How this startup is disrupting Hollywood by using data to find diverse talent

Jumpcut CEO Kartik Hosanagar joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss how his company is using data to advance diversity in film.

Video transcript

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JARED BLIKRE: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance, I'm Jared Blikre. Atomic back Jumpcut uses data to promote diversity in films, and some of their collaborators have worked on some pretty big projects, including "Pulp Fiction," "Good Will Hunting" and the list goes on. For that, I want to bring in the Jumpcut CEO Kartik Hosanagar and Ali Canal, or is it Alexandra Canal. I just want to begin, can you tell us about your company and what you do and how you came up with this idea?

KARTIK HOSANAGAR: Yeah, sure, Jared, Ali, thanks for having me. So Jumpcut is a new company. We're trying to create a more inclusive era of global film and TV, and using data to do that. It's, of course, no secret that Hollywood is an old boys club for the most part, where a few execs in a room make decisions largely based on gut and personal networks, who knows who.

And there's a cost of that kind of decision-making. There's the economic cost. Hollywood has a poor batting average. There's a social cost, Hollywood hasn't been particularly inclusive historically. In fact, I know Ali recently covered the McKinsey Report that showed that there's a $10 billion cost of poor Black representation alone. And there's a cost to audiences of the sequel culture and lack of fresh original stories. So we are using data to reimagine the way films and TV shows are developed, specifically with the goal of elevating fresh voices and stories.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah, Kartik, it's a really interesting concept, but I do have a question about the algorithm. Because what I've been reading, and correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't seem to be curated towards a specific race or region. So how can you ensure that that algorithm is discovering projects from underrepresented groups and pushing forward that diversity first mission that Jumpcut was founded on?

KARTIK HOSANAGAR: Yeah, our algorithm has many pieces to it. I think the first piece is discovering fresh new voices and storytellers. And so that includes finding people where they are. Our algorithms are scouring the internet on YouTube, on Vimeo, on Reddit, and looking for storytellers who have fresh new perspectives to offer. And it doesn't matter what their race is, what their gender is, but the point is, we are looking for fresh stories that are resonating with audiences.

We also then interact with audiences online to test their ideas and confirm that there's an audience on the other side. So we are interacting with hundreds of thousands of people and forward testing those ideas and seeing, are audiences interested in that. And then finally, we run an incubator where we take these new storytellers and take them through a six-week program where we help them go from an idea to a full series pitch or a movie treatment.

And they're mentored by really experienced Hollywood voices, like as Jared was mentioning, Lawrence Bender, who's a producer of "Pulp Fiction," "Good Will Hunting," Emmy-winning producer Shelby Stone, TV showrunner Scott Rosenbaum, all very experienced seasoned voices who come together who complement the data-driven approach and provide mentorship to our creators.

AKIKO FUJITA: Kartik, ultimately though, it's up to the studios to greenlight these projects, right? I mean, how does data address that part of it? How do you get the buy in from the executives?

KARTIK HOSANAGAR: Yeah, so I think the data plays a really important role, because I think we're at a phase in Hollywood where awareness for the need of inclusion, awareness for the business opportunity around inclusion is clear. So Hollywood execs know how to do it. And that first phase, we had already passed that, which is awareness.

The problem is, no one knows how to do it. Because diversity is still the biggest risk in Hollywood. You want to know that there's an audience on the other side when you invest in a fresh new voice. And that's where our data comes in. So we go into a studio exec's platform, execs, and we share these amazing creative stories. But we back them up with data and evidence that there's an audience on the other side, so that these are bankable stories. That there is a business behind investing in them. And so the data is a really important central piece to greenlighting these projects and stories.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: And it's also interesting to me, because we've talked to Hollywood producers before about how the audience always seems to be ahead of the studios. And I think you can look at an example like "Bridgerton" and all the success that that had, to kind of say to these studios, well, why are these challenges still there? And in your experience, why do you think that there's still so many barriers of entry to even get your foot in the door in Hollywood?

KARTIK HOSANAGAR: Yeah, I mean, I think that's the most interesting part. I think the audiences are way ahead. Audiences are first of all, more diverse than ever before. They're more global than ever before. The way they consuming content has changed. But it's the supply side that hasn't evolved. It's been the same old way. And I think the reason behind it is that Hollywood over the last few decades, has become extremely risk averse.

And it's all around execs trying to make sure you don't lose your job over making a bet. When you make a bet on a big star or a big bestselling book, you don't lose your job on that. But when you make a big risky bet on a fresh new voice and that fails, that gets you in trouble. And I think that's why Hollywood hasn't done this historically. But we are here to change that game, because we can provide them the data and the comfort that this is not a risky bet. And I think now it's time for the Hollywood execs to catch up to where the audiences are.

AKIKO FUJITA: Kartik, Hollywood has had an interesting, sometimes contentious relationship with tech. And I know a lot of creatives are going to hear this and say, I don't know about using tech to really drive the content and the creativity. How do you keep the creativity, the creative part of this when you're largely relying on data to drive the content-building process?

KARTIK HOSANAGAR: Yeah, I think that's a great question. We're very clear that the data is not meant to write the story. The data is not meant to be a crystal ball that's telling us what to do. The data is really all of our insights and tools for creators. So the data, for example, is helping us discover these creators who haven't been discovered by the big Hollywood agencies. We are finding them on YouTube and Vimeo. So it's all about finding these people.

The data is allowing us to test these ideas with audiences and tell us who's responding to an idea. The data tells us, hey, this idea from Africa actually traveled internationally. Or this story from a Hispanic writer is not a me story just for Hispanic Americans, but it's meant for everyone. It's not telling us, insert a chase sequence here. So in fact, as a CEO of the company, I'm very clear internally that the data stimulates conversations, the data is not telling the story. And we're really creating a new kind of company where creatives and data scientists come together, and ultimately, we're building the tools for creatives to be more effective.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, we'll be watching this space very closely. It's going to be interesting to see what kind of ideas come out of the incubator. Kartik Hosanagar, Jumpcut CEO, as well as Yahoo Finance's Ali Canal, thanks so much.