The summit brought together leading executives, marketing chiefs, technologists, entrepreneurs and creators across film, television and gaming on Thursday for a full day of keynote addresses, panel conversations and networking opportunities.
Industry figures from Warner Bros. Discovery, Meta, Paramount+, Vizio, Netflix, Fox Entertainment and others offered their perspectives on prevailing trends, tools and tactics that are transforming the entertainment business.
Keynote talks featured Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, who publicly addressed their four-year pact with Paramount for the first time as well as the future of “Stranger Things” as it heads into its final season this fall on Netflix.
Later, “F1: The Movie” producer Jerry Bruckheimer took the stage to discuss his legacy, the possibility of a follow-up to the racing picture, “Top Gun 3” and a fresh “Pirates of the Caribbean” entry.
Gabrielle Union also received an inaugural Entrepreneur Impact Award for her achievements co-founding Proudly, a sustainable infant care company with products created for babies of color.
Additionally, sessions covered panels on using content creators and influencers in digital campaigns, growing new and existing fandoms via live experiences, virtual reality’s influence on entertainment, integrating AI to augment human creativity, among other subjects.
Read below for several of the main takeaways from the event:
Expanding Entertainment: VR’s Role in Shaping New Audience Experiences
Sarah Malkin, director of entertainment content for Meta’s Reality Labs, explained how virtual reality is altering the manner in which audiences encounter live entertainment. “We’re seeing VR enable and empower a wide range of new experiences that are frequently very complementary and additive to the fandom people already have for the entertainment they love,” she said.
As VR seeks to elevate the consumer experience, Malkin noted the primary obstacle they still confront is building a universal headset that won’t intimidate viewers unfamiliar with the technology.
Despite that hurdle, Malkin said the massive success within the gaming community motivated them to broaden their entertainment offerings into sports, concerts, films, TV and other entertainment experiences.
She also discussed recent collaborations with creators like filmmaker James Cameron and producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions. “We see it [VR] continuing to complement other forms of entertainment to provide a new way of experiencing, offering tools for storytellers and consumers and an economy around that,” she said.
The Booming Live Experience Economy
Live-experience specialists from Funko, Ernst & Young, Warner Bros. Discovery and Pinterest examined how rising consumer appetite for live events has become essential to the entertainment sector.
Judy Lee, global head of experiences at Pinterest, underscored the need to bridge world-building and fandoms to craft deeply immersive in-person experiences that genuinely connect with audiences.
“Fandom and authenticity matter deeply to audiences,” Lee said. “I think quarantine left a void and a hunger to connect and feel something. I’ve observed that younger generations blur the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds.”
She added, “To them, digital is real. That’s their life. That’s authentic, and they’re far savvier than non-digital natives. They desire authenticity, transparency and main character energy.”
Simon Robinson, COO of WB Studios and Head of Global Experiences, added the secret to successful live activations is maintaining authenticity to the brand.
“The key to success is not just a commercial experience,” Robinson said. “It’s about the extension of the brand. Everything in the experiential world should be a brand deposit, not an opportunity to extract money from someone’s pocket.”
Groundbreakers of Creative Marketing
Marketing executives from Neon, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Records discussed how word-of-mouth still carries weight and how they tap content creators and influencers within their marketing to generate buzz.
Margaret Walker, executive vice president of entertainment marketing at NBCUniversal, said she leverages talent to craft standout content, cultivate fandom and foster loyalty and community.
“It’s really important when finding creators to work with to find a creator who will most authentically resonate with the audience you’re trying to reach and authentically loves our brand,” Walker said.
Dustin Sandoval, senior vice president of digital marketing at Walt Disney Studios, led the campaign strategy for “Freakier Friday” and credited its triumph to producing unique moments that naturally went viral among the audiences served by creators and influencers.
“You create opportunities and moments for content creation,” Sandoval said. “It happened organically, and all of these moments sparked and hit everyone’s FYP in a positive way. The film, recently reaching $150 million globally, was a major success, and we’re very proud of the campaign.”
Leveling Up in the Entertainment Industry: AI to Unlock New Creative Frontiers
Jason Chen, Desert Eclipse CEO, founder and executive producer, explained how he has woven AI into his studio to compress production schedules for features and animation.
“We’re putting the artists first,” Chen said. “We approach projects from a writer’s standpoint and use technology to enable creators and filmmakers to open idea books you might think would never be possible.”
He offered an example of applying AI to shorten variation shots for CG modeling or motion tracking to ultimately cut animation production timelines to 12–18 months.
Shahrzad Rafati, founder and CEO of RHEI, said she employs AI in her processes to uplift human creativity and streamline the creative workflow. “The volume of content we’re producing is far more educational, entertaining and higher quality,” she said. “You’re enabling everyone to reach their full creative potential.”
See also: How AI Models Are Revolutionizing Science and Medicine
Behind the Scenes with Zeam, featuring John Stamos and Jack Perry
After launching in 2009, Jack Perry, founder and CEO of Zeam, discussed how he’s broadening his platform from supporting local broadcasters’ live streams to moving into live event streaming.
“We’re aiming to lead by example on the content front, to demonstrate what could lean heavily on pop-up live,” he said.
To push technological boundaries, Perry has collaborated with John Stamos to crowdsource creatives for additional content opportunities running 24/7 on Zeam.
The pair have teamed up to take their streaming on the road with destination content in music and comedy, ultimately widening their reach by becoming more consumer-facing.
TV Industry Transformed
Evan Adlman, executive vice president of commercial sales and revenue operations at AMC Networks, discussed the current challenge for TV: finding ways to get content in front of as many viewers as possible given a highly fragmented model.
Adlman underscored the role of fandom in addressing the struggles networks face.
“The way that we’re trying to capitalize on that is to make it easier for clients, advertisers, and our partners to understand what true fandom is versus passive viewing. Passive viewing isn’t as prevalent as it once was,” he said.
Despite fractured audiences, difficulties measuring across platforms and other disruptions, the panelists expressed enthusiasm for the future of advertising and for discovering new methods to deliver the best viewer experience.
Sean Booker, head of media and entertainment sales at Vizio, observed that shoppable TV is next for the evolution of advertising and television.
“Shoppable TV will be huge in the future,” Booker said. “TV is the heartbeat of the home. The ability to transact on your TV and similar features will clearly rise to the forefront soon.”
Champions of Sports Culture Across Platforms
On scaling success on a broadcast network, Robert Gottlieb, president of marketing at Fox Sports, shared how vital it is to get core fans engaging beyond the sporting events they already know by finding their passion point.
“IndyCar is the fastest racing on earth,” he said. “They’re faster than F1 and NASCAR. That’s a compelling, interesting truth to people who are interested in motorsports. So we’ve built off of that.”
Carlos “Olek” Lewenstein, president of global sports at Televisa Univision, stressed the need to use multiple social platforms as a marketing vehicle.
“If you have a sports property and you’re not unfolding into every single platform, you’re leaving money on the table because the leagues are charging you for that platform anyway,” he said.
Storytelling Entrepreneurs
Sarah Foster, executive producer of “Nobody Wants This,” described how honest storytelling formed the foundation for her Netflix series and is what she’s found resonates most with viewers.
“When I was writing the ‘Nobody Wants This’ pilot, I wasn’t writing a rom-com, and I wasn’t trying to bring rom-coms back or tell a different kind of story,” she said. “I just wanted to tell a story that was meaningful to me.”
She added, “It was not following an act structure or an A/B story that I had learned in college. It was really just the story I wanted to tell.”
Matt Rogers, host of “Las Culturistas,” reflected on creating the podcast in 2016 with Bowen Yang and how their “Las Culturistas Culture Awards” began as a gag during a segment before evolving into a live awards show that aired on Bravo in July.
“It was to make us have fun, laugh and involve everyone in a big tent of fun because we need that. My job and purpose are to just make people laugh and smile,” he said.
When asked what stories they’d like to see next, Nicole Byer mentioned a love story and Jake Shane suggested a comedy that he would headline. Sarah and Erin Foster want to further examine relationships, while Benito Skinner hopes to see more stories about friendships.
(Pictured top: “Therapuss” host Jake Shane, actor-comedian Benito Skinner, “Los Culturistas” host Matt Rogers)
