Latest news with #StrictlyBusiness'
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Financing Film and TV Isn't What It Used to Be
The financing of film and TV production has changed dramatically compared with how it was in previous decades. And no one knows that better than Daisy Stall, EVP & group head of entertainment finance at California Bank & Trust. She has three decades of experience in this area not only on the side of various financial institutions, but a stint overseeing the global treasury group at Sony Pictures. More from Variety UTA CEO David Kramer on Diversifying the Agency Business Amid Tumult in Hollywood: 'The Playground Has Expanded in So Many Ways' Inside the 'Monopoly Go!' Phenomenon: Scopely Exec on Mobile Game's $5 Billion Revenue Milestone and That 'Pokemon Go' Acquisition 'This Is Table Stakes Today': How Deloitte and AWS Use AI to Study Fandom for Insights on Consumer Behavior On the latest episode of Variety's 'Strictly Business' podcast, she outlines how traditional funding models have been disrupted by streaming services and broader changes in content consumption. 'What has happened over the years is revenue models have been really upended,' she said. Listen to the podcast here: The rise of streaming initially simplified financing by consolidating deals; one large streamer could replace dozens of distribution contracts. However, over time, streamers gained disproportionate leverage, leading to tighter margins for producers. Fixed license fees, once profitable, have shrunk significantly. Furthermore, streamers now frequently acquire only partial rights (e.g., domestic only), forcing producers to find additional buyers for remaining territories. Increasingly, streamers also demand IP ownership in perpetuity, limiting producers' long-term revenue potential. Stall also discusses the emergence of new business models, including revenue-sharing agreements, which she views optimistically. Unlike fixed fees, rev-share models allow both producers and distributors to participate in downstream revenues, aligning incentives and potentially restoring sustainability. 'If you do the revenue share, you have to have confidence in your partner to exploit the content and increase over and above what you would have received for that fixed license fee, and take the upside,' she said. The conversation also touches on AI, with Stall identifying its dual role: reducing production costs for creators and optimizing financial operations—especially in areas like royalty calculations and revenue waterfalls, which are traditionally labor-intensive and prone to disputes. 'Strictly Business' is Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud. Best of Variety Oscars 2026: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Wagner Moura and More Among Early Contenders to Watch New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Value of Video Game IP in Post-‘Minecraft' Hollywood
With 'A Minecraft Movie' in striking distance of the billion-dollar mark at the global box office, there's no better time to check in on the state of the video game industry, with an emphasis on its intersection with Hollywood. Kaare Eriksen, author of a recent Variety Intelligence Platform special report on these subjects, tackles everything on the latest episode of Variety's 'Strictly Business' podcast — from the shadow that Trump-era tariffs could cast over Nintendo's Switch 2 console launch next month to the shift of 'Grand Theft Auto 6' to 2026. More from Variety 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' Claims Top Spot at U.K. and Ireland Box Office as Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' Looms Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' Rockets to No. 1 at Korea Box Office Jeffrey P. Jones on Why the Peabody Awards Are America's Archive of TV Excellence Rockstar Games, publisher of the hugely popular franchise, announced earlier this month that 'GTA 6' is now set to release on May 26, 2026. Many publishers behind big games expected this year were reportedly reluctant to commit to release dates until they knew for sure 'GTA 6' is locked down to one. Listen to the podcast here: 'The immediate upside is the sheer reality that now some publishers can breathe a bit easy and schedule games for the fall,' said Eriksen. Meanwhile, Warner Bros.'s 'A Minecraft Movie,' starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, has done well enough to become the second-best gaming adaptation ever at the box office, which will certainly whet appetites among film execs to capitalize on other gaming properties. 'If there's going to be any kind of ramifications of a 'Minecraft' movie doing so well, it is going to be studios obviously salivating for the chance to take some IP, whether it's 'Grand Theft Auto,' 'Call of Duty,' or even Fortnite and Roblox, and try to figure out a way to do movies around those if it means they could potentially bring out that big of an audience,' said Eriksen. 'Strictly Business' is Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
