\n\tKevin Reilly spent more than three decades overseeing the television fixtures that defined our culture, from Glee\u00a0to Samantha Bee, Hacks\u00a0to The Office.<\/p>\n
\n\tSo when he says a shift is happening, it\u2019s worth paying attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Wednesday the former NBC and Fox executive, 63, announced that he\u2019s stepping back onto the Hollywood stage after five years away \u2014 only instead of returning to a big media company he\u2019s joining Kartel,<\/a> a little-known AI<\/a> startup out of Beverly Hills, as its CEO.<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0Kartel is not developing programming \u2014 Reilly is leaving that behind \u2014 and it\u2019s also not developing models; that\u2019s for the tech-heavy companies like Runway and Luma AI. Instead it\u2019s serving as a kind of intermediary between Silicon Valley and Hollywood, helping the latter zoom forward with machine-based video-generation\u00a0\u2013 or hastening the demise of physical production, if you\u2019re the more cynical sort.<\/p>\n \n\tAs president of entertainment at NBC Reilly helped lobby for 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights and America\u2019s Got Talent; he would take the same role at Fox, where Brooklyn Nine-Nine was among his passion projects. He then spent nearly seven years Turner, culminating in a role that saw him launch HBO Max. So facilitating companies\u2019 transition to producing scenes with AI might be\u2026unexpected.<\/p>\n \n\tBut if Reilly\u2019s move is surprising, it is also of the moment, when everyone from junior assistants to veteran presidents wonder what will become of an industry beset by technological change, unsure whether to fight or lean in (or jump ship like he just did).\u00a0Reilly\u2019s move almost serves as an HR-flavored metaphor for an industry as it pivots to the unknown.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWe asked Reilly how he was thinking about it \u2014 what motivated his move and why he believed many of his former colleagues were endangering their livelihoods by fighting AI. The conversation was edited for brevity and clarity.<\/p>\n \n\tFirst, I think a lot of readers want to know: how have you been spending your time? Outside of an advisory board or two, we haven\u2019t really heard from you since you ended up on the wrong side of that AT&T-Warner shakeup in 2020.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s been one of the best chapters of my life. Those big jobs are great but they\u2019re 24\/7, particularly with the winds blowing in the marketplace, the consolidation and corporate upheaval. I never had command over my own schedule. To be able to wake up and say \u201chow am I going to spend my time, to get remarried, to open up my life\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s all been great. Kind of \u201cso this is how people live.\u201d Not \u201cwhat have you done for me lately.\u201d I was there for the last of the good days of Time Warner [beginning in 2014] but then it was really a hang-on-for dear-life situation with new management every other year. It was brutal.<\/p>\n \n\tHave you been trying to get back to a Hollywood executive suite?<\/p>\n \n\tBack in the old days you got a big fat deal and an office on the lot and a big development fund. And of course that\u2019s not available anymore. So what do you do? I\u2019ll be honest. There were days I thought I\u2019d shot myself in the foot. I never said retirement; I was constantly trying to press on the next big thing. And at certain points things went pretty quiet and I thought \u201chave I done this? Have I taken myself out of the game?\u201d It soon became clear I was not going to go back to the executive suite. And as much as in my life I learned to trust the universe to lead me to where I\u2019m meant to be, there were days when I said \u201cOK universe, now would be good.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat must have been bracing. I mean, I know people don\u2019t tend to cry over out-of-work executives with rich compensation packages, but any of us can relate to feeling marginalized.<\/p>\n \n\tIt was like that. A lot of people who are successful in whatever they do are used to bending the universe to their will, and then to see that the universe has its own plan \u2014 that was hard. There were times I was sure that in a couple of weeks I\u2019d be back to work and for whatever reason it didn\u2019t happen \u2014 it blew up over financing or went sideways at the eleventh hour. And I\u2019d have to say \u201cOK, next year I guess I\u2019m going to be doing something different than I thought.\u201d But then a funny thing happened. As the industry went into more of a defensive mode it started to become less of feeling sorry for myself and more \u201chow do I find the next wave, how do I feel what I felt earlier in my career where I was really doing something of significance culturally?\u201d I didn\u2019t think I had the skill set to, you know, build foundational models or anything like that. But I had a relationship with [Kartel co-founder] Luke Peterson. And he said \u201cwhy don\u2019t you come in and see what we\u2019re doing?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSo how did that casual suggestion lead you here, to becoming an AI CEO?<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ve had very different experiences trying to be at the forefront of culture. Some of my earliest days were entrepreneurial, at FX, where it was a ragtag operation and we had shag carpet from the 70\u2019s and office chairs that didn\u2019t match. And then at the other end was the multibillion dollar business and high-stakes game of trying to get HBO Max off the ground.\u00a0 I thrive in both but there was something about the startup world. Luke had pivoted to AI with early visions of Kartel but now he was saying \u201cwe\u2019re at a stage where we need specialization, you need to go in and figure out a way how to absorb it into a corporate structure.\u201d Because you can\u2019t just onboard AI; there are a lot of individual tools and it can be massively confusing and very unsettling. And I thought \u201cIf I can be part of the solution, then I\u2019m again driving culture.\u201d\u00a0Brand culture \u2014 the endgame is sometimes different than just mindblowing content like we had with The Office. But it felt like I\u2019d be part of a wave, part of having an impact.<\/p>\n \n\tHow do you see Kartel? Is it a tech company or something else?<\/p>\n \n\tWe\u2019re one-part consultancy and one-part tech company. This is a new category, a new discipline that wasn\u2019t possible before. We have systems that can be built around what\u2019s possible. We can get organizations excited to see the possibilities of AI and layer them in and not see it as overly complicated or a threat.\u00a0Let the studio be the studio. We can plug into the machine and help drive the culture that way.<\/p>\n \n\tSo what exactly will Kartel do that couldn\u2019t be done by the studios or ad agencies themselves?\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWell if you look at workflows there are a lot of ways you can do outputs that are studio quality \u2014 just look at Sora. But the thing is while it\u2019s an amazing tool, if you want to have something truly reliable then getting the product to work close enough is not good enough. You need quality control for those outputs.<\/p>\n \n\tIt can\u2019t be the roulette we\u2019re used to for video-generation, in other words.<\/p>\n \n\tExactly. You need precision. So we started realizing that the ability to spin up workflows was where we wanted to be. Where it used to be that it took a lot of human labor and a lot of time, you didn\u2019t need to do that anymore. I\u2019d sit at meetings in my old jobs and [a producer] would say something and we\u2019d be like \u201cgreat conceptual idea, how long would it take?\u201d And we\u2019d hear \u201csix months.\u201d Because you can\u2019t just, say, blast a spaceship to Mars. It was a very cumbersome process to shoot it or have it rendered or whatever you needed. And we\u2019d say \u201cBut we need it next month!\u201d It all can feel unnecessarily costly and of course you can\u2019t really iterate on it. And now with AI what we could do is get it all done faster. We didn\u2019t want to become an AI-powered studio \u2014 that didn\u2019t seem like a long-term play for a company like ours. But we can spin up a custom-solution and build it out and monitor it for you. We could iterate seven days a week instead of waiting. And you\u2019re learning for your brand or for your studio and constantly improving.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd you see this as a play for Madison Avenue or is this for Hollywood?<\/p>\n \n\tI think it\u2019s both. Obviously it\u2019s about brands \u2014 there\u2019s a Publicis use case. It\u2019s so hard to get consumers\u2019 attention and now there are ways to tailor your message [individually] to reach them in a way you never could before. You can adjust messaging in a saturated culture with more precision.\u00a0But there\u2019s also a lot we could do for Hollywood. This isn\u2019t a one-off thing to do a minute here and there in a movie; it\u2019s doing it for a series on an episodic basis.\u00a0It\u2019s building AI into the workflow.<\/p>\n \n\tIs it weird though to try to sell some of this to your old colleagues when pretty much all their companies are currently suing an AI firm?<\/p>\n \n\tThe beauty is the business is not such that we have to make giant declarations about an entire company. There were will be departments that use it for very specific things and then maybe it scales up. Everyone could do it differently.<\/p>\n \n\tTalk a little more about the iteration \u2014 you hear that a lot with AI in Hollywood. What does that mean in practical terms?<\/p>\n \n\tWhen I was trying to convince people up the food chain about The Office and I would hear back \u201cthis Michael Scott isn\u2019t likeable\u201d and I\u2019d say \u201ctrust me, they\u2019ll like him.\u201d Or, \u201ctheir office seems like a depressed place\u201d and I\u2019d say \u201cit is depressed but it\u2019s funny.\u201d And I would just try to convince them. But now you have the ability to try to do different things with the models. And then you can present [the video] internally and see what\u2019s working and what isn\u2019t in a way you never could before.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen you talk about this in terms of speed it sounds persuasive. But it does entirely change \u2014 really, greatly reduce \u2014 the sets and shoots that are the lifeblood of this business. How do you counter those who say that you\u2019re pushing Hollywood off the physical production it has done so well and eliminating not just jobs but a whole art form?<\/p>\n \n\tWell first we are paying a human being \u2014 it\u2019s not a just a fake image; it comes from a live actor who we\u2019re paying.\u00a0But the bottom line is, there are budget constraints for many productions and that\u2019s a challenge. Look, there will always be a Tiffany-level artisanal cinema made in the most traditional sense \u2014 I see that art form thriving forever. I just think there will be other outputs, other expressions, that we\u2019re going to find in this hybrid environment.<\/p>\n \n\tBut you get why that hybridity makes many working people in Hollywood uncomfortable.<\/p>\n \n\tI do. The ability to jump ahead through the process \u2014 it might mean you don\u2019t need those four people anymore to do that thing. There\u2019s going to be a displacement through this. I was very fearful about that that. But you also will be standing \u00a0up people to do things that have never been needed to be done before. Think about it in terms of other technology. When I was a kid you\u2019d have to pull the phone cord and drag it into your room if you wanted privacy. And now you say that to a younger person and they look at you like they have no idea what you\u2019re talking about. But we moved on and that was OK. Or flying a plane \u2014 pilots used to fly them visually and now they fly them with instruments.\u00a0The way we implement technology changes.\u00a0There\u2019s going to be growing pains but I see this as more of a hyped-up version of the Internet in the early days. You can fight with YouTube to get your videos taken down. Or at a certain point you can just realize they\u2019re here and work with them.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat would you say to the executives who are saying we\u2019re going to hold off and preserve this economy as long as we can?<\/p>\n \n\tOur industry is tricky. Generative AI goes right to the heart of what we do. It\u2019s yet another tech tidal wave hitting. And we\u2019ve had a few. It\u2019s hard for those still in power to try to figure their way through.\u00a0But the worst thing you could do is kick the can down the road, is sit back with your arms folded.\u00a0Kartel is here to say \u201chow do we help educate you; how do we help you fix what the tidal wave would break?\u201d You know, my old colleague\u00a0Doug Shapiro<\/a>\u00a0[former chief strategy officer at Turner] wrote on Substack that filmed entertainment is a cheat on the human brain. This is not growing a tree where nature is taking its course. We have to manipulate people\u2019s brains with tools we have. And while I love storytelling and actors and I don\u2019t want to replace any of that let\u2019s not get on too high a horse. The entire thing is a cheat to amuse and engage human beings. Generative AI is another tool of empowerment to amuse and engage.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd if it still didn\u2019t convince them?<\/p>\n \n\tLook, a lot of people in Hollywood are walking through the woods right now. There\u2019s an extraordinary moment with this tool, with this lifechanging tool, but how we do make decisions to deploy it on our behalf; where do we draw the line between it empowering us and debilitating us?\u00a0We have to be honest about what\u2019s happening but also make decisions that will define an era. I want to be a part of that. I think as many people as possible should be a part of that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Reilly spent more than three decades overseeing the television fixtures that defined our culture, from Glee\u00a0to Samantha…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-289603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}