In today's entertainment world, a movie's success no longer depends on how it plays in Los Angeles or New York. The real test comes when the lights dim in Shanghai, Mumbai, or Seoul.

International audiences now decide whether a film's bottom line becomes a box office hit or a miss. As someone who's watched this business evolve from film reels to streaming screens, I've come to believe that the global market isn't just a new playing field; we are already playing in the future of production, financing, and distribution.

My learning the power of a wide and diverse audience didn't begin in Hollywood; rather, it started on a suburban doorstep, throwing printed pages through doors early in the morning. I began my career delivering media as a paperboy in Vancouver. Eventually, I worked my way up to circulation manager and was later part of the launch team for The Edmonton Sun. I was employee number four, according to my pay stub, and I'm proud that the paper still exists today. I eagerly hustled for subscribers, running promotions, organizing phone rooms, and knocking on doors. It taught me lessons that still guide my thinking today. The lesson that resonates the loudest today is that recurring revenue sustains success. Subscriptions pay the monthly bills. Whether it was newspapers then or streaming services now, the principle is identical: you need a loyal consumer to maintain a consistent cash flow. Even back then, I was fascinated by how companies like Weight Watchers kept customers engaged, mailing subscribers monthly tips, meal plans, and encouragement. It was simple, but it worked. This same psychology drives Netflix, Disney+, and today's direct-to-consumer creators. It's all about building loyalty and connection. But is that connection now facing a new evolutionary threat in the form of fan-driven productions?

I'll admit it: As a film producer, I miss Blockbuster Video. Friday nights were sacred, wandering the aisles, discovering a movie by accident. For independent producers like me, Blockbuster was a gold mine. They couldn't get enough new titles. Those video aisles haven't really disappeared; they've just gone digital. Scroll through Netflix or YouTube, and you'll see the same behavior: audiences browsing, looking for something to grab their attention. But as DVDs gave way to streaming, something far more interesting is emerging: a new fan-controlled media economy. DVDs purchased signaled what was popular, but today, media consumers are taking control, deciding what will get made and having their own input.

Looking ahead, I believe fans will subscribe directly to their favorite directors or content creators. Their subscription fees could even become the production budgets for the projects they want to see. A fascinating example of this fan-driven model is Angel Studios, the company behind The Chosen and Sound of Freedom. They've built a community where audiences don't just watch, they invest. Through "Pay It Forward" campaigns,

Hollywood studios once dominated box office revenues. However, over the past two decades, international markets have overtaken domestic earnings. Countries like China, India, and South Korea have become power players, often shaping what kinds of films get made. Add artificial intelligence into the mix, now allowing individual creators the power to generate broadcast-quality video and sound for their own fans, and we're witnessing a seismic shift in both content creation and consumption.

The audience is now worldwide and narrow at the same time. Audiences are ready to be heard. In fact, not long ago, the term worldwide box office used to sound like a secondary metric. Today, it's the industry's main scoreboard. Look at how Fast & Furious 7 or Transformers: Age of Extinction earned the majority of revenue overseas. Or consider how Douyin (China's version of TikTok) has turned entertainment and e-commerce into one seamless experience worth billions. We now measure success or failure from every ticket sold, everywhere, combining the U.S. and Canada with the rest of the world. Films like Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie show how international audiences can turn solid films into billion-dollar franchises.

In today's market, cultural connections make a difference. Subtitles and dubbing help, but it's emotional universality in storytelling that truly travels. Action and fantasy cross borders because they speak in visuals. Yes, star power exists. When Dwayne Johnson or Tom Cruise headlines a film, audiences know exactly what to expect, and that reliability sells tickets. There's also timing. Release too close to local holidays or crowded weekends, and you can lose your moment. Most important for the producer is partnerships. Global distribution requires collaboration. You can't just drop a movie into another market; you must understand or partner with someone who does.

My First Co-Production in China was in 2014. Both sides of the co-pro had to navigate import quotas, censorship rules, and creative adjustments. We quickly realized we couldn't simply deliver a finished movie and expect it to play. We needed to learn the ecosystem, both culturally and commercially. In the end, we cut two versions: one for Chinese distribution and one for the rest of the world. Same movie, two perspectives. It was a strong lesson in the importance of the fan in filmmaking.

With global reach comes great potential, but also new challenges. Quotas can limit the number of foreign films that some countries allow each year. Currency fluctuations can erode profits. Political tensions can pull films overnight. And piracy remains a billion-dollar problem. In markets where streaming isn't affordable or available, piracy fills the gap. That's not just lost revenue, it's lost relationships with audiences who want to connect but can't.

The move toward putting the audience in the driver's seat, creating a far more powerful fan-driven media economy, is already realizing more international casts, more inclusive stories, and smarter analytics that predict what audiences want in each region. Yet even with all this technology and data, and wider fan input, one truth hasn't changed. At the end of the day, being a producer is still about delivering moving images people enjoy and doing it well enough that they come back for more. Keep the audience happy.

In reviewing my career, it's a clear mirror of the shift, from print to film, digital to streaming, and now, fans are gaining more direct control. Audience, storytelling, and economics had become deeply intertwined, with studios often force-feeding content to the audience. Now we are in the midst of a paradigm shift; the existing system is slowly decoupling as fans take more control over what gets made and how they watch it. For me as a producer, it's not a scary future; rather, it is a fresh start.