CIVIC’s Post

I just watched Indiana Jones on The Walt Disney Company streaming service #disneyplus. Disney+ is now the third most popular streaming service after Netflix and Prime Video & Amazon Studios. Content is king, and Disney is doing what they can to have great content. Indiana Jones is Disney's attempt at making great content and expanding their service. I love movies. I love the storytelling and character arcs and the plot and the conflicts. In this case, the ending needed a better story. Not to spoil it, but Indiana Jones wakes up disappointed. A different ending could have been a great character arc where it ends the story of Indiana Jones with a real bang. It could have ended with Helena exploring and finding a historic hieroglyphic with Archimedes and an unknown figure in the background. Who is the mystery figure? Helena figures out it was Indiana Jones ... fade to black. Storytelling is important. It's important in Hollywood, and it's important in business. It's not enough to answer a question. It's way more important to tell a story that describes the characters, context, conflict, changes, and conclusion so people can be inspired by what the future will look like. As I try to tell stories now, I'm adding too many words and rambling too much. I'm not being clear, concise, or compelling - I'm just worried about being correct. It's irritating. I have to get better at storytelling. I'm not a natural storyteller, and, for me, it takes a lot of practice. Great leaders know how to tell great stories. They know how to communicate in ways that are motivating and where people can imagine a better future. Whether it's introducing a new product or implementing a process change, you can motivate people by giving them a clear vision of the problem, solution, and the result. Storytelling is an underrated leadership skill.

Here are the scores on the doors as we entered the weekend. Barbie streams (😎) ahead, with 4.1m Oppenheimer on 2.6 but with a similar share of on-platform viewing - i.e. share of current subscribers. Two important metrics to track over the coming weeks: 1 - Total views, both Barbie and Oppenheimer will see a boost in viewing due to Oscars publicity - but how much of a lead will the Best Picture (and 6 other awards) grant for Oppenheimer compared to an effective snub, only the Best Original Song win for Barbie. 2 - With Disney timing a range of discounts and offers across the globe, to tie in with Poor Things core streaming window, how many of these big budget titles will become the "first watched" show, i.e. how many subscribers will be drawn into a sub specifically because of these movies. We'll check back in to reveal all, in a couple of weeks time once the data-dust has settled! #oscars2024 #oppenheimer #barbie #imjustken

Watch The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video:

💫 To the Stars 🪐 A story of determination, creativity, and a relentless pursuit of a vision that challenges societal norms. "To the Stars" is an essential read for fans of the series, television historians, and anyone interested in the convergence of entertainment, culture, and innovation during one of the most dynamic periods of American television history. #StarTrek #StarTrekBooks https://lnkd.in/gQWYRW3n

Ok. One view of the Take-Over:

I absolutely cannot wait for this ❤️ . I'm already crying (happy, inspired tears). But if you think this kind of moving, informative content is a once-off from the ABC, you'd be wrong. So many people (especially those of my generation and younger), underestimate how good the content coming out of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is. I'm talking well-produced, beautifully crafted, topical, intellectual and most importantly, entertaining content - even if it's clearly done on a tight budget! A few examples of the content I'm talking about... 🥕 I just finished the 3-part docuseries ("Maggie Beer’s Big Mission") featuring Australian icon Maggie Beer on a mission to improve our nation's aged care system, with a focus on food (of course). I thought I knew what it was like inside aged care facilities and what could be done to improve them - this show taught me so much more about the complexities of this issue. 🤯 I'm loving the new "I Was Actually There" series, based on the format of "You Can't Ask Me That", which interviews people who witnessed some of Australia's biggest historical news events. It's a perspective on these events that I've never heard before, and teaches you a lot about human resilience. 🔪 Nemesis (released ~6 months ago) showcases the Liberal party's time in government and follows previous similar docuseries on previous governments - The Killing Season, The Howard Years & Labor in Power. If you're a politics nerd and love watching the power dynamics play out, this is like watching back-to-back reality TV contestant interviews but featuring politicians. Plus you can't go past the old favourites... 🏛 Our Sunday mornings are often spent watching Insiders with David Speers, helping me stay up to date on the political events of the week. 📰 7:30 regularly opens my eyes to issues I'd never even heard about before. 📺 Gruen was probably my 'gateway drug' to the ABC many moons ago, even before I worked in the advertising industry. Now it's a mainstay of our household's TV watching schedule and the format just keeps on delivering 🥇 . 🎵 And who can forget Spicks and Specks - still my favourite TV quiz show of all time (only just nudging out Hard Quiz - another ABC delight). Our national broadcaster cops a lot of (sometimes fair) criticism, but I think they're doing a decent job of evolving into a more digital-first platform ( 👋 iview, ABC Listen & ABC News app), while continuing to produce content that reflects the biggest issues facing modern Australia - and that's no mean feat for an organisation that's been around since 1932. I'm an ABC die-hard and yes, I'm proud of it 😂 .

End impaired driving in our lifetime! Please share your thoughts with our federal leaders. Here’s how you can weigh in on technology to prevent impaired driving (fox13news.com)

Good insights gained during this Capsule Course on NBC16

Very good insight! I agree, the landscape is shifting. Adapt or die. As a TV and movie production company we can align with the streaming platforms, and with half a dozen companies reach HALF of the entire world's population. By doing so we can also control our own destiny and costs. That is alluring. The media distribution marketplace will dramatically change in the next 36 months. Is there a place for cinema, theatres, streaming, and other alternative delivery methods to co-exist? Time will tell, we all adapt, we all evolve, that is the nature of business. Here is a prelude of things to come...

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