Democratizing Data in Hollywood: Jumpcut’s Kartik Hosanagar

Kartik Hosanagar wasn’t your typical Hollywood hopeful. He didn’t pack his life into a sedan, drive to Los Angeles, and work a series of part-time jobs while trying to make it big in the film industry. Kartik is a professor of business and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who penned a screenplay while on sabbatical. When he started pitching it to potential producers, he quickly discovered that the film industry can be hesitant to take risks on new writers and directors — which often means that diverse talent is overlooked. So, to help unknown talent to break into the entertainment industry, he got to work founding Jumpcut, a venture-funded startup that aims to uncover new voices. In the first episode of Season 3 of Me, Myself, and AI, our hosts talk with Kartik about how Jumpcut uses AI to identify creative individuals and help them develop their ideas into studio-ready productions. Read the episode transcript here. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders. Read more about our show and follow along with the series at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/aipodcast.  Guest bio: Kartik Hosanagar is the John C. Hower Professor of Technology and Digital Business and a professor of marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the digital economy and the impact of analytics and algorithms on consumers and society. Hosanagar is a 10-time recipient of MBA or undergraduate teaching excellence awards at The Wharton School. He is a serial entrepreneur who most recently founded Jumpcut Media, a startup that is using data to democratize opportunities in film and TV. Hosanagar has served as a department editor at the journal Management Science and has previously served as a senior editor at the journals Information Systems Research and MIS Quarterly. We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.