tfc_blog

On Ted Hope’s website, there is a discussion brewing about the relevance and right pricing of panels and seminars and the degree to which filmmakers should be attentive to and responsible for the business side of their film’s release.

Film is a relatively new art form. It is the most expensive art medium in the world. My thinking is, if it’s your money it’s your decision. If it’s grant money, it’s really a non-issue. If investors are counting on their money back, it behooves you to either let them know up front what the realistic possibilities are, or commit yourself to supporting the return on their investment. TFC’s entire purpose and mission is to try to make up for the fact that the US does not have the same funding as Europe does that supports an industry of art film.

At Cannes I was invited to be part of the Cannes Producer’s Network networking breakfasts and through that I spoke to producers about The Film Collaborative. I have been and will continue to be invited to speak at panels and seminars and all of that industry stuff and seen as an “expert”. I think there’s good and bad that comes with all that. The good is that some great information is often shared, and often for free or for a lot less than one would pay for it if one had to reach out to each panelist individually. One makes connections one might not otherwise. The bad is that filmmakers sometimes think they now have the answers and that is not enough. AND, panels at festivals and markets are often put together by people who actually are not in the day-to-day world of distribution and/or sometimes festivals are swayed by other influences and panels are stacked with not-so-appropriate panelists. Sometimes panels are positioned as having all the information about a topic but are actually quite limited either because of time or the panel itself. The saying “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing” can and does often apply. And in today’s new media world, intimate knowledge with the present space and all its ever-and-quickly-changing nuances is critical. It’s also important not to apply information that may not apply to your film.

The “expert” books are useful (Jon Reiss’ is one we’re fond of especially for docs that can be segmented and merchandized, and Scott Kirsner’s is good too for fan building, and of course Roberta Munroe’s for short films) but with regard to actual distribution details, books are quickly out-of-date for anything new media oriented or related to business opportunities. Whether one likes it or not, people handling lots of films tend to be ahead in knowing about distribution and marketing opportunities and the knowledge is more real and detailed and nuanced. I’m not advocating old world anything; I don’t even believe in rights licensing model but I do believe in the best distribution possible per film, and it’s different per film.

Lawyers love to charge by the hour or take a big commission for their “expertise” and I suggest that a lawyer who has no or little distribution background relating to your deal but doing a distribution contract will get you a great air tight contract perhaps, but a crap distribution deal and a big fat waste of time and money and rights into the film. It’s not black and white of course, I’m just making a point. Every “expert” has a limited perspective to his/her experience and an agenda, and of course that includes me too. So think for yourself, cross-reference, and keep up-to-date, or designate someone on your side to. The digital space is truly changing weekly. The MSOs behind the Cable VOD space are not letting go of their turf any time soon, whilst Google makes its play, and all the Telcos make theirs… CinemaNow is going to be working its Digital Locker at Best Buy (digital) and Blockbuster (digital) and we shall see what happens with iTunes, Hulu and Netflix etc etc. On the DIY digital distribution front — I always await the numbers intel regarding platforms such as FansofFilm, and to see if Amazon VOD can ever generate business for the DIY releases — and for some, 4 and 5 figures of revenue is as much as they could have hoped for or expected, but some it’s not. The dilemma is really evaluating the numbers when a licensing option is an option because there is a certain leverage in the marketplace that bigger distributors still have over the DIY model and unless you’re a brand like Banksy whereby you already have a built in following, your film may have just enough commercial potential to need the distribution and marketing muscle of a company that may be able to do more than you can do via DIY. And yet, for many films, there is no such company that will step forward and a lot one can do on one’s own.

But back to panels – I will say this, I don’t think Ostrow & Company is an appropriate company to be introduced to filmmakers in a panel or industry networking setting (and they have been) because they ask for more than $10,000 up front (I think it’s up to $11,000 or $14,000 on average) and I don’t know of too much good they have done for anyone. Neither do any of my ‘industry’ peers.

My last thought before I sign off… This past week it was announced that TFC brokered a deal with IFC for Made in China. We did and we’re very proud of our service and always impressed by the impeccable taste and service to films at IFC (even though I cannot say I am in love with their $$ waterfall). We charge a fraction of what sales agents charge and we don’t recoup for fancy dinners in Cannes. I want a world in which sales agents are used for what they do best, getting filmmakers deals they cannot get themselves, there are buyers around the world and I do believe there is a place for a company to get films to market and do business that otherwise would not be done, especially for theatrical films or where good TV deals are still viable. I do however wish for filmmakers to save themselves and their investors the waste of big fees and expenses being recouped out of a deal one could have done directly.

Film is the most expensive art medium in the world, it’s also presently the most powerful. If you’ve already made a film, you might as well stay committed to its exhibition and your end of the bargain with investors and above all, your ability to keep making your work, for your audience.

At your service,

– O/R for TFC

May 31st, 2010

Posted In: Amazon VOD & CreateSpace, Best Buy, Blockbuster, Digital Distribution, Distribution Platforms, DIY, Hulu, Mobile / Wireless, Netflix, Uncategorized


Hello again. It’s been a while since my last post. Been traveling to festivals after SXSW–we did Palm Beach International Film Festival, then TriBeCa. Next up is Cannes where I am invited to speak to the Producer’s Network. Will post about it all after Cannes.

Some Distribution TidBits:

MovieGallery is closing its doors, a further signaling of the decline of DVD in some way, and yet Netflix and Redbox keep it going on the rental side and Blu Ray sales are up. THE STATS ARE: According to US sales figures for the home entertainment industry released April 15, 2010 by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, “Blu-ray Disc software sales continued to rise in the first quarter of 2010, up 74% compared to the same period last year. BD Rental was up 36%. Hardware sales experienced remarkable growth, with set-top players up an “astounding” 125% versus first quarter 2009.

Household penetration of all Blu-ray Disc compatible devices, including set-top players, PC drives and PS3 consoles has now reached 18 million US homes. Some 34 million Blu-ray Discs shipped to retail in North America, up 72% over the same period last year. Consumer spending for the first quarter in the home entertainment window for pre-recorded entertainment, which includes DVD, Blu-ray Disc and digital distribution, was $4.8 billion, down 8% compared to the same period last year. Total rental was down 14% in the first quarter, largely as a result of brick and mortar store closures, according to Rentrak Corporation’s Home Video Essentials.” (SOURCE: DEG 1Q Home Entertainment Report).

Of course, one wonders how much of this relates to indie / art-house cinema. How long is long tail and how long and how many can it hold-up? That’s a rhetorical question. On the purely DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION side: Digital delivery rose 27% in the first quarter of 2010 from the year-ago quarter, growing to $617 million. 60% of adult Americans have Broadband but the FCC is committed to getting into every home while Verizon and Google are also are in progress on plans to provide faster connectivity and greater bandwidth to American homes. (see our Twitter Distribution TidBits for regular stats like these).

I wanted to remind you of the SXSW INTERACTIVE section. There were so many good panels and I covered some topics in the last blog but here’s a link so you can peruse yourself. I also caution ever relying on information from any one source or panel and in fact that is what today’s blog is all about. We encourage one to contextualize information. Filmmakers benefit from guidance on how to evaluate VOD vs Broadband opportunities and timing (and distribution options); VOD branded channels such as IFC vs going through non-branded aggregators to get to the Cable MSOs and TVN vs. building their own brands and platforms. These are questions of direct revenues (when one can even go direct) and garnering audiences and transactions, input vs output.

More to consider: MGs vs better back-end — and — how many layers of people handling sales are advisable? Is it the same for every film? When is it best to just go with one big deal vs when it’s best to split rights as much as possible? It is critical to know how to identify rights and classes when it comes to revenue terms and best distribution options? When and why to do Theatrical / Hybrid-Theatrical? And how to resolve timing of Theatrical and VOD and all windowing. To window, or not to window? With all the new online platforms, and expanding VOD and mobile distribution, and also now the intersection with PCs (e.g. iPad) there’s a lot to keep track of and decide on.

What about the festivals’ distribution offerings now thanks courtesy of Sundance and TriBeCa and others sure to follow…and of course the SXSW films on IFC etc. How to vet those opportunities or even get them. Do more DIY oriented digital platforms generate revenue? How much are filmmakers generating on their own sites, converting their own sites into platforms? Should you have an iPhone or iPad App for your film? The Film Collaborative will, but should each film individually? We touch more on mobile below. How to conceive of the best marketing plan for one’s dollar? How much can one rely on social networking and how best to work it? When is piracy good marketing vs. cannibalistic?

I won’t be answering all this today in this blog post but we will be covering all this and then some in blogs to come and also in our upcoming case-studies. Not all films are alike and it concerns me to see filmmakers reading books or attending panels and applying what they hear to their film when it may not be remotely applicable. Case in point: a documentary about a popular topic that can be serialized has different options than a narrative feature with no cast. A narrative feature with name cast has different options than a feature length documentary about a relatively obscure topic. We’ll cover the above one topic at a time as we continue to blog and post our Distribution TidBits on Twitter, Facebook and beyond. Of course if you have any questions before we get to the topics at hand, please feel free to contact us any time.

EXIT THROUGH A GIFT SHOP: DIY vs. MG / TRADITIONAL DISTRIBUTION: It interests me greatly that Exit Through A Gift Shop chose to not accept big offers by anyone’s standards and go the DIY route. Hiring good people to do the theatrical and marketing and of course John Sloss does not need help on the digital side. All this makes perfect sense because they are getting as close to the revenue as possible (CRM is at least) and they have a film that has built in marketing potential, plus Sundance buzz and of course a cult following and money to support the release. They, like anyone are dealing with Internet piracy (Torrents, YouTube) but that we believe is good marketing to some extent and in any case, cannot be avoided completely.

SOME DIY DISTRIBUTION TIDBITS: REGARDING
 THEATRICAL EXHIBITION:
 “There are currently 39,000 movie screens in the U.S., of which 8,700 are equipped for digital projection so theatrical gets cheaper and more accessible, as more theatres are booking with filmmakers directly as well (AMC announced its indie initiative; and Quad in NY announced its, and of course there are many more). And of course now YOU TUBE is offering its new self-service rental plan will be the first opportunity YouTube users have to make money off of their content though it remains to be seen how many users (who is considered an “industry professional” and how well the content finds its audience and vice versa.

We cover YouTube on our Digital Distribution Guide and in past blogs etc and we’re curious to see if it can ever become a competitive platform to the leading revenue generators (Cable VOD / MSOs, iTunes, Netflix, Amazon VOD — usually in that order, and sometimes though so far rarely, Hulu (and time will likely change that one way or another). (Note: The Hulu-will-charge-you-money rumor is back and not going away and making many angry and accusing Hulu of greed. More on Hulu a tad further below).

But back to YOU TUBE — keep in mind: YouTube is the SECOND LARGEST search engine in the world with 100MM videos. YouTube streams/day is over 1.2 billion/day worldwide. Almost a day’s worth of video is uploaded to YouTube each minute. Every 2 hours, more video minutes are uploaded to YouTube than those broadcast across the big three networks since the dawn of television (1948). YouTube’s rental store now has hundreds of videos. We await the growth in revenue to filmmakers.

ON THE MARKETING SIDE TO HELP SUPPORT A YOU TUBE RENTAL MODEL and OTHER DIY DIRECT DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION: Social Networking developments: Facebook as of March 13 enjoyed more US traffic than Google (as of February they claimed 400,000,000 users; 50% of which log on any given day). 4 out of 5 Internet users visit a social networking site on a monthly basis with Facebook having over 400 million users Twitter has 105,779,710 users. 300,000 new users sign up per day and approximately 60% are from outside the U.S. Twitter receives 180 million unique visitors per month. 75% of Twitter traffic comes from third-party applications. 60% of all tweets come from third-party Apps. There are 600 million search queries on Twitter per day. Studios and corporate brands are using Twitter as a way to infer and define trends and popular interest, BUT, can relying on it to market be reliable enough? We’re doing case studies and would love feedback if you, gentle reader, have any.

RE: FACEBOOK as the POTENTIAL NEW INTERNET & POTENTIAL PENDING MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM (OS): From Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and cofounder of HDNet (and also owner of Magnolia& Magnet (the distribution companies) and Landmark Cinemas (leading art house theatre chain) asks the question if Facebook is the new Internet and if Microsoft will soon try to buy it: “Facebook is now where we kill time at work, on our mobile devices or while at home with the TV on.

Everything that the net was 5 or more years ago, Facebook is today…Slowly but surely they are extending their tentacles into traditional websites, mobile apps (android/iPhone/iPad) and soon your HDTV. It started with Facebook Connect. It extended with search from inside the Facebook Platform. Now they are accelerating their extensions through Virtual Currency (a future goldmine as it extends to business), allowing websites to add a Like button with user pictures through a simple widget and much much more. In other words, your favorite website doesn’t know it yet, but Facebook is in the process of annexing it…The only thing FB has not done is create a mobile operating system ala Android/iPhone as a platform for applications.

Why would Facebook create a mobile operating system? For the same reason Google (NSDQ: GOOG) did. For the same reason that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) banned Flash and other meta platforms from the iPhone. The mobile operating system is the ultimate trojan horse for billions of devices. If you can create a mobile operating system that phone manufacturers adopt and that becomes a popular platform for application development, you have hope of controlling your own destiny. If you are just an application on someone else’s operating system and perceived as a threat you can be “Flashed.”

Does Facebook have a choice but to create a mobile operating system? It wont be long, if it hasn’t already happened that Google and Apple will see Facebook as a unique threat to their future. Apple has some level of connection to its customer/users, Google has minimal if any connection to their users. Facebook knows more than all of us like to admit about its users. They have our personal information, our pictures, our friends, our family members, our employers and business associates all in a database and they are extending that information base to what we like on sites outside the Facebook platform. Plus they are creating their own currency.

Just as important is the fact that we are progressively spending more time on Facebook than we are sites and applications that Apple and Google can control. That is a threat to Apple and Google. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is already a shareholder. Already with a mobile and desktop operating system /development platform. Most importantly, already with billions in cash and the capacity to pay 15 or 20 Billion dollars or more to acquire Facebook,” which is what Cuban predicts will happen and how Facebook will then undermine Google and Apple.

BACK TO MORE ON YOU TUBE & HULU… While we wait on seeing if the YOU TUBE rental model has any traction (Sundance films did not fare well)…what if Hulu does initiate a subscription model like Netflix has? According to James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research: “currently online people watch video on 2.6 video devices a week. Young adults aged 18-34 have already expanded that number, watching video on 3.3 devices a week — usually a TV, a PC, a portable device like a phone or an MP3 player or both. We estimate that by 2015 people will watch video on four to five devices each week, including new platforms like netbooks and tablets. That’s a business that Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) has already shown the world you can profit from by effortlessly serving up video on whatever device the consumer happens to be in front of. Hulu wants a piece of that action.

You as a consumer should want Hulu to get in that game so you can download a Hulu widget to your Samsung connected TV, pull up the Hulu experience in your Wii, and, yes, even get a Hulu app on your iPad.” In this multi-platform world, Hulu will necessarily have to offer more control – playlists, bookmarks, TiVo-like search, even auto-assembled recommendations that consider your entire viewing history, not just what you’re viewing right now. This is one of the secrets to Netflix’s success, with its back catalog of Watch Instantly content that you didn’t know you wanted to watch until Netflix identified it for you.” And soon services like this will compete with Cable VOD which is why the MSOs are taking on more content and banding together to market that to consumers.

MOBILE & APPS: This is a quickly growing distribution category and it’s just a matter of a few years at most before the US catches up to Asia in consuming feature content on a mobile device. And now that the PC and the mobile device are merging that trend will catch on even faster. Check out the Open Mobile Media Summit in London May 26 & 27 and we’ll be updating you… TFC is developing its own iPhone and iPad Apps and also works with its Mobile partner Babelgum as well as telecom licensing as part of VOD aggregation. Filmmakers are increasingly creating their own mobile phone Apps which is one way of having a film available through iTunes and of course the Apps can be a platform and a platform driver. 300,000 iPads sold within the first 24-hours they went on sale. Stay tuned.

My parting thoughts: Films are all different so in making decisions about yours try to compare like-to-like… and in evaluating distribution options, consider where the audience is most likely coming from.. to what extent your film can find it and the audience find your film via your various options and above all things, start thinking, researching analyzing and comparing notes BEFORE your first festival showing.

Collaboratively yours,

—Orly Ravid

May 10th, 2010

Posted In: Digital Distribution, DIY, Facebook, Film Festivals, Hulu, Long Tail & Glut of Content, Mobile / Wireless, Netflix, Social Network Marketing, Uncategorized


Back from a quick stint @ SXSW. What an impressive festival / new technology conference.  So many great panels and stats, some of which we will synthesize later this week in one new post. But today, as we come out of Beta, I wanted to guide people on how take in the plethora of information that comes about from panels and posts and articles about distribution.

Cable and Satellite VOD is on everyone’s mind and a common discussion topic on panels and in articles because it is still the lions share of revenue in digital distribution (it has been about 80% and now sliding down to upper 70’s and will soon be in the 60’s as Internet / Broadband and IPTV grow).  The first thing I noticed is not everyone means the same thing when discussing Cable VOD revenues and terms and not every filmmaker knows to ask the right questions. So first off, when reading about or discussing revenues, remember there are three kinds of revenues and “Gross” may not mean Gross to *YOU* the filmmaker.  One may want to clarify if the numbers are the Gross that the cable operators get? the Gross that the Distribution company or Aggregator gets? or to the FILMMAKER? There’s a big difference.  And when analyzing VOD options one will want to know how many middle men are in between the revenue coming from the Cable operators, what sort of traction and pull the middle men have with the cable operators in terms of placement (because there’s a big difference between 12,000,000 homes and 50,000,000 homes and there are about 40 operators, Comcast and Time Warner being the leading two among them). And one will want to know the splits with the Cable operators — IFC and others get 50%. Studios can get more than that, i.e. better splits, and also better promotional leverage but will only take on more commercial films, generally speaking. Cable and Satellite VOD is an important revenue generator but it’s not the only one and it’s not going to happen for every film so we encourage filmmakers to do their homework before hyper-focusing on that.  Non-Theatrical & Automated-House Party-Screenings can generate even more money than Cable VOD, depending on the film… so that brings us to the focus of this blog entry — in Distribution, it’s all about making informed decisions, and utilizing as many windows and the best timing possible.  You can’t do online distribution before Cable VOD but you can do it afterward. If you are doing a theatrical then ideally coordinate that with Cable VOD, knowing that operators want to premiere films if possible or benefit from a successful theatrical. Both IFC and Magnolia do day and date and find that to be a mutual beneficial driver of revenues. Both the RENTAL and TRANSACTIONAL windows make money on Amazon and iTunes so no reason not to do both in their respective ideal times. Whether one uses the FREE model as a driver for transactional (e.g. B-Side and W.O.M screenings), or VOD & Theatrical Day & Date as mutual drivers (as Magnolia and IFC and others do).. or the $1 transactional price-point that works so well for iTunes and Red Box or a subscription model that works so well for Netflix and that Hulu is trying.  As noted below, YouTube is trying a rental model so that filmmakers can set their own prices and viewers know that revenues are going to them.. we support this of course but until its a proven model, we encourage filmmakers to utilize as many options as possible and all in their right time.

At SXSW there was a panel called: “Nobody Wants to Watch Your Film: Realities of Online Film Distribution #watchyourfilm

The panelists were: Efe Cakarel (The Auteurs.com), Graham Leggat (San Francisco Film Society), Peter Becker (Criterion Collection), Sara Pollack (YouTube)

Here is a link to it: http://magnetmediafilmsinc.com/blog/2010/03/sxsw-nobody-wants-to-watch-your-film-realities-of-online-film-distribution-watchyourfilm/comment-page-1/#comment-23

TFC’s comment: We love all the platforms and services at the panel and frankly there has always been a combination of Rental, Transactional and Subscription and Ad-Supported / Free as a transactional driver business and we believe there always will be and all are sustainable and valuable and should be utilized together. We love Efe at The Auteurs and will be working with them, and are very impressed with YouTube’s new model and look forward to working with them too and of course hope it works well over time. We are helping filmmakers build their own brands and platforms as we build ours and connect them to all key revenue generating ones as well. Therein lies a total solution so filmmakers should not have to choose between parts. Platforms are stores, not distributors and just like all good brands, one’s film should be ubiquitous and for as long as the bigger platforms are key revenue generators and audience aggregators, we will continue to treat them all like stores, with no exclusivity -for the best health and sustainability of the filmmakers. And we don’t take rights either!

Today The Film Collaborative (TFC) comes out of Beta whilst we continue to develop our Yelp for Distribution. Stay Tuned!

March 15th, 2010

Posted In: Digital Distribution, Distribution Platforms, Uncategorized


Topics on my mind: The dilemma of the long tail and social networking glut and the trends of the giants. 2010 will oversee the SVOD wars as everyone competes with Netflix for a viable subscription VOD model… Hulu, Cinema Now, Blockbuster, Amazon et al, and including Apple will compete with Cable VOD too. And of course there’s Google which I’ll cover in the next edition.  According to Jon Reiss (filmmaker, blogger, and author of Think Outside the Boxoffice),  ‘Studios are experimenting with releasing catalog titles via Amazon’s CreateSpace’ (which one can read about in The Digital Distribution Guide on our website: http://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/digitaldistribution.html ) — and he postures that may create an appetite in consumers and a comfort level in getting non-blockbuster content via the web. Studios are experimenting with release windows to work up consumer appetites.

Avatar is a game changer as far as the experience audiences will learn to expect.  3D film is a growing business. There’s an impact on indie cinema? Mergers continue as Comcast bought NBC Universal and rumors resurfaced of Amazon’s potential acquisition of Netflix (both covered below).  Gigantic was a smaller start-up platform that did not make sense to me because it was too small and too unspecific and offered nothing special and indeed Mark Lipsky has ankled it this week.  And now, in answer to Comcast, The Walt Disney Co. and CBS have expressed interest in cutting deals with Apple to offer programming as part of a monthly Internet TV subscription service. The media companies are in early discussions with Apple on the service, which is being positioned as a competitor to cable and satellite TV. (This is not new, Netflix has already had streaming video content deals with TV networks, such as Starz and MTV for example). Comcast (the leading cable company) and the bigger Cable VOD platforms are decreasing their appetite for Indie cinema, at least in the short-term, and going for the more sure things, such as studio library content, marquee driven content and TV.  The rise in supply of indie cinema has made it harder for individual films to compete in a crowded market place of blockbusters and media conglomerates who cover them. I cover this more below.

Old rumors never die. In our Digital Distribution Guide we have previously covered the rumor that “Amazon may be buying Netflix”.  BusinessInsider.com and Reuters reporter Anupreeta Das have all pointed to heavy trading activity on Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) call options as the speculative root of the born again rumor. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) is the logical suitor, as always. Given Amazon’s ownership of IMDB and WithoutABox and its search technology maybe having the two merged will help the long tail films better find their audiences. Amazon, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), and Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) have been struggling in selling digital celluloid. Cable giant Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is losing video subscribers. In that time, Netflix is a great trusted brand that knows its customer and its customers know how to find films. Amazon needs a digital distribution solution better than its current offerings.

Speaking of Netflix which recently initiated a partnership with retail giant Best Buy, CinemaNow is now directly competing. CinemaNow’s founder went to work for Lions Gate (the studio behind the release of Precious) but CinemaNow is still in the game. The partnership between Best Buy and CinemaNow includes both physical and digital media.  More particularly, the deal will allow consumers to buy DVDs from Best Buy, then watch the same movie through CinemaNow on their computers, smartphones or Blu-Ray players.  It’s almost like buying a DVD and getting a digital copy on the second disc, but now you require just an Internet connection rather than the digital file.  The exact details of the partnership have yet to be revealed, but it’s expected the service will launch in early 2010, just as soon as some studios jump on board. (Of course we presume some day soon Studios will be direct with customers off their own sites).

Best Buy’s plan will require a DVD to be bought, but there’s no guarantee that the DVD will stay with the buyer, or that the stream will.  If it does work, however, it will add yet another streaming service to our media boxes.  As it stands with Netflix, Amazon Video, Blockbuster OnDemand, Hulu among others, we already have quite a few.  I expect some attrition and survival of the fittest.

Back to the topic of Long Tail and the increased competition in the indie film space. I wanted to link to an interesting article in The Economist: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14959982

I select and quote a few key paragraphs from the article below. In summation, it’s about how the growth of “Long Tail” (as Chris Anderson of Wired coined it) has lead to a glut, a competitive crowded space where only the strongest survive, and hence its own demise. Some niche content maintains its appeal but much of the middle never makes the radar and the biggest blockbuster films continue to rise because they are the most known and talked about.

From The Economist:

“Ever-increasing choice was supposed to mean the end of the blockbuster. It has had the opposite effect “NOVEMBER 20th saw the return of an old phenomenon: the sold-out cinema. “New Moon”, a tale of vampires, werewolves and the women who love them, earned more in a single day at the American box office than any film in history. The record may not stand for long: next month “Avatar”, a three-dimensional action movie thick with special effects, will be released…  There has never been so much choice in entertainment. Last year 610 films were released in America, up from 471 in 1999. Cable and satellite television are growing quickly, supplying more channels to more people across the world. More than half of all pay-television subscribers now live in the Asia-Pacific region. Online video is exploding: every minute about 20 hours’ worth of content is added to YouTube. The Internet has greatly expanded choice in music and books. Yet the ever-increasing supply of content tailored to every taste seems not to have dented the appeal of the blockbuster. Quite the opposite. This is not what was predicted by one of the most influential business books of the past few years. In “The Long Tail”, Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, a technology magazine (and before that a journalist at The Economist), argued that demand for media was moving inexorably from the head of the distribution curve to the tail. That is, the few products that sell a lot were losing market share to the great many that sell modestly. By cutting storage and distribution costs, the Internet was overturning the tyranny of the shop shelf, which had limited consumers’ choices. And, by developing software that analysed and predicted consumers’ tastes, companies like Amazon were encouraging people to wallow in esoterica. Such companies did not just supply niche markets—they helped create them….” (Note: The article sites research and statistics from the music industry, television, film and books and concludes)… “In short, just because people have more choice does not mean they will opt for more obscure entertainments. That is especially clear in the book trade. But nobody knows quite what to do. The old-media world of limited choice, in which any product that was not too objectionable was guaranteed a decent audience, was a comfortable place. Pleasing a customer who can choose from several hundred films and television programmes even without getting up from the sofa, by contrast, is an unnerving prospect.”

I referenced at the beginning of this post that I wanted to cover the clutter in social network marketing as well. Huffington Post is going to offer sponsored Tweets.  Every other blog or article in this business waxes prolific about Facebook and Twitter… how will unique voices continue to be heard and find more listeners when corporate brands use this space as much as they do Second Life to hock their wares.  We’ll have more about this and more about digital distribution platforms (especially mobile) and opportunities for Indie Filmmakers in the next edition.  One thing we can be sure of, there will always be independent filmmakers and their audiences. We’re committed to connecting them as directly, dynamically,  efficiently and inexpensively as possible, always.

The Collaborative will keep the information and service support coming in 2010.

Have a happy and safe new year!

December 26th, 2009

Posted In: Amazon VOD & CreateSpace, Best Buy, Blockbuster, Comcast, Digital Distribution, Distribution Platforms, Gigantic, Hulu, iTunes, Long Tail & Glut of Content, Marketing, Retailers


This blog is focused on Digital Distribution and new media. The link to our Digital Distribution Guide on our site is below. Recently, I’ve been thinking about the emerging distribution film festivals are offering to filmmakers. Unofficially TriBeCa noted that they will start being a full on distributor for about 10 – 12 films, but mostly name-driven films, so there’s that limitation. This will sometimes include theatrical and also DVD and definitely key VOD and digital platforms they are resolving with (Comcast, Charter, Cox, Time Warner) under the TriBeCa brand. Sundance is offering theatrical exhibition for one day at its affiliated Art House screens across the country for 8 films. The pending announcement of the Amazon VOD Digital Pass to Sundance is great, it’s just one platform (it should be noted that I have not heard a peep about this since Amazon first noted it to me a couple months ago.  Some Sundance films will be exhibited  on YouTube, that much is true). We keep encouraging festivals to behave like The Collaborative and extend distribution to more films and more platforms. Studios are working with theatres on narrowing the gap in windows between theatrical, DVD and VOD and remunerating theatres accordingly and I have always suggested alternative modes of public exhibition such as split screens, calendar bookings and event screenings in close tandem with all other distribution to best utilize marketing and awareness and finally the studios and theatres are following suit. I’ll expand on this soon.

Some key updates that tickle my fancy:

  • DIGITAL LOCKER: The concept of a Digital Locker is being tested whereby one price would be paid for the right to access the film digitally on any and all platforms for a one-time fee.
  • NETFLIX announced Best Buy as latest instant movie streaming partner. CinemaNow also has a partnership with Best Buy. NETFLIX also announced its plans to have its streaming be international next year. This coupled with pan territory iTunes distribution potential and Sundance Channel having a platform channel in France, Benelux and Singapore so far, and other territories coming soon suggests the real viable option of worldwide digital distribution.
  • HULU announced it plans to offer a subscription service. Can it compete in film???
  • COMCAST’S On Demand Service will go live in December. Details of Comcast’s On Demand Online service surfaced at the NewTeeVee Live conference with the big news being that the service will launch next month. Comcast Interactive Media President Amy Banse didn’t give a specific launch date for the service that will put popular TV content onto PCs, but she said it would launch before Hanukkah, which starts Dec. 11. On Demand Online, which is Comcast’s version of Time Warner’s TV Everywhere, has been in beta testing with 5,000 users since July. Comcast currently has 24 programmers lined up to provide content to On Demand Online via Comcast.net and Fancast.com. The service is free to Comcast’s subscribers. Banse said when Comcast subscribers log on to either of the sites for the first time to use the service, a Move Networks player and authentication device will be downloaded. The authentication device will allow subscribers to access the same content they currently pay for, such as HBO on Demand, on their PCs. Banse said customers can authenticate up to three devices. “Breaking news: You’ll be able to use it both in the home and out of the home,” Banse said.
  • VERIZON announced: In the five years since the FiOS network was first deployed, Verizon has introduced the only national fiber-to-the-home TV service and has been an industry leader in high-definition TV; pioneered blistering broadband speeds of 50 Mbps (megabits per second) downstream and 20 Mbps upstream; and blurred the lines between cable TV and Internet with, among other tools, an interactive media guide that merges content from broadcast TV, the Internet and a customer’s private photo, video and music files.The FiOS platform, capable of integrating Internet and TV functions, has fostered the development of dynamic new on-screen TV widgets that enrich the entertainment experience by linking Web resources to what appears on-screen. Verizon’s Facebook and Twitter widgets, for example, turn static TV into social TV by letting subscribers connect with others while watching their favorite shows. FiOS TV’s RedZone and ESPN Fantasy Sports widgets convert a living room into a virtual sports bar, with instant access to statistics, scores, news and real-time critical plays.
  • Now on shelves: Flo TV’s Personal Television.
    Mobile television provider Flo TV’s first independent device hit store shelves today.
    The portable television, dubbed Flo TV Personal Television, is currently available at Amazon.com and Best Buy. RadioShack will begin selling the device in the coming weeks. “The Flo TV Personal Television is a dedicated device for consumers’ on-the-go lifestyle that is perfect for sharing with friends and family, as well as for personal viewing time,” said Bill Stone, president of Flo TV. As part of the launch, Flo TV is providing six months of service free with the purchase of the device, which retails for $250. The Personal Television features a touchscreen and a 3.5- inch QVGA display Click here!. The device’s battery supports more than five hours of viewing time and 300 hours on standby. Flo TV, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, announced in October that it would be launching direct-to-consumer services independent of its carrier partners AT&T and Verizon Wireless. It earlier landed a deal with Audiovox to provide in-car mobile television.
  • AT&T recently lowered the price for its white-labeled mobile television service to $10 per month and launched a new mobile-television-enabled handset, the Samsung Mythic.

Please see the DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION GUIDE for information on platforms and the Tips for Filmmakers and rights definitions.

November 12th, 2009

Posted In: Digital Distribution, Distribution Platforms, Film Festivals

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