With the doldrums of summer officially upon us — a torpid pause before the next mad round of musical chairs or re-org-ing or disruption at the point of a gun — it’s a good moment to take a deep breath and engage in a little bit of reckless, wanton speculation at how things will play out in the months ahead.
Last week, we looked at the playing field and saw that just about every studio out there that hasn’t just had a top-to-bottom shake-up is about two inches away from one. Or five inches at most, depending on how the wind blows this fall.
So, having looked at where the seats might open up and how the terrain might change, let us take a peek at the names that will be mentioned. Think of this as a permanent, standing, The Contenders for X Job, when X job comes open. Just take your favorites from below and mix and match.
But before we get to some names, let’s talk a bit about what they’ll be looking for in these positions. So when you think about any job that might come open — whether it be running Disney or production at a new super studio that arises from the sea, and you think about who might run it and the qualities that person would need, the first thing you realize is: it’s impossible. The modern entertainment conglomerate has become such a beast of contradiction and confusion that no living creature could be the ideal candidate, could ever be the ideal candidate. Save for masochists who enjoy high-paying suffering.
Let’s break down what you need to have in your background if you’re going to take on one of these Leviathans:
First of all, you need to have great relationships with talent. Above all else. Of late, we’ve seen the problems you have when you hand a studio over to people who don’t respect talent. So you can’t have that again. (I mean, we will, repeatedly, but I thought it worth mentioning.)
But the modern entertainment Leviathan is not just a lunch table at Cafe Gratitude; it’s a complicated corporate labyrinth, data-driven and benchmark-guided, with more legal, rights and EBITA conundrums than you can shake a lightsaber at. You’re not going to just hand over one of those to someone just because they are friends with a couple actors. You need someone who speaks PowerPoint and Excel fluently, who can assure Wall Street, with deep experience in business and speaking at conferences with other people just like him (and yes, they’re almost all hims).
So off the bat, get that MBA with strong, iron relationships with talent. So you’ve winnowed the pool down to zero people right there.
Then, modern studios being what they are, you need someone with TV experience first and foremost, much more than film. Problem is, there aren’t a lot of execs who have spent their lives in TV who look ready to rise up to take over the whole company and take command of the film side as well. (Iger remains the lone success story here.)
This has been a sneak preview of today’s edition of The Ankler, the industry’s secret newsletter. To read the rest of this issue, subscribe today for just $17 a month and don’t miss out on who’s in the hot seat next!
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