jason hirschhorn's @MediaREDEF: 08/08/2018 - Big Media Leadership and Risk, Ruining Dinner Parties, Riot Sexism, Bohemian Rhapsody, ICE Radicalized...

As you live your life, it appears to be anarchy and chaos, and random events, nonrelated events, smashing into each other and causing this situation or that situation, and then, this happens, and it's overwhelming, and it just looks like what in the world is going on. And later, when you look back at it, it looks like a finely crafted novel. But at the time, it don't.
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Media media needs to be scrappy and take risks like The Rebel Alliance in "Star Wars."
(Disney)
Wednesday - August 08, 2018 Wed - 08/08/18
rantnrave:// MATT BALL and I were discussing what it's going to take to win in media. To transition into the future. One of the biggest criticisms thrown at CONGRESS is that the long-tenured elected officials weren't trained for today's challenges. Climate change, cyber-terrorism, non-state warfare, driverless cars. We don't often think about this with corporate leadership. Many companies have died because they just kept doing the things that were once right – BLACKBERRY died because they kept selling to carriers, not consumers, prioritized security over apps, data management over data consumption. They lost the second war because they won the first. Media companies are in risk of the same. We are all at risk. We learn and respond and lead through the feedback loop of our own successes and experiences. But what happens when the future looks different? Media? They used to buy attention – if you had distribution and spend marketing dollars, and the content was good enough, you won. That's not true now. Product matters. Driving organic audience interest matters. Being a superstar creator's preferred buyer matters. Success in affiliate sales was the lifeblood of the cable networks for years, as was ad sales, and scheduling. It won't help with D2C, not the same way. NETFLIX has thrived in part because they were one of the first to fundamentally rethink what mattered and didn't. As always, that probably came as much from brilliance as it did from ignorance, but also from having a different background. Today, we hear a lot about "scale" "D2C" "IP." All of these are important, but they aren't the end. HOLLYWOOD has always been about talent, but that talent has always gone through the same pathways and tests. It can't anymore. In 1994, JEFF BEZOS left wealth management (where he was an SVP!) to start an online bookstore. How many media companies would have looked at him and said he could be our guy? The future of media cannot be run by safe players. They need mavericks. Risk takers. Visionaries. Not security guards. We've seen massive land grabs in the last 2 decades. The incumbents merging to stay competitive. But still over failing to make the transition. Especially the direct transition to the consumer. Succession to long-standing CEO's has been like frozen molasses. The boards of media companies need to think 10-20 years out. And the profile for their leader may not be from within their own ranks. Or even their own industry. Nothing is the same. Not the consumers. The distributors, The competitors. Nothing. Back in 2016, Matt wrote a piece, "Big Media's 'Death Star' Strategy." Big Media was beginning to look like STAR WARS' GALACTIC EMPIRE. Rather than try something new, most incumbents were focused on doing the same thing they've always done, just bigger. Scale matters, but it wasn't sufficient to stop the REBEL ALLIANCE. Hollywood should take note and re-read... And the executives that fill out the leadership of a media company C-Suite need to be risk takers too. People that love film, tv and digital media. But aren't afraid to shiv some of the old ways. Some of the old partners. Executives that are forces of nature. They can run networks, film divisions, etc. LAUREN ZALAZNICK is an old friend of mine. Sometimes I'm her opposite gender doppelgรคnger. She has been successful in television and film. Rebranded and reprogrammed networks to succeed. Been in the right minority on forward-thinking approaches to digital advertising. Sat on boards. Consulted and lived inside of digital companies while some of her colleagues and bosses were still flipping channels. She speaks her mind (which has never been easy for women in this business). Not afraid to break stuff. CHRIS MOORE is also a friend. Producer of great films like GOOD WILL HUNTING, AMERICAN PIE, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA and so many more. He is a positive force of nature. Likable, big, smart, straightforward. He knows how to get things done. He knows talent and story. As OTT leans on film for growth, he's a great prospect. I imagine, in another era, GENERAL MARSHALL would have given him his own command... Happy Birthday to GARY STIFFELMAN, FALON ROZ FATEMI, ANDY ABRAMSON, SHARI BROOKS, RICHARD WOLPERT, and MARK LUKASIEWICZ.
- Jason Hirschhorn, curator
search your feelings
The New York Times
MUST READ: Can I Ruin Your Dinner Party?
by Thomas L. Friedman
One of the two pillars of the West is in jeopardy.
Kotaku
Inside The Culture Of Sexism At Riot Games
by Cecilia D'Anastasio
Throughout her three years at Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, Lacy made it her mission to hire a woman into a leadership role. Lacy had heard plenty of excuses for why her female job candidates weren't Riot material. Some were "ladder climbers." Others had "too much ego."
Japan Times
Defining the Heisei Era, part 1: Excess
by Rob Gilhooly
It's Golden Week, 1991, and a line of hundreds of party-goers snakes its way along a rain-drenched street in a Tokyo bayside district toward the entrance of one of Japan's biggest postwar nightlife sensations.
The Yale Law Journal
RETRO READ: Amazon's Antitrust Paradox
by Lina Khan
Amazon is the titan of twenty-first century commerce. In addition to being a retailer, it is now a marketing platform, a delivery and logistics network, a payment service, a credit lender, an auction house, a major book publisher, a producer of television and films, a fashion designer, a hardware manufacturer, and a leading host of cloud server space.
Pitchfork
Is Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" Actually About Coming Out?
by Guy Branum and Jillian Mapes
This is comedian Guy Branum's theory, as amusingly detailed in this exclusive excerpt from his new book, "My Life as a Goddess."
Current Affairs
The Rules of Monopoly
by Vanessa A. Bee
How to slay the corporate leviathan.
1843 Magazine
How to edit a human
by Tom Whipple and Jennifer Doudna
For decades scientists aspired to modify the code of life. Tom Whipple meets Jennifer Doudna, who succeeded.
The Atlantic
How Trump Radicalized ICE
by Franklin Foer
A long-running inferiority complex, vast statutory power, a chilling new directive from the top--inside America's unfolding immigration tragedy.
The Verge
I tried Magic Leap and saw a flawed glimpse of mixed reality's amazing potential
by Adi Robertson
We tried the $2,295 Magic Leap One Creator Edition, the debut product from mixed reality startup Magic Leap — and found an ambitious vision facing serious technological challenges.
Foreign Policy
Mohammed bin Salman Is Weak, Weak, Weak
by Steven A. Cook
Saudi Arabia has started a crisis with Canada because it doesn't want to admit its own failings.
you know it to be true
Rantt
Will The 'Real Journalists' At Fox News Please Stand Up?
by Nancy Levine
It's time for the Shep Smiths of Fox News to speak out against the pro-Trump propagandists like Hannity, Carlson, and Pirro.
BBC
A French village committed to deception
by Anita Isalska
Through an extraordinary campaign of non-violent resistance during World War II, residents of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon saved thousands of Jews from deportation and almost certain death.
Quartz
The next major innovation in batteries might be here
by Akshat Rathi
Many startups have made claims about successful lithium-metal batteries. But Pellion is the first to get one to the commercial phase.
Vanity Fair
Is This the End of the TV Writers' Room as We Know It?
by Joy Press
For a young writer looking to break into showbiz, a new trend in TV production--so-called "mini-rooms"--offers a leg up; for many others, they suggest the craft is becoming another spoke in the gig economy.
Vulture
In Conversation: Kathleen Turner
by David Marchese
The actress on righting Elizabeth Taylor's wrongs, Donald Trump's "gross" handshake, and the co-star she slapped.
Harvard Business Review
How Smart Speakers Are Poised to Reinvent the Travel Industry
by Scot Hornick and Shri Santhanam
Tools like Alexa and Google Assistant offer a whole new way of connecting with customers.
Wired
The Ultra-Pure, Super-Secret Sand That Makes Your Phone Possible
by Vince Beiser
Fresh from church on a cool, overcast Sunday morning in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, Alex Glover slides onto the plastic bench of a McDonald's booth. He rummages through his knapsack, then pulls out a plastic sandwich bag full of white powder. "I hope we don't get arrested," he says.
Eater
The Primal Pleasure and Brutal History of Sugar
by Ruby Tandoh
How a taste for sweetness became a stand-in for everything good -- and evil -- about our culture
Techdirt
MPAA: To Save Free Speech, We Must Broadly Censor Free Speech
by Mike Masnick
Earlier this year, we wrote about a thought-provoking article by Zeynep Tufecki discussing how some people were deliberately trying to use the open "marketplace of ideas" to effectively attempt to poison the marketplace of ideas.
Yahoo Sports
The city that hated its NFL team
by Jay Busbee
The strange story of how Memphis had an NFL team for a year ... and hated every minute of it.
MUSIC OF THE DAY
YouTube
"Every Little Bit"
Patty Griffin
"REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'"
@JasonHirschhorn


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