Legacy studios are trying to catch up to their tech competitors

Topline:

David Ellison called his vision of Paramount a “media and technology enterprise,” and he’s not alone among the legacy studios competitively vying for tech talent.

Why it matters: Tech-first companies are already prominent in the entertainment industry (Amazon, Apple, Netflix), and if legacy studios want to compete with them, they have to, in some sense, become tech companies themselves. That means hiring tech workers, who studios must appeal to despite having more of a track record courting movie stars than courting computer-dwelling data and engineering talent.

Talent relations: While a talented engineer can be a star in Silicon Valley, in Hollywood they’re treated as a mere cog in the machine. That could be in part because their metrics for success are hazy at best, whereas in Silicon Valley, their output speaks for itself. Plus, there is also the issue of compensation, which can be tough for legacy studios who can’t compete with the likes of Nvidia or Microsoft and the windfall that equity in a hot tech company can offer.

The Hollywood pitch: Life in Tinseltown isn’t all bad, and recent tech layoffs means more reason for talent to cross over. The work-life balance of the sleeping-in-your-office ethos of Silicon Valley compares poorly with Hollywood’s more civilized vibe. With the work itself, tech talent can assume a wider range of responsibilities than in tech proper, where you can be stuck working on the same minute detail for years on end. Then of course, there’s the whole appeal of attending movie premieres and schmoozing with A-listers.

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