Strictly Business

John Sloss has negotiated every kind of deal and navigated every aspect of the independent film business, from lining up financing to advising on marketing and awards campaigns. Today, he’s expanded the company’s purview to include television development, talent management, and a branded content joint venture with filmmaker David Gordon Green. In this wide-ranging discussion about media and entertainment, Sloss explains why he “somewhat bombastically” sees Cinetic as a media conglomerate for the 21st century.

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Exploding Kittens is the biggest sensation in tabletop gaming these days, but that's not the only reason the Chernin Group invested $30 million in the venture, started by this week's guest, former Xbox designer Elan Lee. Learn from Lee about how the plan is to translate his company's quirky intellectual property into TV shows, movies and even theme park rides. 

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The veteran film producer doesn’t hold back in a conversation about race, money, movies and why said yes to leading an the ambitious Gamechanger investment venture. The company aims to make creatives from diverse backgrounds -- women, people of color, LGBTQ and the disabled -- equity owners of content. And she wants to dramatically widen the circle of financial backers for film and TV content by bringing in investors who also represent a greater array of diverse voices. “If we don’t bet on us, nobody will,” Brown says. The producer of indie hits such as “Dear White People” and “Real Women Have Curves” also gives her candid opinion about what has and hasn’t changed in Hollywood when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the wake of #MeToo, #OscarsSoWhite and other movements.

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The director-producer behind the new “American Masters” documentary “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool” discusses his non-profit Firelight Media venture, which offers a Documentary Lab program to help promising filmmakers develop projects. Nelson, a 2002 recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, explains how a community of documentarians has emerged from the lab program, and why he decided this year to add the William Greaves Fund program to support directors with more experience.

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As Variety's weekly podcast hits its 100th episode milestone, hosts Cynthia Littleton and Andrew Wallenstein revisit some of their most intriguing discussions with top industry executives, producers, technologists and entrepreneurs. Interview highlights featured in this special installment include Disney's Dana Walden, former HBO chief Richard Plepler, Discovery's David Zaslav, Spotify's Dawn Ostroff, comedian Kevin Hart, Barstool Sports' Erika Nardini and Revolt TV's Roma Khanna.

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Debmar-Mercury principles Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein discuss the origins of the production-distribution company that is now part of Lionsgate. The pair detail why they remain bullish on the first run syndication business, so much so that they are launching two new series -- a talk show from Nick Cannon and magazine series "Central Ave" from producer Will Packer -- in the fall. 

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Rob Sharenow, president of programming for A+E Networks, discusses the exercise is “brand focus” that led to the revitalization of A&E Network and History amid the general downturn in viewership for ad-supported cable channels. The longtime cable executive also weighs in on how Lifetime has grown by shifting its efforts away from the extremely competitive world of scripted drama series to a broad slate of made-for-TV movies -- yes those kind of Lifetime movies.

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How has America's most famous family stayed on E! for 18 seasons? Bunim/Murray CEO Gil Goldschein has the secret to producing the long-running series. He also shares his take on the latest trends in the unscripted TV category, a business changing dramatically in the age of streaming. 

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Adam Sharp, president-CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, discusses how the digital revolution in television presents challenges for industry awards shows. He details NATAS’ response to questions raised about the eligibility of certain programs considered in the 2018 Daytime Emmy Awards competition. The process of looking into what went wrong helped the organization develop uniform standards and best practices to protect the integrity of the Emmy statuette.

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Now that she's a few months into the integration of her magazine business with Vox Media, she shares what the process has been like and how the newly combined company is navigating the treacherous waters of the publishing business. With 13 brands from Vulture to Polygon in the portfolio, Wasserstein discusses her diversification strategy, from podcasts to licensing intellectual property.

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