WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar ’93 makes time for John Sweeney’s Sports Communication class
by Barbara Wiedemann
UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media graduate Jason Kilar ’93 has been a sought-after interview lately, making headlines as the new CEO behind WarnerMedia’s decision to release its 2021 feature films in theaters and streaming on HBO Max simultaneously.
Add the UNC Hussman undergraduates in Professor John Sweeney’s Sports Communication class to the list of wide-ranging interviews the powerful media CEO has made time for recently with the likes of Kara Swisher at The New York Times and Variety editor-in-chief Claudia Eller. Kilar spent 75 minutes videoconferencing with the UNC Hussman students on Tuesday, January 26, at Sweeney’s invitation.
Star Wars, the Magic Kingdom and the Los Angeles Lakers
He is the CEO of one of the biggest entertainment companies on the planet. But Kilar told students from his Manhattan office that he leads 27,000 employees as an influencer rather than the guy at the top of the org chart.
“Think more about your powers of influence as opposed to thinking that changing the world relies on a title or position on an org chart,” he advised students, evoking the 22-year-old YouTube phenom Mr. Beast as an example.
“He’s got 100 million followers,” Kilar said. “He’s good at what he does and people are responding to it. That’s influence.”
Kilar began the Zoom session by sharing his own background — replete with family photos — growing up in the middle of six multicultural kids (three adopted) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Looking back, he singled out three highlights that shaped his life: his dad taking him to see “Star Wars” in a circa-1977 movie theater in Pennsylvania; a trip in the family’s Chevy van to Disney World when Kilar was an impressionable nine-year-old; and pickup basketball games in the early 80s inspired by the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers of that era.
He shared memories of his time in Chapel Hill as a UNC undergraduate double-majoring in journalism and business.
“In college, there is a lot of pressure to go and do things along a traditional path,” Kilar recalled. “A lot of my professors would nudge me: ‘Go into banking. Go to Wall Street.’ But that’s not the kind of bird I was.”
He told Sweeney’s students, “John Sweeney was probably the only person I interacted with at Carolina who encouraged me to lean into my creative passions and the interest and excitement that he clearly saw that I had with regard to moviemaking and media. John was a safe harbor for me. It meant the world to me as I went through UNC-Chapel Hill for four years.”
The story continued, rapid-fire, with Kilar recounting his MBA from Harvard University and the professor there who introduced him to the CEO of a small, private company selling books online out of Seattle; working for Jeff Bezos at Amazon where, within three weeks of starting, he was writing the business plan urging Amazon to get into movies and television; moving on to create Hulu as a joint venture with NBC-Universal, Fox and Providence Equity Partners; starting up Vessel six or seven years later; serving on boards from DreamWorks to Habitat for Humanity to Univision; and taking the helm of WarnerMedia in May of 2020.
“WarnerMedia has such a storied history,” Kilar said, laughing at his own self-described “fan-boy” moments on the Warner Brothers lot where his Los Angeles office is located, where he’ll stop in the middle of a (walking) meeting to take an iPhone photo of the sun setting behind fabled Stage 16.
Media insights from the top, directly to the future Jason Kilars of the world
During his conversation with UNC Hussman students, Kilar gave some clues as to where WarnerMedia was headed.
“We have a thriving interactive business,” he pointed out, “which a lot of people don’t know,” and listed WarnerMedia’s Batman, Superman, Harry Potter and Looney Tunes franchises in relation to that topic. He noted “We’ll be spending a lot of time on this going forward. It’s one of the things that defines the future of WarnerMedia.”
About the decision to release 2021 films in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously, Kilar noted that initial criticism in the media was tough. He explained the reasoning behind the decision to be responsive to consumers and recognize pandemic moviegoing patterns, but admitted it was tough to read the initial backlash in trade journals and mainstream media outlets.
“Variety called me the most feared CEO in Hollywood,” he said. “My mom got a kick out of that one.”
“Now, more people are realizing, being able to choose makes a lot of sense,” he added, noting a more recent Bloomberg report.
Kilar told Sweeney’s Sports Communication students that sports storytelling at WarnerMedia was ripe for re-imagination as well.
“Eighty-eight of the top 100 most-watched programs on television in a recent year are sports telecasts — live games,” he shared. “The world doesn’t get how powerful and important sports are from a storytelling perspective. We’re leaning in aggressively,” he said as he asked students to imagine watching a Tar Heels game online with all of the interactivity possible via internet-connected devices.
Kilar also enthused about WarnerMedia’s plans for longform sports storytelling like the upcoming “King Richard” featuring Will Smith playing the father of Venus and Serena Williams; and the future HBO series tentatively titled “Showtime” based on the Jeff Pearlman book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” helmed by director Adam McKay.
“John asked me to talk about what makes a good sports story,” Kilar continued. “I’d say, don’t get seduced by the sports pageantry of it all.” He warned sports fans that the game (and its outcome) isn’t enough. He advocated for beloved characters, dramatic settings and something consequential at play — along with a compelling sports narrative — to really draw audiences in on a larger scale.
“Great question!”
Student questions ran the gamut from advice-seeking of the “how do I make it to the top” variety to questions about the upcoming Gotham Knights release; about a rising emphasis on female athletes and people of color in sports; and about the intricacies behind the decision to release new films in theaters and streaming simultaneously.
“Let them know they won’t find anyone harder-working, more passionate, a faster learner and that nothing is beneath you,” Kilar told Annie Booz ’21 about getting his own college internship despite having only the experience of “picking up balls” at a golf course on his resume. “Let them know you care deeply about the industry.”
“Gotham Knights, the new video game,” Kilar said to Keyshawn Garrett ’22. “It’s great! You’re gonna love it. It’s set in Gotham City with some great characters and there are many ways we are going with it, we’re going persistently into interactive worlds. I think you’re gonna like it.”
“I hold the NBA’s Adam Silver a cut above other sports leaders,” Kilar told Monica Mehareb ’21 when she asked about sports media being responsive to cultural forces. Kilar told her that he admired Silver’s organization for the pageantry of the game, programming that lasts all year long, and most importantly, admired him for welcoming the social commentary that NBA athletes bring to the court and beyond.
“I adore the fact that the NBA has a belief that they are here to do well and to do good, and that it’s possible to both,” said Kilar.
To answer junior Marcus Richardson’s question about how Kilar made the streaming/theater decision, Kilar walked students through the process of internal discussions with two other leaders at the company in the fall of 2020, pushing through all the potential pros and cons. And then bringing in more and more voices from inside the company, including the board of directors. And reaching out to filmmakers and talent for insight as well. “700 conversations later,” Kilar said, “we still thought it was the right thing to do.”
A follow-up question from Richardson about cross-marketing across WarnerMedia platforms elicited a “Great question!” from Kilar.
“We think a lot about that, Marcus,” he said, noting that the company reaches 430 million households across the world a month and that means as storytellers, the company can “tell stories in bigger, more ambitious ways than just across a single movie or television series.”
Junior Alexis Harper asked Kilar how he handles criticism. That drew a motivational response that felt particularly resonant at the wintery near-yearlong mark of a global pandemic that has affected every student on the Zoom call.
“It’s always good if you have dogs. They’ll love you no matter what. I knew my two dogs would like me at the end of the day. My wife and kids love me. And my mom loves me. So I’m very thankful for that.”
“All joking aside, one of the most important things that my mom and dad gave me which continues to be a superpower: they gave me unconditional love. No matter what happens in this world, I will be loved. Everyone on the planet needs to feel that. When the world is critiquing you and telling you that you’re a villain or an idiot or whatever the case may be. ‘It’s okay. I’m loved. I’m worthy.’ Just get on with it.”
“There is this lovely saying that gets attributed to Churchill: when you’re going through hell, keep going. I believe that.”
“Life is not a walk in the park. It’s not a dance through the daisy field. There is a lot of hell in life. You’ve just gotta keep going. That’s what being a human being is all about.”
Kennedy Byrd ’22, elicited another “Great question!” with her insights into where she thought WarnerMedia’s Bleacher Report might be heading. Kilar explained that Bleacher Report could go one of two ways: continue to grow their reach with today’s free ad-supported business model, which limits the budget for producing more complex content. Or, because it has built up what he defines as an amazing brand and value, Bleacher Report could show up in an HBO Max-like service, with a business model that allows the sports and sports culture website to invest in documentaries and other interesting and more costly forms of sports storytelling.
“Don’t be surprised if House of Highlights and Bleacher Report eventually show up behind longform storytelling inside a business model like HBO Max,” Kilar told Byrd.
To close, Kilar extended an invitation to come “behind the scenes” in New York or L.A. with Professor Sweeney someday post-pandemic; and told students, “I’m proud to be a Tar Heel. I’m sure you will be as well,” as he thanked them for their time.
If you're interested in learning more about Kilar, read this University Communications profile on his storied career and watch the 2015 Commencement speech he gave at UNC.