Together with |
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You down with UAP. Yesterday, NASA held its first public meeting on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena a year after launching a study on unexplained sightings. While more evidence is still needed to confirm these mysterious phenomena, the space agency doesn’t believe they’re extraterrestrial in origin… Or so they say. The final report is expected to drop this summer. |
In other news… Paramount writes Taylor Sheridan a blank check, Disney shutters its immersive Star Wars hotel, and AI gets barred from a courtroom. |
Top Trends |
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ENTERTAINMENT |
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Taylor Sheridan leverages Yellowstone to build a business flywheel |
The Future. Hollywood titan Taylor Sheridan is not only presiding over close to a dozen shows for Paramount but has built a sprawling business on the back of the productions… billing the studio for their use in the shows. The strategy has been a major windfall for Sheridan and provided plenty of priceless advertising. For top show creators, the true marker of joining the A list may be the ability to leverage their success into a commercial empire that feeds off of the entertainment ecosystem they developed. |
Sheridan, Inc.
Using Paramount’s money, Taylor Sheridan is building a kingdom in Texas under his Four Sixes banner. |
He roped in producer 101 Studios and billionaire Ron Burkle to split the cost of a 266,000-acre ranch (complete with horses and cattle) in Guthrie, Texas, for $341 million. Sheridan loans out the ranch (and many of his other properties) to Paramount to film his shows while also housing the cast and crew. He runs a Cowboy Camp from the ranch, teaching actors how to ride a horse accurately and depict life on a ranch. Oh, and he rents the horses and cattle out to his productions. Additionally, Sheridan is planning to expand the Four Sixes brand with a clothing line, beer, a pickup truck, and a beef delivery service. And like how Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have done with their ownership of Wrexham A.F.C., Sheridan plans to build a docuseries around Four Sixes.
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All of these ventures have brought Sheridan hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of the millions that Paramount pays him for his “Sheridan-verse” — the single biggest driver of growth for Paramount+. |
It’s good to be king. |
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HOSPITALITY |
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Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser hotel sinks under its costs |
The Future. After only 19 months, Disney announced the closing of its hyped Galactic Starcruiser hotel (aka the ultimate Star Wars cosplay experience). The problem was that it commanded blockbuster prices for boutique capacity, meaning the venture was only profitable if demand stayed high. But with excellent reviews and high-satisfaction ratings, expect Disney to experiment again… just with less-demanding margins. |
The Death Star of hospitality
Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser hotel didn’t quite jump to lightspeed — getting cut as part of its larger cost-saving mandate. |
The $400 million premium, immersive hotel was too expensive for most people to afford — $5,000 for a couple or $6,000 for a family of four to stay for just two nights. That price made it almost impossible for people who did pay for a stay to return a second time — a key part of a hotel’s success is repeat visitors. Its scant 100 rooms were sometimes less than half full per “voyage” (weekend stay), which made recouping expenses nearly impossible.
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Because of all that sad math, Disney decided to put up the permanent no-vacancy sign and take a $300 million write down. |
Maybe the force will be stronger with the next one. |
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TOGETHER WITH MUNCH |
Leave the editing to AI |
Tired of going on long editing binges for that 15-second viral masterpiece? Welcome to Munch, your new AI video editor! |
Munch extracts the most engaging, trending, and impactful clips from your long-form videos and uses GPT, OCR, NLP, and marketing analytics to make social vids hit different. |
Munch will determine and present you with the most engaging clips (45-60 seconds) from your long-form videos, which you can instantly share on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram. And it’ll even caption them for you too. All you have to do is mindlessly scroll on your phone and look pretty (JK, you don’t even have to do that). |
We’ll say it again because it’s important: Leave the editing to AI. |
Mmmm, Munch |
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |
 | Bringing down the hammer // Illustration by Kate Walker |
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Judge rules that AI needs to be disclosed in the courtroom |
The Future. After AI made up a number of cases in a lawyer’s recent federal filing, a Texas judge has instituted a framework that necessitates accountability when using the tech for legal purposes. While the rule only applies to his courtroom, we wouldn’t be surprised if other judges across the country adopt similar guidelines. |
Case fiction
AI’s hallucinations have legal consequences. |
Last week, lawyer Steven Schwartz used ChatGPT to compile legal research for a federal filing… but it turns out the AI totally fabricated six cases that it cited. On the heels of that goof, Texas federal judge Brantley Starr has issued the “Mandatory Certification Regarding Generative Artificial Intelligence.” The requirement for his courtroom boils down to “generative AI can’t draft legal findings, but if it has been used, it needs to be disclosed and also checked by a human.”
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As Techcrunch notes, AI experts have been pushing the tech as a useful tool when summarizing cases for legal use. With Judge Starr’s new framework, lawyers better ensure they can explain everything in them… or face the consequences. |
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TOGETHER WITH MUNCH |
AI video marketing |
One of the most significant contributions of AI to video marketing is in the field of video editing. AI can smartly look through raw videos, point out important scenes, recommend edits, and even make video montages. This not only saves time and effort but also ensures the production of visually appealing and professional-looking videos. Read more about how AI is transforming the video marketing landscape. |
Using Munch, you can access dynamic AI video editing that extends the reach, use, and ROI of your long-form videos. |
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Highlights |
The best curated daily stories from around the web |
Media, Music, & Entertainment |
It looks like Universal Music Group could scoop up Queen’s music catalog from Disney for a Freddie Mercury-falsetto-high $1 billion. Read more → deadline Pharrell’s JOOPITER auction house is teaming up with Sarah Andelman for the “Just Phriends” auction — set to bring over 50 rare cultural artifacts to market — on June 19th. Read more → highsnobiety YouTube’s revamp of NFL Sunday Ticket will give viewers the ability to watch as many game feeds as their hearts desire… and brains can handle. Read more → engadget
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Fashion & E-Commerce |
Secondhand-clothes retailers from Ghana have pleaded with officials from the EU to please stop dumping a “catastrophic” amount of textile waste in the African country. Read more → businessoffashion Some clothing brands, like Ralph Lauren, are transitioning from physical tags to QR codes on their clothes to share information like material makeup and washing instructions. Read more → axios Material science startup Checkerspot is releasing an activewear collection from its in-house brand, WNDR Alpine, that uses algae instead of petroleum-based materials for its sweat-wicking tech. Read more → fastcompany
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Tech, Web3, & AI
Brought to you by Munch |
Turns out that ChatGPT is trained on a number of copyrighted novels, including Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 1984, and The Fellowship of the Ring. Read more → insider Japan is building out the capability to beam solar power from satellites in orbit by 2025. Read more → engadget Israel-based app Atly is creating the next generation of social mapping that allows people to build community maps based on specific themes or interests that are shareable with others. Read more → techcrunch
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Creator Economy |
Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler has trademarked his nickname, “Himmy Buckets,” to act as the brand name behind a line of coffee, beer, and soda. Read more → complex TikTok is caught lying again as an investigation finds that the company has been storing the personal information (including social security numbers and financial info) of top creators on servers in China. Read more → forbes YouTube creators Sidemen are expanding their Sides chicken concept into ten new retail locations across the UK. Read more → tubefilter
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Today's email was brought to you by David Vendrell.
Editing by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick. |
