Since the early days of Hollywood, technology has played a pivotal role in innovating the entertainment business. Today’s streaming wars and personalized viewing platforms only scratch the surface of the opportunities and challenges that entertainment pros face.
Last week, Winston Baker hosted its annual Confluence Summit—an event drawing 200 tech founders, investors, and entertainment executives together to explore topics around the intersection of the entertainment business, creative content, and technology.
The event was held at Colorbloq, a creative and Insta-worthy venue in the heart of San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. The space was bustling with creatives, executives, technologists, and investors as Hollywood and Silicon Valley converged for a star-studded speaker lineup and agenda filled with insightful content focused on the ongoing collaboration of entertainment and technology.
During the panel session, “How Can Studios Act Like Startups?,” speakers from entertainment houses discussed how Hollywood’s traditional studios use disruptive technologies like virtual reality and video on-demand streaming services to stay ahead of the curve. The panel was moderated by Alissa Miller, Partner at Akin Gump, and panelists included Matt Marolda, President at WarnerMedia Applied Analytics, Peter Akemann, President at Skydance Interactive, Kevin Richardson, Producing Partner & Head of Scripted at TOKYOPOP Media, and Andrew Walter, Founder of Slum By The Sea.
Matt shared his insights around how his team uses data and analytics to drive business decisions. There are more platforms than ever for viewing movies and shows—such as streaming from home or going to the theater—so WarnerMedia crunches the numbers and pays close attention to consumer trends to determine what is the best platform for each piece of content.
Peter of Skydance Interactive shared the challenges and opportunities he faced in the disruptive VR space as he tried to hold onto startup values at a larger organization.
“You gotta be ready to fall. It’s more complicated than you think. It’s kind of a gnarly, hardcore culture—we’re all facing disruptive technologies that are coming in.” – Peter Akemann, President at Skydance Interactive
Matt shared similar experiences he faced when the sports analytics company he founded, StratBridge LLC, was acquired by Legendary Entertainment. The acquisition pulled him and his team into Hollywood and eventually to WarnerMedia.
“How do we strike the balance of entrepreneurship and innovation? It’s a tough balance to strike.” — Matt Moralda, President at WarnerMedia
Another stand-out session was “Bearcat Content Collective: Investing in Creatives,” which featured Stanley Tang, Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at DoorDash, and Gloria Zhu, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Bearcat Content. Stanley and Gloria delved into how Doordash and Bearcat Content collaborate and tell stories that spark social change and show economic empowerment.
“[We’re] sitting in between the wave of Silicon Valley getting to know Hollywood, and Hollywood getting to know Silicon Valley.” — Gloria Zhu, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Bearcat Content
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