Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Jason
Speaker 1: Kelly and I'm Carol Masster. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week Extra. It's our weekly podcast bringing you an in
Speaker 1: depth interview you will not hear anywhere else. This week
Speaker 1: a chat with Jane Rosenthal, film and television producer, co founder,
Speaker 1: of course, of the Tribeca Film Festival. A little bit
Speaker 1: of a different year this year. Yeah, it's usually kicking
Speaker 1: off right now, and it's a big deal, and it's
Speaker 1: a big festival. And of course, like most things in
Speaker 1: our society, it was closed down. But that's not stopping them.
Speaker 1: That's not stopping them, Jason. They are doing things online.
Speaker 1: And what I love about talking to Jane is that
Speaker 1: they were by creating the Tribeca Film Festival right after
Speaker 1: nine eleven, they know a lot about bringing a city
Speaker 1: back from a crisis. So a really timely conversation. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: so the show must go on, and that is certainly
Speaker 1: the case for the Tribeca Film Festival, now in it's
Speaker 1: nineteenth year, founded after nine eleven to help revive downtown
Speaker 1: New York. This year, though happening virtually and online because
Speaker 1: of the Corona the virus here with how they are
Speaker 1: bringing the festival to fans who are sheltering in place
Speaker 1: and also to content creators. Is Jane Rosenthal t Rebeca
Speaker 1: Enterprises and Rebeca Film Festival co founder and CEO joining
Speaker 1: us on the phone. Jane, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: being with us. Um, we hope you are doing well
Speaker 1: your family. Everybody's staying healthy, safe and sound. Everybody is healthy,
Speaker 1: um and safe, women and up and and sound. Everybody's
Speaker 1: going a little cabin crazy at this point, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's been a wonderful bonding experience. So thank you, and
Speaker 1: I hope your families are also doing doing well. It is.
Speaker 1: It is a crazy, crazy time. Yeah, it's an extraordinary time,
Speaker 1: to be sure, and we want to talk about everything
Speaker 1: that's going on with Tribeca and some of the innovations
Speaker 1: that that you're getting underway. But you know, I did
Speaker 1: want to ask you if we could, just given this
Speaker 1: crazy time and given that you are very much as
Speaker 1: we are, at the epicenter of it, what's it like
Speaker 1: in New York right now, New York City right now
Speaker 1: for you? Well, UM, I am actually out in water
Speaker 1: No New York on Long Island, Uh, where I've had
Speaker 1: a home for twenty five years. UM My my oldest
Speaker 1: daughter is in the city, and you know, worried about her,
Speaker 1: worried about her daily. Um. You know this city. When
Speaker 1: when there's no people on the streets in New York City,
Speaker 1: it's just a very bad site. But uh, it's that
Speaker 1: resiliency that New Yorkers have and we've seen it with
Speaker 1: first line workers, the health workers, produced firefighters, ms, delivery workers.
Speaker 1: New York is strong. We've gotten through so much in
Speaker 1: the past. We've gotten through nine eleven. Um. Where a resilient,
Speaker 1: resilient city. Um, so I look forward to working with
Speaker 1: everyone and figuring out what that what the normal is
Speaker 1: now for us. Well, you know, you're like the perfect
Speaker 1: person to talk to because you know we were talking
Speaker 1: about and planning for this this interview. You know, you
Speaker 1: do understand bringing back a city from crisis. You know,
Speaker 1: that's what you guys did with the Tribeca Film Festival,
Speaker 1: and it was so many people were writing off downtown
Speaker 1: New York. Um. Understandably, New York was damaged, um and
Speaker 1: hurt on so many different levels after nine eleven. What
Speaker 1: do you think you know, how do we this is
Speaker 1: a different type of crisis. Fair to say, Um, how
Speaker 1: do we come back? What do you what are your
Speaker 1: expectations for New York where we are such a you know,
Speaker 1: social city. You're so used to being, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of crammed next to one another. And I think at
Speaker 1: some level we enjoy that. I mean, I think it's
Speaker 1: why we all are in New York, work there, live there. Um,
Speaker 1: what are your expectations for how we come back? I
Speaker 1: think first and foremost we all have to feel safe
Speaker 1: again and safe to go out and know, uh, understand
Speaker 1: what is happening in terms of testing and protocols and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, are just the way the way we move
Speaker 1: is going to change the way we get dressed and
Speaker 1: putting on a mask to go outside all the time.
Speaker 1: So things are going to change without questions. So what
Speaker 1: are the new normal procedures and practices that we're going
Speaker 1: to have to adapt to? And that's one thing about
Speaker 1: New Yorkers. We are all adaptable. You know, we will
Speaker 1: turn it. It will turn into something. Um. But you know,
Speaker 1: as everyone, you know, as the governor has said, okay,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a glad you will unpause of
Speaker 1: uh of our of our society, of our of our culture,
Speaker 1: and you know, first and foremost is to be safe.
Speaker 1: So tell us what the decision making was around the
Speaker 1: film Festival, because, as you know, as far better than
Speaker 1: the Carol ur ur I do, we're just fans and
Speaker 1: consumers of of great movies and and films. You know,
Speaker 1: it is both an individual but also a social experience
Speaker 1: going to the movies. And as Carol has rightly said,
Speaker 1: tryback of Film Festival was so much part of bringing
Speaker 1: New York back, you know, sort of bringing that zeitgeist
Speaker 1: of New York back yet its founding. Tell us about
Speaker 1: the decision to put select programming online, what went into it,
Speaker 1: and what it looks like. So for the first what
Speaker 1: was to go to your previous question, a little bit
Speaker 1: part of what was what we were able to do
Speaker 1: after nine eleven, which to gather people, to bring people
Speaker 1: together in numbers and in in numbers and having audiences together.
Speaker 1: We were able to say we're still here, We're strong,
Speaker 1: we're still here. What has been heartbreaking about trying to
Speaker 1: figure out where we are right now was the fact
Speaker 1: that we couldn't gather um and how do we how
Speaker 1: do we then gather? Technology has over the past twenty
Speaker 1: years has changed all of our lives, UH, and we
Speaker 1: looked at what we could do first and foremost to
Speaker 1: UM to support all of our of our creators that
Speaker 1: had worked so hard, both UH returning filmmakers and new filmmakers.
Speaker 1: So we have online our Tribeca Immersions three six weeks. UH.
Speaker 1: You can go on if you have an OTOS headset,
Speaker 1: you can UM watch those programs available and that's available
Speaker 1: to public. We've done a number of things that are
Speaker 1: available to industry and press, UH, such as our Extra
Speaker 1: net or our UM jurors have gathered together on on
Speaker 1: Zoom and UH will announce those awards shortly for the
Speaker 1: you know, so that we have jury prizes. UM. Still
Speaker 1: we have our new online work. Again that was for industry.
Speaker 1: So it was much of the Tribeca X Awards, which
Speaker 1: is the best in brand content from filmmaker collaborators, UH
Speaker 1: collaborators just with UH with brands, and that's also available online. UM.
Speaker 1: It was different. When you say how you know, how
Speaker 1: you know, it's just it's just different. We're still we've
Speaker 1: done a lot of things that are available to our
Speaker 1: audience because we're very much an audience festival and basting
Speaker 1: people together. We've done an initiative where every day we
Speaker 1: offer a short film the day to keep anxiety away. Uh,
Speaker 1: just something to pop into your in box beside the news.
Speaker 1: Can I just say I love that. I get that
Speaker 1: every day. And one of the things that Jason and
Speaker 1: I have increasingly been talking to UM actually just talked
Speaker 1: with the founder of Tom's yesterday about because he has
Speaker 1: created something about, you know, helping people to stay healthy
Speaker 1: on their own. And I think the mental health, um,
Speaker 1: you know, wellness component of this virus of people being
Speaker 1: at home, especially folks. You know, we've heard from a
Speaker 1: lot of our colleagues who are single living in a
Speaker 1: small apartment in New York and it's it's difficult. UM.
Speaker 1: But that that idea of you know, keeping anxiety a way,
Speaker 1: I think that has been a really smart move on
Speaker 1: your guys part, and I think really really helpful to everybody. Well,
Speaker 1: thank thank you, thank you for that. We hope will
Speaker 1: continue to uh do those shorts as well as be
Speaker 1: able to announce some other initiatives that will um bring
Speaker 1: people together in a socially distanced and safe way. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's um, it's look, it's challenging it's just it's challenging.
Speaker 1: But and it's also I mean, when you think about
Speaker 1: the movies and you think about being together, it's also
Speaker 1: about what happens when you laugh together or cry together
Speaker 1: and that communal experience. Um. We know that the d
Speaker 1: g A and the other guilds are working to look
Speaker 1: at all angles of our business so that we can
Speaker 1: continue to make films and um and bring films back
Speaker 1: to back into the world and and do that in
Speaker 1: a in a safe way. Um. But look, I think
Speaker 1: that technology as much as gathering together and being in
Speaker 1: an audience. There's nothing like that being in a dark theater.
Speaker 1: But it's pretty amazing that we can go around the
Speaker 1: world and we can watch all kinds of films online
Speaker 1: and um, you know they can. You know, before COBC
Speaker 1: it was they were so existing and now a c
Speaker 1: will have you know, a new way to approach that.
Speaker 1: But we are lucky that we can get all kinds
Speaker 1: of content online to make us, to make us laugh
Speaker 1: and to bring us together, and to have social forums
Speaker 1: to be able to share things together. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's I also think it's going to be a very
Speaker 1: creative period for people in an innovative period. Um. So
Speaker 1: in in a way I look forward to that. I
Speaker 1: get excited about what that can be. But doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that daily life is going to be completely upbended as
Speaker 1: it has been. Um really just um yeah at times. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that a little bit. I mean both
Speaker 1: from the creator's perspective but also the consumer's perspective. I
Speaker 1: mean we are, uh. I think it's safe to say
Speaker 1: fortunate that we already were in this time where our
Speaker 1: consumption patterns are changing. And Carol has heard me say
Speaker 1: this a million times, like I am the biggest fan
Speaker 1: in the world of going to the movies. I'll go
Speaker 1: by myself, I'll go with friends, I'll go with family,
Speaker 1: I'll drag somebody along with me. Uh to you know,
Speaker 1: a revival of a movie or a new movie, whatever
Speaker 1: it is. But we do also, to your point, and
Speaker 1: have this amazing ability through all the streaming services to
Speaker 1: see things that we might not ever have seen. I
Speaker 1: think it's fair to say that a movie like Parasite,
Speaker 1: probably without streaming and without sort of the accessibility and
Speaker 1: the Internet, would not have maybe landed the way that
Speaker 1: it did, especially in the United States. What does that
Speaker 1: sort of consumption pattern mean for movies going forward, even
Speaker 1: outside of the virus sort of how we're able to
Speaker 1: get all these different movies. Uh, you know that point.
Speaker 1: It's actually very exciting because it's we are global cinema.
Speaker 1: It is you know, world cinema. UM, we get to
Speaker 1: now see store or something like parasite would not have
Speaker 1: reason without the knowledge of h without it was actually
Speaker 1: seen that we've in theaters first and it's now online
Speaker 1: for people to to see. UM. But as you know,
Speaker 1: it's UM, there's no longer there's no longer quote far
Speaker 1: in film. It's just global, you know, the World Cinema International.
Speaker 1: So I produced the movie The Irishman UM and UH
Speaker 1: that film was theatrically distributed uh in over twelve hundred
Speaker 1: theaters and then um it went on Netflix. Now those
Speaker 1: two could quote, those two could um could live together.
Speaker 1: There was. They are two different experiences to be in
Speaker 1: the theater uh and to watch something online, but they're
Speaker 1: not mutually exclusive. UH. And you know each brings you
Speaker 1: a different type of a different type of experience. You
Speaker 1: see different things, uh when you're in a movie theater
Speaker 1: and with an audience versus when you're in your living
Speaker 1: room and only with your your family as we have
Speaker 1: all been for the past. Jane, what are the things
Speaker 1: about counting? Well, listen, that's actually been part of I
Speaker 1: mean joke, not joke. You know, it's like what day
Speaker 1: is My husband even last night he's like, uh, we
Speaker 1: is it Saturday? Like it's just crazy, like our concept
Speaker 1: of time. Um, we've all kind of lost what day were.
Speaker 1: And one thing I wanted to ask you is what's
Speaker 1: the future of content? I mean, so many productions are
Speaker 1: completely shut down? You know, what does that happen? You know?
Speaker 1: Or what happens then when you have six or twelve months,
Speaker 1: if not more, of nothing being taped, is there enough
Speaker 1: stuff out there that's in a holding pattern or will
Speaker 1: we see an impact of that? I think you'll see
Speaker 1: some impact of that, without question. It's been how long ago,
Speaker 1: It really depends how long agoes on. There are a
Speaker 1: number of movies ready to ready to start shooting, and
Speaker 1: I'm know there uh, you know certainly on series. Uh,
Speaker 1: there are a number of shows, but we have to
Speaker 1: do it's an industry. Um. Make sure that our crews
Speaker 1: are our crews are safe, uh and um, and how
Speaker 1: we do things, whether it's going on a location scout,
Speaker 1: everybody jumping into a van together, or craft services. I mean,
Speaker 1: you just think of the daily You just think of
Speaker 1: the you know, the things that you do to prep
Speaker 1: a movie. You're all in a tight spot together. Uh,
Speaker 1: so you know, how do we social distance? How do
Speaker 1: we change? Uh? How do two actors who are doing, um,
Speaker 1: you know, a love scene? Do you did that change? Um?
Speaker 1: You start to think of you start to think of
Speaker 1: of of theater. Are you going to change the way
Speaker 1: something is actually directed and choreographed? Can you touch you
Speaker 1: know what does that? Does that look like? The suddenly
Speaker 1: the way um somebody costumes design? Are we what kind
Speaker 1: of masks are we wearing? In gloves? I mean you
Speaker 1: start to you start to go into the you know
Speaker 1: the details of it and you know what does that all?
Speaker 1: What does that all look like? But yes, there will
Speaker 1: be content out there. I think uh was also a
Speaker 1: place for audiences to rediscover things to um and there
Speaker 1: are facing so many movies that haven't gotten you know,
Speaker 1: attention that can now um, you know, now be seen.
Speaker 1: So you started in the beginning. You mentioned earlier how
Speaker 1: like all of us were getting a little cabin crazy.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious. I owned up and I said, I
Speaker 1: binged on Tiger King. I'm just curious what you're watching
Speaker 1: at home? Um, what you're doing, um, as you are
Speaker 1: sheltering at home. Been working a lot and keeping um,
Speaker 1: keeping my teams active. I think I personally feel that
Speaker 1: the more I work than I will the more the
Speaker 1: more I work than I'll keep my sanity. When I
Speaker 1: stopped working and have scientists think I kind of lose
Speaker 1: it a bit. Um. But I've watched Unorthodox, which I
Speaker 1: thought was terrific. I what how you're king with my daughter?
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm a total um news junkie, So
Speaker 1: that is um. So I guess, I guess I'm into heaven.
Speaker 1: But then it gives me anxiety. So yeah, I find
Speaker 1: myself having to read like a you know, a Mura
Speaker 1: Commie novel or something before I go to bed, to
Speaker 1: at least take me to an entirely different place. I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't read the news right before I go to sleep.
Speaker 1: I think, and I think I'm not all that well Jane.
Speaker 1: The other things. The other thing that I've actually rediscovered
Speaker 1: again is I've been reading leads the groups. So it's
Speaker 1: really interesting to suddenly go back and especially as you
Speaker 1: know New Yorker of Long Island, or to go back
Speaker 1: and look at the eighteen uh you know, eighteen fifties, uh,
Speaker 1: with Walt Whitman and what he what he was doing
Speaker 1: from Brooklyn to Long Island, and um, that kind of
Speaker 1: isolation has been, Um, it's been actually lovely. And that
Speaker 1: was Jane Rosenthal, film television producer, co founder of the
Speaker 1: Tribeca Film Festival. And as you said at the top,
Speaker 1: Carol really important player in all of this, especially given
Speaker 1: the history the heritage of the film festival coming out
Speaker 1: after nine eleven. Initially, this is a city we know it,
Speaker 1: we live here that needs some healing right now. What's
Speaker 1: also great about her, Jason, is that man, she understands
Speaker 1: the entertainment world producing content and with everything that's going
Speaker 1: on streaming. I feel like it was so timely to
Speaker 1: talk with her on so many different levels. So glad
Speaker 1: we were able to catch up with her. You've been
Speaker 1: listening to Bloomberg Business Week Extra, and be sure to
Speaker 1: tune into Bloomberg Business Week Radio Live Monday through Friday
Speaker 1: at two pm Wall Street Time on Bloomberg Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Jason Kelly and I'm Carol Masser. This is Bloomberg.