M+E Daily

Scoff at the term “influencer” all you want, it doesn’t change the fact that the influencer world is a huge business, to the tune of an estimated $21 billion this year. And Hollywood should be taking notes on how influencers operate.

At the May 23 Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS), at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles, Ryan Riggs, COO of creative production firm King Studio, will share an inside look into the operations behind a global influencer, how they created a global audience with their followers, and how their love of movie-making magic has helped drive their growth in a short amount of time, in the closing keynote “When Stars Collide (What Hollywood Can Learn From 120 Million-Plus Followers and Billions of Views!”

The creator economy has transformed media and entertainment since YouTube was launched nearly 20 years ago, and the pandemic only solidified their approach to eyeballs and engagement.

The “stars” of this space — the influencers who leverage content creation and creativity into their brand and audience — have grown into massive brands and companies dedicated to driving their direct-to-consumer relationship through platforms (Vine, TikTok, Twitch, YouTube, etc.).

Sound familiar? Much like Hollywood’s stars helped start the influencer market these new influencers will become the stars of tomorrow.

Guy Finley, president of MESA, and Sealand Flynn, major enterprise account manager for Fortinet, will join in on the discussion.

The annual Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) Spring event is the industry’s largest gathering of media and entertainment’s CIOs and top technology minds, bringing together the IT, data, and security communities of the industry.

Held as a “hybrid” in-person and virtual event, those not in Los Angeles can attend via Zoom or the MESAverse, MESA’s virtual work environment for its members and communities to watch live presentations, network, and step on the stage to share opinions.

The MESAverse uses ICVR’s RendezVu, a proprietary, interactive 3D-world application that will allow for hybrid live and virtual events and regular day-to-day interactions that go far beyond video conferencing.

The Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit event is produced by MESA in association with the Hollywood IT Society (HITS) and presented by Amazon Studios Technology, with sponsorship by Fortinet, Genpact, Prime Focus Technologies, Signiant, Softtek, Convergent, Gracenote, Altman Solon, AppTek, Ascendion, Coresite, EPAM, MicroStrategy, Veritone, CDSA, EIDR and PDG Consulting.

To register for the event, click here.

To find out more about upcoming MESA events or to get involved as a sponsor please contact [email protected].