Hands carving a wooden fox under a desk lamp, with a blue holographic screen glowing behind the workbench
Experience

The Magic Is Still Ours

I’ve been hearing the same conversation in every corner of this industry for the last year. AI is coming for the creative process. AI is going to replace designers. AI will make everything look the same. I get the fear. I’ve felt it too. When you spend your career learning a craft, watching a machine […]

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Experience

Building Lasting LBE Partnerships

I wrote a piece for Licensing International’s Executive Voices on something I think about every day: what makes a brand partnership actually last in location-based entertainment. The short version: the IP is not decoration. It’s the reason the guest showed up, which means it has to be the reason for every decision in the room. […]

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Experience

Don’t Torpedo the Fragile Thing

I am terrible at blue sky. Or I was. I am still recovering. My brain is an operator’s brain. Someone pitches a floating lantern river and before the sentence is finished, I have priced the barges, staffed the load crew, and found the fire code violation. I can kill an idea in eleven seconds. For […]

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Experience

No One Is Safe Under the Tent

I watch shows differently than most people. I cannot help it. Twenty years in this business rewired me. I walk into a theater and I am counting seats, clocking the sightlines, studying how the room is lit before the lights go down. My wife will tell you I am terrible to sit next to. I […]

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Experience

Follow the Smell of Curry

In Tokyo Disneyland, there is a line. Not for a ride. For popcorn. On a busy Saturday it stretches twenty minutes. For a box that costs less than three dollars. The first time I understood what was happening there, it rearranged something in my head about what an experience actually is. Tokyo Disney Resort runs […]

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