Beyond Borders: Back to Authenticity

Summer doesn’t mean the cameras have stopped rolling. With long days, warm weather, and the electric energy of the World Cup, production pushes on. But beyond the pitch, this global moment offers a powerful reminder: today’s audiences already move effortlessly across cultures, and they know the difference between superficial management and genuine artistic connection.

For PSN, stepping back from industry chatter has always led back to an unshakeable truth: authenticity starts with you.

As market pressures push projects globally, true cross-border collaboration isn’t just about efficiencies—it’s about smarter production. Ask us how.

Digital futurist Shingy recently observed, when we spend all our time managing inboxes and closing loops, our thinking shrinks. True progress requires leaving enough mental room for original ideas to collide. When done right, your local production partner acts as a true cultural author on the ground—protecting that space so your story resonates natively and authentically anywhere in the world.

While algorithms attempt to automate output, the screen industry’s most valuable currency remains the irreducibly human element.

Use the clarity and momentum of this season to stop managing the day-to-day for a moment, protect your creative room, and anchor your craft in what is real.

Scroll on for my curated selection of recent industry news. 

Big Tech And Hollywood Prepare For War

“Meta wants to steal TV viewers, Amazon and Apple are meddling with content, and traditional media companies are pursuing megadeals to try and survive. As tech and AI companies push further into entertainment and media, their stewardship of that content (or lack thereof) is becoming a story unto itself.” (THR)

State Arguments Convince Judge to Pause Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

“In antitrust cases, the injunction is often the whole ballgame. If it is not granted, the deal is allowed to close and it becomes almost impossible to unwind later on. But if it is granted, the deal tends to fall apart before the underlying case can go to trial.” (Variety)

WGA Joins Legal Battle To Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

“The complaint alleges the merger would ‘reduce opportunities, lower pay and worsen working conditions for writers.’ We applaud the dozen state attorneys general who have stepped up to enforce our antitrust laws and are proud to file suit alongside them. This merger is not inevitable and we are fighting to stop it.” (Variety)

Sky To Buy ITV In Defining Moment For British Media

“It’s a real testimony to the creativity of this country, because otherwise, why else would you buy a platform like this? The key question now is whether regulators are prepared to accept that creating a stronger U.K. media champion can be achieved without compromising competition, consumer choice or media plurality.” (Variety)

Hollywood Courts Online Creators

“[Creators] can really have the final say in the creative oversight of their project.  They know better than anyone else how their audience responds. It’s in the best interest of any partner to [have it] play out, versus trying to control it from the start.” (LAT)

Shanghai Film Festival Takeaways

“That the ceremony opened with a performer hoisted on a robotic arm interacting with AI-generated projections, yet centered its emotional core on a centenarian actor declaring she was still available for work, was not incidental. It was SIFF’s thesis statement: a festival threading the needle between the technological and the irreducibly human.” (Variety)

APAC Screen Economy Reallocation Caveats AI Cost Reductions

“This dividend is paid only to those who industrialize AI without spending their audience’s trust. The cost savings are real, and they are bankable. The trust is the constraint.” (Variety)

Asia’s New Content Era Defined by IP, Sport and AI

“Asia’s entertainment industry is entering a new stage of maturity focused on building sustainable ecosystems, scalable IP and deeper audience engagement. The whole industry is being redefined in terms of the possibilities, in terms of new revenue streams, and frankly, in terms of the cost structures that one has to adopt.” (Variety)

Human Craft To Evolve With AI

“Technological progress will continue to expand the possibilities of world-building and storytelling. Human imagination, creative freedom and trusted sources of information will remain essential as the industry navigates the next phase of digital transformation.” (Variety)

Pressures Driving Hollywood’s Mass Exodus

“Everything costs more in L.A., starting with labor, due to the high cost of living and elaborate union agreements. Producers are also under pressure from the audience to deliver ever more spectacular experiences. Creating a premium product — at a price — often means going overseas.” (Variety)

Tarnished Star of Hollywood’s American Dream

“The appeal of Hollywood is rapidly diminishing for the near future. ‘I work with a lot of emerging filmmakers of color and LGBTQ filmmakers. And for the first time, they don’t have any allure of Los Angeles or the studio system.’” (LA Business Journal)

UK Indie Movie Credit May Not Turn Tide Of Domestic Production Decline

“The 40% tax relief on movies of up to £15M ($20M) budget was hailed by the likes of Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott and Barbara Broccoli when it was finally introduced in the spring of 2024. It remains to be seen whether additional titles will enter production and contribute to UK production activity.” (Deadline)

Lions Winners Show That AI Needs Filmmakers More Than Filmmakers Need AI

“The campaigns that captured the industry’s imagination weren’t celebrated because they used AI; they were celebrated because they told great stories. Only two of the 34 Grand Prix were directly AI-related, reinforcing the feeling that while AI had become part of the creative process, it had not become the defining factor behind the industry’s most celebrated work.” (Shots)

Business Performance, AI Implementation And Creator Economics On The Croisette

“The conversations are no longer simply about creative excellence. They’re increasingly about business performance, AI implementation, creator-led media and the changing economics of the industry itself. This year’s event suggests an industry moving beyond AI hype, embracing creator-led media and demanding stronger business outcomes from creativity.” (TLG)

Leading Women In Production At Cannes Lions Look To Future

“AI is expanding what’s possible. It has become a powerful tool for producers who are helping brands solve increasingly complex content challenges, even if audiences never realise AI played a role in the finished work. Plus, if AI lowers the barrier to creating content then taste has become even more valuable.” (LBB)

Trend Spotting Amongst Cannes Lions Winners

“Film was the first and only category to be awarded at Cannes Lions from 1953 until 1992. ‘And I think it will be the last category, too, because everything eventually comes down to film.´ They saw different trends, with AI ‘being used to celebrate and elevate humanity’, and that ‘humour is back, in all its forms.’” (Shots)

What Resonated At Cannes Lions

“CMOs came to the show with granular examples of how AI, social media, creators, vertical dramas and more have helped them grow and transform. In marketing-speak, the tagline for Cannes Lions 2026 would be something like: “It’s Time to Slay Your Fears, Because the AI-Powered Revolution is Here.” (Variety)

Cannes Lions Are Testament To Client Courage And Human Ingenuity

“Great work needs brave clients, and this year’s winners are proof of that magical partnership. From hijacking the Super Bowl in real time, to turning a supply chain disaster into a global brand moment, every one of these campaigns started with a client saying yes. That courage, combined with the ingenuity of our people, is what makes the difference.” (LBB)

Gen Z Leans Into Fandom And Away From AI

“‘Fans don’t connect with logos or performance stats, they connect through culture. They want to see the human side of brands and the shared passions they can unlock.’ ‘Audiences today don’t just want to watch; they want to participate.” (The Current)

Deciphering Taste At Cannes Lions

“‘In the tech world, taste’s the one thing they don’t have that they can try to pay for. But it’s something that you learn over the years.’ ‘Be a collector! When you’re hit by something, take a photo, record it. Literally, I record stuff in the street. If you feel it, learn to collect it, and learn to decode why it hit you. That’s the skill.’” (LBB)

The Long And Short Of It: A Director’s View On TV Series v. Commercial

“The biggest myth is that it is much easier to tell a story in a 30 or 60-second commercial versus a 30 or 60-minute episode. The magic we feel from a job done right is the same – and equally hard to capture and create in either medium.” (LBB)

Jakarta Launches Incentives And Tax Rebate In Bid To Become SE Asia Film Hub

“Make production easier, reduce costs, support investment, develop talent, strengthen infrastructure and create economic opportunity. When the creative industry grow, the people of Jakarta grow with it.” (Variety)

Hungary Welcomes Filmmakers With Opening Of Funding Applications

“We have opened a new chapter in our cooperation with the film industry by lifting the blockage on the tax incentive system that ensures the smooth and predictable operation of the Hungarian film industry.” (Variety)

New France Investment Obligations Challenged By Disney+, Prime Video and Netflix

“This is not about escaping our responsibilities or dismantling France’s cultural exception. It is about defending a principle that matters to every creator and every viewer: genuine creative freedom, supported by rules that are fair, proportionate and non-discriminatory.” (Screen Global)

A24 Partners With Google’s Deep Mind
“We want to dictate what tools get built for artists, and so they have a voice in shaping them rather than having tools handed to them. We’d rather have a seat at the table than on the sidelines.” (Variety)

Advertising Cannot Afford To Ignore The 15% Accessibility Opportunity
“We’ve always been seen in isolation. We need to make ads real about what we’re going through. And I’m not saying highlight the negatives, but I’m just saying show that we exist as a group, as a collective, with real opinions and real lives. And real money as well that can buy your product.” (LBB)

NY Law Mandates Disclosure Of AI Performers In Ads
“There are fundamental decisions that brands need to make about what markets they want to operate with AI in versus where they don’t, but when you’re disclosing, more often than not, it’s going to do you a lot more positive than negative [to disclose].” (Marketing Brew)

Workers Compelled To Choose Between AI Resistance Or Survival
“AI did not create the crisis by itself. But it has arrived at precisely the moment when workers have the least cushion to absorb another shock. That is why the image of Hollywood workers training AI models is so powerful. It captures the industry’s current anxiety in miniature: talented people, short on work, feeding their expertise into systems backed by venture capital and studio ambition, hoping the knowledge they gain will help them survive whatever comes next.” (StageRunner)

AI Raises Value Of Creative People
“The ability to render, animate, compose, edit and prototype is now within reach of anyone. That isn’t a threat, it’s a massive opportunity. The future affords the opportunity to not just imagine, but build an entirely new model for independent creativity. A future where AI, far from being the enemy of creativity, is the ultimate enabler.” (LBB)

Shaping a Human-Centric Approach to AI Creativity
“Creative specialisation in skillsets will go away, maybe not expertise. I’m not implying that copywriters and art directors, or specialisations in those skillsets, will go away, but we’ve all heard a copywriter say, ‘I’m not an art director, so I can’t…’ and vice versa, and I feel like that’s no longer a valid excuse. Good creative doesn’t live in a siloed skillset.” (LBB)