Justin Theroux on AI, Scriptwriting, and the Hollywood State of Play | Pivot

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   Justin Theroux is an actor and a writer, and his latest role is in a little film called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Uh, Justin is also a Pivot fan. That's how we met him. Welcome to Pivot, finally.

2. JTJustin Theroux0:12

   Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me on this show. I am a huge Pivot fan.

3. KSKara Swisher0:17

   We're thrilled to have you here, and, uh, we're thrilled to have you with such success. Scott, go for it.

4. SGScott Galloway0:21

   If you were talking to a group of analysts or investors about what's going on in Hollywood, how would you describe the industry right now? Like, what do you see coming? What are your, what are your thoughts on scripted television, the streaming wars? What do you, what do you s- w- Give us the state of play from Justin Theroux.

5. JTJustin Theroux0:39

   Without disclosing anything to anyone ab-, uh, you know, I, I've gone out with a couple projects this year that I think, uh, over the last 10 years would have been, um, easy buys, you know, like, like this is a, a thoughtful, interesting script that's engaging, um, that has o- uh, many elements that we haven't seen on television. And, you know, a couple of those have not been accepted, and it was the first time where I thought, "Oh, wow, there really isn't an appetite for, um, wonderful, uh, at the moment." That's not to say that it's ... I don't know whose fault that is. Could be my scripts. Could be that, that these are just not good scripts and my, my-

6. KSKara Swisher1:19

   Mm-hmm.

7. JTJustin Theroux1:19

   ... radar has gone completely whack.

8. KSKara Swisher1:21

   No, I've heard that from a lot of people.

9. JTJustin Theroux1:22

   You know-

10. KSKara Swisher1:23

    I've heard that from a lot of people.

11. JTJustin Theroux1:24

    Yeah, and I-

12. KSKara Swisher1:24

    It's like, it, it's not discriminating. It's that they don't know what's about to happen, and so they don't wanna take that risk.

13. JTJustin Theroux1:29

    Yeah, I think, I think there's a moment-

14. KSKara Swisher1:31

    Especially at this point in time.

15. JTJustin Theroux1:31

    ... of fear, you know. It's, it's like, you know, if you're a ... And I'm not a stock market guy, but if you were a stock market guy, um, like you guys sort of follow, um, you, you're kinda just going, "Yeah, okay, look. Let's just ... We're gonna put our chips on Coca-Cola. We're gonna spread our chips, uh, you know, across, you know, whatever it is, IBM and Apple and ..." And, you know, they're, they're like, "We're not gonna, you know, we're not interested in a cool little startup that might win a couple Golden Globes anymore," you know? Um, uh, "We're gonna just play it safe." I'm, I'm hearing a lot of ... Uh, and on the writing front, uh, on those sort of meetings that I've taken, they're like, "Do you have anything ..." And then they basically, without describing a medical procedural drama set in a hospital in Chicago, they basically describe that, and you're going, "Well, you're just talking about, um, you know, ER, Grey's Anatomy, or something." And you're thinking, "What? Wait, what? W- we're making ... We wanna make those?" Like ... Um, but I think ... You know, I'm an optimist, so I think those, th- this will bounce back. I think, um, I think, you know, the good news is, is we still have enormous, uh, an enormous amount of outlets, an enormous amount of channels. And frankly, I think it, you know, it, it gives YouTube an opportunity to play, uh, you know, uh, in a bigger ... You know, they still have a big pot of money, I think, that they could play with and do some interesting things, or ... Uh, you know, I'm, still don't quite understand how TikTok is gonna make some money, but, uh, you know, they're certainly positioned to.

16. KSKara Swisher2:56

    What do you do when you're signing onto a project now? W- we ... Not just theaters versus streaming, but where to go, 'cause you, you, you-

17. JTJustin Theroux3:03

    I don't know.

18. KSKara Swisher3:03

    ... have a little more-

19. JTJustin Theroux3:04

    I mean-

20. KSKara Swisher3:04

    ... uh, agency 'cause you do more stuff, right?

21. JTJustin Theroux3:07

    Well, Scott's the big Hollywood mogul now. He's the one selling scripts, getting greedy-

22. KSKara Swisher3:11

    Yes, we understand.

23. JTJustin Theroux3:12

    ... on that room left and right. Um, but-

24. SGScott Galloway3:13

    100% glad you finally acknowledged that.

25. JTJustin Theroux3:14

    (laughs)

26. SGScott Galloway3:14

    I'm glad you're in touch with your feelings and not threatened by our friendship, Justin.

27. JTJustin Theroux3:18

    (laughs)

28. SGScott Galloway3:18

    Yeah, that's right.

29. JTJustin Theroux3:19

    Um, uh, and I'm out here in the desert just lookin' for a drop of water.

30. KSKara Swisher3:23

    When you just said YouTube, like, when you're making project decisions, you know, it was a while when the tech companies came in, and now they're real buyers, right? Apple is a real buyer of-

Episode duration: 8:37