Content LA: A Conference Connecting the Domestic Industry with International Partners
The strike and AI challenges among the topics discussed.
Content LA took place May 18 – 19 at The Fairmount Century Plaza in Los Angeles with a mission: bringing together the domestic US business with international partners. The two day event focused on coproduction, FAST channels, and next-generation content models.
The line-up included CBS, Fox, Universal, Warner Bros Discovery, Amazon, Netflix, and ROKU. With LA Screenings underway and several major studios returning to licensing after a period of retaining rights to shows for their streamers, the interest of overseas buyers at this year’s event was high. Still, acquisitions executives who flew into Los Angeles from all over the world faced disruption from the writers’ strike, not only in terms of picket lines but also on programs to supply.
Among the panelists, Chris Brearton, VP of corporate strategy for Amazon’s Prime Video and Studios operations and head of subsidiary MGM’s unscripted business and MGM+, spoke with MGM+ chief Michael Wright about these issues and their content strategy.
“This is going to be a challenging time,” Chris Brearton said. “A lot of the chats are not about the shows; they are about the strike and the impact on the economy, and I don’t think it has been an enjoyable experience for buyers.” Brearton also underlined that the entertainment industry is not Hollywood-centered anymore: “There’s lots of data to suggest that American programming isn’t as popular globally as it used to be. Audiences today embrace non-English language shows in a way it didn’t happen in the past. The Squid Game, for example. The international buying community has moved on.”
Another topic at Content LA was artificial intelligence and the impact of AI-generated scripts on actual human writers. “AI has been bubbling around in the background for many years, but as we go forward, it’s going to become much more central, more and more divisive, and much more of a key component in the creation of content and the legal issues and the industrial issues around that are going to unfold against it,” MGM+ Head Michael Wright explained.
Source: C21media
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The strike and AI challenges among the topics discussed.
Content LA took place May 18 – 19 at The Fairmount Century Plaza in Los Angeles with a mission: bringing together the domestic US business with international partners. The two day event focused on coproduction, FAST channels, and next-generation content models.
The line-up included CBS, Fox, Universal, Warner Bros Discovery, Amazon, Netflix, and ROKU. With LA Screenings underway and several major studios returning to licensing after a period of retaining rights to shows for their streamers, the interest of overseas buyers at this year’s event was high. Still, acquisitions executives who flew into Los Angeles from all over the world faced disruption from the writers’ strike, not only in terms of picket lines but also on programs to supply.
Among the panelists, Chris Brearton, VP of corporate strategy for Amazon’s Prime Video and Studios operations and head of subsidiary MGM’s unscripted business and MGM+, spoke with MGM+ chief Michael Wright about these issues and their content strategy.
“This is going to be a challenging time,” Chris Brearton said. “A lot of the chats are not about the shows; they are about the strike and the impact on the economy, and I don’t think it has been an enjoyable experience for buyers.” Brearton also underlined that the entertainment industry is not Hollywood-centered anymore: “There’s lots of data to suggest that American programming isn’t as popular globally as it used to be. Audiences today embrace non-English language shows in a way it didn’t happen in the past. The Squid Game, for example. The international buying community has moved on.”
Another topic at Content LA was artificial intelligence and the impact of AI-generated scripts on actual human writers. “AI has been bubbling around in the background for many years, but as we go forward, it’s going to become much more central, more and more divisive, and much more of a key component in the creation of content and the legal issues and the industrial issues around that are going to unfold against it,” MGM+ Head Michael Wright explained.
Source: C21media
