issue 182
Hello! The generations. I’ve been marinating on what composes each besides just a range of birth years (age), and how they’re used as critical umbrella terms, catch-all phrases meant to categorize a specific attitude. Psychographic profiling. Each generation, cycle, epoch, is representative of a paradigm shift - a changing of the guard - to a new emblazoned mindset. Attitude, meet class structure. Okay, boomer.
In Friday’s Future Party newsletter, they linked to some Business Insider opinion pieces (err, studies?) of how there’s an income fork with millennials, the rich and the poor. Barbell shape. Well, this applies to every grouping of people. The middle class slowly erodes. That’s my feeling anyway. It’s on the mind, tax season.
Zillow dreaming. From what I’ve gathered (empirically), starter home prices have increased about 5x for sought after neighborhoods (the coasts) the last 30 years, but my thinking is that the income brackets haven’t shifted accordingly in these areas. Here is the national average wage index from the Social Security site. Wage push inflation marks cost-of-living at a compounding rise of about 3% a year. The biggest income jumps are for the minimums, which have just been effectively doubled to $15/hr ($30k) with recent legislation (CNBC). My gut says that making around $80k when you’re 30 is as admirable now as it was back in the 90s. The down payment is untenable for most. The dream of owning a home is just that, a dream. Keep saving, I mean dreaming.
The vast majority of support staff in Hollywood earn below $50k, and too many fall below the $30k mark, according to figures reported by Pay Up Hollywood this Feb (THR). UTA pays top dollar at $24/hr ($48k) (Var). This is how most people spend their early-late 20s in entertainment (and the work weeks are usually around 60 hours). I should probably take another stats class before I harp on this stuff any longer. Moving on.
I generally think blanket definitions for the generations should be avoided, it’s forced segmentation. Ham-fisted pigeonholing. Animal, kingdom. I think we should focus on uplifting the younger voices, empowering them with the essentials for their respective industries, apprenticeships not free internships. Education tethered to gainful employment. Prospects. Last June in issue 143 I wrote some words about how we should potentially re-fashion the ‘professional’ education system. My friend tipped me to Thrive Scholars which pairs execs with ambitious students of color, the success data they have on display is seriously commendable. This is what’s important.
But to bring this back to entertainment, I think the industry does very little to support emerging talent. Seedlings. It requires too much development, time where no one is paid for evangelizing a fresh name - an untested story - on both sides of the lens. Most seem to breakout late, in their 30s and beyond, and many have to give up before then. They can’t afford to stick around for their day to come. Instead, the biggest filmmakers and producers have staying power because of how time has evolved… because of the generations. Many haven’t heard No the last 20+ years. They’re old whales, who suck the air out of the room with $100m+ budgets. And their kids will run the town tomorrow.
Of course no one is going turn down a Spielberg or Scorsese, the studio execs and financiers who are in positions to say Yes were raised on their stories. They’re not going to deny the filmmaker that inspired them to get in this racket in the first place. And of course they’re brilliant. Yes, I know, ageism cuts both ways. Keep with tradition, respect your elders, but bring some new flavor to the mix. That’s all I’m saying.
A rising tide lifts all boats. You class, your peers, rise together. Support each other, and when you’ve made it - extend a hand to someone below. Or just retire - get out of the way. And do your best to bring stories to life that have some substance. Beyond income kvetching and power struggles, there are far worse generational issues that have stuck around that need to be fixed. Lead with love.
Tuning out of this one listening to Changes by 2Pac (Spotify, YouTube).
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Live your truth. See you next week.
Tech
Wonder Dynamics, AI for vfx, raised $2.5m (go Nikola!) Dead
Mindshow, animation prod co, raised $10m Var
Google acq 3D audio co Dysonics Prot
Shorthand, web-based multimedia story platform, raised $8m TC
Patreon now valued at $4b in $155m round from Tiger WSJ
Snap acq ScreenShop for commerce push Info
Clubhouse said to be valued at around $4b (makes sense?) bberg Verge
NoCap, concert platform, raised $3m Tornante, Liontree NCsite
Player Data, wearable tech for athletes, raised $2.3m TC
AmazeVR, xr concerts, raised $9.5m PS
Clubhouse introduces creator payments (lmk if you want my Venmo acct) CH TC
Masterclass, an advertising company (jk), raised at $2.5b Axios
TikTok automates captioning (tracking this space) Verge
Iyuno SDI, subtitle and dubbing co, raised $160m (globalization thru localization) TC
Casted, b2b focused podcasts, raised $7m TC
Tom Brady starts Autograph, NFT digital collectibles co BI
TikTok unveil music visualizer TT
Triple Dot, mobile games studio, raised $80m from Eldridge, Access VB
ShareChat, Indian social network, raised $500m at $2b val TC
Nifty raises pre-seed for crypto social network Med
Signal, encrypted messaging, might create its own crypto Wired
Sandbox, NFT marketplace, raises for virtual real estate and more VB
Community, text message marketing, raised $40m from Salesforce WSJ
SendBird, audio/video content inside leading sites, raised $100m TC
Hotline is another FB clone, mixes IG and CH TC
Gucci and other brands experiments with NFTs Block
Instagram prepping “incentive” links for creators Twtr
Msft to acq Nuance for $16b, speech recog CNBC
Pinterest launches $500k fund for creators Engadget
Noise Aware, smart noise monitoring (mostly real estate) raised $8m Cision
A look at some of Coinbase’s financials SEC
Fetch, retail rewards, raised $200m BF
Media
ViacomCBS acq Chilevision from WarnerMedia BW
FB introduces dynamic ads for video streams FB
Apple preps orig podcast The Line before tv series Apple
Rock the Bells, LL Cool J’s media brand, raised $8m Raine THR
Fox lawsuit of Flutter over FanDuel ownership stake CNBC
ESPN readies BetCast for sports wagering (that was quick) Var
Fortnite players can now finally stream into Houseparty TC
Dazn weighing IPO Reut
Libsyn to acq Glow, podcast monetization Axios
Atari restructures, planning a blockchain division GIB
Massive FB leak of 500m accounts Wired
DraftKings acq Blue Ribbon, gamification service BizJ
Fremantle acq full control of Abot Hamieri, Israeli producer of localized shows Dead
Spotify strategy for cracking the India market Musically
Tornante’s Topps trading cards gets SPACd at $1.3b CNBC
MBP acq Brighton, used camera marketplace for $140m TC
IMAC is a $200m SPAC from Indian media/ent execs SEC
A few on Wall St want telcos to spin off media units THR
Vox Media to acq Cafe Studios, podcast shop WSJ
FuboTV acq rights to World Cup qualifiers for South America teams AA
China creates its own digital currency WSJ
Twitch viewership doubled last year Engadg
NBA using Clear for covid scanning NBA
A look at the the ppl behind music catalogue sales Var
Enjoy, operate retail stores, to get SPACd by Raine Bberg
Graham acq Leaf Group, consumer brands like Livestrong for $320m BW
Entertainment
Netflix takes pay 1 rights to Sony’s slate in the US (huge) Var
Kanye West doc lands at Netflix, reportedly around the $30m mark (jeez) Var
Amazon acq Pratt’s Tomorrow War THR
Neon wins NA rights for Gosling and Duke Johnson package The Actor Dead
Sam Mendes’ Empire of the Light heads to Searchlight with Olivia Coleman Var
Todd Field and Cate Blanchett team on TAR for Focus Dead
Chicken Soup for Soul acq Sonar Ent for $20m (who wrote and structured this?) Dead
WarnerMedia confirms 45 day window Recode
Jordan Vogt Roberts Gundam movie for Nflx and Legendary Var
Magic Mike reality show heads to HBO Max (mom, you fired up for this?) Var
Jamie Foxx to produce one woman play Subverted Var
Barry Sonenfeld, Frank Marshall to adapt Perestoika THR
Genre making a Mark Millar film Starlight for 20th Fox (didn’t Nflx buy Millarwold?) Dead
Phoebe Waller Bridge in the next Indiana Jones Var
Gemma Chan to produce podcast with M88, QCode about Vincent Chin THR
Carmelo Anthony launches prod co Var
Epix greenlights “From” from Agbo and Midnight Radio Dead
Crazyrose, JMV and Nathan Ross prod co, three year first look w HBO Var
The Markles to produce Nflx show about Invictus Games, Harry founded Var
A look at Seed and Spark’s pivot to more inclusive screenings Med
Streamland, post-prod facility, to acq Sim Post THR
Shout and StudioCanal acq animated feature Little Vampires Dead
Netflix turning voice over artists into “stars” Bberg
Godzilla Kong did $350m, China nearly makes up for half Var
Bafta winners Var
DGA winners THR
Collaborative
Maxime Eryaud’s 2020 media-tech report (thx for sharing early drafts!) ME
Emily Segal’s Burn Alpha novel gets the NFT treatment (watching closely!) Mirror
Mike Palank dynamic vc fund model with Tactyc
The digital divide of rural WiFi in America NYT
Eiza Gonzalez and Taika Waititi Interview
Nflx on scaling rev and growth tooling Med
The companies planning AR glasses WSJ
Max Read on NFTs and the future of finance NYMag
A peak inside Gold House, Asian powerhouse collective (wrote about in issue 124) Forbes
Mobile game spending last quarter was $22b according to SensorTower VB
Those Who Wish Me Dead trailer Taylor Sheridan YT
How social tokens could be route into income share agrmts WSJ
A new particle could upend the laws of physics NYT
The rate of piracy and music downloads (some good charts) MusicX
A look at being overworked, mining creativity from young blood NYT
Neuralink monkey plays Pong with its mind TNW
Icarus gameplay trailer (NZ game) YT
What Drives Us trailer Foo Fighters YT
How YouTube grew during the pandemic CNBC
Mainstream trailer by Gia Coppola YT
Julie Angwin on YT’s flawed advertising blacklist (nuts) Markup
Research on investment advice from Reddit (lulz) SSRN
Jeff Vandermeer and Carmen Machado Interview
How Goog is incorporating AI into maps Goog
How brands are going multiplayer on social VogueBiz
Balaji proposes India to embrace crypto IndiaStack BSblog
Edward Zwick tips for early stage filmmakers (have a good AD) EZtwtr
Rocketry trailer (Bollywood film) YT
Matsuyama wins the Masters GD
MG Siegler free tips to Medium to improve blogging/writing products Med
A look at the XR patents, hand gestures high up on list CBI
How covid is changing the MLB fan experience Fastco
Jules Urbach, Otoy CEO, now a big NFT guy CNBC
Why do Americans love celebrity political candidates 538
Threaded summary of the Epic and Apple app store battle PMtwtr
Iterative refinement for SytleGANs white paper Yuval
The trend diminishes of “mom boss bloggers” Vox
Tharun Sekar recreates ancient music instruments AtlasO
Artificial wombs for premature babies Neo
There’s a ketchup shortage in the states (lol) CNN
Corridor Crew on filmmaking and camera tech YT
The quick history of Verzuz GQ
The tech that can save our oceans MIT
Human behaviour and unmanned vehicles PDF
Amit Gupta interview, from tech guy to sci fi writer Harvest
Real estate agencies using in-house video and drone teams (this has been going on for years) UrbanU
How The Real World pioneered reality tv BF
AI “wrote” a Nirvana song RollingS
5000 hours of transcribed earning calls for AI PDF
Tim Ferris interviews Balaji, tech guy Coinbase CTO TFblog
NYT writers decamping for Substack, paid huge advances NYT
High frequency traders using special satellites to boost speeds WSJ
Profile on Clearview, facial recog co BF
Addison Rae profile NYT
Nvidia cards smuggled in high-speed boat chase (lol) Kot
Kathryn Hahn and Kevin Bacon Interview
Inside Randall Emmett’s market movie scheme-y empire Vulture
Hollywood’s obsession with whodunnits GR