How Covid-19 will change the future of film and television in the United States

March 2020 marked a turning point in U.S. culture as Covid-19 swept across the globe. As of today, the pandemic has taken over six million lives worldwide. Along with the large death toll, Covid has changed so much about the way we interact with others, the way we conduct business and the way we talk about our health. It has even begun to change the film and television we consume and how we consume it. So, what is the future of U.S. film and television in a post Covid-19 society? To answer this question, we can look towards another tragic turning point in U.S. history to analyze how Hollywood responded to shifting values and perceptions following great change. I chose to look at how the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States affected the film and television industry in the many years following the tragedy that killed almost 3,000 people. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, much of the United States public simply wanted to forget what had occurred on that day. It wasn’t until several years later, once the public was able to process the tragedy, that stories reminiscent of the attacks began to emerge and gain popularity. By analyzing films and TV shows from that era, we can compare the similarities between the changes that 9/11 brought to Hollywood and the changes in film and television that are already emerging two years since Covid-19 came to the United States. I predict that the changes to Hollywood caused by Covid-19 will be very similar to the effect 9/11 had on the industry and will change film and television as we currently know it