About this episode

The episode discusses Hollywood's disconnect with audiences and the impact of AI on filmmaking with industry experts Trina Renee and Julianna Medina-Politsky.

Hollywood is having a Marie Antoinette moment. The people running studios and making AI announcements have no idea how their decisions are landing with the audience that actually buys tickets, and the backlash to Jorge R. Gutierrez announcing Punky Duck as an AI project is just the most recent and visible proof. Chris and Daniel are joined by Trina Renee, a studio-side post producer whose client credits run through Warner Brothers and Fox, and Julianna Medina-Politsky, who spent a decade as an executive at Legendary Entertainment and now runs Station X Ventures, for a conversation that is more grounded in the realities of production and finance than most discussions of this subject ever get. The episode tracks what is actually happening right now. Obsession got made with private equity because Universal passed, and it worked. The Backrooms built a decade of community before anyone put it in a theater, and the studios still haven't figured out what that means for distribution. Gareth Edwards keeps coming up as the filmmaker who understands this moment best, someone who always worked like he was discovering the movie rather than executing a plan, and who is now using AI the same…

People in this episode

Hosts: Chris, Daniel

Guests: Trina Renee, Julianna Medina-Politsky

Topics covered

• Hollywood audience disconnect
• AI in film
• Production realities
• Studio decision-making
• Community-driven content
• Taste in filmmaking

Keywords

• Hollywood
• audience
• AI
• production
• finance
• distribution
• taste
• community
• filmmaking

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Warner Brothers, Fox, Legendary Entertainment, Station X Ventures

Products: Punky Duck

Books & works: Obsession, The Backrooms

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