December 14, 2022 • 47 mins
Peter Micelli and Jack Whigham of Range Media Partners outline their vision for the startup representation firm that aims to reinvent talent management for the Web3 era — with backing from billionaire Wall Street wiz Steven A. Cohen.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties weekly podcast featuring conversations with
industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
guests are Peter Mitchelli and Jack Wiggham of Range Media Partners.
Range Media Partners is one of the most ambitious start
ups to hit the Hollywood creative community in years. Michelli
(00:32):
is a CIA alum who moved into the executive ranks
at Entertainment One a few years ago. Wiggham is also
a longtime CIA agent who joined Michelli when he got
the urge to try to build a better mouse trap
for both clients and managers. Range Media is so named
for the variety of services that it offers its clients.
(00:52):
In addition to management, the company is active in venture capital.
It has a production arm through a partnership with A
and EENA Works, and as Micheli explains, they're spending a
lot of time and energy figuring out what Web three
technologies will mean for creative talents. As Michelli puts it,
it's all part of their Seal Team six mentality to
make clients the mission. We'll hear how this has all
(01:15):
come together with the backing from former Hedge Fund leader
Stephen A. Cohen, And that's all coming up after the break.
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(02:02):
and we're back with more from Range Media partners Peter
Mitchelli and Jack William Thank you so much for having
me come down to your office is under construction. It's
definitely got new office smell. We were really excited about
the idea, could we find a space that felt a
little bit more indoor outdoor, that had its own vibe,
(02:25):
didn't necessarily have an elevator, and could we design a
space that was really in response to COVID and the
way people want to work today and nurture the idea
that great work can happen anywhere. But we have a
home base to collect and create positive energy. So every
(02:46):
the office where we picked how we've designed it was
very intentional given the shift in culture based on COVID.
You are an alumnus of C A. A. You also
spent time in Entertainment one and strategy Officer Jack. You
also had a long run at CIA. Now coming into
(03:07):
this new venture where you have some very significant backing
from Stephen Cohen, you also very quickly did a deal
with A and E Networks that is obviously brought you.
I remember Pete we talked about brought you not only,
of course you know, a capital, but a really important
strategic partner. As you set out to build a company,
a talent representation company for the twenty one century, what
(03:30):
were what were some of the first things that you did?
What what are you doing differently with range Media than
you have done in your in your previous positions, in
your legacy positions. I first answer the question by just saying,
how much I think, collectively, how much gratitude we had
(03:52):
have towards the agencies where we where we learned and
developed that experience relationships. We are a collection of former
agents who are are now on the management production side,
but um, you know we you know, we there was
so much to learn at CIA, at w B, AT
(04:12):
U t A, and then to try to apply it
in a slightly different way. And when you said, I
would necessarily say a better mousetrap just hopefully a unique
um uh company where we've even gravitated towards getting away
from calling ourselves managers. You know, we we love the
(04:33):
idea of being partners, thought partners, creative partners. Um. So
a big foundation of that thesis was intimacy. Fewer clients,
more attention, hopefully being able to spend a lot more
time on projects and clients. Um. That we were really
(04:56):
passionate about. So one of the guardrails we were hoping
to kind of put up was, you know, let's make
it we call it a speak easy that you know,
we feel really fortunate to work at and hopefully a
client feels fortunate to be represented at. And and so
intimacy became a huge, huge keyword for us. Yeah, I
(05:20):
think the when we looked at it, Uh, Jack's right,
it is you know, we we learned so much. You know,
I learned so much at c A, watching the growth,
watching the business evolve, learned so much in the moment
in two thousand seven two thousand eight where I got
very intimate with UM a new financing structure which helps
(05:42):
Netflix UM get a lot of their first round of shows.
And you saw, well, could we create a company where
intimacy was a big part of it, that we are
are spending more time on on a pool of clients
and partners and artists. We could use language to change intention.
(06:06):
So we looked at it and said, you know, let's
be a great representation firm because the world is changing,
not an indictment on any existing business. That technology, a
new technology is coming in the form of whatever you blockchain,
smart contracts. They're going to shift content distribution again, and
(06:27):
let's build a company that will be really ready for
that shift. UM. Let's build a company that uses language
to talk about clients as partners, or that we're representatives
and our associates or what most people call assistance, feel
more empowered, that we're building a balanced leadership structure. So
(06:48):
great ideas come from everywhere, and we are thinking about
in in an environment that we're living in today where
it's very challenging for the streaming service is to show profit. Well,
what does that mean? With with back ends of film
and TV, and where can we add extra value to
the equation um whether you call it um on the
(07:13):
commerce side or asset creation. We're building equity value. Let's
have a company that has real resources focused on that
for our partners. So we're part of the evolution in
the most positive way. We never have any intent to
compete with the agencies in terms of size and scale
and information control and all of those things. What we
(07:36):
felt was we could be really amazing and representation because
we're gonna pull a few levers to change, um what
we do there, but we're also going to add this
extra component to it based on the fact that technology
and the world in which long term value is created
has changed significantly. How do you do the day to
(07:56):
day job of representing an actor, a writer, a showrunner
and also and also kind of you know, prepare for
that for that future. I think that's one of the
things that people are saying, is like, there's so much
going on right now, you almost feel like you're on
a hamster wheel. How do you does I'm guessing that
that's part of the intimacy, is like getting to know
that person so well and not having so many other
(08:18):
people on your call sheet at the end of the day. Yeah,
I think it does. And it's also the intimacy applies
in the internal workings of the company. And what I
mean by that is, um, we found that you know,
to pull off what we call sometimes the off menu stuff.
You know, let's say, on menu is the traditional blocking
(08:39):
and tackling of you know, trying to put actors to work,
actresses to work, put together films, directors and jobs. Um,
the off menu stuff is really helping try to manufacture
from from a piece of I P a book, you know,
a script you know, to completion, or you know, building
(09:02):
businesses around a client or helping them expand into ancillary areas.
That we found a lot of artists were way more
open to today than they were ten fifteen years ago. Um.
You know some obvious examples Reese Witherspoon with Hell of Sunshine,
George Clooney with Cosa Amigos, you know, Ryan Reynolds, or
(09:25):
some phenomenal examples. Those things are really hard to do
and are part of our thesis was it takes uh
an intimate level of communication amongst different specialists to try
to pull that off, and then something is crass as
an alignment of incentives. You want as many people rowing
(09:45):
in the same direction as possible and caring about that mission. So, uh,
you know, we we talked a lot privately kind of
about a Seal Team six mentality of just really being
mission oriented on behalf of objectives clients, UM, projects, UM,
and then and then protecting the ecosystem within, which is
(10:09):
you know, an intimate experience where folks are in rooms
together talking and communicating about these things that are kind
of hard to pull off. I would say the factors
is we we look at and and strongly encourage a
limit on how many clients each representative has. So we
(10:32):
and that helps us in a couple of ways. It
makes you really think about the choices you're taking on, Like,
so it's not a limitless so I can have as
many as I No, No, we're not operating that way.
We want to make sure you're disciplined to save the
amount of time that needs to be really strategic from
the point of view that we said. So that's one
(10:52):
lever we pulled. So we were very diligent about UM
from a leadership standpoint, making sure not one representative has
more clients than we feels possible for you to be
wildly strategic one. Two. Can I just press you? Is
that a single digit number? Is it a double digit experience?
(11:14):
My experience, it's a double and it's it's a it's
a are you pointing solo or coal pointing? So there's
a couple of factors that we look at, but it's
much reduced from what our experience was at the agency's.
The second thing is half of our staff is business development,
venture capital, data analytics, production, brand endorsement. So the opportunity
(11:40):
flow for us is different because it's not it's not
mostly representatives that are it is. It is a range.
That's why the company is called range because we're helping
this other part of our staff bring opportunities to our
clients and partners that they might not normally see and
you can't. What we looked at is we don't want
(12:00):
to just be the company is like, hey, magically, we're
gonna do it differently and better and all that kind
of stuff. You have to change some of the structures
to get the different results, or else you just kind
of go down the same path. And so for us,
if we really wanted to um be the most forward
thinking in terms of new technologies, we would need to
have a Web three division that was really pushing innovations
(12:23):
and so and if you really wanted to help UM
partners and artists get equity positions and businesses, you would
need a business development team and to venture capital team
and data analytics too. So we built all of those
shared services in a really strong way, and that was
the benefit. You know, Steve Cohen gave us a lot
of insight on on what he'd seen worked really really well,
(12:45):
and then eighteen months later we were we were very
humbled by A plus E coming into the equation and
what most people would consider a preemptive Series A and
saying we really value what you're building and we see
where you want to go and let us help you
supercharge those initiatives. And so everything you know are our
(13:07):
first business plan is like intact, you know. And what
we do in a very disciplined way is every three
months we get together with our managing partners and we
are tweaking the business plan. And what we found is
our secret sauces established a best in class culture, work
really hard at it, and can commit to it. So
twice a year we are we have these things called
(13:30):
our standards, and twice a year we do an exercise
where we look at our standards, we add to them,
we condense them, we change language in them. But there
are cultural roadmap and twice a year we're spending about
a month in each section getting all ideas from all
anybody from an associate level to new hires. So you
(13:51):
take culture, you add culture to getting everyone to understand
and agree on the business plan right, so it's very
transparent where we're trying to go and that we feel
attracts the very best talent internally. And when you have
great culture in a business plan that everybody agrees on,
we feel like the most amazing things can happen. And
(14:12):
that's been the foundation for us. Part of our thesis
is that one one thing that we are really proud
and excited about is data analytics just understanding the world
artists business in a in a way that we almost
didn't know as possible. To kind of help give you
(14:32):
some of the answers to the test, would you say
and when you do look at that, like as if
you're looking at a client, do you look at like
who follows this person? Who is who? Who does this
client reaches that it blew our mind getting underneath you know,
the the ways, the types of information you can access
(14:55):
and the types of queries you can UM put through
some models to get back where you should be putting energy,
where a client might be best served to put some
energy notwithstanding what they're interested. You're really looking for very
organic matches of of artists to idea to you know,
(15:17):
project or commerce. UM. So what we're hoping to do
is to to to increase the level of sophistication on
on the energies we're applying to these endeavors, these projects,
these businesses, those kind of things, just to give it
as much escape velocity as we can. I would I
(15:38):
would add to it. It's it's really well. So where
we we we have to really important thesis here is
town is the atomic unit of the future. It is
talent that can build community, UM can move mountains. And
we believe that as like a fundamental principle. So then
RANGE is designed to help exceptional talent a luck full
global value in all businesses. And so that is our
(16:02):
that's our north star, right, which means you have to
be really great and if if you start from place
I'm a movie star we have to have. You know,
there's nobody better than Jack Wigham in terms of representing
high end actors actress look, so we have to have that.
We we we have to have those people that are like, oh,
(16:23):
your movie star career is gonna We're gonna be very
additive there. We are going to drive a successful and
maintain a successful movie star care or in the in
the wake of Jack Harlow or Maurah And on the
music side of the same thing. Now we have this
other team that's coming in and saying, Okay, where are
these opportunities that we're helping them build community. We use
(16:45):
the data to say where are the opportunities in and
around and we get this. You know, Steve Cohens so
much credit. He has an enormous budget that he looks
at from a data analysts and that's why he's a
part of the reason he's been so wildly successful. So
we looked at those rhythms of using data to understand
how the markets were shifting, understand how from our filter,
(17:06):
how do you build community. Once you build community, where's
the authenticity? Once you understand the authenticity, where's the opportunity
in commerce? And so we always start with like, we
have the teams involved to help exceptional talent maintain what
they would consider their core. And now the layer that
comes in over it is the other side of the
company is like, okay, now that we're doing that, where
(17:28):
are the other opportunities? And it takes a lot of work.
It takes a lot of time figuring out what data
sets to ask for are generally the hardest part of
it is then that you know, like you've got to
keep tinkering around until you get to the right place.
The kind of thing you talk about in staff meetings
is like what are you Yeah, so it is that
there's this authentic love of this and what is that?
(17:50):
Where is that marketplace going? And so you're kind of
looking at all these things that are happening right now
and you say, well, you know, the web three technologies
that people talk a lot about, they just kind of
throw out those terms, but really Web three is both
a metaverse that's a more a R v R experiential storytelling,
but it really means a decentralized um environment that is
(18:12):
really more where peer to peer transactions can happen more.
And so what does that mean for our partners and
artists and and and so you have to spend real
resources and time preparing for these shifts that are coming.
And so we we do this in the UM. It's
both really dynamic, it's really exciting. It's the belief that
(18:32):
you know, talent being the atomic you know, the future is.
They can create awareness, and they can curate, and they
can be filters of quality more than most corporations can be. Right,
and so just picking our head up and going like,
these shifts are in front of us, let's not ignore them,
Let's lean into them and be part of the solution.
(18:53):
Understanding that great storytelling is of the utmost important to
get h to build community. We we are a function
of storytelling. And so it's the balancing of all those ideas.
And so when we you know, when we took the
A plus E investment, it was like, oh, this allows
us to supercharge. We can now that we can expand
(19:16):
on the talent pool, we can safely bring in really
great representatives to you know, grow those capabilities. We can
now invest in a record label. We do that with
capital and Virgion. We now have full production capabilities in
a way that we think favors you know, we're doing
it with a bona fide studio in a plus e. Right,
we can um set up film funds that we're doing
(19:39):
with Film Nation, so we can now we have we
can co finance smaller movies and bring that opportunity to
table a branded content studio to work with brands, right,
sports division and web three capabilities. Right, and now we
have money that we can kind of when we see
a great opportunity based on working very hard on the
authenticity and the data, we can say, okay, we can
(20:01):
actually put money into it too. That's how much we
believe in it. And so all these things are just
small shifts that create we think, a really productive environment
for us and our partners. I just add you can
tell we get excited talking about, like, you know, I
don't know what we're hoping to be kind of the
evolution of representation and partnership and all that. But all
(20:26):
of that is contrasted by, you know, I think the
notion that we were the group of us were initially
representatives first. And it all comes back to blocking and tackling.
We love putting clients to work and putting together projects
so much and if you don't do that, well, none
of the other stuff can can happen, and so um,
(20:49):
I always say like, I think the greatest gift I
ever got in the business was being related to an
artist that for many years it was a starving artist,
And so you never forget what that feels like. Your
older brother, fantastic actor who I fell for as an
actor on Worldwalk Empire to a standout in a great cast. Well,
(21:13):
that's sweet of you to say, I just it was
those years though, being around Shay and Michael Shannon, Danny
McBride and David Gordon Green. These just folks we you know,
lucky enough to be friends with or work with, but
seeing what those lean years looked like, and you never
forget about that, you know. We again we do kind
(21:34):
of talk about none of us having been the children
of a director, producer, you know, all of us coming
from different walks of life to somehow end up here
and we feel like we're getting away with murders. So
how has that changed In the context of management versus agents?
You both have you both were agents for a long time,
but now now this is a this on the on
(21:54):
the talent representation side, you are a manager with certain
constrictions that come, Um, you know, I I think we
you know, we we always were students of the business.
There were just there was some tremendous managers, tremendous agents.
I mean, no one's going to do it better than
Patrick Whitesel or Brian Lord or Kevin Evaine or you know,
(22:17):
uh and and Rick Yourn is the gold standard of
the manager, right and so I think we were always
trying to you know, learn from from those folks as
much as possible. Um and held a quily. I mean,
you know, just tremendous, tremendous representatives. UM. I feel like
(22:39):
the collection of who range ended up being, um, the
ones that were agents to kind of had a managerial
approach for whatever that means, just you know, got got
close to the clients, you know, really tried to bleed
for the clients. Um. And so so those muscles have
(23:00):
translated well, um, uh there's a lot of similar skill sets. UM.
That said, you know, having fewer clients has just opened
our eyes up to creating space for strategy and uh
communication that we're hoping will benefit the client and at
(23:23):
the same time create a quality of life for for
a representative or an executive that um, you know maximizes
the experience. We always talk about every seven years. If
you don't change what you do in some kind of
meaningful way, you get complacent. Your mind kind of goes
into autopilot. And you know the people that shifted up.
(23:48):
And it doesn't mean you have to leave your company.
You can change what you do. I looked at my
career at sea, and it was in seven years installments
like I could remember. After I've read a lot about
this about the seven your mark, I got a little
bit complacent and I pushed for a shift, and so
every seven year. So right now we're in this next
shift of like doing things. But it brings so much
(24:09):
positive energy to the extent where I don't really know
the difference between Monday and Saturday. You know when when
I was when you can say that that's it's really
it's really amazing, you know, to pay him a compliment
is one of the most positive, you know, cheerful humans.
I've never seen someone kind of with a better attitude
(24:30):
about life and challenges. But yeah, you didn't ask the question,
but this is this has turned into kind of a
dreamy situation. I think for the collection of us working here,
because we're just you know, like the the hours don't
feel like work hours. It's just a it's a very enthusiastic,
(24:52):
bounce off the walls kind of feeling. And we hope
to bottle that. We hope to keep it. Of course,
some of it startup culture, or I say a lot
of it is the youth. It's a very young company,
you know, I think things are changing so fast. We
think a lot about grabbing points of view and promoting
individuals earlier because they're living on the platforms and in
(25:17):
the distribution mechanisms that older folks aren't. And you know,
it's uh, it's it's it's infectious to have such a diverse,
young group of people both working here and helping chart
the course for the for the company. You can see
we can see some of them at work downstairs here.
(25:39):
Let me ask you what what do you look for?
What what? I know there's no such thing as an
ideal client, But what do you look for in clients?
Because you you have a range, you're in a lot
of different you have a lot of different types of people.
You are not You didn't say like this is a
lit agency or this is an actor agency, but you've
got a lot of diversity already be curious to get
(26:00):
pizza thoughts. But I you know, we have such a
variety of of of representatives that have different kind of
specialties and interests, so there's not maybe one size fits all.
We we do love multi hyphen its folks that are
true creators that are not necessarily wait for the telephone
(26:24):
to ring kind of um mentality because we love the
idea of trying to uh deploy an artist or and
their talent in a variety of different areas. UM. Anyone
who can put pen to paper and create obviously UM
(26:46):
has a potential job for themselves, right, and so that's
just really exciting to represent folks that are unbelievably talented
at true creation UM. And that can be in a
lot of different walks of life. Uh, but they're creating
a song or writing a pilot scripts or a piece
of digital art. We Well, I would add to is
(27:09):
that we're looking for people or an idea. Client in
my mind is someone who walks in and it's like,
I'm not just a movie star, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm
a creator, a musician, UM, and they want the range
comes from the idea that you're not just one thing.
You are a creative, brilliant mind that has a lot
(27:33):
to impact the world with You know that the that
the flip side of partnering with clients that there are
that that that these roads can be fraught with conflicts
of interest. I know you have. I know you guys
gave this some thought. What have you put in guardrails?
Have you put in parameters? How are you going to
avoid a client two years from now saying I was
(27:57):
unduly pressured into in doing this deal, or do you
know doing something that range was producing? How do you
mitigating inst that? Well, we have there's a couple of
guard rails for us um our studio operation is we
have a third party. That was always what I thought
was the most successful way to avoid is we have
(28:18):
a plus E in the mix on our studio stuff
that is a highly accomplished, highly established studio. And so
you have that third party in there, and in most
cases um Um driving that that third party point of view.
We also have most of you know, the key to
is all transparency, you know, and so what we what
(28:41):
we do is we have some pretty big standards that
we had adhere to in terms of producing. We never
wanted to be that um UM the term lets used,
the Gloman term was like, oh, there's that we're in.
So we've established a standard of did we come up
with the idea, do we opt? Do we use our
money to option an article or a book? Um? Did
(29:04):
our development executives that we're paying for UM generate the
opportunity through UM bringing in a writer offering them. So
we look at it very much like we have to
bring something to the table that was from an investment standpoint,
our responsibility from an idea standpoint like those kind of things,
(29:26):
or else we don't want to do it. And then
there's always an attorney that's third party attorney that we
have do the deal that is keeping that has nothing
to do with range. So there's I think there's always
really between the plus se between the film nation side
of it, between us using our capital to invest in
things and having a third party in the client's life
(29:49):
be part of the process. The guardrails are there if
you want to be really transparent and and and follow
those steps well said I answer the question really simply
just the client trump's all. The client's interests will always
trump our own financial interests, and so with full transparency.
(30:11):
There's pros and cons to so many different dynamics. The
client chooses. You know, uh, if on any situation where
there's a discrepancy or an issue or a question, that's
how I would answer it. That said, there's plenty of
other things that are just fully exciting to go manufacturer
and create, you know, coming up with an idea or
(30:31):
optioning a piece of material that's you know, that's one
of the benefits of of of being on this side
of the ball, is staying with projects of this structure. Yeah,
just as long as just staying with stuff that you're
creatively excited about if that's of interest to you. Um,
but anything that involves a client, in my opinion, it's uh.
(30:53):
We also try to do it sya where it was
really about an efficiency. Everything we do is about efficiency.
So you know, when we were at the agents, it's like, oh,
there's this book that somebody likes. Then you'd have to
go find a studio that wanted to option it for them,
and you know, and so we're not. Everything we do
is to create opportunity and value. So when we raise
(31:14):
the money from a plus C that we have significant
funds and like, oh, there's this book that I want, Well,
we could go get it for you and just do
it right now, or if you're not comfortable with that,
then we can go ask these studios to option it
for you, or you can option it and we lay
out all the and we we get to the place,
UM call it half the time where they're like, please
(31:34):
go get it for me. You know, I don't want
to waste time. I don't want to go pitch to
other studios because the process is overwhelming. Right now. There's
I think if you pulled, there's so many projects going
to market, and there's so many artists trying to get
things done, and it's just like it feels like a
cattle call in a way I've never seen before. And
I've actually had people, you know, packaging as there's people
(31:57):
in the business of selling saying I wish there were
few were opportunities out there because it is just sorting
through the mall is overwhelming. That to me that I
have long listeners of this podcast now I have long
We are in a bubble. There is good money. There's
just good money going after bad on content that will
never make it. And that just your point about efficiencies
(32:20):
that just when we're when we're at the point where
we're no, no human being can watch all the content
that is being made if they sat in front of
the screen for twenty four hours a day. We need
to tap the brakes here. And I think that that
naturally that the invisible hand is making that happen a
little bit. And you're and you're also talking about we're
looking at data right now that's showing you know, gen
(32:41):
Z twelve acs on video games and social media platforms,
and they are you know, like so there are trends
that are coming and we're not ignoring those trends. And
so well, that's why we're spending a lot of time
and effort and in capital understanding how the new technology shifts,
so we have we can continue to present opportunities to
our clients and partners. Don't even think about changing managers
(33:04):
will be right back after this pause for monetization. With
more from Range Media partners Peter Michelli and Jack William,
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streaming TV otherwise known as fast has opened up new
revenue streams for platforms, advertisers and content owners. Partner with Amagi,
(33:27):
a global leader in fast to reach two hundred million
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(33:49):
and we're back with more from Range Media partners Peter
Michelli and Jack William Where do you see the biggest
potential for home runs for the company? Would you say,
would it be in content developing, you know, just developing
a really hot piece of content, or do you think commerce,
business opportunities with clients that those can be you know,
(34:10):
those can be as you say, you know, ten x
the licensing fee of a of a TV series are
for me, our home runs are going to be in
the technology space and the data. You know, us being
able to use data to put our partners in a
much stronger position. Everything they do so overlays in US
such a huge way. And then us, you know, we
(34:32):
have a company, myth that we've raised a lot of
capital from in a very down um market and it's
a product that we've developed, It's gonna functions in so
many amazing ways. So technology and data for us are
where the outsized opportunities are going to be um and
I agree. I think it's the application of technology with
(34:57):
a a piece of commerce and a client or an artist.
In that recipe I think will translate to really exciting
companies or products that would probably be homeline. Let me
ask you, we would need a whole other podcast to
(35:19):
talk about Web three and the kind of the the
what's what's happening now? What's going to happen in the future?
Really in Web two point five, that's that's the reality
of the moment, where in Web three is a little off,
but everybody is using that. Web three is at the coastline.
We are a little inland yet. But let me just
ask you this. I would be curious, do you think
where do you think that we are going to see?
(35:41):
Because you mentioned blockchain being such an efficient distribution device
and also very influential, do you think that we will see,
you know, contracts done on the blockchain. Do you think
that we will see a movie or or or content
distributed on the blockchain? Where do you think we don't
think about the blockchain is a distribution system. It's an
(36:02):
efficiency of being able to run the smart contracts so
you could collect royalty. There's a lot, it's a it's
a tool of efficiency that you're going to need. A
distribution platform will most likely come in the form of
wallets where you can go direct to your community. And
so here's the content piece. I'm giving it to you
in your wallet for a period of time. But do
(36:23):
you have clients that have deals that are embedded in
like are people doing transactions? We have a couple or
in the early days of it, but yes, we have
a feel and it's um. I mean, it's really exciting
to see the impacts of it. Mostly it's it's really
about you know, you're using it to deal with your
(36:43):
community directly and not have to bring a third party
corporation into organize collecting payments and doing all those things.
So think of it's peer to peer and so um.
But blockchain is a distribution platform. That is not what
blockchain will service. And so you you're we're going to
have to fund If artists do want to distribute to
(37:04):
their community directly, there will be in the form of
a wallet or some other um application that will allow
them to reach them directly. And then you got to
figure out how do you monetize it and what how
does it make sense and then um, do those things
happen for first window because you have a rabid fan
base that wants a premium experience, to get it early
(37:26):
and couple it with some other things, and then you
you take it to the traditional systems and how will
that work? My strategy is or that is to higher
will exactly have a We have a beautiful mind and
Natalie Bress who helps us run UM an entire innovation
and so I personally lean heavily on her. Coming out
(37:47):
of your experience at E one, what were some of
the you know, having spent a long time as a representative,
as a talent agent, when going into the executive side,
what were some of the big lessons that you learn
from that perspective that had that you didn't realize you
didn't know from being a very sophisticated talent agent. Oh,
I mean, it's just it was really countless. I don't know.
(38:08):
That experience was profound for me because it was a
public company and UM understanding how to project out the
futures of the value of content, I had no idea.
How you know, we all think is agents A lot
of them understand like what goes in what a studio needs,
to do to make something, and you as an agent,
(38:30):
you kind of think it's super easy, like come on,
he says, what are you guys doing is And then
once you get inside of one and you realize yellow
Jackets or Cool Summer or the rookie or deputy, the
amount of time and effort to make something great is
really really hard. The money that's at risk is significant.
(38:53):
How to come up with a global content strategy? How
are you going to maximize it? And then so there
was that whole learning. There was also the learning of
the family business. You know, Olivia Dumont is, like I think,
one of the most brilliant executives in family and watching
how he built up Pepper Pig and PJ Mask and
understanding what you really to build a valuable asset in
(39:15):
the differences between Pepper and PJ and Rickey Zoom and
Cupcake and Dino and so um, and then you know
just the what you know, Darren Troop and had done
a great job of he was acquiring a lot of
different businesses and how do they all fit or don't fit?
And what do you do with culture? And so I
(39:35):
just learned an enormous amount and it was one of
the greatest experiences of my life just to kind of
step away from one side of the table go to
the other and then you just it just opens up
your mind so um. And it was really you know,
and that we had such a successful two year run.
I mean, the sale of the company was enormous and
(39:56):
it was a lot of you know, then you can
kind of sit in a room with You've Coen and
go like, oh yeah, not like I see things and
here's what we think. What led you to be in
a room with Steve Cohen? Did you know him before?
Were you? Were you match made by somebody trying to
help you get range on? No, it wasn't. It was
early in the h We had met just simply because
(40:18):
it was around the time that w ME was going
to go public the first time, and he just he
was just curious about it, you know, what does this mean?
And so we had had a meeting to talk about
w ME going public I think in two thousand nineteen,
and we just had a mutual friend and he was
curious about it, and so we talked a little bit
(40:38):
about the entertainment space and it was really kind of nothing,
but we had a really good time together and then
um um, and then really not no communication at all
because I was so curious to meet the guy that
everybody was like, oh, he's billions. By the way, He's
not billions. It's not even close. He has long been
rumored to be one of the well he was definitely
(41:01):
part of the influence, but not He's not Bobby Act
at all. He's got the greatest that's a good story.
He's got the greatest sense of humor. He is so
smart it's crazy. I mean, you pick up any business
on the first balance, and he's been incredible for us.
Is he involved in the day to day No, not
at all. Not no day to day activity. We talk
(41:23):
you know. Uh, we talked very regularly once a week,
sometimes twice a week, and just kind of bouncing off
ideas we're thinking about this. We're very active with his
venture capital firm, Point seventy two. That is a UM.
There is a very active firm. We're writing a lot
about that. That they're various investment. Yeah, I mean, they're
so sophisticated the way they use data, and so we're
(41:46):
in a constant dialogue with them, and Steve's just very
curious about what we're doing and he's very interested in
sports and entertainment. Um, but that's he has no there's
no we run the business. What is your total size
in terms of full time staff? Now? We're we We
had we scaled up somewhat quickly, you know, to make
sure that we had capabilities and two pizzas point earlier,
(42:08):
to really add a lot of infrastructure around the uh
maybe non traditional blocking and tackling things. UM, I think
we're around a hundred and thirty a little more two
and mea were I think we're one right now. Is
(42:29):
that about where you want to be or do you
see room for We don't put any gardenags. I mean
the key is that it feels intimate always and you know,
I remember, you know, I've worked at places where there
they can be many more people than that, but still
feel boutique or intimate. And some of that is just
(42:52):
the vibe that you maintain and um, hopefully how we
collectively all co run this thing and in an intimate way.
If you had a crystal ball and you could say
in five years time, I would see six I would
define success as what would what would you define success as?
I would say I'd love to bottle every human that's
(43:14):
at the company right now and they're still here and
just still bouncing off walls. I mean, what a metric
that would be. We're too exting revenue every year, so
at some point that's you can't do that obviously. UM,
we'll move to a more you know, more significant Ebada
where we are hoping to have north margins in each division. UM,
(43:36):
coupling with the you know, you know, in five years,
I'm hoping Monday and Saturday don't feel different to me. UM.
Continuing that theme, I think the you know, we look
at ourselves as a cultural capital firm, and so can
we really have impact on redefining the sector and in
bringing an offering that really speaks to a cultural capital firm? UM,
(43:57):
constantly innovating in five years and have a company that's
really profitable that all the stakeholders that, like Jack says,
you know, should have their heads examined for leaving these
really cushy, great big jobs. That the equity, the value
that we've created, it changes, um, not changes their life,
because that's money, but it just it affords them the
(44:20):
freedom later on in their life to do whatever they
want to do. And that is that is the that
is the greatest I get she was thinking about that
is the greatest reward that we all got together. We
all own the company. It's ours. We've saved chunks of
equity for people to continue to come in over time
and do it in a way where everybody feels really
(44:42):
connected to the mission because it's theirs. And so in
five years we hope that that is really is paid
off in space for everybody. There's another aspect and thinking
about it that we speak about, which one of the
beauties of getting to you know, co run uh your
own company, you know, with a group of friends and
(45:04):
other people you respect, is you get to do things
in a new way, in a different way, and that
is in five years we've had we have a couple
of mantras and thesis that we'll need five years to
see if those were the right ones and see how
they play out. Um, a couple of them core ones
are though we we don't believe in the binary nature
(45:27):
of Hollywood where there's always a winner and loser. We
love working with partners, We love having agency partners, We
love working with other management companies, getting to produce with
other management companies or producers, and it's just we'd like
to be a positive member of the Hollywood community, kind
(45:50):
of taking that spirit forward. Of course it sounds dreaming,
but you know that I think that there's a possibility
to do that, and it will. It will. It'll make
the creative ecosystem a more fun place to work rather
than having it feel totally binary, right. And I also
(46:10):
think that that flows down within the ranks of your company.
You know, if, if, if we can wake up and
be generous with colleagues and new employees, the company will
just be again a happier place to work. Um and
we'll see how that plays out. I love that spirit.
Thank you both so much for your time. And I
(46:32):
want to also say thank you to Jack's mom for
making us a delicious plate of pumpkin bread, of which
I have had two pieces and I'm going to go
in for a third before i leave the pizza four.
It's a shout out to Bethwig even I love you, Mom.
(46:57):
Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave a to review
with Apple Podcasts, we love to hear from listeners. Please
go to Variety dot com and sign up for the
free Strictly Business newsletter, and don't forget to tune in
next week for another episode of Strictly Business. M
Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties weekly podcast featuring conversations with
industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
guests are Peter Mitchelli and Jack Wiggham of Range Media Partners.
Range Media Partners is one of the most ambitious start
ups to hit the Hollywood creative community in years. Michelli
(00:32):
is a CIA alum who moved into the executive ranks
at Entertainment One a few years ago. Wiggham is also
a longtime CIA agent who joined Michelli when he got
the urge to try to build a better mouse trap
for both clients and managers. Range Media is so named
for the variety of services that it offers its clients.
(00:52):
In addition to management, the company is active in venture capital.
It has a production arm through a partnership with A
and EENA Works, and as Micheli explains, they're spending a
lot of time and energy figuring out what Web three
technologies will mean for creative talents. As Michelli puts it,
it's all part of their Seal Team six mentality to
make clients the mission. We'll hear how this has all
(01:15):
come together with the backing from former Hedge Fund leader
Stephen A. Cohen, And that's all coming up after the break.
Streaming has become the new TV today. Free ad supported
streaming TV, otherwise known as FAST, has opened up new
revenue streams for platforms, advertisers, and content owners. Partner with Amagi,
(01:40):
a global leader in fast, to reach two hundred million
plus CTV households, more than one hundred platforms, over seven
hundred content brands, and access fifty billion plus AD opportunities.
So make a fast move. Visit amgi dot com today
(02:02):
and we're back with more from Range Media partners Peter
Mitchelli and Jack William Thank you so much for having
me come down to your office is under construction. It's
definitely got new office smell. We were really excited about
the idea, could we find a space that felt a
little bit more indoor outdoor, that had its own vibe,
(02:25):
didn't necessarily have an elevator, and could we design a
space that was really in response to COVID and the
way people want to work today and nurture the idea
that great work can happen anywhere. But we have a
home base to collect and create positive energy. So every
(02:46):
the office where we picked how we've designed it was
very intentional given the shift in culture based on COVID.
You are an alumnus of C A. A. You also
spent time in Entertainment one and strategy Officer Jack. You
also had a long run at CIA. Now coming into
(03:07):
this new venture where you have some very significant backing
from Stephen Cohen, you also very quickly did a deal
with A and E Networks that is obviously brought you.
I remember Pete we talked about brought you not only,
of course you know, a capital, but a really important
strategic partner. As you set out to build a company,
a talent representation company for the twenty one century, what
(03:30):
were what were some of the first things that you did?
What what are you doing differently with range Media than
you have done in your in your previous positions, in
your legacy positions. I first answer the question by just saying,
how much I think, collectively, how much gratitude we had
(03:52):
have towards the agencies where we where we learned and
developed that experience relationships. We are a collection of former
agents who are are now on the management production side,
but um, you know we you know, we there was
so much to learn at CIA, at w B, AT
(04:12):
U t A, and then to try to apply it
in a slightly different way. And when you said, I
would necessarily say a better mousetrap just hopefully a unique
um uh company where we've even gravitated towards getting away
from calling ourselves managers. You know, we we love the
(04:33):
idea of being partners, thought partners, creative partners. Um. So
a big foundation of that thesis was intimacy. Fewer clients,
more attention, hopefully being able to spend a lot more
time on projects and clients. Um. That we were really
(04:56):
passionate about. So one of the guardrails we were hoping
to kind of put up was, you know, let's make
it we call it a speak easy that you know,
we feel really fortunate to work at and hopefully a
client feels fortunate to be represented at. And and so
intimacy became a huge, huge keyword for us. Yeah, I
(05:20):
think the when we looked at it, Uh, Jack's right,
it is you know, we we learned so much. You know,
I learned so much at c A, watching the growth,
watching the business evolve, learned so much in the moment
in two thousand seven two thousand eight where I got
very intimate with UM a new financing structure which helps
(05:42):
Netflix UM get a lot of their first round of shows.
And you saw, well, could we create a company where
intimacy was a big part of it, that we are
are spending more time on on a pool of clients
and partners and artists. We could use language to change intention.
(06:06):
So we looked at it and said, you know, let's
be a great representation firm because the world is changing,
not an indictment on any existing business. That technology, a
new technology is coming in the form of whatever you blockchain,
smart contracts. They're going to shift content distribution again, and
(06:27):
let's build a company that will be really ready for
that shift. UM. Let's build a company that uses language
to talk about clients as partners, or that we're representatives
and our associates or what most people call assistance, feel
more empowered, that we're building a balanced leadership structure. So
(06:48):
great ideas come from everywhere, and we are thinking about
in in an environment that we're living in today where
it's very challenging for the streaming service is to show profit. Well,
what does that mean? With with back ends of film
and TV, and where can we add extra value to
the equation um whether you call it um on the
(07:13):
commerce side or asset creation. We're building equity value. Let's
have a company that has real resources focused on that
for our partners. So we're part of the evolution in
the most positive way. We never have any intent to
compete with the agencies in terms of size and scale
and information control and all of those things. What we
(07:36):
felt was we could be really amazing and representation because
we're gonna pull a few levers to change, um what
we do there, but we're also going to add this
extra component to it based on the fact that technology
and the world in which long term value is created
has changed significantly. How do you do the day to
(07:56):
day job of representing an actor, a writer, a showrunner
and also and also kind of you know, prepare for
that for that future. I think that's one of the
things that people are saying, is like, there's so much
going on right now, you almost feel like you're on
a hamster wheel. How do you does I'm guessing that
that's part of the intimacy, is like getting to know
that person so well and not having so many other
(08:18):
people on your call sheet at the end of the day. Yeah,
I think it does. And it's also the intimacy applies
in the internal workings of the company. And what I
mean by that is, um, we found that you know,
to pull off what we call sometimes the off menu stuff.
You know, let's say, on menu is the traditional blocking
(08:39):
and tackling of you know, trying to put actors to work,
actresses to work, put together films, directors and jobs. Um,
the off menu stuff is really helping try to manufacture
from from a piece of I P a book, you know,
a script you know, to completion, or you know, building
(09:02):
businesses around a client or helping them expand into ancillary areas.
That we found a lot of artists were way more
open to today than they were ten fifteen years ago. Um.
You know some obvious examples Reese Witherspoon with Hell of Sunshine,
George Clooney with Cosa Amigos, you know, Ryan Reynolds, or
(09:25):
some phenomenal examples. Those things are really hard to do
and are part of our thesis was it takes uh
an intimate level of communication amongst different specialists to try
to pull that off, and then something is crass as
an alignment of incentives. You want as many people rowing
(09:45):
in the same direction as possible and caring about that mission. So, uh,
you know, we we talked a lot privately kind of
about a Seal Team six mentality of just really being
mission oriented on behalf of objectives clients, UM, projects, UM,
and then and then protecting the ecosystem within, which is
(10:09):
you know, an intimate experience where folks are in rooms
together talking and communicating about these things that are kind
of hard to pull off. I would say the factors
is we we look at and and strongly encourage a
limit on how many clients each representative has. So we
(10:32):
and that helps us in a couple of ways. It
makes you really think about the choices you're taking on, Like,
so it's not a limitless so I can have as
many as I No, No, we're not operating that way.
We want to make sure you're disciplined to save the
amount of time that needs to be really strategic from
the point of view that we said. So that's one
(10:52):
lever we pulled. So we were very diligent about UM
from a leadership standpoint, making sure not one representative has
more clients than we feels possible for you to be
wildly strategic one. Two. Can I just press you? Is
that a single digit number? Is it a double digit experience?
(11:14):
My experience, it's a double and it's it's a it's
a are you pointing solo or coal pointing? So there's
a couple of factors that we look at, but it's
much reduced from what our experience was at the agency's.
The second thing is half of our staff is business development,
venture capital, data analytics, production, brand endorsement. So the opportunity
(11:40):
flow for us is different because it's not it's not
mostly representatives that are it is. It is a range.
That's why the company is called range because we're helping
this other part of our staff bring opportunities to our
clients and partners that they might not normally see and
you can't. What we looked at is we don't want
(12:00):
to just be the company is like, hey, magically, we're
gonna do it differently and better and all that kind
of stuff. You have to change some of the structures
to get the different results, or else you just kind
of go down the same path. And so for us,
if we really wanted to um be the most forward
thinking in terms of new technologies, we would need to
have a Web three division that was really pushing innovations
(12:23):
and so and if you really wanted to help UM
partners and artists get equity positions and businesses, you would
need a business development team and to venture capital team
and data analytics too. So we built all of those
shared services in a really strong way, and that was
the benefit. You know, Steve Cohen gave us a lot
of insight on on what he'd seen worked really really well,
(12:45):
and then eighteen months later we were we were very
humbled by A plus E coming into the equation and
what most people would consider a preemptive Series A and
saying we really value what you're building and we see
where you want to go and let us help you
supercharge those initiatives. And so everything you know are our
(13:07):
first business plan is like intact, you know. And what
we do in a very disciplined way is every three
months we get together with our managing partners and we
are tweaking the business plan. And what we found is
our secret sauces established a best in class culture, work
really hard at it, and can commit to it. So
twice a year we are we have these things called
(13:30):
our standards, and twice a year we do an exercise
where we look at our standards, we add to them,
we condense them, we change language in them. But there
are cultural roadmap and twice a year we're spending about
a month in each section getting all ideas from all
anybody from an associate level to new hires. So you
(13:51):
take culture, you add culture to getting everyone to understand
and agree on the business plan right, so it's very
transparent where we're trying to go and that we feel
attracts the very best talent internally. And when you have
great culture in a business plan that everybody agrees on,
we feel like the most amazing things can happen. And
(14:12):
that's been the foundation for us. Part of our thesis
is that one one thing that we are really proud
and excited about is data analytics just understanding the world
artists business in a in a way that we almost
didn't know as possible. To kind of help give you
(14:32):
some of the answers to the test, would you say
and when you do look at that, like as if
you're looking at a client, do you look at like
who follows this person? Who is who? Who does this
client reaches that it blew our mind getting underneath you know,
the the ways, the types of information you can access
(14:55):
and the types of queries you can UM put through
some models to get back where you should be putting energy,
where a client might be best served to put some
energy notwithstanding what they're interested. You're really looking for very
organic matches of of artists to idea to you know,
(15:17):
project or commerce. UM. So what we're hoping to do
is to to to increase the level of sophistication on
on the energies we're applying to these endeavors, these projects,
these businesses, those kind of things, just to give it
as much escape velocity as we can. I would I
(15:38):
would add to it. It's it's really well. So where
we we we have to really important thesis here is
town is the atomic unit of the future. It is
talent that can build community, UM can move mountains. And
we believe that as like a fundamental principle. So then
RANGE is designed to help exceptional talent a luck full
global value in all businesses. And so that is our
(16:02):
that's our north star, right, which means you have to
be really great and if if you start from place
I'm a movie star we have to have. You know,
there's nobody better than Jack Wigham in terms of representing
high end actors actress look, so we have to have that.
We we we have to have those people that are like, oh,
(16:23):
your movie star career is gonna We're gonna be very
additive there. We are going to drive a successful and
maintain a successful movie star care or in the in
the wake of Jack Harlow or Maurah And on the
music side of the same thing. Now we have this
other team that's coming in and saying, Okay, where are
these opportunities that we're helping them build community. We use
(16:45):
the data to say where are the opportunities in and
around and we get this. You know, Steve Cohens so
much credit. He has an enormous budget that he looks
at from a data analysts and that's why he's a
part of the reason he's been so wildly successful. So
we looked at those rhythms of using data to understand
how the markets were shifting, understand how from our filter,
(17:06):
how do you build community. Once you build community, where's
the authenticity? Once you understand the authenticity, where's the opportunity
in commerce? And so we always start with like, we
have the teams involved to help exceptional talent maintain what
they would consider their core. And now the layer that
comes in over it is the other side of the
company is like, okay, now that we're doing that, where
(17:28):
are the other opportunities? And it takes a lot of work.
It takes a lot of time figuring out what data
sets to ask for are generally the hardest part of
it is then that you know, like you've got to
keep tinkering around until you get to the right place.
The kind of thing you talk about in staff meetings
is like what are you Yeah, so it is that
there's this authentic love of this and what is that?
(17:50):
Where is that marketplace going? And so you're kind of
looking at all these things that are happening right now
and you say, well, you know, the web three technologies
that people talk a lot about, they just kind of
throw out those terms, but really Web three is both
a metaverse that's a more a R v R experiential storytelling,
but it really means a decentralized um environment that is
(18:12):
really more where peer to peer transactions can happen more.
And so what does that mean for our partners and
artists and and and so you have to spend real
resources and time preparing for these shifts that are coming.
And so we we do this in the UM. It's
both really dynamic, it's really exciting. It's the belief that
(18:32):
you know, talent being the atomic you know, the future is.
They can create awareness, and they can curate, and they
can be filters of quality more than most corporations can be. Right,
and so just picking our head up and going like,
these shifts are in front of us, let's not ignore them,
Let's lean into them and be part of the solution.
(18:53):
Understanding that great storytelling is of the utmost important to
get h to build community. We we are a function
of storytelling. And so it's the balancing of all those ideas.
And so when we you know, when we took the
A plus E investment, it was like, oh, this allows
us to supercharge. We can now that we can expand
(19:16):
on the talent pool, we can safely bring in really
great representatives to you know, grow those capabilities. We can
now invest in a record label. We do that with
capital and Virgion. We now have full production capabilities in
a way that we think favors you know, we're doing
it with a bona fide studio in a plus e. Right,
we can um set up film funds that we're doing
(19:39):
with Film Nation, so we can now we have we
can co finance smaller movies and bring that opportunity to
table a branded content studio to work with brands, right,
sports division and web three capabilities. Right, and now we
have money that we can kind of when we see
a great opportunity based on working very hard on the
authenticity and the data, we can say, okay, we can
(20:01):
actually put money into it too. That's how much we
believe in it. And so all these things are just
small shifts that create we think, a really productive environment
for us and our partners. I just add you can
tell we get excited talking about, like, you know, I
don't know what we're hoping to be kind of the
evolution of representation and partnership and all that. But all
(20:26):
of that is contrasted by, you know, I think the
notion that we were the group of us were initially
representatives first. And it all comes back to blocking and tackling.
We love putting clients to work and putting together projects
so much and if you don't do that, well, none
of the other stuff can can happen, and so um,
(20:49):
I always say like, I think the greatest gift I
ever got in the business was being related to an
artist that for many years it was a starving artist,
And so you never forget what that feels like. Your
older brother, fantastic actor who I fell for as an
actor on Worldwalk Empire to a standout in a great cast. Well,
(21:13):
that's sweet of you to say, I just it was
those years though, being around Shay and Michael Shannon, Danny
McBride and David Gordon Green. These just folks we you know,
lucky enough to be friends with or work with, but
seeing what those lean years looked like, and you never
forget about that, you know. We again we do kind
(21:34):
of talk about none of us having been the children
of a director, producer, you know, all of us coming
from different walks of life to somehow end up here
and we feel like we're getting away with murders. So
how has that changed In the context of management versus agents?
You both have you both were agents for a long time,
but now now this is a this on the on
(21:54):
the talent representation side, you are a manager with certain
constrictions that come, Um, you know, I I think we
you know, we we always were students of the business.
There were just there was some tremendous managers, tremendous agents.
I mean, no one's going to do it better than
Patrick Whitesel or Brian Lord or Kevin Evaine or you know,
(22:17):
uh and and Rick Yourn is the gold standard of
the manager, right and so I think we were always
trying to you know, learn from from those folks as
much as possible. Um and held a quily. I mean,
you know, just tremendous, tremendous representatives. UM. I feel like
(22:39):
the collection of who range ended up being, um, the
ones that were agents to kind of had a managerial
approach for whatever that means, just you know, got got
close to the clients, you know, really tried to bleed
for the clients. Um. And so so those muscles have
(23:00):
translated well, um, uh there's a lot of similar skill sets. UM.
That said, you know, having fewer clients has just opened
our eyes up to creating space for strategy and uh
communication that we're hoping will benefit the client and at
(23:23):
the same time create a quality of life for for
a representative or an executive that um, you know maximizes
the experience. We always talk about every seven years. If
you don't change what you do in some kind of
meaningful way, you get complacent. Your mind kind of goes
into autopilot. And you know the people that shifted up.
(23:48):
And it doesn't mean you have to leave your company.
You can change what you do. I looked at my
career at sea, and it was in seven years installments
like I could remember. After I've read a lot about
this about the seven your mark, I got a little
bit complacent and I pushed for a shift, and so
every seven year. So right now we're in this next
shift of like doing things. But it brings so much
(24:09):
positive energy to the extent where I don't really know
the difference between Monday and Saturday. You know when when
I was when you can say that that's it's really
it's really amazing, you know, to pay him a compliment
is one of the most positive, you know, cheerful humans.
I've never seen someone kind of with a better attitude
(24:30):
about life and challenges. But yeah, you didn't ask the question,
but this is this has turned into kind of a
dreamy situation. I think for the collection of us working here,
because we're just you know, like the the hours don't
feel like work hours. It's just a it's a very enthusiastic,
(24:52):
bounce off the walls kind of feeling. And we hope
to bottle that. We hope to keep it. Of course,
some of it startup culture, or I say a lot
of it is the youth. It's a very young company,
you know, I think things are changing so fast. We
think a lot about grabbing points of view and promoting
individuals earlier because they're living on the platforms and in
(25:17):
the distribution mechanisms that older folks aren't. And you know,
it's uh, it's it's it's infectious to have such a diverse,
young group of people both working here and helping chart
the course for the for the company. You can see
we can see some of them at work downstairs here.
(25:39):
Let me ask you what what do you look for?
What what? I know there's no such thing as an
ideal client, But what do you look for in clients?
Because you you have a range, you're in a lot
of different you have a lot of different types of people.
You are not You didn't say like this is a
lit agency or this is an actor agency, but you've
got a lot of diversity already be curious to get
(26:00):
pizza thoughts. But I you know, we have such a
variety of of of representatives that have different kind of
specialties and interests, so there's not maybe one size fits all.
We we do love multi hyphen its folks that are
true creators that are not necessarily wait for the telephone
(26:24):
to ring kind of um mentality because we love the
idea of trying to uh deploy an artist or and
their talent in a variety of different areas. UM. Anyone
who can put pen to paper and create obviously UM
(26:46):
has a potential job for themselves, right, and so that's
just really exciting to represent folks that are unbelievably talented
at true creation UM. And that can be in a
lot of different walks of life. Uh, but they're creating
a song or writing a pilot scripts or a piece
of digital art. We Well, I would add to is
(27:09):
that we're looking for people or an idea. Client in
my mind is someone who walks in and it's like,
I'm not just a movie star, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm
a creator, a musician, UM, and they want the range
comes from the idea that you're not just one thing.
You are a creative, brilliant mind that has a lot
(27:33):
to impact the world with You know that the that
the flip side of partnering with clients that there are
that that that these roads can be fraught with conflicts
of interest. I know you have. I know you guys
gave this some thought. What have you put in guardrails?
Have you put in parameters? How are you going to
avoid a client two years from now saying I was
(27:57):
unduly pressured into in doing this deal, or do you
know doing something that range was producing? How do you
mitigating inst that? Well, we have there's a couple of
guard rails for us um our studio operation is we
have a third party. That was always what I thought
was the most successful way to avoid is we have
(28:18):
a plus E in the mix on our studio stuff
that is a highly accomplished, highly established studio. And so
you have that third party in there, and in most
cases um Um driving that that third party point of view.
We also have most of you know, the key to
is all transparency, you know, and so what we what
(28:41):
we do is we have some pretty big standards that
we had adhere to in terms of producing. We never
wanted to be that um UM the term lets used,
the Gloman term was like, oh, there's that we're in.
So we've established a standard of did we come up
with the idea, do we opt? Do we use our
money to option an article or a book? Um? Did
(29:04):
our development executives that we're paying for UM generate the
opportunity through UM bringing in a writer offering them. So
we look at it very much like we have to
bring something to the table that was from an investment standpoint,
our responsibility from an idea standpoint like those kind of things,
(29:26):
or else we don't want to do it. And then
there's always an attorney that's third party attorney that we
have do the deal that is keeping that has nothing
to do with range. So there's I think there's always
really between the plus se between the film nation side
of it, between us using our capital to invest in
things and having a third party in the client's life
(29:49):
be part of the process. The guardrails are there if
you want to be really transparent and and and follow
those steps well said I answer the question really simply
just the client trump's all. The client's interests will always
trump our own financial interests, and so with full transparency.
(30:11):
There's pros and cons to so many different dynamics. The
client chooses. You know, uh, if on any situation where
there's a discrepancy or an issue or a question, that's
how I would answer it. That said, there's plenty of
other things that are just fully exciting to go manufacturer
and create, you know, coming up with an idea or
(30:31):
optioning a piece of material that's you know, that's one
of the benefits of of of being on this side
of the ball, is staying with projects of this structure. Yeah,
just as long as just staying with stuff that you're
creatively excited about if that's of interest to you. Um,
but anything that involves a client, in my opinion, it's uh.
(30:53):
We also try to do it sya where it was
really about an efficiency. Everything we do is about efficiency.
So you know, when we were at the agents, it's like, oh,
there's this book that somebody likes. Then you'd have to
go find a studio that wanted to option it for them,
and you know, and so we're not. Everything we do
is to create opportunity and value. So when we raise
(31:14):
the money from a plus C that we have significant
funds and like, oh, there's this book that I want, Well,
we could go get it for you and just do
it right now, or if you're not comfortable with that,
then we can go ask these studios to option it
for you, or you can option it and we lay
out all the and we we get to the place,
UM call it half the time where they're like, please
(31:34):
go get it for me. You know, I don't want
to waste time. I don't want to go pitch to
other studios because the process is overwhelming. Right now. There's
I think if you pulled, there's so many projects going
to market, and there's so many artists trying to get
things done, and it's just like it feels like a
cattle call in a way I've never seen before. And
I've actually had people, you know, packaging as there's people
(31:57):
in the business of selling saying I wish there were
few were opportunities out there because it is just sorting
through the mall is overwhelming. That to me that I
have long listeners of this podcast now I have long
We are in a bubble. There is good money. There's
just good money going after bad on content that will
never make it. And that just your point about efficiencies
(32:20):
that just when we're when we're at the point where
we're no, no human being can watch all the content
that is being made if they sat in front of
the screen for twenty four hours a day. We need
to tap the brakes here. And I think that that
naturally that the invisible hand is making that happen a
little bit. And you're and you're also talking about we're
looking at data right now that's showing you know, gen
(32:41):
Z twelve acs on video games and social media platforms,
and they are you know, like so there are trends
that are coming and we're not ignoring those trends. And
so well, that's why we're spending a lot of time
and effort and in capital understanding how the new technology shifts,
so we have we can continue to present opportunities to
our clients and partners. Don't even think about changing managers
(33:04):
will be right back after this pause for monetization. With
more from Range Media partners Peter Michelli and Jack William,
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(33:27):
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(33:49):
and we're back with more from Range Media partners Peter
Michelli and Jack William Where do you see the biggest
potential for home runs for the company? Would you say,
would it be in content developing, you know, just developing
a really hot piece of content, or do you think commerce,
business opportunities with clients that those can be you know,
(34:10):
those can be as you say, you know, ten x
the licensing fee of a of a TV series are
for me, our home runs are going to be in
the technology space and the data. You know, us being
able to use data to put our partners in a
much stronger position. Everything they do so overlays in US
such a huge way. And then us, you know, we
(34:32):
have a company, myth that we've raised a lot of
capital from in a very down um market and it's
a product that we've developed, It's gonna functions in so
many amazing ways. So technology and data for us are
where the outsized opportunities are going to be um and
I agree. I think it's the application of technology with
(34:57):
a a piece of commerce and a client or an artist.
In that recipe I think will translate to really exciting
companies or products that would probably be homeline. Let me
ask you, we would need a whole other podcast to
(35:19):
talk about Web three and the kind of the the
what's what's happening now? What's going to happen in the future?
Really in Web two point five, that's that's the reality
of the moment, where in Web three is a little off,
but everybody is using that. Web three is at the coastline.
We are a little inland yet. But let me just
ask you this. I would be curious, do you think
where do you think that we are going to see?
(35:41):
Because you mentioned blockchain being such an efficient distribution device
and also very influential, do you think that we will see,
you know, contracts done on the blockchain. Do you think
that we will see a movie or or or content
distributed on the blockchain? Where do you think we don't
think about the blockchain is a distribution system. It's an
(36:02):
efficiency of being able to run the smart contracts so
you could collect royalty. There's a lot, it's a it's
a tool of efficiency that you're going to need. A
distribution platform will most likely come in the form of
wallets where you can go direct to your community. And
so here's the content piece. I'm giving it to you
in your wallet for a period of time. But do
(36:23):
you have clients that have deals that are embedded in
like are people doing transactions? We have a couple or
in the early days of it, but yes, we have
a feel and it's um. I mean, it's really exciting
to see the impacts of it. Mostly it's it's really
about you know, you're using it to deal with your
(36:43):
community directly and not have to bring a third party
corporation into organize collecting payments and doing all those things.
So think of it's peer to peer and so um.
But blockchain is a distribution platform. That is not what
blockchain will service. And so you you're we're going to
have to fund If artists do want to distribute to
(37:04):
their community directly, there will be in the form of
a wallet or some other um application that will allow
them to reach them directly. And then you got to
figure out how do you monetize it and what how
does it make sense and then um, do those things
happen for first window because you have a rabid fan
base that wants a premium experience, to get it early
(37:26):
and couple it with some other things, and then you
you take it to the traditional systems and how will
that work? My strategy is or that is to higher
will exactly have a We have a beautiful mind and
Natalie Bress who helps us run UM an entire innovation
and so I personally lean heavily on her. Coming out
(37:47):
of your experience at E one, what were some of
the you know, having spent a long time as a representative,
as a talent agent, when going into the executive side,
what were some of the big lessons that you learn
from that perspective that had that you didn't realize you
didn't know from being a very sophisticated talent agent. Oh,
I mean, it's just it was really countless. I don't know.
(38:08):
That experience was profound for me because it was a
public company and UM understanding how to project out the
futures of the value of content, I had no idea.
How you know, we all think is agents A lot
of them understand like what goes in what a studio needs,
to do to make something, and you as an agent,
(38:30):
you kind of think it's super easy, like come on,
he says, what are you guys doing is And then
once you get inside of one and you realize yellow
Jackets or Cool Summer or the rookie or deputy, the
amount of time and effort to make something great is
really really hard. The money that's at risk is significant.
(38:53):
How to come up with a global content strategy? How
are you going to maximize it? And then so there
was that whole learning. There was also the learning of
the family business. You know, Olivia Dumont is, like I think,
one of the most brilliant executives in family and watching
how he built up Pepper Pig and PJ Mask and
understanding what you really to build a valuable asset in
(39:15):
the differences between Pepper and PJ and Rickey Zoom and
Cupcake and Dino and so um, and then you know
just the what you know, Darren Troop and had done
a great job of he was acquiring a lot of
different businesses and how do they all fit or don't fit?
And what do you do with culture? And so I
(39:35):
just learned an enormous amount and it was one of
the greatest experiences of my life just to kind of
step away from one side of the table go to
the other and then you just it just opens up
your mind so um. And it was really you know,
and that we had such a successful two year run.
I mean, the sale of the company was enormous and
(39:56):
it was a lot of you know, then you can
kind of sit in a room with You've Coen and
go like, oh yeah, not like I see things and
here's what we think. What led you to be in
a room with Steve Cohen? Did you know him before?
Were you? Were you match made by somebody trying to
help you get range on? No, it wasn't. It was
early in the h We had met just simply because
(40:18):
it was around the time that w ME was going
to go public the first time, and he just he
was just curious about it, you know, what does this mean?
And so we had had a meeting to talk about
w ME going public I think in two thousand nineteen,
and we just had a mutual friend and he was
curious about it, and so we talked a little bit
(40:38):
about the entertainment space and it was really kind of nothing,
but we had a really good time together and then
um um, and then really not no communication at all
because I was so curious to meet the guy that
everybody was like, oh, he's billions. By the way, He's
not billions. It's not even close. He has long been
rumored to be one of the well he was definitely
(41:01):
part of the influence, but not He's not Bobby Act
at all. He's got the greatest that's a good story.
He's got the greatest sense of humor. He is so
smart it's crazy. I mean, you pick up any business
on the first balance, and he's been incredible for us.
Is he involved in the day to day No, not
at all. Not no day to day activity. We talk
(41:23):
you know. Uh, we talked very regularly once a week,
sometimes twice a week, and just kind of bouncing off
ideas we're thinking about this. We're very active with his
venture capital firm, Point seventy two. That is a UM.
There is a very active firm. We're writing a lot
about that. That they're various investment. Yeah, I mean, they're
so sophisticated the way they use data, and so we're
(41:46):
in a constant dialogue with them, and Steve's just very
curious about what we're doing and he's very interested in
sports and entertainment. Um, but that's he has no there's
no we run the business. What is your total size
in terms of full time staff? Now? We're we We
had we scaled up somewhat quickly, you know, to make
sure that we had capabilities and two pizzas point earlier,
(42:08):
to really add a lot of infrastructure around the uh
maybe non traditional blocking and tackling things. UM, I think
we're around a hundred and thirty a little more two
and mea were I think we're one right now. Is
(42:29):
that about where you want to be or do you
see room for We don't put any gardenags. I mean
the key is that it feels intimate always and you know,
I remember, you know, I've worked at places where there
they can be many more people than that, but still
feel boutique or intimate. And some of that is just
(42:52):
the vibe that you maintain and um, hopefully how we
collectively all co run this thing and in an intimate way.
If you had a crystal ball and you could say
in five years time, I would see six I would
define success as what would what would you define success as?
I would say I'd love to bottle every human that's
(43:14):
at the company right now and they're still here and
just still bouncing off walls. I mean, what a metric
that would be. We're too exting revenue every year, so
at some point that's you can't do that obviously. UM,
we'll move to a more you know, more significant Ebada
where we are hoping to have north margins in each division. UM,
(43:36):
coupling with the you know, you know, in five years,
I'm hoping Monday and Saturday don't feel different to me. UM.
Continuing that theme, I think the you know, we look
at ourselves as a cultural capital firm, and so can
we really have impact on redefining the sector and in
bringing an offering that really speaks to a cultural capital firm? UM,
(43:57):
constantly innovating in five years and have a company that's
really profitable that all the stakeholders that, like Jack says,
you know, should have their heads examined for leaving these
really cushy, great big jobs. That the equity, the value
that we've created, it changes, um, not changes their life,
because that's money, but it just it affords them the
(44:20):
freedom later on in their life to do whatever they
want to do. And that is that is the that
is the greatest I get she was thinking about that
is the greatest reward that we all got together. We
all own the company. It's ours. We've saved chunks of
equity for people to continue to come in over time
and do it in a way where everybody feels really
(44:42):
connected to the mission because it's theirs. And so in
five years we hope that that is really is paid
off in space for everybody. There's another aspect and thinking
about it that we speak about, which one of the
beauties of getting to you know, co run uh your
own company, you know, with a group of friends and
(45:04):
other people you respect, is you get to do things
in a new way, in a different way, and that
is in five years we've had we have a couple
of mantras and thesis that we'll need five years to
see if those were the right ones and see how
they play out. Um, a couple of them core ones
are though we we don't believe in the binary nature
(45:27):
of Hollywood where there's always a winner and loser. We
love working with partners, We love having agency partners, We
love working with other management companies, getting to produce with
other management companies or producers, and it's just we'd like
to be a positive member of the Hollywood community, kind
(45:50):
of taking that spirit forward. Of course it sounds dreaming,
but you know that I think that there's a possibility
to do that, and it will. It will. It'll make
the creative ecosystem a more fun place to work rather
than having it feel totally binary, right. And I also
(46:10):
think that that flows down within the ranks of your company.
You know, if, if, if we can wake up and
be generous with colleagues and new employees, the company will
just be again a happier place to work. Um and
we'll see how that plays out. I love that spirit.
Thank you both so much for your time. And I
(46:32):
want to also say thank you to Jack's mom for
making us a delicious plate of pumpkin bread, of which
I have had two pieces and I'm going to go
in for a third before i leave the pizza four.
It's a shout out to Bethwig even I love you, Mom.
(46:57):
Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave a to review
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