Just a week after hosting the most exclusive Oscar party with Madonna, another Guy Oseary gathering dominated the conversation at a cultural convention halfway across the country. Elon Musk and Spike Lee joined Oseary and his Sound Ventures investment partner Ashton Kutcher in throwing a bash at the Hotel Van Zandt in Austin, Texas, during SXSW. That’s Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff peeking in on the huddle.
The Sound Ventures guys drafted some local talent onto their judging panel for a $100,000 start-up pitch competition: Matthew McConaughey (right). Gary Vaynerchuck, Kutcher, Melody McCloskey and Benioff tapped Rebecca Liebman’s LearnLux as the winner of the smartwater sponsored event. In addition to the six figure award from these sharks, Kutcher topped the prize with an additional $100K and Benioff flexed by doubling that with an additional $200L personal investment.
These guys have cash. They hired Snoop Dogg to spin the party later on Saturday night … and a Coachella performer.
Before she performs on a huge stage in Indio next month, St. Vincent gave a more intimate show at the Sound Ventures party as Casamigos cocktails flowed.
The SXSW spirit started at LAX, where HBO and Delta partnered on a “Westworld” themed flight for L.A. tech notables. The #DeltaFestivalShuttle included Paul Scheer, Joey King (right), and some character actors to warm up the crowd.
Though Delta and HBO slung black hats and white hats at guests for the ride to Texas, there were really only “good guys” (and gals) aboard the flight. The social club at altitude included Michael Dublin (CEO of Dollar Shave Club), Peter Phan (Co-Founder of Science Blockchain) and Tipatat Chennavasin (Co-Founder and General Partner of The Virtual Reality Fund).
UTA’s BBQ at Lambert’s on Friday, Mar. 16 drew key industry players together for bloody marys and classic Texas chow. In the room (from left) UTA’s Jbeau Lewis, talent manager Dan Dymtrow (Maverick) and attorney Dina LaPolt (who did a panel together the same day), UTA’s Natalia Nastaskin, and AEG Senior Counsel Jason Bernstein.
UTA client Amara La Negra poses with Nastaskin. Frito pies and sweet teas floated throughout the party that included the band Findlay, UTA’s David Sullivan-Kaplan and Ken Fermaglich, and Union Entertainment managers Bryan Coleman and Alex Self holding down a banquette.
“We know we’re late to the music subscription party,” Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, said in a music keynote on March 14. “There are plenty of leaned in [YouTube music] listeners willing to pay, so we will convert them to paid subscribers,” he said of the online video leader’s future in audio. “We are making an enormous investment to launch a music product that combines the best of Google Play Music’s context listening and YouTube’s breadth and depth of catalogue.”
The AUDIENCE network snuck in a world premiere of its series “Condor” in Austin three months before the MGM-produced series with Skydance TV hits the air in June. Celebrating the reveal: Showrunner/EP Jason Smilovic, Co-Executive Producer Todd Katzberg, and stars Max Irons and Leem Lubany.
Fox Sports leaned in to Austin’s reputation as a soccer hotbed by promoting the upcoming docuseries “Phenoms.” Shot in 20 countries by 12 directors as a walk up to Fox’s coverage of the Men’s World Cup this summer, it features 60 top players from around the world. Scary chef/football fanatic Gordon Ramsay talked up the show with (from left) Fox Sports host Rob Stone, Fox Digital Studio VP David Worthen, former player and EP Mario Melchiot and and Fox Sports President/COO Eric Shanks.
Those are genuine smiles coming from the creative ensemble behind “The Unicorn”. After a well-received premiere for the rom-com about relationship self-help via a threesome, lead Lauren Lapkus, Director Robert Schwartzman, lead Nick Rutherford, Darrell Brit-Gibson, and Maya Kazan hit the WeWork rooftop.
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