What happens when Hollywood collides with Wall Street? You get a conversation that goes far beyond red carpets, celebrity headlines and box office numbers.

In this episode of the Markets & Leaders podcast, host Lyndsay Malchuk sits down with longtime television executive and entertainment journalist Brian Balthazar, who has spent decades interviewing some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and watching the entertainment industry transform from the inside.

From the streaming wars and the battle for our attention to the explosive value of live sports, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, artificial intelligence and the changing economics behind the content we consume, Lyndsay and Brian pull back the curtain on an industry undergoing one of the most dramatic reinventions in its history.

Why are some of the world’s biggest companies pouring billions into entertainment and premium sports rights? What happens when AI enters one of the most creative and fiercely protective industries on the planet? And in a world where audiences can watch almost anything, anywhere, at any time, why have shared live experiences suddenly become so extraordinarily valuable?

It’s smart, candid, funny and occasionally a little unpredictable, because when Lyndsay and Brian get together, a traditional interview was never really an option.

This is Hollywood from the inside, capital markets from the outside, and one very entertaining conversation about what happens when the business of entertainment meets the business of money.