WEBVTT - Scooter Braun Gets Free Advice in a 'Mogul Memo' Monologue 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.800 Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.280 which we speak with some of the brightest minds working 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:15.360 in the media business. 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:15.760 Today. 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:20.919 I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety Today on the pod a Twofer. 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:25.800 We've got an interview with Phil Weiser, the CTO at 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.520 Paramount Global. He sat down earlier this summer at the 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.960 Collision Tech conference in Toronto with my colleague at Variety, 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.000 Vip Heidi Chung to talk about a wide range of 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.239 technologies that his company is investing in. But before we 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:44.360 get to that, I'm going to try something new on 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.839 this Strictly Business podcast. For the past ten weeks, I've 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.520 been writing a new column on Variety Intelligence platform called 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.520 the Mogul Memo. Each installment is addressed to a different 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.360 mogul in the media world, maybe a CEO like Netflix's 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:03.320 Ted Surrounds or the new top executive at Elon Musk's 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:08.319 ex Linda Yakarino, and you'll find it candid in tone 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:11.959 that might actually be an understatement anyway. This week we're 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:16.160 bringing the Mogul Memo to podcast form. Call it the 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.880 Mogul Monologue, if you will. It's addressed this week to 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.839 Scooter Braun the pop star Svengali, who's been all over 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.760 the headlines. So you don't want to miss this one, 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.560 and you don't want to miss a Mogul memo. Check 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.080 them all out if you haven't yet at Variety dot 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:37.360 com slash Mogul Memo. Most are behind the VIP paywall, 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.480 but now's as good a time as any to join VIP. 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.440 If you haven't already, take advantage of a discounted rate. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:49.000 Head over today to Variety dot com slash vip save. 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.880 That's enough promotion for me. Enjoy the strictly business debut 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.920 of the Mogul memo featuring Scooter Braun, followed by Heidi 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:11.320 Chung's interview with Paramount CTO Phil Wiser, and We're back. 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:15.960 Enjoy the strictly business debut of the Mogul Memo featuring 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:20.400 Scooter Braun, followed by Heidi Chung's interview with Paramount CTO 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:26.960 Phil Weiser. Dear Scooter, I would have reached out sooner, 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:31.200 but honestly, it's so awkward. I don't know what to say. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:37.080 Hallmark doesn't make any sorry your career imploded sympathy cards. 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.040 After all, it's not every day a well known music 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.960 industry manager watches a trio of his best clients walk 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.720 out the door all at once. It's bad enough losing 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.480 Justin Bieber, but for the world to learn that you 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.760 also recently lost Demi Lovado and Ariana Grande. 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:56.840 That's rough. 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:01.600 That said, the terms of the suppose a departure are murky, 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.280 to say the least, as a source from your camp 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.920 issued a statement of Variety suggesting your clients technically haven't 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.040 moved on, though you kind of have. Quote all of 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.720 Scooter Braun's clients are under contract and negotiations have been 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.120 going on for several months as Scooter steps into his 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:26.120 larger role as Hibe America CEO. End quote. Hib America 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.280 is something of a side gig you've held down for 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.079 the past two years, but as Variety's Jim as Wad 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:37.680 recently reported, it's increasingly become your main focus, and that 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.960 I think Scooter is central to understanding why you lost 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.400 these clients, as a lot of the reporting this past 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:49.200 week supports, I think you deluded yourself for too long 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.720 into thinking that you could have kept them in the 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.400 fold by delegating the management to others on your team. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.240 That's a notorious no no, in the manager business, where 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:03.440 bedside manner is everything. But I wouldn't beat yourself up 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.280 too much about running out of steam when I think 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.720 about the fact that you had a deal with handling 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:13.800 the kind of personal lives Bieber Grandelevado lead not to 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:19.080 mention until twenty eighteen, Kanye West, you qualify for hazard 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:24.839 pay early retirement. Maybe a lifetime supply is Zoloft. As 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.039 for your own personal take on this PR crisis, all 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.200 we have to go on was a joke you made 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:36.320 on twit sorry X where you proclaimed, quote breaking news, 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:42.160 I'm no longer managing myself end quote. Thanks for clarifying, Scooter. 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.800 Since you've clearly retained your sense of humor, you couldn't 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.800 possibly be upset, Or maybe you're just trying to look 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.279 like you're not upset. The thing is, no one could 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.440 blame you if you were actually upset. Considering the legions 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.039 of Taylor Swift fans currently calling you out on social 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.640 media for the sin of buying her record company back 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:09.280 in twenty nineteen, which Swift has characterized as stealing her 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.320 masters out from under her lightning rod, that deal turned 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.760 out to be It actually sparked a series of brilliant 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.400 transactions on your part to flip your own company to 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.240 South Korean k pop giant Hibe for just over a 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.720 billion dollars in twenty twenty one, giving you a seat 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:33.000 on the company's board and the CEO position at Hibe America. 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:34.080 Of course, no. 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.839 One really knows you from that job. They know you 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.839 as a manager, and now they know you as a 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.240 manager who has lost all of his best clients at 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.840 the same time. Now, this wouldn't look as bad as 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.320 it does if the gig at Hibe America you were 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:52.360 moving on to wasn't such a hmm and I'm putting 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:57.440 this charitably a work in progress. Hip America has to 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.760 be understood first and foremost as an attempt at diversification 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.400 away from the Hibe mothership, the k pop factory that 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:09.560 gave the world the Korean boy band BTS. And that's 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.320 no small load to carry. Because BTS is currently on 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.920 hiatus for the next few years. Good luck generating new 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:20.640 business while that cash cow takes a breather. What Hibe 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:25.640 America is primarily is Big Machine label group, the controversial 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.039 home of Swift's first six albums, which you acquired for 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.560 more than three hundred million. Nearly four years later, you 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.320 spent about the same amount for hip hop label Quality Control, 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:40.880 home of chart toppers including Little Baby and Lil YACHTI. 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.520 What's more, Bloomberg reported in June that Hibe was looking 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.200 to arrange financing for another three hundred and eighty million 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:54.440 to make more deals in the US, which all sounds great, Scooter, 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.840 except for when I ask myself what no one seems 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.279 to have noticed in this mess, which is, what have 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.880 you been doing for the past two years? You've already 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:09.560 been at Hip America perus. The first details in your bio, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.840 for instance, and what is characterized as a quote elite 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:19.160 portfolio of acquisitions and partnerships end quote does not seem 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:23.280 very elite. For instance, it's mentioned a four year old 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:27.440 alliance with Marvel Studios founder David Mazel that seems to 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:31.560 be about building a new superhero franchise that so far 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:36.680 hasn't produced much but a forgettable and ft collection. There's 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:40.320 also a partnership with veteran unscripted producer j d Roth 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.640 that so far has yielded some pretty forgettable vanity projects 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.600 for the clients you just lost. There's also an investment 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.800 fund at the intersection of music and technology, featuring a 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.920 former BMG president who hasn't been with the fund since 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.600 May twenty twenty two. And there's also an investment firm, 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.240 TQ Ventures, which, according to a New York Post report 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:09.840 last week, is looking to quote ditch you. Now, maybe 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.840 all this is just another sign that you can't be 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:17.840 both a mogul and a manager. Maybe you have another 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.120 three hundred and eighty million in your pocket. You can 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.960 make some moves that will truly convince me you can 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:27.360 do something of note at High America. I have my doubts, 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:29.600 but I'm gonna tell you why. I'm gonna give you 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:33.680 the benefit of the doubt because I think this PR 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.000 crisis is actually a gift in disguise that is going 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.320 to force you to make a clean break from the 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:46.400 management business. If you follow my advice, you see your 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.680 swift rift reminded me. Looking bad in the public eye 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.880 is something you've acquainted with. You're one of the rare 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.840 few to walk through this fire and realize the wounds 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.480 do heal if you have tough enough skin, and unlike 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.360 most managers who adhere to the cardinal rule of old 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.280 school Hollywood representation, to remain in the shadows and let 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:11.680 their clients soak. 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:12.319 Up the spotlight. 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.280 You've always broken that rule and built an image for yourself, 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.560 kind of like someone who always had an endgame that 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.960 involved not being a manager. If that's the way you 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.839 think most in your shoes don't, then you probably believe 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:32.000 in another old school Hollywood axiom. There's no such thing 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:36.120 as bad publicity. And that's why you should look at 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:39.520 last week's events, which most may see as an act 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.760 of self destruction, as something like an act of reinvention. 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:49.920 So counterintuitive as this sounds, lean into it. Look, there's 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.839 no getting past a perception you've experienced a big setback. 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:58.559 But that's okay, because when a student of the dark 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.960 arts of pr like your your self can appreciate is 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.719 that there is a flip side to being thrust out 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.440 of the management business as dramatically as you have, And 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:12.280 that's you've sent as clear and loud as signal as 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.680 you can to the marketplace that you've opened a new 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:20.679 chapter in your career. Maybe it wasn't voluntary, and maybe 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.800 I'm not that confident you're ready for High of America, 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:28.360 but your mogul phase has begun and your manager one 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.000 has ended. You learn the hard way. Trying to straddle 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:37.080 the two won't work. So think of your crisis as 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:44.000 a chrysalis, a rebranding, or dare I say a rebranding. 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:49.960 Will be back in just a minute. 0:10:49.640 --> 0:11:00.920 With Paramount CTO Bill Wiser. And now here is Heidi 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:06.200 Chung with her interview with Paramount CTO Phil Weiser from 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.240 the Collision Tech Conference. 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.600 Hi everyone, I'm Heidi, Thanks so much for joining us. 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.920 I'm joined by the Phil Weiser, EDP and Chief Technology 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:18.280 Officer at Paramount Global. 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:20.080 We're gonna get real intimate. 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:24.240 We're gonna talk about all things tech in media, and 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:26.680 I guess to kick things off, we should start sort 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.240 of from the new beginning, if you will. So the 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:33.120 merger between Viacom and CBS in twenty nineteen. Tell us 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:35.840 how the company has sort of evolved since then. 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.840 Well, the merger was a great opportunity to rethink what 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.079 a media company is going forward. We merged CBS and 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.959 Viacom and Paramount Pictures in the end of twenty nineteen, 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:49.360 and we took that as an opportunity to say, well, 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.880 if I were starting this scale of a media company now, 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:53.439 how would I rebuild it. 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:55.600 So we went and looked at everything. 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.440 From the way we produce content, process it, distribute it, 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:02.320 and obviously building out stream capabilities and from the ground 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:08.040 up rebuilt that on modern Internet cloud technologies, which is 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.800 a big undertaking with that complex of an organization. But 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.200 now three and a half years later, it's really paying 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:16.800 off and we've been able to grow some. 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:19.240 Businesses which we'll talk about on the back of all that. 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:23.720 Yeah, so launch was obviously huge, but now I feel 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.280 like the streaming industry is sort of dealing with a 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:27.400 new set of challenges. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:29.120 So as a consumer, I don't know. 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.680 About all of you, but sometimes I get a little 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:36.719 frustrated with apps because the user experience isn't necessarily always great, right, 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:38.959 It's sort of hard to find content that you want 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.120 to watch. Recommendations aren't really that good. So is it 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.800 that something that you're thinking about? At Paramount Global as well. 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.360 Constantly so we'll hit a recommendations and a lot of 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.960 these things were like, it's the new streaming, these are 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:52.120 new problems to be tackled. 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:53.320 They're not new at all. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.679 My last startup was in two thousand and six, and 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.160 the premise of that was to use recommendation and Netflix 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.960 at the same time, it just put out a challenge 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.040 to the tech community to come up with better recommendations. 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:08.880 So we're here almost twenty years later. 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:13.120 Still talking about recommendations, right, So it's definitely improving. But 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:17.240 what we found with recommendations is that user interface integration 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.360 is the key to success. You don't magically pull a 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.080 piece of content up and say you want to watch 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.320 this now. You just have to make sure that you're 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.040 modifying the user interface in real time based on that 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.719 user and also based on the environment that they're in. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.520 So we're definitely continuing to innovate there. We have an 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.040 applied machine learning group that really is our primary focus 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.920 is on modifying that UI based on now more and 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:40.400 more AI. 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.640 Okay, so algorithms one way that you're doing that as 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.599 a lot of algorithms, Yeah, okay, great. 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.200 And they're not all AI algorithms. Good old analytics works 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:49.000 in a lot of cases. 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.200 Okay, So I know everyone here wants to hear Phil 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.520 talk about AI, which we will be getting to in 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:53.959 short in. 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:55.200 A short moment, but I do want. 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.240 To talk a little bit about last year. I feel 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.520 like the conversation last year and twenty two was a 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.400 lot about the metaverse. It was a lot about NFTs, 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.040 and I know Paramount Global was definitely playing those areas 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.240 as well. Where do those initiatives sort of stand right now? 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:10.960 Are you still thinking about investing there? 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:12.360 Well, why don't we? 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.600 I won't talk about where we're investing completely, but let's 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.480 talk about the blockchain NFT world for a bit. And 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.160 I've been, you know, big on crypto five years ago 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:27.200 as a storage of value, but you look back and 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:31.520 there's really no significant blockchain platform outside of value Store 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:35.440 that's been successful and including NFTs, except for those that 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.160 got in early and got out fast. So you know, 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.200 we're definitely, you know, continuing to look at the space, 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.600 but not investing heavily in that metaverse. We're still looking 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:47.560 at because there is something beyond a touchscreen computer in 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.400 your pocket that's going to be a primary user interface. 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:51.920 And if you just walk around here. 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.400 I live in Manhattan, I bump into more people than 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.360 I can count every day with their face stuck in 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:57.400 a phone trying to walk. 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.280 That heads down experience is going to evolve. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.800 Where it goes, whether it's you know, Apple's new device 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.640 or something that Matter is doing I'm not really going 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.320 to bet completely on that. Betting against apples generally a 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.440 bad idea, but I do feel like that immersive experience 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:12.720 is going to get more more interesting. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:15.120 I don't think it's going to be a completely. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.760 Isolated metaverse as we talked about last year, but we're 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:18.520 still looking at that. 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.560 Give us an update on the NFT stuff that you 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:22.200 were working on. 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:23.480 Well, we're still in the market. 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.040 So we started out with a star Trek launch with 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.720 NFTs that were variations of the enterprise. We've done it 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.680 with other brands. We'll work with a company recur that 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.800 stands up a marketplace for that. We're continuing on that path. 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.200 But I think, like everyone, we're just seeing that it's 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.800 kind of it's stalling out to some extent in the market. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.120 Okay, So when you're thinking about new opportunities when it 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:48.080 comes to tech within media, how do you assess investing 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.880 in different opportunities that you see and how does that 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:52.720 conversation sort of play out in the boardroom. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.360 Well, we follow the consumer, right, so we're not going 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.400 to go to AI you tell me nice when you 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.000 can unleash me, but and we look at what's really 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.160 being adopted and we take an adventure investing approach to 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:05.960 these technologies. 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:06.760 We go in small. 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.960 Our metaverse investments have been relatively small. What we're building, 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.800 same thing with other technologies. But I'm really looking at, 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:17.480 you know, where there's a pivot in consumer adoption because 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:19.240 while we all know these things are going to happen, 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:23.080 when into what scale is the hardest thing to predict. 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:25.440 So we're very i think hopefully smart at being a 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.040 fast follower, making sure we're in talking to the key 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.880 players in these spaces and then we can accelerate when 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:31.960 the market really diet distraction. 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.360 Okay, so are you ready for AI or. 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:35.520 I'm always ready for it? 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:37.200 Okay, let's jump in. 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.800 What is Paramount doing when it comes to AI? How 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:41.920 are you thinking about it? 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:42.200 Now? 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.480 AI is not new technology, right, It's been around for 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.960 quite some time, but this is a new revolution that 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.600 we're seeing with generative AI. So what are your personal 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.800 thoughts on it? What is the company doing? 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.080 Well, we'll get to the it's not new thing, but 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.800 I'm glad that it's hitting this next wave. We formed 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.840 our five machine learning groups six years ago, which was 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.880 the last wave in that twenty seventeen timeframe. We started 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.399 talking naturally to computers with Syria and others, and that 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.879 was a big breakthrough in terms of language processing, so 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.320 real time natural language processing. And also we applied it 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.639 a lot for image recognition, so we stood up the 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.760 ability to tag images or video and then we could 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.040 we could modify that. This new phase of generative AI 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.760 to me is a fundamental shift obviously in terms of 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.440 what we can do in all phases of our production 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.399 and distribution. So we're looking at it primarily now in 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:39.320 terms of globalization, because you know, the ability to automatically 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:43.159 convert to many languages and release an asset around the 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.399 globe is very challenging and traditionally we've windowed. So if 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:50.040 we have, say a new episode of Yellowstone, and we 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:51.720 want to push that around the globe, we have a 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.440 couple months before it hit different regions. Now we want 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:56.840 that episode to hit everywhere in a couple of weeks, 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.119 which is really not just feasible in many cases. So 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.320 we're looking at how we can apply AI machine learning 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.560 to tackle some of those globalization problems and deal with 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.000 translation and make it feel very natural and high quality, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.439 because we do feel like it's a global marketplace and 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.920 that's a great opportunity. We're also looking at for visual effects, 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:19.359 just basic simple visual effects. We talked about rotoscoping a 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.680 little earlier. I think we've got a ton of people 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:25.080 that are in their manually editing video. We applied this 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.440 actually to the Cobert Show, one of our CBS properties, 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:30.800 where they have to turn around some of these video 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:32.280 clips in a matter of hours. 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:34.879 Based on recent news, we took. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.320 A couple of our editors and applied this and they 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.359 took a five hour task of creating a comedy clip 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:42.879 and did it in ten minutes. So that just proves 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:45.159 that and they're thrilled because the creative idea was there, 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:46.439 they knew what they wanted to do, and then they 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.480 had hours of manual labor to. 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:49.679 Get to the end result. 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:51.840 In this case, they could flip that around very quickly 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.000 and move on to the next thing. So I think 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.400 there's going to be a lot of impact on production 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:57.960 and then also marketing we. 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:58.880 Should talk about as well. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.760 Tell us well, you know, as a media company, we 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:06.320 spend almost all of our money on creating content and 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:07.000 marketing it. 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.960 And marketing is. 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.000 Really a great application for AI right now because generally 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.240 the content you're producing is derivative of the original content, 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.760 and the machine learning algorithms now and AI are very 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:23.520 good at modifying existing content or introducing new elements of 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.520 existing content. So we're applying that, you know, at scale 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.679 to marketing again for globalization, also to create a lot 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.600 of different variants, so we can create different versions of 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.480 a promo clip or a trailer for a feature from 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.880 different audiences very quickly, which is now very manual. 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:41.600 So we see a lot of opportunity in that. 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.399 Okay, So, Phil, judging by the way that you're speaking 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.200 about AI and the way that paramount is leveraged. 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:47.639 Why did you get it? 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.000 You sound really optimistic, but we know that there are 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.639 concerns out there, right, So despite your bullishness, what are 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.520 your thoughts on sort of the idea that creatives are like, well, 0:19:56.840 --> 0:19:59.080 are we going to be out of a job in 0:19:59.119 --> 0:19:59.760 a few years? 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:01.840 Is a I going to take over? And are they 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:02.840 going to be writing scripts? 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.560 Are they going to be you know, help helping with 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.879 production to the point where some producers won't even be needed. Like, 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.800 what are your thoughts on those concerns job security for 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:11.920 the creatives. 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.280 Well, there's there's a basic reality that this wave of 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:18.359 technology will shift where people need to spend their time working. 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:20.040 You just can't deny that. 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.080 But I think it's been overhyped that this AI is 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.520 going to go and generate a script, generate novel, new 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:31.040 ideas that replace what humans are doing. I think it's 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:32.520 you know, maybe it'll get there over time. 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:34.119 And I've had a lot of debates on that topic 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:34.959 about what that is. 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.240 It's kind of a more consciousness existential question that I 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.119 won't get into. But the ability to assist in the 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:44.600 way I describe that editor on the lay show is 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:47.280 very real. So we're looking in from a tool perspective, 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.240 and even in the writer's room, if a writer can 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.920 have an idea and then turn that into a couple 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.320 pages of text, and then curate and modify that, and 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:57.760 even take that idea and say I want to see 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.879 what that looks like in a desert and see you know, 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:04.240 pre visualization of that work in almost real time, that's 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.679 going to make their creative process much more powerful. And 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:09.240 I think we're gonna get more ideas, we're gonna have 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:11.960 more content. And the one thing we're learning from the 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.480 streaming wars that we're all in still is, you know, 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.280 consumers having limitless appetite for content, which is great as 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:21.320 a content company. So we're going to have to continue 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.720 to create more even when the pressure is there on 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:26.439 streaming to be profitable, which you know, the level of 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:31.919 high quality theatrical grade episodic content that we're producing is now, 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.000 you know, not maintainable. We're gonna have to figure out 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:37.639 how to produce that high quality content at a lower cost. 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.439 So Paramount is a company with a treasure trove of 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.680 IP right from SpongeBob to you name it. 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:46.080 Paramount has created it. 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:49.919