Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcasts featuring conversations with
Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Speaker 1: Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety. Well, this
Speaker 1: is a very special episode of Strictly Business. Indeed, I
Speaker 1: am coming to you live on tape while hurtling through
Speaker 1: the French countryside heading north to Charles de Gaul Airport
Speaker 1: in Paris. I am just left Marseille about ten minutes ago.
Speaker 1: Dear listeners, thanks for writing with me on a special
Speaker 1: episode of this podcast. It combines my love for trains
Speaker 1: and my love for yaking about the media business and
Speaker 1: how it's changing. I captured some thoughts while locomotoring through
Speaker 1: the French countryside after covering the MIPCOM market and conference
Speaker 1: in can during the week of October sixteenth. As always,
Speaker 1: it's so i opening to travel overseas and see how
Speaker 1: vast the media world is beyond the confines of the US.
Speaker 1: I pick up insights just walking around the crosset and environs.
Speaker 1: I also picked up a head cold somewhere along the way,
Speaker 1: but armed with throat lozenges, I soldiered on. I was
Speaker 1: fortunate to be asked by MIPCOM organizers to conduct sit
Speaker 1: down interviews with three high profile subjects. Paramount Global CEO
Speaker 1: Bob Bakish was named mipcom's Personality of the Year. Maxim Seda,
Speaker 1: CEO of Canal Pluse, was Variety's Vanguard Award recipient, recognizing
Speaker 1: his contributions to the global TV business. And Eva Longoria
Speaker 1: and Chris Abrego traveled to the French Riviera to announce
Speaker 1: their new production and talent development venture, Hyphenate. Also during
Speaker 1: my rounds at the Palais, I had an emotional interview
Speaker 1: with Nadav Palti, CEO of Israel's Door Media. That's all
Speaker 1: coming up after this break and we're back with observations
Speaker 1: on the global content marketplace. I would say that McComb
Speaker 1: was a busy market, if not a buoyant market. There
Speaker 1: was lots of activity, lots of talk about deals. There
Speaker 1: were some deals that were signed there in the Palais
Speaker 1: and in the coas said, but a lot. As always
Speaker 1: with these kind of conferences, there's a lot of conversations
Speaker 1: that initiate and then a lot of paperwork and lawyer
Speaker 1: work that has to ensue. But definitely everyone all the
Speaker 1: big and small, established and relatively new. Everybody was having meetings.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of activity and that all seemed
Speaker 1: to reflect the other cross currents, which is unmistakably the
Speaker 1: large European players sense opportunity out there. They are very
Speaker 1: much watching the turmoil in the US at the US majors,
Speaker 1: between the labor strikes that have handicapped production this year,
Speaker 1: to all of their restructuring, the streaming losses that the
Speaker 1: old Guard studios have incurred as they try to make
Speaker 1: the transition from linear to streaming. All of that is
Speaker 1: being watched very carefully by very savvy European players. Every
Speaker 1: single person I spoke with mentioned to me, you know
Speaker 1: that there's such a lower price point for production in Europe.
Speaker 1: You can just sense that there's going to be a
Speaker 1: push to bring more production to Europe, arguing that there
Speaker 1: is a ready talent pool that has become very skilled
Speaker 1: with the streaming boom, there is so much production all
Speaker 1: over Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and that ensues and with
Speaker 1: that comes a skilled talent pool that is looking for work.
Speaker 1: Of course, they're watching to see the great contraction if
Speaker 1: the streamers have less appetite than they have had in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years. But the kind of europe
Speaker 1: and co production projects that are really kind of humming
Speaker 1: are the kind of lower price point things that streamers want.
Speaker 1: They may only appeal to a niche audience, but that
Speaker 1: niche audience is going to love that costume drama from
Speaker 1: Sweden or a ry satirical comedy coming out of Brazil
Speaker 1: with subtitles. All of the producers I spoke with mentioned
Speaker 1: that the tyranny of dealing with subtitles and dubbing is
Speaker 1: over audiences in the US and other markets that had
Speaker 1: been thought to be totally resistant to either subtitles or
Speaker 1: dubbing is absolutely lifting, and certainly subtitles is winning for
Speaker 1: many reasons. The US was a big holdout for that,
Speaker 1: but all the much evidence shows that those fears are
Speaker 1: definitely lifting, and that raises the hopes of many many producers,
Speaker 1: and especially the labor strife, which is something Hollywood hasn't
Speaker 1: had in a long time, and especially to this degree.
Speaker 1: Europe is very well aware of general strikes in the
Speaker 1: general sense of when there is a period of labor unrest,
Speaker 1: and there is definite efforts to emphasize the appeal of
Speaker 1: working with European talent in many ways. I took a
Speaker 1: lot of meetings during my three days at Mipcom. I
Speaker 1: was very excited to meet a couple of compelling female CEOs,
Speaker 1: including Telepool CEO Yoko Haguchi Zitzman. And it's funny that
Speaker 1: I had to travel all the way to cann to
Speaker 1: learn that that company based out of Munich is owned
Speaker 1: by Will Smith's Westbrook Company. I knew it on paper,
Speaker 1: but the significance of it and the interesting parts of
Speaker 1: it didn't sink in till I was sitting talking with
Speaker 1: them in their booth in the Palais. Yoko brought with
Speaker 1: her to Mipcom a very big swing for their company,
Speaker 1: Davos nineteen seventeen, a big, sudzy soapy limited series that
Speaker 1: has romance, espionage, intrigue. It seems like the kind of
Speaker 1: costume drama that is going to be catniped for some streamer,
Speaker 1: and it's already set up well in Europe with a
Speaker 1: couple of broadcasters, and she's excited about the potential for
Speaker 1: that project. I could stand here and talk about the
Speaker 1: media business and watch the French countryside go by for
Speaker 1: a few more hours, but I can tell I'm wearing thin.
Speaker 1: The patients of my fellow passengers some more to come.
Speaker 1: Paramount Global CEO Bob b Akish first came to mipcom
Speaker 1: years ago as head of Viacom's International TV Channels group. Today,
Speaker 1: he's leading the entire company through a difficult period of transition,
Speaker 1: but his confidence that better days are ahead comes through
Speaker 1: loud and clear in our conversation. As you said here today,
Speaker 1: how do you feel you articulated the Paramount had sort
Speaker 1: of taken its third way? How do you feel about
Speaker 1: the health of Paramount streaming business and that sort of that.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about Hollywood's long term decision made
Speaker 1: about five years ago to really go forward into direct
Speaker 1: to consumer? Do you think that the business maybe went
Speaker 1: a little too headlong into direct to consumer?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'd say a couple things.
Speaker 3: First, I'd reiterate what you said, which is two years
Speaker 3: ago we said twenty twenty three was our peak investment
Speaker 3: year in streaming. Today we're still saying that it's our
Speaker 3: peak investment year in streaming. And we've also said publicly
Speaker 3: that twenty twenty four will be a year of significant
Speaker 3: earnings growth for the company, driven by significant reduction in
Speaker 3: streaming losses. So we said that two years ago, we
Speaker 3: had a plan that reflected that, and we continue to
Speaker 3: believe that today point one point two is really zooming
Speaker 3: out a little. Yes, there has been a continued discussion
Speaker 3: about streaming and the robustness of that business and profitability
Speaker 3: and all of that. And at the same time, I
Speaker 3: would say, sitting here today, it's more true than even
Speaker 3: two years ago that it's going to be important that
Speaker 3: you have a significant exposure, exposure in a positive way
Speaker 3: to streaming because consumers continue to move that direction. The
Speaker 3: linear ecosystem remains, but it is you know, continues to
Speaker 3: be in a gradual decline and streaming continues to get bigger.
Speaker 3: You only have to look at the numbers to know that.
Speaker 3: So it's vitally important that we build a streaming business.
Speaker 3: The other point I'd make, and it really goes back
Speaker 3: to the licensing one, is you know, people like simple answers,
Speaker 3: and what was in vogue as a simple answer was
Speaker 3: the way to be in streaming was one hundred percent
Speaker 3: owned and operated D two C in every market around
Speaker 3: the world. And I think the reality is, frankly, I
Speaker 3: know the reality is not that simple that we believe
Speaker 3: and are beginning to demonstrate that a more multifaceted approach
Speaker 3: to streaming, which among other things, embraces partnerships, is the
Speaker 3: more fiscally responsible and ultimately more financially powerful way to
Speaker 3: unlock the if you will, streaming tam total addressable market. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of discussion about streaming, and certainly call it.
Speaker 3: The street's view on valuation of streaming has moved adversely
Speaker 3: in the last two years. But the importance of having
Speaker 3: a scale streaming asset again in a multifaceted way, it's
Speaker 3: never been more important. And again I think once again
Speaker 3: we are leading, as we did in ADS supported streaming
Speaker 3: with Pluto. We're the first major media company to get
Speaker 3: into that. People said what is that? And they turned
Speaker 3: around three years later and we took a seventy million
Speaker 3: dollar business and took it over a billion, and people
Speaker 3: are like, oh, you're right, that's the real business.
Speaker 2: Just like Paramount Plus.
Speaker 3: When we launched it, we said lower priced tier with ads,
Speaker 3: higher priced tier without ads, because we want to give
Speaker 3: consumer optionality.
Speaker 2: People question that.
Speaker 3: Now fast forward today, pretty much the whole marketplace is there.
Speaker 3: This is another one where streaming is a multifaceted business. Sure,
Speaker 3: we're going to be O and O, D two C
Speaker 3: in major markets in the world, we're in others. But
Speaker 3: there's going to be an additional part of that business
Speaker 3: that's going to have different models, and that's okay. In fact,
Speaker 3: that is more attractive, and what we need is the
Speaker 3: street to really understand that. And I do think the
Speaker 3: earnings turn, if you will, from twenty three to twenty four,
Speaker 3: which is really the macro headwind people are looking for,
Speaker 3: call it clarity on Once they see that and then
Speaker 3: start to see these things are incrementally valuable, I think
Speaker 3: the evaluation picture gets much better. So, yeah, we're in
Speaker 3: the trough, so be it. We play through.
Speaker 1: Kennell Blue CEO maxim Seta was remarkably candid during our
Speaker 1: conversation after he received the Variety Vanguard Award. I certainly
Speaker 1: didn't expect him to start by detailing the number of
Speaker 1: times the company almost died. He certainly grabbed the audience's attention.
Speaker 4: If you want to talk about the last seven or
Speaker 4: eight years, you have to think about the history of
Speaker 4: Kennel Plus, because it has driven a lot of our
Speaker 4: actions and one of the key elements regarding an Lplus
Speaker 4: is that it's a company that has almost died several times,
Speaker 4: disappeared right after it was launched in eighty four. It
Speaker 4: was the first believed it was a hit, but then
Speaker 4: a gigantic failure, and for a while it was on
Speaker 4: the brink of disaster, and then it happened several times
Speaker 4: over its history, and I joined in two thousand and
Speaker 4: four and two thousand and two, two thousand and three
Speaker 4: again can Lplus was on the brink of disaster, and
Speaker 4: then we had a very difficult time when I was
Speaker 4: appointed CEO as well. So you start to develop, first
Speaker 4: of all, a survivors syndrome like should should this company
Speaker 4: be existing? Is there is there a sense to us
Speaker 4: continuing in this environment? And then you once you think
Speaker 4: that yes, you should be existing, you developed some kind
Speaker 4: of survivors instincts, and so a lot of our actions
Speaker 4: have been driven by and my actions have been driven
Speaker 4: by my obsession for the company to survive. Actually, it's
Speaker 4: a very different state of mind than when you're on
Speaker 4: the offensive and you want to be a global player
Speaker 4: that Netflix and you have the resources, the financial resources
Speaker 4: to do that.
Speaker 1: And totally different from the history of European broadcasting being
Speaker 1: you know, state run and a few small independents that
Speaker 1: still had that state support can help plue. You are
Speaker 1: in the you are in the marketplace, you rise and fall.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I can really clearly states that we
Speaker 4: have no support, no support than your viewers. Well, we
Speaker 4: have support from the talent and the environment, and we
Speaker 4: have a lot of support from the actors in the industry.
Speaker 4: But from the regulatory standpoint, it's a very complicated market.
Speaker 4: Fronds and Europe in general is a very highly regulated
Speaker 4: market and so very complicated to survive. Again, but based
Speaker 4: on what I said and the fact that the company
Speaker 4: was in a tough situation and was losing a lot
Speaker 4: of money in France, your home market, so you're trying
Speaker 4: to think about how do we expand, but maybe the
Speaker 4: first thing to do is to you know, solve your
Speaker 4: French domestic situation. We it was a very tough times
Speaker 4: for can Helplus when I was appointed, because we had
Speaker 4: to do very significant cost reductions close to twenty percent
Speaker 4: of our cost base. We did something that you never
Speaker 4: recommend in business school to do, which is to lower
Speaker 4: the price. So we lowered the price to find some
Speaker 4: growth again, and and generally at the same time we
Speaker 4: decided to expand overseas, so again very risky, but when again,
Speaker 4: when you have survival, the instinct you think your really
Speaker 4: best one year at the you know, in the toughest situation.
Speaker 4: And I think that's and distribute and thank you again
Speaker 4: for Distribute and the can words. And I really appreciate
Speaker 4: what what Michelle and Lucy said. This for me is
Speaker 4: a tribute to the teams, to the canaplus teams. And
Speaker 4: I'm not you know, being it's not it's it's it's true.
Speaker 4: I mean, the teams at ken Helplus are super committed
Speaker 4: and they're never better, never stronger than when the situation
Speaker 4: is is very tough. So when you look at Kennel,
Speaker 4: it was a very French company, very dependent on a
Speaker 4: few rights. One of them is actually happening today. There's
Speaker 4: the tender for the French soccer domestic rights today and
Speaker 4: I announced publicly that we were not participating. And in
Speaker 4: twenty eighteen we lost that right. And at the time,
Speaker 4: our studies were telling us that half of our subscribers
Speaker 4: would probably leave if we do not have that right.
Speaker 4: We're so dependent on that right that and you know,
Speaker 4: it's a fixed caust base, so if you lose half
Speaker 4: of your subscribers again, you're dead. So again, the obsession
Speaker 4: of the team and my personal obsession was to reduce
Speaker 4: all our dependencies. We were too dependent on the French market.
Speaker 4: How do we go overseas and reduce that dependency. We're
Speaker 4: too dependent on French domestic soccer, you know, So we
Speaker 4: expanding it to motorsports, you know, FROMULA one, Motor GP,
Speaker 4: Rugby Champions League, and then how do you expand from that?
Speaker 4: And we signed output deals with all Hollywood majors, and
Speaker 4: then we signed a very significant, the most significant deal
Speaker 4: with French cinema. And then you say, okay, how do
Speaker 4: we use again dependency? And that's when I went to
Speaker 4: see readerstings in Los Ghettos. I think it was now
Speaker 4: maybe five years ago or six year I think I'm
Speaker 4: the only European who actually went to Lose Ghettos and
Speaker 4: claimed that. And I went to see Read and I
Speaker 4: had a very long conversation with him and tried to
Speaker 4: convince him that we were not necessarily competitors, that he
Speaker 4: was on the same side as can help us, because
Speaker 4: he was trying to convince people to actually pay for content,
Speaker 4: and we started integrating the platforms into our offers Netflix
Speaker 4: and then Disney Plus and then Lionsgate and then Paramoun
Speaker 4: Plus and finally Apple TV Plus.
Speaker 1: And would you say, I mean, it seems like the
Speaker 1: timing of and I appreciate your candor about where you
Speaker 1: were at that time. It seems like the timing of
Speaker 1: what I said about Netflix and the focus of the
Speaker 1: idea that content companies can be more than just their
Speaker 1: geographical boundaries is like a perfect timing for what you
Speaker 1: needed to do for your own business.
Speaker 4: I think what you said is completely true on Netflix,
Speaker 4: and we owe so much to Netflix, to be honest,
Speaker 4: we owe so much because they showed the way they
Speaker 4: showed it was possible to have shows and movies travel
Speaker 4: to build scale like they did. And then you know,
Speaker 4: before the launch in Friends, they were already very strong
Speaker 4: in the US, so I had a head start. And
Speaker 4: just one example is I went, we had we were
Speaker 4: co producing a show with Ski at that time called Tunnel,
Speaker 4: and I thought, we need to launch Binge because if
Speaker 4: we don't, then they'll launch in Friends and say, Canalplus
Speaker 4: is the old television. We're the new player, and we're
Speaker 4: launching Binge. So I wanted to launch Binch before they did.
Speaker 4: I had the head start, but they need to convince Sky.
Speaker 4: So I came to London. I went to London and
Speaker 4: convinced our partners from Sky to launch Binge. So we
Speaker 4: were able to take advantage of the fact that we
Speaker 4: had some kind of time before the launch in Friends
Speaker 4: and so we could appreciate the extent to which really
Speaker 4: they made, you know, a number of new innovations that
Speaker 4: we could some of them we could launch before them.
Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with Eva Longoria
Speaker 1: and Chris Abrego and Doriy Media's Nadov Palti. And we're
Speaker 1: back with observations on the international marketplace from Eva Longoria,
Speaker 1: Chris Abrego and Dori Media's Nadov Palti. Chris Abrego and
Speaker 1: Eva Longoria came to can with big news of their
Speaker 1: new partnership backed by one of Europe's most dynamic media companies, Banajet.
Speaker 1: What's more, Chris gets to keep his day job as
Speaker 1: Banajet's Chairman of the Americas. Here the partners explain the
Speaker 1: meaning behind the hyphenate Moniker.
Speaker 5: We are really excited about this Chris and I've known
Speaker 5: each other twenty twenty five years. I think my first
Speaker 5: producing credit was with Chris, and I remember when you
Speaker 5: Spot Talent, Yeah you can spot talent, and Chris was,
Speaker 5: you know, at a robust production company of his own,
Speaker 5: and I remember him taking the leap into an executive.
Speaker 5: Actually made fun of him the first time he wore
Speaker 5: a suit because he didn't known any suits. And what
Speaker 5: I liked most about partnering with Banajey as well was
Speaker 5: all of them are producers at heart. They're very entrepreneurial
Speaker 5: and very producer minded, which you don't find in our industry.
Speaker 5: You have the executive you know that gives notes and
Speaker 5: you know, tells you how to do the production who's
Speaker 5: never produced before, so that's frustrating. We've voiced a lot
Speaker 5: of these frustrations. But as a hyphen it, you know,
Speaker 5: I'm an actor, producer director. People think I'm an actor
Speaker 5: turned producer director. I've always been a producer director that
Speaker 5: fell into acting, So I've always been very interested and
Speaker 5: more curious about being behind the camera. But I kept
Speaker 5: getting into these overhead deals that could not service my ambition.
Speaker 5: And by definition a multi hyphen it is somebody who
Speaker 5: does more. You know, I want to do more, and
Speaker 5: that multi hyphen it isn't surviving in Hollywood because it's
Speaker 5: an industry that really wants you to stay in your lane.
Speaker 5: They really want you to stay in your box, and
Speaker 5: specifically if you're a person of color or a woman.
Speaker 5: And so when Chris and I started talking about this
Speaker 5: couple of years ago, it was my frustration and his
Speaker 5: ambition that kind of met and we said, oh my gosh,
Speaker 5: you know, it's not just me that feels this way.
Speaker 5: I know so many amazing, incomparable creators who are being
Speaker 5: suffocated by the system, and so hyphen It is going
Speaker 5: to provide an alternate model, and we really have a
Speaker 5: modern approach to how to create visionary content that is
Speaker 5: culture defining for the most diverse generation we are ever facing.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's perfectly thing I said about added that it's
Speaker 6: just when you think of if you think about the
Speaker 6: actual hyphen is a punctuation market that puts two words
Speaker 6: together in our world. As even said, the multi hyphen
Speaker 6: it is a world builder and they really are because
Speaker 6: both Eve and I have been outsiders in this industry, right,
Speaker 6: I mean that we met. I don't think anybody would
Speaker 6: have bet on us, you know, while over twenty years ago,
Speaker 6: and so we have to build it ourselves. Mainly, it's
Speaker 6: always and nothing's ever been handed to us in a sense.
Speaker 6: And so now we're in this position with Hyphenite Media
Speaker 6: Group to bet on people who've been underestimated.
Speaker 5: Or underinvested in.
Speaker 6: We're more importantly underinvested in.
Speaker 1: The outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas has been
Speaker 1: a dark cloud hanging over the world, and it certainly
Speaker 1: was felt at Mipcom. Nadov Palti, CEO of Israeli production
Speaker 1: distribution firm Doriy Media, made a very considered decision to
Speaker 1: stick with his plan to attend Mipcom despite all that
Speaker 1: was happening in his native country. Here, Nadov offers a
Speaker 1: profound explanation for why it was important to keep Doory
Speaker 1: Media's business plans on track, and he also offers powerful
Speaker 1: examples of how storytelling can build vital cultural bridges. Let's
Speaker 1: start at the beginning. Obviously, you come to Mipcom with
Speaker 1: Doriy Media, busy producer, distributor. You have a lot of
Speaker 1: business going on, and less than two weeks ago war
Speaker 1: breaks out brutal cruel senseless war breaks out, how does
Speaker 1: that affect you as a business Dory Media, what do
Speaker 1: you think that the impact of this senseless violence is
Speaker 1: going to be. I know the emotional costs cannot be valued,
Speaker 1: they are beyond valuation. But from the business sense for
Speaker 1: Dory Media, what do you think this situation in Israel
Speaker 1: is going to mean for Israeli media, which is so
Speaker 1: big and away.
Speaker 7: For first, we have to say that it's really one
Speaker 7: of the sadnests, toughest and how period and maybe in
Speaker 7: the history of as well. And everybody in Israel is
Speaker 7: very as you describe said worry.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 7: Not only there is already even think or know how
Speaker 7: it's going to end or what's going to happen, how
Speaker 7: it's going to develop. But I want to say that
Speaker 7: I saw what I saw in Israel that we were
Speaker 7: very I would say, we have a huge debate before,
Speaker 7: like ten months before, a lot of demonstrations like very
Speaker 7: not together.
Speaker 8: Right against I know that Yaho's policies.
Speaker 7: And this was very said also this was very sad.
Speaker 7: Now what's happened here that we are now in one second,
Speaker 7: when it's happened, all the Israelis units get United Back
Speaker 7: and everybody is volunteer who people can go to the army,
Speaker 7: go to the army.
Speaker 2: All the rest is volunteers.
Speaker 7: Is doing the best I can say to support all
Speaker 7: the people around. So it's a very problematic time for
Speaker 7: as well.
Speaker 2: It's not now.
Speaker 7: What's happened is undescribable, okay, unspeakable, but it's it's a
Speaker 7: long period that we are not in a in a
Speaker 7: very good shape in Israela and maybe this will somehow
Speaker 7: will rebuild our society and our country again. Anyway business
Speaker 7: business wise, short term is very tough. Midterm and long
Speaker 7: term I think we will recover. It will not influence
Speaker 7: because unfortunately, also we had situations in the past, not
Speaker 7: like this, but we had a situations from time to time,
Speaker 7: and we are very organized what to do and how
Speaker 7: to do and how to recover. Also, though Media is
Speaker 7: international and global company, so we produce in Mexico and
Speaker 7: in Argentina, and we have a team from all around
Speaker 7: the world that actually came to now to Mipico from
Speaker 7: Bonos Aires, from Madrid, from through It, from Singapore, and
Speaker 7: unfortunately there is really team a council.
Speaker 2: But I have to come because I have to support
Speaker 2: all the team here. You are the CEO, I am
Speaker 2: also the CEO.
Speaker 7: And also our people from Madrid Bonoscience are very sensitive
Speaker 7: and they concern so I have to speak with them.
Speaker 2: I have to encourage them.
Speaker 7: I have to tell them that we will continue. And
Speaker 7: it's not only that we will continue if we let our.
Speaker 2: Enemy.
Speaker 7: Let's call them there to dictate our life or dictate
Speaker 7: what we are doing. And I speak about personal professional
Speaker 7: business life.
Speaker 2: So they win.
Speaker 7: We will not let them win when it's not only
Speaker 7: in the battlefield, when is all three hundred and sixty.
Speaker 2: Degrees operation.
Speaker 7: So one of my toughest decisions is to come here
Speaker 7: because of this.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 7: Also my son is in the army now he's in
Speaker 7: the reserve and in Gaza, and unfortunately we get into
Speaker 7: he will get into. So and I was a commander
Speaker 7: or in the idea also in your service, my service.
Speaker 7: It was years ago, okay, But so we know and
Speaker 7: we understand. So on top of all this, we have
Speaker 7: to continue. We have to.
Speaker 2: If not, they will win.
Speaker 7: So the easily business, I believe we have a lot
Speaker 7: of First of all, we have TV channels that they
Speaker 7: continue twenty four seven and they will continue to open
Speaker 7: we have like six TV channels.
Speaker 2: Production. We produce a lot.
Speaker 7: We came here with the biggest or one of the
Speaker 7: biggest slot ever around a dozen of new show part
Speaker 7: of them is now in a post production editing. Others
Speaker 7: in a pre re production that you want to start
Speaker 7: to shoot in a few months. Other in development. So
Speaker 7: you have a lot of work that you are not shooting.
Speaker 7: Shooting you cannot do it now, but all the rest
Speaker 7: you can. So we work our offices. Interview is not
Speaker 7: closed because the regulations that if you have a shelter
Speaker 7: in the office you can continue to work. But also
Speaker 7: we're allowed other employees to work from home, no problem.
Speaker 7: And actually we are very organized for this because during
Speaker 7: the coronavirus virus, the pandemic, we work from home.
Speaker 2: And we will so we are doing it very efficient.
Speaker 7: They educated the Corona how to work from home and
Speaker 7: also we are doing it very efficiently. So actually the
Speaker 7: operation is not really helped. Yes, the people very emotional.
Speaker 2: A lot of our.
Speaker 7: Employees involved somehow with what happens. Some of them went
Speaker 7: to the army, some of them have kids in the army.
Speaker 7: Some of them the neighbor or the friends or the cousins,
Speaker 7: or everybody involved in it.
Speaker 2: It's a very small country.
Speaker 7: But the operation I believe maybe short have some influence,
Speaker 7: but long term and midim I think everything would come back,
Speaker 7: and I think maybe is opposite, Maybe will be stronger
Speaker 7: and more united and and and something. Unfortunately from this crisis,
Speaker 7: A lot of times, something would happen after.
Speaker 2: I want to I want to try to be autimistic, okay,
Speaker 2: because it's a.
Speaker 7: Very sad it's a very sad times what it was,
Speaker 7: so business wise will.
Speaker 2: Continue and continue ongoing.
Speaker 8: What strikes me is, just as you said, Dorian, media
Speaker 8: is working in Buenos Aires and Mexico and others all
Speaker 8: around the world. The media world is more global and
Speaker 8: more connected than ever. And the political world we are
Speaker 8: seeing the far right in mind in the US, the
Speaker 8: far right in Europe too. A scary reading. And I
Speaker 8: don't know the answer, but I do you what explains
Speaker 8: the disconnect between politics and the entertainment. The world is
Speaker 8: more than ever watching media from other countries, understanding stories,
Speaker 8: you know, and yet we are more as people like
Speaker 8: fighting and more division.
Speaker 1: Do you ever think about that? How does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 7: It's not only immediate. Also the people, the people is
Speaker 7: the same people. The people get along, believe me great.
Speaker 7: The politics and the leader somehow leave from this separated people.
Speaker 2: This is the power that they get out of it.
Speaker 7: This is how they can continue to live. And unfortunately
Speaker 7: you can see every place that the leader want to separate.
Speaker 7: The leader wants to some to go to fight and
Speaker 7: go to war. And if you are sitting in every
Speaker 7: places around the world, in a restaurant or in a hotel,
Speaker 7: or every meeting with different people from all around the world,
Speaker 7: they get along very fast together because the value and
Speaker 7: the principle is the same of everybody. But leaders, politicians
Speaker 7: built create themselves, develop themselves. If they can differentiate themselves
Speaker 7: from others, and then they get the power and then
Speaker 7: getting the voter, and then maybe they can go. So
Speaker 7: this is not only media, it's also I would give
Speaker 7: you example.
Speaker 2: We have Stezel. You know our show.
Speaker 8: I've heard of it. I can't say that I've seen it,
Speaker 8: but I've heard it, so you have.
Speaker 2: To say it. This is a great choice. Was on Netflix.
Speaker 7: Now, by the way, we are selling different t windows
Speaker 7: all around the world. But Steel is a out a
Speaker 7: family and people that live in a very orthodox neighborhood
Speaker 7: in Jerusalem called one hundred Gates.
Speaker 2: It's one of the most orthodox neighborhood in Israel. And
Speaker 2: then we sold it to.
Speaker 7: Turki to company called OGM and today, by the way,
Speaker 7: they reproduce it into Key Remax. It's on air on
Speaker 7: Star TV TV channel there and it's wins the rating
Speaker 7: every monday's doing a great show.
Speaker 2: Great and they create more episodes than us. And when Unu,
Speaker 2: the owner and the.
Speaker 7: Producers, they called me and said, well, I want to
Speaker 7: get asked him, did you watch it?
Speaker 2: This is about the.
Speaker 7: Most orthodox neighborhood in Israel and their life and he said,
Speaker 7: and love you don't believe. But the Islam and the
Speaker 7: Jewism is the same same principle, same value, same family value.
Speaker 7: And he said, the relationship between the father and the
Speaker 7: son in this show, this it's the same like in
Speaker 7: twalky you know our Islam culture.
Speaker 2: And when the.
Speaker 7: Son come to the father and said listen, I want
Speaker 7: to I met a widow with the kids.
Speaker 2: And I want to marry the son. The father said,
Speaker 2: what's what's happening is you are you? Are you dumb?
Speaker 7: Are you you don't have a hand, you don't have
Speaker 7: a leg, or what's wrong with you, and he said,
Speaker 7: I want to get into the head of this father
Speaker 7: when he listened.
Speaker 2: And the same is in our culture.
Speaker 7: And so this is what I want to tell you,
Speaker 7: that it's not the paper, it is a leader zone,
Speaker 7: that it is a politician. So he jis them Islam Christian,
Speaker 7: it's the same people, same value, same understanding.
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