Bloom In Tech

I talked with actor/writer/director Emilio Estevez about his latest film, 'The Public,' set in a Cincinnati library during a brutal cold snap. The librarians are thrust into the roles of first responders and social workers, helping the homeless who come there for shelter.  And on this lethally cold night, the homeless refuse to leave at closing time, leading to a confrontation with police. Estevez produced, directed, wrote and stars in the film, alongside a great cast. And the project came about after Estevez learned of the challenges libraries and librarians face these days, and not just from technological change. Estevez and I were joined in our conversation by Rich Hull, CEO of Pongalo, the Spanish-language video service that partly backed the film. There's lots to talk about when it comes to libraries and their importance as one of the basic building blocks in democracy. Give a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

We're finally seeing some of the cards being played by some of the big players in this poker game known as the streaming-video wars. Disney+ showed a lot of its hand last  week, and Apple sort of showed its plans a couple of weeks earlier. Meanwhile, Netflix continues add millions of subscribers around the globe and is actually running a functioning, highly optimized business. Disney+ almost certainly will be successful in the long term, but I suspect they'll be losing quite a bit of money in the short term. I explain why here. Give it a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Even hanging for a few days at Las Olas Resort in western Panama, one thing was pretty obvious to me about Snap's week of big news: they've only just begun to dig out the big hole Evan Spiegel and the rest of his team constructed for themselves. Yes, the company has new original shows, multiplayer games, an ad network, a much-improved Android app, some very interesting partnerships in the U.S. and abroad and more. But boy, none of this stuff is easy, and Snap has some pretty intimidating challengers, including some newer faces. In my latest podcast, recorded next to a fabulous beach in Playa La Barqueta, I talk about  what's ahead for Snapchat. Give it a listen and let me know what you think of Snap's prospects. Are you willing to invest? Think it's crazy to put money into companies controlled by their CEOs? let me know on Twitter @DavidBloom or on LinkedIn at /davidlbloom. As always, like, rate and share if you think this is good for your pals to listen to as well. I'll have some more stuff from Panama,

A suit in federal court  is challenging whether Donald Trump, as the most Twitter-reliant president yet, can legally block people from his feed. At the same time, Twitter may start flagging Trump posts that violate its policies, and adding notes to explain why. All this conversation  prompts a question about what social media would be like if we all had  to take  responsibility for the stuff we post on social media, and what the Internet might be like. Give a listen, then let me know what you think.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Apple made a lot of big announcements this week, many of which sounded a lot like what Amazon is doing in games, reading material and video, alongside their rather similar music and audio initiatives. Just as importantly, the Apple-Amazon approach strongly contrasts with the data-milking approach of Facebook and Google, a point that Tim Cook subtly made throughout Monday's presentations.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Critical. Role started as a group of actor pals playing Dungeons & Dragons while a camera rolled on Twitch and YouTube. That unlikely start has become a huge Kickstarter hit, raising $7.7 million and counting to create an animated series called "The Legend of Vox Machina,"  based on the story lines and characters of the long-running games. I sat down with Sam Riegel and Travis Willingham, two leaders of Critical Role, to talk about O.G. D&D (that's me), creating an unlikely cross-platform media machine, and what they're going to do with all that loot to make a great animated series that will run....somewhere. C'mon, roll the dice. Give it a listen.   --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Mark Zuckerberg wants people to believe Facebook is pivoting toward privacy. It's not, and I explain why. More importantly, however, social media as we know it is undergoing significant shifts to new paradigms that put Amazon in a particularly advantageous place, and may hinder the power of Facebook and Google going forward. My latest Bloom in Tech episode explains what's happening and where we're headed. Give it a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

The business of sports online is taking off, with lots of venture capital coming to numerous sites and AT&T making a big statement by centralizing all its sports operations under CNN chief Jeff Zucker. I also sat down with Conde Nast Entertainment Studios EVP Alexander Edgington to talk about their new Netflix sports-related documentary series, "Cricket Fever," about India's biggest cricket tournament. It's an important effort by Conde' Nast and Netflix to grab some attention in the vast and complex Indian market. Al talks with me about what it all means in the second part of this episode  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Netflix spent heavily during this awards season, but didn't snag the biggest prize of all, the Best Picture Oscar. But it still ended up a big winner, grabbing multiple other Oscars and winning useful credibility with both its subscribers and Hollywood's great auteurs. I explain why in this episode of Bloom in Tech.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi joined me during Oscar Week on Bloom in Tech to talk about the big theater chain's new ventures in virtual reality with Spaces and The Void, its esports venture with Super League Gaming, large-format screens, new projection technologies, better food, better seats and a whole lot of other changes arriving in the very old-school business of putting a movie on a screen.  The No. 3 U.S. theater chain is also the largest in South and Central America. Zoradi, a long-time Disney veteran, is trying to steer the company forward at a time when teens love their mobile phones, Instagram, YouTube and Netflix. Give our conversation a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Amid all the art and craziness of Frieze LA and seeming countless satellite fairs, openings and events, I was most intrigued by a panel at Neuehouse Hollywood featuring director and "Transparent" creator Jill Soloway and conceptual artist Jill Magid, herself now a director of the upcoming Oscilloscope Laboratories feature documentary, 'The Proposal." The Jills ranged widely, from the joys of directing, to the challenges of gender and work,  to the ways Magid pokes at and interacts with police, intelligence and other organizations that create limits and structures. It's a fascinating conversation between, on one side, a creator focused on breaking down boundaries and creating spaces for marginalized people, and on the other, a creator focused on engaging with and interrogating the many boundaries that limit and structure our lives.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

I hosted a great panel on the future of content marketing at this week's Digital Entertainment World conference in Los Angeles, with top executives with Twitch, Fandango, Machinima and CreatorIQ. Content marketing can include everything from movie trailers to live events to influencer partnerships to what the video game Fortnite did last week with EDM star Marshmello. And as the contest for audience attention gets tougher and tougher, more brands are opting for content marketing as a way to reach engaged, highly targeted audiences. Give a listen to what some of the best in the business are doing in this burgeoning field.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Late January is the dog days of Hollywood's long, expensive awards season. Smaller events unfurl several times a week, and every win becomes a chance to further handicap the Oscar chances for major contenders. This past week, the Final Draft Awards honored Callie Khouri, who wrote "Thelma & Louise" and created the "Nashville" TV series with its Hall of Fame Award.   The next night, the Lumiere Awards unspooled a few miles away, on the lot of a different movie studio, and handed out a lot more statues. And there, Tom Cruise surprised even the man being honored, the writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who is his long-time collaborator. I talked with Khouri and captured Cruise and McQuarrie all talking about the joys and challenges of making movies for this episode of Bloom in Tech. Give a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Adrian Gonzalez has had a long and distinguished career as an All Star first baseman for the L.A. Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. Now he's taking a swing at another kind of game, creating fan-friendly custom apps that connect (for now) baseball stars and their fans directly, instead of through social media or their teams' online presences. PopFly XP is debuting apps for Gonzalez and former Dodgers' teammate Justin Turner, trying to create new ways for baseball stars to connect, sell custom merchandise and build new kinds of businesses. I talk with Gonzalez and PopFly's CEO, former Dodger partnerships executive Jesse Nunez, about what they're trying to accomplish.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Netflix has spent heavily this awards season on several films, part of a strategy to differentiate it from competing media companies that soon will have their own video-streaming services. The strategy paid off big time with today's announcements of Oscar nominations; Alfonso Cuaron's 'Roma' grabbed 10, tied for the most of any film and the first film from a streaming service to get a Best Picture nomination. I talk about what it all means. Give a listen.   --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Companies such as EscapeX, Whalerock Industries and Beachfront have standalone apps that help big influencers generate more money from their most devoted fans. What are the opportunities here? I talked with the CEOs of EscapeX and Beachfront, and CreatorIQ COO Tim Sovay about the possibilities and challenges in helping influencers move beyond  their dependence on social-media platforms when connecting with their super fans. Give it a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

I talked recently with two top NBCUniversal executives about Blueprint, their revamped hobbyist learning site, which combines lessons in nearly dozen categories with lean-back content, community, e-commerce operations and a healthy dose of celebrities and influencers. The site, now a subscription video-on-demand operation, is busy cross-pollinating with other parts of NBCU, and will be the basis for extending e-commerce functions throughout many parts of the media giant, the executives told me. It's a smart and provocative vision of the future of SVOD video sites and one I expect Amazon and others will be copying soon enough. You heard it here first. Give it a listen, won't you?  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Over the holidays, Netflix debuted its biggest ever hit and an intriguing interactive experiment, picked up multiple Golden Globes, saved hundreds of millions of dollars and hired a CFO. It faces more competition than ever in 2019, but I talk about how these various initiatives are helping the company evolve and succeed in the face of all those deep-pocketed challengers. Give it a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Influencer marketing was bigger than ever in 2018, despite a string of scandals hitting some of the major platforms. I talked with several top influencer-marketing agencies, data companies and consultants – including CreatorIQ, Tubular Labs, Pex, WhoSay and Michelle Merino – about what trends are shaping the industry as we move into 2019. Give it a listen.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

In this episode, I look at a  string of virtual-reality projects, technologies and venues that have arrived in Los Angeles recently, as the bad mojo of 2017 has evolved into a promising industry again in 2018. I also talk with Bruce Vaughn, the former Disney Imagineer and current CEO of Dreamscape Immersive, the Steven Spielberg-backed company creating story-driven VR experiences such as "Alien Zoo." Dreamscape just opened its first permanent venue in an upscale Los Angeles mall. This episode is not quite a year-end retrospective, despite the timing, so much as a rundown of cool stuff I've seen the last several months, in an industry that's finally starting to look sustainable, and fascinating. Give a listen. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support