Films, music, industry insights… oh my! Now that SXSW has wrapped up its 2023 festivities, we’ve got some time to digest this year’s many experiences and takeaways. To help highlight a few of the more interesting topics covered at the festival, we’ve gathered some of our favorite tidbits about...
Emerging technology
Things are moving extremely fast with the emergence of new artificial intelligence software, and that raises many questions. Creatives are facing a branching future with new tools that can either help their processes and possibly even replace parts of their workload. These technologies will likely define new habits and force us to reconsider the ways in which we create and consume our entertainment.
- In the featured session titled “Amy Webb Launches 2023 Emerging Tech Trend Report,” the eponymous futurist discussed the many tech trends emerging in 2023.
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- The end of the internet as we know it is nigh; going forward, everything is just information
- Once the concept of “the web” expanded to include social media platforms, information became a monetizable resource that companies continue to exploit, maximizing value by accumulating data on your life and preferences
- Metadata (that is, information about information) will only increase in importance, as it has since it became valuable in the early 2000s
- Everything is data, even your body odor. Google is developing something called Principal Odor Map (POM), an AI that will learn to identify the molecule makeup of scents. One of its first tasks is to discover a scent that mosquitos are repelled by in order to then develop a chemical imitation that can help with Malaria prevention. Of course, there are privacy concerns, as this technology could theoretically be used to discover (for example) if you were previously in a room.
- AI has already shown it can create art, but now it’s also being applied to radically different fields like biology, and soon, it will even help law enforcement reconstruct images from brain activity, in effect reading people’s minds
- Marketing and advertising institutions could be eradicated, replaced by AI that works off their existing models
- Aggressive data scraping and the death of the traditional “search” function could lead to more aggressive curation, which makes it more frustrating to find the thing you’re seeking. Imagine you’ve just looked at old prom photos, and now you want to watch an episode of Friends. Your TV might “strongly recommend” that you watch that show’s prom episode, even though you want the one with the monkey.
- There are concerns about the consolidation structure of these systems, as larger companies seem to hold all the cards with little access granted to outsiders. Regulators are already late to the party; they’re still talking about if they should break up big tech companies rather than the data being collected and how it’s being used.
One emerging technology to be prominently featured during this year’s SXSW was generative artificial intelligence systems, such as ChatGPT—the current state of development and possible applications and use cases. Be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming On the Horizon piece on generative AI, where we’ll discuss how this technology works and its many implications.
Content, creation, and creative industry insights
The entertainment industry is nothing without the fruits of its labors. Content is still king, but how and what we create are certainly up for debate as the future of entertainment is shaped by emerging technologies and modern trends.
- In the session titled “The Business of Content: The State of the Industry Address,” two lead analysts at Variety Intelligence Platform, Heidi Chung and Andrew Wallenstein, discussed entertainment’s media and tech landscape.
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- Theaters are seeing some cause for optimism (despite box office numbers not quite reaching pre-pandemic levels) thanks to the advent of variable pricing
- All major studios have compressed theatrical windows, now that most audiences have grown accustomed to the streaming experience and timeline
- There is a ton of demand for in-person experiences; Broadway shows, concerts, and live events are doing very well
- Social media is now the biggest advertising vehicle, having peaked in 2020; companies like Snap and Meta get almost all their revenue from advertising
- In 2022, TikTok was the most popular app by far, though it peaked during the pandemic in 2020
- TikTok has completely changed the music industry and the way talent is farmed, and as it’s prepared to offer opportunities to make longform content, it may do the same for film and television
- The video game market is still enormous, despite a bit of faltering over the last few years. While consoles are still very popular, there has been an enormous financial swing to mobile gaming.
- Virtual reality headsets by companies like PlayStation and Meta are still struggling, though they may be an arbiter of things to come, now that Apple is getting into the mix
- During the “Leveraging Data in Today's Film/TV Economy” session Mark Hoebich (Luminate) and André Vargas (Creative Artists Agency) discussed the most glaring gaps in content and how addressing those holes could lead to big upside.
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- The streamers are tech companies first and foremost; they invest in increasing their data and tech sophistication
- Analysis shows that Hollywood would do well to leverage climate change data, as it remains the number one concern for millennials and Generation Z (according to a study by Deloitte)
- 70 percent of companies have increased or are increasing investments to address climate concerns
- It's important to put on television what is not on television already. CAA has a tool that helps identify the places where there are gaps in shows, how many shows exist in each genre, and audience interest. Using this data, they can more effectively pitch talent and stories that fill certain gaps. Of course, creators look to balance supply and demand, but there is also a need to be original.
- There is no one perfect tool; the most insightful and complete data comes from a collection of measurements—Nielsen, piracy data, streaming data, self-reported data, and social media
- This data can remove top-heavy box office results to support other types of deals and negotiations with a more balanced perspective on the market
DEI, education, and career building
The entertainment industry has made great strides toward a more inclusive and curious approach to storytelling, but there are still many opportunities for improvement. How does one get into the room in the first place? The easy answer seems to be don’t wait for things to happen; make them happen.
- The “Raising the Bar: Public-Private Partnerships, Unlocking Career Success” session focused on the pipeline that gets young people into creative industries.
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- There have always been funding issues in public education, and private partnerships can offer fresh opportunities like film production classes and new high school requirements
- The Roybal Film and Television Magnet, a high school intended to establish a more inclusive path toward the entertainment industry for historically underrepresented students, was started with the help of George Clooney and aims to diversify below-the-line workers by teaching production classes alongside traditional high school courses
- Talent has never been in short supply, but the pipeline to get these creators into the industry is a real problem
- Lack of education is a roadblock; kids simply can’t enter or excel in careers they don’t know exist, so it is imperative that we show them these opportunities
- By exposing children to the many different jobs in the entertainment industry earlier, they can set goals more effectively
- Replicating the school’s model might not be possible in every location around the country, so the panel believes that it is imperative to move these courses online
- In the session titled “Leveraging Data in Today's Film / TV Economy,” Mark Hoebich (Luminate) and André Vargas (Creative Artists Agency) spoke to the power of data.
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- Creators need to know where audiences are and what they’re watching, and some companies are already trying to target content and boost box office returns by combining multiple data sources that look at cast and audience diversity
- Diversity is an area of great potential growth, but authenticity is the key
- Data clearly shows that there is a gap in representation—a lack of diversity—that is essentially throwing money away. By investing in this gap, studios and networks could see a very lucrative potential upside.
- In the featured session titled “Why Not Me? Mike Jackson on Diversity in Media,” Mike Jackson, Emmy and Tony Award-winning producer and co-founder / managing partner of Get Lifted Film Co., led a panel discussion covering many things.
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- Passion can be a key factor in breaking down outdated stereotypes about women and people of color
- Every artist must bet on themselves and focus on the long game, despite the many distractions of a competitive industry
- Creators must build an audience on social media (an online presence that should be run like a business itself)
- A pause in social media output can lead to tangible financial losses, so it can be vital to reach the spaces and audience that demonstrate passion
SXSW once again proved to be a hotbed of intellectual exercise and artistic inspiration. While we just touched on the festival’s robust offerings, there is a treasure trove of valuable insights available over at www.sxsw.com.