TikTok rewards its creative stars

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Michael Korican

Zheping Huang says on Bloomberg that TikTok Turns on the Money Machine.

He reports:

“The most downloaded app of 2021, TikTok has surged to a billion-plus global users, who consume an infinite feed of short clips delivered instantly by algorithm. While the platform has long helped creators… step to the center of the attention economy, the company is only now starting to cash in on all that popularity. TikTok raked in nearly $4 billion in revenue in 2021, mostly from advertising, and is projected to hit $12 billion this year, according to the research firm eMarketer. That would make it bigger than Twitter Inc. and Snap Inc. combined — three years after it started accepting ads on the platform.”

“With a billion monthly active users, TikTok is still smaller than Facebook (2.9 billion) and Instagram (2 billion), also part of Meta. Yet TikTok’s programming is proving unusually compelling: Its average user in the US now spends about 29 hours a month with the service, more than Facebook (16 hours) and Instagram (8 hours) put together, according to mobile researcher Data.ai. Scott Galloway, a professor at New York University Stern School of Business, has likened the service’s addictiveness to opium.”

“TikTok is starting to show the profit potential in countries like the US. The company is now charging as much as $2.6 million for a one-day run of a TopView ad — the first thing that pops up on users’ feed when they open the app — roughly four times what it charged a year ago, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg News. A 30-second Super Bowl ad runs about $6.5 million — but TikTok can charge that rate every day.”

“TikTok set up a $200 million fund in 2020 to pay creators to get views, and pledged to grow the pool to $1 billion in the US over the next three years.”

My take: this fascinates me. Creators tell stories to audiences, almost always mediated by some platform. These platforms create the commercial market. Once upon a time it was Hollywood. Then it was network television. Then it was cable television. For a brief moment it was VHS and DVD. Then online and Netflix et al. Today, the online space has short-circuited these markets, allowing audiences and creators to interact with no friction. I’m amazed at how innovative it all is!

Cannes 2022: film quotas drive national production

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Michael Korican

Scott Roxborough reports in The Hollywood Reporter that Wall Street Hits the Croisette: Why Private Equity Investors Are Bullish on Indie Film.

He claims:

“Private equity, or PE, firms are pumping money into the entertainment content, financing independent production and snatching up companies at a level never seen before in the indie industry…. Some of the biggest players packaging projects and inking deals on the Croisette have backing from private equity groups…. The bet PE investors are making is that the explosive growth in streaming services will lead to a similar demand boom for content. And that the companies that own the IP, the original films and TV shows the streamers need, will be best positioned to benefit.”

He traces this demand squarely back to government policy:

“Many see particularly strong growth potential in Europe, where European Union (EU) content quotas for SVOD platforms — 30 percent of all content on streaming services in Europe must be European-made — has created guaranteed demand for original, home-grown films and series which most streamers will be unable to fill on their own.”

As to Cannes, filmmaker Jeremy Lutter (pictured above) compares this year’s experience with previous ones:

“Cannes is in some ways the same and in some ways different. I would say it’s two thirds the size as previous non-COVID years in terms of events. But, considering the situation, it’s impressive! The crowds are smaller but it’s still busy. As for deals — people are looking — there’s been less movies made recently — everyone is hungry for movies. Oh yeah, instead of a gift bag, this year you get a PPE mask with a logo on it!”

My take: of course, quotas drive national production. We proved that with CanCon and Canadian music; witness the dozens of Canadian superstars, who, as Simu Liu points out about Shawn Mendes, Avril Lavigne and Arcade Fire, “like me have fulfilled the ultimate Canadian dream of making it in America — but to our credit, we always come back!”

Tension mounts between box office and streaming

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Michael Korican

In early July 2021, former Paramount Pictures boss Barry Diller claimed, “The movie business is over. The movie business as before is finished and will never come back,” in an exclusive interview with NPR.

He goes on to say:

“These streaming services have been making something that they call ‘movies.’ They ain’t movies. They are some weird algorithmic process that has created things that last 100 minutes or so…. I used to be in the movie business where you made something really because you cared about it.”

Scarlett Johansson probably agrees. She’s suing Disney over her contract for Black Widow.

Disney released the much delayed Black Widow at the same time in cinemas and on its Disney+ streaming service for an extra $29.99, a.k.a a Day-and-Date release “potentially depriving her of a huge box-office-infused paycheck” according to The Verge.

She says her 2017 contract guaranteed an implied exclusive theatrical release although Disney decided due to the pandemic stunting box office revenue they would release the blockbuster on their streaming platform on the same day. Ironically, Disney+ only came in existence in late 2019.

This had the effect of diminishing ScarJo’s potential profit participation of perhaps $50 million, on top of her base fee of $20 million.

However, on the other hand, Wild Bunch CEO Vincent Grimond believes that if independent film companies are to survive, they need to tap into online revenues, as reported in The Hollywood Reporter.

Scott Roxborough‘s article also quotes Shudder‘s global acquisitions and co-production director Emily Gotto as saying:

“We’ve found that we can get the same awareness, the same press, and marketing attention by doing an online release, without theatrical. Especially if we are dealing with genre titles, we can put it out on our service and also go through our output partnerships to put it onto physical hard goods — DVD, Blu-Ray, in some cases even specialty VHS, while also making the film available on download to own, on Apple, on iTunes, on Amazon Prime. It’s the opportunity for the film to be seen and for the filmmaker to be seen.”

He also quotes Craig Engler, general manager of Shudder, which has over one million subscribers, as saying:

“We’re very big on doing themed programming. So we might do Werewolf Month. You might have heard of The Howling, say, so we’ll use The Howling as a way to get you to check out Ginger Snaps and other great werewolf films you might never think to search out.”

My take: The film business continues to evolve. Once upon a time it was all about bums in seats. Now it’s all about eyes on screens — and everyday it matters less and less what type of screen that is. I predict the ascent of curated streaming services because it’s easier to build niche audiences and then satisfy their specific wants than to appeal to everyone. Cinemas made sense when films were physical and had to be delivered to real buildings scattered across countries: the cost of prints and advertising could easily match production budgets necessitating popular movies that everyone would want to see. Digital delivery changes everything. Mass audiences aren’t determined by geography anymore; today it’s interests that bond folks into splintered, but sizeable, audiences.

Kevin Smith to sell new movie as NFT

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Michael Korican

Anthony D’Alessandro reports on Deadline that Kevin Smith To Sell Horror Movie ‘Killroy Was Here’ As NFT.

Independent filmmaker Kevin Smith‘s feature “Killroy Was Here” is a horror anthology loosely based on the Kilroy was here graffiti phenomenon, sometimes described as one of the first memes.

D’Alessandro writes:

“Kevin Smith is looking to push the boundaries on indie distribution again and this time he’s auctioning off his latest horror feature anthology Killroy Was Here as an NFT (non-fungible token). The owner of the NFT will secure the rights to exhibit, distribute and stream the work, making it a means for whoever owns the movie to earn money outside of the blockchain.”

He quotes Smith as saying:

“As an indie artist, I’m always looking for a new platform through which to tell a story. And Crypto has the potential to provide that, while also intersecting with our almost 25 years of experience selling real world collectibles online and at the brick-and-mortar Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Back in 1994, we took Clerks up to Sundance and sold it. Selling Killroy as an NFT feels very similar: whoever buys it could choose to monetize it traditionally, or simply own a film that nobody ever sees but them. We’re not trying to raise financing by selling NFT’s for a Killroy movie; the completed Killroy movie IS the NFT. And If this works, we suddenly have a new stage on which I and other, better artists than me can tell our stories.”

Check out the drop on April 21, 2021.

My take: to summarize: you write, finance and create a digital feature film, then evolve it into a unique digital item as an NFT and finally sell that for Etherium crypto-currency. Hmmm. It will be interesting to see who buys it, if they immediately resell it, if any buyer decides to hang on to it and whether they then attempt to monetize it through distribution theatrically or online through VOD or streaming or ??? Who knows? This is crazy shit!

The secret to financing your second feature revealed

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Michael Korican

Margeaux Sippell reveals on MovieMaker the 17-Year Secret to Indie Success, From Coatwolf’s Evan Glodell.

Jess Jacklin, Charles Beale and Jake Bowen of the excellent vlog/podcast Demystified recently interviewed Evan Glodell whose first feature Bellflower debuted at Sundance in 2011 and went on to earn two Indie Sprit Award nominations.

He relayed his seven-year story chasing funding for his second film:

“I’m having meetings with literally A-list actors who were like, ‘I want to work with you’ and every big studio in town, and I was like, ‘We’ve made it.’ Nothing had ever worked in my life until one day I said, I’m gonna do this thing and take what was available to me, like in my real-world resources I actually had, which is what we used to make Bellflower. And instead of being like, ‘Hey, that was a big life lesson, that worked!’ we were like, okay, now let’s go back to holding our hands out… What the hell was I doing?”

And he revealed his epithany:

“If I care at all about telling stories in these movies that I say I care so much about that I’m willing to endlessly work and go to meetings for seven years with no outcome, I should just go back in with the resources I have now. The second that I made that decision, all of a sudden everything turned around, and it was like the stars aligned.“

His micro-budget mantra: Just start with what you have.

“You literally have like zero in your way. It’s only you. You can tell your story, but you’re scared of having your story be there bare naked on the screen without the polish of millions of Hollywood dollars and skill, you know? Like 99% of people who reach out to me to say the same thing. I’m like, dude, you just need to get over your fear and just go. Do you have a rich family? Do you have rich friends? No? Okay, you’re in with most of the rest of us. Just go. Nothing’s gonna happen if you don’t go.”

Here’s the trailer for the $17,000 Bellflower:

And here’s how they made it.

My take: I love this sentiment! Nike said it best, “Just Do It!” Need instructions? What you need to know, in 10 minutes.

How NFTs will unleash the power of the Blockchain

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Michael Korican

NFT. WTF?

Let’s break this down to the individual letters.

F = Fungible. “Fungible” assets are exchangeable for similar items. We can swap the dollars in each other’s pockets or change a $10 bill into two $5 bills without breaking a sweat.

T = Token. Specifically, a cryptographic token validated by the blockchain decentralized database.

N = Non. Duh.

So NFT is a Non-Fungible Token, or in other words, a unique asset that is validated by the blockchain. This solves the real-world problem of vouching for the provenance of that Van Gogh in your attic; in the digital world, the blockchain records changes in the price and ownership, etc. of an asset in a distributed ledger that can’t be hacked. (Just don’t lose your crypto-wallet.)

Early 2021 has seen an explosion in marketplaces for the creation and trading of NFTs. Like most asset bubbles, it’s all tulips until you need to sell and buyers are suddenly scarce.

But I believe NFTs hold the key to unleashing the power of the blockchain for film distribution.

Cathy Hackl of Forbes writes about the future of NFTs:

“Non-fungible tokens are blockchain assets that are designed to not be equal. A movie ticket is an example of a non-fungible token. A movie ticket isn’t a ticket to any movie, anytime. It is for a very specific movie and a very specific time. Ownership NFTs provide blockchain security and convenience, but for a specific asset with a specific value.”

What if there was an NFT marketplace dedicated to streaming films? Filmmakers would mint a series of NFTs and each viewer would redeem one NFT to stream the movie. This would allow for frictionless media dissemination and direct economic compensation to filmmakers.

Here’s a tutorial on turning art in NFTs.

My take: while I think NFTs hold promise in film distribution, the key will be to lower the gas price; the fee paid when creating NFTs in the first place.

The biggest feature film prize in Canada…

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Michael Korican

…is $100,000.00. (Canadian bucks.)

Similar to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Toronto Film Critics Association hold their own film awards ceremony annually, the TFCA Gala. This year’s show has been moved from January to March and is now online and free.

Tune into Youtube on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at 8 p.m. ET.

“The TFCA Awards celebrate Canada’s own film community. We are extremely grateful to founding sponsor Rogers Communications for the $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, one of the largest arts prizes in Canada. Under the TFCA’s rules, eligible contenders for the awards include films released in theatres or streaming in Toronto in 2020 as well as films that qualify for the 2020 Academy Awards and have a Toronto release scheduled by the end of March 2021.”

See this year’s three nominees.

See past winners.

My take: my goal is to win the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award with ‘1 Lie.’ All I have to do is make it and get it screened in Toronto. How hard can that be? (Hmm, the screening will be tough.)

Indie filmmaker pivots marketing strategy

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Michael Korican

Evan Kidd guest posts on Film Independent how his Microbudget Feature ‘Panda Bear It’ Shifted Its Gameplan Post-Pandemic.

He starts by lamenting the loss of the way things were:

“I miss the community that accompanies sitting in a dark room for an hour or two surrounded by complete strangers. Strangers who embark on the uniquely shared but silent conversation that is watching storytelling unfold in the cinema. Every filmmaker wants to see their work on the big screen with an engaged audience. It doesn’t matter if it’s a crowd of five or five hundred. Putting your work (yourself) out there and having a dialogue about the message behind the medium makes the trials and tribulations of this industry melt away.”

With his second feature, Panda Bear It, a new marketing strategy was required, as:

“…film festivals, screenings and promotion typically involved many other people and a lot of marketing: shaking hands (RIP), traveling with your project to festival screenings big and small and being an ambassador for your own film. That slow burn approach allows you to meet your audience.”

But as the pandemic picked up steam, suddenly only social media and online distribution were viable.

Rather than invest in too many festivals with online screenings, Evan decided to build up his online presence:

He created a podcast called Convincing Creatives. “Talking to a different member of our cast and crew of every episode. The types of conversations we would have with an audience at a film festival Q&A just put into podcast form. People connected with that. They missed it.”
He also fleshed out his Youtube Channel. “I filmed a series of videos shot in my home office during lockdown talking about every aspect of production on Panda Bear It for a few hundred dollars in North Carolina. It grew into a series about indie filmmaking now spanning over 35 videos and counting. They’re essentially the DVD bonus features no one asked for.”

All this was to build up hype for their release on Amazon Prime. He concludes:

“The twists of this year molded me more as a filmmaker. I was truly and fully involved in every aspect of production and promotion like it or not. Perhaps this is a roadmap for future works? Filmmaking is a celebration of the human condition that I didn’t know was as resilient as my fellow filmmakers and film goers proved to me this past year.”

See his company RockSet and twitter for Panda Bear It.

My take: I love the way Evan pivoted. Not able to tour with his movie at film festivals, he doubled down on his podcast and Youtube channel. All indie filmmakers need to be all-in on every possible marketing outlet to attract their audience.

Vinyl records: vestiges of physical media

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Michael Korican

Ethan Millman reports on Rolling Stone that Bandcamp Will Make Vinyl Records For You.

This is significant because now purchasers will fund the pressing, instead of artists needing to pay money upfront:

“The new Bandcamp Vinyl Pressing Service streamlines the financing, production, and fulfillment of vinyl records. With no up-front investment, you can create a vinyl campaign and start taking orders almost immediately. Reach your goal, and we press your records and ship them to your fans.”

Records are perhaps the only analogue media format that persists in the digital age. This could be because audiophiles believe the sound is “warmer” and hipsters have embraced the ritual of taking a record out, putting it on a turntable, dropping the needle on a physical piece of PVC and studying the record jacket as sound emanates from a hi-fi.

Of note, BBC newsbeat claims cassettes are making a comeback as well, having doubled sales in the last year. Compact Cassettes!

My take: I think the resurgence of vinyl is important to indie filmmakers for two reasons. One, how about releasing your soundtrack on vinyl? You get that beautiful album cover for your poster. Two, folks like to collect things and hold them in their hands. For filmmakers this might mean selling your movie as DVDs or Blu-rays. I think we can all agree VHS is truly obsolete though, right?

Michael Korican Thinks

Thoughts on Independent Filmmaking and the Emerging Economic System

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