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RIYADH: For five decades, Larry Namer has been at the forefront of how the world creates, consumes, and experiences entertainment.<\/p>\n
As the co-founder of E! Entertainment, he turned a once \u201ccrazy\u201d idea about Hollywood into a global pop-culture powerhouse.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything 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\u2019t want to know about just Tom Cruise and what he\u2019s going to do in his next movie,\u201d said Namer.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThey want to know more about Tom Cruise\u2019s life and how he deals with his kids and his feelings about relationships in the world and everything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I go to another country, I\u2019m a guest there. I\u2019m not there to change their government. I\u2019m not there to create all these guys. I\u2019m 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\u2019s the way I approach (things).\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Russian and Chinese markets, he said: \u201cI\u2019m one of the few Americans that have ever really been able to penetrate. Those are pretty hard markets, I\u2019ve got to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, you know, particularly China, I think we\u2019re still the only Western company that is allowed to function in the media world there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Namer said respect was important in China in terms of language and culture. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we take stuff like, you know, like, here\u2019s what we do in Australia. So we\u2019ll subtitle in English for you and whatever. We don\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realize that\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow with AI, if you were to say to me, \u2018Larry, could you create a TV series proposal for a series on coffee cups\u2019 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\u2019t let AI write it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cBut what I\u2019ll do is I\u2019ll read the research the same way I\u2019d 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\u2019t believe, and I don\u2019t necessarily believe everything that I read.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Saudi Arabia\u2019s Vision 2030 reshapes the global entertainment landscape, Namer has a front-row view of how the Kingdom is becoming part of Hollywood\u2019s next chapter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the Kingdom\u2019s media landscape has evolved. \u201cWhen I started looking into it, there really wasn\u2019t a body of workers that could do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo even though they (Saudi Arabia) were offering incredible incentives economically, I said, \u2018Yeah, but I still have to bring in, like, all the below-the-line workers from the UK,\u2019 and by the time I finished, there were no real cost savings. That\u2019s all changed now, the way I understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Saudi Arabia can certainly be a major, major player in the creation of vertical drama. And I think there\u2019s a huge opportunity there because right now I call them soap operas on steroids.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like I married a secret billionaire or I had the alien\u2019s baby. But that\u2019s going to grow out the same way, same way reality TV grew out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Namer explained that reality television started out with shows like \u201cSurvivor,\u201d which became popular worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think vertical (movies), which again I predict is going to be the predominant way that people consume video. Right now it\u2019s soap operas. But I think the next thing you\u2019ll see is sci-fi, I think you\u2019ll see, you know, horror or that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt\u2019ll be every form of television that\u2019s out there. Every form of entertainment will be able to be done in a vertical format.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with technology, the thing that people don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n