Democratizing Data in Hollywood: Jumpcut’s Kartik Hosanagar

**Sam Ransbotham** (0:03)
How can AI help bring new ideas and products to market in industries where risk aversion is rampant? Find out today when we talk with Kartik Hosanagar, professor at the Wharton School and founder of Jumpcut, a startup helping previously undiscovered talent produce movies and TV.
Welcome to Me, Myself, and AI, a podcast on artificial intelligence in business. Each episode, we introduce you to someone innovating with AI. I'm Sam Ransbotham, professor of information systems at Boston College. I'm also the guest editor for the AI and Business Strategy Big Idea program at MIT Sloan Management Review.

**Shervin Khodabandeh** (0:42)
I'm Shervin Khodabandeh, senior partner with BCG and I co-lead BCG's AI practice in North America. Together, MIT SMR and BCG have been researching AI for five years, interviewing hundreds of practitioners and surveying thousands of companies on what it takes to build, and to deploy and scale AI capabilities across the organization, and really transform the way organizations operate.

**Sam Ransbotham** (1:10)
Today, we're talking with Kartik Hosanagar. He's a professor at the Wharton School and founder and CEO of Jumpcut.
Kartik, thanks for joining us. Welcome.

**Kartik Hosanagar** (1:17)
Well, thanks for having me, Sam and Shervin.

**Sam Ransbotham** (1:20)
So this is a bit of a different interview for me because I've known Kartik for years in academic circles, but Kartik, your latest venture is Jumpcut. I think the idea basically is to help surface new and fresh stories for Hollywood.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?

**Kartik Hosanagar** (1:34)
My new startup, it's called Jumpcut, as you mentioned. What we are doing is essentially trying to create a new data-driven studio that's reimagining the way films and TV shows are developed with the specific goal of elevating fresh new voices.
The context here that got me interested in this is Hollywood has historically been an old boys' club, a few execs making decisions on what movies get made, who's in those movies, at what budgets. All of these are just pretty much based on gut and relationships, who knows who. There are costs of this kind of decision-making. There's the economic cost. Hollywood has had historically a very poor batting average. There's the social cost by just about any measure. Hollywood has not been a particularly inclusive industry. Then there's the cost to audiences. What we're trying to do is break that mold and use data to make more objective, better decisions. Ultimately, by doing that, we can assess storytellers and stories on their merit as opposed to who is connected to whom or just gut feelings of a few people.
That's how we're trying to democratize Hollywood using data.

**Sam Ransbotham** (2:58)
Maybe your world is slightly different than mine, but no movie execs are my classes. How did you end up with this idea and how did you end up with Jumpcut?

**Kartik Hosanagar** (3:08)
Yeah, it's interesting. No movie execs in my classes either, Sam.

**Sam Ransbotham** (3:13)
Do you know that I went to high school with Julia Roberts though? There's a connection there, but anyway, sorry, keep going.

**Kartik Hosanagar** (3:20)
Well, I hope you're still connected to your high school.

**Sam Ransbotham** (3:22)
Unfortunately, this is pre-social media and I made lots of tragic mistakes in that era, but anyway, sad tale for another time.

**Kartik Hosanagar** (3:30)
Right. Yeah, look forward to catching up on that story sometime. Coming back to your question, what got me interested in this?
I've always had an interest in content and storytelling and films. I'm actually an amateur filmmaker. So back when I was a newly tenured professor and also I didn't have kids, it was an interesting combination where I had my weekends to myself. So I would go make short films and just put them out on YouTube. It was really just a fun hobby of mine. In fact, during my first sabbatical from Wharton, I wrote a screenplay. I flew into Mumbai, met with a bunch of film producers there and pitched my screenplay.
A number of them liked it. But the common response from many of them was we really like this, but how do we take a bet on a completely new writer-director? One of them said, I'll buy your script, but I can't have you direct it. You may be good, but I just can't have you direct it because I can't go to financiers and to actors and ask them to take a bet on a new voice.
And so my response back then was fair enough, makes sense. I realized why you can't do it. But at the same time, I didn't want to give my script away. So I came back. Then my sabbatical was over. So back to Wharton, back to teaching and all of that. But over the years, I've met with so many writers and directors who have shared similar perspectives. There's a friend of mine who told me it took him 15 years to break in to the industry. And he's a successful writer-director, 15 years for his first opportunity. And I hear this so many times.