Category Archives: The Mediascape

Netflix upsets France at Cannes

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The 2017 Cannes Film Festival opens today.

For the first time Netflix has two films in contention:

This bristled the Fédération Nationale des Cinémas Français because France has a rule that SVOD services must wait three years after a film’s theatrical release to stream a film.

Netflix has no such plans.

In response, Cannes has decided that all films playing the festival in future years must agree to French theatrical exhibition.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings declared:

“The establishment closing ranks against us. See Okja on Netflix June 28th. Amazing film that theatre chains want to block us from entering into Cannes film festival competition.”

My take: such an interesting conflict! Art versus Commerce. Old versus New. Theatrical versus Streaming. France versus the United States. Big screen versus small screen. Territory versus the world. As much as I love movies in cinemas, I think France’s protectionist 36 month streaming prohibition after theatrical exhibition is absurd.

Portals Project connects random strangers globally

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Stephanie Elam and Jason Kravarik bring us a story about applied communications technology in CNN Style called The Portals Project: This gold box is ‘better than Facebook’.

The Portals Project is the brainchild of Amar Bakshi.

Each shipping container covered in gold paint is connected by a wall-sized video screen to a doppleganger somewhere else in the world — in any of these countries: Afghanistan, Cuba, Germany, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, Pakistan, Palestine, Rwanda, South Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States.

“Portals are gold spaces equipped with immersive audiovisual technology. When you enter a Portal, you come face-to-face with someone in a distant Portal live and full-body, as if in the same room.”

The Portals connect strangers from very different backgrounds and allow them to converse and to find common ground.

My take: This sounds like a fantastic use of place, technology and the internet to foster communication between people on opposite sides of the world. I envisioned something similar in the early 90’s called “Central Square”. This was to be a network of camera kiosks set up in large public areas in major cities and available to anyone to make statements to the world. At other times, viewers could simply watch what was going on. Then the internet happened and public webcams.

Digital Box Office streams indie flix for free

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This week I’m seeing a lot of ‘sponsored content’ posts for a new service called ‘Digital Box Office‘. (However, this is not a paid for post.)

“Developed by Hollywood Insiders and launching in early 2017, Digital Box Office is a groundbreaking global film platform that supports and caters to filmmakers as its #1 priority. Built on the latest state of the art infrastructure and incorporating the most sophisticated technology, Digital Box Office offers an unparalleled opportunity for film viewers to watch content in the highest quality viewing experience possible. Not only will your film have the capability to immediately reach millions of consumers globally, your film will also be seen by a community of some of the most important decision-makers in Hollywood. Digital Box Office is where many of today’s Hollywood rainmakers will be scouting their next big film project and talent. Digital Box Office is the first and only service of its kind.”

The platform is free to all; create an account, watch shorts and features, and then rate them out of five popcorn servings to carry on watching more.

Digital Box Office is also a film festival. Happening on May 11 and 12 in Los Angeles, the plan is to make this an annual offering. There is $25,000 in prize money:

“Digital Box Office will support the independent filmmaker community by offering a cash prize of $10,000 to the filmmaker with the top performing film on DBO each year. In addition, the filmmaker with the top performing film in each category and our top performing student filmmaker will each receive a cash prize of $5,000 dollars.”

Filmmakers can submit films for inclusion. DBO wants a non-exclusive 90 day window, after which the film is taken down.

My take: With less than a thousand films on the platform now, there’s an opportunity for indie filmmakers to get exposed here. If DBO gets traction, this could be a great thing. I do think the search tools on the site need some beefing up. Otherwise, it has potential and you might want to consider it in your distribution plans.

Top Streamers Become Mini-Majors

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Netflix/Amazon/Ringer illustration

Sean Fennessey, Editor-in-Chief of The Ringer, has just posted The End of Independent Film As We Know It.

It’s a fascinating, if long, read that concludes Amazon and Netflix have become mini-major studios.

The ramifications are that independent film may be dead on two fronts:

  • these new exhibitors are wealthy enough to green-light and finance indie films, so how independent are those films actually, and,
  • because they’re streaming services, premieres in actual cinemas, long agreed as the christening of all ‘real’ films, may be a thing of the past — no more theatrical window!

“Technocratic distribution companies like Netflix and Amazon have upended the state of independently produced movies. Film festivals that screen these movies were once the bastion for work created beyond the perception of Hollywood’s studio structures — films that were either unable or unwilling to penetrate the cast iron gates that lead to the moviemaking seats of power. The festivals were a home for insurgents, temples that hoisted Tarantino, Michael Moore, Sofia Coppola, Kevin Smith, Allison Anders, Robert Rodriguez, Todd Solondz, Todd Haynes, Ava DuVernay, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, and dozens more into the frame. Today, a movie that has been bought, paid for, and strategized against a global calendar by a massive public company is dissonant with the spirit of independent movies.”

Sean includes a quote from Joe Swanberg that is very telling:

“Drinking Buddies honestly found its biggest audience on Netflix. It’s become pretty clear to me over the last few years that the work that I’m making is finding its audience there. Do we go where the audience is or do we make the audience come to us? If there’s a big audience over there that wants to watch it, and we already made the movie we want, that makes the most sense to both of us.”

Ted Sarandos has a goal of 50% original content on Netflix and envisions more ‘day and date’ or simultaneous releases:

“There’s a romantic notion about the film being on a big screen. There’s definitely something about a premiere at [main Sundance venue] Eccles that you can’t replicate — that I can’t replicate — but the fact is, that happens for a couple hundred people once a year. We’re doing it every day for the world. People who are discovering a movie that might change their life; that’s who they’re talking to. We have to get rid of the romantic part. I don’t really think that they’re mutually exclusive. I think over time that these films will get booked into theaters at the same time they’re on Netflix.”

My take: with $6 billion in its production pockets, there doesn’t seem to be any stopping Netflix. Even Jerry Seinfeld has jumped from the Crackle ship, for a reported $100 million.

Festivals for Web Series

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Once upon a time, one way to attract attention to your independent film was to exhibit it on the festival circuit.

The idea was that appreciative audiences would prove your film’s worth to distributors who would then pay you to buy your film.

Fast forward to today. There are thousands of films being made each year. Sundance receives over 12,000 submissions and can show only 185.

Okay. So let’s make a web series instead.

We still face the same problems: how to attract an audience and how to get paid.

Enter festivals exclusively for web series.

The excellent CMF Trends has just published a listing of 45 festivals for web series.

“Given the perpetually increasing offer of quality productions, ‘discoverability’ remains one of the main challenges that webseries creators face. What can creators do to make sure their projects stand out from the competition? Among the options that are available to them, they may enter their work in national and international competitions.”

This list includes:

  • 12 in Canada
  • 14 in the United States
  • 13 in Europe
  • 3 in Asia and Oceania
  • 3 in Latin America

The big winner seems to be Montreal with six!

My take: how do you show a web series at a festival? Binge watch all ten webisodes?

See 1984 on Tuesday, because it’s 4/4/2017

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The United States of Cinema is coordinating a mass screening of George Orwell’s 1984 in almost 200 art cinemas in five countries on Tuesday, April 4, 2017.

“Orwell’s portrait of a government that manufactures their own facts, demands total obedience, and demonizes foreign enemies, has never been timelier. The endeavor encourages theaters to take a stand for our most basic values: freedom of speech, respect for our fellow human beings, and the simple truth that there are no such things as ‘alternative facts.’ By doing what they do best – showing a movie – the goal is that cinemas can initiate a much-needed community conversation at a time when the existence of facts, and basic human rights are under attack. Through nationwide participation and strength in numbers, these screenings are intended to galvanize people at the crossroads of cinema and community, and bring us together to foster communication and resistance against current efforts to undermine the most basic tenets of our society.”

The date is significant because April 4 is the day Winston Smith, played by John Hurt, decides to begin his illegal diary.

The five Canadian venues are:

My take: I admire using film to spark thought and conversation. ‘1984‘ is not going away anytime soon. It’s back on best-seller lists. And it’s coming to Broadway in June. Orwell’s 1949 book is more timely than ever and getting the multi-media treatment.

Webseries format matures

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Alexandre Pierrin writes in CMF Trends that “Webseries Emerge From the Shadows“.

He points to more web platforms betting on webseries and pouring serious money into their production.

The motivation seems to be capturing mobile viewers with time to kill.

“Millennials are without a doubt the largest consumers of web-based videos. They represent a prime target for television channels seeking to rejuvenate their audiences as well as for major corporations in search of new customers. The Media Technology Monitor estimates that, during the fall of 2016, 80% of Canadians aged 15 to 34 used their smartphone to watch online videos. It’s actually smartphones, and not PCs or tablets, that represent the most commonly used devices by these young adults to view videos on the web.”

One takeaway is that “the 10 x 10-minute format already seems to have become the norm”.

Here’s a list of 2016’s best webseries. Glad to see Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee on it.

My take: certainly, making a series of 10-minute shorts on a shoestring and uploading them to Youtube requires a good idea and a lot of gumption to get it all done. Harder still is attracting an audience to watch. That’s why I’m slightly sceptical about webseries. (For instance, I saw The Guild on Netflix.) But if you do make it online, be wary of bad deals on TV. By the way, my son was making his webseries, Fast Forward Cooking, five years ago.

Netflix lunch boxes coming soon

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Bloomberg Technology recently published Netflix Plans New Toys, Merchandise Based on Hit TV Shows, by Lucas Shaw.

The article links to a Netflix job posting that seeks “someone to take on the responsibility of creating an end-to-end strategy and executional plan for merchandising and promotion of the Netflix brand and/or content.”

The emphasis seems to be squarely on promotion rather than profit:

“We are pursuing consumer products and associated promotion because we believe it will drive meaningful show awareness/buzz with more tangible, curated ways to interact with our most popular content. We want licensed merchandise to help promote our titles so they become part of the zeitgeist for longer periods of time. Last but not least, merchandising and promotion will be used as a marketing tactic to capture member demand and delight our member community.”

Netflix has already beta-tested merchandising with it’s hit show Stranger Things. You can buy 46 Stranger Things items, from Hawkins High School iron-on patches to jewellery to t-shirts.

Shaw concludes with a nice quote from Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos:

“We don’t want to make any shows to sell toys. What’s really important is there’s a marketing component that comes with toys. Kids carrying the backpack sells the show.”

My take: back in the day, this was called merchandising. It’s still that but the goal is now becoming more about marketing. The next level, of course, is transmedia, in which the story continues on in the real world, in this case, via stuff. Think comics and board games, for instance. Secret decoder rings?

Seed and Spark wants Canadian features, series

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Seed&Spark, the indie crowdfunding and streaming platform, believes independent films require the seed of an idea and the sparks of human and capital investments to bring them to life. Based in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, they’ve recently turned their gaze north, to Canada.

Caitlin Gold, Acquisitions & Programming, explains:

“I’m most interested in acquiring features and series with at least one season completed. ALL filmmakers are welcome on our platform as long as they can demonstrate how their project is inclusive, and representative of the diverse world we live in. We are particularly interested in working with female filmmakers, people of colour, minorities, the LGBTQ community, etc. ALL stories matter. Later this year, filmmakers in Canada will be able to crowdfund with us as well.”

I asked Emily Best, Seed&Spark Founder and CEO, how their expanded focus on Canada came about. She replies:

“The credit belongs to ‘Storypreneur’ Annelise Larson. I met her a few years ago at the Vancouver International Film Festival where we were both tasked with guiding filmmakers to good distribution outcomes and we discovered we share a brain about building audiences. She is working on helping me open Seed&Spark’s crowdfunding platform to Canadian filmmakers and in the meantime, we’re programming a channel of Canadian films together.”

I followed up with Annelise Larson for the full scoop:

“When I first heard of Seed&Spark I was a fan of the concept, a crowdfunding platform for filmmakers by filmmakers. In my work as a digital strategist and teacher for media storytellers I instantly recognized the potential, but was disappointed it was only available in the U.S. Emily and I had an online acquaintance for a couple of years and then met in person at VIFF in the fall of 2015 when we sat on a panel about digital marketing and distribution. We realized pretty quickly we were brain twins, finishing each other’s sentences and nodding in vigorous agreement when the other was speaking. Early last year when Seed&Spark launched their streaming platform to compliment their crowdfunding platform, I knew this was something Canada needed more than ever. Emily and I both share a passion for supporting filmmakers and independent, diverse voices. We believe in the digital opportunity to help them have sustainable creative careers and want to support that whenever we can. Seed&Spark is such a fantastic, empowering model, and recently supercharged this by incorporating a dashboard interface that gives its filmmakers access to audience data that is a little mind blowing. Canadian filmmakers and storytellers need Seed&Spark. We thought a great way to begin would be to get Canadian content for the streaming platform in time for National Canadian Film Day on April 19, 2017. This day promises to be the biggest film festival in the world ever with hundreds of screenings across the country as well as online. Seed&Spark hopes to be part of that story, supporting Canada in its celebration of its 150th birthday. I hope it is just the beginning of the Canadian Seed&Spark story.”

My take: If I had a Canadian feature or web series, I’d jump all over this. It promises to be a great introduction to the Seed&Spark community, with the potential to become a funding source in the future. This is some of the best news to come out of America lately.

Report signals big changes coming to culture in Canada

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The Department of Canadian Heritage has just released a report titled ‘What We Heard Across Canada: Canadian Culture in a Digital World’.

The 52-page PDF organizes the feedback into eight themes:

  1. Showcasing Canada’s cultural sector
  2. Reasserting the role of Canadian creators in the digital age
  3. Defining Canadian cultural content and Canadian cultural creators
  4. Adapting current funding models to a constantly changing cultural landscape
  5. Finding new sources of public funding is required, but where should these funds come from?
  6. Modernizing Canada’s legislative framework and national cultural institutions
  7. Clarifying the role of Canada’s public broadcaster
  8. Collaborating to take up the challenges ahead

According to the media release:

“Minister Joly and the Department of Canadian Heritage will continue to work together with the goal of launching Canada’s new policy toolkit for creative industries in 2017. This will mark Canada’s new direction as the country kicks off its next 150 years.”

My take: changes are coming! Maybe before July 1, 2017. With a huge portfolio and ramifications for many companies and jobs, Minister Joly must realize that change is often difficult. Will we see new programs added to the status quo, or wholesale change?