Pathos Labs is a left-of-center media advocacy group that claims to co-create “new strategic narratives” while working with “influential storytellers” to help distribute said narratives into media. The group has received funding from several left-of-center organizations including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF). Its media partners include Warner Brothers, Paramount, MTV, and Disney. ^{1 2 3}

Founding and History

Pathos Labs was founded in 2017 by Romain Vakilitabar. The group began by conducting training sessions and writing workshops with over 250 showrunners and writers from several major studios including Paramount, MTV, Warner Brothers, and Disney. ¹

Finances

According to its 2023 tax forms, Pathos Labs reported $305,732 in total revenue, of which the entire amount stemmed from contributions and grants. It had $251,641 in expenses, of which $219,480 was spent on salaries and compensation. It ended the year with a net income of $54,091 and net assets worth $122,356. ⁴

In 2023, the Foundation to Promote Open Society (OSF), founded by philanthropist George Soros, donated a $100,000 grant to Pathos Labs for the purpose of providing “general support.” ³

Activities

According to its website, Pathos Labs claims that “[a]ppealing to logic or ethics is no longer an effective way to move society & its individuals towards a more pluralistic, tolerant, sustainable future.” ² The site further states its goal to create new media narratives meant to reshape “prevailing emotions” through creating new media narratives while finding means of including said narratives into “mainstream culture.” This is done through collaborating with social movements that can pass messaging through mainstream media such as movies and television. ²

Popshift is the main project of Pathos Labs. The project claims to organize gathers between “thought-leaders” and Hollywood showrunners and writers in one-on-one meetings to develop ideas to push “critical topics” in Hollywood media. ⁵ As of 2024, the project claims it has worked with over 350 Hollywood showrunners and writers. ⁵

Leadership

Romain Vakilitabar is the founder and executive director of Pathos Labs. He is also a Research Fellow at Stanford University and a Future Architect with the Guild of Future Architects group. He was previously a “Erase the Hate” fellow with NBC Universal’s “Erase the Hate” fellowship, a founder and later vice president for the Watson Institute (not to be confused with the Watson Institute at Brown University), and a chief of staff for activist organization Unreasonable Group. He also authored the children’s book Matteo’s Day Off about rising sea levels. ^{6 7}

1. “About.” Pathos Labs. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.pathoslabs.org/about/.
2. “Pathos Labs.” Pathos Labs. Accessed October 14, 2024. http://www.pathoslabs.org/.
3. “Open Society: Pathos Labs.” Open Society. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?grant_id=OR2023-91092.
4. Pathos Lab, Return of an organization exempt from taxation (Form 990) Part I, 2023.
5. “PopShift (by Pathos Labs).” Popshift.org. Accessed October 14, 2024. http://popshift.org/.
6. “Pathos Labs:Team.” Pathos Labs. Accessed October 14, 2024. http://www.pathoslabs.org/.
7. “Romain Sepehr Vakilitabar.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed October 14, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/romainvak/details/experience/.