TheWrap’s Power Women breakfast was trending on Twitter in San Francisco on Friday.
The lively conversation among more than 100 top women in technology and entertainment focused on piracy, protecting content and the perils of too much sharing in the digital age.
Comedian Chelsea Handler faced off with leading Silicon Valley journalist Kara Swisher, who insisted that consumers are demanding full access to content with all the tools technology can provide, and that content creators need to adapt to technological change.
Ruth Vitale, the CEO of CreativeFuture, noted that there are a staggering 60,000 sites on the Internet that pirate television shows and movies.
“In the independent world that’s life or death,” she said, explaining the financial impact of pirating a small film, as happens commonly. “It’s not $5. For them it may as well be $100 million.
On the movie “Dallas Buyers Club,” she said, “That was the difference between the people working on that movie getting paid (extra). That’s really the issue – the trends are going the wrong way. We all need to work together because – content’s great.”
At that point, Swisher deadpanned: “Now I feel like an asshole for Periscoping this whole event.” And she proceeded to stream the panel on Periscope, which TheWrap did as well.
Handler insisted that social media is as much of a chore as a boon to content creators like herself. Handler has millions of followers on Twitter and Instagram, but considers herself a Luddite, and only recently learned how to comment on Instagram. (Also she only recently learned that Instagram bans nude photos too.)
With technologies like Periscope intruding on live events, it’s clear that technology is both a blessing and a curse for content creators.
Here are some of the top tweets out of the panel:
Our #PowerWomen Breakfast is trending in San Francisco — follow the conversation here: http://t.co/u6iHVnKoEj pic.twitter.com/o0axvCvpL2
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 8, 2015
And @karaswisher continues re Hollywood's challenge$: "It's way beyond piracy. If you want to worry it's about what's coming." #PowerWomen
— LisaStone (@LisaStone) May 8, 2015
#PowerWomen @TheWrap on bridging Hollywood-SiliconValley. @ruthvitale1: w/ gt platforms if u don't have gd content u just get 24-7 cat vids!
— Priya Guha (@UKPriyaGuha) May 8, 2015
"Now I feel like an asshole for Periscoping this whole event" @karaswisher joking about piracy #PowerWomen
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 8, 2015
https://twitter.com/ZibbyZ/status/596715594600296448
“Hollywood has been slow to come to grips that the kids like the Internets” @karaswisher #PowerWomen
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 8, 2015
.@karaswisher starts #Periscope @ #PowerWomen event – proving argument that tech is there – industry needs 2 adapt! pic.twitter.com/J5BM3NIAnt
— Priya Guha (@UKPriyaGuha) May 8, 2015
https://twitter.com/desiraevivian/status/596704994654490626