Variety’s annual Entertainment & Technology Summit, held across London West Hollywood and Los Angeles, brought together a diverse group of top executives, marketing leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs, and creators from film, television, and gaming. Industry giants such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Meta, Paramount+, Vizio, Netflix, Fox Entertainment, Starz, NBCUniversal, Amazon MGM Studios, and Sony Pictures TV shared their profound insights into the current trends, innovative tools, and strategic approaches that are actively revolutionizing the dynamic entertainment landscape.

The summit featured several high-profile keynote conversations. Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer spoke publicly for the first time about their significant four-year deal with Paramount, offering a glimpse into their future projects and addressing the highly anticipated final season of “Stranger Things,” which is set to debut on Netflix this fall. Later, legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer took the stage to discuss his enduring legacy, hint at a potential follow-up to “F1: The Movie,” and provide updates on “Top Gun 3” and a new “Pirates of the Caribbean” installment. Furthermore, Gabrielle Union was honored with Variety’s inaugural Entrepreneur Impact Award, recognizing her achievements as co-founder of Proudly, a sustainable baby care brand specifically designed for infants of color.

Panel discussions delved into a variety of critical topics, including strategies for leveraging content creators and influencers in digital campaigns, the art of expanding existing fandoms through immersive live experiences, the transformative power of virtual reality (VR) in reshaping entertainment, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance human creativity. The summit’s opening session, moderated by Variety, featured six senior executives who meticulously discussed the latest shifts in streaming and linear strategies, the ascendance of YouTube, and astute intellectual property (IP) management. This crucial discussion was later featured on Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast, offering deeper insights from Starz’s Alison Hoffman, NBCUniversal’s Lisa Katz, Amazon MGM Studios’ Laura Lancaster, Warner Bros. TV Group’s Brett Paul, Sony Pictures TV’s Katherine Pope, and Fox’s Michael Thorn.

Sarah Malkin, director of entertainment content for Meta’s Reality Labs, elaborated on VR’s pivotal role in shaping new audience experiences. She highlighted how VR empowers novel experiences that complement and enhance existing fandoms. While acknowledging the challenge of developing a universally accessible headset, Malkin noted the success in gaming has inspired expansion into sports, concerts, films, and TV. Meta’s recent collaborations with creators like filmmaker James Cameron and producer Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions underscore VR’s growing integration into storytelling, providing new tools for creators and consumers alike, and fostering an evolving economy around it.

Experts in live experiences from Funko, Ernst & Young, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Pinterest examined the increasing consumer demand for immersive events. Judy Lee, global head of experiences at Pinterest, stressed the importance of connecting world-building with fandoms to create authentic, deeply resonant real-life experiences. She observed a generational shift where younger audiences blur the lines between physical and digital, perceiving digital as authentic. Simon Robinson, COO of WB Studios and Head of Global Experiences, emphasized that successful live experiences must be authentic brand extensions, serving as a “brand deposit” rather than merely a commercial opportunity.

Marketing leaders from Neon, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Records shared insights into creative marketing strategies. Margaret Walker, executive vice president of entertainment marketing at NBCUniversal, highlighted the importance of partnering with creators who genuinely resonate with target audiences and authentically love the brand. Dustin Sandoval, senior vice president of digital marketing at Walt Disney Studios, credited the success of the “Freakier Friday” campaign to creating unique, viral moments that sparked organic engagement across social platforms, contributing to the film’s global success.

The discussion on “Leveling Up in the Entertainment Industry: AI to Unlock New Creative Frontiers” revealed how artificial intelligence is streamlining production and empowering creativity. Jason Chen, Desert Eclipse CEO, founder, and executive producer, detailed his studio’s use of AI to shorten production timelines for feature films and animations, such as reducing animation production to 12-18 months by optimizing tasks like variation shots for CG modeling or motion tracking. Shahrzad Rafati, founder and CEO of RHEI, further explained how AI in her workflow elevates human creativity, streamlines the creative process, and results in more educational, entertaining, and higher-quality content.

Jack Perry, founder and CEO of Zeam, discussed the expansion of his platform beyond supporting local broadcasters’ live streams to venture into live event streaming. In a bid to push technological boundaries, Perry has collaborated with John Stamos to crowdsource creatives for 24/7 content opportunities on Zeam, with plans to take their streaming on the road for destination content in music and comedy, aiming to evolve into a consumer-facing brand.

The “TV Industry Transformed” panel addressed the challenges of a fragmented TV landscape and the evolving strategies to reach viewers. Evan Adlman, executive vice president of commercial sales and revenue operations at AMC Networks, underscored the critical role of fandom in combating fragmented viewership, distinguishing it from passive viewing. Panelists discussed how the industry’s shift from market share to bottom-line profits has led to greater flexibility in how content is premiered and rolled out. Lisa Katz of NBCUniversal described a “portfolio approach,” where each show’s placement across cable, streaming, and linear platforms is optimized for the creative content, audience, and the larger ecosystem. Brett Paul from Warner Bros. TV Group highlighted the Emmy-winning HBO Max series “The Pitt” as a successful model, conceived as a 15-episode procedural with a broadcast-like yearly production schedule, which allowed viewers to deeply engage with characters and reinvented the medical genre for streaming. Katherine Pope of Sony Pictures TV and Michael Thorn of Fox shared how they are leveraging each other’s strengths, as seen with the medical drama “Doc,” which produces a rare 22 episodes for Fox, with Sony licensing Season 1 to Netflix – a move Fox embraces for increased exposure and new viewer acquisition, moving away from a “walled garden” approach. Alison Hoffman of Starz emphasized the importance of reliable returning series as the backbone of their subscription business, citing the early greenlighting of “Blood of My Blood” season two and the 18-episode prequel “Power: Origins” to drive engagement and retention in an “a la carte” streaming environment where disconnection is easy. Sean Booker, head of media and entertainment sales at Vizio, projected that “shoppable TV” will be a significant future trend in advertising, leveraging TV as the “heartbeat of the home” for direct transactions.

In the realm of sports culture, Robert Gottlieb, president of marketing at Fox Sports, discussed the importance of engaging core fans beyond familiar sporting events by identifying their passion points, citing IndyCar’s superior speed as a compelling truth for motorsports enthusiasts. Carlos “Olek” Lewenstein, president of global sports at Televisa Univision, stressed the necessity of utilizing every available social platform as a marketing tool for sports properties.

Finally, storytelling entrepreneurs shared their insights into creating resonant content. Sarah Foster, executive producer of “Nobody Wants This,” spoke about the power of authentic storytelling derived from personal meaning, emphasizing that she wrote a story she wanted to tell rather than conforming to strict structural formulas. Matt Rogers, host of “Las Culturistas,” recounted how the podcast’s “Las Culturistas Culture Awards,” initially a segment joke, evolved into a live awards show on Bravo, driven by the desire to create fun and involve everyone. Discussions also touched upon the types of stories creators wish to see next, including love stories, comedies, explorations of relationships, and narratives about friendships, underscoring the enduring human desire for diverse and relatable content. Laura Lancaster of Amazon MGM Studios underscored a fundamental truth across all these discussions: the paramount importance of a writer’s or creator’s unique voice and their burning desire to communicate something meaningful, emphasizing that at the core of all compelling storytelling is the audience’s investment in and care for the characters, exemplified by Eric Kripke’s clear vision for “The Boys.”