Highlights from the Fast Company Grill at SXSW

Hollywood and the Creator Economy are Colliding

Hollywood talent agencies have evolved far beyond the Michael Ovitz era, Ari from Entourage, and the whole mailroom-to-boardroom archetype. Today they're billion-dollar cultural powerhouses navigating AI transformation, creator economies, and the convergence of entertainment, sports, and corporate strategy. David Kramer embodies this evolution—he started in UTA's mailroom in 1992 when it was a 50-person  literary agency and has spent 34 years at the company. He’s about to celebrate his one-year anniversary as CEO. Under Kramer's leadership, UTA has radically diversified beyond traditional film and television representation, which he says now comprises just 40% of the business, compared to 95% fifteen years ago. The agency's portfolio spans pop-music giants like Bad Bunny and John Legend, LeBron James and other athletes via its Klutch Sports, digital-native creators like Alex Cooper and Mr. Beast, and corporate advisory for Coca-Cola, Google and other brands.  This transformation reflects a broader industry shift where creators want traditional entertainment opportunities and legacy talent seeks digital platforms. Basically, everybody wants a piece of what everyone else is doing. It’s a complex convergence, and Kramer is right at the middle of it.

Highlights from the Fast Company Grill at SXSW

On today’s episode, we’re doing something a little different. We’re just home from Austin, Texas, where we popped up the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. We spoke with a nonstop parade of great speakers at the Grill, and for today’s episode we’re featuring highlights from the leaders who took the stage in Austin. That includes Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, Kim Vaccarella, founder and CEO, Bogg, the lifestyle brand known for its durable, washable beach totes; Jen Zeszut, Cofounder and CEO of Goodles, which makes a healthier mac and cheese, and Stack Overlow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar.

The Economics of Free with Anjali Sud of Tubi

On today’s episode Brendan Vaughan interviews Anjali Sud, the CEO of fox-owned streaming service Tubi. What’s unique about Tubi is that they don’t have a subscription model like just about every other major streamer. Instead they employ an ad-supported model, which gives every viewer free access to its library of 3000,000 movies and TV episodes, from syndicated ’70s sitcoms to art-house mainstays. That’s helped the service rocket from 51 million monthly active users in 2022 to over 100 million active users today [https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/24/tubi-fox-streaming-free.html]. Brendan talks to Anjali about the company’s revenue model, staying competitive in a crowded market, and how it listens to its audience to create fan-driven content.

Kevin P. Ryan on DoubleClick, AlleyCorp, and the 30th Anniversary of Silicon Alley

On today’s episode Brendan Vaughan talks to Kevin Ryan. Kevin is the founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, the VC firm behind companies like Business Insider, Gilt Groupe, Zola and Mongo DB. But, you might remember Kevin as the CEO of Double Click, one of the first internet ad tech companies during the original dot com boom back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The company was eventually acquired by Google for $3.1 billion.   Double click was notable for being part of Silicon Alley, which was the term coined for the tech startup scene in New York. Despite being the epicenter of finance and media, New York was not considered a destination for tech companies in the 90s…certainly not on par with Palo Alto or Boston. That was until Kevin and his contemporaries worked to change that perception.

ESPN Chair Jimmy Pitaro Talks Betting Scandals, AI Threats, and Life After Iger

On today’s episode, Brendan Vaughan talks to ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. For the summer issue of Fast Company Magazine, Jimmy talked to Fast Company about what was then the upcoming launch of ESPN’s first-ever direct-to-consumer offering.  That service launched in August. We wanted to catch up with him about how that rollout has been going, but also to discuss ESPN’s sports betting partnerships in light of recent scandals in the NBA and MLB. PLUS we had to ask him about his chances of succeeding Bob Iger as CEO of Disney, ESPN’s parent company.