I was at a women’s networking lunch last week, and my conversation with Susan Hailey on the technology and business trends in Silicon Valley is still with me. And where do I think it’s heading? Silicon Valley Digital Media – an emerging market.
LA is the home of Hollywood and the heart of studio production. But studio production / flows are increasingly driven by technology (Internet delivery mechanisms, automated flows, all-digital rendering,…). Pixar of Emeryville was the first company established out of Hollywood to succeed in creating high-quality all-digital computer animation, but was thought a “one-of-a-kind” success. PDI/DreamWorks in Redwood City with Shrek 2 showed it could be done by others.
Silicon Valley is the emerging Digital Media Capital. Digital media combines the creative with hard tech. Unlike pure hard tech, women are often in key roles ranging from executive to artist to programmer because of the emphasis on quality, subtlety, and nuance, as is the case in Hollywood. This area is fertile ground for women to establish a stakehold – perhaps via a new group (like the professional services group) or a series of seminars on this topic.