Is This Really a Thing?

UCF College of Business
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Business can be faddish. Paul Jarley, dean of the UCF College of Business, is on a mission to separate fads from fundamental change that will impact students. Join us as we chat with experts, enthusiasts and interesting people to talk business and pose the question… Is This Really a Thing?

  1. 11/06/2025

    Is a Martian Economy Really a Thing?

    Paul Jarley: It's Space Week at UCF and I'm like a kid in a candy store. So many questions. For one, everyone's talking about going to Mars, but why? What problem are we solving? What does Mars offer that other planets or the moons don't? And if the answer is survival or curiosity, does that really require an economy, people trading air, power and data in some kind of cosmic barter system? Or is Mars just a science project? Let's be real. Most moms or dads did their kids science projects. Nobody ever monetized anything from any of them. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, Is This Really a Thing? On to our show. In the past few years, the College has been undergoing a transformation. We've been asked to build a Business School that's a key asset to Florida's leading engineering and technology university. That's meant bringing in people who are a little different from our typical pragmatic, data-driven faculty. The ones who teach students to manage people and PNLs. A few of these new faces can fairly be called dreamers. One of them is Zaheer Ali. He, along with Greg Autry is leading our space commercialization efforts, including our space MBA. It's not a nickname, it's a space MBA. As we were setting up for Space Week, Z claimed that a Martian economy would really be a thing. Well, he said something like that. I gave him a skeptical look, he countered with a panel of experts. Listen in. Zaheer Ali: Well, thank you Dean Jarley. I like to say that, you know, in our business, we turn sci-fi into sci-reality. And one of the people who helps make sci-fi and is now helping make science reality is Danica Vallone of the Making Space Agency. Her path to space is very interesting coming from Hollywood of things like costumes and sets of such high fidelity and accuracy that the space industry said we need some of that. In my time at NASA, one of the things we did was we always built very high fidelity simulators and simulation systems to prepare people and equipment for the challenges of the space environment. So welcome Danica. Danica Vallone: Thank you very much. Zaheer Ali: We also have Dr. Pascal Lee of the Mars Institute, of the SETI Institute, one of the leading planetary scientists in the US and indeed the world Co-Chair of the National Space Society Space Settlement Summit and International Space Development Conference. Welcome, sir. Paul Jarley: So I'm going to start this conversation by asking the same question I ask anybody who pitches me an idea, what problem does this solve? If you're going to Mars and establishing an economy, what problem does that solve? Danica Vallone: Mars expert over here should probably have first crack. Pascal Lee: This is an interesting way to frame the question. I'm not interested in space exploration to solve a problem. I'm interested in drawn to space exploration and Mars exploration in particular because as a scientist, I'm interested in this quest for life. We often say we're looking for life on Mars. What we fail to specify is that we're looking for the first example of an alien form of life. And we're not talking about little green men or some intelligent form of life. We know that Mars hasn't had that in its history, but we're looking for another example of life. A different biology from ours. All life on earth is connected and going to Mars would solve possibly that problem, which is how alone are we? Is there some other form of life even within our own solar system? That would solve the problem in the sense of giving us a fuller perspective of what we mean here on Earth. What are we as a phenomenon in the universe? Are we something really exceptional? Are we common? So that's the scientific quest that I think would be solved by g...

    34 min

  2. 10/27/2025

    Is the $1 Billion Powerpoint Really a Thing?

    We’ve all sat through bad slide decks—but what about the ones that change history? In this episode of Is This Really a Thing?, Dean Paul Jarley is joined by Jim Balaschak, Dr. Mike Pape, and Derek Saltzman to explore whether the so-called “billion-dollar PowerPoint” is myth or reality. From Airbnb and Tesla’s iconic pitch decks to the role of storytelling, trust, and investor psychology, they unpack what makes a presentation powerful, what doesn’t, and whether AI or new tools might one day dethrone PowerPoint. Featured Guests Michael Pape, Ph.D. - Dr. Phillips Entrepreneur in Residence & Professor of Practice, Management Jim G. Balaschak - Principal, Deanja, LLC Derek Saltzman - Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Soarce Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: We've all sat through terrible slide decks, but every so often a PowerPoint does more than communicate. It creates value. Think of the pitch deck that launched Airbnb, the presentation that convinced investors to fund Tesla or the strategy decks that shape billion dollar mergers. So is the billion dollar PowerPoint really a thing? Can a few slides actually change the course of business history, or is it just a fancy way of describing really good storytelling? This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, Is This Really a Thing? Onto our show. To help me figure this out, I've invited three guests. Jim Balaschak is an alum of the college, in our Hall of Fame, and a serial investor. Dr. Mike Pape is an Entrepreneur in Residence here at the College of Business, and Derek Saltzman is a former winner of the Joust and is co-founder of a company called Soarce. Thank you gentlemen for being here today. We've all seen really bad PowerPoints. Talk a little bit about what makes a great one. Jim, I'll start with you. Jim Balaschak: A PowerPoint that catches my eyes shows a big potential market, a problem they've identified that they have a solution for that they can make money on. It's not necessarily always the slides, but the slides can quickly convey the idea of the thoughts. And a lot of times before I meet with a founder, I'm emailed the pitch deck and going through the pitch deck helps me determine do I want to pursue this to the next step, get on the call with the founder, have them pitch it to me? I think it's a good way to open the door. Paul Jarley: The quality of the pitch deck tells you something about how serious and well thought out this is, right? So a schlocky one can really close the door, maybe more than a really good one can enhance it. Is that fair in your view? Derek Saltzman: Yeah. Paul Jarley: Derek, what do you think? Derek Saltzman: I think there's a lot to take into consideration with the audience and the stage gate of when you're first starting a pitch or when you're trying to interact. There's multiple decks for multiple stage gates. So in the first beginning intro, like for instance, how Jim said, when you're trying to send and get that initial meeting, it's all about a hook. Can you describe what you do in the most succinct, effective way possible to get the message across of what the problem is, how you're solving that problem, and what's the revenue potential like he described? Because that's what all investors are really looking for. Once you move past that initial stage gate, you have much more detailed decks that go into your financials that go into your true revenue model, your business model, maybe your IP strategy, and a variety of other topics. The overall optics and the overall clear messaging is I'd say the two biggest things. Paul Jarley: Mike, what do you tell students? Michael Pape: The way I deal with the pitch deck is treat it as just one element of a much bigger picture.

    21 min

  3. 09/29/2025

    Is The Quarterly Report Really a Thing?

    Quarterly earnings reports have been a fixture of American business for more than 50 years ... but are their days numbered? Earlier this month, President Donald Trump reignited debate by suggesting companies should only report twice a year, a move he says would cut costs and free executives to focus on the long term. But would fewer reports build stronger businesses, or erode trust in the markets? In this episode of Is This Really a Thing?, Dean Paul Jarley sits down with UCF College of Business Hall of Fame members Paul Gregg and Jim Balaschak, along with accounting faculty member EB Altiero Poziemski, to examine whether the quarterly report is an outdated ritual or a critical safeguard. Could its demise really be a thing? Featured Guests EB Altiero Poziemski, MSA Program Director & Advisor / Associate Lecturer Paul Gregg, Finance Executive in Residence Jim G. Balaschak - Principal, Deanja, LLC Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Sometimes things just come together. Last week I read something about the President's proposal to shift from quarterly to semi-annual earnings reports. That same week I was holding the College's fall meeting of our Dean's Advisory Board. The Board is filled with folks who have a direct interest in this debate. So I convened a quick panel to gain insights into the likely death of the quarterly report. Paul Gregg is an experienced CFO, member of the College of Business Hall of Fame and an Executive in Residence in the Department of Finance. He is joined by Jim Balaschak, a fellow Hall of Famer and serial investor, and EB Altiero Poziemski, a faculty member in the Dixon School of Accounting. Quarterly earnings reports have been with us for 50 years. President Trump has floated the idea of going European and cutting back to semi-annual reporting. Would that save money, destroy trust in markets or both? And what happens when AI makes real time disclosure possible? In this episode, we ask whether the cadence of reporting is about efficiency or about faith in the system itself. Could the end of the quarterly earnings report really be a thing? Stay tuned. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, Is This Really a Thing? Onto our show. EB, let me start with you. Talk a little bit about when the quarterly report first came about and why, and the changes over the years. EB Altiero Poziemski: The requirement to actually have any financial reporting whatsoever from our public companies started with the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. So that was the first time that there was a law that said a publicly traded company had to periodically report their results to their investors. Paul Jarley: This was a response that Great Depression, right? EB Altiero Poziemski: Yes. Following on that, in 1955, that was when the requirement for semi-annual reports was added to the rules, and so we saw that sometime between the original 1934 act and 1955, there was an increased demand for more timely information about these companies. And then from there, we didn't see quarterly reporting required until 1970. So in the grand scheme of things, it's actually a fairly recent development and not entirely a settled one either because we're here talking about it right now. But Donald Trump also brought this up in 2018, actually brought it to the SEC for comment. It did go out for public comment at that time, and in 2013, the European Union actually abolished quarterly reporting for the companies that they regulate. So it's been kind of a push and pull over time. Paul Jarley: Paul, you've been in the corporate world for a lot of years, what actually do you need to report? Paul Gregg: First of all, the report is unaudited, unlike the 10-K, which is an audited report.

    18 min

  4. 09/15/2025

    Are Pet Influencers Really a Thing?

    From Lassie to Grumpy Cat to Ruby the golden doodle, pets have long captured our hearts—but today, they’re also capturing serious market share. In this episode of Is This Really a Thing?, Dean Paul Jarley dives into the booming world of pet influencers with UCF Marketing expert Dr. Carolyn Massiah and Amber Downs, creator of @orlandoodle. Together, they explore why pets are such powerful connectors, how authenticity and branding drive this unique space, and whether pet influencing is just internet fluff or a lasting force shaping consumer behavior. Featured Guests Carolyn Massiah, Ph.D. - Associate Chair, Department of Marketing & Associate Lecturer, Marketing Amber Downs - Dog Mom, Pet Influencer, @orlandoodle (Instagram) Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: Smokey Bear told us that only we could prevent wildfires. Rin Tin Tin and Lassie became household names. Boo The Pomeranian and Grumpy Cat sold merch. So here's the question, were these the first pet influencers? This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, Is This Really a Thing? Onto our show. At first glance, it sounds like something new. Dogs in sunglasses, cats with their own merch. But if you think about it, animals have been influencing us for decades. Mr. Ed certainly influenced Wilbur. On today's episode, we're asking whether pet influencers are just internet fluff or a real force shaping culture, consumer behavior, and marketing. To help me sort this out and decide whether it's just hype or real and what lessons we can draw from it, I've got Amber Downs, the dog mom, a pet influencer who lives this every day, and Dr. Carolyn Massiah, our resident expert on all things marketing. Amber, let's start with you. How did you decide to become a pet influencer? Well, technically your pet. So tell us about your pet and how you got into this business. Amber Downs: In 2019, I adopted a golden doodle named Ruby. She was six months old. My life was changed forever. At that point in time, as we all know, a couple months later, the world changed. During that point in time, I kind of shifted my Instagram, my personal Instagram content to share ways that we could connect with the community, ways we could support small businesses. And as we stayed in that pandemic state for a while, I realized I had this young dog that needed a way to interact with the world, get out of the house a little bit. So I began sharing both dog-friendly businesses and dog-friendly activities in the central Florida area. So during that period of time, I created this new @orlandoodle Instagram account where I share dog-friendly things to do as well as my favorite dog products and my favorite things in the pet industry. Paul Jarley: Did you just wake up at night and decide to do this, or was it based on something you were doing before you became a pet influencer? Amber Downs: I've always loved social media. I've always enjoyed sharing my favorite things. I had a blog and a different social media account years before, but it really just happened really slowly. I started out, like I said, sharing about things in the community that we could assist during the pandemic ways we could spend our money to help others, and then just slowly shifted to this dog-friendly content. Paul Jarley: What do you think it is about pets that captures people's imagination? And is a pet influencer different than a human influencer, and how? Amber Downs: I think that we connect with the pet part of the account really quickly and we fall in love with this animal, and then we get to know the family and the human around the account and then begin to connect with the account as a whole. Paul Jarley: So Carolyn's nodding her head.

    23 min

  5. 09/15/2025

    Is Layaway Really a Thing ... Again?

    Is layaway making a comeback—or has it simply been rebranded as “buy now, pay later”? In this episode of Is This Really a Thing?, Dean Paul Jarley sits down with Jim Adamczyk, Chief Strategy Officer at FAIRWINDS, to unpack the surprising history (and psychology) of delayed payments. From Christmas shopping in the 1970s to today’s Klarna and Affirm apps, they explore why consumers keep returning to installment plans, what it means for financial health, and whether AI could reshape how we manage spending and debt. Featured Guests Jim Adamczyk - Chief Strategy Officer, FAIRWINDS Episode Transcription Paul Jarley: If you're as old as I am, you know, things come back around. Today, we're going to talk about an old classic: layaway. Is it back? Is it hiding under a different name? Should you really put your lunch on layaway? Or buy now, pay later. To help me figure this out, I'm joined in this episode by Jim Adamczyk. Jim is a UCF alum, a member of our College of Business Hall of Fame and is the current Chief Strategy Officer at FAIRWINDS. We recorded this podcast live in front of 100-plus students in The EXCHANGE, and we're bringing it to you now. Listen in. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, Is This Really a Thing? Onto our show. So when I was a kid, my mother spent half of her annual income on Christmas. I'm not kidding. We grew up with relatively modest means, and so she would start shopping in June for Christmas. And the family didn't have a huge amount of money, so she would buy things on what was called layaway. Basically, you went in and you picked out your item and you gave it to the store and you promised to pay for it before you would pick it up and you had to agree to a schedule. And I was driving somewhere a couple of weeks ago and I was listening to the radio and I think it was Burlington Coat Factory was talking about their layaway program. Literally, I hadn't heard about layaway in probably 40 years. And so today Jim and I are going to talk about layaway, what it was, how it differs from Buy Now Pay Later, or rent to own things that many of you might see, why it's on the comeback and what might replace it after that. So thanks for joining us today, Jim. Jim Adamczyk: Always happy to be here. Paul Jarley: What is layaway? Had you ever experienced layaway? Jim Adamczyk: When I was in high school, I was dating somebody and I remember there was a Montgomery Ward in Altamonte Springs and I put a present on layaway. And by the time I got the layaway, I was no longer with the person anymore, so my first experience was: layaway is not great. Paul Jarley: Just so you understand kind of the world we're living in at that time, people didn't have credit cards, people didn't have debit cards. Jim Adamczyk: The main way to pay for it was cash. You took cash out and you went to the store and buy it, but if you didn't have the cash, your primary means of credit was layaway. And it's not really credit in the sense that you don't have the item, so you're kind of saving each month. It's like a savings plan to end up eventually buying something. It's almost like delayed gratification in a world of instant gratification today. Paul Jarley: Right? And if you missed a payment, the retailer put the product back on the shelf. Jim Adamczyk: And so the retailers had to have an entire inventory management system to keep track of all the different items that were on layaway, the customers that had them on layaway and then the payment plans that were in place to pay for those items as well. Paul Jarley: And there would be late penalties, right? I think if you - Jim Adamczyk: Usually you had to put a percent of the item down upfront, 10, 20%, and then if you were late,

    19 min

  6. 09/05/2023

    Are the Excel Championships Really an eSport?

    Are the Excel Championships just another bit of content for ESPN? Could it keep the Pac 12 alive? More importantly, is it an eSport and can we gamble on it? Listen in!   Featured Guests Andrew Grigolyunovich - Founder and CEO of the Financial Modeling World Cup David Clayton Brown, Ph.D. - Associate Professor of Finance at the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona "Mr. Excel" Bill Jelen - Excel Expert, Consultant, Author & Play-by-Play Announcer Adrien Bouchet, Ph.D. - Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation Endowed Chair; Eminent Scholar of the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at UCF Sean Dennis, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting at UCF   Episode Transcription Announcer from the movie "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story": Live from Las Vegas, It's the Las Vegas International Dodge Ball Open here on ESPN 8: The Ocho, bringing you the finest in seldom scene sports from around the globe since 1999. If it's almost a sport, we've got it here. Paul Jarley: But I have to admit I did not see this coming. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. Paul Jarley: While, it most certainly isn't "Dodgeball," and we aren't breaking down Average Joe's, we are talking about the Excel Championships that just aired on ESPN, and will be heading to Las Vegas in December. Are the Excel Championships even close to an eSport? I really need help understanding why Excel is on ESPN. To form an opinion on this, I've assembled the following panel of experts. Andrew Grigolyunovich is the Founder and CEO of the Financial Modeling World Cup and joins us all the way from Latvia. David Clayton Brown is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Eller College of Business at the University of Arizona. Bill Jelen goes by the moniker Mr. Excel. He has authored several books on Excel and is the competition's play-by-play guy. Adrian Bouchet is the DeVos Endowed Chair of Sports Management and Chair of the Sports Business Management Program here in the College of Business. Finally, Sean Dennis is an Associate Professor in our Dixon School of Accounting. Listen in. Paul Jarley: So one of the very first podcasts I did was on eSports and the premise of it was whether eSports was going to be a thing or not. I came down on the side that I thought it was going to be a big thing that I thought it wouldn't just be a big thing in the professional ranks, that it would be a big thing in the college ranks as well. And one of the reasons I thought that that would be true is it would be a way for universities to promote a group of geeky students with a unique offering, but I have to admit, I did not see this coming. When I saw the ESPN promotion on The Ocho for this event, I thought, wow, this is one I just wouldn't have imagined. I'm going to start with David and Andrew here. Where did the idea for these kinds of competitions come from? Andrew? Andrew Grigolyunovich: It all started, I think that was back in 2012, the first competition of a similar kind that was called ModelOff that was created by two guys in Australia and they were doing that on an annual basis and that was devoted to financial modeling. That was called the Financial Modeling World Championship. They had a name brand named ModelOff. I was one of the players, David was one of the players there. We were good players, we made it to the finals a couple of times and in 2016 we were among the top 16 players in London. So the difference between what you saw on ESPN, first of all, that was annual, not regular. Second, it was more player oriented, less show oriented. That was basically targeting finance professionals, giving them very interesting cases to solve,

    30 min

  7. 08/28/2023

    Part 2: Will AI Depopulate Hollywood?

    Could Artificial Intelligence make Hollywood a ghost town? Reality TV, strikes and cyborgs, OH MY! Hollywood may be heading toward AI-generated content, and we all may already be living in a cyborg state … so was this episode AI-generated? This is part two of a two-part episode. Be sure to go back and listen to Part 1: Will the Hollywood Strike be an Extended Thing?   Featured Guests David Luna, Ph.D. - UCF College of Business Robin Cowie - Phygital Experience Creator & Feature Filmmaker Cassandra "Cassi" Willard, J.D. - Instructor, Department of Management, UCF College of Business & Program Director, Blackstone LaunchPad at UCF Ray Eddy, Ph.D - Lecturer, Integrated Business, UCF College of Business   Episode Transcription Actor Bryan Cranston speaking at a SAG-AFTRA strike rally in Times Square in New York City on July 25, 2023: Uh, we've got a message for Mr. Iger. I know, sir, that you look through things through a different lens. We don't expect you to understand who we are, but we ask you to hear us, and beyond that, to listen to us when we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots. Paul Jarley: The real issue, Bryan, is whether the AI listens and understands us. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? Onto our show. In our last episode, we explored the current writers and actor's strikes and how the parties might come to some agreement to get everyone back to work and spare us a lot of new reality TV. A key part of that analysis involved the limitations of AI today. It can't produce a final product without humans. That, of course, is today. AI technology is changing rapidly and its impact on the industry is likely to grow over time. In today's episode, we look at the long-term implications of AI in Hollywood and ask, could AI depopulate the industry in 10 years? In other words, could it eliminate or substantially reduce the number of people working in Hollywood, especially the writers and actors. To shed light on these topics, I returned to the discussion I had with my group of UCF experts. To just remind everyone, Cassandra Willard is an instructor and program director in our Center for Entrepreneurship and a practicing attorney with extensive experience in entertainment law. Ray Eddy is a lecturer in our Integrated Business department with an interest in understanding the customer experience. Ray is not just an academic, he has worked as a stunt man, started his own production company and written, directed and starred in several performances. David Luna is a professor in our Marketing department. He is currently working on several projects, studying human machine interactions in the context of chatbots, intelligent assistance, and AI. And last but not least is Robin Cowie. Rob is a graduate of our Motion Picture Technology program at UCF. He's a little hard to summarize, having worked in a variety of positions in the industry from EA Sports, to Nickelodeon, to the Golf Channel, and the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts. Today, he is the President and CTO at Promising People, a company that produces training and placement services for people who have been incarcerated. But, you probably know Rob best from his work as co-producer on "The Blair Witch Project." Listen in. David, if AI is going to depopulate Hollywood, it's going to have to produce movies that are more profitable than the ones being created today. What do you see as the main issues here? David Luna: There are different kinds of costs involved in making a movie, right? One of them would be the creative part, and from what has transpired from the conversations with the writer's union,

    29 min

  8. 08/21/2023

    Part 1: Will the Hollywood Strike be an Extended Thing?

    More reality TV? AI-generated “South Park” episodes? Is this where Hollywood is heading thanks to the latest writer and actor strike? We find out from UCF experts how, and why, the strike will be resolved and how AI will play into plans moving forward. This is part one of a two-part episode.   On July 14, 2023, members of the Hollywood actors' union, SAG-AFTRA, stood with screenwriters, forming a picket line outside Amazon Studios in Los Angeles, California. This marked the commencement of an actors' strike. SAG-AFTRA joined forces with the Writers Guild of America workers, who had been engaged in a determined strike against the Hollywood studios for three months. This joint walkout, a rare occurrence not witnessed since 1960, underscores the magnitude of the situation. The collaboration between SAG-AFTRA and WGA intensifies the impact of the strike, with the potential to bring Hollywood productions to a complete standstill.   Featured Guests David Luna, Ph.D. - UCF College of Business Robin Cowie - Phygital Experience Creator & Feature Filmmaker Cassandra "Cassi" Willard, J.D. - Instructor, Department of Management, UCF College of Business & Program Director, Blackstone LaunchPad at UCF Ray Eddy, Ph.D - Lecturer, Integrated Business, UCF College of Business   Episode Transcription SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher in a press conference July 13, 2023: The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. This is a moment of history that is a moment of truth. If we don't stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines. You cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change too. We are labor and we stand tall and we demand respect. Paul Jarley: Oh my, this is going to get really complicated. In the meantime, prepare for a new round of reality TV. This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, Dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions, to get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered, is this really a thing? On to our show. The writers and actors haven't been out on strike together since 1960. Then, it was partly about how television was impacting the film industry and getting residual income for writers and actors from movies that were then being shown on TV. The business model was changing and labor wanted its share. Screen Actors Guild President Fran Drescher's comments at the start of this podcast note that technology is changing the business model again with streaming services, digital media and AI among the main drivers. This is a very complicated situation, so complicated, that we couldn't fit it into our usual 25-to-30 minute podcast. So we decided to split it into two parts. Today we will tackle the basics of the strike and how and when we see it being resolved. The second part, we'll do a much deeper dive into AI and Hollywood and how that is likely to change the industry going forward, especially for writers and actors. Essentially, we want to answer the question, will anybody be left in Hollywood in 10 years?   As always, to shed light on these topics, I've assembled a group of UCF experts. Cassandra Willard is an instructor and Program Director at our Blackstone Launchpad and a practicing attorney with extensive experience in entertainment law. Ray Eddy is a lecturer in our Integrated Business program with an interest in understanding consumer experiences. Ray is not just an academic, he has worked as a stuntman, started his own production company and written, directed and starred in several performances. If you've been to Walt Disney World in the last several years, you may have seen Ray playing Indiana Jones, in Indiana Jones: Epic Stunt Spectacular. David Luna is a professor in our Marketing department.

    23 min
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4.9
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93 Ratings

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Business can be faddish. Paul Jarley, dean of the UCF College of Business, is on a mission to separate fads from fundamental change that will impact students. Join us as we chat with experts, enthusiasts and interesting people to talk business and pose the question… Is This Really a Thing?

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