Like Cooper, Soto found a strategic partner in Netflix. In 2020, the streamer debuted the nine-episode docuseries Lenox Hill, which was filmed at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. That was followed three years later by Emergency NYC, which followed ER physicians and first responders all over New York. To date, Northwell has been involved in seven TV and film projects with plans for more.

“It’s really important for us to do two things with this new platform that we have,” Soto explained, citing “brand love” and driving a conversation around “social issues” like mental health and medicine.

Naturally, entertainment isn’t always what the doctor ordered, and Soto admitted that Northwell has had its occasional doses of failure.

“We’ve learned a lot from it,” he said. “We show up differently the next time, and we continue to push forward.”

3. When all else fails, get Keanu

For his part, Sugar characterized Sugar23 as standing at the nexus between the old and new versions of Hollywood. “We don’t do branded content—we do premium entertainment,” he said of the company, which has been behind such TV shows and films as Dickinson, Spotlight, and The Turning Point, a documentary series that brought together P&G Studios, Time Studios, and MSNBC Films.

With that experience top of mind, he’s come to recognize that what an entertainment-curious brand needs most is a highly motivated and highly creative partner … like, say, Keanu Reeves.

“Keanu called us with an idea for a show,” Sugar said of the John Wick star, who mostly avoids appearing in ads despite regularly receiving offers with beyond-lucrative paydays. “We said, ‘How about finding a brand partner?’ And he was all in.”

For Sugar, the Reeves anecdote provides a clear road map for where brands and Hollywood can travel together in the years ahead.

“Here’s a guy who will get on a plane for free to work with a brand who is going to enable his passion,” Sugar marveled. “But he won’t get out of bed for millions to do a commercial.”

All together now—whoa.