Executives, marketing professionals, entrepreneurs and creators across the field of film, television and gaming came together for a day of keynote speakers, panels and networking on Thursday for the Variety Entertainment & Technology Summit presented by EY.
Industry professionals from Blumhouse Atomic Monster, Sony, Warner Bros., Mattel, Reddit and more spoke about navigating AI, engaging fandom, the creator economy and the future of the entertainment industry during the event at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel.
A keynote conversation with Nick Kroll touched on his desire for productions to shoot in Los Angeles and his upcoming Netflix comedy series “A Hundred Percent.”
Bill Hader spoke in a keynote conversation about voicing Cat in the Hat and why young people are resistant to AI.
Director, writer and producer James Wan, of Blumhouse Atomic Monster, addressed the accessibility to technology that allows the breakout success of YouTube creators on films like “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” both of which Atomic Monster Blumhouse had a hand in.
Keith Le Goy, Sony’s TV chief, talked about how the company has activated its incredibly engaged audience. Nintendo of America president and COO Devon Pritchard discussed the Switch 2 and “Legend of Zelda” projects, including a film collaboration with Sony Pictures.
Other sessions included top media executives from NBCUniversal Entertainment, Crunchyroll, Hulu and more, who spoke about super-serving audiences and the dangers of AI slop. Panelists in another session discussed the possibilities for AI as a catalyst for communal engagement. Marketing professionals discussed how creators and platforms fuel fandom, and entertainment leaders talked about AI’s place in the industry.
Read below for a few key takeaways from the 2026 Entertainment and Technology Summit:
When Stories Speak: Reaching Audiences in the Next Era of Entertainment
Nancy Hall, U.S. CEO at WPP Media, talked about how to know when something resonates with audiences between short-form, long-form and live experiences. “The red thread of these formats and of telling stories in this way is making them participatory, giving people the opportunity to respond to them, to talk about them, to shape them, to share them, and that’s what makes stories culture and not just content,” she said.
The conversation, moderated by Variety editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton, discussed how to turn buzz into business.
LISTEN to Turning Buzz into Business With WPP Media’s Nancy Hall and Audible’s Tom McKenna on Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast
Tom McKenna, Audible global head of media, operations and business development, highlighted the company’s launch of its new brand, which focuses on stories that speak to its audience.
“We’re taking things that are everyday moments and making them more valuable,” he said. “It’s about how Audible enriches a listener’s life.”
McKenna and Hall talked about the unique advertising Audible has engaged this year, like an ad that took TikTok out of a phone and onto a building in Times Square. Hall said the brands that think of media as a “creative canvas” are the ones that break through the “sea of sameness.”
Looking to the future, McKenna said those who are willing to take risks will be the ones who succeed. Hall said modern marketing is rooted in science and art. “We have to market today to two different entities,” she said. “We have to ensure that humans desire us, but that machines recommend us.”
The Future of IRL: Trends in Event and Experiential Entertainment
Senior vice president of global experiences for Paramount Marie Marks highlighted hospitality’s ability to offer something no other format can offer. A hotel where families stay with IP for days is a “full flywheel of experiences” that is powerful when done right.
The growing Nickelodeon hotel business has 1,000 rooms in the market and another 2,000 in development globally. “A big learning for us was actually that the IP alone is not enough,” Marks said. “The underlying product has to be exceptional. One’s not enough without the other.”
A brand like Hallmark is largely associated with one season, and in recent years has launched cruises and in-person experiences.
President of Hallmark Media and chief brand officer Darren Abbott said the company has found success in expanding because as consumers want to spend more time at the holidays, they do so by spending more time with Hallmark.
Natalia Premovic, chief consumer products and experiences officer at Mattel, attended an in-person Uno event in Los Angeles in August. She said attendees connected over the game strategy with people they might not have met otherwise.
Premovic and Marks have seen these experiences expand the fanbase across generations.
“No longer does the screen have to be the end of the interaction with the IP,” Marks said. “Increasingly so, it’s really just becoming the beginning.”
Titans of Innovation Roundtable
Billy Parks, head of FOX creator studios, had a light bulb moment 15 years ago while working with AT&T. He realized allowing creators to use their voice and authentic audience relationship drove more engagement than prescribed talking points.
Sean Atkins, CEO of Dhar Mann Studios, believes the marketing system is broken. “When you have creators who now have the same skill as the Super Bowl, the fact that they get a phone call that says, ‘Hey, would you stand up for 15 seconds and hold a Coca-Cola for $25,000?’ is ridiculous.”
Christina Kothari, global head of consumer marketing at Reddit, recently tapped into the creator economy for a brand partnership for “Resident Evil.” Three Reddit creators were invited to a preview of the film and live Ask Me Anything with the director.
“Creators often get invited to these premieres, and that’s important because they’re a media channel and they give you the reach that you need,” she said. “But to pair those creators with the really in-depth fans that have been building these communities on Reddit for years, created a really special environment, and the content that was captured there was so authentic and so fun.”
“I’m really excited to find new ways to kind of partner with the fandoms on Reddit and bring them in real life together with creators with IPs that they love,” she added.
Kothari is excited to find new ways to partner with young creators. Parks said he is inspired by young people and creators, two audiences he said are tapped in and challenging traditional approaches from media companies.
The Creator Boardroom: Building Culture and Scaling Partnerships
Jarret Myer, CEO at UPROXX Studios, said the creator economy is bigger than people think it is.
“It’s studios, it’s artists, it’s creators that are all happening outside of the traditional Hollywood formation,” he said. “More and more these people are creating the monoculture moments that everyone is talking about. To me, missing out on that is missing out on the point of entertainment and culture.”
Culture Genesis partners with “culture-shifting content creators” like YouTube streamer IShowSpeed. These creators are able to create moments of mass consciousness that Culture Genesis CEO Shaun Newsum called “mini Super Bowls.”
Zach Miller, JesserCo president, challenged the traditional channels for advertisers: “Do you just want to spend the money on the traditional media channel that has always been the place to spend it, and cross your fingers and hope to find younger audiences there, or do you need to broaden your strategy and think about either swapping some of that spend on TV for digital channels that allow you to reach that audience, or at least expand the spend so that you reach your sort of core audience that you’ve been historically reaching on TV?”
For Newsum, the next frontier continues to engage fandoms through creators on YouTube and leverage their audiences.
The New Era of the TV Business
Jeremy Helfand, global vice president and head of Amazon Prime Video advertising, said the television business is changing around personalization and accountability within advertising.
For Josh Mattison, executive vice president of digital revenue pricing, planning and operations for Disney Advertising, it has never been more relevant that audiences are coming together around things that bring connection.
“From a consumer perspective, or from a brand perspective, you want to follow fandom wherever people are watching, and they’re watching in more ways than ever,” he said.
Puja Vohra, CMO and executive vice president of advertising sales at Fox Corporation, said people align around great content. She has seen advertisers consider how to capture the power of broadcast, precision of digital and flexibility of streaming.
Vohra said the power of big television events is in the people: “That power of communal viewing, of being able to engage masses of people around a virtual couch, if you will, that is what leads to engagement and lean in, and you’re more receptive to messages.”
Live entertainment remains important, and Mattison said the goal is to meet viewers where they’re at and build a daily habit with television.
Behind the Business: Netflix Comedy and the Return of “A Different World”
Laughs have always been important at Netflix, said Tracey Pakosta, vice president of comedy original series for the platform.
“A Different World,” a sequel to the original sitcom hits Netflix on Sept. 24. Showrunner Felicia Pride brought the concept to the streaming service with a goal to modernize the look and feel of the show while staying true to much of the feeling from the original.
Pride said that multihyphenate legend Debbie Allen, who spearheaded the original series, was “very clear that now is the time to hear from young Black America, and that felt like a charge I could get behind.”
Along with Netflix and Allen, Pride worked to discover the tone of the sequel series. The project shot at HBCUs in Atlanta to achieve an authentic texture to the setting at the fictional Hillman College.
“We wanted to be honest and truthful about life, but also be hopeful,” Pride said of the potential fan reactions to the season’s content.
While the original series had 22 episodes per season, the sequel season debuts with 10, which Pakosta was excited about.
“I think more is more always, but I also understand this cycle of streaming and the wanting to make the best version of that show,” she said. “A lot of times the story in the first season eight makes the most sense, and then there are other stories where 10 makes more sense.”
Storytelling Vanguards
Writer and comedian Joel Kim Booster has not felt a shift in the wake of box office hits like “Obsession,” and he is hesitant about the possibility.
“It does always feel like in the wake of the success of things like ‘Obsession,’ a lot of the people at the top learn the wrong lessons and make decisions that may seem like they try to replicate the same thing without realizing that at the core of what made ‘Obsession’ a success was its originality, its purity in idea and story,” he said.
Creator and showrunner Nick Antosca said the “Obsession” effect is real, but “it doesn’t get rid of the gatekeepers or the gates.” The success was made possible because Universal put marketing money behind it, he said.
Kim Booster said it is important to recognize that the “Obsession” effect is localized to mid-budget horror movies. When asked what the antidote is, he said movies like “The Invite” and films made outside of the awards conversation.
“Someone told me that the only way this movie that I’m talking about would be in theaters is if people felt like they needed to see it to be a part of the discourse around award season,” he said. “I hope that small little indie movies, little indie dramas can get made without needing to be nominated for an Oscar or at least an indie spirit.”
When asked if he listens to feedback, actor and “In Your Dreams” host Owen Thiele said his podcast is a personal venture that has built parasocial relationships from fans and some notes are hard to tune out because those fans feel they have a reason to give a note.
The panel also discussed where the speakers go for real inspiration. Antosca said he turns everything off and reads novels to feel less like “a sponge that’s squeezed into a rock” after months in production.
Looking forward, the panel called for more representation in the industry. Antosca said he hopes more original and unexpected things will pop through. Musician, composer and music supervisor Este Haim said she wants to see more women hired to compose for shows, and Thiele wants to see more shows and movies that give queer Black leads fulfilling emotional arcs.
(Pictured top: actor and “In Your Dreams” podcast host Owen Thiele, comedian and actress Lisa Gilroy, musician, composer and music supervisor Este Haim)
Leave a Reply