I attended Bloomberg Screentime in search of vibes. I’ve got time to think about what I want to be doing next. Part of that calculus is whether the entertainment industry—television and streaming, specifically—is still the most desirable place for me to work. Evan Shapiro doesn’t mince words:
“No, you do NOT have to leave Media if you don’t want to. But if you want to keep working in Media, you HAVE TO redefine what Media means.”
That’s precisely what was on display at nya Studios last week. While traditional LA production folks were underworked, bored, and anxious about all the AI talk and enthusiasm, Creators—the podcasters, social media content producers, and influencers—had that Hollywood glow. Whether it was mega-successful Sean Evans and his Hot Ones crew holding court in one of the outdoor lounges, up-and-coming podcast producers just happy to be there, or Taylor Lorenz excitedly roaming from place to place looking for exciting stories and a phone charger that worked, they were the ones with the glint in their eye, big dreams of making it (or taking it to the next level), and often with impeccable skin.
The most confident conversation I attended was with the OnlyFans CEO and Whitney Cummings. There wasn’t any shame in being a website for “adults.” Instead, there was certainty in their strategy, their approach to growth, and their sense of what consumers and creators want today. And, there was money—so much money.
Despite all the doom and gloom, you don’t get into the entertainment industry unless your well of hope springs eternal. How else do you have the nerve to try to make popular art?
Like Evan said, though, I left the event realizing I had to open the aperture. Popular entertainment, who makes it, who distributes it, and how we want to experience it are as varied as they are personalized for each consumer.
Accept that.
Get enthusiastic about the possibilities it brings.
A bit of a stream-of-consciousness gratitude list.
Shana Krochmal DM’ed me on Twitter. She was hiring for a managing editor position for ETonline, and though we had never met before, we had mutual friends, and she found my takes on pop culture thoughtful. I told her that while I could do that job, I had become enamored with data in digital media and thought I might be better suited for Audience Development. She walked me down to meet JD Crowley, and four months later, I started doing precisely that with CBS Television Distribution.
Being in New York or LA with Nina Mehta and Brian Moreno and feeling like co-conspirators as we plotted how to bring brands like Inside Edition, Dr. Phil, and The Rachael Ray Show even further into the digital age.
Going up to San Francisco to meet with Ladan Nafissi and the CNET Business Intelligence team for the first time. I joined them at an offsite where I worked with a group of analysts I didn’t know to develop data-driven pitches for the strategic direction of TVGuide.com, which we presented to Matt McMahon, the GM of that property at the time. I was shocked when my team’s pitch won.
ET Live was launching, and I felt out of my depth. I requested a meeting with Nathalie Bordes that lasted only ten minutes, but I could sense that she might change the trajectory of my career.
She did.
Hiring Joaquin Delgado. And then Jennifer Park. Eventually, I took over the CBS All Access BI team and grew a team of six analysts to over thirty at our largest. Kristen Silvestre, Naren Duraisaimy, Ashish Birajdar, and Nick Denaro would come together to be one of the most talented groups of managers I have ever had the pleasure of working with.
Working with Nat, Grace Mclean, Keric Donnelly, and Mitch Zayas in Ft. Lauderdale or NYC planning sessions to determine the direction of the Data and Insights Group.
Launch day of Paramount+ on March 4th, 2021. Returning to the office hadn’t happened yet, and, for the first time, I was participating in a major product launch from my at-home desk, looking out into the dark, waiting for the sun to come up and those SpongeBob SquarePants marquees to go live.
The Subscription Analytics Continuum, SLAM, SLAM 2.0, SLAM 3.0, DVAAs (now DVoS), Audience Segmentation, PEARL, LTV, the product KPI Framework, and the Pricing and Marketing Offer Scenario Framework.
Amazon QBRs. 10 All Access Monthlies. Quarterly Performance. Weekly Highlights.
Dashboards. Dashboards. Dashboards.
Grateful for the memories. The experiences. The lessons learned. And, of course, the people.
Grateful for the memories. The experiences. The lessons learned. And, of course, the people.
I’m an AI skeptic. That’s not true. I have been cautious about rapidly incorporating AI tools into my everyday work, even as usage and excitement by others have grown exponentially in the last year.
Recently, though, I’ve been playing with AI solutions more frequently. I’ve been frustrated with the quality of Google search results and started exploring Perplexity AI. It was helpful when I looked up information in the heat of NCAAW March Madness and appreciated the structure of the results and the linked references to validate what was provided quickly. There were instances where I needed it to go deeper or in a different direction, but, in general, it felt like I was training up a new research assistant than my future overlord. But, just a few days after using it as my primary search tool, Casey Newton revealed they plan to add sponsored questions into the mix—the exact kind of nonsense I’d been hoping to avoid.
That same week, Axios AI+ and other outlets released several articles highlighting my AI concerns:
Meanwhile, AI is doing little of what we imagine it is. It’s not running the Whole Foods walk-in/walk-out stores. And despite the many influencers I see—and probably muted—who talk about using AI to replace entire chunks of their jobs, this is not a set-it-and-forget-it solution.
We’re exploring AI solutions for business intelligence use cases on my team. Specifically, analysts are using corporate-sanctioned tools to ease the analysis and reporting burden of A|B tests as they increase at a faster rate than the size of our team. AI is a good assistant, but it still requires review and validation. It hallucinates less as our prompt writing adapts to the outputs—note, as we adjust to it and not so much as it adapts to us—but humans are still required as a critical part of the process and will continue to be.
Despite all of these concerns, I’m not afraid of AI. I’m an optimist and inclined to think about artificial intelligence tools as more like the droids in Star Wars: brilliant assistants who are constantly in service of what sentient beings are trying to do.
“I been in my bag addin’ weight. Tryna throw a bag in the safe”
— Anderson .Paak
What did you do in 2019 that you’d never done before?
We bought a house.
There was also the two week period across April and May when I traveled from LA to Miami (first time in the city) to LA to NYC to LA to Mexico City (also, a first) to LA and back to Florida with no more than a day’s rest every time I was back in LA.
That was nuts.
I’m sure there were other firsts, but those stand out.
Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I remarked to Tiffany yesterday that I appreciated my body lately. My hips are loosening thanks to some focus on my stretching and yoga in that area. And while the number on the scale isn’t where I would like, I like the angles of my physique these days. I have been having some of the longest and best workouts of my life in the last few weeks and broke my elliptical record today.
So, yeah, I did that.
I don’t know that I’ll make resolutions this year. I saw something somewhere—Instagram, probably—that suggested that instead of setting goals, write down what you’re excited about in the new year. I kind of like that idea.
Yes. We attended the wedding of a close family friend in October and delighted in the marriage of one of our favorite Sparks players.
Did anyone close to you die?
There were some unexpected deaths in acquaintance circles, but I don’t think the reaper came to the doors of anyone close to me.
What countries did you visit?
Mexico was the only country outside of the USA I made it to this year.
What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019?
Time. There was a lot of change and transition in 2019. These changes required me to be outside of my routines and comfort zones for much of the last three months. That led to me not making the best use of my free time when I had it and not utilizing my time most optimally when I was on someone else’s clock.
I’m entering the year with a plan to tackle this problem.
What date from 2019 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
What was your most significant achievement of the year?
I got promoted again this year.
I also got invited to interview for a job with a much fancier title than the one I have right now at a desirable place, which was very flattering but ultimately not for me at this time. My work and what I bring to the table being recognized and compensated appropriately felt big this year. As Clarence Avant says over and over again in The Black Godfather, “Life is about one thing, numbers.”
And, you know, I am currently a numbers guy.
What was your biggest failure?
Every time I walked past my unhoused neighbors and felt helpless instead of offering help or a neighborly word.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
I was incredibly healthy this year (knock on wood).
What was the best thing you bought?
The condo.
Every time I walk the three blocks to Ventura boulevard or the two blocks to the grocery store or trek on foot to the library or stop at Trader Joe’s or the mall on the way home or use our kitchen or admire our views are reminders that this was the right choice.
My mom asked if we were getting excited about paying the mortgage every month and watching the number come down. Excited isn’t the right word. Maybe the right word is gratifying.
To know that paying it isn’t a struggle is nice.
Whose behavior merited celebration?
Round two for last year’s all-star. Melle continues to do the damn thing. Now under her non-profit shingle.
Where did most of your money go?
Did you know buying property is expensive?
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
WNBA All-Star in Vegas was everything and more, and I was hyped the whole time.
Unequivocally happier. It’s been a grand year in my corner of the world.
ii. Thinner or fatter?
I weigh almost the same as the beginning of the year but feel great.
iii. Richer or poorer?
We still make that paper, and now we own property.
What do you wish you’d done more of?
More time for family and friends. More dates with the lady. More hosting people in our new home.
What do you wish you’d done less of?
Idling on the iPad. Tik Tok is addictive as hell.
How did you spend Christmas?
Here in LA. My parents and sister came to the house, and we made brunch together. We had a small but meaningful gift exchange. And the Clippers beat the Lakers.
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister
The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
The Avant-Guards, Vol. 1 by Carly Usdin
What was your most significant musical discovery of 2019?
I hadn’t paid much attention to Nipsey Hussle’s music before he was killed in the spring. He was so beloved in Los Angeles, though, that I had to stop and figure out why. It was a revelation.
I get it now.
What did you want and get?
Impeachment even though ain’t nothin’ goan happen.
What did you want and not get?
A resignation. All things considered, though, it’s been such a good year personally and professionally, ain’t no complaints.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Nearly the same note as last year: The Sparks did go deep into the WNBA Playoffs this year but flamed out in one of the most head-scratching exits in league history.
I worry the championship window is closing for this team in this configuration, but I’m hoping there’s one more run in 2020.
What political issue stirred you the most?
My interests this year were more local than the national garbage fire that is this current administration. LA figuring out real solutions to our homelessness and general housing issues is top of mind every time I enter our community.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
R. Kelly.
How would you describe your fashion concept in 2019?
I cleaned up nicely this year with more blazers, fancy button-downs, and quality shoes.
What kept you sane?
Reading or listening to the news on my schedule. Keeping my nose in a book. Hitting the gym nearly every day.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Regina King had herself a year, didn’t she? Kenan Thompson’s work on SNL has been next level.
Who did you miss?
Shana. While I’m happy with my current work situation, not getting to talk pop culture and process with her every day was and is a bummer.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2019.
Do what you say you’re going to do.
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
“Bossed up, flossed up, fly like a saucer, live in the moment.”
Today’s meditation asks, “What does it mean to stand in your power?”
Lately, that has meant trusting my gut (and my head and my heart). It’s meant saying no to some opportunities and jumping at others. It’s been allowing myself to express excitement and show passion in spaces where I’ve tended to be more reserved. It’s been letting more people inside and giving more of myself outside.
Be honest. Be open. Don’t seek permission to do what’s right. Don’t let the fear of disappointing others guide me away from the best choices. Give me the room to think big. Recognize that new challenges also mean lots of change and that new responsibilities require transformation. And trust. Trust in myself and others.
So, pull your shoulders back. Breathe into your diaphragm. Lift from the crown of your head and take up space. Create space for those you want to bring with you on this journey.
Look in the mirror and see that the person staring back at you is feeling good as hell.
What to Watch:Hip-Hop Evolution on Netflix (great episode about the rise of the cypher in the latest cycle); and, the two CBS shows being led by the former stars of Luke Cage, All Rise & Evil
“Another life again we almost lived. Another list of things we almost did.”
— The Go Team
Meditation:See the Big Picture, 19 minutes
I’m part of a team. I’m part of many teams, but this past week, I spent time in San Francisco with my formal org-charted group. It was the first time I’ve spent focused time with everyone all at once since a re-organization early in 2017.
Things clicked. Day after day, my notebook filled with “A-ha!” thoughts and ideas. In today’s meditation, the guide prodded me to see the whole canvas. That is how I felt when I returned to LA and the normal rhythms of work on Friday. My nose had been too close to things. I could see the craftsmanship and the flaws, while having little sense of how it was all working (or not working) in concert.
That picture is clarifying. In the course of day-to-day routines and expectations and habits, the sense of what’s the most valuable thing you do or could often be doing gets lost. Those seven days were a map.
I’m grateful for these incredibly talented people to which I get to collaborate. They are smart and passionate and curious and competitive and quirky and clever. They challenge me. They push me to be better at what I do. And we’ve got a great leader—thoughtful, candid, and compassionate—who believes in us, celebrates and advocates for our work, and sees us as the people we are.
I’m grateful for her, for them, and the experience.
I’m also grateful for my team of friends. One of them came to the Golden State this week and brought us together across two cities. We met up, she and I, once in SF where we spent some time reconnecting, revealing our hearts and humor in equal measure. Then in Los Angeles with a larger group. The drinks flowed, the conversations got loud, the smiles grew full, and the hugs were long.
I’m grateful for her, for them, and the experience.
I’m not sure I ever found a flow on the mat over these 30 days. I have one more session tomorrow, so maybe it will come then. Perhaps it won’t. It’s okay either way. What I have found with this practice is a sense of control and awareness of my body that I hadn’t had since college when I was playing basketball four or five days a week.
My shoulders have strengthened a lot during this process. My trainer has noticed and is now regularly increasing how much I lift during our full body workouts. I’m holding much less tension in my neck. My balance is better. My left hip is working hard at loosening. It’s still the tightest area of my body, but it doesn’t want to be.
If you stayed on track for the full month, the journey was supposed to end today on the 31st. Mine continues as I took this most recent Sunday off to give that hard-working hip some recovery time. I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning’s time. And to the next day on the mat.
And the next.
“The first time your name was used, it was beauty, and I knew.”
Come September, Tiffany and I will have been together for a decade. It feels both not that long—she is still a beautiful mystery to me in many ways—and like we have always been this way, comfortable in our connection.
This month, I love her for meals made, and appointments kept. For grocery store runs and shared TV time. After the first of the year, we didn’t leave the house together much but we found time to delight at Grown-ish, guffaw at Desus + Mero and Alone Together, and binge One Day at a Time.
I dipped into her viewings of Disjointed and always enjoyed a weekend day where we both spent time in the home office, the sun beaming through our windows, the neighborhood alive.
My heart still swells at her smile and when her eyes light up with accomplishment. I ask about her day knowing she will get overly technical as I like hearing her talk passionately about the work of solving problems.
I loved her despite her destroying my time in the mini-crossword more days than not. I loved her even though every time I turned on a TV in the house it was tuned to MSNBC.
“We ain’t looking at the time, don’t nobody got a phone.”
That lyric sounds like heaven right now. I’ve been thinking a lot this month about what I’m not doing with my time when I’m spending too much of it with my devices. How lovely it would be to not always feel like I’m fighting for the attention of others with their much more compelling smartphones.
I stopped bringing my laptop and tablet to meetings, and I leave my phone in my pocket unless I need to reference something in service of that meeting.
Once I finish “Bored and Brilliant,” I may swear off reading via the Kindle app on my phone so that I can put it away during my commutes. I ordered a work phone in part for privacy concerns but also because it will allow me not to be available 24/7. To put my phone in my bag at the end of the day and not get any work messages until I check again in the morning?! I don’t even remember what that is like, but I’m looking forward to getting back to that.
“Feelin’ Inspired cuz the tables have turned.”
I do. I feel energized creatively. I wrote more this month. I spoke up more at work. Digital media is in this uncertain place that has many people feeling unsure about the path forward. Not me.
If you’re smart, you take the opportunity to check in with the purpose of what you do. Give up on quick fixes and hacks and tricks and do what’s right.
Let’s just get back to basics and make good shit every day. Let’s do right by our audiences. Let’s build the audiences we want by giving them real value. Why does our content exist? What do we hope they do with it? What conversations do we want to start and participate? How do we show appreciation for people spending time with us in a cluttered space? Do we think of those clicking our stuff as data points or people?
My favorite quote from a Spike Lee Joint is from Shadow Henderson in Mo’ Better Blues:
“If you play the shit that they like, then the people will come.”
Still true, y’all. Make good shit. Put it in a pretty box. Be grateful. Be humble. Learn something.
“Whenever things go wrong, whenever things go left, you can be in charge” – Maxwell, Listen Hear
Will we continue to invest and experiment in bringing our brands to digital spaces (and in new and interesting ways) even though the money might not be there yet?
The vast majority of the budgets in the entertainment industry are focused on declining traditional platforms like linear television and cable. That wealth of creative expression needs to be redeployed to digital networks, where creative people can connect more closely with massive audiences and where it is possible to directly serve more diverse audiences as well as for people to share media with those who matter in their lives. Social platforms are reaching more people and having a bigger impact, but they are still not taken seriously by the biggest media companies with the most resources to invest, and this is limiting our collective creative culture. — Jonah Peretti, Founder and CEO of BuzzFeed
Will programmatic ad buyers be shamed into paying for quality?
“Honestly, the long tail is to advertising what subprime was to mortgages. No one knows what’s in it, but it helps people believe that there is a mysterious tonnage of impressions that are really low cost. But low-cost impressions would mean low-cost human attention. How can any publisher of quality content survive on low-cost impressions?” —Joe Marchese, President of advertising products for the Fox Networks Group
Will we take the time to be more thoughtful in our decision-making? Will we give ourselves the space and time to sit with data, to ask the right questions, to seek the right answers, to be creative, and to do right by those that read and watch what we make?
In 2017, I hope the industry stops chasing it’s tail or the holy grail of scale and pursues something more meaningful: earning trust, respect, and an emotional connection with the real people that make up the elusive “audience.”
I know it’s what I’m going to be advocating for at every opportunity come Tuesday.
What does it mean to live a good life? What about a productive life? How about a happy life? How might I think about these ideas if the answers conflict with one another? – Richard J. Light, How to Live Wisely(New York Times)
Today’s exercise, though, asks about how I spend my spare time.
Well, right now, I’m writing. It’s 8:51 P.M. and I’ve watched the premiere of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Good job, kid!) and what I’d rather be doing than anything else is typing words into the white screen that Ulysses provides. I don’t do this enough.
That’s true. I also feel most human when I’m reading other people’s words. I do that often. When I take a break from work and grab an iced skinny hazelnut latte at the nearby Starbucks or take lunch by myself, I’m usually spending my time with the writing of others.
I talk a lot and watch a lot of basketball. When I was a kid, Hell, up until my late twenties, I played a lot of basketball. These days, I’m particularly passionate about women’s pro ball. We are season ticket holders for the Los Angeles Sparks. I’ve seen more women’s basketball live than I’ve seen any other sport, by far.
I love television and consume it in large quantities.
So how do I spend my spare time? Writing. Reading. TV. Ball is life.
Now, the way the question is presented in the Times article, the question is meant to help a person focus their college studies. I extrapolate that to presume this is supposed to be a good way to make decisions professionally, but I’m not so sure. What I know is that when I’ve had to write as the primary work product of a job, it’s dimmed my love for writing.
Having worked in/around television for the bulk of my professional career, my love for it only grows when immersed in the process. I like how those donuts get made. I imagine, at some point, I will get back to that.
I do a lot of reading as part of my gig now. Reading. Editing. Massaging copy. I should do more of it. It’s painful but making someone else’s words better whether through soft nudges or complicated surgery is satisfying.
If a professional basketball team came calling for my services in some way, I’d have to consider it but I worry it would tarnish my love of the game. I’m a fan first. Could I still be with a paycheck on the line?
What I didn’t mention to this point is that I also enjoy doing things in service of the greater good. I didn’t include it because I don’t do enough of it.
I’m making time for writing and reading and basketball and my eyes glued to the endless hours of great tv, but I haven’t been creating space for making the world a better place.
This room is filled with people working on a dumb idea with friends that they are hopeful about.
We might quibble over what’s “dumb”—he included his own podcast in that list and I had just laughed heartily for nearly an hour over the, okay, dumb yet brilliant Hello, From the Magic Tavern live show—but it’s the “they are hopeful” line that got me.
Does your work fill you with hope? I don’t mean, necessarily, that for which you get paid. Is there a thing that you’re doing on the regular that ignites you? Does it fill you with possibility even if it’s stupid?
If you’re working on it rather than just thinking about it, you’re living the dream, right? It may not pay the bills (but it might). You may suck at it (but if you keep doing it?). It may never stop being dumb (but what if it’s so ridiculous it’s actually genius?). It may fail. Hell, it probably will fail but…
But if you’re doing it, if you’re making time for it, if you’re working at it, I’d bet you’re happier. You’d know what joy looks like even if you only glimpse it on occasion when you’re trying to make this dumb idea happen ideally with people you like.
You’d know more about what you look like inside.
And by you, I mean me.
Try to make good shit. Every day. You might get it right once in awhile.
