TITLE:  I, Optimize: The Application of Industrial Engineering Principles to the Business of Entertainment

  The entertainment industry is, by all accounts, more art than science. While entertainment will continue to be dominated by artists, those looking to improve upon the creative process have embraced the tools of industrial engineering, and industrial engineers have risen to the top of many creative organizations. Entertainment industry insider and ISyE graduate Guy Primus, IE 1992, MS IE 1995, provides a look behind the curtain of entertainment and shares case studies that demonstrate the principles of industrial engineering at work in the most artsy of industries.

BIO: Guy Primus is co-founder and managing director of Thrillerdome Ventures, a company that provides strategic and operational guidance and executive leadership to technology startups. Thrillerdome's partner companies include SocialHush, which provides tools that allow for collaborative management and moderation of social media posts, Harlem Athletic Club, a sports and fitness lifestyle brand, Anvil Enterprises, which partners with comic book artists to commercialize original characters, and Freedom Hall, an ecommerce destination featuring sportswear collections defined by a reconstructed and more international view of work and play.

Prior to forming Thrillerdome Ventures, Guy served as Chief Operating Officer at Overbrook Entertainment, the film, TV and transmedia production company founded by producer James Lassiter and actor/producer Will Smith where he oversaw Overbrook’s operations , managed the company’s staff and led Overbrook’s strategic ventures group.

Before joining Overbrook, Guy was Director of Digital Media at Starbucks Entertainment. In this role, he was responsible for setting the strategic direction of Starbucks’ digital entertainment initiatives, including negotiation and product planning for Starbucks’ groundbreaking deal with Apple. Guy has also served as Group Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft, where he oversaw marketing and revenue advertising for MSN Entertainment. ‘The Scenario’, which Guy conceived for Sprite while at Microsoft, was named Best Branded Entertainment Campaign at the 2005 ad:tech awards. Before joining Microsoft Guy worked at Bad Boy Entertainment, where he served as Vice President of Strategy & Planning for Blue Flame, the marketing and advertising agency founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Guy serves on the board of directors of SocialHush and Harlem Athletic Club, and on the advisory boards of JibJab Media, a leading provider of digital greetings and online entertainment, MoviePass, a subscription service heralded as the “Netflix for movie theaters” and Loom, a company that is building mobile syncing solutions for media files. Guy is also member of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board, the advisory board of Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Digital Diversity Network.

Guy’s passion for technology and entertainment has resulted in experiences that range from being a patent-pending inventor (Managing Demographic-Based Customer Ratings and Collaborative Moderation of Social Media Posts) to serving as A&R for Universal Music recording artist Anjulie. Guy’s success in the worlds of media and technology led to his selection as a ‘CUP Catalyst’ in Media & Entertainment by the Council of Urban Professionals, a ‘Captain of Industry’ the Institute of Industrial Engineers and being named to Georgia Tech’s Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni.

Guy earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering from The Georgia Tech Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Guy, his wife, Heather, their son, Grant, and their daughter, Clarke, recently relocated from Los Angeles to Atlanta.