Former top Disney exec Kevin Mayer stepped into Deadline’s Zurich Summit Studio this past weekend where he weighed in on Hollywood’s slow reaction to harnessing talent from social media and also reflected on the post-pandemic studio streaming rush.
Mayer, who led the launch of Disney+ in November 2020, is currently co-CEO of Blackstone-backed media outfit Candle Media. Looking at the current climate of sourcing storytellers from platforms such as YouTube and Meta, Mayer noted that while Hollywood was once considered “the central engine of culture” for the world, “that has shifted quite dramatically.”
“The storytellers that Hollywood promoted and decided were the best storytellers – and often they were – ruled the roost,” he said. “That was where culture was made. What I think Hollywood missed, is that that has shifted quite dramatically. Culture is still made in Hollywood to a degree but to a larger degree it’s now made on social media and [through] influencers and, especially for younger cohorts, culture is now made elsewhere. And Hollywood missed that pretty substantially.”
He continued: “There’s been blinders on and I think there’s been a dramatic wakeup call. Too late? I don’t know but certainly the effects on the business from…social media and video games – those are the two big ones – have disrupted the entire industry.”
Mayer also reflected on the launch of Disney+ and when pressed whether he felt the major studios had rushed into the streaming business too soon in the wake of the pandemic, he was pragmatic in his response.
“When Bob Iger became CEO and I was his chief strategy guy, one of the things we discussed right off the back was windowing,” said Mayer. “Should we as studios be dictating where our audiences watch our movies? Now movies are a thing apart from how they are distributed. A movie can be a great movie and have resonance and be culturally impactful and profitable regardless of where it is distributed. It doesn’t have to be theatrical.
He continued: “From the jump, we were really considering this. Why do we need to tell people and dictate to people when they should watch our films. Shouldn’t it be more of a time thing?”
“I don’t believe there is anything sacrosanct for a delivery method for the product,” Mayer stressed. “I just don’t. Theatrical is great if people want to go to theatres. Everyone says, ‘Oh this film deserves to be seen in the theatre’ so it’s only in the theatre. Well, if it deserves to be seen in the theatre, customers should choose to see it in the theatre and if they’d rather watch it at home, so be it, is the way I see it. You just have to make sure your business models are correct.”
Mayer added that a “proliferation of films” is hindering the marketplace and too much product has “dampened the specialness of any one product because there is so much out there.”
The exec stepped into the Deadline studio right after his panel at the Zurich Summit and shared his thoughts on the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger in that panel and also in our studio.
Check out the full video above.
