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Speaker 1: M h. Welcome to Strictly Business, the podcast in which

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Speaker 1: we talk with some of the brightest minds working in

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Speaker 1: the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety. When

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Speaker 1: the new movie Ambulance opens in theaters this month, Hollywood

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Speaker 1: will once again put to the test a kind of

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Speaker 1: film that would seem to be an endangered species these days,

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Speaker 1: the mid budget movie. But my next guest is betting

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Speaker 1: these movies will defy extinction. William Sharik is one of

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Speaker 1: the principles at Project X Entertainment, production outfit that already

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Speaker 1: scored a mid budget this year with the revival of

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Speaker 1: the Scream franchise. We'll talk to William in just a moment.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Strictly Business, where we're talking with William

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Speaker 1: Sharik of Project X Entertainment. William, thanks for coming on

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Speaker 1: the podcast. Thanks for having me. First thing, I gotta

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Speaker 1: ask Project X what what's with the title? There's got

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Speaker 1: to be a story behind that. Uh myself, Jamie and

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Speaker 1: uh my two partner Shamie Vanderbilt and Pulline. Scene when

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Speaker 1: we were coming up with sort of the white board

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Speaker 1: of what we wanted the company to be and and

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Speaker 1: all of the things that we believed in. As we

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Speaker 1: looked at, you know, hopefully this being the last company

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Speaker 1: we ever start and doing this till we retired. We

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Speaker 1: we felt like we didn't have a company name, so

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Speaker 1: we just put a code name at the top of

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Speaker 1: every white piece of paper and it was Project X.

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Speaker 1: And then by the time the weekend was over of

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Speaker 1: us all sitting down, putting down, you know, putting all

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Speaker 1: our buzzwords and things we you know, our mission statement

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Speaker 1: all that, we kind of fell in love with the

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Speaker 1: code word and it stopped. And you've been out there

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Speaker 1: for about a year now, and of course scream uh

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Speaker 1: is your first film? Is it out? For Project X?

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Speaker 1: It is and obviously or maybe not obviously a success.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to assume you weren't surprised. I'd like to

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Speaker 1: know why you had faith in this franchise. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think one we're lovers of the franchise. So anytime

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Speaker 1: you love something, you want to believe there's continued success

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Speaker 1: possible with it. UM. And when we when Gary Barbera

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Speaker 1: allowed us to to get involved in rebuilding it for him,

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Speaker 1: with him and for him, UM, we just believe that

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Speaker 1: audience after four movies it's been a decade since the

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Speaker 1: last one wanted wanted something fun again, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think post pandemic or middle of pandemic. The idea of

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Speaker 1: fun horror is is something that we as a company love.

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Speaker 1: We you know, Jamie and I produced before Project that

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Speaker 1: we start Project, we produced a movie called Ready or

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Speaker 1: Not Together, um, which was a matchup of you know,

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Speaker 1: horror comedy and scream is the is the pinnacle of that, right,

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Speaker 1: something that you have so much fun but still get

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Speaker 1: scared to death. Um. So we never never wavered on

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Speaker 1: the idea that bringing it back was something that would

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Speaker 1: be successful in at this moment in time. Well, speaking

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Speaker 1: of scared to death, I'm curious, were you at all

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Speaker 1: scared putting this movie out in theaters at a time

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Speaker 1: when nothing is a sure bet? The answer is a

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Speaker 1: qualified kind of you know. I think that I'm a

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Speaker 1: kid who grew up in the eighties and nineties, and

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Speaker 1: I grew up with a father and distribution, and I

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Speaker 1: believe in the theatrical experience. I always will till the

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Speaker 1: day I die, regardless of what's going on in our industry. UM,

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Speaker 1: So I'm always going to bet on it. Does that

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Speaker 1: mean every movie is right for it, no um. But

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Speaker 1: I believe that movies that you want to see with

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Speaker 1: other people will always work in the theatrical environment, and

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Speaker 1: a horror movies the movie you want to see with

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Speaker 1: other people, no question. But you know, I think the

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Speaker 1: prevailing wisdom these days is is if you're going to

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Speaker 1: go in the theaters and you're not a Marvel movie,

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Speaker 1: you've got your work cut out for you. And we've

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Speaker 1: seen plenty of failures and this whole notion of let's

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Speaker 1: call it as we've been been calling it, the mid

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Speaker 1: budget movie, which is, you know, somewhere between fifth, you know,

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Speaker 1: ten and fifty or sixty million dollars. It's not nearly

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Speaker 1: as expensive as the big Marvel blockbusters. It's not on

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Speaker 1: the other end sort of an art house oscar kind

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Speaker 1: of thing either. You're you're really staking project X on

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Speaker 1: these kind of movies. Ambulance is another one of these

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Speaker 1: kind of movies. Why because some I'm almost wondering if

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Speaker 1: people have come to you in this business and said,

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Speaker 1: are you nuts? No, I you know, I I think

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Speaker 1: I think I disagree with the premise that it can

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Speaker 1: only be the big Marvel movies And don't get me wrong.

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Speaker 1: I love them. I'm a fan. I've seen every single

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Speaker 1: one of them, but I do believe that. And if

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Speaker 1: you look at Ambulance and Screen, they're the two common

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Speaker 1: the common theme between the two of them, even though

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Speaker 1: they're different studios. Both studios planted a flag and said,

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Speaker 1: these will be theatrical movies, and I think, what what

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Speaker 1: we've forgotten? And look, it's hard coming out of a

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Speaker 1: pandemic because it's easy to forget the you know, a

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Speaker 1: day feels like a year, right, But don't forget. These

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Speaker 1: marketing and distribution people are very good at what they do.

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Speaker 1: I mean very good. And and the teams at both

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Speaker 1: Universal and Paramount that when they planted the flag and

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Speaker 1: said these will be theatrical movies, they turned on those machines.

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Speaker 1: And even though they are not the size of Marvel movies,

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Speaker 1: when you see the campaigns behind both of them, you

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Speaker 1: feel like they are big, big events that you're supposed

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Speaker 1: to go see in a movie theater. And I think

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Speaker 1: that when you plant a flag and don't waiver, these

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Speaker 1: people are very good at what they do, and they're

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Speaker 1: very good at telling an audience this is something you

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Speaker 1: should get out of your house. To come see. So

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Speaker 1: do you see a real future for mid budget movies.

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Speaker 1: Let's just let's not even talk about streaming yet. Theatrical

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Speaker 1: exclusive mid budget movies you think can work in the

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Speaker 1: indefinite future without question? That basically, and I the only

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Speaker 1: cabinet I get it give it is that I do

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Speaker 1: believe it is somewhat genre specific, right. I think there

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Speaker 1: are movies at mid budget that might not as we

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Speaker 1: look to the future, Um, depending on age, may age

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Speaker 1: breakdown and sort of what the audience may or may

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Speaker 1: not be for that movie. Um, I think you can

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Speaker 1: get stuck in no man's land for lack of a

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Speaker 1: better term. But in the right genre, regardless of budget,

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Speaker 1: I do believe there's a theatrical marketplace for movies. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I agree with you to an extent when when you

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Speaker 1: talk about Scream, for instance, I think fun horror movies

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Speaker 1: are going to have a place in theaters for a

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Speaker 1: long long time to come. Certainly, I p like Scream

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Speaker 1: that's already well known is going to have a big advantage.

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Speaker 1: But I have to be honest, I'm a little skeptical

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Speaker 1: about a movie like Ambulance, which, let's let's explain it

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Speaker 1: a Little is sort of like a police chase movie that, honestly,

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Speaker 1: you turn on Netflix these days you see a lot

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Speaker 1: of that. Some of it you even see with your

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Speaker 1: star Jake Jillen Hall, who was in a Netflix movie

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Speaker 1: of this type earlier this year. So how does the

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Speaker 1: genre of the police chase work for mid budget success?

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Speaker 1: I think it's opportunity. I think it's if you had

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to see the movies you're talking about streaming

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Speaker 1: in a in a massive platform, and they put the

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Speaker 1: campaign behind it to say you should go do this,

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Speaker 1: and it's a filmmaker that resonates in terms of the

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Speaker 1: look says I should see this on a massive screen.

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Speaker 1: Let's be like the seventy inch television or eighty five

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Speaker 1: inch television is amazing on your living room wall, it

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Speaker 1: is not forty five ft wide. And there is something

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Speaker 1: different when you take the guy who is arguably the

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Speaker 1: best at doing this thing right, Michael Bay, and you

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Speaker 1: let him do it in Los Angeles in a car chase, right,

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Speaker 1: with things blowing up in fires and all of that

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Speaker 1: stuff that and I mean that I don't think there's

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Speaker 1: anybody better at better at it in our generation. I

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Speaker 1: think that it is a different differentiator. I think if

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Speaker 1: any of those other movies you're talking about planted a

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Speaker 1: flag and said we're going to give you a window

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Speaker 1: and a time to come see it, and a campaign

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Speaker 1: behind it that made it an event, I think they

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Speaker 1: do have the opportunity to succeed. Do I think that

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Speaker 1: at certain budget levels, as you kind of get higher

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Speaker 1: and higher and higher, there probably is a danger zone.

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Speaker 1: Right when you think about a million one twenty, you

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Speaker 1: know where you go, what do I have to spend

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Speaker 1: and release it versus what can I do theatrically? But

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Speaker 1: when you're in the midget, mid budget range, your cash

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Speaker 1: break number is such a lower number where success I

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Speaker 1: think we also have to redefine success, right. Success no

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Speaker 1: longer has to be eight hundred million dollars with the

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Speaker 1: box office with a mid budget movie. You know, we're

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Speaker 1: so used to seeing these, and I say so used.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to take it for granted, but Marvel

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Speaker 1: and d C and some of these animated movies have

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Speaker 1: have changed our expectations in hundred and ninety million opening weekend,

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Speaker 1: and if you don't see that, you go it's not

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Speaker 1: a success. I would certainly agree with that we're talking though,

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Speaker 1: about a director like Michael Bay, we're talking about a

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Speaker 1: star like Jake Jillenhall. What do you think about the

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Speaker 1: drawing power of those names here and your ability to

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Speaker 1: generate success, Because certainly they're well known quantities, but I

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Speaker 1: you know, they're not. I wouldn't say they're sort of

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Speaker 1: a list A plus list. Um, will they be enough

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Speaker 1: to make the difference for you with this movie? I

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Speaker 1: think so. I think that one. I think they are.

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Speaker 1: I think from a talent standpoint, they're absolutely a plus.

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Speaker 1: I think that, um, I wouldn't know how to define

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Speaker 1: what you're what I think you're trying to get to

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Speaker 1: with the definition of that A plus actor, I would argue,

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Speaker 1: in today's world, Jake is without question. I think that,

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Speaker 1: you know, what we've moved away from is that, you know,

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Speaker 1: late eighties, early nineties, the poster is the movie star

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Speaker 1: on the you know, and that it doesn't matter what

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Speaker 1: the movie is, right. I remember right growing up, every

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Speaker 1: Tom Hanks movie it was like it didn't matter the

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Speaker 1: thing that made him so specially, you could put his

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Speaker 1: face on a poster and I like him. I'm going

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Speaker 1: to see that. I think we sell movies differently today,

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Speaker 1: So I think you don't have to look at it

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Speaker 1: the same way understood. You know, I think it was it.

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Speaker 1: I think I read that this movie costs fifty million dollars.

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Speaker 1: Is that I in the neighborhood. You're in the neighborhood, Okay. Um.

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Speaker 1: Michael Bay is a guy who you know, years back

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Speaker 1: probably didn't roll out of bed for a movie below

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Speaker 1: a hundred million? Was this something he was comfortable making

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Speaker 1: at that price tag? Was that in an adjustment to

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Speaker 1: the Michael Michael Bay way of doing things? The opposite

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Speaker 1: this is this is the movie he wanted to make.

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Speaker 1: He came out at the exact opposite way, which is,

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Speaker 1: we should make this as a down in dirty movie

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Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. And when we shot it during the pandemic,

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Speaker 1: he he saw that it could be done for a price.

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Speaker 1: He he was the one who tackled it. He was

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Speaker 1: the one who came up with how much we should

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Speaker 1: shoot it for? Um, And he came in saying, I

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Speaker 1: want to go back to that world where you know,

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Speaker 1: Mike little micro days with action units and and not

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Speaker 1: doing the giant thing. And and I think that's what

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Speaker 1: makes that's that's what makes this one special you know,

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Speaker 1: is we've when you get when you do years of

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Speaker 1: those massive, massive movies, of which they are spectacles and

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Speaker 1: amazing to watch. We forget the that version of Michael Bay,

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Speaker 1: you forget this version, which is arguably one of the

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Speaker 1: best shoot action shooters to ever live, and you just

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Speaker 1: you give him a camera and a car crash and

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Speaker 1: he will figure out how to do something cooler than

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Speaker 1: you have seen. And that's not special effects, that's not

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Speaker 1: that is purely a man in his camera and what

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Speaker 1: he's good at, and it's it's like nobody else. So

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Speaker 1: he's if you have a filmmaker who wants to do it,

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Speaker 1: it's amazing what you could accomplish. His track record certainly

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Speaker 1: speaks for itself. I'm also curious to get your sense

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Speaker 1: of in this very different theatrical marketplace, this post pandemic marketplace. UM,

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Speaker 1: I'm curious about your take with regard to shrinking window

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Speaker 1: for these movies in the theater. The days of the

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Speaker 1: ninety day are over now. It's depending on where you are,

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Speaker 1: forty five or thirty. Um. Does that figure into your

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Speaker 1: calculations of how to make movies work in theaters. No, Um,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't. I think I don't think you can. As

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Speaker 1: a producer, I don't think you can outsmart or overthink

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Speaker 1: the distribution platforms that exist. They're gonna they're going to

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Speaker 1: do what's good for their businesses, as they should. And

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Speaker 1: as a producer, if you want to be in the

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Speaker 1: theatrical business, you figure out the place that has the

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Speaker 1: most in line interests with how you see the world.

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Speaker 1: With Ambulance, Universal sees that the actual window is valuable

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Speaker 1: and we love we love that, and then whatever the

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Speaker 1: window is for them, you create the box that exists.

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Speaker 1: And we went in with my wanting to do this

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Speaker 1: size movie and it fit in that box where we

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Speaker 1: could be successful in a window. And you know, it's

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Speaker 1: not quite reverse engineering, but I think you have to.

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Speaker 1: You have to understand the what these businesses are going

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Speaker 1: through and then create, you know, sort of the right

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Speaker 1: environment to go be successful in that specific box. You know.

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Speaker 1: I'm also curious about the appetite for mid budget movies

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Speaker 1: at the streaming services, where you could have conceivably steered

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Speaker 1: Ambulance and perhaps we'll steer other things. What is your

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Speaker 1: sense of the marketplace there. Do you think you could

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Speaker 1: end up doing more for streaming services, and you necessarily

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Speaker 1: would for theaters in the future. I you know, it's funny.

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Speaker 1: I don't look at the world that way. I look

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Speaker 1: at the world at from from our perspective. At project text.

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Speaker 1: We develop our proper our material house. When we're ready

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Speaker 1: to take it to the town, we decide, we try

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Speaker 1: and decide what's right for that specific piece of content,

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Speaker 1: and then go try and get it done. In that

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Speaker 1: we don't look at the world and say everything has

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Speaker 1: to be x or y um and I think the

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Speaker 1: right way in today's marketplace is to have a good

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Speaker 1: mix across the board. There are certain projects that should

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Speaker 1: be streaming. For me, mid budget things or high bunche

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Speaker 1: of things are low budget things that will fit perfectly

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Speaker 1: in a streaming platform. Um And I think to be

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Speaker 1: successful as a producer, independent or otherwise, it's always been

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Speaker 1: a relationship business and it has to continue to be

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Speaker 1: that right because making movies is hard, so you might

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Speaker 1: as well make movies with people you like. So relationships

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Speaker 1: is a very important piece of our business. And I

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Speaker 1: think you need to have projects everywhere in all kinds

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Speaker 1: of mediums and plant and distribution platforms to be successful.

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Speaker 1: So we look at it and say what's the right

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Speaker 1: mix for us in any given year in terms of

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Speaker 1: project we have set up so that as things cycle

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Speaker 1: through getting made, you have a good mix of streaming

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Speaker 1: of theatrical release. You know, those are those are all

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Speaker 1: good ways to keep a business healthy. We're talking with

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Speaker 1: William Sharik and we'll be back with him in just

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Speaker 1: a moment. And we're back with William Sharick of Project

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Speaker 1: X Entertainment, producer of films like Scream, the Latest One

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Speaker 1: and the upcoming Ambulance. William, I want to talk more

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Speaker 1: about Project X and what you're doing there, because you

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Speaker 1: know you've got off to a nice start this year.

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Speaker 1: There's I think four movies or maybe three, and and

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Speaker 1: you also have a limited series is it The Night

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Speaker 1: Agent set up at Netflix as well. It's it's a

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Speaker 1: busy year. Um, what is the next phase of growth

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Speaker 1: for your company? Um? You know, we kind of look

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Speaker 1: at it in different phases. I think phase one. And

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Speaker 1: because you know, Jamie, Paul and I my two partners,

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Speaker 1: um have all been doing this for a pretty long time.

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Speaker 1: It was proving to ourselves in the industry that as

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Speaker 1: a partnership the three of us could be successful in

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Speaker 1: sort of what you would call the traditional producing you know,

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Speaker 1: the traditional producing ways, developing material, getting out in the marketplace,

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Speaker 1: getting the maide having to be successful, I think year

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Speaker 1: one and to prove that, you know, Scream came out,

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Speaker 1: was was successful. We're super excited we were getting a sequel,

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Speaker 1: will shoot this summer um Ambulance. I could not be

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Speaker 1: more proud of as well, you know, we put it together.

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Speaker 1: It's a it's a great piece of material with an

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Speaker 1: amazing filmmaker and stars, and Universal is really happy and

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Speaker 1: they've been an unbelievable partner. Our first TV show is

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Speaker 1: a series of Netflix that Shawn Ryan created with us

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Speaker 1: UM based on a book we option called The Night Agent.

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Speaker 1: And then we have a movie UM with Sts that

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Speaker 1: comes out in July called bed Rest with the first

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Speaker 1: time director right, a writer director that we love, Nick

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Speaker 1: Lori Evans Taylor, and we're super thrilled to prove that

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Speaker 1: she can be a big director in the world. And

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Speaker 1: so for us that that's phase one, right, proving to

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Speaker 1: the world that this group of few people together, even

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Speaker 1: though individually we've all had you know, a certain level

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Speaker 1: of success and getting things made in and things that

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Speaker 1: people enjoyed as a group, we can do it. Phase two,

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Speaker 1: because we want to stay independent UM will be some

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Speaker 1: version of building, buying or raising a platform so that

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Speaker 1: we don't need to go into a bigger infrastructure UM

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Speaker 1: and for us, that is either raising a fund UM

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Speaker 1: buying a business that is currently its own platform, and

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Speaker 1: then putting our talents on top of that as a

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Speaker 1: management team, but at the end of the day, creating

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Speaker 1: a cash flows creating a business that has a big

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Speaker 1: enough cash flow stream where we can stay independent and

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Speaker 1: continue to UM to developed material, co find material and

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Speaker 1: you know, and and sort of uh create our own destiny.

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Speaker 1: Sounds audacious. I want to understand better than what you

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Speaker 1: mean by acquiring a platform. And I know I'm not

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Speaker 1: asking you to sort of tip your hand what you're

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Speaker 1: gonna do, but give me a better sense of what

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Speaker 1: that means. Do you want to buy a Netflix or something?

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Speaker 1: I mean no, no, no, I for us think much smaller,

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Speaker 1: right Like for us, it's it's I want to you know,

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Speaker 1: there are there are independent companies out there that have

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Speaker 1: done a great job over the years of building a

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Speaker 1: small library of content UM and as those cycle through

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Speaker 1: the sales process, right people retire, they want to sell

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Speaker 1: their libraries. There's constantly small things out there that are available,

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Speaker 1: and if you acquire them, you're building you know, ongoing

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Speaker 1: cash flow, which can you know build sort of prop

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Speaker 1: up a business. I think, you know, one of the

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Speaker 1: things that differentiates us is that separate of producing or

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Speaker 1: with Jamie writing directing, we have some more traditional business backgrounds. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, my partner pull Mine scene random business affairs

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Speaker 1: at Paramount for ten years, then was the CEO of

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Speaker 1: rat Pack and did all the slate financing deals, so

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Speaker 1: he has that background. UM. I took a little bit

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Speaker 1: of time off from producing about eleven years ago and

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Speaker 1: created what became the largest we D conversion company in

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Speaker 1: the world and sold that to Ron Perlman's Deluxe, and

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Speaker 1: then became president of Creative Group of Deluxe and did

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Speaker 1: half a dozen M and A transactions in that world,

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Speaker 1: and then during the pandemic, through Platinum Equity, bought back

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Speaker 1: Deluxe the post production entity. So we have a ton

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Speaker 1: of M and A background UM, So it's sort of

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Speaker 1: as opposed to just creative producing, So there's a there's

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Speaker 1: a direct sort of link for us to go use

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Speaker 1: those skill sets and turn project X into more of

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Speaker 1: a as opposed to producer for higher and fee based

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Speaker 1: more of a enterprise and growing enterprise value in business. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's certainly an interesting time to have that ambition because

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Speaker 1: the marketplace out there for content companies right now is

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Speaker 1: like nothing I've ever seen. I think, Frau frau that

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Speaker 1: you would be an understatement. UM. But I wonder if

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Speaker 1: that represents a challenge because some of the price tags

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Speaker 1: on some of these companies is they've been driven up

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Speaker 1: quite high because of all the interest private equities out

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Speaker 1: there hunting. Um. So what do you think of this marketplace?

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Speaker 1: Does it help you, hurt you? I think it helps.

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Speaker 1: There's so much money on the sidelines to put into

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Speaker 1: it that, you know, look for us, the checks we'd

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Speaker 1: be looking at aren't checks we could afford. You're going

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Speaker 1: to need to bring in a financial sponsor to help

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Speaker 1: you do it. So all of the places you're talking

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Speaker 1: about that have driven the pricing up, those would be

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Speaker 1: our partners. So I'm because we're also we believe we're

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Speaker 1: good at what we do UM, and we want to

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Speaker 1: keep doing it. We're not looking to retire. I think

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Speaker 1: if we can take our ability to um to scale

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Speaker 1: capacity in a in a library that generates cash flow.

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Speaker 1: Regardless of price you pay, you can continue to grow

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Speaker 1: the enterprise value. So I'm not worried. I'm not worried today.

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Speaker 1: Even if pricing is high, I don't think it drops

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Speaker 1: in the next decade, twenty years from now. Who knows, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: let's be clear that you know, there could be somebody

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Speaker 1: working on a piece of technology that none of us

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Speaker 1: have even thought of. But at least for the foreseeable future,

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Speaker 1: the value of content is not going down. Okay, pre

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Speaker 1: acquisition though, uh you it seems like you're still partnering

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Speaker 1: with studios though you still have the ability to finance

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Speaker 1: if you want to. And where where does that come from?

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Speaker 1: Do you have backers and and they're ready to help

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Speaker 1: fund a acquisition as well? Well, So that from a

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Speaker 1: development standpoint, self funded. From a production standpoint, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're we're not in a place at the moment to

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Speaker 1: fully co fide um, but we are in a place

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Speaker 1: where um, given the right financial given the right financial

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Speaker 1: you know, sort of box any one movie is put in.

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Speaker 1: If there is a way to be more financing, create

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Speaker 1: a financing opportunity that's what Paul does. So bed Rest

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Speaker 1: wasn't minimum guarantee from STX. We met, we banked, and

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Speaker 1: we own and so we did that movie. We did

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Speaker 1: the movie that movie that way. UM, so we have

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Speaker 1: the ability to go get financing um and because we

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Speaker 1: know how to structure those deals, we'd be able to

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Speaker 1: create that opportunity if it's the right project for us. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like you've got ambitions to be

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Speaker 1: what what's known in the business as a mini major,

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Speaker 1: something that could stand side by side with some of

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Speaker 1: the bigger studios, but you would be no small fry.

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Speaker 1: That's the hope, right, I think you you want to

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Speaker 1: do that. You want to build a place where all

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Speaker 1: of our friends and colleagues that we've had so much

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Speaker 1: fun working with over the years can come and create. Um.

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Speaker 1: That's the goal, right, is to to give all of

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Speaker 1: our content creating friends, right, the true creatives, just another

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Speaker 1: place to develop that they're excited to work with and

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Speaker 1: and that we can scale a business that content creators

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Speaker 1: enjoy working with. And then the nimble. The thing we

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Speaker 1: don't want to do is get so big where you

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Speaker 1: can't be nimble. We want to stay in the world

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Speaker 1: where we are always independent, so our nimbleness allows us

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Speaker 1: then to sell to any distributor. We should make clear

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Speaker 1: you're not just in the movie business. We talked about

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Speaker 1: The Night Agent. I think you also have an animated

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Speaker 1: show set up at Fox based on the Bloom County

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Speaker 1: comic strip. Isn't TV really sort of the better market

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Speaker 1: right now than compared to film anyway? You know, I

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Speaker 1: don't know. I think that. I guess I don't look

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Speaker 1: at the world that way. I look at the world

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Speaker 1: that you want to have a great mix. You want

431
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 1: to you want to be creating content for all the

432
00:24:55,560 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 1: different mediums of distribution, um, whether that be you know,

433
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 1: limited series, animation, normal series, network series, film, whether it

434
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 1: be theatrical, extreaming. I think we want to create a world,

435
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:13,160
Speaker 1: an environment at Project X where we have proven ourselves

436
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 1: in each of the mediums, so we have a project

437
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:17,639
Speaker 1: that's right for any one of them, we can go

438
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 1: get it done. That's how we look at the world.

439
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a one is better or the

440
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:26,120
Speaker 1: other than the other. We look at it as we

441
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 1: we as a group of partners, love consuming all of it.

442
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,959
Speaker 1: So what's the right story to tell in what medium

443
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: is sort of the way we look at it and

444
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:39,800
Speaker 1: we go from there. You know bloom County I mentioned,

445
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,280
Speaker 1: And there's other things on your development slide, be it

446
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 1: film or TV that are kind of like Scream. You know,

447
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,240
Speaker 1: old franchises that you might be looking to revive or reboot.

448
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:56,000
Speaker 1: I'm curious whether it's Scream or anything else. How do

449
00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 1: you figure out what intellectual property out there could resonate again? Had?

450
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,120
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you talk about a good story

451
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: and having fun with people you want to partner with,

452
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:11,600
Speaker 1: But how do you know what I p has a

453
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:15,000
Speaker 1: sort of a reservoir of goodwill out in the audience

454
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:20,520
Speaker 1: worth tapping. Um. I think you pretend you're smart and

455
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,920
Speaker 1: hope you're lucky, right. I think, Look, I think it's

456
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: all gut and you're either going to be right or wrong. Um.

457
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: But you know, we have a saying a project XT

458
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,320
Speaker 1: not everybody has to like it, but somebody here has

459
00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,399
Speaker 1: to love it. And as long as somebody loves it,

460
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 1: we can all get behind because I think the passion

461
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 1: of liking, of loving it comes through in the creation

462
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 1: of it. We all love the screen franchise, we love it, right,

463
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 1: we love the original. We loved all of the three

464
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 1: others um that followed, and I think the fun of

465
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:54,400
Speaker 1: this new one comes through in our love of everything

466
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,680
Speaker 1: West Craven Kevin Williamson did Opus and Blue County another one.

467
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:03,199
Speaker 1: What Berkeley created that comic strip is second to none. Right,

468
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,160
Speaker 1: he want to feel a surprise for it. I think

469
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,160
Speaker 1: getting to revive, although not revives unfair. He's been doing

470
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 1: the comic strips recently. UM, so it's not a revival

471
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 1: as much as it is let's turn it into a

472
00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: visual medium. Yeah, a moving image medium, not just a

473
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,560
Speaker 1: comic strip. Um. We think we're gonna be right right.

474
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: We look at what Berkeley's done, and he's gonna be

475
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,959
Speaker 1: the north star of this show and create it. Um.

476
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: We think as an animated show it can live forever. Um.

477
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 1: And we're excited about it. But I don't think you

478
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: can ever pretend you truly know. We just we love

479
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 1: what we love and we're going to get behind that

480
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 1: and work as hard as we can to make it successful.

481
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 1: And then once it's out there, the audience is going

482
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: to tell you if you were right or not. And

483
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:53,160
Speaker 1: I assume that's a project for beyond two. Uh. What

484
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:57,439
Speaker 1: does the post two slate look like right now? What

485
00:27:57,520 --> 00:27:59,720
Speaker 1: could we see the year after? Do you have you

486
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 1: guys sort of map that far ahead yet in terms

487
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,159
Speaker 1: of what's going to come out? Um, yeah, we have

488
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 1: a we have you know, a handful of TV things

489
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,160
Speaker 1: and a handful of feature things that we're getting ready

490
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:13,520
Speaker 1: to take to market. Obviously Screen the next screen, which

491
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,720
Speaker 1: we're very excited about. We start shooting in June, so

492
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,960
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's a combination of feature and

493
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 1: television and and as we got to market with stuff,

494
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 1: you know, we've we've had a pretty good conversion rate

495
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:28,680
Speaker 1: of getting stuck made in the hope is we stick

496
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 1: in that same world, but we try and go to

497
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 1: market with stuff that's a little more ready to go

498
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: as opposed to being in development for a long time,

499
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,239
Speaker 1: So we kind of hold stuff in house longer in

500
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: hopes that when we do go out with it, it's

501
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: sort of let's go make this. Well. I'm really looking

502
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: forward to seeing what the world holds for you and

503
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 1: Project x Uh, not just for Ambulance in the coming weeks,

504
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 1: but uh in the years ahead. You've got quite an

505
00:28:55,680 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: ambitious UH agenda ahead of the company and I wish

506
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: you the best with it. Thank you so much and

507
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 1: thanks for allowing me to be on this. It was

508
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,280
Speaker 1: a ton of fun and UH look forward to hearing

509
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 1: what comes next for you. This has been another episode

510
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: of Strictly Business. Tune in next week for another helping

511
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:23,440
Speaker 1: of scintillating conversation with media movers and shakers, and please

512
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to the podcast to hear future episodes. Also,

513
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 1: leave a review in Apple Podcasts and let us know

514
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: how we're doing.