Going Direct to the Consumer: Helping Digital Talent Build Businesses –- Dan Weinstein (Co-Founder & President, Studio71)

Dan Weinstein is the Co-Founder and President of Studio71 (formerly Collective Digital Studio). He began his career at United Talent Agency before trying his hand at the production business and ultimately becoming fascinated by digital media. In 2007, he and three partners launched Collective Digital Studio to focus on discovering and developing digital talent. German broadcaster ProSieben acquired a majority stake in the company in July 2015 and is now helping to expand the business internationally. This episode is packed with stories – from financing and producing Katt Williams’s first comedy special to creating one of the first feature films around a YouTube star. Both of these projects, Dan says, reflect the organizing thesis of Collective Digital Studio: that they could create a direct relationship between artist and consumer, leveraging data to inform the content creation and distribution strategy. He explains the decision to scale individual talents rather than pursue scaled channel aggregation...