Hello! People need to put their tastes, their inputs, on display. Recommendations are a representation of self. Let’s start easy: flex your friends – they win, you win. The old expression says you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Guess that just makes me a reflection of my one and only <3
What do you love? Flaunt it. Care, more. Do better. I’m trying.
Gone are the days of proudly highlighting your friend’s sites on your blog. Pour one out for the Myspace Top 8. Substack’s new writer referral program is neat and already driving network effects. If you want to be product manager-y, call it intra-network cross-pollination.
It’s the game of attribution & affiliation… of association. Deep links. Deep cuts.
I’m on the constant lookout for how art and information is shared, especially online. I’ve made it my side hobby the last five years… and I hardly see any of it. Especially by representatives, it’s a joke. Hell, many firms don’t showcase their clients on their site, but you’ll be sure to find an elaborate About page detailing senior leadership’s whereabouts. The random agent or studio exec would prefer to tag Telluride Film Festival — just to let others know they’re there — than share the films they found pleasurable. I am guilty of this. It’s the social media Me Show, perfect for peacocking and clout chasing. Everything is your platform, your pedestal.
Status; Signals. People would rather tag The Strand than read a book.
The quest to discover the artist’s artist, or in today’s parlance, the influencer’s influencer.
Who is actually moving the social consciousness? Setting the stage, the strategy?
The industry’s inner sanctum is full of its curators, creators, & rainmakers. The leaders of the ‘free’ world are all three. It’s built around reputation and relationships. Ultimately, taste and ideas (and money) are your edge, your differentiator. Film festivals market in just this.
Film & TV people have made a career, a tiny casino, out of it. The walls to this industry have been coming down for a few years now, but inflated egos and obliviousness runs rampant. People are unaware of what’s around the corner. Time is your enemy, and it’s business affairs’ ally. You don’t sway talent by first convincing their agent or manager of your project, you do it with their closest friends, business partners, and employees.
Take the side door. Go straight to the source. We’re all adults here.
You’d be surprised at just how many creatives aren’t satisfied with their reps. I’ve heard complaints from the biggest actors in the world, the last bastion of bankable talent, that they don’t feel serviced. Gross negligence. Same goes for portfolio cos and their ‘value add’ VCs. Do the work.
Take responsibility. Put your reputation on the line with every submission email you send. It just takes one email to change your life.
The scene is dead, long live the scene. Add it to the ever-growing queue. We’ll talk “impressions” next week… and forum in-jokes.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Deluge of disposability. See ya next week. 5 left.
Tech
Kyra, video content studio, raised $15m Info
Semafor, journalist platform, raised $25m Dead
Laylo, CRM for musicians to contact fans, raised $8m MA
Stability AI, stable diffusion raised $101m Cis
StoryFit, ai for audience insights around ent, raised $5.5m (met years ago) Cis
Mercury, fan experience for college students/athletes, raised $7.5m Fins
Apple’s headset to have iris scanning Info
Klarna introduces shoppable video and creator features TC
Didimo, 3d avatars of ppl, raised $7m Med
Bluesky team on the AT protocol Bsky
Google in talks to invest $200m into Cohere, AI startup WSJ
ByteBrew, mobile game analytics, raised $4m VB
Spindl, web3 attribution, raised $7m TI
AI and Games market map (a few friends in here!) JStwtr
Google testing 3D video chat Verge
Jasper, AI content platform, raised $125m at a $1.5b val (wtf) TC
Google launches translation hub Fastco
OpenAI valued at nearly $20b Info
Stardust, crypto gaming platform, raised $30m Bberg
Propeller is an ocean-climate $100m fund (go Reece!) Prop
TuMeke, 3D models for posture, raised $2.5m TFN
Muus, “fashion” games and collectibles raised $5m VB
BeReal has 20m DAUs and raised $60m earlier this yr TC
Magic Games, community multiplayer puzzle games, raised $5m VB
VCs moving up into public stocks (..) WSJ
ChainSafe, blockchain gaming utilities, raised $13m CD
Patreon val down 70%, IPO kicked down the road (sry friends who work there) BI
Elon and Starlink to fund Ukraine ops EMtwtr
Riot acq Wargaming for live gaming services VB
XCJ, frozen dumpling media brand from TikTok, raised $10m Forbes
OpenAI releases Playground, writing tool BI
Stats on game studios JTtwtr
Sequoia generative AI market map SHtwtr
Lex is a new AI writing tool from Every Lex
Media
Bytedance / TikTok eyes on music streaming WSJ
Peacock experiments with Real Housewives interactivity TC
TikTok rolls out Showtimes for movie marketers Dead
T Swift album drops, Spotify clogged Bberg
Messi plans TMT investment co called PlayTime (put me in touch pls) Bberg
BTS concert viewed by 50m worldwide (book em for the Oscars) Var
Nflx announces game streaming plans Kotaku
YouTube expands audio efforts for brands Reut
Apple TV hikes price now $7/mo THR
F1 signs Disney / ESPN deal Dead
Discord launches YT integrations and $3 plan Verge
TikTok plans live, shopping, and adult only streams Verge
AT&T counts on gov’t stimulus for broadband future (wait until you hear about the military and defense industries) Bberg
Comcast kills G4 TV focused on gaming (and led by ceo’s son) Var
ITV Studios rumored to be on the block Var
Disney launches web3 experience with its accelerator participant TC
Durant bought a pickleball team Bberg
Nflx and viewing habits WSJ
Criterion lays off 20% of staff IW
Documentary+ announces its slate Dead
Magic Johnson in talks to buy a piece of the Raiders (will ask him at the donut shop he frequents where I grew up) Semafor
FCC to ban US sales of Huawei and ZTE equipment Axios
Liv Gold wants to make a doc like Drive to Survive (lol, someone is going to get paid) Bberg
Ye wants to buy Parler CNBC
Rupert proposes Fox and News Corp to merge FT
Entertainment
Safdies and Sandler making a Nflx movie IW
Uni inks dev deal with TikTokers (smart) Dead
Jolie to star in Larrain’s next film about Maria Callas, opera singer Var
Death Note live action in the works at Nflx / Duffer bros Dead
Jake G comic book Prophet finds writer, Hargrave attached to film for Studio 8 THR
StudioCanal to develop Lost Leonardo limited series (it’s prob a fake) Dead
Anonymous forms JV with Eat the Cat, for horror/genre films THR
BBC acq Sid Gentle films THR
Sundance cans New Frontier (lol but the metaverse?!) IW
Lionsgate acq WW rights to The Blackening Dead
Dubuque (Ozark) overall with Fifth Season Dead
A.D.D is a new esports thriller based on a graphic novel Dead
Nflx to novelize MBB’s Damsel THR
Chd S and Leigh Dana Jackson team on Black Samurai for Nflx THR
Ruth Negga, Himesh join Levy’s Good Grief for Nflx THr
WarnerBros reverses decision on WB TV writers workshop Dead
IFC WW rights to Dandelion w Kiki Layne Dead
Create launches diverse creators program Muse
SyCo partners with TikTok and Uni for Music Incubator Var
Dark Star takes NA rights to Saturn Bowling (new distrib?) Var
Warner Bros to NFT’ify LOTR Var
Nicole Emanuel to run Rashida Jones co (woo!) Dead
CAA drops Ye, MRC scraps finished doc Var
Sarah Hess overall HBO Dead
Collaborative
Effective altruism NYT
Profile on Anycolor, vtubers in Japan Bberg
Profile on Colleen Hoover and bestseller lists NYT
Africa XR report AXR
House of Dragon and Rings of Power faceoff in podcast land too Bberg
The computations behind the metaverse Prot
Ferris interviews Aryeh Spot
Disparity in internet deals Markup
Inmate defrauds Sidney Kimmel (oy) AJC
Nflx on product experimentation and empathy Med
Artists say AI image generators stealing their art style (it is, enter Spawning) BI
Superheroes IP and paydays THR
White collar war crimes in Ukraine CA
ACF bank on the LOTR sale Dead
Sims creator developing a blockchain game Gamer
A look into zero knowledge proofs Quanta
VCs now chasing AI deals Info
Digital media and partisan sorting PNAS
Newsletter bubble might pop (mine is, Puck 20k subs, Zestworld, Substack) NYT
T Swift might create the true metaverse (lol) Atlantic
SVB and AngelList on early stage valuations AOtwtr
Ravi Gupta on playing for the front of the jersey RGblog
Social media cos know when you’re manic or BPD (unhinged) NYT
Billionaire wants credit for Neymar’s success (sounds like Hollywood) NYT
Lucas Shaw on Netflix Bberg
Lottery games (crypto?) NewYorker
Kaigan on artist guaranteed minimums Med
Zoomers gen-z consumer spend report PS
Beautiful music video about use of social media LBB
Creed III trailer YT
Ballmer commits $400m to black investors WSJ
Jeff Wilser on investing in web3 ‘entertainment’ CD
GenZ likes subcultures not mass marketing Digiday
Chippendales trailer YT
AI on simulating communication styles PDF
How AI could preserve art Med
Poitras’ All the Beauty and Bloodshed trailer YT
Acrew Cap on virtual worlds Med
Dentsu’s gaming report Dent
Raving as folk art FFss
Austin Rober on art worlds and collaboration Metalabel
Matilda the Musical trailer YT
BMW 3D ad times square Muse
The rise of mobile gambling (is this crypto?) Vice
Kids petition bc class is too hard (boohoo) NYT
Next pandemic could come from glacial melt Guardian
Workers and their free commuting time LibStr
Sci-fantasy books this fall GR
Kids in CA can receive free books thanks to Dolly Parton KTLA
Listen: Belloni interviews Endeavor’s Mark Shapiro Spot
Read: Allure of CYOA books NewYorker
Watch: Simon de la Rouviere on storytelling and web3 (yes Simon!) YT