Media companies aren’t the only ones in the content-providing business these days. Brands from eBay to LinkedIn to
Virgin are getting into the game. B Y RACHEL Z. ARNDT
THE NEW CONTENT KINGS
Diane Charles and Ron Qurashi PRODUCERS, LEXUS’S L STUDIO, S TUDIO CIT Y, CALIFORNIA
Charles and Qurashi run a company called
Intelligent Life Productions, producing
shows like Web Therapy, starring Lisa
Kudro w, for Lexus’s web channel.
Qurashi: “We regularly meet with
Lexus to talk about their strategy,
and then we come up with ideas
and which celebrities would be
good fits. Because this—and all
the content—is done with Lexus, it
immediately informs the level of
intelligence and sophistication.
It has to have a very strong visual
aesthetic.”
Charles: “We just shot the fourth
season of Web Therapy, which we
hope will air on Showtime. When
we started working with Lisa Kud-row, her agents didn’t want it to
look at all like an endorsement. By
season 2, cars started appearing in
episodes. They’re not in every one.
Lexus has always said to us, ‘Don’t
put cars in everything—it’s supposed to be about entertainment.’
Brands are usually so overbearing when it comes to content. But
Lexus told us to make it organic.
People are hipper now, and the
brand gets that people will just
turn it off if they think you’re
selling them something.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY PAMELA LITTKY
