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Its telling that the plot premise of the first episode for the new Apple show The Studioepisode three drops todayrevolves entirely around the notion of a Kool-Aid movie. Created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the entire show revolves around the elevation of Rogens character Matt Remick to studio head, a job he got only because he committed to getting into bed with the brand IP of a 98-year-old beverage. How the premiere episode subsequently ties in Martin Scorcese and a film about Jonestown to the Kool-Aid brand is both hilariously absurd and somehow absolutely believable. Speaking of believable, watch the scene in which filmmaker Nick Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Captain Underpants, Neighbors) pitches Remick his Kool-Aid script idea and tell me it couldnt be hitting theaters next summer. There is a scene in the first episode that undoubtedly had marketers of all stripes howling with laughter and cringing with recognition. It takes place in a boardroom of the fictional film studio Continental Studios, in which newly promoted Remick tells the studios head of marketing (played by Kathryn Hahn) that they will be making a movie based on Kool-Aid brand IP. Lets fucking go! exclaims Hahns character, holding a giant Stanley cup. I could sell the fuck out of that! Kathryn Hahn and Chase Sui Wonders [Photo: Apple TV+] We then get a very short, yet incredibly accurate, summary of the current tension in Hollywood when it comes to brand IP. Remick details why Barbie was successful. It had Greta Gerwig, a writer-director behind it, he says. It had a filmmaker’s vision. That’s what we’re going to do with Kool-Aid. We’re going to make the auteur-driven, Oscar-winning Kool-Aid film. Hahns character groans. Oh fuck me, you want to make a fucking fancy Kool-Aid movie? she says. Why? Nobody even fucking watches the Oscars anymore. Did Mario Bros win an Oscar? No, it didn’t. But you know what it did win? $1.3 billion. Rogen said last week on the podcast Armchair Expert that prior to writing the show, he and Goldberg interviewed just about every studio head, and their heads of marketing. As profanely hysterical as this show is, its depiction of the relationship between Hollywood, marketing, and brands is rooted in an immediately recognizable reality. I spoke to sources that include execs and creatives who work across brands and entertainment, studio marketers, and yes, Kool-Aid parent Kraft Heinz, to see just how recognizable it really is. Here are three things The Studio gets right. [Photo: Apple TV+] The Marketer Kathryn Hahn is both brilliant and brilliantly over-the-top, but her characters role in the studio decision making process is illustrated perfectly. The modern studio marketer is now a part of the project approval process for films, given the ongoing challenges of getting our attention and convincing us to actually go to the movie theaters. But just as Remick initially ignores her advice, the marketers are also at the mercy of those above them in the studio food chain. In his Armchair Expert interview, Rogen said (starting around 50-minute mark), even though the marketer is on the greenlight committee, Often they get directly overruled, he said. They would say, We should not make this movie! We cannot sell it! And then they’re told (by studio execs) Guess what, we made it anyway and if it fails you’re the one who’s going to get fired. That was just a really funny dynamic to have in the show. Of course, sometimes that dynamic works incredibly well. Back in 2023, I spoke to Universals CMO Michael Moses about Cocaine Bear, which went on to make $88 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. Moses department helped boost the hype around that film by making fun social posts like the bear snorting the chalk lines of the football field, and creating a 8-bit, Pac-Man-style online game called The Rise of Pablo Escobear. Rogen told the podcast that the studio marketers he spoke to view themselves as more creative than the executives. They’re like, ‘We actually make stuff. We create things. We’re making commercials, content, posters, we’re thinking of little ads, while these guys (execs) are just sitting in rooms and giving notes, said Rogen. Studio marketers I spoke to on background told me that the show has been a hot topic in their office hallways. They said that the balance between how recognizable and farcical it is, is a ton of fun, and they love Hahns sweatily trendy marketer and her wilingness to tell the truth. Bryan Cranston [Photo: Apple TV+] The Brand Tension Patient zero of Hollywood’s latest Great Brand IP Experiment is obviously Barbie, and the iconic doll subsequently catches some hilariously vulgar strays in The Studio. While the hype around brands and Hollywood is very real, there is really a small number of companies like Superconnector Studios, ACE Content, and Modern Arts that have been able to bridge the two in a meaningful and consistent way. Modern Arts cofounder and cochief creative officer Zac Ryder says The Studios first episode nails how hungry Hollywood is for IP that it believes audiences already know and love. And I think it nails how hungry brands are to be part of pop culture in a real way, says Ryder. Now more than ever, they need each other if theyre going to survive. Theres a sense of desperation to the episode, which I think is spot on. In the wake of Barbies success back in 2023, Mattel announced plans for more IP-driven film projects that sound straight out of The Studiolike a Polly Pocket movie directed by Lena Dunham, or a Barney movie produced by Daniel Kaluuya. Dunham dropped out of the former last year, but Mattel confirmed to Fast Company earlier this month the film is still in development. The Barney project is very much in progress, written by Ayo Edebiri and co-developed and produced by A24. This sounds straight from the Remick playbook. Ryder says a lot of studio execs still think of brands as a blank check. That a brand will just go along with anything for an opportunity to be involved in a project, he says. The connection between Kool-Aid and the Jonestown massacre is an insanely far fetched, hilarious example. But I do think theres some truth to it. However, as evidenced in the dramatically slowing pace of brand IP projects being announced since the initial Barbie afterglow, that attitude towards brands has evolved. There are a lot more executives and producers in the business who see the value a brand can bring to the table, especially when it comes to marketing and understanding an audience, says Ryder. Ryder says there are insights for brand marketers watching The Studio. Make sure you arent just getting your brand involved in a project because you want to tell people about your movie at a cocktail party, he says. Be very clear and very intentional with what you want the brand to get out of the deal. Also, know what you bring to the table. In many ways, the studios need you more than you need them. Martin Scorsese [Photo: Apple TV+] The Kool-Aid Movie While Martin Scorceses repurposed Jonestown film is so very clearly miles over the line, Stollers treatment is entirely believable. Superconnector Studios cofounder Jae Goodman says that its believability extends beyond the fictional world of The Studio. Despite the hilarity of the brand’s role in the studio, no chance any reasonable brand manager stays officially connected to the studio once the Jonestown idea appears, says Goodman. If the storyline veers away from Scorcese’s Jonestown, then I think there’s an opportunity down the line to do an actual Seth-and-Evan-led Kool Aid movie. One thing that nagged me while watching this episode was just how visible and upfront Kool-Aid was in all the jokes. The iconic Kool-Aid Man character even makes an appearance in a quick TIKTok dance diversion created by Hahns marketing team. Could the real Kool-Aid brand actually be involved here? Sources close with the brand and its parent Kraft Heinz say that Rogen and Goldberg did approach the brand, including sharing scripts and rough edits, in the hopes Kool-Aid would be officially involved. Obviously, the Jonestown plotline and jokes got in the way of that. But sources also said that Kraft Heinz has been in discussions with Apple to explore potential paths forward. While the shows portrayal of Kool-Aid may not always align with its brand ethos, the company recognizes the value in having its brands in the cultural zeitgeist. Its refreshing to see that a brand has enough self-awareness and confidence to not freak out over its portrayal in a subversive comedy. Ive got a feeling that Kool-Aid isnt the last IRL brand to get name-checked and more as the show goes on. As much as Mattel must be doing its best Lloyd Christmas impression while watching the show, do you think the folks at Kraft Heinz are cautiously optimistic for where all this could lead? Mr. Kool-Aid has a catchphrase for that.
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On the evening of January 7, the Eaton Fire hit Altadena, destroying more than 10,000 commercial and residential homes and displacing thousands of families. Just a little over two months later, and this historically Black community is facing a new threat. Shortly after the fire, a private developer paid $550,000 in cash for the first vacant lot left behind from the wildfires, about $100,000 above asking price. In the days since, at least 13 more properties have sold, at least half of them by offshore private developers. But community leaders are working to beat back the tide. Last month, a Pasadena-based housing justice nonprofit purchased a burned lot in the neighborhood, marking the first Altadena property that has been removed from the market and protected in a community land bank. Jasmin Shupper, a Pasadena resident and founder of Greenline Housing Foundation, worked with land use attorney Remy De La Peza to purchase the lot using a $500,000 grant from The Pasadena Foundation. The pair is speaking with other residents about purchasing their fire-burned properties and is offering Greenline as an alternative buyer for any property owners who need to sell but would like to keep the land in the communitys hands. Greenline has positioned itself to act as a land bank, holding the property to eventually transfer it for community use. Its a way for people to protect the land from acquisition costs that rise on a speculative market while community members decide how to best use the property as Altadena reimagines its future. Most of the buyers were LLCs or corporate entities, a number of them were multipurchase buyers, which means theyre purchasing three or four lots, Peza says. Thats an investment strategy purchase. Its unfolding exactly as she and other community members feared when the fires hit, Peza says. Meanwhile, she says, philanthropic groups have raised millions for recovery since the Eaton Fire, but few of those dollars are flowing toward community land bank initiatives. She and Shupper are constantly being asked to speak with potential funders who ask how they can help. While they have been very clear that what they need is help acquiring the land, the money has not come in. We cannot compete with these developers, says Peza. We need philanthropy donors to step up, or Altadena will end up permanently in the hands of corporations. While state officials have put forward some legislation to protect the community from private investors, including bills SB 782 and SB 658, Peza says its not enough. One of the challenges with state legislation is that the community is still beholden to the state legislative cycle and calendar. None of the bills that were put forward were passed through the urgency process; even if they pass, they wont be put into legislation until the fall. Peza notes that Altadena does not have the same legislative limitations at the county level; rather than having its own city government, as most municipalities do, Altadena is managed by the Los Angeles County supervisors. Technically, local policy can be passed at any point, and there is more that we need to be demanding, Peza says. We need to be focusing on the county level and making sure the county supervisor is taking care of us. Why Altadena residents are vulnerable to outside investors Peza believes Altadena is particularly vulnerable to displacement through disaster capitalism because it has a high concentration of Black and Brown residents. Theres also a high number of seniors who are not as connected on social media, where the majority of resources are being shared. One main factor pushing residents to consider selling is the isolation this disaster has caused. Altadena mirrored an idyllic movie-like community before the fires, she says, where neighbors knew and cared for each other. Now residents have been forced to go to shelters, stay with people in other parts of California, or simply leave the state altogether. When you dont have your team rallying together, its hard. People cant just go next door and ask their neighbor, Hey, what are you doing? Are you thinking about selling? like they used to, Peza says. That social network and capital has been lost. With its older population and multigenerational owners, many in Altadena also lack home insurance. Once a homeowner pays off their mortgage, home insurance is not necessarily required. With insurance rates spiking in recent years, many people in this community have forgone their home insurance and are left with nothing except the land. Their only option is to sell. At this rate, Altadena cannot wait, says Peza. For residents who lost their homes and dont plan to rebuild, but do want the future land use to remain in the community, Greenlines leaders say its land bank is available to purchase those lots. Through their land bank model, Greenline is offering a community-centered alternative to selling to private purchasers. After the purchase, Greenline will work with residents, local housing organizations, and community stakeholders to determine the shared needs and desires for the land. It is important that the community knows that there is an organization that is here for them, and that is committed to ensuring the wonderful community of Altadena is protected and restored, Shupper says. We hope this is the first of many such purchases and that it will be a beacon of hope for the community. This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit news outlet covering solutions for equitable cities. Sign up for Next Citys newsletter for its latest articles and events.
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When it comes to wealth, most of us think about money. You measure your financial wealth by looking at your assets and your debts. But there are other areas in your life where you can be wealthy, including time. Would you consider yourself time-affluent or are you living the life of a time pauper? Time wealth is all about freedom to choose how you spend your time, who you spend it with, where you spend it, and when you trade it for other things, says Sahil Bloom, author of The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life. Building time wealth is about awareness and action, says Bloom. Be aware that time is your most precious asset and the one thing that you can never get back. Then act in relation to that awareness by treating time accordingly. Do not allow it to simply exist where you are a passive taker of time, says Bloom. Create time for the things that you care about. Time and energy While you could make more money, you cant make more time. You can, however, prioritize energy-creating tasks that unlock more time in your day. Outcomes follow energy, he explains. The things that you are pulled towardsthe things that you have a natural attraction towardstend to be the things where you end up generating the best outcomes. For example, when youre working on something that interests you, investing a unit of energy could generate 10, 100, or 1,000 times the outcome over something that feels like drudgery. In effect, you unlock time by generating the same output with fewer units of input. You now have more units of input, or energy, that are freed up to do other things. Identifying energy-creating tasks goes back to awareness and action. For the awareness piece, Bloom recommends creating an energy calendar. Looking at your schedule, color code your activities according to the energy they created or drained. If a task lifts you up and makes you feel energized during or after the activity, mark it green. If it was neutral, mark it yellow. And if you physically felt depleted from the activity, mark it red. After a week, you will have a clear visual perspective of the types of activities that create energy versus drain energy from your life. Let energy drive your schedule Awareness is the starting point for making slight, subtle changes over longer periods of time. While Bloom says you probably wont be able to eliminate all the energy-draining activities from your lifethats a bit of a pipe dreamslowly reposition your calendar. For example, prioritize energy-creators at the start of your day to ensure you get the most done. Home in on them and making them a bigger part of your life. Also, adjust the energy-draining things to make them less depleting. For example, Bloom worked in a high intensity finance role in 2019 and 2020. Phone calls and video meetings, which consisted of at least five hours of his day, were a huge energy drainer for him. The first reaction when you hear something like this is to think, Well, I can’t change that. That’s a huge part of my job, he says. But if you scrape a layer deeper, you can ask the question, Are there adjustments I can make to the way that I’m doing this that would make it neutral or energy creating? Focus on what drains your energy Bloom decided he could take some of the calls while on a walk, which created energy because he was outside, moving around. Also, I can’t multitask when I’m walking, so I’m more focused, more present on the call, he says. I took half of my phone calls and made them into walking calls. I was still doing the exact same work, but I was doing it in a way that was significantly more energy creating, which led to significantly better outcomes. Another way to let energy drive your schedule is by batching activities to leverage the different levels. For example, confine some of the energy drainers to a single block, so you arent hitting speed bumps throughout the day. Another suggestion is to put two energy creating activities around an energy draining activity. Manage them more effectively, so that you can get through to the other side more efficiently and in a happier date of mind, says Bloom. Prioritizing what matters The entire point of considering time a state of wealth is to recognize that it is your most precious asset, and you need to intentionally design our time now. In fact, Bloom argues that the most dangerous word in the dictionary is later. We say it to ourselves all the time, he says. I’ll spend more time with my kids later. I’ll prioritize my relationship with my partner and friends later. Ill find my purpose later. Later becomes another word for never, because those things won’t exist in the same way. Later, your kid won’t be five years old. Later, your partner and friends won’t be there for you if you’re not there for them now. You won’t magically wake up with purpose later. Investing time now will pay off in dividends later, creating time wealth that can be richer than money can buy.
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