On July 2, Amazon launched “Heads of State,” an action-comedy film starring Idris Elba and John Cena as the respective leaders of the United Kingdom and the United States. But the viewership data indicated that this was no traditional two-hander. Representatives for Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who plays a senior MI6 agent and the film’s third lead, used AI tools including Grok and ChatGPT to measure and analyze viewer sentiment; they found that their client was the main driver of the success of the movie — the fourth-most-watched Amazon MGM Studios film of all time on the platform — on the talent side.
With “Heads of State,” Chopra Jonas generated more than double the buzz of her male co-stars, according to an AI breakdown based on volume, headlines and quoting intensity. The conversation around the film centered on the actress at a rate of 50% to 60%, while Cena and Elba each accounted for 20% to 25%.
“I don’t think she would normally be credited for [the film’s success] because she’s not the lead. She’s not a ‘head of state.’ But in this case, the data doesn’t lie,” says Anjula Acharia, who is Chopra Jonas’ manager.
Where many in Hollywood view AI as something of a bogeyman, fearing widespread job loss, others see opportunity. Acharia, who hails from a tech background as an entrepreneur before pivoting to management, is one of a small but growing legion of talent reps who are harnessing AI data to better advocate for and negotiate on behalf of their clients on future deals.
For decades, a client’s value was easy to calculate, determined primarily via box office hauls and Nielsen ratings. But over the past dozen years, opacity reigned amid the rise of the streamers, which held on to internal metrics with an iron fist. Luminate, Variety’s sibling data unit, now tracks viewership of streaming content. But reps tell Variety that it has become increasingly difficult to negotiate a sequel or Season 2 contract given the dearth of available data to tout from a first incarnation. AI tools, including those offered by Facebook and Anthropic, have brought greater transparency for reps looking to know and leverage their client’s impact.
In the early days of Twitter, reps could point to some rudimentary hashtag numbers when trying to make the case for a client’s breakout status. Now, AI tools, which instantly dissect text across all social media platforms and traditional news outlets, can deliver sophisticated data as the credits roll.
The streamers have been using these same AI tools for at least two years, albeit without sharing the data with talent, in their bid to assess who and what has value. Manipulation can occur, just as with the early days of Twitter, when celebrities could juice their follow numbers by buying bots. But the streamers also can use AI to detect fakes better than ever, neutralizing the incentive to cheat.
The representatives for Joseph Quinn, whose Eddie Munson became the breakout of “Stranger Things” Season 4 thanks to his viral guitar solos, could only guess that their client was having an impact. Now, they can use AI to produce hard numbers that sources say line up nearly identically with the data gleaned by the streamers. The same information can be extrapolated by anyone above and below the title.
“This gives creators superpowers, not just to create content but to see how it’s consumed,” says Sunny Dhillon, founder and managing partner of Kyber Knight, which launched a $120 million venture capital fund in 2023 backed by former studio chiefs Michael Eisner (Disney) and Kevin Tsujihara (Warner Bros.).
The cacophony surrounding Chopra Jonas’ turn in “Heads of State” was boosted by the massive population in India, where her Bollywood-to-Hollywood crossover appeal prompted fans to share clips of her fight sequences. Reviews and social media indicated that her performance was a key motivator for viewership.
Says Acharia: “You can really see where the cultural heat is building, and it gives you that data really fast.”
And that can only be seen as a major tool when it comes time to hammer out the next talent deal.
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