Strictly Business

Industry leaders converse about business deals, strategy and the future of media and entertainment.

Business
TV & Film
76
Sinclair's STIRR Bets That All TV Viewing is Local
Sinclair Broadcast Group has taken the streaming wars to local markets. The TV station giant is expanding its ad-supported STIRR platform designed to help its nearly 200 stations better monetize digital viewing of newscasts and syndicated programming....
29 min
77
Universal Pictures Marketing Chiefs Look Back o...
Michael Moses and Dwight Caines reflect on how they rewrote the theatrical promotional playbook over the course of the global pandemic as the , strike to shorten the theatrical window, and introduce a .
29 min
78
Investor Mellody Hobson: 'If It Matters, It's C...
Mellody Hobson, co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments, explains why she’s bullish on the media sector at a time of great transition for traditional TV and film giants. The respected investor and former DreamWorks Animation board chair asserts...
28 min
79
How Women With Agency Run Reese Witherspoon’s H...
Lauren Neustadter, head of film and TV for Hello Sunshine, discusses the growth of Reese Witherspoon’s content production banner. One of the company’s first employees, Neustadter explains the guiding principles for projects tackled by the company...
27 min
80
Larry Wilmore Navigates His New Show Through th...
The veteran comedy writer/producer/performer is back with another talk show on the Peacock streaming network, where he's up to the challenge of finding the humor amid bleak political headlines. Wilmore also traces his evolution through a 30-year TV...
30 min
81
Ted Sarandos on Netflix’s Five Years of Global ...
Netflix’s co-CEO and chief content officer discusses the global scope of the streaming giant’s business during a wide-ranging Q&A. Sarandos details how the company decides when to invest big in local language production, and the metrics that...
39 min
82
How Carlos Watson Built a Media Brand to Discov...
Carlos Watson, co-founder and CEO of Ozy Media, started his company in 2013 as a digital magazine venture that was dubbed by one reader “the love child of Vice and the Economist.” Watson’s ambition for Ozy Media has grown to include TV series,...
24 min
83
How Wattpad’s Aron Levitz Mines User-Generated ...
Wattpad Studios head Aron Levitz and his team comb through the nearly 1 billion stories that members of Wattpad’s 80 million-plus monthly users have shared on the app. His goal: to find the unique narratives that resonate with fans, and then turn...
53 min
84
How Dare I Not Succeed? How ‘Love and Hip Hop’ ...
Mona Scott-Young, CEO of Monami Entertainment and the steward of VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop” franchise, discusses the growth of the company she launched in 2008. Scott-Young details the preparation and the lucky breaks that allowed her to seize the...
32 min
85
Reliving 'Green Book' History Through a New Pod...
Recently recreated in an Oscar-winning film, the travel route African-Americans used in the segregated south is being revisited not only as a new podcast, but as an audio guide thanks to a new integration between Apple Podcasts and Apple Maps....
27 min
86
VENN Founders Eye TV’s Big Game With Streaming ...
Ariel Horn and Ben Kusin, co-founders and co-CEOs of VENN, discuss how the “white space” in TV for content aimed at videogame enthusiasts drove them to launch the Videogame Entertainment & News Network streaming platform. The digital...
34 min
87
Disney TV’s Craig Hunegs on Steering 3 Studios ...
Craig Hunegs, president of Disney Television Studios, details how the Disney-21st Century Fox mergers create a TV production behemoth and why studio chiefs decided it was important to maintain three distinct imprints: 20th Television, ABC Signature...
38 min
88
Clive Davis on Producing a Biopic That Captures...
The music biz legend discusses how he teamed with “Bohemian Rhapsody” screenwriter Anthony McCarten to develop a biopic of Whitney Houston, the singer whose career Davis shepherded to great heights before her tragic death in 2012. Davis details...
32 min
89
Understanding Snapchat's Role in Political Cove...
With the political conventions set for next week, the presidential campaign is ready to take yet another unpredictable turn. 'Good Luck America' host Peter Hamby gives his POV on what to expect next on the road to the election and his own role...
31 min
90
How New York Plans to Restart TV and Film Produ...
Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, discusses how New York City plans to gradually get TV and film production back in action amid the pandemic. “It’s been very hard to see these industries that are...
27 min
91
Hollywood's Big Challenge: Resuming Production ...
The dealmaking required to get studios, networks and guilds on the same page has gotten more complex than ever amid COVID-19, but that's what it will take to ensure the creation of more TV shows and movies. Ken Basin, head of business affairs at...
32 min
92
CW Chief Mark Pedowitz on TV’s Year of Disruption
CW chairman-CEO Mark Pedowitz discusses how the network has revamped its fall launch plans amid the upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The executive who moved CW into the ad-supported streaming area nearly a decade ago also weighs in on the...
31 min
93
How Big Brands Blow It: Multicultural Marketing...
Lori Hall and Jessica Lane Alexander, co-founders of the newly launched multicultural marketing firm Pop’N Creative, discuss their Atlanta-based startup. The entertainment veterans who worked together at Turner Broadcasting and at TV One talk about...
41 min
94
LA's Laemmle Theatres Shares Its Struggle to Su...
CEO Greg Laemmle describes what it has been like to keep his chain of seven arthouse theaters afloat as they remain dark for a fourth month amid a COVID-induced shutdown. Having already laid off nearly 200 employees, he has begun to explore selling...
29 min
95
Richard and Demi Weitz
When the coronavirus lockdwon began in march, WME partner Richard Weitz was like any father looking to find a way to celebrate his daughter Demi’s 17th birthday amid the pandemic. From that humble start, the two have built the Quarantunes franchise...
36 min
96
The 'Watch Party' Trend Sweeping the Video Worl...
One key trend to emerge during the pandemic era is "watch parties," enabling socially distanced users to share a viewing experience. To explore this phenomenon, we spoke with Joe Braidwood, COO of Scener, which has differentiated itself from the many...
28 min
97
An Investor’s Guide to Navigating the Content B...
James Moore, managing partner and CEO of Vine Alternative Investments, discusses the asset management firm’s approach to building a diversified portfolio of content, production and IP holdings. The parent company of Village Roadshow has been slowly...
29 min
98
A Blueprint for How to Restart TV and Film Prod...
Blair Breard, a longtime New York City-based producer, details the steps that a coalition of producers are taking to prepare for the resumption of production in New York. Breard, known for her work on auteur-driven comedy series including “Louie,”...
31 min
99
Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch Doesn't Need to Finish Fi...
With the streaming wars in full swing, Starz finds itself in a crowded market alongside bigger ventures from HBO Max to Netflix. But as Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch explains, his company is content to be a second or third option behind other larger players...
26 min
100
How WarnerMedia Built HBO Max
Bob Greenblatt, chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct to Consumer, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creative and technical development of the HBO Max streaming service, which debuts May 27. He details the reasoning and rationale behind...
27 min