Lessons from Hollywood: Storytelling, Building Your Audience & the YouTube-to-Horror Pipeline

Lessons from Hollywood: Storytelling, Building Your Audience & the YouTube-to-Horror Pipeline

Sonia sits down with Brianne Kimmel, founder of Worklife Ventures and GTM Advisor at ElevenLabs, to break down how AI is reshaping content creation, what Barnes & Noble's stance on AI books means for publishers, and why horror films are the new path to Hollywood stardom. The big thesis: here’s what Silicon Valley and Hollywood can learn from each other and how creatives can flourish in both industries. Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said they're willing to have AI books on shelves if publishers label them, pushing the decision back to publishers and customers. Amazon Alexa now creates custom AI generated podcasts on any topic in real time per listener. Spotify and UMG launched a premium feature letting users create AI covers and remixes of Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Billie Eilish songs, with artists opting in and getting revenue share. The question: who's it hurting? The bigger lesson is the market will win. If people don't want AI books, they won't buy them. If creators want their own IP, they'll make original music instead of remixes. Discernment is growing as people see more AI output and realize human created art is better. A new generation of YouTube and TikTok horror creators are breaking into Hollywood. Curry Barker, 26, started on YouTube and TikTok, made Milk and Serial for almost no budget, built an audience, then got Obsession picked up by Focus Features and Blumhouse. He shot it for $750,000 in a month with practical effects, duct tape, and his dad. It premiered at TIFF and has grossed $75 million. Kane Pixels followed a similar path with Backrooms, a found footage series on YouTube based on internet horror lore shot alone with no budget, accumulating over 100 million views before A24 picked it up. Horror is the only genre where you can prove yourself digitally and immediately get a studio deal. The lesson: build an audience, prove the concept, and studios can't argue with the data. People asked why young creators don't get those breaks anymore. Horror is still giving young people that shot, but only if they build their audience first on YouTube and TikTok. Tech companies and Hollywood need to work together. Stripe is doing it right with Stripe Press and Stripe Documentaries, funding real artists and storytellers to create narratives that help the world. Female production companies are going direct to brands for sponsorship, like Netflix integrating Sephora and State Farm into Running Point with Kate Hudson. The next iteration: production companies pitch brands before going to studios, similar to how Apple went direct to brands for Formula One. Reese Witherspoon built Hello Sunshine by optioning books to create female centered stories because there weren't enough acting roles. Rihanna built Fenty so she could make money while raising her kids without compromising. The best creators are evolving: Charlie XCX had Brat Summer, now she's writing on Substack and focusing on acting. Artists need to be comfortable burning down old audiences and evolving into new chapters. Timestamps 00:00 — AI content: Barnes & Noble AI books, Amazon Alexa podcasts, Spotify AI remixes with Taylor Swift, Ariana & Billie 17:08 — Brand storytelling vs. pay-to-play: Perplexity on Hamilton's helmet, Formula One sponsors 24:24 — IRL pop-ups and community building 31:33 — Horror's creator boom: Curry Barker ($750K to $75M) and Kane Pixels (Backrooms, A24) 40:15 — Social commentary in horror: Parasite, Squid Game, Black Mirror 45:42 — Three lessons: going direct, working within constraints, proof of concept 48:50 — Brands sponsoring female-centered content: Running Point, Wicked, Barbie 59:02 — Sean Baker's branded film for self-portrait with Michelle Yeoh 1:05:29 — Charlie XCX, Brat Summer, Substack, and artist chapters

Hollywood & AI: Reese Witherspoon, Spencer Pratt, CMO Fatigue + Spotify

Sonia sits down with Robin Simon Wood, SVP of Production at New Motion, to break down how Hollywood women are talking about AI, why CMO fatigue is real, and Spencer Pratt's clipping campaign for LA mayor. The big thesis: if you're going to take a stance, figure out what you're actually trying to say, and stick to your guns. Demi Moore spoke at Cannes and said AI is inevitable, so we should work with it instead of fighting it. Reese Witherspoon posted an Instagram video about making smoothies and said women need to learn AI because their jobs are three times more likely to be automated, yet only 25% of women use it. Both got backlash for being vague and not explaining what they're actually suggesting Hollywood do. Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan chairs the DGA's AI committee and talks about protecting craft while negotiating AI use. Ben Affleck went on Joe Rogan and said AI writing is shitty, framed it as a tool like visual effects, and called the existential threat narrative bullshit. The lesson: women in Hollywood need to get specific about what they care about and how AI fits their brand, not just say it's inevitable. Brian Chesky went on TBPN and said CMO might be the highest turnover job in Silicon Valley because once something works, it becomes stale. The battle against being stale is exhausting, and marketers are expected to keep innovating week over week, campaign to campaign. The best way to stay fresh is learning from different industries and remixing ideas for your brand, not just copying trends. Spencer Pratt is running for LA mayor with a paid clipping campaign and AI-generated videos. The FCC is miles behind where marketers are in terms of clipping and AI-generated videos, and most people can't tell the difference between AI and real footage. The lesson: political campaigns are changing, and clipping farms and AI-generated content are the new playbook. Users need to be more discerning about what's a political ad versus authentic testimonial. Spotify launched a feature letting you see all your listening data since you first joined but it's not enough to feed data back to users in an interesting way anymore. You need to make them do something or get them interested in what you're working on. We're talking about: * Demi Moore at Cannes saying AI is inevitable and we should work with it, Reese Witherspoon promoting AI to women, and why both got backlash for being vague * Christopher Nolan chairing the DGA's AI committee and talking about protecting craft while negotiating AI use * Ben Affleck on Joe Rogan calling AI writing shitty, framing it as a tool like visual effects, and calling the existential threat narrative bullshit * Why men in Hollywood are getting positive reactions for talking about AI * Brian Chesky on TBPN saying CMO might be the highest turnover job in Silicon Valley * The battle against being stale: learning from different industries and remixing ideas for your brand, not just copying trends * NFL schedule release videos using paint mixing creators and slime scooping, and why they're going viral * Anchoring yourself in human principles, not trends, and building a team of specialists who can execute without burning out * Spencer Pratt running for LA mayor with a paid clipping campaign and AI-generated videos * This last Spotify Wrapped and the 20th anniversary feature not hitting as hard, and people having grander expectations * Spotify could have gone deeper with IRL activations like nostalgia concerts featuring bands from 20 years ago Plus: Why Spotify gave up on their disco ball logo, and why the chase for perfection leaves room for everyone to grow Timestamps 00:00 Hollywood women on AI: Demi Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Christopher Nolan, and Ben Affleck 20:00 Brian Chesky on CMO fatigue and the battle against being stale 35:00 Spencer Pratt's paid clipping campaign and AI-generated videos for LA mayor 50:00 Spotify's 20th anniversary feature and hyper-personalization

AI, Accountability & Ads: Coinbase, Netflix, OpenAI, + Cannes Lions

Sonia sits down with Hiten Shah, founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Nira, to break down how companies are using AI as cover for layoffs, how Netflix reversed its brand promise without blowing up, and why Cannes Lions just created an AI craft category. The big thesis: AI is here to stay, but companies need to stop using it as an excuse and start being honest about what's actually working. Coinbase laid off 14% of its workforce citing AI making employees more efficient. Brian Armstrong tweeted that non-technical people are shipping code and that they're flattening management levels. But the same week, Coinbase had a massive outage and people immediately blamed the layoffs. If you use AI as an excuse, every bad thing that happens to your company gets blamed on AI. PayPal, FreshWorks, Cloudflare, Bill, and Upwork all followed with similar announcements. AI isn't good enough yet to replace most jobs, and this feels like the last gasp of companies using it as cover before the backlash forces them to be more truthful. Netflix reversed its brand promise and won. The original pitch: pay monthly, skip the ads. Then in late 2022 they launched an ad-supported tier. As of Q1 2026, 60% of new signups choose the ad tier and Netflix is on track for $3 billion in ad revenue this year. How did they not blow up their brand? They never touched the premium tier. The ad load is only four minutes per hour. They didn't auto-enroll anyone like Amazon did. And they're integrating brands directly into shows, following the product placement playbook from F1 and Marvel movies. OpenAI fumbled. Sam Altman was adamant about never doing ads, and now they're selling user data and introducing sponsored results in ChatGPT. A Princeton research paper showed the top answers in ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Gemini are now sponsored. The difference: Netflix adding ads doesn't make you trust Stranger Things more or less. OpenAI is reversing their utility promise. Their whole point was helping you find the best result, and ads get in the way of that. Cannes Lions announced an AI craft subcategory across Design, Digital Craft, Film Craft, Industry Craft, and Creative Data. The rule: work must be something that couldn't exist without AI. A bifurcation is happening. Luxury brands are leaning into human craft. Commodity brands are using AI. 71% of articles on Twitter are now written by AI. Elite institutions are banning AI to protect craft. Others are accepting it as a tool. Hiten wrote a series of essays on founders and storytelling. Founders need to own their story, not delegate it. Mark Benioff had an enemy. Brian Chesky had a cute origin story. Jeff Bezos had two-pizza teams and doors as desks. The most relevant audience for the story is your team before it's your customers. If everyone in your company describes the company differently, you have drag. The fix: write it down, test it out loud, refine, repeat. Talk to your sales team and find out how they're pitching your product. If it doesn't match what you think you're selling, you have a problem. We're talking about: * Coinbase laying off 14% of employees and blaming AI, and why the same-week outage made people blame the layoffs * PayPal, FreshWorks, Cloudflare, Bill, and Upwork doing the same, and why this feels like the last gasp of the AI excuse * Netflix reversing its brand promise: 60% of new signups on the ad tier, $3 billion in ad revenue, and why it worked * OpenAI's ad problem: Sam Altman saying they'd never do ads, now selling user data, and why Anthropic capitalized with their Super Bowl ad * Cannes Lions AI craft category and why human craft is becoming a luxury signal * Hiten's founder storytelling thesis: own your story, talk to your sales team, and fix the drag before it kills you

The Loyalty Trap: OpenAI, Disney Adults, Devil Wears Prada, & The World Cup

Sonia sits down with Moshe Isaacian, a freelance brand marketing strategist who's worked with Lego, Snapchat, Nike, Toyota, and Epic Games, to break down how companies are talking to their customers in 2025. The big thesis: authenticity wins when CEOs show up like humans, not corporate mouthpieces, and the brands that engineer emotional ecosystems walk a fine line between loyalty and exploitation. Sam Altman has a new Twitter persona. After the Super Bowl ad disaster and the Anthropic roast, OpenAI bought TBPN and shifted their entire communication strategy. Now Sam is tweeting like an early Twitter founder, doing engagement bait, following people back, and talking about features in short, human sentences. He's leaning into cringe instead of corporate, showing up the same week Anthropic fumbled their coding AI pricing changes. Meanwhile, OpenAI quietly updated their data policy to share user information with marketing partners, formalizing the ad relationships that pissed people off in February. Meta and Mark Zuckerberg are making the same pivot: talking about AI as a tool that helps humans instead of replaces them. Disney Adults are going into debt. The New Yorker profiled the Disney ecosystem and how they’ve monetized every part of the experience: skipping lines costs extra, airport shuttles aren't free, parking adds up, and limited edition pins bring people back every quarter. The parks change to lean into nostalgia, reverting Star Wars Land from the new sequels back to the original trilogy. But Disney is at an inflection point: when does loyalty turn into exploitation? Right now people blame Disney Adults for overspending, but eventually the backlash could flip toward the company for nickel and diming fans who are psychologically and emotionally attached to the brand. The 2026 FIFA World Cup starts this summer and brand activations are already rolling out: Budweiser's "Let It Pour" campaign features Erling Haaland and Jürgen Klopp with bottles commemorating cultural moments for each country, Adidas launched dog jerseys for Mexico and Japan fans, and Lay's created a WhatsApp group chat with Messi, Beckham, Guy Fieri, Thierry Henry, Alexia Putellas, and Steve Carell. The WhatsApp play is smart because it mirrors actual fan behavior: group chats across time zones keeping friends connected during games. But this World Cup feels different. FIFA and US organizers are charging for fan transportation, fan parties outside stadiums, and tickets are more expensive than previous tournaments. Fans are starting to feel nickel and dimed, and brands are hesitant to go all in because football is still a smaller audience in America and the event feels temporary. The Devil Wears Prada sequel marketing is Brand Playbook 3.0. Barbie invited everyone into the universe with pink everything and unlimited collaborations. Wicked did the same but felt like a cash grab. Devil Wears Prada is more curated: Starbucks created drink orders for each character and had interns deliver them, Cerulean blue appeared in real packaging, a podcast featured ex-stylists talking about working behind fashion magazines, and Meryl Streep wore an Old Navy sweatshirt on Colbert as a wink to the "cerulean" monologue. Brands had to compete to be part of this campaign instead of being openly accepted. The challenge: Devil Wears Prada is niche fashion, not a toy with universal appeal like Barbie. The playbook works when it's curated and rewards superfans, but how many more times can studios do this before audiences turn against it? We're talking about: * OpenAI's communication shift: Buying TBPN, pivoting to "AI helps humans" messaging * Sharing user information with marketing partners the same week Sam is trying to be authentic on Twitter * Disney Adults, Lego and Mattel doing it right: Catering to the kid inside you without gating families out, and why Disney's leadership needs to decide who they're actually serving * 2026 FIFA World Cup nickel and diming: charging for fan transportation, fan parties, and higher ticket prices, and why fans feel exploited * Football is still a smaller audience in America, the event feels temporary, and it's hard to justify going all in * Devil Wears Prada sequel marketing * Why this playbook works for female-centered movies: Women make household purchasing decisions, and Hollywood should pay attention to which films drive brand partnerships * When does this playbook reach its shelf life: Barbie did it, Wicked did it, now Devil Wears Prada, and audiences might turn against it if every movie does the same thing Timestamps 00:00 Sam Altman's new Twitter persona and OpenAI's communication shift 15:00 Disney Adults going into debt and the engineered ecosystem 35:00 2026 FIFA World Cup brand activations and nickel and diming fans 50:00 Devil Wears Prada sequel marketing and Brand Playbook 3.0

Brand Reset vs. Brand Regret: Xbox's Nostalgia Win, Nike's Marathon Fail, & Netflix's TikTok Play

Sonia sits down with Christina Garnett, author of Transforming Customer Brand Relationships and fractional Chief Community Officer, to break down Xbox's fan-first rebrand, Nike's marathon messaging disaster, Netflix's TikTok play, and Tim Cook's exit from Apple. The big thesis: nostalgia wins when it's authentic, and the most human brand wins. Xbox is doing what almost no brand has the guts to do: going backward on purpose. Asha Sharma lowered Game Pass prices (unheard of), ditched the Microsoft Gaming rebrand, brought back the Xbox name, and revealed a logo that screams early 2000s neon green sci-fi. The "This is an Xbox" campaign? Dead. Fans hated it because it stripped identity from the console itself. Now Xbox is leaning into heritage without making it kitschy, proving that listening to your core audience isn't optional. Nike, meanwhile, had a terrible week. Their Boston Marathon out-of-home campaign said "runners are celebrated, but walkers are tolerated," and the backlash was immediate. Competitive brands jumped in with inclusive messaging. Nike took it down fast, but the damage was done. The lesson: aspirational marketing works when it lifts people up, not when it makes them feel less than. Netflix is building a TikTok-style vertical video feed inside its mobile app, turning clips into a discovery engine. They're also integrating six brands directly into Point Season Two, formalizing product placement the way Adam Sandler has been doing for years. The clipping economy is here, and Netflix is making short-form content the front door to streaming. Tim Cook is stepping down from Apple, and MSN insiders say it's because he fumbled AI. His successor is John Turnus, head of hardware engineering, not software. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is suing Sam Altman over OpenAI's pivot from nonprofit to for-profit, and Ronan Farrow's New Yorker exposé painted Altman as a pathological liar. AI is reshaping leadership, and even CEOs aren't safe. We're talking about: * Xbox's fan-first rebrand: Asha Sharma lowering Game Pass prices, killing the "This is an Xbox" campaign, bringing back the neon green logo, and why going back to early 2000s sci-fi aesthetics is a heritage play that actually works * Phil Spencer's 2022 Microsoft Gaming rebrand: Made Xbox bland and corporate, stripped identity from the console, and why reversing it was the right move * Social identity theory in gaming: Xbox fanboys vs. Sony ponies, territorial allegiance to consoles, and why the "This is an Xbox" campaign was hated internally and externally * Nostalgia as strategy: Pairing the new logo with the original bright green console, Ratatouille meme moments, and why Xbox is the first major brand to go full tilt into nostalgia without being kitschy * Nike's Boston Marathon disaster: "Runners are celebrated, but walkers are tolerated" out-of-home campaign, immediate backlash, competitive brands jumping in with inclusive messaging, and why aspirational marketing fails when it's condescending * Adidas winning the London Marathon: Two men broke the sub-two-hour marathon record wearing Adidas, Nike congratulating them but looked weak, and dog jerseys for World Cup teams * Runners' camaraderie: Distance runners treat everyone like fellow warriors, people stopping to help others cross the finish line, and why Nike forgot that most runners want to beat themselves, not each other * Netflix's TikTok play: Vertical video discovery feed inside the mobile app, hiring fan editors, and why clips are the front door to streaming now * Netflix product placement: Six brands integrated into Point Season Two, Adam Sandler's product placement playbook, and why this is better than ads * Marvel's missed opportunity: Hiring fan editors, creating CliffsNotes shorts for every movie and TV show * Tim Cook leaving Apple: MSN insiders saying he fumbled AI, John Turnus (hardware engineering head) as successor, and why Apple didn't capitalize on Artemis II astronauts using iPhones in space * How AI is reshaping leadership at the top * Revenge of the humanities: AI getting too expensive, human labor becoming cheaper, tech CEOs realizing tokens cost more than people, and why discernment is the skill AI can't replace * Human-made as luxury: Project Hail Mary's behind-the-scenes content, Andor's practical sets vs. CGI, and why people want to see humans creating art * Storytelling vs. AI: The Other Bennet Sister adaptation, Pride and Prejudice on Netflix casting concerns, and why AI can echo but can't create something entirely new Plus: Why founders are expected to tell their stories more and why the most human brand wins Timestamps 00:00 Xbox's fan-first rebrand and nostalgia play 15:00 Nike's marathon disaster and Adidas winning 30:00 Netflix's TikTok feed and product placement strategy 45:00 Tim Cook leaving Apple and the AI leadership crisis 55:00 Human storytelling vs. AI and the revenge of the humanities