Two high-profile executives from Hollywood and Madison Avenue have announced that they are joining the Board of Advisors at the fast-rising tech startup SHOWRUNNER that has recently made it’s headquarters in Chicago.
As Reel Chicago reported previously, SHOWRUNNER makes software to help film sets run smoothly, especially for crews engaged in Mandalorian-style virtual production. The announcement comes on the heels of the company’s $4 million in funding last month.
Netflix exec Jeff Glaser, who recently stepped down after overseeing production finance for over 100 series and films at the streamer in Mexico City and Madrid, said, “I knew once I had a demo of the technology that the SHOWRUNNER platform would positively impact and disrupt the production industry.” Glaser says he was eager to join a team of “pioneers that were looking to not only better the lives of the crew, but also modernize an industry that has been largely unchanged since the 90s.”
QUAD CMO and marketing industry heavyweight Josh Golden, the former President of Ad Age, joined up because he saw the potential for SHOWRUNNER’s technology to improve commercial ad production in addition to TV and film. “I was a first mover in the space of online video editing and quickly realized the value, speed, and accuracy that a tool like SHOWRUNNER could create,” says Golden, who has a background in film and is host of the innovation-focused talk show Eureka!.
Such industry vets throwing their hats in with the Chicago technology company illustrates its momentum, and the hunger for innovative tools in today’s hyper-competitive streaming wars.
So far, SHOWRUNNER has taken on clients by invitation only. The company plans to officially start selling its tools later this summer to studios and production companies worldwide, which are notoriously strapped for time and skilled labor.
“Studios around the world are faced with crew-labor scarcity,” says Glaser. “After working on budgets for hundreds of Netflix productions, I have seen a multitude of inefficiencies on set, and crews are always working crazy hours. The use of the SHOWRUNNER platform will impact the Studio’s ability to run more projects a year with happier crews.”
Key to each of the new board members’ role at SHOWRUNNER is guiding the company in its mission to improve the lives of the workers actually creating Hollywood’s and Madison Avenue’s content.
Adds Golden, “I think this kind of tech will transcend what we are even thinking it could be as of today. That is the beauty of SHOWRUNNER: there are no bounds to how it will be used by creators around the world.”
