Reese Witherspoon wonders if streaming platforms are making it harder to become a star

Reese Witherspoon participated in an industry conversation at a PaleyFest event for “The Morning Show” on Friday,  expressing her concerns that streaming platforms could make it harder for up-and-comers to build the type of careers that she and co-star Jennifer Aniston have.

Speaking to moderator Kara Swisher, a contributing editor at New York Magazine, Witherspoon said that initially, streaming seemed like a good thing as it made it easier to get projects up and out, but she views it as a roadblock now, creating a new difficulty when it comes to standing out as an actor.

“Are careers like ours possible ever again? Are there opportunities for people to really emerge as a star? How do you know with no data transparency? How do we even know if something did well or didn’t do right?” she said. “And it’s tough as an actor — how do you negotiate? How does a producer? How do you market? If you don’t know where you sit in a landscape, how do you value something?”

Aniston, who was also on-hand for the discussion, weighed-in with her own thoughts on the matter, saying, “We did start in this industry in a time when it was so glamorous and so fun, and [you would] just to go on auditions and auditions and just hope that you get it. And if you get that Movie of the Week and then hope you get that little guest star on ‘Quantum Leap.’ When it was so simple, and now it is becoming so… it’s too much sometimes.”