issue 197
Hello! The industry contracts and expands. It breathes - a snore of conflation - where most execs fail upward by doing some ambiguous version of a similar task: identify story, attach talent, raise money, and/or secure distribution. All much easier said than done. Trust.
It's a dreamy, dreary place where everybody does everything samely. Where on a stroll down Wilshire you can collect shopping agreements like parking tickets and convince yourself you’ve made it. A boulevard paved of false promise.
The established oligarchs, so regal, have been sitting on their thrones for decades. Absolute power centers, their tendrils dipping into adjacent business lines. Once agent, now manager, turned financier, no studio head, all the while, producer. The new moguldom… enchanting.
Wear all the hats at once.
Access and information are the name of the game - if you’re not in it, you’re out. Just buy in. Secrets as status symbol. Everything’s for sale for the right price. Brand value, factored. Entertainment companies are worth whatever someone’s willing to pay. Dirt simple.
The wave of consolidation washed over the seaside town. Nothing’s safe. Go full stack in success. Responsibilities evolve. Studios now own management companies, production companies start management firms, agencies own content finance companies, every manager produces, agents represent everyone - buyer and seller alike. Deals abound. Pucker up. Packaged and peddled.
Lip service spoken from both sides of the mouth. A submission goes sideways. Roadkill in the rearview. Eat what you kill.
It’s unregulated. No courtesy. Standards and practices thrown by the wayside. No one traffics in their lane. Everything’s a media company. The amorphous abyss.
Hollywood, it burns oh so bright.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. No rain, no rainbows. See you next week.
Tech
NowWith, shoppable livestreams, raised $18m A-Rod, Bron (didn’t they lay off their corp strat investors) THR
Breakr, connects influencers w/ emerging musicians, raised $4.2m TC
Virtually Human (aka Zed Run), crypto horse racing and games, raised $20m TCG ZG
Unity acq Speedtree for real time interactive data viz BW
Epic Games acq Sketchfab, 3D asset marketplace (nice!) SkeF
Paradromics, brain computer interfaces, raised $20m Cision
Mindtech, trains CCTV cameras on synthetic humans (?!), raised $3.25m (of course CIA backed) TC
YouTube acq SimSim, social commerce for video creators around $70m TC
Keen Games, multiplayer sandbox RPG, raised $10m BW
Vochi, ai based editing app, raised $2.4m TC
Carry1st, distribution and payments for game pubs, raised $6m TC
Numerade, short form STEM-video subscriptions raised $26m TC
LeagueApps, operating system for youth sports leagues, raised $15m TC
Sendland, omni-marketing automation, raised $20m TC
Wolf3D readies avatars for metaverse raised $3.7m VB
LiveControl, turns venues into live event spaces (add Hovercast too), raised $30m TC
Native Voices, SDK for branded voice assistants, raised $14m VB
TikTok plans to get into games and commerce Bberg
OpenSea, NFT marketplace, raised $100m CD
Clearview, facial recog co in hot water, raised $30m NYT
Audioshake goes live, AI for music producers Med
Tilting Point, helps user acquisition for mobile games, raised $235m VB
Outplay, sales tools for India companies, raised $7m TC
FWB exploring Web3 ticketing (trying to do this w/ access to film streams) Mirror
Omniscient Neurotech, maps of brains for surgeries, raised $30m Forbes
LivePerson acq e-bot7 for conversational ai agents Cision
Zoom partners with FlowPlay for social casino games PG
Byju acq Epic for $500m, reading platform for kids TC
Google’s moonshot factory X spins of Intrinsic, robotics Med
Clubhouse no longer invite only (it’s a dumb “growth hack” to delightfully decline) Verge
Tailor Brands, aims to help make out of the box merch stores, raised $50m TC
SonicKey makes audio watermarks, focused on metadata MBW
Fractional Art, fractional NFT ownership launches Fart
Second cohort of Betalab, Lupa and Betaworks fix the internet Med
FTX, crypto exchange for derivatives, raised $900m (jeez) WSJ
Kdan, filtering, editing and other content creation tools, raised $16m TC
US cracks down on fulfilled by Amazon shipments ArsT
Dots launches to consolidate Discord/Slack community messages (go Sanket!) Ph
Sorrell’s S4 acq Destined, Saleforce marketing partner reut
Product Hunt launches Hyper, community focused venture fund (AngelList does so much for the ecosystem) PH
Media
HBO Max launches free pilot eps (so called front porch content) in partnership with Snap Var
Substack launches podcast network, Booksmart Axios
Lionsgate, Autograph, DraftKings preps collectibles Var
Comcast and ViacomCBS met to potentially partner on streams WSJ
YouTube adds Super Thanks tipping on videos 9to5Goog
Snap best earnings in four years (multibagger better than BTC) Var
Product placement in TV shows (brands, just finance indie content - call me) Bberg
NBCU and Roku partner on designated Olympics experience Roku
Sports Illustrated and iHeart sign podcast deal Dead
Buzzfeed getting into shoppable livestreams Digiday
HBO Max adds 2.8m subs in Q2 Var
Olympics always cost more than expected Report
Jam City Spac deal called off BQ
CBS execs form $300m media SPAC Cision
NFL teams liable for charges if players don’t get vaxxed NYT
Scopely invests in Omnidrone, Tag Games, and Pixel Toys GBD
Real time Olympics footage in commercials Var
Bruin Cap acq Full Swing, golf sim, for $160m trying to take Peloton approach Yahoo
Rhett and Link launch Mythical $5m creator accelerator, kinda like Next10 PPss
Hemisphere, Spanish focused media co w/ Pantaya streamer looking at take private options Reut
Streamers using extensions to avoid DMCA strikes over music DMN
WMG acq 12Tone label Var
Netflix loses subs in NA, adds 1.5m total last q FT
Entertainment
Venice full lineup IW
TIFF additions to lineup Var
Universal drops $400m for Exorcist trilogy, some to drop on Peacock Var
Imagine Ent looking to be acquired for $800m (let’s see the CIM Raine) Var
Legendary exploring its options Var
Lindelof, Reeves, and Oscar Sharp prep fantasy medical drama for HBO Max THR
Neon acq NA rights to Zhang Yimou’s One Second Var
Zack Snyder’s prod co first look w Nflx THR
Ashton producing Stoner Cats, NFT animated show AKtwtr
Gaiman’s Anansi Boys gets order from Amazon (where he has an overall) Var
Studios and unions work out covid testing and jabs Var
Orion preps Till with Whoopi and Deadwyler Var
Adi Shankar preps animated project for PubG Poly
Pokemon live action series in works at Nflx Var
Ambitious Ent preps $10m film/tv fund, plans to go public next yr (lol) Dead
Shaq making animated short HeadNoise (Kobe got the Oscar first) Var
McMahon scripted steroid trial in works as show from WWE, Blumhouse Var
CA boosts film/tv tax credit by $330m IW
Bad Robot and Mattel make action figure (is this IP?) Comp
Golden Trailer winners THR
Collaborative
Dune trailer (!!) YT
Matt Belloni on Hollywood M&A (my new fave newsletter) Puck
Russo Bros and movie universe Bberg
A look at CtrlMovie, Stornaway and other interactive tools SD
Facebook wanting to become a metaverse company Verge
Blomkamp working on a AAA video game IGN
Family office investment insights from Goldman PDF
What’s the creator economy (I can’t anymore) NewYorker
Facebook looks to the church as client (now that’s the creator economy) NYT
BeachBot picks up cigarette butts off the beach (nice.) Input
Bradford Young directs the latest Leon Brides video Steam YT
Ridley Scott’s Last Duel trailer YT
Melanie Mitchels on training AI to think like humans with analogies Quanta
Boz working on Metaverse product team at FB
Post MGM/Amzn deal Info
Larry Page (Google co-founder) has been bunkered down in Fiji (he bought Tavarua and is learning to surf my little birdies tell me) NYP
Memoria trailer w/ Tilda YT
Machines that bring exoplanets down to earth SA
Official Competition teaser w/ Penelope and Banderas YT
Weaponization of app data (I have a pitch brewing here) Vice
Vidiots set to reopen thanks to Rian, Pascal and more (did Annapurna have to liquidate?) LAT
How NASA is using tech to broadcast live 4K footy THR
Gene editing and doping in the Olympics (I smell a story here) Neolife
AI translation could subvert business world (keen as) Fastco
Interview w/ David S Goyer THR
Lewis Hamilton and Law Roach Interview
Cleveland baseball team on the name change, Tom Hanks voice Video
Packy on Axie Infinity and crypto focused games NBMirror
Citizen pays $25/hr to livestream accidents (disgusting) NYP
Defunct adtech site VidMe url rot, now leads to p0rn on major sites (lol) Vice
BrewDog brewery $30m crowdfund raise BD
Wiseman Surf Lodge crowdfund raise WS
Aubrey Plaza and Amber Midthunder Interview
Bucks win NBA championship NYt
Walking Dead season 11 trailer YT
3D printed foot bridge in Amsterdam with sensors to monitor Smithsonian
LVMH acq 60% stake in Virgil’s OffWhite NYT
Alex Cooper profile (there were many) WSJ
Using AI like Dynascore (more like Magenta babe) for music Wired
New Inc NFT art show NewArt
Digitally gaslight your boss PW
Surjan Singh on rocket science and the $1.5b numbers SSss
A look at Dentsu, the invisible hand behind Olympics NYT
Irwin Gotlieb on TV ad pricing Beet
Seasonality sports and streaming Nielsen
Crypto and VCs Axios
Preserving loved ones with AI (ppl did the same thing like 3 years ago) SFC
Boosted, electric skateboards, goes belly up (now the mono-wheel things) Verge
Community ownership of real estate Brookings
Muieen Cader on LA’s endowment approach to funds Med
Spoof on the sad life of a vfx artist YT