MEDIAREDEF PICKS
Molly's Game, Disney/Fox, Harvey's Spies, Cambridge Analytica CEO, Shootings, Push Alerts, Netflix Morality...
Jason Hirschhorn, curator November 7, 2017
QUOTABLES!
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Integrity has no need of rules.
Albert Camus
media
rant n' rave
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JEFF HIRSCH and I caught a screening of MOLLY'S GAME, the film adaptation of the book based on the true story of our friend MOLLY BLOOM who ran one of the biggest private poker games in the world. Her players included movies stars, hedge fund managers, athletes, gamblers, art dealers and the like. But then her world came crashing down when the mob came calling and she was arrested by the FBI. Written and directed by the genius AARON SORKIN and starring my favorite actor JESSICA CHASTAIN as Molly. If you love Sorkin, you'll love the movie. Amazing, fast-paced dialogue and narration from the jump and it doesn't stop until the credits. If you love poker, you'll love the movie. And if you love Jessica Chastain, you'll love the movie. She gets an OSCAR nom. She gets Molly. Smart, determined, hard-working, damaged and principled. She sounds like her. They got the look down perfectly. Bold. It's a story of success, choices, and consequences. But it's more. It's really the story of a strong woman's journey through a man's world. Men of power. Men always telling her what to do. Men trying to control and often demean her. It's about power. At almost every turn she faces a male authority or obstacle. As her boss tells her when he tries to stop paying her: "You don’t have bargaining power here! You are unimportant." The timing of this film is uncanny. With talk of sexual harassment, work politics, and misused power. The film is about real events that happened a few years ago, but its message could not be more timely. As Sorkin recently said: “Molly Bloom is a very strong woman who navigates a world of very powerful and kinda creepy men. If I could trade the fortuitous timing of the movie for the world, particularly my industry, to be different, I would. But yes, the movie is suddenly as relevant as it could possibly be.” Opens Christmas. Great film... CNBC's DAVID FABER with a monster scoop. Rumors of DISNEY buying FOX. I pride myself on knowing this stuff early and understanding it. I failed on both. If you asked me which was more likely, this deal or me becoming a pilates instructor, I would have picked the latter. The problem the media companies have is scale and distribution. Few have direct relationships with the consumer. How would this merger help? After a morning of thinking I'm the dumbest guy in the room I started to list out reasons and questions. The Fox studio library and franchises would be a great addition to DISNEY's recently announced plans for a stand-alone OTT service as both pull back from NETFLIX. I firmly believe Disney needs to go beyond its amazing IP and libraries and license other content to have a competitive service if it hopes to reach NETFLIX or AMAZON like numbers. Would my pal JAMES MURDOCH be the heir-apparent to Disney's BOB IGER? Would the deal mean a consolidation of HULU's ownership? An albatross around the joint venture has been its dysfunctional ownership structure and board. It's a media JV, so that's not surprising. Hulu is one of the great missed opportunities in media but it's not too late. And having both libraries would help future success even if other partners sell out. Great international opportunities here especially with the SKY asset. But that comes with risk. Let's say Sky lost some sports rights. Like PREMIER LEAGUE. The value plummets. And if you think one of the big tech platforms isn't getting their hands on sports rights at some point, you're on the crack. Disney gets FX and with it maybe the best executive in television, JOHN LANDGRAF. My recommendation is give him the same $6 billion Netflix spends and let him loose in the SVOD world. His team's creative track record is pretty stellar. The idea of the MURDOCHS selling is still so foreign to me that I have a tough time comprehending it. But something's going on and if it happens the dominoes will start to fall. M&A mania. Does this put the company (and others) in play? What other combos? COMCAST? VERZION? AMAZON? I've heard rumors of a tech platform looking at one. I think that happens too. I'm continuing to watch and ask questions... Happy Birthday to ALI PARTOVI, HADI PARTOVI, ERIKA AYERS NARDINI, DANIELLE ENGLEBARDT, PIERRE KIM JEANNIE SCALZO, HANK CLOSE, and REGGIE WILLIAMS.

Jason Hirschhorn, curator

November 7, 2017