I believe that is only true as long as they have extra income. If their own personal revenues fall enough, they may be forced to consider actual product that appeals to an actual audience.
Imagine if robot or CGI actors become good enough that people will accept them. The popularity of anime points in that direction, already. What will the real human actors do then?
Actors do go broke and do become passe. If/when the bottom line become paramount, the directors and producers will do whatever it takes to regain the audience. Actually, that may be the impetus behind the reality shows.
Oh, they're not going to go broke themselves. They've got enough cash stashed that they don't ever have to worry about it. But they won't hesitate to drive their industry into the sewer. They already have.
Imagine if robot or CGI actors become good enough that people will accept them.
Speed the day! I give it another 10 years or so. Even the voices can be synthesized. Then Hollywood's monopoly is OVER. At least on the production side. Distribution is another matter, although the Internet will provide a populist medium for that.
What will the real human actors do then?
Go back to waiting tables and panhandling or giving head down at the bus station.
If/when the bottom line become paramount, the directors and producers will do whatever it takes to regain the audience.
Nope. They'll retire on the wealth they've accumulated in the meantime, leaving their "art" and their "craft" a shelled-out husk bereft of any integrity, value, or life.
Actually, that may be the impetus behind the reality shows.
No, those are insipid fabrications that cost little or nothing to produce and that pander to the trailer-park crowd. They're the last gasp of a dying -- and largely irrelevant -- medium.