Category Archives: The Mediascape

CMF Trends 2017: the Content Value Chain

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The Canada Media Fund‘s CMF Trends has published its latest Trend Report: The Digital Puzzle: Piecing Back Together the Content Value Chain.

This 21 page PDF is packed with up-to-date statistics and asks germane questions such as:

“How has the new audiovisual value chain been reconfigured?
Which players are best positioned to make the most of it?
In an era of overabundance, what types of content stand out?”

One of the telling charts is Advertising Spending which shows that internet advertising is up 500% in the last 10 years versus TV advertising which remains flat — and that internet advertising surpassed TV advertising in 2013. Moreover, Google and Facebook are expected to command 73% of each additional digital ad dollar over the next three years.

Other strong trends:

  • An online environment dominated by a handful of platforms controlled by big players seems to have evolved, resulting in what some call a ‘discovery oligopoly’ that controls each stage of the consumer journey: access, discovery and consumption.
  • At the global level, consumer demand has crystallized around three categories of content: drama series, youth programming, and live content.
  • Diversity is a winning business model. Focusing on cultural diversity and gender equality means reaching a wider audience, promoting the development of technologies for all, and, ultimately, generating greater profits.
  • Silicon Valley and Hollywood are no longer the only ones
    calling the shots. New hubs are emerging elsewhere, especially in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), and China, in particular, which has become an increasingly important player in technological development, investment, and coproduction.

Two interesting quotes:

“As viewers gain more control of their programming grids, the owners of non-essential and non-live content are at significant [risk]. Either you are live and large… or dead. — MoffattNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson, 2016″

“But one thing is certain: content will be at the center of where the industry goes from here. And those who own and control the content will help steer the direction. — The Boston Consulting Group, The Value of Content, 2016″

My take: definitley worth the read. In many ways, this is the mediascape I began wondering about a dozen years ago. Currently, my media consumptions looks like this, in no particular order: live TV news and events, live TV sports, a handful of ‘real time’ TV series on the East Coast feed (so three hours earlier on the West Coast), a Chromecast TV app for The Daily Show, iTunes Internet Radio, Netflix for movies, foreign TV series and Chelsea, Crackle for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Twitter, Flipboard, and Periscope apps, plus Paper.li, On Screen Manitoba News and other web sites for type content, quite often via Google. Oh, and The Weather Network! How about you?

Gender Parity Coming to Canada Soon!

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The Canadian Media Producers Association recently released a study of gender inequality in Canada’s media industries titled “Women & Leadership: A Study of Gender Parity and Diversity in Canada’s Screen Industries”.

The 62-page report spans the globe and is number-heavy. It concludes with a call for a six-pronged approach to gender parity:

  1. Disclosure & Research
  2. Financial Incentives
  3. Conscious Inclusion Initiatives
  4. Skills Training
  5. Confront the Portrayal Issue
  6. Diversity within Gender

Specifically, in terms of financial incentives:

“Many of the senior women interviewed pointed to levering ‘financial purse strings’ as the only effective and immediate means to change. The two leading suggestions identified are: 1. introduction of 50/50 allocation in all public funds as between female-led and male-led projects; 2. introduction of incentives for both producers and broadcasters such as top-up funding or a bonus tax credit for female-led projects.”

Proving it can be done in Canada, the report releases figures on BravoFACT‘s move to gender parity in 2015:

“Most importantly, the results of this initiative clearly demonstrate how setting firm targets can have an immediate impact on social change. In this instance, one year after setting parity as a firm goal, the percentage of female producers and directors of projects funded rose to 59% and 49% respectively.”

My take: this can’t happen soon enough for me. Maybe we can solve the wage gap at the same time.

Equity Crowd-funding in Canada

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When we think of crowd-funding, Kickstarter and Indiegogo come to mind.

For instance, over 20,000 film and video projects have been successfully funded on Kickstarter, with an average goal of approximately $5,000-$10,000 and pledges of about $25-$30.

But what if you want to raise much more money, and instead of giving away ‘rewards’ (otherwise known as perks or swag) you want to give away shares in your project company? Enter Equity Crowd-funding or Crowd-investing.

There are two options when crowd-investing in Canada: the Start-up Crowdfunding Exemption and the Regulation Respecting Crowdfunding.

The maximum value that can be raised is $250K twice a year with the first, and $1.5 million with the second.

Four provinces allow both, four don’t allow either and the rest allow one of each.

FundingNomad is the new kid on the block in Ontario:

“FundingNomad is a crowdfunding platform that presents exclusive deals to investors that have been fully vetted and selected by our professional team of experts. Many angels and institutional investors choose to invest through FundingNomad because of the increased efficiency and access to deal flow.”

My take: keep in mind, most investors are in the game to make money. When you invite investors into your company, you’re competing with all the other investment opportunities out there. So, your promise needs to be unique and the return attractive, or you need to appeal to other motivators. For docs, that might be the cause, for narrative projects, that might be the stars, for instance.

Woody Harrelson: live cinema pioneer

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Believe it or not, Woody Harrelson pulled it off!

Last week I posted about his audacious plan to to live-stream live cinema. Apparently, other than a few bumpy bits, it worked!

From the Guardian review by Ryan Gilbey:

“Even at its liveliest, cinema can only ever be a refrigerated medium, relaying images to us that were shot months, years even decades earlier. But this week there was an exception to that rule. Woody Harrelson’s directorial debut, Lost in London, was broadcast live to more than 500 cinemas in the US, and one in the UK, as it was being filmed on the streets of the capital at 2am on Friday. As if that were not impressive enough, the picture was shot in a single unbroken 100-minute take with a cast of 30 (plus hundreds of extras) in 14 locations, two black cabs, one police vehicle and a VW camper van festooned with fairy lights. Actors who try their hand as a director typically start off with something small-scale – a sensitive coming-of-age story, say, such as Jodie Foster’s Little Man Tate or Robert De Niro’s A Bronx Tale. With Lost in London, Harrelson went as far in the opposite direction as one can imagine. This was edge-of-the-seat, seat-of-the-pants film-making. He didn’t just jump in at the deep end: he did so into shark-filled waters. … Nothing, though, will quite match the sensation of having watched the messy but miraculous birth of a genuine oddity: part celebrity satire, part mea culpa, part site-specific, one-night-only art installation.”

My take: unfortunately, none of the theatres were located in Canada. Netflix, can you get this please?

“Live Cinema” to go live tomorrow night

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A cinematic first is happening in London and the United States tomorrow night.

Woody Harrelson is directing his first feature film, Lost in London. It’s a film he wrote and stars in.

But what’s particularly notable is that this film will be the first to be streamed directly into theatres in real time, while it’s being shot.

Woody’s friends are telling him that’s a bad idea.

Entertainment Weekly has interviewed him:

“EW: What’s the closest comparison between this and something else you’ve done?

WH: Holy moly, I’ve never done anything where I felt like this. I guess a comparison might be Saturday Night Live. That’s like doing live theater, though you have commercial breaks. But to do it 100 minutes in a row with no break? Yeah, it might be accurate to call this insanity.”

The show starts at 6 p.m. on January 19, 2017 (9 p.m. on the West coast) at over 600 theatres.

My take: I applaud Woody for the audacity to try this. With 14 locations, it’s not a filmed stage play. But with no editing possible, the acting and cinematography need to be excellent. He knows there was post-production on Russian Ark, right? Must be watching too much Periscope Live 360 or something.

Only 13% of 2017 movies are original vehicles

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Fandango, the American movie ticket company, recently polled its users to determine the 30 most anticipated films of 2017.

As usual, Hollywood does not disappoint.

There are few surprises here; the vast majority are instalments in comic book franchises or other sequels.

When I say Hollywood doesn’t disappoint what I mean is that they show the usual trepidation to try something, anything, new.

Without further ado, here are the titles, sorted by release date:

January 20: XXX: The Return of Xander Cage
February 10: The Lego Batman Movie
February 10: John Wick: Chapter Two
February 10: Fifty Shades Darker
February 17: The Great Wall (Matt Damon, the Great Wall of China and monsers)
March 3: Logan (Wolverine)
March 10: T2: Trainspotting
March 10: Kong: Skull Island (from the producers of Godzilla)
March 17: Beauty and the Beast
April 14: The Fate of the Furious
May 5: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
May 12: Snatched (Amy Schumer goes on vacation)
May 19: Alien: Covenant
May 26: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
May 26: Baywatch (from TV)
June 2: Wonder Woman
June 9: The Mummy (reboot)
June 16: Cars 3
June 23: Transformers: The Last Knight
June 30: Despicable Me 3
July 2: Spider-Man: Homecoming
July 21: Dunkirk (directed by Christopher Nolan)
July 28: The Dark Tower (by Stephen King)
July 14: War for the Planet of the Apes
October 6: Blade Runner 2049
November 3: Thor: Ragnarok
November 17: Justice League
December 15: Star Wars: Episode VIII
December 22: Pitch Perfect 3
December 22: Jumanji (sequel)

I believe only four of those 30 films are original vehicles. In other words, roughly seven out of eight movies are remakes, reboots, sequels or franchise instalments.

My take: The only films on this list I might see are Blade Runner 2049 (this sequel is directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Ryan Gosling, both Canadians), T2: Trainspotting (just because) and maybe Kong (if it’s campy enough). By the way, tomorrow is National Screenwriters Day!

Bob Hawks: don’t make a film unless you have to

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No Film School has a succinct review of ‘Film Hawk’ a new documentary on independent film consultant and producer Bob Hawks.

Hawks discovered Kevin Smith‘s Clerks and produced Chasing Amy.

WIth a nod to the teams all across Canada frantically finishing up their micro-budget projects, here are some of the highlights, in Bob’s words:

Don’t make a film unless you have to.

“The world is cluttered with so many films that have no reason to exist. What I’m saying is, if you don’t have a story that you have to tell, if you don’t have that passion, don’t waste our time. You don’t have to be serious or have something heavy to say. You just have to care about it.”

Treat collaboration as a privilege.

“If you don’t let people in, if you don’t hold them close, you’re hurting yourself. It takes some people many, many years of effort to learn that isolation and unhappiness are your own creation.”

Use your whole life’s experiences to make your films.

“I’ve been working in film for over three decades, but I didn’t start doing that until I was in my forties! I’d already had a full life as a techie off-Broadway, way back in the ’60s, before I even thought about film. Then I was a stage manager. I learned about dramaturgy, storytelling, I added that to my own life experience… and that’s what I brought to filmmaking. You have something in theater that film doesn’t have: four-to-six weeks of rehearsal where you hone the script. So one thing I try to do as a consultant/producer is to help filmmakers develop their narrative.”

Stay local and be authentic.

“But don’t misunderstand me. Your honesty doesn’t have to be geographic. It can be internal. Just remember: a narrative can be modest, it doesn’t have to set the world on fire, but it needs to be authentic. Unfiltered.”

Prepare for rejection.

“First-time filmmakers need to prepare for rejection. Too many of the beginners I meet with may have great potential, but their attitude is wrong. They think, ‘Oh, I’ve got a Sundance film. They’re gonna love it.’ Or, ‘My film is perfect for South By Southwest.’ They assume they’re gonna get in, and when they don’t, they’re crushed. Immobilized. That’s not good for their future. You’re better off assuming that you might not get into anything. Then if you do get into something it’s ‘Wow, how great.'”

Re-define success.

“If you’re in this for money, forget it. I have always said and will always say, ‘If you’re in independent film to make a killing, you’re nuts.’ Success in indie film is breaking even. Or, even better, it’s making something that helps you find other work. How do you measure success? It’s the satisfaction of accomplishment, of making something you’re proud of. Of making something that moves others, that makes them laugh and cry. Or ask searching questions. For me, success includes people you don’t even know coming up to say ‘Thank you.'”

My take: words of wisdom. Particularly that first gem, Don’t make a film unless you have to.

Facebook announces video content plans

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As reported by Peter Kafka on Recode last week:

“Facebook is starting to talk to TV studios and other video producers about licensing shows, with the hope of boosting the social network’s video efforts. The talks, which include discussions for scripted shows, game shows and sports, are being led by Ricky Van Veen, the College Humor co-founder who joined the company earlier this year.”

Van Veen says,

“Earlier this year, we started rolling out the Video tab, a dedicated place for video on Facebook. Our goal is to kickstart an ecosystem of partner content for the tab, so we’re exploring funding some seed video content, including original and licensed scripted, unscripted, and sports content, that takes advantage of mobile and the social interaction unique to Facebook. Our goal is to show people what is possible on the platform and learn as we continue to work with video partners around the world.”

Facebook is looking more and more like a media company, rather than a tech company. Mathew Ingram of Fortune says:

“Yes, Facebook is a platform, and yes, it is powered by technology. But it is also a hugely powerful entity that controls the distribution of media in a way no other company ever has. And now it is funding and developing its own content. That sounds like a media company to me.”

Howard Homonoff in Forbes concurs, and adds insight into Facebook’s advertising revenue:

“Facebook has a nice little business in the media pillar of advertising. There are now 4 million advertisers on Facebook, and it has grown this number by 50% in the last year. Total ad revenue has grown nearly 50% as well in that period, from $3.4 billion in the first half of 2015 to $5.7 billion in the first half of 2016. In combination with Google, Facebook takes 85% of every new dollar spent on digital advertising. Facebook is not simply in the media advertising business but has become almost literally indispensable for many marketers – for better or worse.”

My take: I think it’s all a question of eyeballs. With Alexa reporting the top three websites are Google, Youtube and Facebook, I’d be very afraid if I owned a traditional media company. Streaming is over 70% of nighttime bandwidth; OTT is where the eyeballs are going. Facebook sees this trend and wants to be part of it.

Interactive Cinema: CtrlMovie introduces CtrlEdit

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Does interactivity mesh well with cinema?

Canada has a historical connection to interactive movies: the first one screened at Expo 67, at the Czechoslovakia pavillion. And yet, no matter what path the audience chose, the ending was always the same.

On CMF Trends, Benjamin Hoguet explores CtrlEdit, a new tool for producing interactive movies, from a Swiss company called CtrlMovie.

CtrlMovie allows filmmakers to add:

  1. Buttons during playback to allow the user to influence the story
  2. Dynamic Jump Actions to flexibly jump between segments – at an exact timecode, in a time frame or triggered by user actions
  3. Swipe Mode to allow users to look around in the film by panning the image with swipe gestures
  4. Animated Masks to make objects in the film tappable
  5. Variables to store user decisions, and retrieve them later for a delayed effect on the story
  6. Expressions to evaluate the former actions of the user and to influence the storyline using short java scripts
  7. Separate Multiple Audio Tracks, independent from the video segments and jump actions
  8. Dynamic Overlays to display browser windows and other interactive elements on top of the movie during playback
  9. Subtitles easily to support a wider audience.

Hoguet quotes co-founder Baptiste Planche:

“CtrlEdit is used once all video segments have been edited to incorporate them into an interactive whole. The solution costs nothing to purchase if we are able to set up a revenue sharing system with the producer. It goes without saying that the model is adaptable. For example, if the final project is not profitable, we can set a price for the software license. In all cases, we are very open to encouraging creators to make maximum use of our tool. The only aspect to which we pay attention is compliance with a certain level of quality regardless of the project. At present, we are receiving a lot of requests from creators and producers and some ten or so projects are underway—including two or three at an advanced stage.”

My take: Perhaps CtrlMovie is the middle ground between the almost-full interactivity of video games and the total-cut-scene experience of Hardcore Henry. And yet, I’m not convinced that the audience needs to be ‘in’ the movie; I think it might be engaging enough just to ‘direct’ the story. Third person, not first person. More like Run Lola Run.

Bot storytellers coming soon.

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Benjamin Hoguet on CMF Trends wonders ‘How can chatbots be used to tell stories?‘

Chatbots, or bots, give the impression of a personalized online experience. Interacting with a bot replicates a real world one-on-one exchange, depending on the quality of the AI programming. Just ask Siri, the most famous bot, “How many Apple Store geniuses does it take to screw in a lightbulb?’ or ‘Is Santa real?’ or ‘Tell me a story.”

According to Hoguet:

“It’s the democratization of chatbots that is revolutionary because today anyone can create his or her own chatbot and upload it to a Facebook page, for example.”

He recommends two tools, ChatFuel or PullString.

“‘Narrative chatbots’ are only just beginning to appear. A lot of them set themselves apart only by their capacity to show us what not to do, but that’s the advantage of pioneering projects: to help develop codes and a grammar for those who will follow in their footsteps. Conversing with fictional characters is today’s predominant use of narrative bots.”

Hoguet envisions “the eventual arrival of bot stores. Just like app stores, they will definitely contribute to elevating chatbots to the level of full-fledged distribution platforms.”

My take: this is worth noticing because the top four messaging apps (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Viber) have surpassed the top four social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) in monthly users, according to Business Insider UK. For instance, imagine if Tom Thomson’s tweets were a (messenger) dialogue rather than a (Twitter) broadcast.