The new season of "Silicon Valley" examines a common issue in the tech industry known as pivoting.

Pivoting is the decision companies make when they realize what's appealing to customers and what isn't, then decide to focus their efforts on what's working. In many cases, they find that the product or service that's clicking with consumers isn't what their companies were originally founded on.

That's where fans will find Pied Piper on the fourth season of HBO's "Silicon Valley," premiering on Sunday at 10 p.m.

"A lot of companies are started with one thing in mind and then they turn into something else," "Silicon Valley" executive producer Clay Tarver recently told Business Insider.

Tarver referred to Instagram's origin as a sort of Foursquare knockoff called Burbn and Yelp's turn away from its original incarnation as a business referral site and into a review site when it noticed that its users were writing unsolicited business reviews instead of answering referral requests.

On "Silicon Valley," the pivot into video messaging puts Pied Piper founder Richard (Thomas Middleditch) at a crossroads. Does he accept that his data-compression algorithm is a failure and go along with the video-messaging app, or remain focused on his original vision?

"Everyone who starts a company and founds something like Pied Piper, I think they reach a moment where they're questioning,'Is this it? Is this really what I want to do?' It's like with any of our dreams," Tarver said. "In season three, Richard went and finally got to do what he wanted to do, but no one really liked it. It was too complicated for them, and too advanced. It was too good. And it was heartbreaking for him, but we felt that was a really interesting dilemma for him to face."

On season four, the act of pivoting and Richard's decision about what to pursue become central.

"For Richard, this amazing algorithm that he has, we view it as, almost like his soul," Tarver said. "So can he have success without selling his soul? Or selling it short?"

SEE ALSO: How 'Silicon Valley' keeps everything so true to the real-life tech world

DON'T MISS: Watch a hilarious deleted scene from 'Silicon Valley'

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NOW WATCH: This is the worst part of Silicon Valley, according to the cast of ‘Silicon Valley’

Around 2013, Netflix began to see the writing on the wall: The days of licensing a back catalog of great TV shows for dirt cheap were numbered.

The TV and film industry titans were realizing how valuable streaming rights were, which meant that getting them would become increasingly difficult over time for Netflix, especially as more services jumped into the market.

Netflix made the decision that it would have to start making its own shows and movies, starting with “House of Cards.”

It worked.

The huge investment Netflix has made in “originals” over the last few years — $6 billion in 2017 alone — has paid off in a string of hits that have not only won fan loyalty, but also gotten the internet buzzing over and over again. Netflix even won a best drama Golden Globe this year for “The Crown,” its costume drama about the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

But since "House of Cards," the question hasn't really been whether Netflix is producing some great shows, but whether Netflix originals are worth the gargantuan sums of money the company is plunking down to make them. “The Crown,” for instance, cost a reported $130 million.

But on Netflix’s earnings call this week, Netflix content boss Ted Sarandos made comments that should, on that front, give investors a boost of confidence. Sarandos said the amount of money Netflix is investing in originals is “pretty consistent” with the amount of hours people spend watching them.

“That’s why we’ve said before that the investment in original programming has been efficient,” Sarandos said. “That’s what we mean: Relative to what else you’d spend the money on, versus the hours of viewing.”

So, broadly speaking, every dollar Netflix spends on original programming gets it the same amount of watching hours that a dollar spent on licensed content would. And that’s why Sarandos later said Netflix isn’t driving toward a specific percentage of original programming.

That is a deceptively important statement from Sarandos. Why? Because it means that Netflix’s forward-looking thesis that a global TV network, without ads, delivered directly over the internet, is efficient — or at least as efficient as Netflix's previous model of being an online library of other people’s old shows and movies.

And Netflix isn’t the only one to have noticed. Rival Amazon is set to spend an estimated $4.5 billion on video this year, according to JPMorgan, and has also characterized spending on lavish original shows as “efficient.”

"'The Grand Tour’ is an expensive show but it’s well worth it,” Amazon Studios chief Roy Price said recently of the new show from the team behind "Top Gear." Reports pegged the cost at $250 million for three seasons.

“It’s actually efficient and good economics,” Price contended.

Only time will tell whether Netflix and Amazon execs are simply blowing smoke. But if true, those comments should make investors bullish on the prospects of the streaming giants, as they try and turn themselves into the first truly global TV networks.

SEE ALSO: Netflix's content boss explained the reason he bet big on 'The Crown,' its Golden Globe winner

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NOW WATCH: There's a 4/20 festival in the middle of San Francisco — here's what it's like

"Feud: Bette and Joan" is the first installment of Ryan Murphy's new anthology series, in the vein of "American Horror Story" and "American Crime Story." Each season of "Feud" will follow a famous feud throughout history.

This first season, now airing on FX, tells the true story of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, competitive Hollywood stars who were in the 1962 movie "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" together, even though they hated each other. 

"Feud: Bette and Joan" is the perfect outlet for Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kathy Bates, and other older actors to prove they have a lot of talent and don't need to be under 30 to take on juicy leading roles. Move over, Jennifer Lawrence! Actors who are actually the age of the people they're playing are getting the roles they deserve. 

It's the perfect weekend to binge-watch the season, since the eighth and final episode of "Feud: Bette and Joan" airs this Sunday on FX. 

Season two of the anthology series will focus on Prince Charles and Princess Diana. There's still no word on whether season three will follow the "feud" between Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel, but you heard that idea here first. 

Here's why you should watch "Feud: Bette and Joan":

SEE ALSO: Why you need to be watching HBO's 'Big Little Lies'

It's based on the real-life feud between two of old Hollywood's stars, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

Bette Davis won two Oscars, for "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938). In 1963, she was nominated (instead of costar Joan Crawford) for her role in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

Joan Crawford won an Oscar in 1946 for her role in "Mildred Pierce."

It's a little Hollywood history lesson.

In its early days, Hollywood operated on the studio system. This meant that studios hired actors on contracts. So actresses like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis would sign a six-picture deal with a studio before knowing what those six movies were, or how long it would take to film six pictures.

When actors and actresses began saying no to projects, lawsuits started up. Davis was one of the actors who said no to projects she didn't believe in, and this upset studio execs. Studio contracts were also very strict, and often affected the social and personal lives of actors. 

The show totally calls out the men of Hollywood who manipulated these women into hating each other.

Studio execs, like Stanley Tucci's character Jack Warner, were the true masterminds behind the feud between Crawford and Davis. They created rumors and gossip, and used these women's vulnerabilities to sell tickets. 

Though there was a diverse selection of new releases out this weekend ranging from a clever shootout movie starring Brie Larson ("Free Fire"), a film featuring Katherine Heigl playing a crazed ex-wife ("Unforgettable"), and a Disney documentary featuring adorable pandas ("Born in China"), none of them were a match for "The Fate of the Furious."

Universal's eighth installment in the "Fast and the Furious" franchise followed-up its record-breaking opening weekend with an estimated $38.7 million in its second weekend, according to Variety.

Though a 61% dip in business domestically compared to its first weekend, it was still enough to be number one at the box office.

The movie now has a domestic total of $163.6 million.

What's even more impressive is what the movie is doing overseas. Having earned over $900 million globally, "Fate of the Furious" is doing monster business in China — earning close to $400 million in that country alone.

Expect the movie to top the box office again next weekend before Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" hits theaters May 5 (and could possibly break all the records "Fate of the Furious" just set).

SEE ALSO: Oscar Isaac talks about the role that will stay with him and working with Carrie Fisher

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Since winning the Oscar for best actress for 2015's "Room," Brie Larson acknowledges her sudden jolt to worldwide fame — as well as the constant job offers that come with it — has taken some getting used to.

Along with her anticipated entry into the Marvel universe — she'll play the lead in a Captain Marvel movie slated for 2019 — Larson laid the groundwork for another potential franchise earlier this year by starring in "Kong: Skull Island." (She also found time for her feature directorial debut, "Unicorn Store.")

Now she's coming out with the ensemble shoot-'em-up comedy "Free Fire" (opening Friday). Larson plays Justine, the only woman in a gang in 1978 Boston that's going to a deserted warehouse to buy guns. When shots are fired, they start a chain reaction that will leave no one safe.

Larson talked to Business Insider about what keeps her grounded, the roles she instantly passes on, and how she sees the industry being more accommodating for women — and where it needs to improve.

Jason Guerrasio: Did it attract you that in "Free Fire" the Justine character is in a lot of ways smarter than all the guys?

Brie Larson: Kind of. I mean, to be honest, I don't know if I think she's a lot smarter than them. She's got a plan, and it doesn't work out so well. I think the one thing she has over them is the fact that she's not trying to assert power or dominance outright. She's surrounded by all these dudes with their crazy suits and mustaches and with tons of ego and she's actually muted and understated and is trying her best to just keep everyone calm and kind of go under the surface, and that's what I really found interesting. Being in a film where you have all of these crazy personalities and then there's this one kind of sneaky, secretive, quiet one who is playing everybody was fun.

Guerrasio: So for you right now, what does a role need to have for you to consider it?

Larson: The main thing for me is just the length of time it takes to make a movie. It's at least a year of just talking about it, talking about it with yourself or your director or your other castmates or the press, so you just want to make sure it's a film that although you initially feel this pull or this drive to it, you don't really have the answers to why you're drawn to it. Part of it is being interested in the character and part of it is being interested in the movie or what it means and the exploration of it. But it's more about not knowing the answers to certain questions but wanting to go on the journey of discovery to find the answers.

Guerrasio: How about roles you would instantly say no to?

Larson: Clichés. Anything that's a cliché.

Guerrasio: Like, a cliché female role?

Larson: A cliché of the female character or a cliché film. Like a film where you know exactly what's going to happen. One of the reasons I love making movies is because it's an opportunity to share with the world a different way of being or a different way of living or seeing the world. If it's something you've already seen before, if I have too many reference points for it, then it's not exciting for me to make.

Guerrasio: You have been working nonstop since "Room." And not just making movies but doing press for them.

Larson: Yes. I feel the same way. [Laughs]

Guerrasio: What's been the biggest thing to adapt to in life after your Oscar win? When suddenly work and attention are both constant.

Larson: I don't think I'll ever be able to grasp this — I just don't really understand why anybody would care what I have to say. I'm just a person figuring stuff out. That's the thing I trip out on all the time when I do days and days of press and you're like, "Who cares what I think?" [Laughs]

Guerrasio: And I would guess you have a similar feeling when it comes to posting things on social media.

Larson: Yeah. I think you just get sick of your own voice and one of my favorite things in the world is just to people-watch and to listen. Interviews aren't about that. Very few interviews are a conversation. It's usually a question and I have to answer for two minutes. By the end of the day, I kind of feel gross. It's like you go to dinner with a friend and then you get home and you're like: "Ugh, I dominated that conversation too much. I wish I let them talk more." That's how it feels for me every day I do press.

Guerrasio: So when was the last time you got to just sit back and people-watch?

Larson: Oh, all the time.

Guerrasio: You can still pull it off in public?

Larson: Yeah. I don't really get recognized much.

Guerrasio: Seriously?

Larson: I'm so serious. And I'm very paranoid about my privacy so I would be the first to tell you if it's all gone. It's not. I'm grateful for that.

Guerrasio: You've been very outspoken about women's rights and equal rights within the industry. Are you feeling any shift in the industry in regards to women being heard?

Larson: The way that I'm feeling the shift is that we are allowed to be part of the development process. So I do feel like things are changing because I'm allowed to option books or write an original screenplay or direct. Those possibilities are really wide open. I think that males still struggle to write for females, which is totally fine because I don't think I could write a really impactful male role because that's not the life that I lived. So we'll just keep shouting and say we need more opportunities for not just women but people that are just different.

I think sometimes I feel saying this is about women or this is just purely a male/female gender issue is only scratching the surface. We need to have points of view from lots of different types of people. People who have different backgrounds, different parts of the world, who maybe perceive gender differently. We're in this time where we have social media, we have the ability to share so much, that I think that we need to create more space and more opportunity for people that are just outside of the typical cliched binary roles.

Guerrasio: You've definitely taken those opportunities to have a voice. You recently wrapped on directing a feature film, "Unicorn Store." You directed a few shorts before that. What was the biggest takeaway from making your first feature?

Larson: There's a lot that I'm still pulling apart from it. I just felt so excited about it. I really just loved every second of it. I loved assembling a team of people that I really enjoyed being with every day and I continue to be in awe of every person on set that has a very specific gift and you need all of them to make a movie. It's this amazing opportunity to be with all these real-life superheroes that have very specific skills and you need all of them to make one thing.

Guerrasio: When will we get to see it?

Larson: I don't know. It's in post right now. I just don't know when the end will be.

Guerrasio: So who's the female director you would kill to work with right now?

Larson: Oh, I would say either Kathryn Bigelow or Ava DuVernay.

Guerrasio: Both are great.

Larson: I know.

SEE ALSO: 18 TV shows you're watching that are probably going to be canceled

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Starring in HBO's "Silicon Valley" hasn't changed how Martin Starr or Kumail Nanjiani view social media.

But as the show enters its fourth season, the two recognize that social media, particularly Twitter, has changed a lot in the last four years. 

"A lot of times it seems like social media has devolved into people just yelling at each other and not really conversing," said Nanjiani in an interview with Business Insider. 

Nanjiani, an active Twitter user with over a million followers, largely tweets about politics with a little bit of the HBO show, which debuts this Sunday, thrown in. However, Nanjiani says that he's stopped paying attention to messages sent to him for his own mental health, he said. Starr, who tweets way less frequently than Nanjiani, also has a hard time tolerating what Twitter, and its fellow social networks, have become.

Nanjiani originally thought the "great promise" of social media would be people of different backgrounds being able to converse with people that they wouldn't normally have access to. 

"The flip side, and we’re seeing a lot of that, is people finding other people who agree with them and who sort of reinforce their narrow beliefs and then people just getting stronger and stronger in their beliefs and are not really having a conversation," Nanjiani said.

"It’s hard too because 160 characters, or 140 characters, isn’t the best way to communicate. So it’s not a forum for communication," Starr added. "It was almost destined to fail as far as open dialogue is concerned."

Nanjiani continued: "I think it was more designed for people to just send out little thoughts, little thoughts, little thoughts. And then it sort of became so popular that people are trying to use it for conversation, but as Martin is saying, Twitter is just not the best mode for actually having a well-reasoned discussion mostly because of the character limit. That’s not what it was designed for I think."

"Unfortunately a lot of people don’t seek outside their bubble and there’s a chance that retweeting something or spreading something that penetrated my life or make me think outside my box or, a lot of the time, reinforced feelings that I already had about what was going on, but we should all be aware of — sharing that is valuable," Starr said. "But I can only handle so much before I get sick."

The new season of Silicon Valley debuts on HBO on Sunday, April 23rd at 10pm eastern/9pm central time.

SEE ALSO: Uber's no-good, very bad month: The stunning string of blows that have upended the world's most valuable startup

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NOW WATCH: This is the worst part of Silicon Valley, according to the cast of ‘Silicon Valley’

Warning: Spoilers for the most recent "The Leftovers" below.

If there's one thing the HBO series "The Leftovers" has proven over its brief three-season run, it's that the show loves to shock.

And Sunday's episode was no exception. From the revelation that there might be a way for Nora (Carrie Coon) to see her departed family (the news was delivered to her by none other than the departure-faker and "Perfect Strangers" star Mark Linn-Baker) to that old guy on the tower finally dying, there was a lot to absorb.

But if you're a fan of the legendary hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, you were given quite a treat.

When Nora got her cast taken off in the episode, we saw that she has a tattoo of the Wu-Tang "W" symbol on her forearm. We learned when Nora visited Erika (Regina King) that she chose the tattoo to cover previous tattoos of her kids' names.

Erika then revealed to Nora that one way she's kept her sanity after her daughter Eve (Jasmin Savoy Brown) died was buying a trampoline. We then saw the two on the trampoline in slow-motion while the Wu-Tang song "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" played.

It's just the latest masterful music choice from the show. Though many of the ideas come from the show's cocreator Damon Lindelof and the writers, the person who goes out and clears the song rights is the show's music supervisor Liza Richardson.

When Lindelof first brought up to the idea of the Wu-Tang song to Richardson last February, she wasn't confident.

"I said, 'Famously impossible, but let's try,'" Richardson said about getting rights.

Wu-Tang songs are so hard to clear because they use a lot of samples and there are so many writers for each song.

Lindelof had his eye on a song from the 1995 album "Liquid Swords," a solo album by Wu-Tang member GZA.

Richardson looked into all the songs on the "Liquid Swords" album. It took her close to two months, but she was able to clear the rights to the songs "Liquid Swords" and "Living in the World Today." The track "Shadowboxin'" (featuring Method Man) was also in the running, but there were issues with the samples on the song that held it up.

Richardson was also able to get the rights to "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F--- Wit" from their debut album, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)."

Lindelof eventually decided on "Nuthing ta F--- Wit." Or so Richardson thought.

"They changed the scene to Erika and Nora bouncing on the trampoline," she said.

Lindelof now had three new songs he wanted Richardson to go after: "C.R.E.A.M." (from "Enter the Wu-Tang"), "Triumph" ("Wu-Tang Forever"), and "Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off)" ("The W"). All three cleared and "Protect Ya Neck" was chosen for the scene. The track cost the show $30,000 to use.

Richardson said the music in this episode — from the Wu-Tang track to the episode opening with the "Perfect Strangers" theme song — is a perfect example of why she loves working on the show.

"The variety of music we use is so refreshing," she said. "Like the harp piece at the end of the episode, how often do you get that? In most shows it would be covered with score but we used instrumental music. It's unusual and I think it's killer. This show has been a big left turn for me and I hope I have another chance to do something like this."

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

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NOW WATCH: Warner Bros. might have to pay $900 million if it can't prove ghosts are real

Netflix is raising another ~$1.08 billion in debt ($1 billion euros), the company announced Monday.

This is par for the course for Netflix, which raised a similar $1 billion in debt in October, primarily to fund its ongoing push into original shows.

"Netflix intends to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, which may
include content acquisitions, capital expenditures, investments, working capital and potential acquisitions
and strategic transactions," Netflix wrote in a statement Monday.

In short: Netflix could use the money for anything. But original content is the main driver, Netflix explained in its earnings letter to shareholders last week, as it tried to allay fears about it taking on too much debt.

“Our debt-to-total-cap ratio, at under 10%, is quite conservative compared to most of our media peers at 30%-70%, and conservative compared to efficient capital-structure theory,” Netflix wrote. “Thus we will continue to add long-term debt as needed to finance our expansion of original content, including in Q2’17.”

In the letter, Netflix also reiterated that it expects to have a negative free cash flow of $2 billion in 2017, versus $1.7 billion in 2016.

"The growth in our original content means we continue to plan to have around $2B in negative FCF this year," Netflix wrote. While Netflix is confident it will make that money back over the long run, investors should not expect negative free cash flow to stop any time soon, as the company wrote that it will "accompany our rapid growth for many years." That makes debt a necessity.

Here's how Netflix explained its spending strategy:

We have a large market opportunity ahead of us and we’re optimizing long-term FCF by growing our original content aggressively. Negative near-term FCF is the result of the big increases in our original content, combined with small but growing operating margins.

Negative free cash flow has been the main source of concern for many Wall Street analysts who are otherwise bullish on the stock.

"It’s another quarter of the same old debate on Netflix stock," Nomura-Instinet analyst DiClemente wrote last week. "Can [subscriber] growth outweigh [free cash flow] concerns?"

SEE ALSO: Netflix put out 17 comedy specials this quarter, and Dave Chappelle's was its most-watched of all time

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Andy Cohen has successfully climbed the media ladder from CBS News intern to host and executive producer of Bravo's late night show, "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen."

Additionally, Cohen is an executive producer of the network's popular and expansive "Real Housewives" empire, hosts and produces pop culture nostalgia series "Andy Cohen's Then & Now," and is set to host the upcoming revival of "Love Connection."

We asked Cohen how he's able to frequently get his celebrity guests to spill salacious behind-the-scenes details about the entertainment industry or their personal lives. Following is a transcript of the video.

ANDY COHEN: I think there's an artful way to ask a question where you can be delicate without being an ass. Show the person that you're on their side in whatever way you can, that you have a passion and an interest and an enthusiasm for them.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid, and don't — don't overqualifythe question. 

I think people know that I'm not out to get them, I want to — I'm more of a cheerleader than a foe. So, I don't want people to leave mad, but I also want them to know that if they come here, that there's an expectation but I also want them to know that if they come here, that there's an expectation that we're gonna talk about things that may not be — may not always make them comfortable, but that's also, I mean it's a relationship that I have with the audience too, where they know that I'm gonna go there, and I like to go there, and I learned how to go there with the "Housewives," and then it just kind of translated with celebrities.

I mean, I like to respect their boundaries, but I like to push it. But I push them in a friendly way. So, I'll accept any answer.

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On Sunday, "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" had a 22-minute segment delving into the qualifications of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner for working at the White House.

Oliver pointed out that for liberals, the popular assumption had been that President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law would be a moderating influence on him. But is that really the case?

The host of the HBO show broke down their roles: Ivanka is an unpaid "assistant to the president," while Kushner pretty much has his hand in everything, including being responsible for brokering peace in the Middle East and revamping the federal government.

"It is not unusual for powerful men to give their son-in-laws do-nothing jobs, but leave it to Donald Trump, who can't even get nepotism right, to give his a do-everything job," Oliver said.

But is this all just window dressing? Though Ivanka has been a staple in Trump's businesses and TV shows since she was a teen, her involvement since Trump's candidacy doesn't seem to have shifted Trump's thoughts, Oliver argues.

Ivanka was reportedly the one who got her father to meet with Al Gore at Trump Tower, but three days later, Trump named climate-change denier Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. And issues she's gotten behind, like family leave and childcare, don't seem to have influenced Trump. His proposals would give families who have incomes of $10,000 to $30,000 average annual benefits of just $10 a year.

Though Ivanka is perceived to be the opposite of her father, Oliver found a passage from her 2009 book, "The Trump Card," that might make you think otherwise.

In one section she wrote, "Don't go out of your way to correct a false assumption if it plays to your advantage."

"She's pretty much telling you to your face not to trust any assumption you are making about her," Oliver said. "It is possible she is doing nothing to moderate her father."

Kushner, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a glowing business résumé. He bought a swanky Manhattan building for a record $1.8 billion, but 10 years later the building is struggling with debt payments. But he's now the primary point of contact for two dozen countries.

Those who know Kushner have praised his listening skills.

"So hold on, he's brilliant because he's quiet?" Oliver asked. "Just because you don't talk does not necessarily mean you're thinking something amazing."

Oliver also touched on the fact that many people have no idea what Kushner's voice sounds like. So he dug up an old interview with Kushner, but when he played it, the clip actually had comedian Gilbert Gottfried speaking over Kushner with his trademark high-pitched voice.

"This may seem like an evisceration of Jared and Ivanka, but it's really not," Oliver said. "I don't know enough about them to eviscerate them, just as you don't know enough about them to justify putting any real hopes in them. Because it is dangerous to think of them as a moderating influence, as reassuring as that may feel."

Oliver added a warning about Ivanka and Jared for liberals: "If they are the reason you are sleeping at night, you should probably still be awake."

Watch Oliver's entire segment on Ivanka and Jared below:

SEE ALSO: How "The Leftovers" got that "famously impossible" Wu-Tang Clan song for the new episode

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President Donald Trump appeared to contradict himself while talking about CNN during a Friday interview with the Associated Press.

The president, who has called CNN "fake news" multiple times and accused the network of unfair coverage, told AP reporter Julie Pace that he no longer watched the channel.

Pace responded: "You just said you did," referring to an off-the-record exchange that was not included in a transcript of the interview released Monday.

"No. No, I, if I'm passing it, what did I just say?" Trump replied.

Pace then said Trump had just said he watched CNN a few minutes earlier.

Trump responded: "No, they treat me so badly. No, I just said that. No, I, what'd I say, I stopped watching them. But I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC. I don't watch it."

Regardless of whether Trump still watches CNN, he consistently lampooned the network during his campaign and after taking office.

Contrary to Trump's claims that CNN is tanking, its ratings have soared since last year, up 51% among 25- to 54-year-olds as of February. 2016 was CNN's most profitable year, according to Forbes, and the network seems set to perform even better in 2017.

Here's the part of the transcript where Trump talked about CNN:

AP: Do you feel that one of the things with cable is there's such real-time reaction with everything you say?

TRUMP: Yeah.

AP: Can you separate that sometimes from that actual decision?

TRUMP: The one thing —

AP: That you have to do —

TRUMP: OK. The one thing I've learned to do that I never thought I had the ability to do. I don't watch CNN anymore.

AP: You just said you did.

TRUMP: No. No, I, if I'm passing it, what did I just say (inaudible)?

AP: You just said —

TRUMP: Where? Where?

AP: Two minutes ago.

TRUMP: No, they treat me so badly. No, I just said that. No, I, what'd I say, I stopped watching them. But I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC. I don't watch it. Now I heard yesterday that MSNBC, you know, they tell me what's going on.

AP: Right.

TRUMP: In fact, they also did. I never thought I had the ability to not watch. Like, people think I watch (MSNBC's) "Morning Joe." I don't watch "Morning Joe." I never thought I had the ability to, and who used to treat me great by the way, when I played the game. I never thought I had the ability to not watch what is unpleasant, if it's about me. Or pleasant. But when I see it's such false reporting and such bad reporting and false reporting that I've developed an ability that I never thought I had. I don't watch things that are unpleasant. I just don't watch them.

AP: And do you feel like that's, that's because of the office that you now occupy —

TRUMP: No.

AP: That you've made that change?

TRUMP: I don't know why it is, but I've developed that ability, and it's happened over the last, over the last year.

AP: That's interesting.

TRUMP: And I don't watch things that I know are going to be unpleasant. CNN has covered me unfairly and incorrectly and I don't watch them anymore. A lot of people don't watch them anymore, they're now in third place. But I've created something where people are watching ... but I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC anymore. I don't watch things, and I never thought I had that ability. I always thought I'd watch.

Read the complete AP interview here»

SEE ALSO: CNN president calls Congress 'gutless' in response to Trump's attacks on media

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By the end of 2017, about a quarter of US households won't have a traditional TV subscription as "cord-cutting" continues to creep up, according to a new report by The Convergence Research Group.

"We estimate 2016 saw a decline of 2.05 million US TV subscribers, 2015 saw a decline of 1.16 million, and forecast a decline of 2.11 million TV subscribers for 2017," Convergence analysts wrote in the report. All told, that would mean 24.6% of US households won't have a TV subscription from a cable, satellite, or telecom provider by the end of 2017.

Still, revenue for the industry will grow. Convergence estimates that the US cable, satellite, and telco access provider revenue grew 3% to $107.3 billion in 2016, and will reach $109.6 billion in 2017.

That's nowhere near as fast as "OTT" services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video are growing, however. Those services grew 32% to $8.3 billion in 2016, and will continue to rise rapidly over the next few years.

Here's a chart showing what Convergence expects in 2017 and 2018:

SEE ALSO: Netflix is taking on over $1 billion in new debt — here's why

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Actors Jenny Slate and Zachary Quinto found stardom through different avenues.

Quinto spent four years starring on the TV show "Heroes" and has played Spock in the new "Star Trek" movies since 2009. Slate, meanwhile, spent years building a career in the comedy world (which included a short stint on "Saturday Night Live" in 2009) leading to the 2014 comedy movie "Obvious Child," which made her much more visible. She was soon doing voice work on hits like "Zootopia" and "The Secret Life of Pets" and became a tabloid fixture thanks to dating Chris Evans after the two starred in the movie "Gifted."

But Quinto and Slate share a lot in the kinds of stories they want to tell. At this year's Tribeca Film Festival, the two star in the movie "Aardvark." Quinto plays Josh Norman, who's dealing with an estranged relationship with his brother Craig (Jon Hamm) and has hallucinations of him. Slate plays Emily, Josh's therapist who also happens to be sleeping with Craig.

It's a story perfect for the independent-film crowd (the movie is seeking distribution at the festival), which means it's not going to be seen by a wide audience. So why make the movie if it can't be seen by the masses?

Slate and Quinto, who is also a producer on "Aardvark," sat down with Business Insider in New York City following the world premiere of the movie to talk about what motivates the choices they make in their careers.

Jason Guerrasio: Zachary, you produced this, and you're friends with the writer-director Brian Shaof. Was this always intended as a project you would star in?

Zachary Quinto: I have a production company, this is the sixth or seventh movie, so it's something that I'm interested in aside from my work as an actor. This is only the second movie we've produced that I've been in. But it's interesting, the journey of this project, because Brian sent it to me probably a year and a half before we made it and it was a different thing. There were different producers, there was an actor attached to play Josh, and he sent it to me to play Craig. And it wasn't something that I responded to from that perspective so I let it go. But that then all fell apart and we had a conversation about it from the production standpoint because he was looking for new partners to make it. So I said, "Look, if I'm going to put my resources and my company's resources into helping you get this together, then I feel I want to be a part of it as Josh, not as Craig." So we reformulated a plan and we came on as producers so from there it was always with the mindset of me playing Josh. And we got it together again.

Guerrasio: Jenny, how did you get involved?

Jenny Slate: I had met Zach socially. You came to one of my stand-up shows.

Quinto: That's right.

Slate: So we met many years ago through one of our mutual friends and we sort of enjoyed each other. We got stuck at an airport one time for like six hours — it was really fun. [Laughs] Zach was put in the back of the plane and I was randomly put in first class and he was so genuinely pissed.

Quinto: I was so upset.

Slate: But then we started hanging out and every time we hung out we felt this nice connection and we would hang out for hours. So he sent me the script maybe a few months before we made the movie and asked would I be interested in it. And I was so thrilled to get the script — it's really beautiful and rich and you connect to it the way you connect to a person. It kind of made me nervous. I think the right way to connect to a person you don't understand is to be curious, you know, in an appropriate way that's useful. And I was really curious, I felt I did understand what this was about, I believe I can play this part. But I had to ask some questions about the role and I think there are so many times I get a script that are just, "Here's the woman, here's what she's like, no questions asked, please do this or leave." And you're just like, "That sucks." So this was a different situation and it was just so full of life and energy. So that's what happened. Zach sent me the script, I read it immediately, I emailed him immediately being like, "I think I get it," and I jumped on.

Quinto: Yeah, from those experiences I had with Jenny socially I knew I really wanted to find a way to collaborate with her and so when we put this version of the film together and had the timing and everything and finally knew when we wanted to shoot it, Jenny was the first person I thought of. So she was the first person that we sent it to and I was blown away by her response, which was really thoughtful and articulate and curious, and I was like, "Wow, she gets it on every level." That was really heartening and I was so grateful. And that's one of my favorite parts of producing, reaching out to my friends and saying, "Hey, this is what I want to do. Do you want to be a part of it?" And when the answer is such an enthusiastic yes, it's even more exciting.

Guerrasio: Do you two consciously keep pockets in your schedule open to make indie movies? Both of you are getting offers for bigger projects. How important is it to find time to make these smaller movies?

Slate: This is something that I'm working on, but I will say that for me, my first job was on "SNL," and that's a really specific and rigid environment that is sort of known for having so much output. Every week you're writing a show that's roughly an hour and a half long and it's new material or repeated sketches that are trying to be reinvigorated, and I learned there it was the most stifling creative environment for me because the heartbeat of it was not in line with the way that I am. And seeing that was my first job, I had a real opportunity to be, "Oh, this does not work for me." I know I will sometimes be unhappy with the work — you can't constantly be a bouncing ball — but for me I don't do a lot of large projects. I do a lot of large animated films.

Guerrasio: Doing voice work.

Slate: Yeah, but those take two years and take three hours at a time.

Guerrasio: That's an incredible gig.

Slate: Yeah, it's awesome, and I didn't do it on purpose, but I will say that it probably shows up because in general what I'm trying to work on is having my life as an artist and my life as a woman be totally as integrated as possible and it's just not worth it to me if it doesn't feel that way. I end up doing a lot of indie movies because that's the least risk-averse environment and I just don't like being bored because it makes me mad and I don't feel comfortable being angry. [Laughs] But in general, there are not blocks of stuff in my life. I'm not on a TV show pretty much on purpose. I don't want to be in anything that will last for seven years, except for maybe hopefully one day another relationship with a person. [Laughs] But currently I've not really been able to get that done. The only thing I try to have blocks for are to call my grandmothers. And exercise.

Guerrasio: How about you, Zachary? You are kind of contractually obligated to do a big franchise in "Star Trek" for at least a couple of more movies.

Quinto: I really don't think of it in terms of that. I think of it in terms of looking for material that I am ignited by and kind of the size of it or the scope. I do feel fortunate to have an association with this franchise that comes back around every so often and then gives me the freedom to do other things. I might have had a different relationship to it if I wasn't involved with that. It does take up time, but it also affords me opportunities to do other stuff and theater is something that is enormously important to me, and if I can make the kind of living doing plays that I made doing film and television, like, you would never see me in those because that's all I would do. So that's the kind of thing I like to come back to and I don't really consider the size or the scope of it — I consider the experience of it and how I might evolve from it.

Guerrasio: You've gone in headfirst as a producer. Are you interested in directing? You haven't done that yet.

Quinto: I am, actually. I feel like writing and directing are things that I need to carve out more time for, especially on the writing side. I need to cultivate a new type of discipline. I'm working on figuring out how to do that. Once I figure out the kind of story I want to tell, it will become a lot easier to figure out how to tell it.

SEE ALSO: Oscar Isaac talks about the role that will stay with him and working with Carrie Fisher

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Actress Amber Heard just revealed to the world that she's dating Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, or at least that was the appearance from a photo of the two of them enjoying a meal together at a restaurant, with a lipstick stain planted on Musk's cheek.

If Heard looks familiar, it's because she has been around Hollywood for a while, and she got her start in TV and small roles in movies you've probably seen.

She gained a higher profile after she started dating and then married Johnny Depp, who left his longtime partner for her. Their marriage ended after divorce proceedings in 2016.

Heard is only 31, but she has had quite a career and continues to take on bigger roles. In 2017, she'll appear as Mera, the queen of Atlantis, in "Justice League," and she'll probably have a more substantial role in 2018's "Aquaman." She's also an advocate for women, especially those who are victims of domestic violence.

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

Heard was born in Austin, Texas, in 1986. When she was 17, she dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting and modeling career.

Source: The Telegraph

Her first movie role was in the 2004 sports drama "Friday Night Lights," which starred Billy Bob Thornton. (It later became a TV show.)

Before that, she had supporting and guest-starring roles on teen dramas including "Jack & Bobby" and "The O.C."

President Donald Trump was one of the primary subjects in the new Netflix documentary "Get Me Roger Stone," an account of the longtime Republican operative and Trump confidant.

But Trump may have had second thoughts about sitting down with the film's directors.

Speaking before the premiere of their film on Sunday, co-director Dylan Bank said after conducting an interview with Trump, the then-real-estate mogul called Stone to tell him not to cooperate with the directors.

"Roger, after the interview with Trump, told us that Trump called him and said, 'I don't think you should do this movie, this is a hit piece, these guys are asking a bunch of tough questions,'" Bank said. "So I bet he'll love the movie."

The film, which will be released on Netflix on May 12, traces Stone's arc from minor campaign aide to President Richard Nixon to part of Trump's inner circle, detailing his role in the rise of negative campaigning and lobbying as a political action committee founder and bomb-thrower.

Stone remained wary of the film's directors throughout the process, despite signing a release allowing them access to film his life.

Co-director Morgan Pehme told Business Insider that Stone jokingly threatened to have the directors killed "many times" over the five years they followed Stone, calling them "liberal, New York Times-reading, pinko-commies."

Still, the directors said they didn't really believe Stone wouldn't enjoy the film.

"It's a film about Roger, so he's going to love it," executive producer Blair Foster said before the premiere.

Despite the president's warnings and Stone's joking threat to bring a libel lawyer to the film's premiere, the longtime political operative publicly didn't seem to mind the dark portrait it cast of him.

"I liked what I saw," Stone said, noting he arrived a half hour late to the screening because of traffic. "Handsome guy, that Roger Stone." 

Watch the clip below:

SEE ALSO: DNC rolls out new jobs for top brass, including Keith Ellison's newly created position

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In the era of the selfie, there's no shortage of apps that can make you better looking, turn you into a dog, or even swap your face onto someone else's. 

Now, there's an app that can alter your gender entirely, age you, or add a smile to your face. 

Called FaceApp, the app can take a selfie or a photo saved to your camera roll and alter it using neural-network technology. FaceApp is capable of adding two different kinds of smiles to your photo, aging you or making you look younger, or swapping your gender. There's also a filter called "Flash," which seems to lighten and smooth skin. 

The app isn't perfect by any means. It often added strange colors to people's skin when making them look younger, and changing a woman's face into a man's often yielded some truly horrifying results. 

We decided to test it out on various tech CEOs and celebrities. Here's what it looks like. 

SEE ALSO: Here's how to use Memoji, the popular new app that turns your selfies into emojis

First, we tried FaceApp on Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. It did OK with adding a smile, but female Steve Jobs is terrifying and young Steve Jobs has purple lips.

A photo of Snap CEO Even Spiegel, on the other hand, worked perfectly. Female Evan Spiegel bears a striking resemblance to Natalie Portman...

...but male Natalie Portman is a bit frightening. Elderly Natalie Portman isn't much better.

Snapchat maker Snap Inc. is saying 'Hallo' to media outlets in Germany with the launch of its Discover section in the country.

Bild, Spiegel Online, Sky Sport, and Vice will begin publishing content in German on Snapchat starting April 25, a Snap spokesperson told Business Insider. Like messages in the app, each publisher's collection of stories will disappear after 24 hours.

“We want Snapchatters everywhere to have content that is relevant to them, in their own language, from trusted media brands," Snap's VP of content, Nick Bell, said in a statement. "Starting today, German Snapchatters will for the first time have local content in Germany, in German, from German publishers."

Snapchat expansion into Germany marks the fourth international version of its Discover section to date. Discover began in English before a French version was launched in September 2016. A small Norwegian version with one participating publisher was made available in January — roughly half of all smartphone users in Norway are on Snapchat, according to eMarketer.

Creating language-specific versions of Discover in highly developed, monetizable countries falls in line with Snapchat's overall business strategy. Snapchat is also gaining momentum in Germany; a study by UM from November 2016 found that 24.3% of Snapchat users in that country said they opened the app every day, marking a 207% increase from the year before.

With Discover, Snapchat initially took a cut of the revenue participating publishers gained from video ads next to their stories. Recode reported in October that Snapchat started prioritizing a licensing model, which would let it keep all ad revenues in exchange for paying publishers an upfront fee. A Snap spokesperson told BI that the company is sharing ad revenue with publishers in Germany, not paying upfront.

Snap has said it intends to focus its advertising efforts on the world's top ad markets, which are primarily in North America and Europe. Total ad spend in Germany is expected to swell from $18 billion in 2016 to $21 billion by 2020, according to IDC.

Snap recently opened its first office in Germany and hired Marianne Bullwinkel as its manager for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. She previously held the same role at Facebook.

The additional focus on Germany, the world's fourth largest economy, comes as Snapchat has faced criticism for a perceived bias favoring affluent markets. A recent lawsuit by a former Snap employee, alleging that Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said Snap was "only for rich people" and not for countries like India, has caused a furor in India. Snap has denied that Spiegel made the comments.

(Disclosure: Axel Springer owns Bild, eMarketer, and Business Insider.)

SEE ALSO: Snapchat wants to grow its ad business by making it easier to buy geofilters

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Bill O'Reilly said he is "sad" that he is no longer on television during his first podcast since he was fired from Fox News last week. But O'Reilly vowed that "the truth will come out" regarding the circumstances of his sudden departure amid a growing sexual-harassment scandal.

"I was very surprised how it all turned out," O'Reilly said of his swift ouster from Fox News, the place his show "The O'Reilly Factor" called home for two decades. O'Reilly said of the yet-to-be-revealed "truth": "I don't know that you'll be surprised, but I think you're going to be shaken, as I am. It's a lot of stuff involved here."

He stopped there.

"I don't want the media to take what I say and misconstrue it," O'Reilly said. "You as a loyal O'Reilly listener have a right to know, I think, down the lane what exactly happened, and we are working in that direction."

Those listeners were apparently making a concerted effort to find O'Reilly on Monday evening. Around the time his podcast went live on his website, Google searches for "how to listen to a podcast" spiked, according to Google Trends.

The former Fox host's ouster came weeks after a bombshell New York Times report said O'Reilly and Fox News had paid $13 million to several women who had accused O'Reilly of sexual indiscretions over the years. Other accusers followed, which led nearly 100 companies to pull their advertisements from O'Reilly's 8 p.m. time slot on the cable network.

The advertiser exodus dramatically changed the shape of his program. O'Reilly soon took a vacation, and was fired days before he was expected to return.

O'Reilly had framed the withering criticism he faced amid the scandal as politically motivated. According to an email circulated among him and his representatives, O'Reilly thought the advertiser exodus was just a ploy engineered by the liberal-leaning media watchdog, Media Matters, and appeared to float the idea of bringing that to the attention of 21st Century Fox executives.

He ultimately backed off from that. 21st Century Fox announced the next day that O'Reilly would not return.

O'Reilly is expected to receive a multimillion-dollar payout from the cable network.

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson made his debut in Bill O'Reilly's 8 p.m. time slot on Monday by tipping a proverbial hat to the host who was abruptly fired just a few days earlier.

"For those of you tuning in ... expecting to see someone different in this anchor chair, I know the feeling well," Carlson said at the beginning of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

"I watched Bill O'Reilly at this hour for years, and I always marveled at how well prepared he was, how tough he was, and how crisply and directly he expressed his views," continued Carlson.

Carlson moved up to O'Reilly's 8 p.m. time slot after 21st Century Fox announced last week that O'Reilly would not return. In doing so, Carlson took the place of what was Fox News Channel's most popular primetime program, "The O'Reilly Factor," which recently had its highest-rated first quarter in its history, with an average of nearly four million viewers each show, according to Nielsen.

"What O'Reilly did was not easy — He set a high bar and I'm going to do my best to meet it," Carlson continued.

Carlson last Friday delivered a farewell address to viewers of his previous time slot: "For 20 years, you've trusted Bill O'Reilly to be straight with you, to tell you what others wont tell you," he said on his last show. "We hope to earn that same trust — we're going to try as hard as we can. "

You can watch the clip here »

SEE ALSO: Bill O'Reilly is out at Fox News

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NOW WATCH: Watch the trailer for Al Gore's new climate change documentary that takes aim at Trump

While Stephen Colbert is critical of President Donald Trump's record in his first 100 days in office, the late-night host also says he owes the leader some gratitude.

"It's a huge week for Donald Trump, because this Saturday he will reach 100 days in office. And, boy, it sure seems longer," the host said on Monday's episode of CBS's "Late Show."

Trump himself touted what would be his "contract" with American voters in the first 100 days in office when he was still on the campaign trail, but he has changed his tune. Last week, Trump called being graded on his first 100 days as president a "ridiculous standard."

That shift may have something to do with Trump's notable failures, including a lack of promised healthcare reform and blocks to his immigration ban. He also holds a record in bypassing the legislative branch and issuing the most executive orders by a president in his first 100 days, nearly three dozen, since World War II.

"The first 100 days are traditionally a time to reflect on accomplishments of a president and Trump doesn't have a lot of those," Colbert said. "He still hasn't filled his cabinet, he didn't repeal Obamacare, there are still Muslims, but he did sign a law making it legal for mentally ill people to buy guns and for hibernating bears to be hunted. So he took care of his base: insane people who want to murder Yogi."

At the same time, Colbert has really capitalized on Trump's time in office. In making Trump a central part of the comedy and criticism on "The Late Show," Colbert became the most-watched host in late night, dethroning the former frontrunner Jimmy Fallon. And Colbert gave credit where credit is due.

"I got to say Donald Trump has done a lot for me in the first 100 days," he said. "Thank you for your service, Mr. President."

Watch the video below:

SEE ALSO: Stephen Colbert torches Bill O'Reilly legacy: 'A self-righteous landfill of angry garbage'

DON'T MISS: John Oliver made an ad for 'The O'Reilly Factor' to teach Trump about sexual harassment

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NOW WATCH: Yale history professor: Here’s why it's useful to compare Trump's actions to Hitler's