Hollywood and sports collided, and collaborations between film, music, television and video games proliferated, often in brilliant results. Entering this intersection of industries is difficult, even in diversity, inclusion and opening doors to new creators and innovators. And that was one of the central themes of this year’s GamesBeat Insider event, “Blurring Boundaries: The Convergence of Film, Music, TV, and Games.”

Amanda Kruse, head of business development at Big Fan and Erika N. Ewing, director of Lionsgate Games sat down with Bridget Stacy, VP global marketing, Xsolla to discuss how the industry is evolving at between play and fun, and how future leaders with different perspectives can walk in the door today.

“Gaming is inevitably a younger industry than film and TV – it’s an area where you have to be entrepreneurial,” Kruse said. “A place where the best people I know have the jobs they love the most, they do the jobs of the crowd. Film and TV make you wear many hats.”

But sports and entertainment are largely driven by men, even though more women leaders than ever are leading the industry. Today there are more voices at the table, more diversity in games and characters, but keeping that trend alive requires marginalized people to reach out to their peers in supportive ways. Ewing credits her time as part of the Frag Dolls, a group of female gamers recruited by Ubisoft to promote games and compete in esports, as a critical part of her growth in the industry. gambling

“Being around them, empowering them and finding a place, finding other women on the path, or people I admire, are a few steps ahead of me,” she explained, a gateway to her career. . “If I take those few steps forward, you take those few steps back, and always open that door. I hope we continue to do this for each other more and more, and it shows on the table.

Normalizing new perspectives

He and Kruse met when Ewing started at Lionsgate Games, where Kruse was an integral part of his career trajectory. Lionsgate is a studio defined by female-led and focused entertainment – Orange is the New Black and powerfor example, one of the biggest TV shows with a female showrunner. They are also the studio that produces Hunger Gamesthe highest-grossing action franchise with a female lead, Kruse said.

“The interior of the studio is very similar,” he said. “We have a lot of female department heads. We have a lot of voices at the table. It just feels normal. Normalizing that definitely gives Erika and I a lot of confidence when it’s not normal, when we go into other spaces where that’s not the usual.

How the gaming industry is changing

Film and TV are somewhat at the forefront of this conversation, says Kruse,

“There are more older women I work with, in film and TV than in sports,” she explains. “But even in the short time I’ve been playing sports, it’s changed a lot. I would say, one thing that’s great is the collaborative nature of sports. It’s hard to get into film and TV when you’re young but with those My experience is so different. I’ve never been part of a community where I can say, hey, I don’t know what to do. People, especially the incredible women in this industry, jump in forward to provide I’m resourceful or educated, which is amazing.”

The critical role of teaching

“I think Erika and I take teaching very seriously. It’s something that we’ve not only developed ourselves, but we’ve tried to develop it for other people,” Krause said. “I don’t think it’s something people take seriously. Film and TV is a broken apprentice system.”

To address the ways in which the studio’s culture failed those in lower roles, they actively mentored junior employees, and encouraged them to pass that on, and offered to mentor others, to move them up, even if not it’s easy, and even if they make mistakes. . They also encourage others to put themselves out there, help and introduce yourself to people in the industry you can admire, who can offer their time and attention – and be generous with their own time in return.

“Give someone the time of day. You never know what magic happens after that,” he said. “We just have to be there for each other. That’s the heart of it.”