Arab News | Saudi Arabia has opportunity to lead media globally, say co-founder of E! Entertainment

RIYADH: For five decades, Larry Namer has been at the forefront of how the world creates, consumes, and experiences entertainment.

As the co-founder of E! Entertainment, he turned a once “crazy” idea about Hollywood into a global pop-culture powerhouse.

E! has grown into a global entertainment brand reaching more than 140 countries, showing that entertainment crosses cultures. Namer argues that all humans are 80 percent the same, and 20 percent differentiated by culture.

“There’s always been a fascination for movies and movie stars and TV stars and music stars, and we just felt nobody was really treating that well.

“Everything on, you know, particularly US television, was this very short form, you know, one soundbite thing. And we said, you know, the audience wants more. They don’t want to know about just Tom Cruise and what he’s going to do in his next movie,” said Namer.

He added: “They want to know more about Tom Cruise’s life and how he deals with his kids and his feelings about relationships in the world and everything else.

“So, you know, given 24 hours a day, we felt we could really cater to that market that wants to know more by giving them a lot of information that traditional media was not providing to them.”

Working in various markets around the world and participating in landmark entertainment projects in countries including Russia and China has provided Namer insight into tailored offerings.

“When I go to another country, I’m a guest there. I’m not there to change their government. I’m not there to create all these guys. I’m there to entertain people before they go to sleep, so they have a smile on their face when they wake up the next day, and that’s the way I approach (things).”

On the Russian and Chinese markets, he said: “I’m one of the few Americans that have ever really been able to penetrate. Those are pretty hard markets, I’ve got to say.

“And, you know, particularly China, I think we’re still the only Western company that is allowed to function in the media world there.”

Namer said respect was important in China in terms of language and culture. “It’s not like we take stuff like, you know, like, here’s what we do in Australia. So we’ll subtitle in English for you and whatever. We don’t do that.

“We realize that’s wrong. It’s when I create. The first show I created in China was called Hello Hollywood, which was kind of like E! News but made for the Chinese audience.”

Today, Namer is looking ahead to artificial intelligence, the next generation of audiences and the future of media. Over his career he has witnessed the shift from television to streaming and social media, and sees change coming.

“I think AI, if properly managed and regulated, is a great tool for creative people anywhere in the world to be able to create amazing stuff that may not have been possible before.

“I mean, I hate dating myself, but when I got involved in the business, we had these things called typewriters. And we used to have a little bottle of Wite-Out, and if you would make a mistake typing, you would white it out and type over it and stuff.”

He explained that it would take him about three months to complete a script, with time-consuming character and other changes done manually on typewriters.

“Now with AI, if you were to say to me, ‘Larry, could you create a TV series proposal for a series on coffee cups’ or whatever the subject is, it used to take me five days, but now with AI, I literally get all my research done in about 30 seconds. And then I don’t let AI write it for me.”

He added: “But what I’ll do is I’ll read the research the same way I’d read it as if it was done by a person, and then I would write, based on the research that I read and what I believe and what I don’t believe, and I don’t necessarily believe everything that I read.”

As Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reshapes the global entertainment landscape, Namer has a front-row view of how the Kingdom is becoming part of Hollywood’s next chapter.

“I think there’s a huge opportunity. There are so many great stories that come out of your part of the world (Middle East) that I think can be captured in a very interesting way that attracts global attention.

“And again, I think most storytelling is a global thing. So I have huge, you know, good feelings about what can be done in Saudi Arabia.”

He added that the Kingdom’s media landscape has evolved. “When I started looking into it, there really wasn’t a body of workers that could do it.

“So even though they (Saudi Arabia) were offering incredible incentives economically, I said, ‘Yeah, but I still have to bring in, like, all the below-the-line workers from the UK,’ and by the time I finished, there were no real cost savings. That’s all changed now, the way I understand it.”

Namer sees a bright future for vertical micro-dramas that are short-form films and series shot in a 9:16 portrait orientation specifically designed to be watched on mobile phones without rotating the screen.

“I think Saudi Arabia can certainly be a major, major player in the creation of vertical drama. And I think there’s a huge opportunity there because right now I call them soap operas on steroids.

“It’s like I married a secret billionaire or I had the alien’s baby. But that’s going to grow out the same way, same way reality TV grew out.”

Namer explained that reality television started out with shows like “Survivor,” which became popular worldwide.

“I think vertical (movies), which again I predict is going to be the predominant way that people consume video. Right now it’s soap operas. But I think the next thing you’ll see is sci-fi, I think you’ll see, you know, horror or that kind of stuff.”

He added: “It’ll be every form of television that’s out there. Every form of entertainment will be able to be done in a vertical format.

“But with technology, the thing that people don’t realize is that with AI technology, you could shoot it vertically, and then if somebody wants to watch it on a TV, the AI could realize what the fringes look like and make it.