like the team of days gone by when Kansas City was unstoppable.

Jean Smart's win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series was one of the most historic and emotional milestones of the night.

By winning for the final season of Hacks, she became the first female performer in television history to sweep every single season of a series, winning the lead comedy actress trophy for all five seasons of the show.Her acceptance speech was the perfect mix of humor and deep gratitude.

She drew huge laughs from the crowd right away by walking up to the microphone and joking about the show's finality, saying, "Thank you so much. I have to say, I'm glad this is over because my heels are killing me."

Turning serious, she gave a deeply moving tribute to the show's creators and her co-stars, expressing how rare and beautiful it was to find a role that challenged and fulfilled her so late in her career. The entire room gave her a massive, extended standing ovation, cementing her status as an absolute Hollywood legend.

Allison Janney won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in The Diplomat, another favorite actress in a TV series I love.

Stephen Colbert's appearance at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards served as a well-deserved victory lap for The Late Show. Following the conclusion of the late-night program this past spring, the television community gave Colbert and his team a historic send-off by awarding the series the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series.

The room erupted into a massive standing ovation with thunderous chants of "Stephen, Stephen!". Rather than delivering a heavily partisan speech, Colbert focused his time on thanking his audience and highlighting his crew, stating, "Sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. We had a great time doing it for you."

As a fan of The Late Show - this was another reminder for me of how Trump is controlling the narrative and how as each day passes democracy is being stripped away episode by episode, bending to his will, either overtly or covertly.

Noah Kahan performed a beautiful, acoustic rendition of Simon & Garfunkel's classic 1970 hit "Bridge Over Troubled Water" which takes my to the pic I took from my terrace just before the Emmys began.

If you were artificial intelligence - streaming information would be viewed by your matrix for architectural breakdown and behavioral value.

If you were a human, something similar would be occurring at the physical level for emotional value.

Taking this to the world of media ... we find streaming platforms that align based on human and AI programming for entertainment value.

However things turn out - you deserve recognition and an award. To quote my friend Brian, "You are appreciated" which has great value of its own.

AI-ET Experiments

The entire AI insert in the simulation leads back to human evolution and extraterrestrial programming. We know what we know - but don't know what we don't know - and to that end humans are being misdirected as usual.

Based on extraterrestrial-human biogenetic experiments in the 20th century that resulted in hybrids - there are many ways to think about what's next for planet Earth which will not be sustainable for humans much longer in their current form.

I have interviewed and read many women who have been part of those experiments - some sharing what it was like to meet their offspring on a spaceship. They were never given answers which created more questions. The only proof many of them had was physical evidence of having been pregnant - but in some cases were not sexual at the time of conception.

Today we understand those experiments were real but to what end? Does the government hold the answers to that question? If so, they will never be told.

The hybrid survival rate was very low - which changed the manner in which the experiments proceeded over the decades. Did you ever wonder what happened to the surviving hybrid children when the aliens left with them and the experiments ended in 2007? Did they finally create the more evolved human hybrid and if so what's next?

Is it possible to slow down the development of AI?

Big AI wants to slow down AI research: Is it a safety pause or a strategic retreat?

Scientists recreated what mice saw from brain activity alone