What Audiences Want: Producing Stories That Connect
Moderator:
Thomas K. Arnold, Publisher and Editorial Director, Media Play News
Panelists:
Paula Paizes, COO & President of Production, Pressman Film
Joe Lewis, Founder & CEO, Amplify Pictures
JJ Caruth, President, Domestic Marketing and Distribution, The Avenue, Highland Film Group’s Domestic Distribution Label
Speakers
-
Thomas K. ArnoldPublisher and Editorial Director, Media Play NewsThomas K. Arnold is the publisher and editorial director of Media Play News, one of the five Hollywood trades and the only one to focus on home distribution: streaming, digital transactional, and disc. Arnold is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, summits and other events, including CES, Digital Hollywood and events produced by trade groups OTT.X and DEG. He has appeared on television to talk about home entertainment issues on CNN’s “Showbiz Tonight,” “Entertainment Tonight,” and the G4 network’s “Attack of the Show.” Arnold is a veteran journalist who has been published in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the San Diego Union-Tribune, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, San Diego Magazine, Billboard, Ad Age, the San Diego Reader and various other local, national and regional publications.
-
Paula PaizesChief Operating Officer and President of Production, Pressman FilmPaula Paizes serves as Chief Operating Officer and President of Production, at Pressman Film, the independent production company founded by legendary producer Edward R. Pressman. Paizes oversees finance, production, distribution, merchandising, strategy, and business affairs for the Los Angeles-based company behind such films as Wall Street, American Psycho, Badlands, Thank You for Smoking and The Crow. A seasoned media/entertainment senior executive, she has broad experience and deep relationships in Hollywood, Australia and internationally. Paula is a producer on Gus Van Sant’s latest film DEAD MAN’S WIRE (Bill Skarsgard, Al Pacino, Colman Domingo) and was a key part of the team responsible for selling it at Toronto to new distributor Row K. She also produced BAD LIEUTENANT: TOKYO (Takashi Miike, Lily James), in partnership with Neon as well as THE CROW 2024 (Bill Skarsgard and FKA Twigs), with Lionsgate. Other productions include DALILAND (Sir Ben Kingsley) with Magnolia Pictures, WHERE ESKIMOS LIVE (Bob Hoskins), BLACK LIMOUSINE (David Arquette and Bijou Philips) and the VR experience EVOLVER, (Cate Blanchett) selected to compete in the Cannes Immersive Competition (2024). Paula is currently working across a slate of 20 film and TV projects and managing a library of over 100 titles and is regularly invited to participate in industry panels at Cannes, TIFF and AFM.
-
Joe LewisFounder & CEO, Amplify PicturesJoe Lewis is a two-time Emmy, Tony, Peabody, Golden Globe-winning producer and the CEO of Amplify Pictures, the pioneering independent studio that develops, finances, and produces award-winning, commercially driven scripted series, documentary projects and theatrical productions, including HBO’s Emmy-winning 100 Foot Wave. Lewis also produced the acclaimed series Fleabag, Transparent and Too Old To Die Young. On Broadway, he co-produced the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop and also co-produced the Tony-nominated Gutenberg! The Musical! starring Grammy Award-winners Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells. Lewis is the only producer to win an Emmy Award for both an Outstanding Scripted Series and an Outstanding Documentary Series.
Founded by Lewis in 2018, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Amsterdam, Amplify Pictures is focused on producing globally successful projects through bold ideas, brilliant creators, and unparalleled filmmaking. Lewis won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series for producing season three of Amplify Pictures’ hit series 100 Foot Wave. Season three of the big wave docu-series took home its third Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program. The first two seasons of 100 Foot Wave also won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program, and season one won a PGA Award for Outstanding Sports Program.
Amplify Pictures’ production slate also includes Jay Duplass’ comedy series Sleep King, produced with Duplass Brothers Productions; Matt Wolf’s Soaps, an epic and unprecedented look into the unseen world of soap operas; Ryan White’s Sundance Festival Favorite Award-winner Come See Me in the Good Light, an unexpectedly funny and joyful love story about poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley for Apple TV; Bollywood Dance U, the electrifying new docu-series that follows the high-stakes world of competitive collegiate Bollywood Fusion dance, directed by Smriti Mundhra (Indian Matchmaking), and Game Changers, which explores the backstories behind the video games that changed our world, streaming on HBO Max. The first season of Amplify Pictures’ podcast, Pretty Sure I Can Fly, hosted by Johnny Knoxville and Elna Baker, and created by Lewis, is out now and produced alongside SmartLess Media and Campside Media. In addition, Lewis and Amplify Pictures are co-produced Maia Novi’s buzzy semi-autobiographical play Invasive Species for its London run, following its successful New York and off Broadway run in 2024 and co-produced Julia Randall’s dark comedy Dilaria starring Ella Stiller, Chiara Aurelia and Christopher Briney, which opened off Broadway in June 2025.
Prior to Amplify, Lewis was the co-founder of Amazon Studios, running comedy, drama and mixed reality for the studio’s first six years (2012 – 2017). Series commissioned by Lewis include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Underground Railroad, Jack Ryan, Bosch, Catastrophe, Transparent, Fleabag, Homecoming, Good Omens, Mozart in the Jungle, Hanna, The Tick, Undone, Red Oaks, I Love Dick, Tosh.0, The New Yorker Presents and Long Strange Trip, among others. Series commissioned by Lewis have garnered 96 major award wins out of 201 major award nominations, including two Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series, one Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, four Golden Globe Awards for Best Comedy Series, one BAFTA TV Award for International Series and two PGA Awards.
Prior to Amazon, Lewis was CEO and co-founder of Bark, a startup AVOD streamer, Director of Production at 20th Century Fox and Manager of Development at Comedy Central.
Lewis received his B.A. in Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California. He grew up in Washington, DC and even went to TV camp in high school. He and his wife reside in Los Angeles.
-
JJ CaruthPresident, Domestic Marketing & Distribution, The Avenue, Highland Film Group’s Domestic Distribution LabelJJ Caruth is President, Domestic Marketing and Distribution for The Avenue, Highland Film Group’s domestic distribution label, managing all release windows, from theatrical through home entertainment to television, SVOD and AVOD. Launched in 2020, The Avenue empowers filmmakers by pioneering innovative marketing and distribution strategies that amplify their stories to connect them with the broadest possible audience while driving commercial success. The Avenue has a partnership with Paramount Pictures to handle home entertainment and airlines. Films released under The Avenue label are a combination of film titles from Highland Film Group as well as third party acquisitions.
The Avenue’s releases include successful launches of William Eubank’s action thriller Land of Bad starring Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth and Luke Hemsworth; Adam Cooper’s crime thriller Sleeping Dogs starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan; and Adrian Grünberg’s shark actioner The Black Demon starring Josh Lucas. Recent titles include¬¬ the survival thriller Locked produced by Sam Raimi and starring Bill Skarsgård and Academy Award® winner Anthony Hopkins which recently took the #1 spot on Hulu in the U.S. following its theatrical release; Rod Blackhurst’s Tribeca Film Festival and Deauville title Blood For Dust starring Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington and Josh Lucas; Rusty Cundieff’s sci-fi thriller 57 Seconds starring Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson; and Petr Jákl’s sweeping historical action epic Medieval starring Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe and Academy Award® winner Sir Michael Caine. The first feature film title released under the new stand-alone distribution banner was the martial arts sci-fi film Jiu Jitsu starring Academy Award® winner Nicolas Cage and Frank Grillo, followed by Renny Harlin’s The Misfits, starring Pierce Brosnan, Nick Cannon and Tim Roth.