Something that has been on my mind, though it's not impending-coup level of importance: while the pandemic was wreaking havoc on the entertainment business, a very important anti-trust law preventing studios from owning movie theaters (the Paramount consent decree) was shot down.

So what you say? Netflix already owns the means of production and distribution! Why shouldn't the studios? Well, because that's how Netflix gets away with stripping creators of all ownership rights in the process of making a deal. That's why studios and theaters were trust-busted

If you are an independent creator, entrepreneur or small business owner your biggest problem is not competition from your peers, it's monopolies. Monopolies can gobble up ownership and make you thank them for it (ahem, Netflix.)

Monopolies can get so powerful that they will sell "representation" publicly but privately strip ownership from BIPOC creators in order to do those deals. And just because monopolies have competition with each other (Disney, Netflix, Apple...) doesn't mean they're not monopolies.

Our most powerful tool against monopolies is transparency and fierce cooperation. They use their power to teach us that getting picked is the only path to power. It's not. It's working together to never have to get picked in the first place.

Let me be clear: it can be more exhausting to cooperate than to compete. Competition you can do on your own, you don't have to consider other perspectives. Cooperation is a different skill set, one that we could all stand to take this time to really learn.

When you're done reading this, call your local arthouse theater and figure out how you can help. I'm serious.