Strictly Business

STX Entertainment is best known for movies like "The Upside" and "Ugly Dolls," but it also has a division dedicated to creating virtual-reality movies like the recent action short "The Limit." STXsurreal chiefs Rick Rey and Andy Vick talk about the art of adopting narrative storytelling to new technology, and what it will take for VR to achieve mass appeal. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dana Walden was already one of the industry’s most powerful television executives when she was co-head of Fox television Group prior to Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Now she’s leading the charge for Disney in primetime series production and also steering the ship at ABC. Here Walden offers candid insights into how Disney is managing what she described as television’s “existential crisis." And she speaks from the heart about the importance of maintaining a healthy workplace culture in a the post-#MeToo era. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Cannes Lions festival will get underway next week at a time when media industry turbulence is at its peak, according to MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan, a longtime industry observer who has turned the event into a crucial meeting place for the media, marketing, finance and technology worlds. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mass Appeal CEO Peter Bittenbender discusses the relaunch of the one-time hip-hop fanzine as a content business active in music, digital, film and TV. The company is riding a wave of momentum created by the success of its Showtime docu-series “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men.” Bittenbender details the vision for making Mass Appeal live up to the lofty expectations of its name and avoid the business potholes that have hurt Vice Media and other similiarly situated ventures. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Producer Jeff Valdez discusses his detailed study examining the root causes of the dearth of U.S.-born Latinx creative talent working in film and TV. He's been on an informational tour with corporate leaders to emphasize the market power of the U.S. Hispanic population. He's also launched a production venture, New Cadence, to help solve what he sees as the entertainment industry's supply chain problem. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amblin Partners co-CEO Jeff Small oversees a bustling production powerhouse alongside Steven Spielberg that manages to make movies like the new sequel "A Dog's Journey" that can hold their own in cineplexes alongside more blockbuster fare. But it's not getting any easier in a consolidating media marketplace that often favors scale over quality. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between HBO's "True Detective" and Hulu's upcoming "Catch-22," producer Richard Brown has proved his mastery of the limited-series TV format. Now he's looking to double down on the genre as he exits his home for the past 13 years, Anonymous Content, where he learned the business from the recently departed Steve Golin. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amy Emmerich, chief content officer and president North America for Refinery29, details the digital lifestyle brand's focus on organic audience growth as it builds out an ambitious video and multiplatform strategy to reach its target audience of young women. "We've birthed a generation with technology where they are all creators the minute they get a phone in their hand," Emmerich says of the unique challenges of engaging the Refinery29 demo. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's been no shortage of turbulence at Facebook given the myriad issues the company faces, from data privacy and misinformation to election integrity and hate speech. To meet those challenges head on, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has turned to Fidji Simo, who is charged with charting the course for a very different future for the app. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prolific actress and emerging producer Gabrielle Union has been on a hot streak with projects like the sleeper hit "Breaking In," a female reboot of the "Bad Boys" franchise called "L.A.'s Finest" and a new platform as host of the reality competition series "America's Got Talent." But It was her design and endorsement deal with fashion house New York and Company that taught Union to see herself in a new light, and reinvent her brand for the benefit of underrepresented women everywhere.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.