2025: The Year of Media EngAIgement
Let’s face it: AI can be intimidating. It's change. And people concerned about changes in their responsibilities can get guarded.
The Future is Generative: Seize the Moment or Miss the Boat
Embrace the revolution of artificial intelligence and lead with innovation, or risk being left behind in the wake of progress.
"True Lies" Stars Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga on Bringing a Big-Screen Blockbuster to CBS
CBS' highly anticipated new series True Lies begins its action-packed run tonight. Inspired by the 1994 James Cameron blockbuster of the same name, the series stars Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga as married couple Harry and Helen Tasker (roles originated for the big screen by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis). On the surface their lives seem pretty mundane; he's a computer consultant, she's a language professor. However, things get interesting after Helen discovers her unassuming hubby is actually a first-class international spy for the intelligence agency Omega Sector. After unknowingly accompanying her husband on an operation that goes awry, she impresses Omega enough to be recruited by them, beginning Helen's fish-out-of-water life alongside Harry as a top-notch spy operative.
Unpacking the Irony of the New Netflix Comedy "Blockbuster"
We all know that "Video Killed the Radio Star," as per the Buggles (Google it), but the real question today is, "Who killed the video star?" I know the answer. Netflix. It was Netflix. And that fact makes the release of one of its most recent comedies all the more ironic.
HISTORY's Moment in Media: "Jaws" -- The Summertime Blockbuster That Changed the Film Industry Forever
People worried the movie was going to bomb. Steven Spielberg, then a 27-year-old on his second directing job, insisted on making Jaws on location in the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard. But the salt water damaged the four mechanical sharks devised for the movie, and they barely worked. Production stretched from a planned 55 days to an eventual 159 days. Cost overruns brought his budget from $3.5 million to about $10 million. The producers who'd initially bought the rights to Peter Benchley's best-selling thriller said they wouldn't have done it if they'd read the book a second time -- they were so caught up in the excitement they hadn't realized how hard it would be to film.
Will Netflix Go the Way of Blockbuster?
The fate of Netflix and their business is in question and what they decide to do in the next several weeks or months will determine their fate. Reed Hastings, the CEO at the helm of Netflix has long said he will not adopt an ad-supported model. In 2014, I was on stage and explained to many at a Trade Desk event that it was not only necessary but inevitable that Netflix adopt an ad-model. The cost of content and the competitive nature of the streaming business necessitates this change.
