At the Entertainment & Technology Summit hosted by City National Bank in West Hollywood on Thursday, entertainment executives and visionaries gathered to discuss the rise of technology and its impact on TV, movies, gaming, music, digital media and consumers . Make
Brand executives from Disney, Universal Television, Mattel, NBA, Twitch, Paramount, Taco Bell and more participated in panels on the various ways new technologies can be incorporated into their workplaces. Read below to find out what top people in the entertainment industry are saying about the evolution of entertainment and technology.
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Creativity remains paramount in a world full of streaming
During the "Titans of TV Programming" panel, TV executives discussed their growing influence in the broadcast world and move away from cable TV to advertising-based subscription-based streaming services. Dan McDermott, President of Entertainment and AMC Studios at AMC Networks, said the leader always values creativity with an audience committed to storytelling and intellectual property.
"What has remained unchanged is the value of long-term, high-quality creativity and storytelling," McDermott said. "It's a much more crowded landscape than ever before, but as a programmer you're definitely looking for those pieces of intellectual property that have an audience and a fan base."
Social media is an inevitable battleground for brands
At the Brand Storytelling Elite panel, representatives from consumer and entertainment brands outlined the best ways to engage audiences in what can often feel like a crowded and confusing media environment. Nicole Veltman, head of social media at Taco Bell, talked about competing with media designed to capture the consumer's attention.
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"When we think about what our content shows, we come across Vice and NBC content where they have a built-in audience," Veltman said. "When we think about the stories we want to tell, we rely on these fans to tell their stories and make their voices heard." He then entered into a true partnership with pop artist Doja Cat, which came about as he promoted the return of Mexican pizza.
Creating immersive experiences could be the future of audience engagement
The Future of Audience Engagement: Fostering Innovation and Creativity How Strong Connections an Audience Builds A Look at Today's Audiences and the Center Keisha, Vice President of Culture and Impact, Monkeypaw Productions, a production company founded by Jordan Peele. They spoke with Variety's Heidi Chung about how to immerse viewers in the world of experiences they create in different mediums like movies.
Their collaboration resulted in a metaverse centered around Peel's new film No, and Senter highlighted some of the key questions his team asks when working on new ideas and experiences: “We really think about how we elevate ourselves. Is our content promoted? Is it representative of our content? Is it gender mainstream? Are we looking for ways to be silly and fun? There are many ways to think about it with the directors and also with the partners we work with.
Web3 has great potential for the entertainment industry.
At the Web3 Insights for Entertainment panel, industry leaders discussed at length how new Web3 innovations can lead to better and more efficient changes in the entertainment industry. Melody Hildebrandt, chief information officer and president of Fox Corp. and Blockchain Creative Labs shared two key areas where Web3's potential can be unlocked for the benefit of consumers.
“I really believe that this is a technological innovation that will create completely new models for media in two main areas: one is on the content side, how is content created and sold? The other side is distribution, and we think there's an opportunity to bring content directly to fans in a much cleaner way,” Hildebrandt said of Web3's potential impact on the industry.
Stagecraft can revolutionize the possibilities for future virtual productions
Linwen Brennan, CEO and EVP of Lucasfilm, and Janet Levin, VP of Visual Effects at Lucasfilm and CEO of ILM, discuss how using Stagecraft as an "end-to-end virtual production tool" has transformed scenic production at Lucasfilm . Having worked on already popular titles such as The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba Fett's Book and the upcoming Andor series, executives shared positive predictions based on Stagecraft's benefits.
"What made Stagecraft possible was the incredible collaboration with all the department heads and cinematographers before we started shooting," explained Brennan. “We could then put all of that into the footage from the camera, which meant we could save money on our visual effects budget and save time on our post-production schedule and achieve that result. incredible quality."
After imagining what the future might look like, Brennan replied, "I think it's really up to us filmmakers, and that's what makes it so exciting."
“Now we have a proven production methodology, but we like to be inspired by new ideas that come out. To also take advantage of developments in the field, both with available tools like Unreal and future advances in LED technology,” he continued. "It is difficult to predict where the future will go. a barrier for some industries to use the toolkit because it is expensive. But investments, if you can generate income, can be very effective.
The international market is no different from the domestic market of the broadcasting industry.
Jeff Schultz, director of strategy and director of business development at Paramount, explained on Thursday's "Best Broadcast Business Strategies" panel why the international broadcast market is nothing to fear compared to the domestic business.
"The word 'international' has lost its meaning," Schultz said. "International means nothing because every market is different if you take the market as it is; this means content rights, rights to our content, consumer taste, consumer willingness to pay, free and paid consumer appetite, CPM and related advertising. maturing the market to sell it
“All these things overlap each market to have its own formula and to complicate the problem to be solved. But that becomes an advantage for a company with global resources,” Schultz told PEOPLE magazine.
Authenticity is key to tapping into the Gen Z market
Snapchat's US head of entertainment, Alexa Levin, revealed the secret behind Gen Z's entry into the market during Thursday's Gen Z Audience panel. Reaching people between the ages of 10 and 25 is key to connecting with this particular group to provide genuine appeal.
“Being authentic is key to Gen Z,” Levine said. “When I was growing up, we had AIM. Then, after AIM, you have phone calls and text messages. This generation communicates through visual means. They re-photograph reality. Augmented reality has become a staple. all these companies are diving into AR and VR because Gen Z is used to it. It's very natural for them."
The TV drinking approach is not always the best model for content reproduction.
During the Unlock Z Gen Z Audience panel, HBO Max's JP Mallo, Marketing Services, discussed why the TV-free model popularized by Netflix may not be the right vehicle for releases as companies look to stay with Gen Z as they
"You can't always go in and assume that the survival of an episode is going to continue," Mallo explained. "You go to bingo and you can't guarantee that everybody's going to be in the same part of the series, and you can't guarantee the same conversation for two months, three months, between the time you're eliminated from the next series. ."
That's why, he says, HBO Max has taken a "cost-effective" approach, which involves an intensive collaborative effort with the planning and programming team to determine how each show is scheduled and where it is located. The model they've come up with looks to be a more staggered release schedule, with marketing activations between episodes to "keep the conversation going."
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