Strictly Business

While the nation waits to hear whether former Vice President Joe Biden will join the 2020 presidential race, he's not quietly sitting on the sidelines. He just launched an episodic series on Instagram's new IGTV created by ATTN:, a company devoted to making its "purpose-driven" content entertaining on digital platforms. ATTN co-founder, Matthew Segal, explains how the Biden projects fuels his ambition to make his company the "HBO of mid-form" programming. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gigi Pritzker, CEO of MWM, details the evolution of her company, formerly OddLot Entertainment, from an indie film production banner to an IP-centric approach embracing TV, digital, VR and AR, live events and theater. Pritzker explains how the seismic shifts in the entertainment marketplace spurred her to focus on stories and franchises that be adapted across multiple mediums. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The digital studio's president gets candid about the acquisitions she's made in her first year on the job, as well as Viacom's efforts to attract young eyeballs to original content across digital platforms. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The FX Networks CEO discusses the strategic rationale behind the union of Disney and 21st Century Fox and the industry’s embrace of direct-to-consumer distribution platforms. He also muses He also muses about how the insatiable global demand for original content has rocked the entertainment industry’s competitive landscape. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was hysterical short videos like "The Landlord" that made the Funny Or Die brand an overnight household name when it began 11 years ago. But its business has since evolved tremendously, explains CEO Mike Farah, as evidenced by the 20 TV series the company currently has in various stages of production or development, including Hulu's "I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman" and Netflix's "American Vandal." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Izad is candid about navigating an ecosystem that has been reeling from one challenge to the next, from the brand safety issues that left marketers skittish to the disappearance of long-form content buyers from the marketplace. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lowell Peterson, executive director of the Writers Guild of America East, discusses the guild’s growth during a dynamic period for the entertainment industry. Peterson details a busy agenda that includes lobbying for a diversity production tax credit in New York state, organizing among digital media outlets, and negotiating new rules governing the working relationship between talent agents and writers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Showtime’s president and CEO talks about new economics of direct-to-consumer streaming and how the transformation of the premium TV business has changed the way Showtime operates. In this wide-ranging conversation, he also offers insights into the origins of Sacha Baron Cohen’s controversial series “Who Is America” and his thoughts on the coming final season of “Homeland.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Russian director behind "Night Watch,” “Wanted” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is eagerly promoting a new filmmaking software for what he calls “Screenlife." Bekmambetov explains why he thinks this is a wave of the future. He also offers his thoughts on Russia's media marketplace and the resurgent Cold War between the U.S. and his homeland. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ken Basin gives an inside look at how Hollywood dealmaking is changing in the peak-TV era, from the exorbitant salary increases top talent has been getting to the growing clout of tech companies doing most of the spending. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.