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Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business Varieties podcast featuring

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Speaker 1: conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment.

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Speaker 1: I'm Todd Spangler with Variety Today. Our guest is Aaron

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Speaker 1: Levitt's general manager of what Pad Studios. Bought Pad launched

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Speaker 1: in two thousand seven with a simple vision to create

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Speaker 1: a community where people could publish their own stories and

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Speaker 1: let other people read that. Today, it has more than

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Speaker 1: eighty million monthly users with just under one billion uploads

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Speaker 1: to the platform. In The Toronto based company formed bot

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Speaker 1: Pad Studios as a way to identify and develop the

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Speaker 1: most popular stories for film, TV books. Some of the

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Speaker 1: stories that were first shared on what Pad include The

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Speaker 1: Kissing Booth, which has become a movie franchise on Netflix,

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Speaker 1: Light Is a Feather, which became a Boudo series, and

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Speaker 1: the viral hit After by Anatodd, a young adult romance

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Speaker 1: that originally featured characters based on members of One Direction,

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Speaker 1: which became a book series and in twenty nine hit

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Speaker 1: indie movie. Thank you for joining me today, Aaron, Thanks

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Speaker 1: for having me. Really appreciate it. So let's start give

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Speaker 1: us a snapshot about what's what pet Studios is all

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Speaker 1: about for sure. I mean you talked about the eighty

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Speaker 1: million users we have coming to the platform every month,

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Speaker 1: and they're finding stories they love, uh in every genre imaginable,

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Speaker 1: from romance to science fiction, fantasy to horror, and sub

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Speaker 1: genres that we haven't even thought of yet. And audiences

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Speaker 1: exceptionally powerful in this moment of entertainment destruction that we're seeing,

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Speaker 1: you know, day after day in the headlines as the

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Speaker 1: industry change, and we feel if we listen to audiences

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Speaker 1: at we have a better chance of success. You know

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Speaker 1: you spoke about after being a viral hit. I mean

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Speaker 1: we just opened UH this week. Actually in Europe, we're

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Speaker 1: basically the number one, number two movie across the continent, uh,

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Speaker 1: beating New Mutants out pretty handily and Intendant in a

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Speaker 1: lot of places. So that just shows the power that

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Speaker 1: audience has and what PAD Studios is built on something

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Speaker 1: very simple that if we listen to audience and look

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Speaker 1: at the data behind what they love, why they love it,

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Speaker 1: and really understand what drew them to that story, that franchise,

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Speaker 1: that series, UM, we have a better chance of success

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Speaker 1: in the industry as we adapt those stories, UM, and

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Speaker 1: that audiences will travel from our platform to box offices

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Speaker 1: like they showed with after the streaming platforms to TV

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Speaker 1: and um, it's that simple notion that audiences will really

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Speaker 1: drive the future of a lot of entertainment that what

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Speaker 1: Pad Studios is born up. Okay and um. So the

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Speaker 1: story about the genesis of what Pad Studios is that

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Speaker 1: you sat down with your CEO, Alan Law, and you said, hey,

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Speaker 1: look at this data. Our story and I think it

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Speaker 1: was after um was the story you're referring to. It

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Speaker 1: had basically like half half the engagement that YouTube had

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Speaker 1: on One direct the one Direction page on YouTube. UM.

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Speaker 1: And that was like the aha moment for you. I mean,

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Speaker 1: is that is the really how it happened? Yeah? I

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Speaker 1: know that actually really is how it happened. Um. I

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Speaker 1: was sitting with Alan uh in a dark corner of

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Speaker 1: a cafe, and you know, Alan and I had known

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Speaker 1: each other for a little bit, and he started showing

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Speaker 1: me some of the things going on in what Pad

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Speaker 1: and you know, he showed me this one story. It

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Speaker 1: was it was one. It was about one direction. It

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Speaker 1: was this one story. And I did some math in

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Speaker 1: my head and I pulled up a video that One

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Speaker 1: Direction I released about three or four weeks earlier and

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Speaker 1: I said your site, and you know this is seven

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Speaker 1: eight years ago almost, so you know, we were not

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Speaker 1: at the eighty million users we had today. Uh. And

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Speaker 1: this one site that most people in the world don't

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Speaker 1: know has about half the engagement as the biggest one

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Speaker 1: direction YouTube video. Right now, this is more than reading

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Speaker 1: and writing. This is entertainment and emotion. And this needs

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Speaker 1: to have stories adapted into other formats, whether it is film, TV,

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Speaker 1: digital gaming. You know, we we have our own publishing

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Speaker 1: division called what Pad Books or we're taking those stories

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Speaker 1: and editing them and publishing, putting on lawn shelves, and

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Speaker 1: that this community is rabid for this kind of content. Um,

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Speaker 1: and you know, to this day, that's what we're doing.

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Speaker 1: We're looking at the best stories on what Pad and

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Speaker 1: seeing that adapted and seeing success in markets all over

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Speaker 1: the world, you know, from l A Tot Singapore. Uh.

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Speaker 1: We're developing you know, fifty plus projects right now with

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Speaker 1: that same idea in mind that fans are gonna follow

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Speaker 1: what they love. So you work with a variety of

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Speaker 1: different studios and production companies on various projects in various

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Speaker 1: stages of development. Right You've worked with Universal content productions.

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Speaker 1: I think the one, um, just to name a couple,

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Speaker 1: what what do you bring to the table? And why

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Speaker 1: couldn't they just go on to wat pad and find

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Speaker 1: a hot story and do do what the whole petway? Um,

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Speaker 1: we've amasked you know, dozen dozen plus partnerships around the world,

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Speaker 1: like you said, you know, and we're developing I think

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Speaker 1: a ten or eleven languages right now, UM with those

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Speaker 1: partners and they come to us for really simple reason

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Speaker 1: you know you mentioned it. There are billion plus uploads

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Speaker 1: on the platform. Uh, it is daunting if you just

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Speaker 1: go on by yourself and hope you find a big

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Speaker 1: story and look, you'll find one, but you actually don't

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Speaker 1: know is that story big because the audience finished the

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Speaker 1: story a million times? Or did a million people read

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Speaker 1: the first chapter with a big five years ago? Or

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Speaker 1: is it big today? How does that sit in? The

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Speaker 1: overall side? Is what's going on on what Pad? And

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Speaker 1: it's our access to understand not only the data itself,

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Speaker 1: you know, but understanding story. And we use a program

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Speaker 1: called story DNA that we've developed in house to kind

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Speaker 1: of it's our words for understanding the story through data.

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Speaker 1: And it is about the biggest sometimes but it's also

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Speaker 1: about using machine learning to understand contextually why that story

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Speaker 1: is important, looking at the emotional ups and downs in

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Speaker 1: that story, understanding subtexts through commenting. UM. It's really this

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Speaker 1: beautiful mix of art and science that my team uses

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Speaker 1: UM to fully understand why stories fit in an ethos

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Speaker 1: of entertainment around the world, and then finding the right

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Speaker 1: partners to bring them there. So well, I was just

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Speaker 1: gonna ask it. It's not just a matter of looking

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Speaker 1: at the raw number of reads or the total time spent,

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Speaker 1: because that's that's only one layer of the endion I

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Speaker 1: guess exactly. And you know, reads is you know what

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Speaker 1: everyone sees when they come on the website. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I guess it's equivalent to a view on a streaming site. UM,

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Speaker 1: but that's actually novel. We used to be predictive. And

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Speaker 1: then the temporal aspect of how how quickly when did

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Speaker 1: those reads happen, and the engagement time, which is really

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Speaker 1: what we got down to that you mentioned. You know,

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Speaker 1: we want to know how much time people spent reading

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Speaker 1: the story, not if they you know, read one chapter

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Speaker 1: and bounced out. UM. So at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: it's that almost x three vision we have of why

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Speaker 1: these stories are important to fans that our partners kind

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Speaker 1: of thrive around and really continue to come to us for.

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Speaker 1: So it is so much more than just understanding. You know,

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Speaker 1: we would never send a partner just a spreadsheet with

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Speaker 1: some numbers and say there you go, have fun. I

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Speaker 1: hope you're going to excel. You know, we're really using

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Speaker 1: a content strategy to understand those stories and be able

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Speaker 1: to speak and entertainment language back and forth with our partners.

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Speaker 1: So what the studio is looking for and matching at

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Speaker 1: up with what the data shows you, yeah, and sometimes

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Speaker 1: teaching them things that they didn't know about. You know,

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Speaker 1: we we we talked about the micro and the macro

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Speaker 1: a lot at what had the micro being I can

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Speaker 1: use data to find a big story like that's easy.

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Speaker 1: I can find tell you the biggest story on our platform,

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Speaker 1: you know, something like you know, She's with me, which

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Speaker 1: is which is just a massive story on the platform. Um.

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Speaker 1: But then we get to see kind of the macro,

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Speaker 1: which is the global trends that are either trends or

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Speaker 1: movements that we're seeing by audiences around the world that

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Speaker 1: can point something that is kind of bubbled under the surface.

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Speaker 1: So you know, a moment where um, we're seeing women

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Speaker 1: empowerment across the world as being such a huge movement. Um,

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Speaker 1: we see things like kick gas women lead action stories

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Speaker 1: rising to the top, you know, things around like street

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Speaker 1: fighters and just action throws in general, and we find

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Speaker 1: a story called perfect addiction from that UM that is

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Speaker 1: in itself man of uh. And so it's not always

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Speaker 1: just about looking at you know, oh this story is

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Speaker 1: really big, but it's often looking at the trends and

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Speaker 1: how that fits into a global uh subconscious entertainment really

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Speaker 1: and helping studios see things that they may have missed

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Speaker 1: all together. Now, are there are particular genres that pop

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Speaker 1: on what pad? I mean, I seem to have a

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Speaker 1: lot of built stuff, maybe some fantasy sci fi. I

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Speaker 1: mean this is you know, uh, genres that are maybe

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Speaker 1: um endemic to you know kind of kind of user

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Speaker 1: generated fiction, right or does it span the gamut from

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Speaker 1: from everything from romance to horror and and in between.

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Speaker 1: I mean it really does span the gamut. Um. You know,

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Speaker 1: we have four million plus writers on the platform. UM.

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Speaker 1: And while some are drawn to romance and some are

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Speaker 1: drawn to horror, some are drawn to writing elevated drama. Um,

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Speaker 1: there really is a story for everyone on what Pad,

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Speaker 1: and once you find it, we're gonna hope that you

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Speaker 1: find more of that. Um. I think our job on

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Speaker 1: the studio is to understand why certain genres are popping

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Speaker 1: in any gift in time. You know, why is there

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Speaker 1: a sudden spike in fantasy? Is it driven because there's

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Speaker 1: one big story, you know, something phenomenal like Given, which

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Speaker 1: is a book we released earlier this year, or is

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Speaker 1: it being driven by an overall general interest rise in fantasy?

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Speaker 1: You know, we obviously have genres that are bigger. You know,

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Speaker 1: romance is the largest entertainment and publishing genre in the world. Um,

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Speaker 1: so you know that's going to be huge on our platform.

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Speaker 1: But just because a horror stories as big as our

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Speaker 1: biggest romance story doesn't mean we don't have the biggest

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Speaker 1: horror writing community in the world as well. So we

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Speaker 1: really and you spoke about our partners, it is about

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Speaker 1: understanding what they're most interested in, you know, what gets

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Speaker 1: them out of beout in the morning to invest in

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Speaker 1: projects for you know, three to seven years as we

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Speaker 1: get them to screen and make sure that we're finding

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Speaker 1: them the best of that so if you want the

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Speaker 1: best horror, maybe we find the Hound, which is, you know,

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Speaker 1: something we announce a little earlier this year, which is

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Speaker 1: a phenomenal horror story LGBTQ plus uh driven story. Um,

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Speaker 1: that wasn't necessarily the biggest, but it's just like a

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Speaker 1: really amazing story we're gonna tell on screen. Okay, So

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Speaker 1: the you mentioned she's with me, that's uh, that's the

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Speaker 1: that's a big that's a big thing. Jessica Consolo is

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Speaker 1: the yes. Yea. So when you take a look at that,

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Speaker 1: I mean, um, what are the prospects for that? What's

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Speaker 1: the process by which you either approach the writer um,

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Speaker 1: or you know, start to start to move this forward

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Speaker 1: as a potential bigger project. Yeah, for sure. So that's

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Speaker 1: that's uh, A really great thing to kind of talk about.

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Speaker 1: I think differentiates us a little bit is in work

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Speaker 1: with our writers to begin with. UM, so I have

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Speaker 1: a management team on my studio that is out there

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Speaker 1: working with our writers directly. I mean you have to

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Speaker 1: imagine a lot of our writers didn't mean to become

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Speaker 1: someone most influential authors in the world. They had an

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Speaker 1: idea for first chapter and built this phenomenal fandom um,

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Speaker 1: and so we really have to educate them of what

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Speaker 1: it means to go to the next step if you

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Speaker 1: want to go into the business of entertainment, the business

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Speaker 1: of publishing, what it means to grow your story further.

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Speaker 1: So we always start by engaging that writer right and

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Speaker 1: making sure that this is something they're interested in. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's never uh, there's never a case where we

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Speaker 1: just take the writer your story and say, okay, we're off,

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Speaker 1: we'll see you later. Where we do deals with them,

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Speaker 1: there's there's opt in by them, um. And once we

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Speaker 1: figure out, you know, what motivates them, what interests them,

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Speaker 1: what the most important parts of the story are to them,

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Speaker 1: and what the most important parts of the story is

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Speaker 1: to their audience. Because you know, while our writers aren't

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Speaker 1: looking at the ones and zeros often that we are

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Speaker 1: from the data standpoint, they definitely know the moment that

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Speaker 1: their audience went out of control with engagement. They know

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Speaker 1: the moment they posted a chapter and their Twitter feed broke. So,

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Speaker 1: you know, we talked to them to understand their story better,

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Speaker 1: and then we start figuring out, you know, where it fits,

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Speaker 1: what what does it mean. You know, we read a

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Speaker 1: story and say there's nice three access as a film.

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Speaker 1: She's with Me is definitely series worthy and you know

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Speaker 1: we set it up with Sony TV is one of

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Speaker 1: our partners right now. Um, and you know the book

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Speaker 1: came out uh last fall, and the second in the

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Speaker 1: series is coming out right now through Pad Books, and

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Speaker 1: it's it's been a great success for both us and Jessica.

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Speaker 1: And it is about not just understanding what the fans

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Speaker 1: liked about it, but being able to go to the

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Speaker 1: fans again and saying, hey, this book's on the shelf. Uh,

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Speaker 1: go buy the book. Support your authors or your favorite authors.

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Speaker 1: And they're they're doing it in drugs. Yeah, so it

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Speaker 1: should be this virtuous circle. We and that's what we're seeing.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's really, to use a really terrible buzzword,

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Speaker 1: it's a great ecosystem that we get to create for

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Speaker 1: for authors careers, for writer's careers. Now, to what extent,

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Speaker 1: I'm curious do you see people coming to what Pad

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Speaker 1: and I don't know there essentially you know, writing with

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Speaker 1: an eye toward a screenplay or something like that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: is there any sort of that dynamic going on where, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, someone has their eye on becoming a published

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Speaker 1: author turning it into a movie or book, uh, movie

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Speaker 1: or a TV show. Yeah. I think I think we're

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Speaker 1: starting to see that more and more. And not only that,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've found very accomplished screenwriters who have who

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Speaker 1: have been writing under pseudonyms and uh plumb like new

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Speaker 1: names that they want to write under on the platform. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I think four or five years ago,

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Speaker 1: you know, you would have started hearing about after we

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Speaker 1: actually had some success of one of the most popular

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Speaker 1: y A shows in the Philippines for six seasons, actually

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Speaker 1: called What Bad Presents, um, And so you started seeing

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Speaker 1: people from around the world taking notice, go, oh, maybe

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Speaker 1: this is a path. But I think today with the

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Speaker 1: success we've had you know through what Pad books uh,

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Speaker 1: and previously in working with you know, publishers around the world,

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Speaker 1: we published hundreds of books now in different countries around

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Speaker 1: the world. Um, with the success of things like After Kissing,

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Speaker 1: Booth Light is a Feather, you know, our success in

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Speaker 1: Southeast Asia, announcements like in our first show Coming and

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Speaker 1: Slow Dancing in Singapore, I think more and more we

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Speaker 1: are seeing writers who are saying, Okay, well, this is

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Speaker 1: another outlet in a world that's so gate kept. The

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Speaker 1: chance to create your own success by building your own

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Speaker 1: community and having an audience stand behind you is now

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Speaker 1: much more powerful than just throwing your screenplayer, your idea

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Speaker 1: to an agent, hoping it gets on someone's desk at

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Speaker 1: a studio. And I think that's what really sets what

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Speaker 1: we're seeing the storytelling a lot, how to part, It's

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Speaker 1: being told by people who don't see their story on screens,

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Speaker 1: that don't see it on shelves. There's no one telling

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Speaker 1: them not to write that because it won't make a

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Speaker 1: good movie or won't make a good TV show. And

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Speaker 1: it's that ability to write where your imagination takesue that

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Speaker 1: really is building these beautiful stories that you know you

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Speaker 1: just aren't seeing anywhere else. And that's where the art

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Speaker 1: and science comes together. It's beautiful, emotional capturing stories and

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Speaker 1: the audience back. Uh. So you're saying Hollywood screenwriters are

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Speaker 1: anonymously posting stuff on on what pend, Um, Well, it's

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Speaker 1: anonymous head you know who they are. Uh, I've come

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Speaker 1: forward and when we know to let us know. Um,

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Speaker 1: we definitely can't tell who they are if they don't

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Speaker 1: do that, but you know through the grape vine, and

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Speaker 1: you know my my great team in in l A.

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Speaker 1: We've heard many a story of people coming on the

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Speaker 1: platform and writing that novel they always want to write,

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Speaker 1: or taking a screenplay and turning into a short story

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Speaker 1: that uh will kind of help there get that screenplaymate. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and this is happening. Um. I think you've talked about

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Speaker 1: this earlier about uh, you know, productions have shut down

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Speaker 1: if the coronavirus and so you know, here's a way

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Speaker 1: to to sort of flex your creative muscle. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I guess you welcome them to the platform. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I think you know, every screenwriter has a

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Speaker 1: million ideas, and some of the ideas are most passionate about.

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Speaker 1: Maybe they didn't get picked up the first time. But

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Speaker 1: the chance to come and write it as a screenplay

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Speaker 1: or right as a short story, which we hear a

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Speaker 1: lot about, UM, novelize it even UM, a chance to

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Speaker 1: build your own audience and show that there's validity in

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Speaker 1: your idea. That's a lot pad. It's about, you know,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to ask anyone's permission to have fans

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Speaker 1: a lot pad. You create them yourself with beautiful storytelling. Yeah. Alright, well,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about a recent deal you did UM for

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Speaker 1: a project called Float Um. It's a new film based

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Speaker 1: on the hit Bob Pad story of the same name.

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Speaker 1: You're working with Callingy Pictures, which was the company behind

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Speaker 1: Netflix's Code eight. So to me, how this came about? UM?

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Speaker 1: And you know what, what are what are we looking for?

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Speaker 1: What's what can we expect out of this? Yeah, this

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Speaker 1: is really exciting project for us. I mean, as you

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Speaker 1: called out, calling me Pictures did Code eight, it was

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Speaker 1: you know, number one movie on Netflix for a while

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Speaker 1: earlier this year. Um, And it came about because you know,

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Speaker 1: I think we both have a really similar vision to UM,

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Speaker 1: how we want to change how entertainment has made. You know,

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Speaker 1: we both feel we're kind of leading in new models

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Speaker 1: for success build around fan engagement. I think you know,

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Speaker 1: I've talked a little bit about ours already, but UM.

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Speaker 1: You know, Colony for Code A raised two point four

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Speaker 1: million dollars through crowdfunding, and it was like the second

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Speaker 1: largest campaign of all time across all crowdfunding platforms. And

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Speaker 1: they they realized that if they built that fan base

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Speaker 1: early and all through just a short they did around

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Speaker 1: the concept UM, that they would have more control and

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Speaker 1: better chance of success. Which you know. Obviously the success

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Speaker 1: on Netflix shows that they're able to do that. And UM,

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Speaker 1: I think we're always trying to look for those like

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Speaker 1: minds that want to think about entertainment, not in the

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Speaker 1: way it's been thought about for a hundred years. Putting

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Speaker 1: fan an audience engagement as part of the development process

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Speaker 1: not something you hope for after it And it was

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Speaker 1: a really easy fit for us. Then you find a

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Speaker 1: story like Float, which I mean expounds fan engagement. Kate Marshawn,

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Speaker 1: who wrote it, Um, you know, started writing it, got

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Speaker 1: about halfway done, um, and kind of moved on to

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Speaker 1: another project, said I'm gonna go write something else for

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Speaker 1: a while. Fans we're not having any of that. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They were quite vocal that you should come back and

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Speaker 1: finish the story. She finishes the story, and it jumps

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Speaker 1: back up in the top fifty read stories on what

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Speaker 1: had all of a sudden again, And um, you know,

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Speaker 1: when you finished in two thousand and eighteen, it still

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Speaker 1: remains one of our top paid stories on the platform. So, um,

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Speaker 1: you know, you find a great partner in colony who

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Speaker 1: wants to engage fans as early as possible in the

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Speaker 1: process to increase success. We find this story that has

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Speaker 1: a rabid fan base who are knocking down Kate Retaurant's

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Speaker 1: door to get it finished. Um, it was just a

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Speaker 1: really great easy project to put together after that, So

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Speaker 1: it's a it's a story, right, Um, it is a

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Speaker 1: why a story on this one. Um, you know it's

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Speaker 1: it's about UH young woman who whose parents are divorced

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Speaker 1: and can't decide where she's going to spend the summer,

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Speaker 1: ends up in uh with an aunt in Florida and

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Speaker 1: uh meets her next door neighbor who happens to be

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Speaker 1: a swim instructor and all in all it turns out

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Speaker 1: and behold she can't swim. And it is a really thoughtful,

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Speaker 1: fun why a uh drama romance around kind of learning

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Speaker 1: who you are yourself and uh when how to meet

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Speaker 1: you know, a chosen family versus your given family. Um,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be a really beautiful story to bring

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Speaker 1: to screen with them, So I expect that, Um, you

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Speaker 1: know this this idea of a built in fan base,

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Speaker 1: which you did meant you did mention? Uh you know

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Speaker 1: Flow has more than did you say million reads? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Move million? Yeah? So that I mean that's obviously not

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Speaker 1: just a proof of concept, but you know, evidence that

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Speaker 1: there will be a market for the finished product. Oh absolutely,

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Speaker 1: I mean that is you know, I think in previous

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Speaker 1: years I would have said, you know, we hope our

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Speaker 1: data is predictive. We now know that it is. You know,

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Speaker 1: we've published enough books. We seeing the success of After

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Speaker 1: Kissing Booth Light is a feather that we know our data.

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Speaker 1: We know our fans will follow those stories from one

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Speaker 1: platform to another. Um. You know when you sit down

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Speaker 1: with the Colony team, you know that's what we want

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Speaker 1: to foster. We don't see this as a proof of concept.

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Speaker 1: And you know Robbie Amil, who is you know, gonna

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Speaker 1: be a producer on the project and started it. He

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Speaker 1: knows this genre really well, and he knows a fandom

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Speaker 1: really well from from his work on Code Aid as well,

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Speaker 1: and he can look at this and go, yeah, this

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Speaker 1: is this is something that we're gonna have a lot

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Speaker 1: of success with and puts his time and effort to

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Speaker 1: do it. So, uh no, we don't think it's a

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Speaker 1: proof of concept. This is this is far past that.

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Speaker 1: This is an established story. Um. And I'm pretty sure

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Speaker 1: any author with a book on a shelf would like

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Speaker 1: to be able to turn around and say their books

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Speaker 1: been read twenty five million times. So this is far

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Speaker 1: from a proof of concept and it shows the power

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Speaker 1: of audience. Again, I don't think I'm gonna say that

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Speaker 1: enough during this jet, but you know, the audience is

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Speaker 1: h is not wrong in this one. Now, with a

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Speaker 1: large and open platform like boot pad, UM, you're going

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Speaker 1: to have people trying to either gain the system or

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Speaker 1: cheap right. I mean I'm wondering, you know, maybe you

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Speaker 1: can talk a little bit about how do you scan

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Speaker 1: for people who are violating copyright or plagiarizing, posting inappropriate

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Speaker 1: material things like that. UM, to what extent you police

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Speaker 1: the platform UM and you know, make sure that it's

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Speaker 1: a safe, clean, well eyed in place. So I think

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Speaker 1: the most important thing to understand is we do want

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Speaker 1: to create a safe h a safe space for people

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Speaker 1: to exist. UM. We've invested a phenomenal amount in monitoring

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Speaker 1: the community, protecting the community, giving writers tools to protect

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Speaker 1: themselves when need be. UM. You know, we we work

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Speaker 1: in the publishing in their team and industry are else.

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Speaker 1: I mean, uh, pirated content is something that we have

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Speaker 1: no space for on our platform. UM. And really if

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Speaker 1: you look at the engagement, and that's our our platform is.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's it's not about just reading, it's not

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Speaker 1: about just writing. It's about engagement. And when you look

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Speaker 1: at that engagement, um, the way that our our readers

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Speaker 1: talk to our writers, the critiques they give, but the

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Speaker 1: respectful critiques they get, the fact that it really are

430
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: truly seeing community built around these stories and really fandom

431
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 1: and transparent fandom between an author and a writer. You

432
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,280
Speaker 1: see the kind of community that we've been able to

433
00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: grow since you know, our inception in two thousand and seven.

434
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 1: And that comes with understanding that we want a place

435
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,200
Speaker 1: for people to write who don't see their stories on

436
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 1: screens elsewhere, and without that beautiful engagement between author and audience,

437
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 1: without the ability to feel safe in your responses, that

438
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,879
Speaker 1: doesn't happen. So you know that engagement is really our

439
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 1: proofpoint that we're doing some of the really important worth

440
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 1: to ensure that we have just a vibrant community. There

441
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:15,199
Speaker 1: are going to be accusations that hey, you stole my idea. UM.

442
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: I mean, you probably know about this dispute over a

443
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:27,879
Speaker 1: couple of Omega verse Um authors. It's this strange human

444
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:34,400
Speaker 1: romance sub genre and you know, you can you copyright

445
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 1: an idea? How do you you know, how do you

446
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,280
Speaker 1: interface with this sort of thing when it comes up

447
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: in the wipad community. Again, just taking a step back,

448
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:51,800
Speaker 1: I think the way people express their ideas, whether it's

449
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:58,040
Speaker 1: the Omega verse, which itself has a huge fandom, or romance, horror,

450
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 1: fantasy and the sub genres that you know are not

451
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 1: necessarily something we've seen before on screens. Um When you

452
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: have something like what, you're going to see new ideas

453
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: popping up, and our job really is to ensure that

454
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:15,199
Speaker 1: it's a safe place for those new ideas to pop up,

455
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: that's a safe place to discuss those new ideas, whether

456
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,680
Speaker 1: it's something that you know, the old guard is comfortable

457
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 1: with understanding today or whether they're going to understand it

458
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,880
Speaker 1: when After becomes, you know, one of the biggest indie

459
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: movies of the year last year, that I don't have

460
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 1: to worry about. What I have to worry about is

461
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: that we have a safe community that's building really brilliant.

462
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: I p that we then get to work with the

463
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,640
Speaker 1: best players around the world to create something that fans love.

464
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 1: Those fans are going to show you that no matter

465
00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 1: if you understood why that story it was written originally,

466
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: that it was an important piece of storytelling in in

467
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 1: the university. Okay, So, I think what you're saying is

468
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:57,720
Speaker 1: the community is to some extens self policing and while

469
00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,440
Speaker 1: we give them tools, you know, it is a key

470
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,399
Speaker 1: tenant we create that safe space ourselves. You know, that

471
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:06,320
Speaker 1: is something again that we invest in heavily. Um. But

472
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 1: you know, you set the tone for your community, and

473
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 1: we've been very fortunate that our community UM continues to

474
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:17,399
Speaker 1: invest in keeping it a really great place to spend

475
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 1: on the internet. Okay. Now, UM, when you do you know,

476
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:26,399
Speaker 1: surface or project that you're considering taking to a studio

477
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,760
Speaker 1: production partner, you do due diligence. I'm assuming to make

478
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 1: sure that it is UH unique and well you know,

479
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:42,760
Speaker 1: m be suitable for adaptation. In other words, that it's

480
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: not just a rewrite of Harry Potter. I'm making that up. Um.

481
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 1: Of course we do. And that's that's the art and

482
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,639
Speaker 1: that's where art meets science, right you know. So I

483
00:27:52,720 --> 00:28:00,440
Speaker 1: have a team of creative execs around the world l A, Toronto, Jakarta, Manila,

484
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: UH and Paris UH and their jobs are to use

485
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 1: traditional story theory to understand the stories we have understand

486
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 1: not only is there a story to be told, but

487
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,160
Speaker 1: has this story been told fourteen times in twenty two

488
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: different ways, and therefore we don't need that again. So

489
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,639
Speaker 1: it's never just saying, you know, as we've spoken a

490
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,879
Speaker 1: little bit before, oh this story is huge. Okay, stop everything,

491
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 1: get the scriptrit and put it on the screen. It's

492
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:29,520
Speaker 1: why is this story huge? What are the important points

493
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:33,680
Speaker 1: that let this grow an audience? And is their way

494
00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,520
Speaker 1: into that through adaptation with some of our partners, or

495
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 1: whether we take it on ourselves. You know, we announced

496
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:41,640
Speaker 1: our development fund will really this year and work with

497
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: great writers like David rod on What Happened that Night,

498
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: where we see a way that we can accelerate the

499
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 1: speed of our work by investing ourselves in in development.

500
00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 1: But it is always always that mix of understanding the

501
00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: story theory, understanding the three acts or the our plot

502
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,120
Speaker 1: for the series, and then matching that with why the

503
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 1: audience came to this in the first place. So not

504
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 1: every story is meant for screen, not every story is

505
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: meant for schells, Some are only meant for one or

506
00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 1: the other, and some are meant for neither. But you

507
00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: can't blindly assume that just because one of our exacts

508
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: loves something, it needs to be made. Just likewise, we

509
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 1: don't just assume because the audience loves something, there's a

510
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 1: way into it that can get it made today. So

511
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: it really is that mix and I think I would

512
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:31,320
Speaker 1: gather to say we're one of the only companies in

513
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 1: the world, is not the only one who is really

514
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 1: blending that art science together and in in the mixer

515
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: and really coming out with some really beautiful and successful projects.

516
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: So you mentioned the development fund, What what's different about

517
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 1: this and so you're working with You mentioned David Rata

518
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:54,239
Speaker 1: with what Happened that Night and Angela La Maana am

519
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: I saying that right? Yeah? Yeah, with the hound with

520
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: the hand? Um, So how did you choose those two?

521
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 1: And how is this different from the other projects you

522
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: you've brain live so to speak. Yeah, So for a

523
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 1: lot of our projects previous to this, you know, we

524
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,640
Speaker 1: are working with partners. You know, Sony TV in the

525
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 1: US is is you know, one of our biggest partners

526
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:18,480
Speaker 1: right now, and we work with them to choose what

527
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: goes into development and uh, what to kick off and

528
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 1: the creative paths and and it's a normal kind of

529
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: day to day thing in Hollywood, I guess, um, But

530
00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 1: we really truly believe in our own data and the

531
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: fact the matter is, despite the number of partners we

532
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 1: have in the world, despite the number of uh you know,

533
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: contacts and network that we have in l A alone,

534
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:48,560
Speaker 1: there's always going to be stories that don't fit what

535
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 1: other people think or could or can be successful. And

536
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 1: you can never progarde that. You know, when you get

537
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 1: into this business, you're going to spend a long time

538
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 1: with whatever story you choose next, so make sure you

539
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 1: love it. But we have that insight into why people

540
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 1: love this. We can find a way into these stories,

541
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,320
Speaker 1: and when the rest of the town says no, we

542
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: want to still be able to say yes. So this

543
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 1: is kind of our move towards speeding up the process.

544
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:16,520
Speaker 1: You know, I don't have to go and find somebody

545
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,080
Speaker 1: loves what happened at night. David Roddi gives us a

546
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 1: brilliant take on it, and we get to say, Okay,

547
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: go ahead and start writing Angela. Mona looks at the

548
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:29,280
Speaker 1: hound pitches why she thinks that's the right thing to do.

549
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:32,680
Speaker 1: We see that that matches with what the audience loves

550
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,719
Speaker 1: about it and go, okay, let's go write a script.

551
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: And so it's just moving us down that path a

552
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 1: little faster. Where you know, previously we've relied on partners

553
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: for development. We get to say yes to some things ourselves,

554
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,960
Speaker 1: which just speeds up. The president frankly lets us bet

555
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 1: our our own data. I mean, that's what this comes

556
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: comes down to, is, of course I want to be

557
00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:52,719
Speaker 1: able to bet on my own data. I know it's predicted.

558
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 1: I'm watching it again and again and again around the world.

559
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:57,600
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't I want to be able to put some

560
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 1: of our chips down on our own number. Well, do

561
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 1: you see at some point, Aaron, you know the kind

562
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 1: of the circle getting complete here? In other words, you

563
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 1: guys option a story, you develop it, and you produce

564
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,280
Speaker 1: it and then maybe you bring it back to the

565
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: world paid service. Yeah, our our CEO wrote this master

566
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 1: plan documented like three years ago, so I think it's

567
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 1: three years into a ten year plan. And um, what's

568
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 1: amazing about it is, you know, verticalization is kind of

569
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 1: the core of what we're trying to do here. You know,

570
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 1: do I want to take the place of studios in

571
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,280
Speaker 1: our world? Not necessarily that's not what I'm looking to do.

572
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: But you know, you actually pointed out we have you know,

573
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 1: eighty million years is coming every month. We have over

574
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: a billion uploads on the platforms of stories from every

575
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 1: genre and fifty plus languages. So we have I P

576
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 1: and audience. I mean, that's the holy grail of entertainment.

577
00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 1: And the more ways we can connect those two, whether

578
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 1: it's through reason, what Pad, a book on a shelf, uh,

579
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: you know, the theme parks one day, I don't know,

580
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 1: but it's all of them finding more and more ways

581
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 1: uh to connect audience with the story they love, and

582
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,120
Speaker 1: finding ways to help authors grow careers and you know,

583
00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 1: create really great business on top of that and in

584
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:21,600
Speaker 1: concert with those those author partners. So, UM, verticalization is

585
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 1: something we concentrate a lot and development fund is you know,

586
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 1: as you said, a perfect example of that first step

587
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 1: towards that M Well, naturally, the what pad theme park

588
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 1: what pad Land would have to include a kissing booth

589
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:39,000
Speaker 1: ride or something like that. When we open up jobs

590
00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:40,720
Speaker 1: for designers to add, I'll make sure you're at the

591
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 1: topple list, all right. UM. One other point, and I

592
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 1: think you touched on this, UM you've seen what you

593
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 1: you do business are all around the world, UM, and

594
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 1: you're seeing you know, a good reception in the US,

595
00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:02,239
Speaker 1: but also um internationally, Why A why do you think that's? UM?

596
00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 1: Particularly the case so international has always been a really

597
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:13,719
Speaker 1: core strategy for what that studios. You know, day one,

598
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,360
Speaker 1: when we said we're going to go make content, we

599
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,560
Speaker 1: never said we're going to go make us content only. UM.

600
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:23,280
Speaker 1: Part of the reason is our audiences all over the world.

601
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 1: You know, you're you're really talking about you know, across

602
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 1: North America, Latin America, EU, and Asia and nicely split

603
00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 1: between those four regions really UM. And when you look

604
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,799
Speaker 1: at the wealth of content, the writing that's coming out

605
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:45,000
Speaker 1: of each of these countries, and you realize that globally,

606
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,600
Speaker 1: for so long entertainment has been dominated by US centric

607
00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:51,320
Speaker 1: content and you're just starting to see that flicker of

608
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 1: global content having a much bigger mind space and in

609
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 1: every consumer around the world. You thought, what better thing

610
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:00,480
Speaker 1: to do than work with the big guest and best

611
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,280
Speaker 1: producers across countries. You know, whether it's a very effiction

612
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,280
Speaker 1: you know, media set media or very fiction in Germany,

613
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,080
Speaker 1: media set in Italy, or media pro and Singapore, why

614
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 1: not work with people who understand the local culture and

615
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 1: start finding stories that will resonate there with the hope

616
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,680
Speaker 1: that there's some global strength to that as well. UM

617
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 1: and day one we said international will be just as

618
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 1: important as as domestic, and I use that in quotes

619
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:29,319
Speaker 1: because they're both so equal now I don't know which

620
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: one is the international markets some days, ah and we

621
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:37,879
Speaker 1: want to see the next biggest story for the next

622
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,919
Speaker 1: biggest hit in the US come from Singapore. I'm gonna

623
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:45,080
Speaker 1: love when the next biggest hit from France came from Indonesia.

624
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,200
Speaker 1: And you see certain you see a lot of that

625
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 1: these days, especially with streaming being so global that you're

626
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 1: seeing those hits come from other countries. And we really

627
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,320
Speaker 1: think we can be a cornerstone in that strategy for

628
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,960
Speaker 1: any of our partners when you know that you have

629
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,239
Speaker 1: a story that was huge in the US, but the

630
00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:06,200
Speaker 1: next three biggest countries for it were, you know, France, Italy,

631
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,400
Speaker 1: and Denmark. All right, Now we have targets for international

632
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 1: markets right away built in. So it's just another way

633
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,719
Speaker 1: we can look at our audience in a way to

634
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,840
Speaker 1: support us in multiple countries. All to day is an

635
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 1: international UM, it's it's always been a core pillar of

636
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:24,279
Speaker 1: what we've tried to set up here at Studios, and

637
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 1: we want to work with those local partners because they

638
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:28,960
Speaker 1: understand the local markets. And the last thing you want

639
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,720
Speaker 1: to do is push a gaze from another country onto

640
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:33,720
Speaker 1: a local market. We want to do something as authentic

641
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:35,400
Speaker 1: as possible in that markets. You have to work with

642
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 1: local partners to do that. That is the process. You know,

643
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 1: generally speaking, were the same way in other words story

644
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 1: DNA machine UH machine learning that that works in different languages,

645
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: in different cultures. Were there variations based on the local

646
00:36:55,120 --> 00:37:00,560
Speaker 1: culture for so what's important is that the data that

647
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: gets created locally is from local audience. So it's less

648
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 1: about how we analyze it. You know, we like to

649
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 1: be kind of uh consistent and how we're looking at

650
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:15,560
Speaker 1: our data. UM, but you're not going to apply your

651
00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 1: the thing you learned in the US too, UM a

652
00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:24,319
Speaker 1: Spanish market that's not totally concrued. So we start looking

653
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:31,320
Speaker 1: at what it's important in Indonesia, Philippines, UH, Singapore and

654
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 1: saying why is this important in this country, work with

655
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: our partners to understand that, and then start deciding if

656
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,120
Speaker 1: there's global application to it. And sometimes we're just gonna

657
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,759
Speaker 1: make a really brilliant local series that that could be

658
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,000
Speaker 1: where it stuff. But a lot of cases, more and

659
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: more of our partners are saying, yeah, we want to

660
00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:49,400
Speaker 1: start here, but we know, you know, some good subtitling

661
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:50,800
Speaker 1: on this, and it's going to do really well on

662
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:52,640
Speaker 1: a global streaming service and we can sell it there

663
00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:55,920
Speaker 1: as well. So look, the process is the same the

664
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,359
Speaker 1: way we understand audience way, not only my creative team,

665
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:01,640
Speaker 1: but you know, our data teams kind of come together

666
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 1: to create a real true X ray understanding of a

667
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 1: story remains the same, but we're going to apply different

668
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:11,000
Speaker 1: data sets if I can be a little nerty for

669
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 1: a second to it. You know, it is about using

670
00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 1: that local understanding to really find why that story is

671
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:22,040
Speaker 1: important before we go into development. Now your your discussion

672
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:25,520
Speaker 1: and your philosophy of our adversus science here. Um, do

673
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:29,160
Speaker 1: you encounter any sort of culture shock with people from

674
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 1: Hollywood who you know, they know a good story when

675
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:35,239
Speaker 1: they see it and I don't need the data to

676
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:39,359
Speaker 1: tell me one way or the other. Um, Or maybe

677
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,960
Speaker 1: they're skeptical of like, well, you know, maybe maybe it

678
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 1: works on the on webhead, but it really really work

679
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: as a TV show or movie. I mean, do you

680
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: encounter any skeptical something like that? I think naturally, when

681
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:58,320
Speaker 1: you're innovating within a market, in a market that's already

682
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:01,279
Speaker 1: being disrupted, I think you're always going to find people

683
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 1: who want to hold on to the way things were,

684
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,640
Speaker 1: I think the most important thing, and this is why

685
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 1: we have such a great list of partners, you know,

686
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:15,399
Speaker 1: from Eric five to U C P Too, Sony TV,

687
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:21,560
Speaker 1: very fiction around the world is because that that moment

688
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:25,880
Speaker 1: of resisting change I think is really in itself changing.

689
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:30,080
Speaker 1: And look, more money is being spent on content than

690
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:31,960
Speaker 1: ever before. It doesn't look like it's going to slow

691
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: down any time in the near future. In fact, is

692
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:35,879
Speaker 1: going to accelerate to a pace that I don't think

693
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,279
Speaker 1: any of us can concept some days. Um, but with

694
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,680
Speaker 1: more money comes more risk, you know, is this streaming

695
00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:45,480
Speaker 1: wars really start to kick off. There's more to be

696
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:47,520
Speaker 1: lost by some of the biggest players in the world.

697
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:50,840
Speaker 1: And if we just keep going by people's gut feel

698
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,279
Speaker 1: of oh I think this is a good story. Well,

699
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:56,080
Speaker 1: you know, you're only good as your last story. And

700
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,880
Speaker 1: if this one didn't work out, okay, well cares if

701
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:02,319
Speaker 1: you're batting a thousand previous three. So what we're trying

702
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:04,400
Speaker 1: to do is change that and get away from the

703
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,880
Speaker 1: fact that we have to keep doing prequels and sequels

704
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,399
Speaker 1: and pre sequels and reboots. And you know, we want

705
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:12,000
Speaker 1: to see new I P. We want to see it

706
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:14,880
Speaker 1: from diverse voices, We want to see it from points

707
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:17,399
Speaker 1: of view that we don't get to see. And that's

708
00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,719
Speaker 1: what the audience is about. And and it's also why

709
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:23,400
Speaker 1: I don't shift just a spreadsheet with some numbers to

710
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,960
Speaker 1: anyone in the business. It's sitting down with our creative team,

711
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,120
Speaker 1: understanding what you love, the ethos of storytelling you want

712
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:32,400
Speaker 1: to be part of, and finding that match for you

713
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:34,919
Speaker 1: a lot at it and saying, look, this is big,

714
00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:36,919
Speaker 1: and here are the reasons it's big. Here's the reasons

715
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 1: why it's important. Can you get behind that? But more

716
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:43,040
Speaker 1: and more we're seeing that that conversation of oh, now

717
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:45,520
Speaker 1: I can pick a story better than your audience can't.

718
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:49,440
Speaker 1: It's changing because frankly, streaming is about audience like it

719
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 1: is the purest form of being able to test audience,

720
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,400
Speaker 1: which you know has never really been there before. And

721
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:59,359
Speaker 1: what we're giving those development executives, those writers, the directors, um,

722
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 1: the editors. Is a new tool. It's not taking away

723
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:06,319
Speaker 1: their creative merit, their creative capability. I mean, we get

724
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:08,480
Speaker 1: to work with some of the best creators in the world,

725
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,879
Speaker 1: both on and off our platform UM, but it's given

726
00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:15,440
Speaker 1: them a new tool because you know, every screenwriter had

727
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:17,359
Speaker 1: that moment where they didn't know whether to go left

728
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:19,799
Speaker 1: or right in there in their own story. And if

729
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:21,560
Speaker 1: all of a sudden we can go hey, I'm not

730
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: telling you definitely to go left, but I'm telling you

731
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:27,920
Speaker 1: twenty million people really enjoyed when it went left. You know,

732
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,480
Speaker 1: think about it, your story, lie, yeah, and you might

733
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,920
Speaker 1: decide to go right anyways, but at least you know

734
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: that you're gonna have the audience a little upset at that,

735
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:41,440
Speaker 1: and that's okay, you created some emotion. But it's it's

736
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:43,480
Speaker 1: a new snow set of tools that have just never

737
00:41:43,600 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 1: been available, especially to producers who have never had access

738
00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 1: to the data that you know, networks have had in

739
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:53,000
Speaker 1: the so I think you know, as you said, you know,

740
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:54,960
Speaker 1: we're still going to find people who go I don't know,

741
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: you know, ones and zeros. Is this really going to

742
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,719
Speaker 1: help us? But when you start seeing past that, When

743
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 1: you start understanding that we're here to help and make

744
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 1: better decisions and find new storytelling from new diverse voices

745
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,959
Speaker 1: around the world, skepticism is really started to wash away quickly.

746
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:15,320
Speaker 1: M Now, Aaron, you mentioned you know, content spending on

747
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,879
Speaker 1: content is just going to continue. And at the same time,

748
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,480
Speaker 1: you know, we're in the middle of this um worldwide

749
00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:28,240
Speaker 1: health pandemic, and that has stopped production a lot of areas.

750
00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,439
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's continuing in some geographies and it's

751
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 1: slowly reopening here in the US put in Canada. But

752
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,920
Speaker 1: I mean has that, you know, slowed down your pipeline.

753
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:46,200
Speaker 1: I think something really interesting happened during this past few

754
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:51,919
Speaker 1: months for us. First of all, um people were stock

755
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,480
Speaker 1: in their houses and they needed them a way to

756
00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,239
Speaker 1: kind of deal with what was going on. They needed

757
00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 1: a moment of guitars for themselves, and it actually they

758
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:06,399
Speaker 1: came to what pad. I mean, we saw increase in reading,

759
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:09,360
Speaker 1: but a hundred and fifty increase in in writing happening.

760
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,920
Speaker 1: So the first part of our pipeline was exceptionally healthy.

761
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,720
Speaker 1: I mean we saw more stories being created, more often

762
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:19,560
Speaker 1: by more people. I mean we were already even you

763
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:21,879
Speaker 1: know before that we're adding almost a new user every

764
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:26,719
Speaker 1: second of the day. So UM we really saw just

765
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,239
Speaker 1: this massive amount of creativity coming. We saw our big

766
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:34,240
Speaker 1: stories to get bigger. We saw you know, new subgenres

767
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,800
Speaker 1: like quarantine and Romance come to come to bear. But

768
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:43,920
Speaker 1: what had really gave the world away two express themselves

769
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:45,520
Speaker 1: in a moment where it was really hard to connect

770
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 1: with people, and that engagement was with their audience online

771
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 1: and that that was really important for us. So the

772
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:55,040
Speaker 1: first part of our pipeline was exceptionally healthy. But the

773
00:43:55,120 --> 00:44:01,400
Speaker 1: next thing that happened is for every actor, director, producer

774
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:04,160
Speaker 1: who always says they want to read things, they all

775
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,799
Speaker 1: of a sudden had time to read things. And when

776
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,680
Speaker 1: you're sitting on one of the largest I P libraries

777
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,759
Speaker 1: of all time in the history of the universe, we

778
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 1: can fulfill a lot of asks for people who want

779
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 1: to read. So we saw a huge jump in the

780
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 1: amount of development we got to be part of. UM

781
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,480
Speaker 1: sent out more stories maybe than ever before in in

782
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 1: just this short time. UM and has kept the team

783
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,720
Speaker 1: exceptionally busy in you know, taking the requests and finding

784
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:35,959
Speaker 1: new stories that are important to our audience. Over this time,

785
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:38,800
Speaker 1: so overall, I mean, you know, it is great to

786
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:42,920
Speaker 1: see production coming back. UM. You know, it's it's important us.

787
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:46,560
Speaker 1: You know, we just um earlier announced uh you know

788
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:49,600
Speaker 1: the number three and four in the After series are

789
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:55,120
Speaker 1: going to be shot soon as well. Um and uh

790
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,920
Speaker 1: Voltage it's it's still working with Voltage on that we

791
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:03,880
Speaker 1: worked with on movie too. Um. But uh, you know,

792
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,520
Speaker 1: watching production comeback safely globally is super important to us.

793
00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:09,680
Speaker 1: But to know that, you know, as it comes up,

794
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:11,560
Speaker 1: we've been able to see more and more of our

795
00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:15,719
Speaker 1: stories into development is really was a really kind of

796
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:20,000
Speaker 1: interesting outcome from this pandemic that um you know came

797
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:25,359
Speaker 1: to walk out mhm. Because studios and production companies we're

798
00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:29,520
Speaker 1: looking for products they could move forward with once they

799
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:33,719
Speaker 1: could exactly exactly. And like I said, in a moment

800
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:35,919
Speaker 1: where people all of a sudden had time to read,

801
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 1: everyone who said, oh, I want to read, but we're

802
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:41,840
Speaker 1: too busy doing their day job. You know, we have

803
00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:46,280
Speaker 1: a billion uploads almost two start reaching into and finding

804
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:49,680
Speaker 1: your next favorite story. And that quarantine romance you mentioned,

805
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,960
Speaker 1: that's by the author of the Kissing Group. That's recals

806
00:45:53,680 --> 00:46:00,480
Speaker 1: one of the Lockdown Lane. Yeah. Uh we uh we're

807
00:46:00,520 --> 00:46:03,840
Speaker 1: actually yeah, lockdown on London Lane. She started writing it

808
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:10,120
Speaker 1: during uh, obviously during the pandemic. Um, it's already a mass,

809
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:12,600
Speaker 1: you know, hundreds of thousands of reads in like a

810
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:15,120
Speaker 1: really short period of time, and we're lucky enough to

811
00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:19,239
Speaker 1: be working with her to publish it through what Pad Books. UMO.

812
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,160
Speaker 1: So uh, that's a really great story to see Beth.

813
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:26,040
Speaker 1: You had such success with um the Kissing both of

814
00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 1: the published book, you know, when she started writing in

815
00:46:27,719 --> 00:46:29,440
Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven, which I think she was the

816
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 1: one of the youngest teams ever to get a multi

817
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 1: book deal, which was the Times top forty teens in

818
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,520
Speaker 1: the world one year, all the way to see two

819
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,200
Speaker 1: super hit movies on Netflix, and then to be able

820
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,160
Speaker 1: to work with her again. Um. He shows just the

821
00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:45,200
Speaker 1: power of the community of what Pad and the faith

822
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:48,359
Speaker 1: that our authors have in in helping, you know, take

823
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:53,279
Speaker 1: their stories to new levels. Mhm um. So, and I'm

824
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:57,720
Speaker 1: wondering how much do you personally read on what Pad

825
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 1: and UM, I mean do you read for enjoyment? UM?

826
00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:06,200
Speaker 1: Do you look at you know, are you sent a

827
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:10,319
Speaker 1: subset of stuff to review kind of thing? Or how

828
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:14,880
Speaker 1: do you work with um with all of this, I

829
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:17,120
Speaker 1: will say, I'm never at a lack for material to

830
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:21,200
Speaker 1: read when I need to, whether it be books, We've

831
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:25,600
Speaker 1: published books, we're going to publish scripts, et cetera. Um.

832
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:28,200
Speaker 1: You know, we have an amazing I have an amazing

833
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:32,520
Speaker 1: content strategy team who is always diving into the nooks

834
00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:35,000
Speaker 1: and crannies of back Pad and finding you know, new

835
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 1: big stories and hidden gems. Um. But I always like

836
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:40,399
Speaker 1: to do my own hunting. You know, I've I've been

837
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:42,040
Speaker 1: a walk back for seven years. I have my own

838
00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:48,480
Speaker 1: tricks as well. Uh and Uh, I've read genres that

839
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:50,160
Speaker 1: I never thought I would read before I came to

840
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 1: walk Pad that I'm in love with myself now, and

841
00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:54,840
Speaker 1: so I like to dive into the corners and and

842
00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:56,960
Speaker 1: find those next grade stories as well. I get to

843
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,640
Speaker 1: bring them to our development meetings also. Um, but I'm

844
00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:03,640
Speaker 1: really fortunate that our content teams have spent so much

845
00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:06,239
Speaker 1: time so thoughtfully thinking about how we find content that

846
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:10,040
Speaker 1: I am never at a loss for my Pad library

847
00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:13,000
Speaker 1: being full of great things to read. And I assume,

848
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 1: I mean, meanwhile, you have to stay up to date

849
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:19,400
Speaker 1: on what's happening in the entertainment industry at large. You know,

850
00:48:19,440 --> 00:48:23,080
Speaker 1: I mean, have you seen Tenant, For example, I have

851
00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:26,239
Speaker 1: not seen Tenant yet. Um. I have not made it

852
00:48:26,280 --> 00:48:30,239
Speaker 1: out to a theater yet, unfortunately. Uh, but I'm planning to.

853
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:34,080
Speaker 1: Hopefully next week I have a little more time. My

854
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:37,680
Speaker 1: daughter gets to go back to school. Um. But yeah, Look,

855
00:48:37,719 --> 00:48:40,080
Speaker 1: I'm always abreast of what's going on in the industry,

856
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:42,120
Speaker 1: and it's the most fun part of my job is

857
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:46,080
Speaker 1: you know, I get to spend my morning reading, my

858
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:50,240
Speaker 1: afternoon watching film, and my evening watching series. And sometimes

859
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:52,640
Speaker 1: it's two books in one series, or three films and

860
00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:55,719
Speaker 1: no series. But um, I think it's one of the

861
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:58,279
Speaker 1: interesting that's only what Pad Studios is doing. I mean,

862
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:02,880
Speaker 1: we are thinking about the entire ecosystem of what entertains

863
00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:06,440
Speaker 1: human beings, not just film, not just TV, not just books,

864
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:09,120
Speaker 1: not just games, not just podcasts. But how do those

865
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:12,560
Speaker 1: all fit fit together around Well, I think it's going

866
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:15,560
Speaker 1: to be maybe the most important term in content from

867
00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:19,360
Speaker 1: here on out, which is story world. Right, It's no

868
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:21,719
Speaker 1: longer good enough just to have a hit film. It's

869
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:23,480
Speaker 1: no longer good enough to have a couple of seasons

870
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 1: of a series. You have to find more ways to

871
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:29,520
Speaker 1: keep fandoms engaged, and it has to be bigger than

872
00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:31,400
Speaker 1: just a franchise. There has to be a world built

873
00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:33,040
Speaker 1: around it. And that's what we think about it all day.

874
00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:36,160
Speaker 1: And it's not just that the way it I mean

875
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:39,239
Speaker 1: the way it used to be. Write a book, find

876
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:42,640
Speaker 1: an agent, get it published, get it picked up for

877
00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 1: film or TV, and you know, seven years later there's

878
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:47,439
Speaker 1: a film. We have a lot of books that will

879
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:50,680
Speaker 1: hit a screen before it got a publishing deal, before

880
00:49:50,719 --> 00:49:53,000
Speaker 1: we published it. We'll have a lot of that will

881
00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:56,279
Speaker 1: go to be a game before it was a film.

882
00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:58,440
Speaker 1: Like so we don't have to think about things in

883
00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:00,440
Speaker 1: order anymore. What pad we have to think about the

884
00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:03,640
Speaker 1: right way to tell a story. And because we're focused

885
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:06,440
Speaker 1: on story world, um, we really have to have a

886
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:09,560
Speaker 1: heartbeat of what's going on in entertainment literally around the world,

887
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,160
Speaker 1: not just entertainment. I should say what entertains me mm hmm.

888
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:17,320
Speaker 1: What's what's a good example or what's maybe the optimal

889
00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:23,000
Speaker 1: example of story world in your opinion? Um, I mean,

890
00:50:23,080 --> 00:50:26,360
Speaker 1: look After, it's really hard to argue that After is

891
00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,400
Speaker 1: in a complete world unto itself. Uh, it's a universe

892
00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:32,279
Speaker 1: that could be explored in a million different ways. And

893
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:34,320
Speaker 1: Anton Tood has done a phenomenal job that. You know,

894
00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:37,919
Speaker 1: you're talking about seven books in the series, selling tens

895
00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,399
Speaker 1: of millions of copies in print around the world. You're

896
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:43,719
Speaker 1: talking about a fandom that's created more fan art than

897
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 1: you could ever get your head around. You're talking about

898
00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:48,799
Speaker 1: you know, one of the biggest in new movies last

899
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:51,680
Speaker 1: year and now really one of the number one releases

900
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:55,359
Speaker 1: this year already. Um, you know, and like I said,

901
00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,320
Speaker 1: selling out all its pre sales and ahead of Tenant

902
00:50:58,400 --> 00:51:00,840
Speaker 1: and New Mutants in a lot of places. Um, with

903
00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:04,200
Speaker 1: two more movies coming. Then you know, the work that

904
00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:09,279
Speaker 1: she's done on merchandizing and herself becoming um, you know,

905
00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:12,200
Speaker 1: as big Anatad is as big as her story. I mean,

906
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:14,200
Speaker 1: if you look at how she works with her fandom,

907
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:16,400
Speaker 1: how much they respect her and listen to her and

908
00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:18,360
Speaker 1: look up to her. I mean, that is just a

909
00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:21,959
Speaker 1: perfect example of of an author to understands story world

910
00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:25,239
Speaker 1: and hopefully us as partners with her helping to create that.

911
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:30,120
Speaker 1: But I'm thinking also a non wad Pad franchise is

912
00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:34,360
Speaker 1: I mean Marvel or DC Universe. I think there's that

913
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:40,319
Speaker 1: really famous uh drawing that you know, it's a story

914
00:51:40,440 --> 00:51:45,120
Speaker 1: from a Harvard Business h article a few years back.

915
00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:47,160
Speaker 1: You know, some went down to the archives of Disney

916
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:50,840
Speaker 1: and found, you know, Disney's original drawing of how we

917
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:53,440
Speaker 1: wanted to build his empire. And over here is a

918
00:51:53,520 --> 00:51:57,279
Speaker 1: theme park and merchandizing and film and TV and there's

919
00:51:57,280 --> 00:51:59,160
Speaker 1: all these arrows criss crossing ever, but in the center

920
00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:03,520
Speaker 1: of it is creators. And you know, we really take

921
00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:06,760
Speaker 1: that kind of model to heart, right. You know, Disney

922
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:10,040
Speaker 1: may have drawn that, you know, X decades ago, but

923
00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:13,520
Speaker 1: for us, being centered around creators, being centered around the

924
00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:16,920
Speaker 1: story world is what's going to be successful. So you know,

925
00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 1: you can look at Disney, of course and said they

926
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:23,759
Speaker 1: have done it in in multiple ways over time, but

927
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:27,320
Speaker 1: it's really because keeping those creators at the core of

928
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:29,920
Speaker 1: what you do is what allows you to work with

929
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:32,480
Speaker 1: the story world instead of just the output of a

930
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:35,480
Speaker 1: story world. That's always going to be the most important

931
00:52:35,480 --> 00:52:37,359
Speaker 1: thing to us as a studio is you know, how

932
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:40,360
Speaker 1: are we working with our creators, are writers and further

933
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:43,480
Speaker 1: in their career to help build out worlds that you know,

934
00:52:43,640 --> 00:52:48,000
Speaker 1: even we haven't thought of yet. Aaron Livett's work Pad Studios,

935
00:52:48,080 --> 00:52:50,560
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Thanks so much for having me

936
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:59,560
Speaker 1: to I loved it. This has been another episode of

937
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:02,440
Speaker 1: Strict Lead Business. Tune in next week for another helping

938
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:06,239
Speaker 1: of scintillating conversation with media movers and shakers, and please

939
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:09,720
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to the podcast to hear future episodes. Also,

940
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:12,680
Speaker 1: leave a review in Apple Podcasts and let us know

941
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:13,560
Speaker 1: how we're doing