Copyright The Hollywood Reporter
Over the past two decades, television veteran Kevin Reilly went from broadcast to basic cable to streaming. Now he’s taking the perhaps inevitable next step: running an AI company. In a move that tracks with the entertainment trends of the 21st-century, the former Fox and HBO Max executive will be taking the wheel as CEO of Kartel, a Beverly Hills-based AI firm. Kartel describes itself as “the creative engineering company developing AI systems for Fortune 500 brands, agencies, and studios.” The hiring of Reilly, with a slew of relationships and a host of past hits under his belt as a credentialed member of the Hollywood C-suite, is a win for the firm, which raised $2 million in funding earlier this year as it emerged from stealth but has not been terribly well-known in entertainment AI circles. The news was posted on the company’s website Tuesday night. Earlier this year, Kartel released a sizzle reel with a host of slick AI images that included Michael Jackson, Snoop Dogg and a DJ-ing pope. The shape of its ambitions, however, have remained murkier, with uncertainty about whether it will seek to develop original programming in the manner of a traditional TV studio or serve as more of a backend video-generation provider to existing ones. The company had also launched a toll-free number 1-838-NEW-IDEA, which encouraged creators to talk through a project with staffers. Its co-founders, Ben Kusin and Luke Peterson, do not have a long Hollywood resume; at the start of the year Peterson posted a missive that noted that the company was “collaborating with some of the most innovative AI-powered artists on the planet” with whom it would be “reimagining marketing, advertising, and media production in ways that were previously unthinkable” as it built a “collection of the world’s best AI-empowered artists.” Kartel also describes itself as “combining human artistry with advanced technology” and “build[ing] adaptive frameworks that connect data, design, and production into scalable creative infrastructure.” Reilly has an auspicious track record in entertainment, with a resume that includes helping to steer the pilot for The Sopranos while at Brillstein-Grey; running NBC programming during the salad days of The Office and 30 Rock; leading Fox when shows like Glee and Brooklyn Nine-Nine debuted in the late aughts and early 2010’s; getting TBS into the prestige game with the likes of Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and The Alienist in the latter part of the decade; and then serving as chief content officer at HBO Max in its early days. He left that company abruptly in August 2020 as then-WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar shook up the entertainment giant in the turbulent pandemic era of AT&T ownership. His arrival at a firm with little entertainment pedigree – indeed, without even much of a name within the nascent world of Hollywood-aimed AI studios – both raises its profile and provides some assurance to the entertainment industry that AI companies come in peace. At the same time, Reilly will have to negotiate headwinds and skepticism he did not face in his more than three decades at traditional entertainment companies. Two of his former employers, NBC Universal and Warners, are suing Gen AI company Midjourney for copyright infringement. And the entire business is jittery with the debut of Sora 2, OpenAI’s product that has plowed ahead with outputting legacy IP without licensing it from the studios. His presence could help companies lay down their weapons — or put him in the crossfire. Reilly said he believed the union would be positive. “I’ve spent my career at the intersection of culture and commerce, nurturing unique voices and scaling valuable brands and IP,” he said in a statement. “Kartel is built to be a trusted partner for brands seeking to empower their unique DNA with AI systems and solutions at scale.” Kusin touted the Reilly hire in a release. “Kevin has always been at the forefront of cultural and technological shifts, from greenlighting genre-defining shows to launching billion-dollar platforms” he said. “With AI reshaping how creative work gets done, there’s no one better to lead Kartel’s mission to scale high-quality content without compromising voice or craft.” Together with the Reilly news the company announced further funding of an undisclosed sum from several groups, including the South Korean VC firm Maven Growth Partners, which also has investments in music rights-management across the Pacific. Reilly has not been visibly active in Hollywood in the five years since he left HBO Max, though he has dipped into AI waters, joining the advisory board of deepdub, an Israel AI-based audio firm, in 2021.
