May 26, 2022
Guillermo del Toro showed up at Cannes this week to lead a symposium called “Filmmaking: What Now?”about the future of the art form, where he claimed what we currently have is “unsustainable,” which was widely reported on by the trades. They also covered the fact that day one of this symposium on the future was populated only by men (day two was a little better), and consisted of a bunch of arguments for how great theaters are for movies. What wasn’t covered nearly as much was the part where del Toro and Gasper Noé discussed their pandemic view-a-thon to watch every classic film they’d ever missed, and how they had to turn to piracy to make it work. When it was mentioned, the trades added in items like “This part of the conversation made (Cannes head) Frémaux visibly uncomfortable” as The Wrap parenthetically noted just to be safe.
I can’t think of cuter stories from the film world than Noé and del Toro comparing notes on classic cinema – that’s one I wish were recorded, but the fact that they had to pirate some of these masterpieces – and mentioned it on a stage at Cannes, the temple of cinema, was just too sweet. No one wants to discuss the fact that we have millions of hours of stuff to watch, but we’re still missing a ton of important film history… because the model is broken and unsustainable. That the entire film streaming system is so broken that two auteurs must turn to pirate sites to find what they want – something nearly everyone else does for multiple reasons. It's not because they want to steal… as has been said many times here and elsewhere, piracy is a sign of a broken business model, not of broken morals.
A broken business model. Where the wrong stuff is easier to find than the good stuff. Where it’s nearly impossible to find anything you want to watch (compare this to TikTok, where you can’t stop watching if you try). Where much of film history doesn't get streamed because, well, not enough people seem to watch it. Where the UX design is so bad that people point to pirate sites as models for how to build a better system (but again, look to TikTok for a better model). Where you often still have to wait 90 days or more for your favorite movie to show up, or if it does, it's for the same outrageous price whether it's a big hit or a risky bet like an obscure indie film. Where we’ve recreated the formerly worst business model in the world – the cable bundle – by forcing people to subscribe to a gazillion services if they want to see everything they want to watch – but have to find it in the middle of a bunch of crap they don’t want. Where teens and college kids have to share their family’s plan because they can’t possibly afford all of this stuff, if they even have a credit card. And let’s not forget that whether they pay for it in cash or not, they certainly pay for it with their lost attention as they scroll through mediocre algorithmic systems trying to find what they want.
Or they pay for it by being forced to watch ads – another shitty business model, and another primary motivator for cord cutting with everyone I’ve ever met. Sure, people make a shit ton of money from ads- while catching a lot of covid while selling the advertisers space at the Upfronts, and it has kept the media business going for decades. But… no one wants to watch that stuff. It is a tax on people who can’t afford to watch without the ads, or who don’t have the option (when an ad-free experience isn’t offered). And it always leads to the search for more and more eyeballs, which means dumbing down the quality to where you end up with not much more than soaps, sports or (un)reality tv. That’s not to belittle those eyeballs – who can blame the masses for wanting a narcotic at the end of a long day? Especially if you must put up with constant advertising breaks just to see someone do a song and dance.
Which is what makes it so disconcerting that Reed Hastings came up with these two “solutions” to the Netflix woes recently – cracking down on password sharing (piracy) and adding some interruptive magic to the system (ads) – instead of focusing on quality – in what’s being made and shown, or in how it is served up to you (the algorithm, or the UX). I’ve been a Netflix believer up until that day, and I’ll still buy their stock once it drops a little lower, but boy was that a buzzkill for anyone thinking the services had some smart folks running the show.
But I know what streamer I’ll pay top dollar for – or just pirate – once Netflix and the others have finished racing to the bottom – the NoéDelToro Classic Movie MST3K Channel! Now that would be some curation for you. I’m only half-joking, because if I had 5-10 of those channels, I’d have me a bundle I might pay for, and I bet others would, too.
|
|
Film
Intern Exploitation Program at AmPav in Cannes: In quite the news scoop, Stephen Follows (who writes a popular data focused newsletter for the industry, and is a friend) interviews a ton of interns at the American Pavilion at Cannes and finds out - they're paying a ton of money to get not much relevant experience. It sounds like a shit-show, to be honest. It's all the more surprising because AmPav is a) a for-profit endeavor that charges attendees (other pavilions are not set up this way), and b) it's owned by Penske Media Corp. which also owns Deadline, Variety, IndieWire, a big stake in SXSW and many other businesses. Some people won't be surprised by this - there have been rumors of such stuff before, and SXSW isn't exactly known as a hotbed of progressive labor standards either - but it's just one more example of the bad ways we apparently treat people trying to break into this industry. Stephen has actual quotes from many attendees, which are worth reading in full. He admits this is not a completely finished journalistic piece and he'll be doing more investigating, so the same caveat here- but who will? Hard to imagine that the trades owned by the same company can dig much further or that any mainstream media "" will bother. More on this soon, I am sure. Read it here.(BN)
In Iran, a New Wave of Repression hits Filmmakers: Even as Iranian cinema is celebrated at Cannes, news from the NYT this week shows that many filmmakers in Iran, especially documentary filmmakers are being arrested, censored and repressed. "Experts called it the largest crackdown on Iran’s cinema industry in recent years." Read more in the NYT. (BN)
The Running Total of Netflix's losses: Tony Maglio at Indiewire has a nice summary of the running looses at Netflix since its "devastating" quarterly call. These include (as of the writing of his piece): subscribers; -47% on the stock price; -$68B on their market cap; 150 staffers; many projects and a lot of prestige. Never count them out, even if the trade press loves to, but it's a sobering account. (BN)
Call for Indie "Bill of Rights" For Preservation & Access: Sandra Schulberg (a producer and founder of the IFP, now Gothams, among other things), the head of IndieCollect (I was a founding board member) addressed an audience at Cannes this week and proclaimed a crisis in independent film preservation, digitization and access. According to Filmmaker Magazine, she remarked: "We are in a crisis. We are playing a game of musical chairs and the music is about to stop. Soon there will be no place to safely store all the celluloid that our generation is leaving behind — let alone enough money and skilled labor to digitally restore the finished films." Read the rest of what she said, and the strikingly simple Bill of Rights she has proposed at the link. (BN)
|
|
Branded Content
REI Co-Op Studios News: Hot off the presses, Sub-Genre client REI Co-Op Studios has announced its support of the upcoming documentary on the Full Circle team's ascent of Everest - this is the first all-Black climbing team to summit Everest, which was just completed. Rolake Bamgbose and Justice A. Whitaker direct. Deadline has the news.
TikTok’s new ad product gives creators a chance to partner with marketers on branded content: New in social media, the creator economy, and branded content: “Advertisers can crowdsource content from creators and turn top-performing videos into ads.” How? Through ‘Branded Missions’. “Brands can develop a brief and release it to the creator community encouraging them to participate in Branded Missions…. On each Branded Mission page, creators will be able to view how much money they have the potential to earn if their video is selected”, explains Aisha Malike for TechCrunch. The opportunity is available to creators over the age of 18 with at least 1k followers. The takeaways: (1) ‘Branded Missions’ is another major step in establishing the very new creator economy; (2) This is a cheap way for Brands to get (almost) free marketing; (3) Employing (likely Gen-Z) creators to do their marketing for them may help Brands stay or become relevant/trendy/desirable. (4) Perhaps most importantly, will ‘Branded Missions’ help smaller creators grow or will brands favor the videos made by larger creators (and maybe even sacrifice quality of content)? (GSH)
Rithy Panh Further Explains His Resignation As Jury President Of Cannes’ TikTok Competition: It’s come to light that the Cannes Film Festival censors interviews with festival head Thierry Frémaux — Cannes “has been removing content including potentially uncomfortable answers from Frémaux relating to diversity and controversial filmmakers”, among other things (learn more here). But journalistic independence is not the only concern at Cannes. Jury independence is also under threat. “The celebrated arthouse filmmaker Rithy Panh resigned [a few] days ago from his role as president of the jury for the festival’s inaugural TikTok short film competition, citing “a persistent disagreement over the independence and sovereignty of the jury”, explains Andreas Wiseman for Deadline. For those of you who don’t know, TikTok became an official partner of Cannes this year, and according to Panh, the social media (and marketing) platform was giving too many “suggestions” on who should win prizes. Of note, these suggested winners were often bigger creators who put out the least “politicized” works. “The difficulty is that TikTok is a marketing-focused company and fails to understand creators and their independence”, Panh explained after stepping down. Though it looks like TikTok has decided to back off and respect the jury as just a few days later after his resignation, Panh stepped back up and rejoined! (GSH)
How a More Equitable Creator Economy Can Benefit Brands: The majority of brand dollars go to the top 1% of creators. This is a real problem for “the little guy” (aka most creators). So, how can brands create a more equitable, diverse, and thriving creator economy? This is the question that Alex Morrison, CMO at Pearpop, Alexis Ohanian, founder of Seven Seven Six, and Instagram and TikTok creator Kaila Novak discuss in an Adweek panel. Part of the problem is that there’s just too much risk, not to mention paperwork for brands to want to diversify their portfolio, so to speak. In other words, it’s easier for brands to consistently work with 10 creators, rather than 200 new ones. The panelists believe that in the near future, “brands will rely on software and other tools to serve as matchmaking devices to find the right creators because it's unlikely the top 12% [of creators] will be the exact authentic fit for every brand.” The takeaway: The system is a bit broken now… or at least it hasn’t been built yet (after all, the creator economy wasn’t even a term just 2 years ago). Brands, app developers, creators, need to create a system that quickly and easily connects a vast spectrum of creators with Brands in a way that’s low-risk for Brands and beneficial for creators. And to this latter point, 3 keys to keeping creators happy through branded content are (1) pay them! (2) help them grow their audience base, and most importantly (3) give them creative control. Kaila Novak says “The biggest thing I look for when a brand reaches out to me is how much creative freedom they’re giving me… If they want me to hit five speaking points in a 30-second video, that’s hard. That’s going to look just like an ad, and people don’t want to see ads on TikTok. They want to see authentic content.” Alexandra Bower for Adweek has the piece. (GSH)
NBCUniversal and Target Scene in Color Film Series Returns This Summer: Last summer saw the creation of The Scene in Color Film Series, the result of a partnership between NBCUniversal, Target, and producer Will Packer. The series aims the spotlight at the work of rising BIPOC filmmakers and provides them with mentorship and work opportunities with NBCU creative executives. The Scene in Color Film Series returns this June, featuring the work of Tayo Amos, Jane Chow, and Josh Leong. Check out the NBC press release for more info on the series! (GSH)
|
|
Miscellany:
We (skim)read Meta’s metaverse manifesto so you don’t have to…: Former deputy prime minister of the U.K., now Meta’s president of global affairs recently published a manifesto to promo the metaverse. Natasha Loma for Tech Crunch summarizes his words for us, and make sure to check out the ‘Clegg Word Cloud’ for an interesting (and enigmatic) visual of Zuckerberg’s Metaverse: Here’re the key points:
- While the word cloud does include words like “privacy” it does not include the words “tracking” and “profiling”, which we can only assume is how Meta will make its money in XR, adding to the uncertainty surrounding how private/protected our experiences in the metaverse will actually be.
- “The metaverse will create new digital divides — given those who can afford the best hardware will get the most immersive experience”
- “There won’t be ‘a’ or ‘the metaverse’.... There will be “metaverse spaces” across different devices.”
- “A lack of interoperability/playing nice between any commercial entities that build “metaverse experiences” could fatally fragment the seamless connectivity Meta is so keen on”
- “It’s going to take at least 10-15 years for anything resembling Meta’s idea of connected metaverse/s to be built” (GSH)
 The US Military Is Building Its Own Metaverse: The basic building blocks for Zuckerberg’s vision of the Metaverse — augmented and virtual reality/environments, are already found and employed by the US military and found in other areas of the defense world (defense startups, contractors…etc). These key building blocks (AI, VR, AR, graphics technologies….etc) are already used to help“ fighter pilots to practice dogfighting against virtual opponents, including Chinese and Russian warplanes, while pulling several Gs.” Simulations controlled by AI or individuals like these allow testers to train against any range of threats in a controlled, virtual setting. Other metaverse-ready technologies are already used in combat, like the high-tech helmet for the F35 fighter jet, which has an AR display (with telemetry data and other info) overlaid on top of video footage surrounding the aircraft. While VR and AR use and training have become fairly commonplace in the US Navy and Airforce, the US military has begun to experiment with connecting and combining virtual worlds. Sound familiar? One company called Improbable created virtual battlefields that hosted over 10,000 individually controlled characters for the UK’s military wargames. Takeaways are as follows: How much of this technology will make it to the front line? How long will it be until soldiers’ experience on the battlefield feels like just another video game (think Endor’s Game)? And will a military metaverse take off before the ‘civilian metaverse’? Will Knight for Wired has the news. (GSH)
GSH = Articles written by Sub-Genre's Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman, not Brian Newman (BN)
|
|
|
Like This Newsletter? Subscribe & Past Issues
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
