Media EthicsProfessional DevelopmentDiscussion Guide

Ethics & Media Funding: Classroom Discussion Guide Using Holywater and The Orangery Examples

UUnknown

2026-02-26

9 min read

A teacher's guide for 2026 to lead classroom conversations on funding, IP deals, and content integrity using Holywater and The Orangery.

Hook: Why this conversation matters to teachers right now

Teachers are under constant pressure to cover standards, engage students, and foster critical thinking — all with limited class time. Yet one of the most urgent media-literacy conversations of 2026 is also one of the most teachable: how funding, IP deals, and emerging AI platforms shape what students watch, trust, and create. Use two timely 2026 examples — the AI-driven vertical platform Holywater and transmedia IP studio The Orangery — to run a compact, high-impact class discussion that builds ethical reasoning, civic literacy, and practical negotiation skills.

The evolution in 2026: Trends that shape this lesson

Late 2025 and early 2026 accelerated several shifts teachers must address in civics, media studies, and digital citizenship curricula:

Mobile-first viewing and short episodic content now dominate younger audiences; platforms designed for vertical video are scaling quickly.
Venture and media-capital firms are actively funding AI-driven content discovery and generation — raising questions about transparency, algorithmic influence, and monetization.
Transmedia IP firms are signing agency deals to monetize graphic novels and other IP across film, TV, and interactive formats — making IP ownership and licensing central to modern storytelling careers.
Regulatory attention and public debate around AI-generated content, disclosure, and data stewardship are intensifying in 2026.

These trends make the Holywater and The Orangery stories perfect case studies: they intersect funding, IP, and algorithmic content choices in ways your students can analyze and debate.

Snapshots: Holywater and The Orangery (short, classroom-friendly summaries)

Holywater (Jan 2026)

Holywater, backed by major media players, raised a reported $22 million to expand an AI-powered vertical video streaming platform focused on short serialized mobile-first stories. The platform emphasizes data-driven IP discovery, microdramas, and algorithmic programming that optimizes viewing hooks for phones.

The Orangery (Jan 2026)

The Orangery is a European transmedia IP studio representing successful graphic novels and comics. In early 2026 it signed with a major talent/packaging agency to expand adaptations of its IP across screen, audio, and interactive products, highlighting the value of IP control, packaging, and agency relationships in modern entertainment.

Core ethical themes to explore (teacher guide)

Use these themes as focal points for guided reading, debate prompts, and assessment criteria.

Funding influence: How does the identity and incentives of investors shape content and platform policies?
IP deals and ownership: Who owns a story, and how do licensing and agency deals change creative control?
Algorithmic content selection: How do data-driven discovery and AI generation affect diversity, accuracy, and cultural representation?
Transparency and disclosure: When should platforms disclose funding sources, algorithmic curation, or AI involvement?
Content integrity and editorial standards: What safeguards preserve ethics when profit motives and speed-to-market are prioritized?

Learning objectives & standards alignment

By the end of this lesson, students will:

Analyze how funding and IP deals influence creative outputs and platform policies.
Construct evidence-based arguments about content integrity in AI-powered media ecosystems.
Negotiate a mock licensing contract that balances creator rights, funder interests, and audience transparency.
Reflect on digital citizenship responsibilities when consuming or creating media.

Standards alignment suggestions (adapt to your state/district): Common Core ELA (argument writing, analysis), C3 Civics (role of institutions), ISTE (digital citizenship, computational thinking).

Materials and prep (teacher checklist)

Short handouts: Holywater summary, The Orangery summary, glossary (funding, IP, license, algorithmic curation, disclosure)
Primary-source excerpts or news clippings (one paragraph each) dated Jan 2026 — ensure accessibility/reading-level appropriate
Role cards for mock negotiation (creator, investor, agency rep, platform lead, audience advocate)
Rubric for debate and negotiation performance
Online access or printed templates for mock contract clauses

90-minute classroom lesson plan (step-by-step)

Use this modular plan for a single class period, or split into two sessions for deeper work.

0–10 min: Hook & framing

Play a 60-second montage of vertical video examples (or show screenshots), then ask: "Who decides what is made and why?" Explain the two case studies briefly. State learning objectives.

10–25 min: Mini-lecture + guided reading

Deliver a tight 5–7 minute explainer on funding models, IP licensing, and algorithmic curation in 2026. Distribute one-paragraph summaries of Holywater and The Orangery; students annotate for stakeholders, incentives, and risks.

25–45 min: Jigsaw analysis

Break students into small groups. Assign each group one theme (funding influence, IP control, algorithm risk, transparency). Groups produce a 3-point list: risks, benefits, classroom-friendly example.

45–70 min: Role-play negotiation / debate

Using role cards, groups form a negotiating table. One side represents creators/IP owners (The Orangery style); the other represents platform/investors (Holywater-style). Task: negotiate a 10-point term sheet that covers revenue split, creative approval, AI use, disclosure, and rights reversion. Timebox to 20 minutes, then 5 minutes per side to present their final terms.

70–85 min: Reflection and quick-write

Students answer two prompts: "Which clause best protects content integrity? Why?" and "How should audiences be informed about AI involvement and funding?" Collect responses for assessment.

85–90 min: Exit ticket & next steps

One-sentence exit ticket: "Name one ethical practice platforms should adopt in 2026." Assign extension work or readings.

Actionable classroom activities (ready to use)

Rotate these formats across multiple periods to deepen skills.

Socratic Seminar: Focus on the question "Should investor priorities be publicly disclosed on entertainment platforms?" Use text evidence from the case summaries.
Mock Contract Workshop: Students draft simple clauses for AI usage disclosure, revenue splits, and moral rights. Provide templates to scaffold.
Media Audit: Students pick a vertical video channel and report on patterns of representation, political messaging, and commercial tie-ins. Present findings with screenshots.
Design-a-Policy: Small groups create a transparency policy for a hypothetical streaming app; policies must include funding disclosure, AI labeling, and dispute resolution.
Debate: "Resolved: Platforms with major studio backing cannot be neutral curators." Assign pro/con teams and require source citations (2024–2026 reports allowed).

Assessment strategies and rubrics

Use both formative and summative measures.

Formative: Annotation checks, jigsaw group notes, exit tickets.
Summative: Graded mock contract + reflection (use a 4-criteria rubric: evidence, ethical reasoning, negotiation clarity, creative solution).

Sample rubric criteria (0–3 scale):

Evidence & Analysis — cites case details and explains implications
Ethical Reasoning — identifies stakeholders and potential harms
Practicality — proposes enforceable contract clauses/policies
Communication — clear, persuasive presentation

Guiding questions for discussion (scaffolded by grade level)

Middle school

Who pays for the videos we watch, and why does that matter?
What is an "IP" and why would a company want to own it?

High school

How might investor priorities change the stories a platform promotes?
Should creators retain moral rights when signing deals? Why or why not?
How should platforms label AI-generated or AI-curated content to protect audiences?

Classroom-safe answers to tough questions

Students may ask about censorship, career prospects, or media manipulation. Keep responses evidence-based and nonpartisan. Emphasize process: identify stakeholders, list incentives, propose policy. For allegations of bias or bad actors, suggest fact-checking steps and stress the role of transparency.

Case-study close reading: Excerpts & discussion prompts

Use these short, teacher-scripted prompts to push analysis deeper.

"Holywater claims to use data-driven IP discovery. Whose data? How does data choice affect which creators get discovered?"
"The Orangery signed with a major agency to expand IP across platforms. What trade-offs might the creators accept to gain scale?"

"When studios and agencies acquire or fund IP, creative control often shifts from creator to company — teachers should prompt students to name the specific rights being transferred (adaptation rights, merchandising, sequels)."

Interdisciplinary links and extensions

This unit connects well to multiple subjects:

Civics: Role of corporations and regulation in public discourse.
ELA: Persuasive writing and source analysis.
Computer Science: Basics of recommender algorithms and ethical AI design.
Art & Media: IP creation, adaptation, and rights management.

Remote or hybrid adaptations

For asynchronous classes, convert the role-play into breakout-room negotiations across 48 hours with deliverables (PDF term sheet, 2-minute video pitch). Use shared documents for collaborative contract drafting. For synchronous online, pre-assign roles and use timed breakout rooms with a clear agenda.

Addressing misinformation and student safety

When discussing AI-generated content, include a short primer on how to verify sources and detect manipulated media. Teach students to use reverse-image search, cross-check multiple outlets, and consult fact-checking organizations. Build a protocol for reporting any troubling content encountered during research.

Sample teacher answers & model responses

Provide exemplar clauses to guide student negotiations. Example clauses you can share with students:

AI Disclosure: Any content materially created or edited by AI must carry a visible label and a short explanation of the AI's role.
Creative Approval: Original creators retain approval rights for character changes for the first adaptation cycle, after which negotiated waivers may apply.
Revenue Split & Reversion: Define a transparent revenue share with clear triggers for rights reversion if the project is inactive for a defined period.
Data Use: Creators must consent to specified data uses; any additional uses require opt-in and compensation terms.

Teacher reflection prompts (for PD or dept. meetings)

How did students handle stakeholder empathy in negotiations?
Which ethical tensions did they identify most readily, and which required more scaffolding?
How can we incorporate local community norms about representation into these lessons?

Real-world relevance: why this prepares students for the market and democracy

Understanding the interactions among funding, IP, and algorithms helps students become more discerning media consumers and better creators. In 2026, careers in entertainment increasingly involve negotiating rights, managing data, and safeguarding integrity. The civic dimension matters, too: media ecosystems influence public knowledge and culture, and ethical decisions by platforms ripple outward.

Resources, templates, and next steps

Suggested teacher resources and templates:

One-page handout: definitions of funding, IP, licensing, disclosure
Mock contract template (10 clauses) for classroom negotiation
Rubric PDF for grading debates and negotiations
Short reading packet with redacted news excerpts from Jan 2026

If you'd like, we can provide downloadable templates and editable Google Docs for your class. Email or share your request through the classroom.top teacher resources portal.

Final teaching tips — what to emphasize in 2026

Center stakeholders and incentives before jumping to solutions.
Keep AI discussions concrete: label capabilities (generation, recommendation, editing) and harms (bias, attribution loss, hallucination).
Use time-limited negotiations to force priorities — real-world deals often reveal what matters under pressure.
Encourage students to propose policy remedies that are both ethical and enforceable; idealism without feasibility won't stick.

Closing call-to-action

Ready to run this unit? Download the full lesson pack (handouts, contract templates, rubrics, and slide deck) from classroom.top’s Professional Development library. Try the 90-minute lesson in your next class, adapt the negotiation for your grade level, and share student artifacts with our teacher community to get feedback. Let’s equip students to navigate the ethical challenges of funding, IP, and AI-powered media in 2026.

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