Conference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat
A Conversation with Issa Rae & Sherrese Clarke Soares | Global Conference 2023
- Investment strategies prioritize content led by people of color, specifically black women, alongside plans to acquire music IP and fund businesses driven by authentic voices, with capital allocation targeted toward entrepreneurs who reflect the demographic diversity of the audience.
- Operational mandates include retaining ownership of productions, dictating executive staffing, and enforcing a policy where crew diversity must meet a 60% threshold for people of color to qualify for representation and branding.
- Long-term plans focus on building infrastructure in Newark, New Jersey, to support community revitalization and creating pipelines for underrepresented creators to launch independent businesses and own their own shows.
- Industry trends are projected to shift over the next five to ten years, moving from a "write into a vacuum" model to a data-driven environment where transparency regarding audience data and imprints becomes essential for decision-making, mimicking the reliability seen in the music sector.
- Strategic responses to the fragmentation of linear television and budget rationalization involve leveraging digitization and social media to identify global, diverse audiences, moving away from "watered-down" content toward hyper-local and specific narratives that drive wider engagement.
- Challenges include continued opacity in international film sales and distribution, a current lack of direct access to specific demographic breakdowns from providers, and the uncertainty of whether social media mentions will translate into concrete viewership metrics.