Just this week the ITLG brought together a group of 3D future thinkers as they launched their Hollywood chapter.
The Irish Technology Leadership Group launched its Hollywood chapter tonight with an event at Sony Pictures Studios that included a panel discussion among execs from companies suchas HBO, Warner Bros and BBC Worldwide. Panelists at Innovation in Entertainment, as the evening was billed, discussed the new ways people consume entertainment, how much they’re willing to pay for it (increasingly, that amount is nothing, one said), and whether they’ve even caught up to all the technology out there.
One example of HBO embracing technology is social media integration in its new comedy series Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “The producers said, ‘If you have these ideas you want to do, come to us.’ The core is our programming, but it’s leading us down the road to other content,” Roewe said. “Computer programmers that understand the film biz — that’s the kind of people I want to work with because I know I’m going to adapt to the future in a very big way,” Roewe said.
Another extra for BBC Worldwide is a massively multiplayer online game for sci-fi series Doctor Who, which would bring gamer data to the network, in addition to its “actionable analytics” — Twitter and Facebook activity that reveals how viewers feel about different parts of the show. “This data will be useful and relied on more and more as time goes on,” Nashak said. The shift in distribution platforms is another growing concern. Warner Bros’ SVP postproduction Bill Daly said he sees the industry eventually providing content directly to the consumer. Because of this, companies are looking to move away from the idea that you “launch it and leave it,” said Nashak. “The community and fanbase need constant nurturing.”
Rovi president and CEO Fred Amoroso sees 3D being used in homes now, and he said as the trend grows, it will be available on more devices. “It’ll have its niches, just like any technology,” Amoroso said. The chief of Rovi, which focuses on digital home entertainment products, said the biggest challenge in entertainment technology is not the next big thing, but the adoption of what’s here now. He said studios shouldn’t feel the need to adapt, but “be willing to take risks and take the opportunity to innovate.”
Rich Moran, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist on the panel, thinks what shapes the future from the VC point of view is a “glimmer of greatness, like the Sony visor. They know it’s all converging. Any company that can prove they have a big idea, there’s money to invest.” But Moran also made the point that the expectation from consumers is that entertainment is going to be free. “If it isn’t free, they’ll find a way to get it for free,” he said. So on top of doubts about fans of 3D wanting to walk around their home wearing a visor, there’s the price tag of the gadgets and the content itself.
The ITLG aims to help Ireland embrace new technology and to promote Northern Ireland as a contributor to the entertainment world and form the looks of the panel they put together last night, they are getting their message across quite well.
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