Strictly Business

Streaming content is about as competitive as a business gets these days, but don't tell that to Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch. He's aggressively moving to establish the Lionsgate-owned premium programmer forward around the world while the window is still open for his company to stake its claim.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jacqueline Parkes, chief marketing office and executive vp of digital studios for Viacom's MTV VHI CMT and Logo Group, breaks down the marketing campaign for MTV’s relaunch of "The Hills." Parkes details the process that began with social media teases and other bread crumbs for fans in the spring 2018, well before MTV announced the show was coming back, and led to the strong premiere of "The Hills: New Beginnings" on June 24. Parkes also reflects on how the discipline of marketing has changed dramatically just in the three years since she joined MTV after a 21-year career with Major League Baseball. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Star Trek, The Walking Dead and Wheel of Fortune are more than just iconic TV brands; they’re the intellectual property powering mobile games on course to reach $100 million each. And they’re all produced by Scopely, an LA-based video game business led by co-CEO Walter Driver, who discusses how he's made a specialty of adapting from one medium to another. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

STX Entertainment is best known for movies like "The Upside" and "Ugly Dolls," but it also has a division dedicated to creating virtual-reality movies like the recent action short "The Limit." STXsurreal chiefs Rick Rey and Andy Vick talk about the art of adopting narrative storytelling to new technology, and what it will take for VR to achieve mass appeal. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dana Walden was already one of the industry’s most powerful television executives when she was co-head of Fox television Group prior to Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Now she’s leading the charge for Disney in primetime series production and also steering the ship at ABC. Here Walden offers candid insights into how Disney is managing what she described as television’s “existential crisis." And she speaks from the heart about the importance of maintaining a healthy workplace culture in a the post-#MeToo era. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Cannes Lions festival will get underway next week at a time when media industry turbulence is at its peak, according to MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan, a longtime industry observer who has turned the event into a crucial meeting place for the media, marketing, finance and technology worlds. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mass Appeal CEO Peter Bittenbender discusses the relaunch of the one-time hip-hop fanzine as a content business active in music, digital, film and TV. The company is riding a wave of momentum created by the success of its Showtime docu-series “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men.” Bittenbender details the vision for making Mass Appeal live up to the lofty expectations of its name and avoid the business potholes that have hurt Vice Media and other similiarly situated ventures. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Producer Jeff Valdez discusses his detailed study examining the root causes of the dearth of U.S.-born Latinx creative talent working in film and TV. He's been on an informational tour with corporate leaders to emphasize the market power of the U.S. Hispanic population. He's also launched a production venture, New Cadence, to help solve what he sees as the entertainment industry's supply chain problem. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amblin Partners co-CEO Jeff Small oversees a bustling production powerhouse alongside Steven Spielberg that manages to make movies like the new sequel "A Dog's Journey" that can hold their own in cineplexes alongside more blockbuster fare. But it's not getting any easier in a consolidating media marketplace that often favors scale over quality. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between HBO's "True Detective" and Hulu's upcoming "Catch-22," producer Richard Brown has proved his mastery of the limited-series TV format. Now he's looking to double down on the genre as he exits his home for the past 13 years, Anonymous Content, where he learned the business from the recently departed Steve Golin. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy Emmerich, chief content officer and president North America for Refinery29, details the digital lifestyle brand's focus on organic audience growth as it builds out an ambitious video and multiplatform strategy to reach its target audience of young women. "We've birthed a generation with technology where they are all creators the minute they get a phone in their hand," Emmerich says of the unique challenges of engaging the Refinery29 demo. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's been no shortage of turbulence at Facebook given the myriad issues the company faces, from data privacy and misinformation to election integrity and hate speech. To meet those challenges head on, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has turned to Fidji Simo, who is charged with charting the course for a very different future for the app. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prolific actress and emerging producer Gabrielle Union has been on a hot streak with projects like the sleeper hit "Breaking In," a female reboot of the "Bad Boys" franchise called "L.A.'s Finest" and a new platform as host of the reality competition series "America's Got Talent." But It was her design and endorsement deal with fashion house New York and Company that taught Union to see herself in a new light, and reinvent her brand for the benefit of underrepresented women everywhere.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The executive who oversees AMC, BBC America, SundanceTV and IFC discussed the tangible and intangible benefits that come from fielding a sleeper hit like BBC America's "Killing Eve." The AMC Networks entertainment president also discusses the company’s use of "forensic" audience tracking data to better understand how to make the most of its programming across its linear and digital platforms. Barnett says her goal after being promoted in November to the group-level role is to keep AMC Networks "punching above its weight" as a purveyor of high-end content.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Enjoy an inside look at the promotional game plan behind the final season of TV's biggest hit from Chris Spadaccini, executive VP and head of marketing at HBO. He details everything from the surprising Bud Light partnership at the Super Bowl to the network's reaction to President Trump borrowing from the show for one of his more infamous tweets. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the film industry gathers this week for the annual CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas, the longtime Imax leader discusses the new demand for exhibitors to focus on the business of providing “destination entertainment” experiences. In the interview with Brent Lang, Variety's executive editor of film and media, Gelfond also weighs in on the record-busting success of “Captain Marvel” and what it says about the state of the superhero film. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Under new leadership, Univision is taking big strides toward bringing a new look and feel to its primetime schedule for the growing U.S. Hispanic audience. CMO Jessica Rodriguez details the many ways the company is doing things differently. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National Geographic Partners chairman Gary Knell outlines his vision of the growth opportunities ahead for the gold-plated brand as it and other 21st Century Fox assets transition to Disney’s control. Knell also gives a final salute to Fox, calling the parting “bittersweet” and praising the Murdochs for being good stewards of the brand. If it weren’t for Nat Geo’s move into television more than 20 years ago with Fox, “there’s a good chance National Geographic wouldn’t be around today,” Knell says. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Mosko, the former head of Sony Pictures Television and newly appointed CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, talks about his mission to build out the company to produce its own movies and TV shows for the first time. He also speaks candidly about making the shift from studio boss to the leader of a lean and scrappy startup operation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He may be best known for producing the 2018 hit "Crazy Rich Asians," but that film was actually something of an aberration for John Penotti. He's busy building a mini-studio that cranks out local-language films and TV shows in seven countries including Mexico, Indonesia and India, where his upcoming Netflix series "Delhi Crime" could deliver his next global hit. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.