"The Hollywood Dilemma" Short Sleeve Tri-Blend Tee — XS–3XL
"The Hollywood Dilemma" Short Sleeve Tri-Blend Tee — XS–3XL
The Hollywood Dilemma:
The City is losing to other cities
Our State is losing to other states
Our Country is losing to other countries
Who do you blame when that's capitalism?
Read it as a staircase. Each line goes up one level, looking for where this gets fixed.
It isn't there.
What's actually happening
Production leaves.
It left the city first. Crews who'd worked the same lots for twenty years started flying to states that had built better incentive packages. The stages stayed; the work didn't.
Then it left the state, for other states doing the same arithmetic — because a jurisdiction that offers more gets the show, and the one that offers less gets the photographs of empty stages.
Then it left the country. Other countries got very good at this, and now a production that could shoot anywhere shoots wherever the package is best, which is a spreadsheet question rather than a creative one.
And at every level, the response is to compete harder — which means the thing being competed away is the margin that used to pay the people doing the work.
Nobody in this is the villain
That's the uncomfortable part.
A jurisdiction offering incentives isn't cheating. A studio taking them isn't villainous. A producer with a fixed budget who shoots where the money goes further is doing their job correctly, and would be doing it badly otherwise.
Everybody is behaving rationally. The outcome is still something nobody chose.
That's the dilemma, and it's why the last line is a question. When every individual decision is defensible and the collective result is a hollowed-out industry town, there's no one to be angry at — which is somehow worse than having someone.
The shirt doesn't tell you what to think
There's no policy position printed here. No argument for subsidies or against them, no case for reshoring, no side.
It states the situation and asks the question. What you do with it is your business — and the people who work in this industry hold every possible view about what should happen next, which is precisely why the shirt doesn't pick one.
Who this is genuinely for
People in the industry, who don't need any of this explained. Crew, below-the-line, grips, gaffers, camera, art department, costume, post. Anyone who's watched a show they'd have worked on get built somewhere else.
Writers, producers, and directors navigating the same arithmetic from the other side.
And anyone in a city that used to make something. Detroit, Pittsburgh, the mill towns, the port towns. This is a Hollywood-specific version of a story a great many places already know the ending of.
Economists, policy people, and anyone who finds coordination problems more interesting than villains.
The shirt
Tri-blend — 50% polyester, 25% combed ring-spun cotton, 25% rayon. The rayon is why it drapes rather than hangs, and why it has a faded, worn-in look on day one instead of year three.
3.4 oz/yd², which is genuinely light. Noticeably lighter than a standard cotton tee, and that's the appeal. It comes with one honest trade-off:
It's slightly sheer. A fabric this light lets some light through, particularly in brighter conditions. Most people who wear tri-blend either don't mind or specifically want the weight. But you should know before it arrives rather than after.
Pre-shrunk, 40 singles, regular fit, side-seamed so it holds shape through the body instead of twisting in the wash.
Black Triblend. XS–3XL. $29.99.
Specifications
- 50% polyester, 25% combed ring-spun cotton, 25% rayon
- Fabric weight: 3.4 oz/yd² (115.3 g/m²)
- Pre-shrunk
- 40 singles
- Regular fit
- Side-seamed construction
- Slightly sheer — see the note above
- Black Triblend
- Sizes XS–3XL
- Original design by the creator of DistributeThis
- Blank product sourced from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, or the US
As a gift
For someone in the industry, and it lands as recognition rather than as commentary from outside.
- For crew, at any level
- Wrap gifts and end-of-production gifts
- For a friend who's been flying out to work for years
- Film school graduation
- For anyone in policy, economics, or urban planning who'd enjoy the framing
- For someone from a town that used to make something
Not a gift-exchange item. It needs a recipient who knows the situation.
Sizing and exchanges
Regular fit, XS–3XL, pre-shrunk. Tri-blend runs closer to the body than a standard cotton tee.
If the size is wrong, we'll swap it — unworn and unwashed within 30 days, exchange it for a different size. You cover shipping back, we cover shipping the replacement out. Or email support@distributethis.com before ordering and we'll help you get it right.
Frequently asked questions
What does the shirt say? Five lines: "The Hollywood Dilemma: / The City is losing to other cities / Our State is losing to other states / Our Country is losing to other countries / Who do you blame when that's capitalism?"
What's the dilemma? That production goes where it costs least, and every level of response — city, state, country — is competing on the same terms and losing the same way. There's no level you can zoom out to where the problem resolves.
Is it anti-capitalist? No. It asks a question rather than making a case. The point is that when everyone involved is behaving rationally in their own interest and the collective outcome is still bad, blame has nowhere to land. That's an observation about how coordination problems work, not a position on what should replace anything.
Is it only about Hollywood? It's specific to Hollywood and it isn't only about Hollywood. Plenty of places have already lived this — the work goes where it's cheapest, the response is to compete harder, and the thing competed away is the margin that paid the people.
Is it see-through? Slightly, yes. Tri-blend at 3.4 oz/yd² is a light fabric and lets some light through in bright conditions. The lightness is why it drapes and feels broken-in immediately. If you want full opacity, a heavier cotton tee is the better choice.
What is tri-blend? Polyester, cotton, and rayon together. Polyester holds shape, cotton gives it a natural feel, rayon makes it drape and gives it a slightly faded look from the first wear.
How do I wash it? Cold wash inside out, tumble dry low or hang dry. Tri-blend holds up well to repeated washing — that's one of its advantages.