you do not need a lab to do this. the amazing part is, the cost of writing dna is falling so rapidly, it is remarkable. it cost $1000 to make that virus. next year, it will cost about $10. the year after that, maybe one dollar. instead of just making one drug and taking 10 or 15 years, why not a netflix model? change the fda requirements about approving a single drug. if these tools keep opening up, there is nothing to stop people from making their own drugs. we see phenomenal amounts of creativity coming into the 3-d printing space. i want to see every drug maker come from the maker community. i want to see it done fast and cheap and i want to see these amazing medicines be available

for everyone. if we do that, we will beat cancer. we have been fighting it for so long, we forget we just might win. thank you. [applause] >> the ceo of hbo, richard company discussed the 's business model.

>> let me invite to the stage two awesome guys. let me say a quick word about willy giest. we talked about disruption in innovation. i do not know if anyone knows this, that he is cloned. he is both the cohost for the "today" show and "morning joe." they are on at the same time basically. and the ceo of hbo, richard pleplar. [applause] >> how is everybody doing? richard, you sold the place out. we were talking about what a cool event this is. it is a lazy susan of ceo's. let's talk about hbo. as a think about the history of

television and what has been called the golden age of television, i am curious where you trace it back. some people say it is "oz" in 1997. >> everybody assumes "the sopranos" was the catalyst, "sex and the city" was the catalyst, "the wire" was the catalyst. i think the tipping point was back in the early 90's with "the larry sanders show." [applause] what gary shandling did is he said to the world, you can do something with a truly original voice and you can differentiate yourself from everything else in the media. i think what gary did was he

opened the door to a lot of other auteurs who saw the attention he got in the creative community. people were watching what he was doing on hbo and saying, wow. i can try something like that. i think he opened the door to what became the modern hbo. >> why did it take so long for us to get there? >> in fairness, the model of television and hbo are very different. television, they are selling advertising. that is the way they measure success and that is the business model that informs their decision-making. our model is we are selling a brand. what we are trying to do every day is elevate that brand and we believe if we elevate the brand and create more addicts across a wide range of demographics, we

will serve our brand and we will grow our business and build our model all over the world. that is a very different raison d'etre. i am coming from a lunch with the great steven soderbergh who's doing a show for us that will be on cinemax. steven, who is a great artist, said the liberation i feel working at hbo with excellence as my metric, that is an extraordinary thing. whoever you are talking to in our family, that is a very liberating dynamic. that is our blessing. >> you are attracting people who have been at this for a long time. you mentioned "candelabra," michael douglas comes to mind. >> michael's line to me was, i have been doing this for 40

years. what is in the water here? everybody who i encounter at your company, the marketing team, the pr team -- all we are trying to do is create the best product that we can. that is a very liberating dynamic inside the company. we do not wake up the morning after a show premieres and say, what is the number? we wake up and say, did it deliver on our expectations of excellence? i said to barry levinson, congratulations. he said to me, why are you congratulating me? i know it is brilliant.

i've seen it. that is all i need to know. i've been at this long time and you're the first ceo of the network or studio who is ever said anything like that. that is not because i am more noble, it is because that is what defines success for our brand. globally as well. the questions in the level of sophistication of the questions about our artists, the producers, about we are trying to do, it is as if they live in los angeles or new york and they are every bit as expert on what the brand stands for. >> [inaudible] there we go. thank you. a case about it not being the numbers is "girls."

in a single night, it would be a million. that is not a huge number. that show is critical to your success. >> they are high-quality shows reaching a particular -- i look at it this way. we have 43 million constituents across hbo and cinemax. we are trying to create more and more addicts among those constituents and we are trying to build a new generation of

viewers. for some people, "silicon valley" is the reason they subscribe to hbo. for some people, it is "veep." some people are watching boxing. some people are watching our movies or documentaries. it does not matter to us if a subscriber feels an emotional connection, a passionate engagement with our brand, but is what we are striving for. you guys stand for good shit. [laughter] we are only as good as the people who come to work for us. my job, the job of my colleagues, become a magnet for the best talent to want to work. there is a competition, a lot of people doing great work. this is not a zero-sum game. as long as we are playing our game to our full capacity, which is what we think about every day, we will have more of our fair share of attention and

acclaim. that is the north star. what you want is lena dunham feeling like there is not a better place to work because she is talking to her friends in the creative community and she is saying, this is an extraordinary experience. it becomes catalytic. >> if nothing else, we walked out with a good slogan for hbo. we do good shit. so lena dunham walks into your office one day. i think it goes to what you are known for. having good instincts. walk us through the process.

>> it precedes me. this speaks to our culture. a young executive in los angeles was at south by southwest and she saw "tiny furniture," which was her first movie. i believe she made it for $37,000. she took the dvd, brought it back to the team. we all watched "tiny furniture." nobody knows that "girls" is going to be "girls." you do know that is an original voice. you know that is a differentiated voice which defines our brand. all of us looking at it and feeling very comfortable that this was something special.

if it breaks into the zeitgeist like it does, nobody knows if that happens. what we knew about "true detective" is that it was excellent. 12.5 million viewers. that you cannot predict. we are looking for the two p's. we are looking to be proud and popular. your north star has to be, are you proud of it? if we are collectively proud of the product, the scripts, we feel a shared vision, we are comfortable with that. if we stick to that, you will find you have your fair share of things the breakthrough. >> you were smart to trust your gut on "true detective." that is another lena dunham story. the guy had written a couple of novels.

i do not think a lot of tv executives would've taken the meeting. >> when mike and sue and myself read 420 pages, you knew this was a remarkable piece of work. to have matthew and woody attached to it, everybody felt pretty comfortable that this was consummate with our brand. you do not know if it is going to become such a huge part of the cultural conversation. if you had said to me that would do 12.5 million viewers, i would've said to you, highly unlikely. it is complex, dark.

you have to stay with it and you have to pay attention. people loved it. >> in a broad audience. >> a huge audience. >> "game of thrones" has been a cultural explosion. in terms of your brand, it is nice to have that show. never get your numbers wrong with richard pleplar. do you need a massive hit like that? >> it is wonderful to have something that is both a very high quality, very much on brand, and it breaks through, becomes a global phenomenon, has huge home-video attached to it. we believe in david and dan.

david and dan really are quintessential auteurs. they love the products, they know it in their bones. for george, his whole life is built around the books, to have entrusted them with the legacy of the series speaks volumes about how special they are. >> 78%, 80% of your viewership is for theatrical films. what does that mean?

>> it means you have to have the movies if you are going to run a successful premium television network. the original programming takes a disproportionate share of the halo because it is the original work of our network. the consumer still loves to watch hollywood movies for a second, a third, and a fourth time. they are in the tens of millions of viewers. you put "fast and furious" on, you will have 21 million viewers over the course of that run. it is very important to make sure your theatrical movie lineup is there. the halo on our brand, the

driving dynamic of what gives us our pricing power is the combination of the theatrical superiority with the cultural cachet of our original programming. you need both. >> you guys are ahead of the game in so many things. this business moves so quickly. what do you do to make sure you are not caught flat-footed? >> we spend about 10 seconds celebrating today. we wake up, i have a little sheet of paper. i call this the what can get screwed up today list. >> an optimist. >> you have to be vigilant all the time. the velocity of change is extraordinary. our digital revolution is a big part of our thinking. hbo go is a remarkable product. it will evolve and get better and better. we will not be caught without the ability to pivot both with our partners, because i think we

want to grow with them. we think there is a lot of growth left still in this business. having an exciting digital product where you can watch hbo on your playstation, xbox, kindle, ipad. that is very important for generation who are getting a video in another place from the television. >> you feel yourself competing directly with netflix? >> we want to always evolve our own brand. what we think about is since more and more people want the option of watching hbo on different platforms, we want to make sure we have that. globally, as we improve and expand on this ip platform, if you think about a billion tablets and smartphones around

the world and you imagine the option knowledge globally, where we have 85 million international subscribers, that is a very exciting dynamic. we will make sure we continue to advance the digital possibilities of the brand. we will make sure we create as many options as possible for our customer. it is all, at the end of the day, about the product. yes, you want people to have the convenience of watching on their ipad or playstation, but they ain't coming there if there is not a magnet to get them there. make the content outstanding. secondly, build as much dexterity as you can. >> we have less than a minute. the light became yellow. give us a little hint of what is ahead for hbo. >> wonderful piece by the

"entourage" guys which is called "ballers" which is about aging football players set in miami. it is quite poignant about the end of people's careers and how they evolve. we have a show called "the brink." i liken it to "mash." "leftovers," a kind of metaphysical -- you have seen the trailer. this may, "the normal heart," directed by ryan murphy, starring julia roberts.