issue 162
Hello! Well, feeling a bit lighter these days. The last few weeks have been manic. Beyond the usual, I was in an absurdist state grappling with just how much of everything is pure make believe, which then ingratiates itself into our culture… becoming dogma. How we as people latch onto antique ideals and adhere to them as societal precedents. Down with the imperial guard. Fake it till you make it is truly self-fulfilling as long as luck favors you and the public agrees. Sea-changes are inevitable.
This gets me going about the industry - the state of affairs. Morose. Furloughs abound, cases escalate, productions pause, theaters shrivel… impending doom. Or not.
Deny the rapture.
The industry is contracting, it’s trying to re-fashion itself. And in this, there’s opportunity. And that feeling needs to be captured. It’s hopeful. We don’t have to be married to the ideals of yesterday. Necessity is the mother of invention. We are seeing the rise of streaming theatre, adoption of premium video-on-demand, and new windowing strategies. This is a time for fun experiments. To create. Onward.
So with all this newfound positive energy, I took the weekend off to celebrate. A real break was needed anyway. We went to Hobbiton. It was magical. (Fun fact: visiting Weta Workshop at the beginning of 2019 made me fall back in love with the industry.) We went rafting in underground caves 100 meters under the earth and saw thousands of glow worms. It looked like stars in the night sky. And I went surfing - that always helps the mood. And when I got home last night, I made some lists.
Lists. That’s all life boils down to. To dos. Mine? Potential cast, investors, local crew, a growing reading queue, groceries, etc. And hell, even this newsletter… it’s literally one giant list. But now I have the ‘privilege’ of working down submission lists rather than compiling them and handing them off to someone else to execute - that’s pretty much all that differentiates an exec from an asst in the entertainment industry. No joke.
If you’re trying to break in or ladder up in the industry, the best thing you could do is build and publish dozens of “living” lists composed of writers, directors, actors, showrunners, and department heads. Parse it out by age, gender, race, nationality, and other demographic characteristics. Oh, and maybe their preferred working genre or representation. Smart tags. A database. Simple enough.
You’d be surprised at just how many times I see “anyone have a list of (insert race or nationality) writers, preferably (insert gender)” on tracking boards. Typecasting, with merit playing second fiddle. Filtered. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, just something I’ve observed. And I do it too if I’m being honest, though I keep it to myself. Wannabe VCs could do the same with early-stage companies and domain-focused funds. The hard part is getting noticed. Separate yourself with your taste. Your personal touch beyond just being “the list-maker.” If you’re able to identify, highlight, and pitch the next generation, you will breakout from the rest - just like them. Voice, discovery.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. A proud victory. See you next week.
Tech
TV Vision, analyzes viewer attention on smart TVs, raised $16m. TC
Lockwood Publishing, makers of 3D virtual world Avakin Life, raised $25m Tencent. VB
Blinkist, short form non fiction book summaries, to do the same with pods. Blink
Riverside fm, podcast publisher with videos, raised $2.5m. CCT
Lego Ventures spins out Light Brick Studios for digital learning games. VB
Stensul, newsletter marketing, raised $16m. TC
TikTok to raise $2b prior to IPO. TC
Rezzil, popular soccer training simulator, now avail on vr for free. VRF
AI Dungeon begins charging for its game, GPT-3 ain’t cheap. AID
Zego, Chinese messaging / real-time comms software, raised $50m Tencent. Bberg
Snapchat lets creators show off follower counts (ew). Verge
inRiver, enables retailers to tap into xr commerce, raised $32m. BIC
Parler, right-leaning social network, at top of app charts after election. Axios
Brain chip implants for immobilized patients. WSJ
Virgin Hyperloop tests rides with employees. NYT
Mirror, in beta, is a new blockchain-enabled writing platform. Mirror
NGA offers cash prizes for tech that can identify cities based on sound. NextGov
Startups can now crowdsource $5m in equity. WSJ
Walmart scraps plans to have robots scan shelves. WSJ
Media
Comcast, Walmart in talks to make smart TVs. WSJ
Apple, Sony kicking tires on Wondery. Bberg
TakeTwo looking to buy Codemasters, game co, for $1b. Bberg
Spotify hints at subscription podcast service. Verge
Framestore acq Company 3 and Method, all big in vfx/post world. THR
AT&T looking to sell stake in DirecTV. CNBC
iHeart teams w/ Gladwell’s Puskin to make more pods. Verge
Uzabase sold back Quartz to its founder. Reut
Saudi Arabia media group eyeing major sporting events. FT
Hipgnosis Fund acq 33k songs from Kobalt for $323m. Var
Vimeo raises $150m, IAC might spin out (bullish). TC
Medium’s new Creator Hub resource. Med
Lionsgate last quarter. Dead
Disney (ESPN, Searchlight, marketing) and Lionsgate laying off staff. Dead
Griffin Gaming raised $230m for new gaming fund (Lionsgate, Liontree). VB
Sinclair writes down value of Fox RSNs by $4b. Bberg
Discovery’s last quarter, plans a streaming service (how orig). Var
Spotify to offer system for labels to boost songs, influence the algo. Verge
TikTok signs deal with Sony Music to expand song offerings. Reut
Ivi, a Russian streaming service, to go public. Reut
How big tech dealt with the election. NYT
NASA wants interactive and XR storytelling app for its next mission (!). TC
Canada introduces legislation to try to get streamer to tell more Canadian stories. THR
Entertainment
Netflix to test linear offering in France. Var
Luca G to write/direct Brideshead Revisited for BBC. Dead
Jeff Nichols to write/direct Quiet Place spinoff, third film in the new franchise. Var
Chris Pratt, Wu Jing to star in Universal’s Saigon Bodyguard, Agbo producing. Dead
Amzn greenlights 6-part series The Rig, supernatural thriller. Dead
Saban takes NA/UK rights to Happily. Dead
Disney pushing 2020 releases. IW
Don Cheadle, HBO Max team on dark comedy Max. Dead
Vice launches Source Material, show with UGC content. Wrap
ViacomCBS continues to license content, not all behind Paramount+. Dead
Depp kicked from Fantastic Beasts. IW
How covid rocked Hollywood’s $125b licensing and consumer product cash cow. Var
Collaborative
Can lab grown brains become conscious. Nature
Big tech recruiting from Hollywood, especially vfx artists. WSJ
Doug Shapiro, linear TV is on its tipping point. Med
Obama’s statement congratulating Biden/Harris. Med
Sports leagues seem to be betting on AR. CNBC
Manolha piece on woman action star vehicles. NYT
How music superstars are tipping the industry’s balance of power back to them. WSJ
Findings is a series of AR murals in Brooklyn celebrating STEM pioneers. Fastco
How Basquiat and his peers brought graffiti into the mainstream. SmithS
Voting for Goodreads book awards. GR
Alex Trebek passed away (thanks for bringing my family together each night!). IW
The Charlotte Kirk saga, bribing Ron Meyer. VF
Profile on Maddie Stone, who runs Google’s bug-hunting division. Wired
NASA objects new satellite constellation, at risk for collision. ArsT
Interview w/ Don Winslow, Shane Salerno on their internet campaign vids. Dead
Profile on militant drones, Shield AI. Wired
How to create your own avatar, if you so choose. Slate
Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht, has $1b of bitcoin seized (this is a wild story). WSJ
Nolan speaks up a bit about Tenet. LAT
WSJ tool for quick-search presidential transcripts. WSJ
Susan Peppercorn on how to be creative in a state of monotony. HBR
State of surveillance in China. CF
Grimes on AI and art. NYT
Chris Erwin on the at-home audio opportunity. RockW
Gabe Newell sending a gnome (Weta workshop) to space on Rocket Lab ship (just a NZ thing). Verge
Time capsule from two years ago washed up early onto Irish shores thanks to polar ice melt. Guard
“Relationship rentals” businesses have been booming during pandemic. Guard
Next batch of Edmund Hillary Fellows (this was your backdoor into NZ). EHF
Nick Pappageorge on TikTok and audio memes. NP
What to do with empty sports stadiums. WSJ
Architecting moonshots. Med
Profile on Elijah Daniel, online comic personality. NYT
Elara Pictures launched a fun new site. EW
VF Corp acq Supreme for $2b from Carlyle. Bberg
Riding out the pandemic at Chateau Marmont (so LA). GQ
Weekly dives to the Titanic will begin next May. Bberg