Strictly Business

After a rough week in which the manager said adieu to his biggest clients including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, Strictly Business host Andrew Wallenstein brings his Mogul Memo column to the podcast and offers some counterintuitive counsel. Plus: An interview with Paramount CTO Phil Wiser at the Collision Tech Conference. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Long before “Barbie” exploded at the box office this summer, it was clear on TikTok that the movie was going to be a big deal. Whether through studio marketing or organic fan activity, entertainment properties new and old take on a life on their own on the Bytedance-owned platform. Reia Davidson, US Head of Media and Entertainment, and Catherine Halaby, Head of Entertainment for North America disc...

Twitch has been the leading livestreaming platform for nearly a decade. While its command of community is tough to beat, continuing to hold such a leading position requires a lot of balance between fan and creator engagement, brand partnership and especially safety. Twitch's chief marketing officer Rachel Delphin is immersed in all three and discusses how to maintain that balance in the face of ne...

One's a current Boston Celtic, the other a former Carolina Panther. Together, they are partners in Mortal Media, a production company with a first-look deal at Sony Pictures with a packed portfolio of film and TV projects ranging from the "White Men Can't Jump" reboot at Hulu to the Apple TV+ series "Hello Tomorrow," and they're just getting started. Hear about how they've made the transition even...

The president of Imagine Entertainment details the company's recent growth with documentary and nonfiction content, kids and family, branded creative advertising and marketing. He also offers insights into how the market for streaming content is slowly changing in ways that benefit large-scale independent producers such as Imagine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the second of a two-part interview that began on last week's episode, Soul Machine's CEO Greg Cross casts his eye toward the future of how his business marrying state-of-the-art animation with artificial intelligence will be utilized in the world of Hollywood celebrity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine being able to interact with a CGI simulation of your favorite celebrity powered by artificial intelligence. That day is already here thanks to Soul Machines, a company led by tech vet Greg Cross, who has lined up an eclectic group of famous folks from golf legend Jack Nicklaus to K-pop sensation Mark Tuan to lead the way. This is the first of a two-part hour-long conversation that continue...

With the leading media moguls hunkered down in Sun Valley this week for the annual Allen & Co. conference just a week ahead of the start of the Q2 earnings season, there's no better time for a frank discussion of how these companies' stocks are faring. Strictly Business hosts Cynthia Littleton and Andrew Wallenstein are joined by Variety Intelligence Platform analyst Heidi Chung for a chat abo...

How do people actually make a living in social media? Hear from seven entrepreneurs in the trenches of the influencer and creator economy as they hawk their wares at the Vidcon conference in Anaheim, Calif. The responses from leaders of independent firms involved in distribution, technology and visual effects, e-commerce, marketing and promotion speak volumes about how this emerging marketplace is...

In 2006, the Bloomberg mayoral administration in New York decided to fund a job training program, Made in NY, offering low-income residents the chance to work as production assistants in film and TV. More than 15 years later, former New York City film commissioner Katherine Oliver and alumni from the program gather to measure Made in NY’s powerful long-term impact on their lives and the city at la...

Casey Bloys, the content leader of HBO and Max, engages in a wide-ranging discussion about HBO’s recent streak of pop culture hits, from “Succession” to “The Last of Us” to “The White Lotus” and more. Bloys also offers his view of the limits of AI and its use in entertainment, and he explains how HBO and Max can live together and separately under one streaming roof. Recorded June 7 at Variety’s TV...

The veteran film and TV producer behind the Searchlight/Hulu release details the purpose that has driven his unconventional career in Hollywood. Franklin discusses why Hollywood has shied away from faith-infused properties in recent years and how he hopes to change that with mainstream movies and TV shows rooted in moving and meaningful themes. “The only thing that matters is a great story, period...

The end of the great streaming content boom has brought with it a responsibility by the entertainment industry to address the compensation issues presented by the digitial transition to the creative community, as reflected by the writers strike. So says Paul Lee, CEO of Wiip, the production banner behind “Mare of Easttown,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “The White House Plumbers,” “Dickinson" and...

Variety’s team of television reporters offer a debrief on the 2023 programming presentations in New York. It was an upfronts week like no other with Writers Guild of America pickets outside of all the major events. Behind the velvet rope, there were plenty of signals of the industry’s difficult transition from linear to streaming. Variety’s Jennifer Maas, Joe Otterson, Todd Spangler and Brian Stei...

Lila Snyder, CEO of Bose Corporation, oversees all aspects of the company’s consumer electronics, automotive and related businesses and leads a global staff of 6,000. Her guiding principle: that “sound is not an accessory. It is everything we do; it's in the center.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At a time when many showbiz scribes couldn't be more disillusioned with the traditional studio system, along comes Toonstar with a blockchain-powered business model for entertainment that lets creators bypass the usual modes of content distribution. Toonstar co-founders John Attanasio and Luisa Huang discuss their Web3 story studio on the eve of its latest series premiere, "Space Junk." See omnyst...

Perkins Miller, the CEO of entertainment company Fandom and subsidiaries Fandom.com , Metacritic, GameSpot, Giant Bomb and TV Guide, advises on where Hollywood should be putting its limited cash in this uncertain economy.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thanks in large part to top seller Bad Bunny, Latin music saw explosive growth in 2022, exceeding $1 billion in U.S. revenues for the first time, and up nearly 25% from 2021. Amazon Music is on a similar path as it relates to Latin music and its many subgenres. Leading the charge: Rocío Guerrero, a veteran of Spotify and Warner Music Group whose role as Amazon’s Global Head of Latin Music runs acr...

The co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity giant shares his observations on the changing nature of Hollywood and how that moniker became synonymous with the global entertainment business. In discussing the motivation behind his new PBS series “Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories,” which premieres April 26, Rubenstein describes the world of studio smoke and mirrors “a uniquely America...

Daniel Rausch, VP of entertainment devices and services at Amazon, provides an update on expansion plans for the Fire TV business, which aims to be a hub for the smart-home experience, as well as a status check on the company's cloud-gaming offering, Luna.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Magnolia Network series "Restored" has returned for a seventh season with host Brett Waterman, who isn't doing just another cable-TV house-flipping show; this series is a serious look at the historic preservation of houses from a wide range of architectural styles. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Netflix sequel featuring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston represents the highest-profile gig yet for this veteran helmer. But it's more like an extracurricular activity outside of the Syracuse school building he bought to shoot a teen-film franchise for Hulu.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SXSW 2023 participants and Austin locals talk about the annual gathering that brings together the worlds of film, TV, music, digital media, marketing and more to the Lone Star state’s capital city. “It’s like you meet one year's worth of people in this short, compressed timeline. And everyone's open-minded,” says RJ, who is chief executive of streaming media tech startup Zync.  See omnystudio.com/...

Evan Bogart is a first-class multitasker who's written hit songs for Beyonce and Rihanna, owns a publishing company that recently acquired the Christopher Cross catalog, is the chair of the Grammy Songwriters Wing and was executive music producer for "Spinning Gold," the biopic of his father Neil, who founded Casablanca Records, the label that brought the world Kiss, Donna Summer, Parliament-Funka...

TV distribution executive Scott Koondel details the launch of his Sox Entertainment banner and why it is well-positioned to take advantage of massive disruption across the media landscape. He offers insights on the evolution of the streaming marketplace, having orchestrated important early Netflix and Hulu licensing pacts for the CBS and the CW. And he explains how a phone call from Judith Sheindl...