• 

  Netflix vs. Theaters...again

  • Posted on 3rd Oct
  • Category: Newsletter

  

  Owen Gleiberman penned an “upper decker” of a review/slam of Scorsese’s The Irishman and Netflix’s release strategy this week in Variety when he wrote “Netflix, You Have a Problem: ‘The Irishman’ Is Too Good,” arguing that the film demanded a longer theatrical release before it hits streaming.

  His entire argument can be summed up by his last paragraph:

  “Netflix has, in fact, made such a good movie that a vast audience of people — a world of people — are going to want to see it in movie theaters. And if the film’s relatively limited theatrical release starts to feel like a compromise with that desire, it could give a great many people pause: members of the Academy, and filmmakers who are promised the moon if they make their next movie with Netflix. Sure, they’ll get to make the film they want, and that isn’t nothing. But the release of “The Irishman” is destined to shine a light on the underlying metaphysical question: Is home viewing really the moon? The 20th century is officially behind us, but it may not be going out of style nearly as quickly as the executives at Netflix would like it to.”

  Are we really still debating this theaters v. streaming question? I feel like I’m stuck in the old (boring) festival debates over whether audiences would ever warm to digital filmmaking. We know how that argument ended.

  Jason Hirschorn in ReDef was quick to respond, with this classic take:

  “ I like Variety and I read Owen, but I'm having a little fun here, but sort of serious, this article made me want to become a mime…Some of these lines seem like they came from THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THEATRE OWNERS (NATO). The world is flat and media habits are not changing. Not. Netflix plays a different game…See this movie. See it in a theater. See it at home. Where may depend on your age. It's still a good movie. Business and exhibition preferences are changing and will accelerate. There's no stopping that any more than fighting the eventualities of what happens to you in mob life. You get killed, go to jail or get old and die alone.”

  Look, let me say it one more time – I love movie theaters and watching films on a big screen. But not everyone does, and not everyone who does has the time, and many of those who do want to see it in the theater, have kids or work and other challenges that keep them from the theater – not least of which challenges Owen acknowledges – “all those trailers, with the $10 Cokes and the idiots on their cell phones.”

  NATO and Regal and AMC see this as an existential battle, but once again, it’s not. Think of the millions if not billions being lost by not embracing reality and playing along. Rule one – everyone who has bet against Netflix has lost. Rule two – consumers/audiences are past this shit already. So rule three is NOT “hey, we can kill Netflix by going against the will of the people to see films asap, and just stone them (both) to death.” Rule three is adapt. Why not embrace the fact that the film will be on Netflix in 30 days (or two weeks, or one day) and charge extra to see it in a theater for a limited time? Why not wait and show it after it’s been on Netflix and say – now see it in a theater for one night only, in every AMC in America, with an after screening digital Q&A with the digitally young De Niro?

  Every single masterpiece of cinema – except Star Wars, which I watched 11 times in a row in a theater as a kid, but that was the only option then – I saw first on VHS, and then watched it on film when I had the chance. Every single Academy voter, industry insider and reviewer is also watching it on Vimeo or a screener, unless they made it to the NYFF Opening Night  (and some undoubtedly did both) – so why not let the public do the same? And come up with a business model that embraces the new reality. Otherwise, we have to smell the stink of Owen’s concealed NATO placement more often, while everyone waits for the theaters to wake up to what we all know is true.

  We have more existential threats to theater going than Netflix – they are called – TikTok, Instagram, gaming, attention span, content overabundance, lack of curation, difficulty of discovery, a lack of representative voices (diversity) and a looming recession. Netflix wants people to see great films. You are actually on the same side.

  WHAT ELSE I’m READING: FILM

  

  Arthouse Distributor, KinoLorber, launches KinoNow - with tons of their titles for video on demand viewing. it's a crowded market, but being transactional (as opposed to SVOD or AVOD) for these titles is smart. And it's a great library.

  Who Is Telling Whose Story, To Whom, and Why?:  The IDAruns a long-read, from filmmaker Lisa Valencia-Svensson’s keynote address at Hot Docs this past spring. It’s also a must read for anyone making films, and thinking about who gets to tell whose story, and how.

  WHAT I’m READING: BRANDED CONTENT

  BrandStorytelling is heading into its 5th year, with its key event at Sundance in 2020. I attend annually and it’s one of the best conferences out there - not just for branded content. You have to qualify to attend, and they’ve opened up their portail for people to request attendance. Interested in and working in this space? Give them a holler.

  CMO Survey: Should brands get political? One-fourth of marketing execs say yes | Duke's Fuqua School of Business reveals - giving more evidence to the need for brands to take politics- and social issues - more seriously in their branded content as well.

  

  Samuel L. Jackson is Alexa’s First Celebrity Voice, But it Will Cost You a Dollar - The first app for Alexa that I might use - if I trusted Amazon, that is…

  Tourism Branded Content done right - Singapore Airlines and the Singapore Tourism Board made some good comedic shortsto get people to visit - As the article explains: “The campaign features Singaporean comedian Rishi Budhrani visiting three cities – Bland in Australia, Dull in Scotland and Boring in the United States of America. After sampling the best amusement options these places have on offer, Budhrani them flies his hosts in each city back to Singapore.” They’re pretty good. Check them out at the link.

  How to do branded content right? The BCMA has a piece (essentially branded content itself) about how Nucco Brain helped Innovate:UK rebuild their content strategy and YouTube channel. In spite of being an ad for their services, it has some great observations about the state of branded content in the entertainment ecosystem and pointers on how to do things correctly.

  Instagram is identifying branded content more clearly now - giving branded content tags to IGTV. Transparency helps.

  

  The Colonel has a dating game on Steam - go date the Colonel and buy some chicken. This is the kind of stuff that makes me question branded content. 

  WHAT I’m READING: VR/AR/Miscellany:

  

  The NYPL has created books on Instagram - long reads - and it’s working - Fast Company reports on how hundreds of thousands of people are reading entire novels on Instagram - thanks to a super cool interface and some smart marketing. From FC: “Since launching in August 2018, more than 300,000 people have read the NYPL’s Insta Novels, and the NYPL’s Instagram account has gained 130,000 followers.” Now this is innovation. Seriously - this is one of the coolest things I’ve seen online from the cultural sector in quite some time. Go read them - just look in the highlights of the @nypl account on Instagram, and enjoy.

  Bjork’s Co-Creative Director talks about her VR music video - For The Guardian. Artist James Merry nails it, when he says: For me, it’s a perfect medium for pop. I don’t wanna be in VR for the length of a film. I don’t wanna be in there for even half an hour, necessarily. I think a music video is perfect for VR. You dip in to this little self-contained world and have an experience with really emotional music and then you dip out again.

  Scientists are using machine learning to create art - Scientific American reports on how combining two types of machine learning is leading to some interesting art (and logic and reason), and improvements keep coming. Look out artists. Our future robot overlords might like viewing robotic art.

  How do we build a future digital economy with more dignity, that pays you for the use of your data? Jaron Lanier has all the answers in this 3 part short video series from the NYT.

  Verizon buys the remains of Jaunt VR: Verizon is making some big plays in VR and also in AR - launching new branded content apps for AR as well. My take: this is where interesting concepts go to die. They’ll use the tech, but I maintain that a phone company will never get media right (and yes, that holds for AT&T, too). 

  How does the Apple Arcade eco-system work? Apple Insider has the report, with info from developers, gamers and others. Sounds like they are solving the monetization problems more elegantly than ads or in-app purchases. We’ll see if it works, as getting people to pay for games has been tough.

• 

  Perception vs. Reality & Other Sub-Genre news for Sept.26.2019

  • Posted on 26th Sep
  • Category: Newsletter

  

  This week, the NYT reported that Female Artists made little progress in Museums, based on research from ArtNet. The study showed that while the perception is one of growing gender equity in the art world, the reality is that just 11% of museum acquisitions were of female artists in the last decade. And women artists make up just 2% of the global auction market.

  Reading this article, I was reminded of a recent Screen Magazine article about who is funding women filmmakers, which has been making the rounds to positive acclaim in my social media feed lately. When I read it, as much as I loved the work being done, I was depressed, as many of the funds and organizations mentioned were clearly, well, under-funded. This isn’t a knock against these groups. It was clear they are doing their best, but with very little actual capital, and that means there’s likely been a similar perceptual shift in film, with little actual change.

  We need some systemic change across the arts, and that’s going to take substantial investment and donations, and real thinking about how to change the status quo. The conversation is definitely going on, but that conversation can lead to a perception of actual change, when the reality - to me - seems to be that less has changed than we should have seen by now. Which Anne Hubbell confirmed in the Screen Article, stating:  “In the past couple of years, there has been lots of talk and reporting on women directors and more female representation. But the numbers have not really changed. Statistics show that we still have a long way to go."

  I've been lucky lately to work with a few brands who are paying attention to gender (and diversity) issues, but in addition to bigger investments from individuals, organizations and funds, we need to see brands who are making content taking bigger actions to hire women filmmakers to shoot their films, as well as more women subjects and stories. Corporations can have a bigger impact here as they move into the content space. And they can "up" the investment in women in film. I'll be pushing this with my colleagues more, and hope everyone does the same.

  WHAT I"M READING: FILMS AND STREAMING Quibi Already Has a Better Lineup Than Apple TV+ says Gizmodo. And most of the industry that I’ve spoken with lately. My bet remains on Apple TV+, but Quibi is investing more like someone who wants to survive on content (Apple can give it away, if you stay on their devices). Amazon’s Brilliant ‘Undone’ Highlights The Promise And Peril Of The Streaming Era - Forbes reports on the sad fact that in an economy of abundance, it’s hard to get attention. Many great shows get lost. Including Undone, which features some uncanny rotoscoping animation done by my friend, and great artist - Tommy Pallotta. So add it to your queue. But seriously, we have a discovery and remembrance problem with streaming that is only getting worse by the day. Facebook is launching a streaming device that watches you while you watch TV - FastCompany reports on yet one more creepy Facebook idea. You’d almost think they had early investment from the CIA or something?  Investors Claim AT&T Created Fake Streaming Service Accounts to Hide Failure - Law.com reports on another creepy company doing something a bit untoward - AT&T doesn’t have the customers it claims, and created fake accounts to gin up the numbers. Maybe Elliott Management is right to be pressuring this company. Why streaming services are the new credit card rewards binge - The LA Times has the story on how more consumers are earning credit card rewards when they pay for their streaming. Smart move, credit card companies. How Much Would You Spend on Streaming Services Per Month? And Infographic: How Much Is Too Much For Streaming Subscription? -PC Mag and the International Business Times both take a look at what consumers are willing to spend to be inundated with too much content - really, shouldn’t we be talking to one another or getting outdoors instead - anyhow, they find that most people want to pay around $30 bucks a month. That means some blood in the water soon.

  

  Speaking of blood in the water,Netflix CEO Chews Out Content Creators In Post-Emmys Locker Room Tirade Congratulations: You just outlived MoviePass - AVClub has a nice little story on the death of MoviePass. But Ted Farnsworth isn’t done yet. Former MoviePass Chairman Ted Farnsworth Trying to Buy Failing Company. This may get interesting.

  

  ‘The Devil and Daniel Johnston’ Filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig Remembers the Late Austin Legend - If you don’t know Daniel Johnston, or Feurzeig’s film about him, do yourself a favor and go watch it now. IndieWire’s report is one of the many obits that ran after Johnston died recently, and it’s among the better ones. I was a huge fan, own two pieces of his artwork, and listen to many of his songs, so this was a tough one. 

  The difference between distributors and aggregators - Jon Reiss pens a nice break-down on the differences between these two parties, and what filmmakers should keep in mind. This is in response to the recent death of Distribber, which is causing much consternation for filmmakers.

  

  My Bogota, Colombia speech/podcast is now up - I recently travelled to Bogota, Colombia for BAM, to be interviewed about the future of film and branded content by Alex Stolz of Film Disruptors, and the podcast is now live. If you want to hear me prognosticate, you should check it out. It was fun. The link also allows you to check out his other interviews in Bogota, with Netflix and Annapurna, and Liam Young. Alex is also hosting a conference on the Future of Film, check that out here.

  WHAT I"M READING: Branded Content

  Fossil Fuel Ad Campaigns Emphasize 'Positives' After Climate Science Denial PR Lands Industry in Hot Seat - DesMog has the goods on just how slick and evil oil companies can be with their ads, pr and branded content.

  Of Course Brands Ruined ‘Storm Area 51’ In another bit of bad Brand news, Vice took a look at how brands ruined the recent Storm Area 51 non-phenomenon. I think people being people ruined it, but they make a good case.

  Welcome to McDonald’s. Would You Like a Podcast With Those Fries? A look at how trendy podcasting has become with brands. But it often works. A Guide to a Decade’s Worth of Brand Films in China - China Film Insider recently launched a section devoted to branded content in China, and it’s worth a look at what is trending there, as China leads the way in just about everything. The same folks ran a guide to China’s streaming services - which make our plethora of options seem tiny - that’s worth a read as well. 

  WHAT I"M READING: VR/AR/Miscellany Snapchat Uses AR Billboards in Los Angeles to Back 2 of Its Snap Originals Show AdWeek takes a look at Snapchat’s recent use of AR in billboards for its originals. We’ll be seeing a lot more of this, and as it matures, it will probably get more interesting. The Music Industry and Trump Want to Blow Up Copyright Protection Bloomberg takes a look at the fight between composers and others in the industry around copyright. It can seem confusing, but it’s actually pretty simple - we need less restrictive copyright interpretation for creativity to flow. Copyright is supposed to strike a balance, and this change would do that, and that’s good, even if Orange-Man  is supporting it. This Apple patent may be the key to AR glasses we’d actually want to wear  FastCompany looks at the possible future of AR glasses that project on your retina. Much more interesting than what we have today.

• 

  Dove sells Dads to Apple at TIFF; WeWork killing Real Work; Netflix wars and more Sub-Genre news for Sept 12.

  • Posted on 12th Sep
  • Category: Newsletter

  Unilever’s Dove Mens+ Care funded film, DADs, lands at Apple during TIFF -  

  

  Big news in the branded film space – and worth covering up front, I think. One of the big sales announcements at the Toronto International Film Fest (TIFF) was Dads, by Bryce Dallas Howard, which was picked up by Apple for its new Apple TV+ subscription service. The film was produced by (her father) Ron Howard, but most interestingly, it was funded by Dove Men+Care, a Unilever company (full disclosure, I’m working with Unilever on another project). In fact, they announced the partnership from the stage of the premiere.

  That’s pretty big news for branded content – that the film got into TIFF, received solid reviews, and Apple made it clear that they are open to branded content on their new service (if it’s good). This follows the May premiere of 5B, by Dan Krauss and sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, at Cannes, in competition, which then won the Cannes Lions Grand Prix, which is an advertising award, and it was then picked up by Verizon/Ryot and got a theatrical and digital release, also to good reviews. It’s clear that good branded content is getting some attention.

  Miscellany

  

  WeWork and the death of Real Work in the City – off topic here for sure, but I’m going to write a longer article or book about this sometime, and given the We Company’s upcoming IPO, I’ll weigh in with my opinion now.  Plenty of others have written about the ridiculous valuations of this company and the downsides of it as an investment (here’s HBR if you want a good summary, or better yet, Scott Galloway), but no one is covering what I think is the biggest problem with WeWork – how it is killing off real work-ing businesses.   WeWork is destroying New York City and probably every other town of any value. It’s a gigantic vacuum of suck – hoovering up investments, office - and now living - square footage, startups galore, entire city blocks, press attention, millennial brain-power, design-sense and the last crumbs of dirt from the fingernails of the strivers who scraped their way into the city decades ago.   The average rent for a dedicated desk at WeWork in NYC is $636 a month, and the average individual office space is 36 square feet., compared with the industry average of 150 sq. ft. This is just for a one person, one desk office, mind you, and an actual office costs much more. At that rate, you’re looking at about $212 per square foot. You could rent in the World Trade Center or Hudson Yards for that rate. It’s actually double the highest average Class-A office space rental cost in Manhattan. They claim you save money on build-out and desks, and kegs, etc. but trust me, you can set up an office for cheaper than the difference in cost.

  But because start-ups can’t do math and figure out what price per square foot means, and because they don’t have the money for the deposits required for normal offices (usually 10 years), and because they are funded by Venture Capitalists who don’t really care, they can just spend these insane amounts of money. No one spending their own money would pay these kinds of prices for rent. In fact, anyone who wants to make a profit wouldn’t pay these prices – and for the most part, they don’t – they sign long-term leases with real landlords to bring down their overhead. You have to be playing with “funny-money” to enter this game.

  In fact, you can almost look at this as a weird circular washing machine – VC’s invest in startup-A, who rents at astronomic prices from another startup-B (WeWork) founded with VC cash; then startup-A hires employees who only buy from other startups (like Seamless), and take rides from other startups (like Uber) funded by other VC’s. Few of said start-ups make any actual profit, and get by with more VC funding. Importantly, little of this value actually accrues to anyone else – just the founders and the VC’s. And WeWork sells this on a false sense of creating a new kind of community – where you live, work, play, eat, and send your kids to school, in a community of the new economy. But what you’re really supporting is a late-stage capitalist machine that ends up profiting one person – the founder of We. Ironic name, no?

  Meanwhile, real businesses - ones that actually contribute to the local economy and to our culture, and that have to make a profit to stay in business  - are pushed out. Further and further, as WeWork colonizes even the outer-reaches of the City. Manufacturing, small industry, the entire garment-industry in Manhattan, artists, crafts-people, small businesses, trades… you name it, they’re getting pushed out. Often for a WeWork space that houses a start-up that won’t survive the upcoming recession, if they even make it that far. This has happened in NYC, and appears to be happening in every City of any size around the world.

   Unfortunately, when it all comes crashing down – which it will – Regus (it’s profitable, public, less-sexy competitor) will pick up some of the pieces, but the damage will be done, and most of these displaced, real businesses won’t be able to return. The shops their employees went to – the ones not owned by CVS or Walgreen/DuaneReade or VC-backed businesses – are gone as well, and won’t come back. There’s a reason you see so many empty storefronts in Manhattan, and it’s intimately tied to this cycle.

  There’s a movie in this somewhere to be sure, but unfortunately, that won’t bring back the value that has been lost thanks to the We Company.

  FILM

  The Netflix Wars hit TIFF – early in the festival, a journalist noticed that none of the Netflix or Amazon titles were playing in the ScotiaBank Theater, owned by Cineplex, and TIFF had to confirm that Cineplex wasn’t allowing streamers to show there at all. This is for industry and press screenings, mind you, showing that the brains of the theaters management are sized inversely proportional to the size of those big screens in that theater. This is nonsense that won’t help win the streaming vs. theater wars.

  How many Indie Films Hit Cinemas? Stephen Follows analyzes the data, and it ain’t pretty. Out of 877 films analyzed, and removing Hollywood films, just 17% made more than $100K at the box office. Send your kids to film school, folks.

  

  Google Has a New Tinder Style Interface for Finding Films – About time. The NextWeb article has all the info on how to use it, but just type “What’s good to watch” on Google, and they’ll show you an easy to swipe system that learns from your thumbs up or down, etc. and it shows where everything is available to stream. You can narrow down by platform too. Perhaps this system will finally help solve the over-abundance problem.

  

  25 New Faces of Indie Film – Filmmaker Magazine’s Annual report on the 25 rising stars of indie film hit the streets and online. This gets reported a lot, but in case you missed it, check out the list for some talent to watch.

  Apple TV+ Has Launched – at $4.99/mo. This has been reported everywhere, but in case you’ve been under a rock. And The Wrap has the full line-up that they’ll launch with soon. People are saying the streaming wars are going, but it seems to me, we’ve just built a worse TV. That said, they also launched the iPhone 11, and Sean Baker took to the stage along with others, to tout it’s great video capabilities. Read more about that via the Guardian. And CNET has the goods on how their subscription gaming service will work – including the ability to play offline.

  Vulture announces Bilge Ebiri and Alison Willmore as critics – About time. Bilge has written for Vulture and NYMag off and on for a long time, but is now full-time at Vulture. Bilge is literally the smartest critic, and best writer, out there and deserves to be at the NYT – or MOMA - (full disclosure, he’s also a friend). Willmore has more than proven her critical chops at Buzzfeed (and Indiewire before that). Congrats to both.

  The Radical Film Fair hits NYC this weekend – Presented by Eyeslicer and Kickstarter, there’s lots going on for those of you near Brooklyn this Sunday.

  Robert Frank, photographer and filmmaker, dies at 94 - The NYT has the obit for Frank, who was one of my favorite photographers and filmmakers. While he's best known for The Americans, many also know him for his films like Pull My Daisy. I was lucky to meet him once, and was inspired by his work. There's a great film about him from Muse Film & Television (I was on the board once), called An American Journey, In Robert Frank's Footsteps, by Philippe Seclier, you can still get it on DVD on Amazon via KinoLorber.

  BRANDED CONTENT

  Marketers are capitalizing on documentary filmmaking’s golden age reports DigiDay (h/t BrandStorytelling): “It’s always hard to find funding, but [that viewership trend] has made my pitch to brands easier and more attractive,” said Shaun MacGillivray, president of film studio MacGillivray Freeman Films.

  Advertisers aren’t worried about key execs leaving Quibi, reports Digiday. Sure, it might not matter, but it was some key talent, and just before launch.

  The Tow Center at Columbia Journalism published a guide to Native Journalism – worth a look if you or your company is moving into this space. It’s got some great summaries, best practices, and concerns. Unsurprisingly, they found that publishers and brands saw no ethical issues, but that there was a clear lack of transparency around native content, and that consumers are confused by this obfuscation. I think this stuff can work and be done well, but it risks lowering consumer’s trust in news even further (it’s already pretty damn low), so publishers need to get more transparent fast.

• 

  Fall Fests, Laemmle closing, Brands and hard news, and other musings post Labor Day

  • Posted on 4th Sep
  • Category: Newsletter

  I’m back from my social media and all-things-electronic-vacation, and back to writing this newsletter. Can’t say I missed the social media, but I did miss the feedback from readers, so I’m glad to be back.

  

  Fall Festival Thoughts:

  This weekend saw the beginning of the Fall film festival season, with Telluride over Labor Day weekend, Venice, and now we go into Toronto, the NYFF and onwards. It’s a thrilling time to be a cinephile if you are lucky enough to live in or be able to visit one of these places, and even better if you get into one of them with your film. No matter the circumstances, that makes you part of the 1%. The very lucky few.

  The festival season is a perfect example of the best of times, worst of times dynamics. Even those filmmakers lucky enough to get into TIFF face an uphill battle in getting their films picked up for distribution – heck, it’s tough to even get people to pay attention to your film at TIFF if you aren’t one of the bigger films. Numerous amazing films – especially arthouse, foreign cinema – don’t find substantial distribution, especially not in North America. On the other hand – as a festival-goer, you can’t complain about the plethora of great films on offer. But on the other hand, I’ll bet that once again, when I head to dinner and/or drinks with my industry friends, it won’t be long before the conversation switches from what we watched that day, to what shows we’re obsessed with binge-watching on Netflix – even the industry is focused more on episodic than stand-alone features.

  There’s definitely a disconnect between what’s getting made, what’s being programmed at these festivals and what people ultimately want to watch. Many festivals are adding sections devoted to TV and episodic, trying to chase the coattails of this trend, but I think instead, they should be figuring out how to build audiences for these films year-round (to be fair, TIFF is one of many who do a good job at this with their year-round programming). Arthouse cinema can’t survive on the festival circuit alone – the free wine and cheese won’t keep the filmmakers fed (or housed).

  But that’s a problem that I either don’t have solutions to yet, or the ones I’ve tried have failed. We need more good ideas – how about some panels about real issues like this, instead of the tired festival panels we keep repeating at every festival? In the meantime, I’m off to TIFF and then the wonderful little Camden Film Fest (Maine), and can’t wait to see some great films, and hope a few will break through the noise and get seen by others soon.

  

  With Laemmle Being Sold, does the Academy need new qualifying rules? – Both Deadline and Indiewire reported in early August that the famed Laemmle Theater chain in Los Angeles may be up for sale. That’s 42 screens in 9 LA locations, and historically, Laemmle has been a consistent home for indie films, particularly documentaries, that want to play an LA theater to qualify for an Academy run. A handful of companies are kicking the tires and may buy the chain, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll follow this practice. What’s been left unstated, but was brought to my attention by a theater booker friend is just how important this is for qualifying. This person’s take was that Laemmle has been the qualifying run home for the majority of indies in LA, and without it, the Academy would literally have to change their rules about a theatrical run in LA being needed to qualify. Greg Laemmle, who owns and runs it, has been a champion for such films, and was willing to take risks to program (or four-wall) them – as LA is the place indie films go to die (not enough people show up). Let’s hope whoever buys it has the same ethos, or this could mean real trouble for the field.

  Curating cinema: I’ve written a lot about the need for more and better curation services for film (and other arts), and in particular the need for more film orgs/festivals to do this. Well, Sundance is doing it, so I should give props to them for this service. Their curated list for August came out recently, and was also used as the lede in their most recent email newsletter. Kudos to them – now, I’d love to see them curate lists of films that are not festival alumni – we trust your opinions all around, Sundance, so share them.

  And while I’m speaking about curation – why aren’t more trusted brands doing this in their newsletters/catalogues/etc.? And props to three other great curators – POV, the Criterion Channel and Jack Reynor, on Instagram – who are hands down the experts right now. And last minute note: Netflix just launched human-led curated collections this week (now, they should add some trusted brand partners).

  Finding Cinema is harder than ever – reports Vanity Fair on August 2^nd, in a great article by Elisabeth Donnelly. Sure, in theory, you have everything at your fingertips, but as she reports, with more than 40 streaming services, and exclusivity, as well as the curation (or lack of it) from the services, and what you really have is a hodge-podge of film history, where auter-classics, as well as just cult-classics like The Revenge of the Nerds, might not be online, and only on a DVD somewhere. Not a new problem, but a well-researched and reported story, and worth a read. Unfortunately, no one has an answer and all seem to agree that the “celestial jukebox” or “Spotify for Film” we’d hoped for in film, will never arrive. Why did we make this internet thing, again?

  Branded Content

  Branded Content, “safe words” and the perils for hard-news: The WSJ (paywall) had a great article Aug. 15^th about advertisers using blacklists or terms to avoid in placing their ads – you know, let’s not show any airplane ads next to stories about bombs, for example. But as the practice increases, to where Fidelity’s blacklist has over 400 words, news outlets are feeling the pinch. As reported, “The ad-blacklisting threatens to hit publications’ revenue and is creating incentives to produce more lifestyle-oriented coverage that is less controversial than hard news.” It’s becoming a big problem for hard news publishers, and the story reports that even prime outlets like the NYT are starting to produce more lifestyle content as a result. My take: when you couple this with the increase in branded content, and even brand journalism, you have the makings of a big problem. Very few brands are willing to tackle truly hard stories, that don’t at least put their brand in a positive light (for good reason). Follow the money, they say, and if you do that here, you’ll find a lot more money going to certain kinds of stories and not others, being told. Sure, a publication like the NYT can take money from an ad in the Styles section and use it to fund a piece on Iran, but when more money comes in for fluff stories than news, that will get prioritized, both for advertising and what gets made as “content.” I work in this arena, and think there are solutions to be had, but this ain’t easy, and it’s a concern.

  Extreme marketing – cleaning Everest, for example – is all the rage – The WSJ (paywall) reports on Bally, Panerai and others are using extreme, experiential-based marketing to engage consumers. From the article: “Girotto (Bally’s ceo) says he doesn’t expect any business return from the company’s spending on Peak Outlook. “Brands like Bally must have a purpose beyond profit,” he says. Of course, many consumers might say the same thing. “It is connecting through values,” says Hovland, the Devries Global CEO. “It’s extreme marketing, but it’s not extreme for its own sake.”

  CGI Product Placement is coming to Films, and soon: Digital Trends reports that LA based Ryff, Inc. has developed a technology that can insert products and logos, etc. into films, and customize the product being shown based on the viewer. So, I might see a Coke bottle on the desk in a movie/show, and you might see it as a Budweiser. Or maybe a truck driving by in a movie has an ad for pizza for one set of consumers, and an ad for diapers for another. Cringe-worthy stuff here – and once again, a tech that could be hacked to insert beautiful art instead of ads (I hope…) – but if you can build it, advertisers will use it. You can check out a demo here. (h/t to Brand Storytelling’s newsletter).

  Branded Choose Your Own Adventure (Bandersnatch-style) Games are coming to Twitch, reports Digiday, and it seems to be working. Saw this one coming – Porsche worked with Twitch to make a live, game-style launch of its new electric race car, and got 28,000 views at any given second, and 2 million in total. Expect to see a lot more in this space soon.

• Unplugging; Brands; impact and film and more news.

  • Posted on 1st Aug
  • Category: Newsletter

  Well folks, “below the fold” is the news for this week – and for awhile. As my longer-term readers know, I take every August off for a writing and social media vacation. Every year since 2010, which means for ten years now (!!!), I’ve unplugged from the web – except for work – for the entire month. I don’t check blogs, read any online news, f-around with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media. I am not lucky enough to be able to completely unplug – I do take emails from clients and other general work for the first two weeks of August, but then I actually stop checking emails for the latter half of the month and am completely off-line through Labor Day.

  It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. And it’s led me to decrease my time on Facebook and lave Twitter completely; and I barely use Instagram anymore, even outside of August. I go on every now and then to post this newsletter, and to do some client work, but I don’t check updates or get lost in the endless scroll. About a year ago, I decided that even if I was staring at the wall, that was better than scrolling the feed. I was more likely to think a creative thought, or not have a negative one, if I just avoid the herd online. And you know what – I haven’t missed any important news, just some baby photos. I’ve taken that extra time on my hands to write – here at this newsletter, and in my own creative writing, and I am much happier for it, and the feedback and subscriber rates have been much improved here as a result.

  I highly recommend considering a social media/online sabbatical for everyone. We’re all too connected to our phones, to the feed, to news on what crap Trump has done today, to what everyone thinks about it, and to “keeping up” with all the news in our industry (whatever your industry may be). It’s not healthy.

  Or more poetically – here’s Kate Tempest on this same subject on her new album, The Book of Traps and Lessons (which I highly recommend):

  “Stroke the phone screen with your thumb like
  A mother
  Trying to wipe clean the face of her only
  Child
  That blemish that black dot that will not come
  Clean
  The first sign of the
  Plague
  Absorb the ache of all your
  Friends
  And sleep with the light in your brain burning
  UV all night”

  The D-Word, a great online documentary community board, has a special topic running on mental health and filmmakers right now. I’m not reading it – because I stopped participating in bulletin boards and email lists ten years ago as well - but I hear it’s going pretty well. If you must connect this August, I recommend perusing the comments and advice being given over there.

  In the meantime, I’ll be swimming. I do this almost every day throughout the year, but focus on getting in more laps during August (most years, I even do an open-water race, but not this year). I picked it up again around the time I started my August internet sabbaticals, and it’s been great for my health – especially my mental health.

  This weekend, the NYT ran an Op-Ed by a psychiatrist about what he’s learned about life and happiness from swimming, and it resonated for me. He writes about how he was always disappointed that he couldn’t swim faster, until his coach told him to focus on technique and the speed would follow. As Dr. Richard Friedman wrote in the NYT, “We all wanted to swim faster and the more hysterically we tried, the more speed escaped us. The same goes for happiness. Everyone wants to be happy, yet the more directly we pursue happiness, the more elusive it becomes.”

  I think many people use social media and obsessively search the net, in some elusive search for happiness and meaning, and all it does is make you obsessed with the scroll, when happiness and meaning is all around you – if you stop searching for it, and just get offline and actually live. I need to do this more, still, but August is where I focus on this technique. Friedman concludes, and I will to, as follows: “In the end, happiness is a side effect of living well — just like speed can be the result of excellent swimming technique. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the pool.”

  

  WHAT I’M READING: FILM & STREAMING

  Chinese vertical dramas made for phone viewing show the future of mobile video - (h/t Sundance Creative Distribution):  China is always light-years ahead of us in the US on tech trends, and we see it here again with the adoption of more vertical formats for scripted shows, meant for viewing on mobile. With consumers switching from TV screens to mobile, this trend will continue. Quibi is going full bore with this as well, reports Digiday – they are requiring producers to shoot twice as much footage, so they can deliver every program in both vertical and horizontal formats. I know my auteur friends are puking now, but this trend might be here to stay. I say “might-be” because I hear a rumor that PornHub hasn’t adopted this format, and porn always leads the way for online video.

  Average US Time spent with Mobile in 2019 Has Increased - EMarketer, in a report from June, shows that time on mobile now surpasses time on TV for the first time ever - a pretty significant screen shift. 

  How Netflix is changing the future of Movie Theatres - “Theatres have to fight against Netflix by becoming more like Netflix” says Forbes, with a good run-down of the bigger theater chain’s subscription plans, and how they might use the data they can now access for smarter movie marketing.

  BITE ME: End of the Road for the Joyful Vampire Tour, On August 5^th the Joyful Vampire tour comes to NYC, it’s the end of their multi-city DIY distribution tour, and the promise to share the numbers, be transparent, teach some lessons-learned about film distribution and have a party. I’m late to this particular show, but Ben in my office sent me these screen-shots when the tour hit his social feed and after perusing their materials, I was impressed:

  

  

  Every few years some plucky filmmakers make a film that doesn’t get picked up and decide to go on tour. The late Sarah Jacobson did this with Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore back in 1997, and these filmmakers are following in her footsteps. It’s a lot of work to put together a film tour, but sometimes, it’s your only viable option.

  You can watch their docu-series about the tour here, and the trailer is here. I have no idea if the film is any good, but I applaud their efforts.

  WHAT I’M READING & THINKING: BRANDED CONTENT

  This week was BrandStorytelling’s Elevate Conference. You can get a taste of what takes place by reading their newsletter, online here. The team puts on one of the best events I’ve ever attended, and if you are remotely working in this sector, it should be on your to-do list.

  

  A lot of the conference topics are about learning who is doing what, discovering some new ideas and best practices. But there was a big emphasis this year on impact entertainment – brands trying to make a difference via social impact media, and how to do that. Another hot topic was measurement – most people there don’t even trust the viewership data they are getting, don’t know what other metrics they should be looking into and there’s a general consensus that some standardization needs to take place. There was a bit of future-casting – looking into what’s next, what we’re missing and what new forms story-telling might take.

  Another much talked-about event was an inspiring interview with Debbie Sterling the founder of GoldieBlox. I am not in the demographic, but if you want to be inspired, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better story than how she defied all the naysayers and built a smart toy/tool to stimulate STEM interest among young girls, and “disrupt the pink aisle.” Starting with a successful Kickstarter, then hard work and brand building and later, some investment, she’s made a super successful brand.

  But that wasn’t enough – as she sought to move into content, she took meetings with every studio, agency and broadcaster and they all turned her down. So once again, she and her team took destiny into their own hands and started what has become a super popular online video brand, with a GoldieBlox character, that has built a large and loyal audience of young girls who love STEM topics. I go into this for so long here because it’s a lesson for any filmmaker or aspiring entrepreneur, or brand going into content – don’t try to work with a system that isn’t built to try to help you. Break down the walls. As Mark Duplass has said – don’t wait for the cavalry to help you – you are the cavalry. Follow Sterling’s lead and just build cool shit and, if you do it right and get a little bit of luck – audiences will find you, with no one else’s help.

  One thing that was not discussed, but kept coming into my mind – it’s been said that advertising is becoming a tax on the poor. Those who can afford it are paying for SVOD services and getting rid of interruptive advertising, but a large mass of people are telling surveyers that they want to pay less than $27 a month for their subscriptions, and for many, even much less – so they are moving to Ad-supported platforms (AVOD).

  At the same time, there’s a huge war going on for eyeballs in the SVOD space, and that’s driving up costs for production and (in general) quality. Add to this the investments Quibi is making in the short form space (they will have both AVOD and SVOD options). What I see happening is a general raising of the bar, and that will mean that brands – and filmmakers – have to step up to another level in their budgets and quality to have any change of getting onto SVOD. And in many cases, those platforms will be very selective and curatorial.

  So what happens if your brand wants to reach the “upper class” of consumers? Will you be priced or quality-filtered out of their feeds? And if you’re more broadly looking at the 90%, how does non-interruptive, quality content work in an AVOD environment, where those consumers reside? And where, um, it’s all about interruptive advertising, negating the reason to do this stuff. This is an upcoming dilemma that no one is talking about it, but I’m obsessed with the implications and where this might go.

  Watching a presentation from WalMart’s Vudu – which is betting big on having the long-tail of content at a mix of transactional (paid) and AVOD (especially for their originals), as well as having shoppable content and very precise targeting based on your data (of which, they have a shit-ton) – and they are looking well-positioned for the future. They’re also pushing a curated content collection model that is very close to what I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. I never thought I’d say this, but Vudu is looking like a smart play for the future. Of course, this all represents another cultural bifurcation between the haves and have-nots and brands will have to think hard about where they want to reside in that world. Depressing/sobering to think about, so on to some better news.

  Impact Entertainment matters to the C-Suite, according to a just released study by Participant Media, SoulPancake, BrandStorytelling and the Harris Poll. This was delivered at the Elevate conference, but Forbes has the summary as follows: “Top corporate marketing executives strongly support using film and TV programming to build awareness of their company's values, though the people who work under them are less certain about such an approach. And few say they know what to do next in harnessing Hollywood to push social positions that can reinforce their own brand's values.”

  

  The full study doesn’t seem to be online yet, but I’ll post it once it’s online (and when I’m back from that vacation). SoulPancake’s GM Shabnam Mogharabi made an excellent presentation at Elevate, and the results were pretty clear – the bosses want to make impact entertainment, but the lower-level marketing folks are afraid of pushing this too hard (quite a disconnect). Unfortunately, another finding showed that while brands said they don’t want to “purpose-wash” or “green-wash” their image, they’re still not valuing impact measurement as much as brand-lift and other old-fashioned marketing terms – meaning…well, purpose-washing. Regardless, the study gives us some data, can start some conversations and just might bring more brands to the impact entertainment arena (where I work, almost exclusively).

  Why Marketers Should Care About Consumer Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility

  From AdWeek: “What does this all mean for businesses? In today’s socially conscious environment, customers are willing to spend more of their money with businesses that prioritize corporate social responsibility. Improving CSR business practice and CSRPPQ not only help build a positive brand image, but also have a positive impact on improving customer loyalty and contributing directly to the bottom line.” Click on the link for some good examples. This coupled with the SoulPancake study made for feel-good reading in the brand space this week.

  WHAT I’M READING: AI/VR/AR 

  

  Atari co-founder launches the first Alexa powered board game - a murder mystery called St. Noire, and it looks awesome. Oh yeah, it’s AI powered too. VentureBeat has the write-up on how it works (I am Alexa-less and can’t play it..yet): 

  “Players take on the role of a hard-boiled detective to solve a murder in the mysterious small town of St. Noire.  Playing either with your friends as a team, or going solo, you will need to question a cast of colorful suspects, search for clues around town, and use all your deductive reasoning to suss out which character is lying to you.

  St. Noire features multiple storylines and endings, immersive sound design, and cinematic voice performances via Amazon Alexa. To make sure no two games are alike, the identity of the killer is randomized on each playthrough, making every new game feel fresh and unpredictable. A full play-through may take 15 minutes to half-an-hour.”

  This might not be just the future of gaming, but also of storytelling.

  Amazon launches Prime video VR for Oculus GO, Quest, and Gear VR - Amazon launched a new store for 360 video. And Zuckerberg reported this week that they Facebook is sold out (temporarily) of the new Oculus Quest wireless goggles. Apparently, my boycotts of the technology are not working.

• 

  Diversifying the Cultural Conversation

  • Posted on 7th Jul
  • Category: Newsletter

  

  Elizabeth Méndez Berry (a director at the Nathan Cummings Foundation) and Chi-hui Yang (a program officer at the Ford Foundation) wrote a great Op-Ed for the NYT on July 5^th about the need for more diversity among critics, cultural writers, editors (and assigning editors) in the arts and cultural sphere. The entire piece is required reading, but these two paragraphs sum it up for me:

  This matters because culture is a battleground where some narratives win and others lose. Whether we believe someone should be locked in a cage or not is shaped by the stories we absorb about one another, and whether they’re disrupted or not. At a time when inequality and white supremacy are soaring, collective opinion is born at monuments, museums, screens and stages — well before it’s confirmed at the ballot box.

  Yet those who have for decades been given the biggest platforms to interpret culture are white men. This means that the spaces in media where national mythologies are articulated, debated and affirmed are still largely segregated. The conversation about our collective imagination has the same blind spots as our political discourse.

  I agree completely and I’m glad they’ve brought this discussion to a wider audience, and enlarged it beyond the usual conversation about the need for greater diversity in stories and storytellers. And its no criticism of the article to say the conversation needs to be broader still – as I’ve mentioned many times before here, in film alone, the ranks of film festival programmers and directors, arthouse theater owners and programmers, bookers, critics, acquisition executives and other decision makers are far too white and male. There are notable exceptions, but they remain exceptional examples.

  As I’ve written before, many diverse filmmakers don’t even submit their works to certain premiere film festivals because they don’t feel those fests are “for” them. I know this is true, because many such emerging filmmakers have told me this. And I’ve seen numerous great films that have had a hard time getting accepted to these same fests because they don’t fit the taste profile of many of these programmers. They are then passed by (or never noticed) by acquisitions execs with the same taste profile. And if they do get their film distributed, they then face a crop of critics who may not be as in tune with their work. This isn’t only a problem for Diverse filmmakers/stories (and art), but for diversity (small d) of cultural style – there’s a sameness in what fest programmers like and critics like that leads to less diverse styles of storytelling as well.

  Anyway, while the Op-Ed has been making the rounds and was in the NYT, go read it now if you haven’t. On to this week’s news.

  Stuff I'm Reading: Film

  I recently joined Josh Hyde on his American Filmmaker podcast to discuss indie film, branded content and a few other subjects. If you're interested, you can check it out here.

  Will Chicken Soup for the Soul be the winner of the streaming wars? Holman Jenkins of the WSJ makes a good argument on its behalf, and while I don't always agree with this writer (and almost never with this paper's politics), he makes a good case. The company has a relatively new owner, Bill Rouhana, who used to run Winstar, and he bought the brand for the name - because brands matter online for curation, and this one "says 'nice';" and then he bought a big stake in Crackle from Sony. Oh, and he also got Popcornflix, and its 24 million app users in his deal. 

  He plans to use the ad-supported service to clean-up in the coming streaming wars. And I'll give Rouhana this - he gives a good quote to sum up the future: "The streaming war is going to be amazing,” he tells (Jenkins)  “I can’t imagine how much money is going to be destroyed.”

  That is true, and Rouhana's bet that people will turn to free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) is already panning out as consumers get tired of paying for multiple SVOD services. And he may do a better job curating and helping you find what you want, because as Jenkins points out: "He and his advertisers have a reason to care if somebody is really watching."

  I always say that people need to focus more on curation. Well, both POV and Criterion are doing that pretty well in their email newsletters. Here's POV's from this week and here's one from Criterion. Figured I should praise as well as complain!

  Quibi's line-up and mandate is becoming clearer, and the Hollywood Reporter has a comprehensive run-down of the execs and the shows:

  AMC Theatres Launches Venture to Promote Small and Mid-Size Films - AMC is trying a new system to promote small to mid-sized films and give them more marketing, more time in the theater, and maybe a chance at finding an audience. They’ve tried this in the past, but maybe this time will work better?

  Should journalists - and doc filmmakers - tone down the rhetoric and step outside the echo chamber in their reporting on climate catastrophe? Yes, argues Matthew Nisbit in a piece for Issues in Science & Technology reporting on the new Covering Climate Now initiative. It's a good piece, and I think anyone covering climate in their work, especially filmmakers, should take it to heart. While his focus is on journalism, his points remain relevant to doc films - mainly that scaring people and doomsday scenarios aren't necessarily helping things and we need more rigorous debate.  He argues we need critically oriented science reporting ... to help maintain public faith in climate science and journalism.

  How Darren Aronofsky and astronauts are taking on the environmental crisis - Both Arononofsky and David De Rothschild, a notable environmentalist, are pushing for less negative activist films, and more positive “As environmentalists, we’re undertakers of the wilderness,” de Rothschild says. “We tell you all the bad news. And bad news creates fear. And fear often creates paralysis.”

  For HBO Max, streaming technology is anything but a commodity - the decision to leave Disney owned Bamtech and provide its own streaming technology has proven fruitful for HBO, having premiered the final season of Game of Thrones, without any major issues. Now, called HBO Max, they’re ready for prime time. 

  

  The dead-eyed new Lion King painfully illustrates the difference between cinema and video games – AV Club runs down all of the problems w/ the making of this movie. I haven’t seen it, but we all know these movies have been huge moneymakers for Disney and one of the seemingly surest bets at the box office. Let’s see whether audiences respond.

  Stuff I'm Reading: Branded Content

  I am teaching a short class on branded content at NYFA in Dumbo, Brooklyn on July 25th. Find all the details and register here.

  Will more brands invest equity in feature films? Rick Parkhill of BrandStorytelling covers the story of Johnson & Johnson with 5B, and speculates that more brands may move into this space. Having a couple of clients who are already doing this, I suspect we'll see even more of it.

  

  Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ is dangerously close to becoming ‘Sponsored Things’ How much ‘New Coke’ and ‘Burger King’ did you spot?

  Learn What YETI’s Head of Content Looks for in a Film- Among other things, he suggests concentrating on finding a good character, and then, make sure they “personify the brand.” I’ve worked with Scott and Yeti, and think they’re making good films, so check out his advice.

  Cosmopolitan is launching a branded podcast with Tinder - 

  “Historically, branded podcasts have been a pricey purchase with real distribution challenges. While there have been success stories, such as GE’s “The Message,” or, more recently, a companion podcast to the HBO miniseries “Chernobyl,” which averaged 1 million downloads per episode, branded podcasts are typically not used to reach a large audience.

  But as the podcast audience continues to grow, and as more legacy media companies get involved in the space, some may hope to leverage their reach to drive more scale than previously possible. “It’s a good option for certain companies,” said Steve Pratt, the founder of Pacific Content, a podcast agency that was acquired in May by the Canadian broadcaster Rogers Media. “For [brands] that want big reach or a mass audience, partnering with a media company makes sense.”

  Verizon Media introduces media to branded content arm with immersive experience “In the fight for attention, brands need to become smarter in the way they craft their stories. By putting on a ‘show’ instead of a ‘tell’, we showed firsthand just how RYOT Studio is revolutionising the way content is created, communicated and distributed.”

  Check it out here

  The only magic of content is that it makes your brand disappear - moral of the story: great storytelling will lead to effective ads. No need for gimmicks. 

  Stuff I'm Reading: AR/VR/AI/ETC

  The Pentagon Wants VR To Train for Nuclear War - scary, but another useful (but hopefully won’t be needed) application of VR

  Using virtual reality could make you a better person - on a more positive note, maybe VR can help us become people who wouldn’t use nuclear weapons on each other. 

  

  The NBA just invested in this hot AI startup to train and find its next crop of global superstars - the NBA has developed an app that not only utilizes AI to evaluate basketball skill, but also create an online community of like minded people sharing a hobby. 

  “One of the most powerful things that we’ll see from this app is the community and the ability to have a platform that shares all the talent that’s out there connecting all those people, countries, and cultures.”

  Offset, DJ Khaled, Russell Westbrook, and the brave new world of celebrity digital avatars - brands are starting to create celebrity avatars to help promote their products. One of the questions being raised is who ultimately will own these avatars, and how many will everyone have? 

  An Indonesian University Is Accepting YouTubers And Exempting Them From Entrance Exams - at first glance, seems like they’re pandering toward the younger generation. But they’re doing something similar to Colombia and their Orange economy, which is to help foster creative content to help bolster GDP.

  Before VidCon, Facebook Tweaks Monetization Options for Content Creators - Facebook has launched some new features for content creators, and I like one of them a lot - fans can now buy bundles of “stars” to give to their favorite creators, who then accumulate real money and esteem. Note: As I was writing this, Youtube announced a similar program called "Super Stickers" at VidCon as well.

• 

  What does it mean when NYC loses Kanopy?

  • Posted on 27th Jun
  • Category: Newsletter

  

  Big news in the educational streaming market this week - I may be the first person to ever type those words!- as the New York City Public Libraries Drop Kanopy’s “Free” Movie-Streaming Service. The NYPL, Queens and Brooklyn Public libraries all dropped the service (they are actually distinct library systems) citing costs. Now while many readers may not even know what the heck the educational streaming market is, I think this is bigger news - and worse news - than it seems.

  Up until now, if you had a library card from these or many other public libraries, you could watch movies for “free” by just using your library card to access Kanopy, which has become one of the biggest streaming libraries for film in the educational marketplace. I scare quote the “free” part because Kanopy reportedly charges libraries about $2 per view (with a view being at least 30 seconds of watching), which adds up. In fact, these three libraries said the cost got too high for them to renew their contracts and would invest more into ebooks and audio books. Mind you, that’s what public libraries pay. Educational libraries, like a University or College, pay even more, with some quoting $150-300 once more than 3 people watch the film. For a good run-down of the educational market, Kanopy and how this all works, read this Film Quarterly article.

  This is bigger news than it seems because those are three gigantic Kanopy clients. And Kanopy proved it when they flipped out - sending emails and communications directly to library users that, while couched in nice terms, were clearly trying to spark a mini-revolution among customers. If other libraries follow suit, it could be bad news for this new player, and for the educational ecosystem. And that’s bad news for fans of arthouse films who use the service, but also for filmmakers and distributors, especially doc filmmakers, who rely on educational sales/rental income to make up a not insignificant portion of their overall revenues. In fact, for some smaller films, the educational market is their primary income stream. And for even bigger arthouse films, it’s a meaningful revenue stream.

  A closer look at the math is kinda interesting. Variety reported: “According to the New York Public Library, about 25,000 of its patrons (around 1% percent of the system’s 2 million cardholders) used Kanopy. The Queens Public Library said only about 6,000 of its 1 million cardholders used the service and that Kanopy was planning to raise the subscription rate to about $125,000 annually.” So while $2 per movie sounds cheap, it was adding up for the libraries. 

  But the numbers are an even scarier harbinger of bad news for arthouse films to me - just 1.25% of NYPL users, and just 0.6% (barely half of a percent) of Queens library users bothered to watch movies on Kanopy. And using the Queen’s numbers, they had about 62,500 views among 6,000 viewers, or just an average of 10 movies per user annually - and this in one of the hottest markets for indie and arthouse films in the US - and for “free.”

  Granted, these aren’t the most scientifically accurate numbers or analyses here, but the simple math shows not a lot of demand for arthouse films. And this is presumably among the 25% of the more culturally curious NYC residents who have a library card and presumably read a lot and would be our target audience (approximately 25% of NYC’s population has a library card). To really analyze this, we’d need to compare it to their other subscription rates, etc. but I don’t see the numbers getting much more impressive. As the NYPL said on its own site: “our resources are better utilized purchasing more in-demand collections.” Ouch.

  So we have a situation where too few people want the service, $2 bucks a pop is considered too much for some of the better funded customers in the country to afford, and where many other public libraries could follow this lead and make the same decision. And given that the library is often where younger audiences often first encounter this media, the lost opportunities are pretty scary. Yes, libraries have some other options and can still buy DVDs for awhile, but if the libraries of New York aren’t seeing enough demand to justify the cost, and Kanopy can’t make the business model more affordable, things look grim for the future of any streaming service focused on niche films, or their fans.

  WHAT I"M READING: FILM

  

  Hollywood and Madison Avenue both have a problem - they need to work with more women behind the camera - directors particularly, but also in other positions. Well, Alma Har'el has a plan to "flip the script" and the LA Times has the article on her new venture, Free the Work, “a global network for women and underrepresented creators and the people who hire them.” Read the article to learn more about the project and how to get involved.

  FastCompany has some questions about Netflix’s massive ‘Murder Mystery’ viewership numbers - Numbers netlix released regarding Murder Mystery imply a 120 Million dollar opening weekend. Many are skeptical and continue to call into question Netflix’s metrics for measuring viewership. Me: It doesn’t matter. We’ve built an entire system around knowing these numbers, but they only matter to advertisers. And stars. But stars know their market value and can still negotiate the rates they want. Nonissue.

  7 FREE STREAMING SERVICES TO SAVE YOU FROM SUBSCRIPTION HELL - With Kanopy leaving New York and many more streaming services ready to take its place for a fee, Wired lists some free services one can use,and their list is: IMDB TV; The ROKU Channel; Tubi; Pluto TV; Crackle; Vudu; (You may notice that there’s only six. The one I left out, of course being Kanopy).

  Disney Pushing To “Significantly” Expand Hulu’s Original Programming, Says CEO Randy Freer Hulu is stepping up its original content game, according to TubeFilter and the Information. And Disney is also saying that most future programming will have to be made by Disney owned studios, or be co-produced by a Disney brand, and “how much production support Disney will provide in exchange for that co-producer credit isn’t clear.” 

  Bob Iger tells Barron's that Disney+ is not about competing with Netflix: "We’re not launching Disney+ to catch up to Netflix or even compete with them. The marketplace is hungry for this, and we have a brand people know and love."  And as Evan Shapiro said on LinkedIn  - that's smart:

  

  Discovery Can pay it’s CEO a shit-ton, but won’t pay unscripted producers up front anymore - which is causing some panic attacks in the film-adjacent world. Deadline has the report. I’ve heard reports of producers having trouble getting financing for Netflix series, and now Discovery will become tougher as well.

  WHAT I"M READING: BRANDED CONTENT

  

  Advertisers wish Netflix would bring on the ads, but Sarandos isn't stupid - Digiday reports that advertisers can't shut up about how much they really wish Netflix had ads, and they use a lot of good arguments for why it should have them, mainly by pointing to the balance sheet. But the balance sheet doesn't reflect consumer love or hate, and sorry folks, but consumers/audiences hate ads. And Ted Sarandos knows that - as reported in Deadline, he told the audience at SeriesFest in Denver - "the company has no plans to incorporate advertising (a subject of mounting speculation) or bid on live sports. Both are “not core to the proposition” of Netflix." Good branded content, maybe. Ads - not if they want to keep up paying subscribers. Sure, AVOD has a place- with people who can't afford to pay (ads are a tax on the poor now, of course, but that's a longer story).

  Samuel Scott at The Drum had a scathing op-ed on the hypocrisy of brand purpose marketing at Cannes Lions. His argument is that no one is walking the talk, and especially when it comes to having an impact on environmental issues. He argues it helps more with employee recruitment than actual impact. I don't agree 100%, but he's right about a lot of this, and it's worth a read and a think.

  Why does Content matter? - Lynn Browne (Co Founder of Brand Verge) lists why Branded Content is ultimately more effective than traditional advertising. 

  YouTube's Sataya Raghavan tells brands how to optimise their Branded Content - The director of YouTube partnerships in India further argues that Branded Content is helping brands stay relevant and reach more audiences. 

  Colombia wants to be known for its creative economy even more than its coffee - Colombian President Ivan Duque was at Cannes Lions where he’s pushing his “Orange Agenda,” which involves heavily funding and supporting the arts and creative industries. I can’t wait to hear what locals think when I am in Bogota in two weeks for the BAM Bogota Market, but I like the sound of this:

  “We’re talking about a sector where you have festivals, carnivals, gastronomy, museums, visual arts, live arts, media, TV, movies, digital, advertising, marketing, gaming, jewelry. You add up all those sectors in a country like Colombia, its contribution to the economy is double the size of coffee and even bigger than mining,” said Duque, which garnered enthusiastic applause from the Cannes crowd at his session. “So we have to help people understand that when we’re talking about the creative industries, when we’re talking about talent and innovation, we’re talking about a very vibrant and important force to change our nation.” (President Duque)

  WHAT I"M READING: INTERNET/OTHER

  Cory Doctorow wrote an "op-ed" from the future for the NYT, where he speculates on the damage done when we give too much power to a few internet companies, and crack down on free speech in service of ending "harassment, extremism or disinformation" Which doesn't work, of course. Worth a read for why we should pay more attention to the poor policies being considered in the tech space.    

• 

  Netflix’s “Ad-Free” Experience and the Future of Branded Content?

  • Posted on 25th Jun
  • Category: Newsletter

  Erick Opeka got a few laughs on LinkedIn when he posted this comment recently:

  

  I’ve long argued that Netflix is going about brands and content in the wrong way- product placement like this, or these gigantic ads for Lavazza Coffee on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee are actually more intrusive and gross than regular advertising. Heck, on the new season of Comedians… Seinfeld takes us on a five minute gushing tribute to Porsche that is longer than any commercial.

  

  Aside from the few times when it makes legitimate sense to show a product for nostalgic reasons (and some of the Stranger Things tie-ins fall into this category), Netflix should move away from product placement and embrace smarter branded content. With nearly every brand you can think of making films these days, and all of them needing distribution, it’s a great opportunity for Netflix to get good content, lower its bills and bring in a new revenue stream without ruining the consumer experience.

  

  Of course, this is dependent on maintaining its curatorial eye – use the humans at Netflix and the algorithm’s both to make sure that what you are licensing is entertaining (or enlightening, or otherwise valuable) to audiences. You can’t just start showing every crappy brand’s video, even if it wins a Cannes Lions (which are no arbiter of quality). But there are plenty of good branded content films/series out there, and many more in the pipeline and it’s astounding to me that Netflix isn’t pursuing this more aggressively.

  

  Plus it gives them a marketing partner for each piece of content that often negates the need for a theatrical release – or when a theatrical is warranted, helps guarantee butts in seats through the extra marketing power of the brand partners. Yes, product placement does this too, but it’s much more advertising-oriented (and usually gross) than a simple logo at the beginning of the film, as most branded content is currently practiced.

  

  FastCompany just ran a report about the product placement on Netflix, and points out that Netflix is pointing out that it didn’t accept payment for these placements. They’re clearly feeling a bit beat-up from the negative attention (there are gazillions of anti-product-placement stories online right now). Well-made branded content would negate this crap while expanding a smarter partnership structure.

  Analysts keep writing stories predicting that Netflix will have to launch advertising, or an AVOD solution, to make up for slowing subscriber growth and to lower their debt. I don’t see this ever happening, as it makes for a poor customer experience. But switching from product placement to good brand relationships (and payments) via curated branded content would make for a much better option.

  I’ll go a step further into (maybe) crazy-land and suggest that just as Netflix has upended the field of media, it can disrupt advertising for the better as well. If Netflix did this the right way – which would mean being super-selective, making brands work with trusted, quality producers directly (instead of with agencies) and with the real budgets it takes to make quality films/shows – then we could shift a lot of energy out of interruptive advertising and into quality content people want to watch. It would solve an actual consumer problem – wanting to skip ads – and a business one- wanting to break through the noise and reach those consumers skipping their ads – and an existential one – that it increasingly looks like content divorced from another profitable business is unsustainable.

  I’m sure my leftist comrades are appalled at the thought of even more content being swayed by corporate interests. And this is a very real concern,. But it’s one we’re stuck with anyway, and one of the antidotes to that is better public support of media via a revamped approach – which could even mean requiring space for public media on Netflix – but that’s another article. Trust me – I am not arguing that we should only have branded content. That would suck (and be very much like the major networks anyway).

  I’m just arguing that Netflix could do things better, and possibly disrupt a system (advertising) that is too busy taking micro-steps instead of making reach change.

  WHAT I’M READING: FILM

  Media’s Blame Game – AKA how not to do branded content, or media – This one from Om Malik (Founder of Gigagom) is making the rounds and it’s a good piece to keep in mind when contemplating my proposal above, as it shows how brands and their ads are slowly destroying our media. Well, that and a lack of planning or innovation on the part of media companies. It’s the must-read of the week.

  The Doc Life: So What Exactly Does Successful Distribution Look Like? – When I go to film fests and talk to industry, one of the smartest voices in the room is always Tim Horsburgh, Director of Communications and Distribution at Kartemquin Films. Check out this interview with Film Independent, where he discusses the difficulties of film distribution.

  Netflix is in the news nonstop: Here’s why Netflix says it lost US paid subscribers for the first time in eight years. And in other news, Netflix launched a mobile-only streaming plan in India for less than $3 per month, and some people think it’s a test-case for a similar service in the works for the world.

  THE STREAMING WARS are heating up, and multiple publications weigh in: 

  The Financial Times warns that we are heading toward over saturation.  SF Gate offers a list and breaks down the numerous services that will be available. (Spoiler: There’s too many). Forbes suggests that investors shouldn’t just look out for streaming dominance, but rather what companies are making smaller, but more innovative steps in the technology, and thereby lead the next media revolution (hint, this is the smartest take here).  Yahoo Finance breaks down how Amazon and Disney will be the lead challengers of Netflix. And for some counter-argument, The Verge weighs in on Plex, which makes piracy a streaming service. They correctly note that the rise in piracy further reflects that it is getting too hard and expensive for consumers to watch what they want. 

  The Booming Podcast Business: Why Do You Listen? – I don’t know, because I don’t. But I know everyone else does.

  And last, a plug for a great new film that I highly recommend, from a filmmaker I admire, and my friend, Rodney Evans: VISION PORTRAITS is a deeply personal documentary by award-winning filmmaker Rodney Evans (Brother to Brother) as he explores how his loss of vision may impact his creative future, and what it means to be a blind or visually impaired creative artist.  It’s a celebration of the possibilities of art created by a Manhattan photographer (John Dugdale), a Bronx-based dancer (East Texas native Kayla Hamilton), a Canadian writer (Ryan Knighton) and the filmmaker himself, who each experience varying degrees of visual impairment. Using archival material alongside new illuminating interviews and observational footage of the artists at work, Evans has created a tantalizing meditation on blindness and creativity, a sensual work that opens our minds to new possibilities. 

  Opens August 9th in NYC at Metrograph

  Opens August 23rd in LA at Laemmle Royal

  Check out the trailer here

  WHAT I’M READING: BRANDED CONTENT

  Quibi Acquires First News Program In Reported 8-Figure Deal With NBC - more Quibi news. The smart move here – Quibi shows that like Netflix, it is battling not to be just another service (here, on your phone), but an entire eco-system of content, so you don’t need to go anywhere else.

  No, Your Brand Newsroom Is Not Really a ‘Newsroom’—and That Is OK - Another example of how creators making branded content need to embrace what branded content actually is rather than what they think it should be. 

  Olivia Munn is starring in a new cybersecurity thriller about the Sony hack . . . for IT managers? - Covering a dull subject for branded content? Just get a celebrity involved. Lenovo uses the woes of another company’s hack (Sony) to push its own cyber-security. Will be interesting to see whether this works.

  Will GAIL’s ‘Hawa Badlo’ campaign shatter the branded content ceiling - Brand Equity brings up how we don’t have an effective way of measuring branded content impact. 

   People are reacting more to branded posts from Influencers than their own “normal” posts. What the heck? But it seems true. Instagram claims it’s not their algorithm just pushing branded posts, but call me skeptical. The writer points out that perhaps “influencers are actually putting in more work to create high-quality content for their ad partners than they do for their own content.” Whatever the reason, that’s good for the cart. If more people are interacting with branded posts, they might do more shopping as well. Then again, as the writer for FastCompany points out: “Influencers are competing for our mindshare in the extremely limited funnel of our feeds. As a result, everyone we follow seems to be selling us something all the time—even when they actually have more to say.” 

• 

  Missing the Boat on Curation

  • Posted on 21st Jun
  • Category: Newsletter

  

  Every brand is now a studio. Every day, a new brand enters the fray of content creation. They all want to be filmmakers. And I obviously think that’s a good idea in general, or I wouldn’t advise brands on how to do it, smarter. But at a time of superabundance, when the last thing the world needs is another movie, smart brands should be thinking more about curation than creation.
  

  Mind you, I didn’t say every brand. People trust certain brands and not others, and curation only works when there’s trust involved.  But for those brands that have built such trust and have the following to prove it – there’s a unique opportunity, and a glaring gap in the market for smart curation.

  As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Joe Marchese wrote about curation and the attention economy for Redef recently, and pointed out: “…The brands, retailers, and media companies that understand how to operate in the current Attention Economy will become trusted curators and shape the future of culture and commerce.” (emphasis mine). 

  You don’t even have to stop making films. Yes, they are sexy to make. But that’s also why everyone else is making them too. The argument today is really - why make content, when you can help me find it instead? I have thousands of options to choose from, and my feed is cluttered with too much stuff already. What I need help with is finding the best stuff to watch (and yes, you guessed it, curation can work beyond film, but let’s keep the focus narrow for now). The real reason I hate ads is because they interrupt me after I already just spent half an hour trying to find something worth watching. But I’d gladly watch your ad, or become an even more loyal brand follower if you helped me find the best stuff to watch without feeding me more ads.

  In fact, I’d subscribe to your channel if you’ve curated the best content for me – even in this era of too many services, because what consumers want/need is better curation, not just a better selection. I’m surprised that the only brands to have launched subscription (and AVOD) services have been retailers like WalMart. Sure, that makes sense because they do sell things. But those retailers don’t have my trust. I’m pretty sure we’ll see curation services if not SVOD services soon from celebrity brands – Goop Video, for example. But there’s a couple of handful of brands that have that same trust, and they should move into this space fast.

  The easiest way into it would be via partnerships – partnering with platforms to curate content. This could easily be done on Netflix or with publishers like the NYT – all of whom are slowly coming around to better brand relationships. But over time, curatorial brands should be platform agnostic, and indeed part of their power comes from being able to recommend great programming across platforms. I can barely remember which platform has my favorite shows anymore, but I’d use a curatorial app from a trusted brand to remember those and discover new content at the same time.

  But curation shouldn’t just be about picking movies/shows for me to watch – it should also include content “around” films/shows  - guides to films, articles on why they’ve been selected, links for digging deeper, and over time, perhaps live or originals as well -  tours, Q&A’s with filmmakers, and more.

  There’s a lot of opportunity here, and it’s time for some brands to take ownership of this space.

  WHAT I'M READING: FILM & STREAMING

  Apple Plans on Releasing Six Movies a Year For Oscar Consideration - According to the SlashFilm and others, Apple plans on financing “six small-budget movies a year with an eye toward stories that could win Academy Awards.” That’s good news for filmmakers and fans – quality over quantity.

  Amazon is rolling out and IMDB streaming service that will be free (with ad support). At the same time, Amazon's Increasing Its Ad-Supported Streaming Video Investment. Amazon will let you watch films how you want – subscription (SVOD/Prime), for sale/rent (VOD) or free/ad-supported (AVOD) meaning they hit all potential consumers. Smart moves.

  How Do You Build an Anti-Capitalist Streaming Site? - Nick Hayes and Naomi Burton, founders of the Detroit-based leftist media company Means Media, talk about their ambitions for Means TV, a worker-owned, completely viewer-supported streaming platform. They’ve made some great campaign videos, now let’s see if they can make this work.

  3 Reasons Amazon Prime Video Will Survive the Streaming Wars. Other than just being Amazon, there are a few other reasons, go figure.

  Amy Dotson gave a hell of a going away speech as she leaves IFP and heads to Portland. Filmmaker Magazine has the speech from BAM CinemaFest.  IFP was too dumb to keep her, so she's blowing things up and starting a new career elsewhere. Onwards! NYC's loss and Portland's gain.

  WarnerMedia May Price Its Streaming Service Higher Than Netflix. Why? – Motley Fool argues that with a library that may rival Netflix in size and that the switch over to 4k among media will cause prices hikes among all the streaming services. They may just be ahead of the curve. Of course, everyone’s always said that no one can make money at the prices Netflix has been charging (thus why they chose said prices). But it’s also a big gamble when consumers have so many options.

  Quibi has sold a lot of ads, as Variety reports. They have two tiers – and ad supported and ad free, but both have a subscription fee. But Madison Ave is ponying up to be part of the experience. No surprise there, as this is a solution built for Hollywood and Advertisers. I’ve written about it before, and I’ve also got an editorial in the new Filmmaker Magazine about it. It’s behind their premium paywall right now, but this is also a chance for me to plug that Filmmaker Magazine is one of the few publications worth your dime – subscribe now and read what I have to say about the pros and cons of Quibi, as well as many other great articles on the business/creativity of film.

  WHAT I'M READING: VR/AR/AI

  ‘There’s Just No Doubt That It Will Change the World’: David Chalmers on V.R. and A.I. - Philosopher David Chalmers give his take on how V.R and A.I will affect the future for the NYT. He’s a smart one, and his thoughts on how Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will change consciousness and more – luckily he sees it as more like 40-100 years away.

  ARTISTS ARE USING VIRTUAL REALITY TO CONVEY THE PERILS OF CLIMATE CHANGE - At this year’s Venice Biennale, artists are using creative ways to drive home the urgency of climate change and sustainability. Let’s hope they have more impact than we’ve had via films.

  VR is training cops to empathize with the people they may kill –if VR is an empathy machine (which I don’t believe, btw), then maybe this will help cut down on some bad situations.

  WHAT I'M READING: BRANDED CONTENT

  5B wins the Cannes Lions Entertainment Grand Prix. Congrats to producer Rupert Maconick & Saville Productions, UM Studios and Johnson & Johnson. 5B is the rare brand film that can play at the real Cannes - the film festival, in competition mind you - and then also win an award at the Cannes Lions. And it's because the film is great content, well made, by a great filmmaker - Dan Krauss. Kudos to all of the filmmakers/team.

  Cannes Lions Takes Place in Time of Change for Ad World -  Variety reports on how the ad world is changing - demonstrated by the presence of celebrities, showmanship, diversity and Apple - at Cannes Lions. A good run down of what’s going on.

  Cannes Briefing: The scramble for the future of TV has begun – Digiday breaks down the trends at this year’s Cannes Lions, which seem to be all about the future of TV and as one unnamed exec put it: ““The challenge is always the same, trying to become or stay relevant for consumers in a world that’s more and more fragmented.”

  Branded Content Campaigns Help Ads Cut Through Clutter -  Variety again on branded content, and why more people are turning to it. Nothing new here, but it’s a good summary of what’s going on - “In an era of content overload, when it’s easier than ever for consumers to skip an ad or avoid it altogether, many advertisers are trying a different tack: branded content. Rather than traditional “interruption” advertising, they are creating content that people actually want to watch, tailored to the platforms on which they are viewing it.”

  REI launches a Magazine and Support for Nonprofit News on the Outdoors: This is a client, but I had nothing to do with these two items- REI announced today what I think are two awesome moves - the launch of a new magazine, Uncommon Path, and investing in 10 local news orgs through NewsMatch to support local journalism on environmental issues and the outdoors. Kudos to the team.

• 

  Surviving the Trifecta Dash, Fake film fests, brain machine interfaces, new branded content and more

  • Posted on 14th Jun
  • Category: Newsletter

  Surviving the Mad Dash to the Trifecta

  

  This week’s newsletter opinion piece is shorter than usual because I’ve been participating in the June 14^th Trifecta Mad Dash – hitting the deadlines for the Toronto (TIFF), Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, what is known in the film world as the Festival Trifecta.

  While this is changing a bit as the three duke it out over premiere status rules, it used to be that you could premiere at all three festivals in September. This is the way it should be forever, and this fight is ridiculous; but in theory, you can still do this pending a few things about timing and type of film. Anyway, every producer with a film that is finishing soon is doing this same hustle this week because they may only get into one of them (or none of them) anyway, but you have to try. Technically, the Telluride deadline is not until July 1, but that’s not too far away, so aside from some last minute polishing, everyone is trying to get their rough cuts good enough for submission by the end of today.

  I’m involved with several films that will be submitting – films I produced or from clients and/or friends who wanted feedback, and I have many producer, sales agent and distributor friends who are doing the same thing.

  It’s insane. And then we all do it again for Sundance, and Berlin and Cannes and…. a few others. But there’s no getting around it – we can complain about premiere policies, but you gotta have a deadline somewhere and it will always be a mad rush alongside thousands of other films. For all the things that have changed in the film world, the deadline madness won’t go away, unless you decide to forgo festivals and just take your film out there (which some people do, even for big films). But in reality, these top festivals are definitely worth it for those lucky films that get accepted.

  So good luck to all of you out there who are submitting to a festival this week, and I hope your real final cuts are even better than the ones you are submitting today. I promise to have something fancier to write about next time, but for now, I have some more films to submit.

  WHAT I’M READING:

  FILM:

  Filmmakers Beware of Fake Film Festivals - and these are just two of many other scams out there.

   

  

  A team at Stanford has built a pretty simple tool to seamlessly edit what someone says in a video, by just using a text editor, opening the door to both easier editing of flubbed lines/missing dialogue, but also lots of crazy faked videos. While the accompanying video is very academic, it seems to work flawlessly and is pretty fascinating. Meanwhile, we’ve seen other versions of this being used for disinformation already - the fake Pelosi and fake Zuckerberg, but this tech makes it even easier.

  BRANDED CONTENT

  Branded Content Initiatives Help News Publishers Rake In Revenue, But Some Remain Wary – A new study shows strong profit margins on branded content, especially for smaller, local news brands. It’s part of a new initiative to help save journalism, and that seems like a reason to keep experimenting.

  

  Mailchimp is launching branded content. Mainly around small business and entrepreneurship. Welcome to the party. It’s crowded here. But they did pick some interesting folks to work with, so I am intrigued: director Jason Woliner (What We Do in the Shadows), writer Samin Nosrat (Salt Fat Acid Heat), actor Jay Duplass (Prospect), and actor/composer Big Boi (Someone Great).

  Instagram Lets Advertisers Promote Branded Content From Another Channel - Retailers can now create ads using organic posts from other channels that have branded content. So now you can pay an influencer to show your brand, or just find someone promoting you for free, and then create an ad from that content and promote it further. Weird, but interesting. This could be useful for film promotions too.

  11 Branded Content Innovators Who Take Marketing to the Next Level – Good list.

  Brands like HP and Apple try film to reach young consumers who skip commercials - More and more brands are discovering that it is both cheaper and more effective to create branded content documentaries over commercials. Everyone has posted to this LAT story, but it’s worth a read if you somehow missed it.

  Pop Culture Site Powering Through 4 Weeks Of Sponsored Posts For Movie Its Film Critic Called ‘Contemptible Trash’ Most important article of the week.

  Twitch is emerging as a favorite new platform for publishers – It’s collaborative, it allows direct links for sales and it seems to be working. Why? The engaged fans.

  VR/AR/AI

  What Black Mirror Striking Vipers gets wrong about VR - In essence, we’re much further away from the technology in the story than the episode would imply. But hey, it’s the only good episode this season, so let’s give them some credit for that.

  

  DARPA is now investing in brain-machine-interfaces (BMI) that doesn't require surgery - meaning brain control of artificial limbs or allowing "a single soldier to control swarms of AI-enabled drones with his or her mind." Or an actor to control a recreation of a deceased one for a new movie before long.

  OTHER

  Meeker Internet Report: Too Much Streaming, Not Enough Security - Venture capitalist Mary Meeker has this to say about the internet: the streaming bubble is going to pop. Her 300 slide reports are a must read every year, but this article gives you the ten bullet point takeaways if you’re in a rush.

  Apple Arcade is poised to make Apple the ‘art house’ gaming platform - and by doing so its choosing not to compete with the big gaming companies (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) and instead carve their own niche within the gaming world. Smart move, Apple.

  Can “Indie” Social Media Save Us? Let’s hope so, because I for one am done with the current crop. A good analysis of the IndieWeb – per the article: “Proponents of the IndieWeb offer a fairly straightforward analysis of our current social-media crisis. They frame it in terms of a single question: Who owns the servers? The bulk of our online activity takes places on servers owned by a small number of massive companies. Servers cost money to run. If you’re using a company’s servers without paying for the privilege, then that company must be finding other ways to “extract value” from you—and it’s that quest for large-scale value extraction, they argue, that leads directly to the crises of compromised privacy and engineered addictiveness with which we’re currently grappling.”

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