Ex-Vice Exec’s New Media Company Signs With CAA (Exclusive)

Soon, a new media company founded by former Vice and Red Bull exec Patrick McGuire and Intercom co-founder and CEO Eoghan McCabe, has signed with CAA for representation.

When it was unveiled earlier this year, Soon billed itself as “a new media company covering the machines, minds, and subcultures of tech’s new frontier. We’re going to be publishing entertaining tech documentaries every week.”

The major talent agency will work with McGuire and McCabe to expand Soon beyond digital content, especially on YouTube, and into live events, film and TV, and especially documentary and unscripted programming.

Soon’s first documentary featured El Segundo-based Rainmaker, a weather modification company, using drones to seed clouds to produce rain or snow.

“There’s a lot of media that’s pessimistic about tech, and now there’s a lot of media that’s optimistic about tech, but who’s having the real authentic down-to-earth conversations about tech that helps the rest of the world figure out what’s going on in Silicon Valley? This honest, curious approach is the mission of Soon,” McGuire, who spent nearly a decade at Vice before serving as global head of factual entertainment at Red Bull, said in a statement.

CAA will aim to leverage Soon’s editorial expertise and audience base to develop original programming for distribution across multiple platforms. That expansion comes as Soon targets a growing divide in tech media between those championing generative artificial intelligence and those focused on its risks. McGuire and McCabe plan to produce more premium educational video content around data centers, bot farms and the impact of AI on creativity, among other tech themes.

“Gen Z is shouldering the heaviest load from the brunt of the AI transition, and the media landscape has become incredibly polarized between tech industry boosters and extreme doomers. Who are they supposed to trust?” McGuire questioned.

Soon is also expanding beyond media to roll out its first proprietary data platform now in development towards the end of the year. Additional business opportunities for the digital startup include podcasts, branded content and strategic partnerships with media and entertainment companies.