This section will highlight members of the Katch team! Today, we’re focused on KatchU Internship Program alumni and where they are currently working.

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Sophie Alvarez

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“Katch has helped me tremendously. Its wide network has allowed me to collaborate with people all over the world! While interning at Katch, I gained a deeper understanding of the film and television landscape and learned skills that I continue to use in my daily life. All of my fellow interns were just as passionate about the industry and I know that I will continue to cross paths with them.”

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Rachel Cheung

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“Katch was my first ever internship. It not only offered a great network of like minded, hardworking individuals, but also a stepping stone into the film and television industry that I am so grateful for!"

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Cai Ping Goh

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"I'm Cai Ping, a former assistant at a talent management and production company looking to start working in animation. Katch helped me professionally by teaching me to pay attention to various details in movies, which became applicable when breaking down scripts at work. I also made a great friend, who is now helping me in my job search. Finally, it taught me the value of helping people professionally whenever I can. I once met up with Andrew (Tight) when he was in LA, and when I told him I was learning about optioning a script for my thesis, he showed me a draft of a simple option agreement after which really helped. I interned with Katch in the pandemic, and it was so great to connect with people passionate about film and tv all over the world."

This month Fast X debuted in theaters and so far it has brought in over $520M globally. The Fast & Furious franchise has now surpassed the $7 billion in global box office, making it one of the most lucrative film franchises in history.

Looking at the franchise genomically, what lent to the increased success of each proceeding installment?

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• It started with an early shift from A Culture-Focused Story of underground street racing to A Tale of Tested Morality, A Crime Feature and A Tale of Spies and Espionage.

• A continual increase in Sophisticated Stunts and Elaborate Special FX, with larger, more extravagant, Cinematically Lush action sequences.

• An Active and Energetic Mood, extended uses of The Great Chase and The Squad on a Mission with several Courageous Leads culminating in a thrilling and engaging experience.

• A diverse set of leads that has continued to expand with each addition, that include A Female Driven Story, A Black Character Driven Story, and A Family-Dedicated Lead and A Story of Family Life with a defining instance of A Villain’s Tale.

By embracing the traits that made their films more appealing to audiences, and folding broader and more relatable themes into thrilling action, they cracked the recipe for making high-octane films.

Last week was the annual TV of Tomorrow Show at the General Residence in San Francisco. The TVOT Show is an intimate, 2-day event which brings together leaders from across the entertainment industry to discuss the future of television and advertising.

Katch’s Chief Genomic Officer, Nolan Gasser, was invited to speak on a panel about the importance of branding and the potential impact that leveraging well-known IP can have on subscriber growth. Moderated by Jon Giegengack (Hub Entertainment Research) and featuring speakers including Shannon McKenzie (Director of Creative Products and Metadata Services, NBCUniversal) Ashwin Navin (CEO, Samba TV) and Anjali Midha (CEO, Diesel Labs), the panel gave Katch a fantastic opportunity to highlight it’s unique value proposition to a room of fellow c-suite members and key decision makers. Amazing work, Nolan!

CEO, Andrew Tight and COO, John Dicconson also attended the event and made many fruitful connections that may lead to potential partnerships and clients.

This section will highlight members of the Katch team! Today, we’re highlighting our new board members and Senior Advisor.

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Fred Grauer

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Dr. Grauer is Senior Advisor to Course Hero, Credit Sesame, Avalon Acquisition and Katch Entertainment. Fred is also a Board Member of Course Hero and Credit Sesame,and an Advisory Board Member of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. For nine years, Grauer was the Senior Advisor to Barclays Global Investors and it's acquirer, BlackRock, Inc., after spending fifteen years as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Global Investors and its predecessors. Previously, Fred was also a senior executive of Well Fargo Bank with varying responsibilities, as member of its Asset-Liability Committee, EVP, head of its Funding Group and CEO of WFIA. A Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Fred has a Ph.D. from Stanford University and was a professor at M.I.T. and Columbia University.

Fred was recognized by Global Custodian Magazine as one of the 100 most important contributors to modern finance in the 20th century and has been featured on the cover of Fortune.

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“Every business wants to understand its customer. Every customer wants to make good decisions. Katch has breakthrough technology, generating content and taste meta-data for superior business and consumer decisions. Katch answers the questions, “What do I want and why?” Katch has an amazing Team of successful, experienced people dedicated to helping sellers understand buyers, and buyers understand themselves. When preferences are understood, choices are more satisfying. Great to be part of the Team. Carpe diem!”

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Drew Lipner

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Drew is the former CEO of InsightExpress (acquired by WPP, 2014), and President of Kantar (acquired by Bain Capital, 2020). During his time with InsightExpress, and later Kantar, Drew was responsible for the development strategy & commercial operations which led to the successful sale of InsightExpress, and growth/profitability of Kantar's digital media division; fastest growing & most profitable division (globally).

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"It is a great honor and pleasure to join Katch at this particular moment of growth, acceleration and innovation. I look forward to applying Katch's unique data and measurement solutions to the Advertising, Media and Content ecosystems. I am grateful for the opportunity to elevate Katch, and to help recognize new opportunities for evolution."

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Sarah Lucas

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Sarah Lucas is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, a writer and visual storyteller, and a passionate philanthropist based in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles. In her roles as General Partner at Lucas Venture Group and Partner at Celesta Capital, she works with a diverse group of founders and their teams to build transformative companies across a variety of sectors. She has produced documentaries highlighting important social issues and has raised millions of dollars for organizations focused on youth, health, and education and is a fierce advocate for climate justice, equity and a better world.

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“We are delighted to add Katch to the LVG portfolio and look forward to engaging our network and resources to ensure Andrew and the team can focus on building what we know will be a transformative company in the entertainment space and beyond. Using AI to unlock consumer taste is imperative to help brands succeed - and Katch is at the forefront of the race.”

Katch is featured in Richard Bowman and David Boyle’s new book “Prompt for Movies and TV.” Bowman and Boyle have published two original books titled “Prompt for Brands” and “Prompt for Musicians” - both are practical guides on how to utilize ChatGPT to increase efficiency and impact. Their newest book, which was released in mid-April, features a significant contribution from Nolan Gasser about the benefits and the gaps of ChatGPT in regards to understanding the content genome (and why having a human-touch will remain crucial). Katch is not only mentioned in the book, but the Katch logo is also featured on the cover as well.

This quarter, Katch hired new experts in technology, data, start-ups, and entertainment. Katch welcomed four new team members, including Allie Shaffer as Head of Product. She is a three-time founder with experience in media/advertising and EdTech. Paul Childers is the new VP of Sales, and previously led sales efforts for high-tech vendors worldwide. Lauren Cortizo joined as Head of Marketing and has experience in digital marketing and social media. Donovan Bass is supporting Katch with company vision and fundraising efforts. We are now, more than ever, prepared to take Katch to the next level.

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Lauren Cortizo

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Lauren Cortizo is joining Katch as the Head of Marketing. She recently oversaw documentary marketing at Netflix, and prior to that, focused on digital marketing and social media at Disney Studios. She grew up outside of Boston and studied marketing and journalism at Emerson College before she moved to Los Angeles, where she's currently based with her husband Gabe and dog, Hank.

Fun Fact:

I used to be an All-American wrestler. I joined the boys wrestling team in high school as a joke and then loved it.

Favorite Movie:

It's between The Sandlot and 500 Days of Summer.

The Last Television Show You Watched & Loved:

I was obsessed with the Netflix competition show Physical 100.

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Paul Childers

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Paul Childers joined Katch as Vice President of Sales. He recently led sales for Latin America for Whip Media, and has built & launched new OTT and video services, as well as led sales efforts for high-techvendors around the world. Paul grew up in New Mexico before getting his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School. He speaks fluent Spanish and has lived in multiple countries across Latin America & Europe. He currently lives in Denver with his wife Stephanie, son Lawson, daughter Kathryn, and yellow Labrador Mabel.

Fun Fact:

I have been to both the southernmost town (Ushuaia) and the northernmost town (Longyearbyen) in the world.

Favorite Movie:

Pure Country

The Last Television Show You Watched & Loved:

Yellowstone

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Donovan Bass

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Donovan Bass is supporting Katch with articulating the company vision and fundraising efforts. He has spent most of his career working at growth-stage startups and is currently VP of Product & Marketing at Lyte, a live events ecommerce platform that was recently named to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. When he's not working, he enjoys traveling and photography; you can see a bit of both at donovanbass.com.

Fun Fact:

I used to drive NASCAR-style stock cars on weekends.

Favorite Movie:

Iron Man or The Princess Bride, impossible to pick just one.

The Last Television Show You Watched & Loved:

Poker Face

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Allie Shaffer

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Allie Shaffer joined Katch as Head of Product. She is a three-time founder and a product and strategy executive with extensive experience in the media/advertising and EdTech industries. She was previously the SVP of Product Strategy at Active International and co-founded The Ad Learning Exchange, a platform and learning community for professional growth in Advertising and Media. Currently based in Seattle, Allie spent a majority of her career in New York City, where she attended Baruch College for business.

Fun Fact:

I became a semi-professional pool player when I was 14 years old and competed until I was 18.

Favorite Movie:

When Harry Met Sally

The Last Television Show You Watched & Loved:

Succession (but I’m also obsessed with singing competition shows like American Idol and The Voice)

This month we started working with our new partner, Warner Bros. Discovery. We're thrilled to establish a long-term partnership with the team as they have exceptional upcoming initiatives in the pipeline.

After our success in transforming our film genome training curriculum into an asynchronous program last Winter, we have now added TV training to our asynchronous training site. In a very short time, over half of our FGAs (Freelance Genomic Analysts) have already passed our internal qualification tests to be able to generate quality TV assessments. As we move ahead with our newest clients, these resources will be critical and are proof that we will be successful training offshore resources to continue to do analysis and deliver quantitative analysis to meet our high standards.