issue 131
Hello! I don’t mean for this newsletter to be a place for “you know what really grinds my gears” - it just happens that way sometimes. Sorry. You all are my collective therapist, so thank you.
So a thing that bothers me in the industry is the IP excuse. Intellectual property, source material. Just because a podcast or comic exists, does not mean the film or tv adaptation will be a hit. It’s not instantly franchise-able. This is a dated system of thinking that has likely carried over from the 90s and earlier, into today. It’s ingrained in us. Upcoming books are sought out as huge potential treasures, but people barely read anymore. Leisure reading time is at an all-time low. Gone are the days when everyone seemed to carry around a pulpy Crichton or Grisham novel. I think of IP as content that entails a built-in audience that can be mobilized, but hey, that’s usually baked into a creator’s reputation (and now follower count). What proof points are even considered nowadays for IP? I know of popular YT channels that could make for fantastic shows, but they’re overlooked. Games are an easy one to call out here as well. Hell, I’d make a small indie film as IP for a game studio to then spin up an interactive open world - I’m not even joking here. I’m actually planning on doing this for one of my projects. And if the film fails, am I out of luck? Or will it get made anyway because there’s IP to point to? Whatever, next week I plan on saying a few words about ageism in the industry. The old gray hairs always win.
I’ve gone down some wildly fun rabbit holes the past few days, some extremely unproductive (uhm, A&E reality shows like Live PD and Behind Bars), others not. I got carried away learning about hardware driving software advancement thru gaming in a Jonathan Blow talk - the creator games Braid and The Witness [watch the last 15mins if game development (engines) is of interest], the fall of the Roman empire (which ties back into that JB video), and geometric unity theory. It would behoove me not to talk about where I sourced these ideas. Riva’s compute talk from a tweet where she points to half these things, a Joe Rogan tweet, and a video call with Paul (hi!). This is why I like Twitter. Yes, last week I said I loathed it. It’s home to curated discovery and befuddled procrastination.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you next week.
Tech
Niantic acq 6D.ai, spatial mapping tech. TC
Apple to reduce 30% fee on some video services, like Amazon. Reut
Snapchat allows devs to integrate Stories into their own apps. Axios
Apple to buy NextVR, sports XR, for $100m. 9to5mac
Apple acq Voysis, digital voice assistant co. Bberg
Google Glass helps autistic kids see emotion. IEEE
Tetavi, volumetric video tech, raised $4m. CT
Bad Robot Games makes Spyjinx with Epic Games. Verge
Apple patents light field screen for 6dof experiences. PA
DeepMind learned how to play every Atari game. CNET
Roto VR, haptic chairs and VR headsets, raised $1.85m. TC
Cogent Labs, NLP for education and enterprise, raised $13m. TIA
Atmosphere, streaming tv platform for business, raised $5m (spinoff from Chive). Yahoo
Google sharing location data with health officials. WSJ
Ably, data streaming platform, raised $7m. Fins
Anchor reveals new audience insights for pods. Med
Lightheart Ent, game studio, raised $1.4m. VB
Concertio, optimizes app performance in real time, raised $4.2m. VB
Google reveals 3D animals to be used in AR. 9to5goog
Anagog, AI that monitors consumers real world behaviors and contexts, raised $10m. Fins
Microsoft and Washington state agree on facial recog legislation. Msft
Phoenix, real time video streaming tech, raised $7.6m. ITP
Lingumi, interactive social learning preschool prep tech, raised $5m. TC
Strivr, enterprise VR training, raised $30m. TC
Orion Labs, automates real time voice comms, raised $29m. VB
Olive, autonomous robots for manual work, raised $50m. FHC
Houseparty (Riot) investigating paid campaign smear, offers $1m bounty. HPtwtr
Yur launches virtual smart watch (nice Dilan!). VRS
Apple acq Dark Sky, weather app, to shut down. Verge
Google ML blog on improving audio quality. Goog
Orum HQ, automated call centers, raised $4m. Orum
WeWork sells Meetup to AlleyCorp and others. TC
FB launches Messenger Kids. MIT
Xenobots are real, virtual creatures (wut). NYT
HQ Trivia is back with new owners. Verge
Media
Amazon is making video games thru banner Relentless Studios. NYT
HBO to stream over 500 hours of free programming. Var
PVOD dominated FandangoNow list. IW
YouTube plans Shorts to take on TikTok. Info
Details of the Quibi and T Mobile deal. Var
Twitch had over 3b hours streamed last quarter. GIB
Voodoo, game developer, seeking to sell for $1.6b. BQ
Penske Media launches sports platform, Sportico. Dead
T-Mobile and Sprint close $26b merger. TC
Tencent became largest shareholder of Huya, game streaming. Cision
Companies helping “ticket” livestreams. Bboard
Bruin Capital stops process of selling Deltrate, OTT streamingg. Bberg
Bustle Digital lays off 24 people, no more Outline mag. TC
Clear Channel sells 51% stake in Clear Media for $253m. Cision
Soundcloud unveils $15m fund for musicians. Bboard
Video games sales soar in pandemic. CNBC
ViacomCBS completes 49% acq of Miramax. BW
Kids spending about 50% more time in front of screen. Axios
Spotify and Warner renew music partnership. DMN
Former CBS chief Joe Ianiello receives $125m payout (ridic). Var
SpaceX and NASA banning use of Zoom over privacy concerns. Reut
Amazon and Walmart suspend affiliate marketing deals w/ digital media pubs. Info
Complex Networks launches Catalyst, programmatic ad service. Cata
NASA spinoff publication showcases how their innovations impact earth. NASA
Elara (Safdie’s prod co) launches radio hour. EFM
Sony plans $100m relief fund. Var
Fox Corp selling $1.2b in debt notes. Dead
Sirius XM free until May 15. Engadget
Fox and Comcast reach long term carriage deal. Dead
Vivendi closes on sale of 10% of UMG to Tencent. Reut
NFL adds games to Nickelodeon and Peacock. Dead
WPP suspends dividend, uncertain outlook. Bberg
Accenture acq Yesler, b2b marketing services firm. BW
FCC to require carriers to authenticate calls to reduce robots (by next summer). Engadget
iDreamSky and CVC to lower Leyou Gaming bid. Bberg
Podcast data thru the end of March. Podtrac
Cannes Lions postponed. Var
Top Comcast execs donate salaries to pandemic. Var
Video game sales boom during the rona. GIB
Dave & Busters seeking investment. Reut
TV anchors working from home. WSJ
BAFTA game award winners. GIB
Entertainment
Quibi launched. Bberg
Michael Bay sets film/tv deal at Sony. Dead
Terms in DGA’s plan (svod residuals). THR
Skydance acq Ilion Studios, animation outfit. Dead
Jason Kilar new WarnerMedia CEO, sets strategy. Dead
One World Togethers is a massive telecast. Var
Amazon Prime to stream select SXSW films, virtual market. IW
Sony pushes back its whole summer slate. IW
Netflix terminates all licensing w/ Kew Media. Dead
Paradigm hit with $2m breach of contract suit. Dead
Quibi picks up Hardflip, skate show from Chainsmokers and Nyjah. Dead
Picturestart options upcoming Chosen Ones book, from Divergent author. THR
Will Smith launches stay at home Snapchat series. THR
Edgar Wright attached to sci-fi movie at Focus, Set My Heart to Five. THR
CAA advising Zurich and San Sebastian fests to launch markets. Dead
Will Smith to host standup comedy series for Quibi called This Joka. Dead
Propagate developing remote workplace show like Office, inspired by virus. Dead
IFC takes US rights to Tesla. Var
Film Academy donates $6m to workers impacted. Var
Spielberg launches AFI movie club. Dead
Deadpool is now in Fortnite. Ftwtr
JK Rowling launches Harry Potter digital hub. Var
Endeavor launches covid podcast. Dead
Collaborative
Hire Artists is a new marketplace for all creatives (nice, fam). HA
The legend John Sloss of Cinetic talks the indie film biz. Var
Poll finds that consumers intrigued by HBO Max over Quibi, Peacock (lots of data). THR
Behind the scenes on the Fox / iHeart Living Room Concert. Var
Oprah, Leo, Laurene Jobs, Apple commit to America food fund. Dead
Scientists develop ai that can monitor brain activity into text (woah). Guard
Chinese and MIT researchers sharing info to progress virus research. DKOS
Interview w/ the showrunner Noah Hawley. THR
Google’s community mobility report. Goog
Group M report on digital marketing trends. PDF
The ad industry in decline. Barrons
Evolution of the American census. Pudding
Eric Weinstein on his geometric unity theory (long vid). YT
Scientists becoming more famous due to pandemic. NYT
White paper on background matting and removal for videos (automated green screen). PDF
How wearables will prevail with 5G. Fortune
NYC Media Lab demo day pitches. YT
Rihanna profile. Vogue
How Hollywood is working from home. Prot
Oscar Health built Gov’s coronavirus site (hmm). Atlantic
Naval on investing in technical teams, first key hires. Spear
James Patterson sets fund for indie authors and bookstores. AP
Abe Stein on the sports x tech convergence. Med
AI that turns your face into a classical painting. AIG
Daily Show drags political misinformers thru the mud. DStwtr
VCs and more lobbying congress to support startups in stimulus. Prot
Students are re-building their schools in Minecraft (wait, what). Verge
David Ulevitch on planning and managing layoffs. a16z
Kids made a newspaper together in isolation. SFC
Erika Nardini starts pod about Barstool and life. Apple
Gillian Jacobs and Hannah Marks. Interview
Samir Kaji advice for emerging fund managers. Med
How corona impacted tv pilot filming. LAT
When TV logos were physical objects (cool). Col
Bright Memory is a 30min FPS game made by one person PCMag
Leaked Amzn memo on smear campaign of factory worker. Vice
Profile on Lynx Vilden, who lives a stone age life. Outside
Selah and Spades trailer (a fun script). YT
Come Up Collective is a private exchange for creatives. CUC
How a Youtuber made TikTok a much bigger thing. Info
Reggie James on building hot guys of tech. HCR
Getty asks ppl to recreate art. SAU
2020 ai trends report. CBI
Luma Q1 market report. LP