Hello! The content creation & consumption value chains will start mapping onto each other, bleeding together. Progressively. Simultaneously. The train will be built (and the track laid) as it leaves the station. Allow room for improvements, modularity.
Idea intervention: remixing and sampling. Not interference. Co-imagination.
A Rube Goldberg machine, where are all the media assets are layers to be enjoyed, individually or wholly.
Beyond identifying and developing story, attaching talent, raising capital, and securing distribution – producers and storytellers will likely soon (some already are) acquire an audience from the jump for the story itself (i.e. running marketing campaigns).
Recall the term PMD (Producer of Marketing & Distribution) being thrown around about a decade ago at a PGA event (IndieWire); Producer’s Guild of America. When the creatives own the whole pipeline, end-to-end, then many studios will be useless (unless a fat check is needed). So many studios lazily outsource their marketing efforts anyway, who better to handle more messaging than the creators themselves.
Storytellers as startup founders. That’s the call.
Value chains as value transfers, from creator to community… and back again.
The means of creation, on either end of the spectrum, have their own levers of production (capital and a clock), a process, soon protocol. This isn’t necessarily patentable... there are only so many ways to hold a paintbrush and gather people together toward collective action.
On that point, almost every call I’ve had the last month we’ve had a quick constructive conversation about The Use of AI in Media, the 5 main questions and topics I bring up can be found in this short Google Form poll, which should take less than a minute to do. I’ll likely write a longer piece about it and share my findings (which are all anonymized). There’s a new breakthrough every other day, it’s absolutely insane.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Cover to cover. See ya next week. 7 left.
Tech
Glass, NFT video protocol, raised $5m TCG Gem
Google looking to make search more interactive Verge
Lexica Art, AI creative tools, raised $5m Lex
Golden, protocol for decentralized knowledge, raised $40m Gold
Imagen, Google, text to video tools (a new breakthrough everyday) JHtwtr
Meta make a video with text (ridic) Meta
AmazeVR, virtual concert platform, raised $17m TC
Fabric, AR fan interaction with sports, raised $4m SPM
James Earl Jones sells voice to AI co to keep Vader (and family trust) alive Dead
Bruce Willis sells likeness to deepfake co (we are eternal) Collider
AudioGANs textually guided audio gen FKtwtr
Cionic, mobility assistance wearables, raised $12.5m TC
OnX, outdoor recreation and navigation, raised $88m Cision
Regie, marketing copy with AI, raised $10m TC
Substack’s growth is from recommendation (yes bc of default opt in) SS
Stadia to shut down, Red Dead player with 6,000 hours sad GR
Fizz, social network for college students, raised $4.5m TC
CYOA with Character AI
Bytedance’s Pico VR headset Verge
Scout, gen-Z subscription based on theme, raised $2.5m strategics TC
Media
Warner Music partners w OpenSea MBW
Epix rebrands to MGM+ (..) Dead
Twitch reducing how much streamers earn from subs Verge
Technicolor Creative Studios spins out as public co to focus on games VB
Crooked Media receives investment from Soros (makes sense) Var
Mr Beast allegedly turned down a $1b deal Insider
NBA makes a TikTok like app Verge
Dude Perfect building an arena SBJ
Dazn pauses IPO plans Axios
Santigold cancels tour because economics Santi
Audcacy looking to sell Cadence13 Axios
Lionsgate might spin off studio instead of Starz Dead
Gaming tops video spend in the US BBTV
Imax focusing on a streaming app (?) IW
FB killing its newsletter Bulletin Washpo
League One Volleyball raised $17m SBJ
Phil Collins and Genesis sell catalog for $300m Var
Hearst eyes $12b in revenue Axios
Fandom acq TV Guide and more from Red Ventures WSJ
Metalabel launches Public Record magazine ML
Game ads prove to be fruitful for podcasters Bberg
SEC charging banks on using encrypted messaging apps (lol) Sec
Syco Ent raised $125m for acq fund around Got Talent franchise LI
Football clubs take a cut of gambling losses (bet on the racetrack) Guard
Entertainment
Michael Parets launched prod co Sinestra with director Johan Renck (love to see it MP) Dead
SK Global sells stake to Centricus PE firm THR
Hemsworth NatGeo first look, new prod co called Wild State THR
Yorgos sets film called And at Searchlight with Stone and Dafoe and more Dead
A24 and Malala tea on doc with Apple about Korean fisherwomen Var
Focus acq Dafoe thriller Inside Dead
Boyle to direct Matrix musical (… I’ll still watch it) Var
Anonymous circling Grand View / Automatik Dead
IFC takes NA rights to Origin of Evil Var
Sony grabs movie rights to Tarzan THR
Madison Wells live experience slate Var
Dahmer gets 300m hours viewed in one week IW
Bateman to direct Dark Wire for Nflx w 21 Laps Dead
Gaiman Audible Sandman series surprise Var
Sloss and Vachon talk about streamers and limiting licensing terms Dead
20th and 21 Laps win graphic novel Night of the Ghoul Dead
Peter Chan Ho Sun launches Changin’ focused on APAC movies Var
Fork Films closes shop (Disney going to keep biting the hand that feeds?) Var
Leonine acq 50% of Gebreude Beetz doc prod co Dead
Harry Styles fans and Don’t Worry Darling WSJ
Collaborative
Survey on film distributors and issues (how am I just now seeing this) DP
Elon’s messages around the Twtr deal PDF
Marc Andreessen on what he’s been up to MAtwtr
Tar trailer YT
Podcast with Jenova Chen FOST
Aphex Twin sample resource Lanner
Bones and All trailer YT
The brain of Hideo Kojima with Jordan Peele (thx Maxime) Spot
Richard Kim from Galaxy on crypto gaming and NFTs (does it make the game more enjoyable?) RKss
A look at the Nflx content strat and analysis team (wouldn’t be too worried about these Deloitte folks) BI
Metaverse report from Blue Shift group PDF
Music and the web3’s multiplayer problem WaterM
The chief metaverse officers of brands (most are embarrassing and are just marketers not profiteers) Bberg
Multi-platform storytelling and Cyberpunk Edge-runners Washpo
Creator economy power laws Mosaic
Emancipation trailer YT
Yancey Strickler on Metalabels LI
Web3 gamer data study Coda
Fabian on prompting with spreadsheets and Stable Diffusion (nuts) FabianTwtr
Toonstar on web3 remaking Hollywood (err) CD
Matto on AI art and NFTs as an indie game dev (woot!) YT
Stories by AI substack
Moma exhibit on interactive design and games MOMA
Mazzeo starts his own fund, would’ve thought this would’ve happened years ago Info
Pod that many web3 lawyers listen to LawofCode
Eric Weinstein on science, power, war YT
Knock at the Cabin trailer YT
How pre-seed founders choose funds (not vacation homes to stay at?) VCCafe
A look at YouTube, the social titan NewYorker
Succession of Wintour Puck
Armod White on Hollywood partisanship NatRev
LA H1’22 seed report PDF
The traits of super-friends Atlantic
Listen: Brown noise to focus (hear no color) NYT
Read: Cyber scamming human traffickers ProPub
Watch: Gamework video (oldie, goodie) YT