Strictly Business

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

Business
TV & Film
101
'Snowpiercer' Producers Forge TV Deals of Tomorrow
Tomorrow Studios leaders Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements discuss their efforts to blaze their own path through the global content landscape with backing from ITV Studios. The pair detail the circuitous journey that the new TNT/Netflix drama...
32 min
102
Lily Singh Balances Late-Night TV with YouTube ...
Fresh off a second season renewal for her NBC late-night show, Singh candidly discusses the growing pains of her first season in a new medium while somehow managing to keep her Internet presence going. It wasn't easy but she says she's slowly figuring...
30 min
103
Growth Curve: How Paramount Television Studios ...
Nicole Clemens, president of Paramount Television Studios, discusses the “triage” process of adjusting the division’s operations to the realities of the coronavirus lockdown. The industry veteran who was part of the team at FX Networks and spent...
26 min
104
Britbox CEO Soumya Sriraman Stands Her Ground A...
Britbox super-serves super fans of British TV series in the U.S., UK and Australia via a streaming service that has more than 1 million subscribers. CEO Soumya Sriraman shares her strategy for standing out in the cluttered streaming marketplace and...
35 min
105
Entertainment Bankers Debrief on Paycheck Prote...
Three top entertainment industry bankers go deep on the details of the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program loans. Martha Henderson, Stephanie Dalton and Lori Badgett of City National Bank describe two weeks of round-the-clock...
35 min
106
How ABC Reconfigured 'American Idol' Amid the P...
Rob Mills, ABC's head of alternative series, specials and late-night programming, explains why the network embraced "the show must go on" mantra to salvage "American Idol's" live performance episodes amid the coronavirus shutdown. Mills also discusses...
32 min
107
WarnerMedia, Spotify, NBCU Execs Discuss Corona...
The media business is starting to absorb "the new normal" of life amid the coronavirus crisis, as reflected by a panel discussion held Monday in the Variety screening room webinar featuring executives from WarnerMedia, Spotify, NBCUniversal and PwC,...
27 min
108
Dealmaker John Sloss Builds Cinetic into a 21st...
John Sloss has negotiated every kind of deal and navigated every aspect of the independent film business, from lining up financing to advising on marketing and awards campaigns. Today, he’s expanded the company’s purview to include television...
39 min
109
Can a Card Game Become the Next Big Media Brand?
Exploding Kittens is the biggest sensation in tabletop gaming these days, but that's not the only reason the Chernin Group invested $30 million in the venture, started by this week's guest, former Xbox designer Elan Lee. Learn from Lee about how the...
31 min
110
New Prism: How Gamechanger CEO Effie Brown Hope...
The veteran film producer doesn’t hold back in a conversation about race, money, movies and why said yes to leading an the ambitious Gamechanger investment venture. The company aims to make creatives from diverse backgrounds -- women, people of...
41 min
111
Birth of the Mentor: How Documentary Veteran St...
The director-producer behind the new “American Masters” documentary “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool” discusses his non-profit Firelight Media venture, which offers a Documentary Lab program to help promising filmmakers develop projects....
32 min
112
The 100th Episode 'Strictly Business' Retrospec...
As Variety's weekly podcast hits its 100th episode milestone, hosts Cynthia Littleton and Andrew Wallenstein revisit some of their most intriguing discussions with top industry executives, producers, technologists and entrepreneurs. Interview...
33 min
113
How One TV Startup Thrived in a Shrinking Syndi...
Debmar-Mercury principles Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein discuss the origins of the production-distribution company that is now part of Lionsgate. The pair detail why they remain bullish on the first run syndication business, so much so that they are...
33 min
114
How A+E Networks Bucked the Trend and Fell Back...
Rob Sharenow, president of programming for A+E Networks, discusses the exercise is “brand focus” that led to the revitalization of A&E Network and History amid the general downturn in viewership for ad-supported cable channels. The longtime...
37 min
115
The Secret to Keeping 'Kardashians' Kontinuing ...
How has America's most famous family stayed on E! for 18 seasons? Bunim/Murray CEO Gil Goldschein has the secret to producing the long-running series. He also shares his take on the latest trends in the unscripted TV category, a business changing...
29 min
116
Why New TV Formats Present Challenges for Award...
Adam Sharp, president-CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, discusses how the digital revolution in television presents challenges for industry awards shows. He details NATAS’ response to questions raised about the...
25 min
117
Pam Wasserstein Brings Her New York State of Mi...
Now that she's a few months into the integration of her magazine business with Vox Media, she shares what the process has been like and how the newly combined company is navigating the treacherous waters of the publishing business. With 13 brands...
28 min
118
Mark Cuban is Bullish on AI, 5G, TikTok and...M...
The "Shark Tank" star pulls no punches on a wide variety of subjects pertaining to the tech world, from the importance of artificial intelligence in today's business world to his misadventures in the film industry, where he believes theaters will...
29 min
119
Endemol Shine’s Cris Abrego on Embracing TV for...
Endemol Shine North America CEO Cris Abrego explains why the company decided to integrate activity on Spanish-language programs with the rest of the core Los Angeles-based development team. Abrego details the growth of the company’s Mexico...
33 min
120
CES 2020: A Very Special Episode of Strictly Bu...
Join Strictly Business hosts Cynthia Littleton and Andrew Wallenstein as they make the rounds at the Consumer Electronics Show. Listen for insights on the convergence of digital media and entertainment, streaming wars, AI and what's next...
33 min
121
Chuck Lorre: A New Chapter for the King of TV C...
Chuck Lorre, one of the most successful writer-producers in the history of television, developed new writing muscles and found a fresh source of joy as he branched out into streaming series with Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method” and CBS’...
29 min
122
Los Angeles' $10 Billion Gamble on SoFi Stadium...
Construction is underway in Los Angeles on Hollywood Park, a nearly 300 acre complex that will be the site of the city's NFL teams, SoFi Stadium. But this isn't just another development project. Jason Gannon, managing director of the Los Angeles...
28 min
123
Two Film Financiers and a TV Producer Walk Into...
Evan Shapiro, president of National Lampoon, discusses the effort to revive National Lampoon as a comedy content studio, starting with the Dec. 19 relaunch of "The National Lampoon Radio Hour" as a podcast. Shapiro details the plan to embrace National...
33 min
124
Inside HBOMax's Streaming Strategy with WarnerM...
WarnerMedia's CTO shares his perspective on what it takes to launch a massive streaming platform in a cluttered competitor environment. He discusses balancing the many brands under AT&T's umbrella as well as making space for human curation inside...
31 min
125
How One Talent Agency Is Surviving the Writers ...
Abrams Artists Agency chairman Adam Bold discusses why his company signed the WGA code of conduct that allowed his employees to resume representing writers, his broader observations on the standoff, and why he decided to get into the talent agency...
33 min