The 2020 Film Festival Database is live! Thanks to Michael Forstein for creating it. It's a super handy resource for filmmakers, production companies, brands making films - anyone who needs to submit projects to film festivals.
Michael is an independent filmmaker who made the first version of this database on his own because he needed it, and then he made it somewhat open-source for anyone to use for free. It's a labor of love, and while he now has a small group of sponsors paying him for some of his time (kudos to them), you can and should donate to the project if it's something you are going to use. My staff and I use this almost daily as we help our clients submit to festivals. For now, it's US centric - Michael hasn't had time to go in and list all of the international festivals, which would be a great addition, but hey, it's a volunteer effort from one guy!
Which brings me to the bigger question - why did it take one indie filmmaker getting off his butt to do this for free to make this happen? Where are all these supposed filmmaker service orgs when we need them? (The Film Fest Alliance and Seed & Spark are the only ones I see, and the latter is a for-profit). It's literally more useful than 90% of the non-grant programs that any film-nonprofit offers. It's a shame they haven't helped out and taken this under their wing. So my suggestion - send your org membership dues to Michael this year.
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Film
The Great Streaming Battle is Here, but how do you compare the services, and what's the real story on what consumers want? The WSJ has the answers, and one of the best breakdowns of the difference in each service's offerings. (possible paywall). And over at the NYT they have an interactive, six question quiz that tells you which services you need to see your favorite shows and movies, and how much it will cost you. Smart stuff. (I’m at $43 and 7 services, with no Netflix).
Only 159 documentaries qualified for the Academy Awards this year. Yep, that's right, 159. I couldn't watch them all if I tried.
 How Parasite became the most talked about foreign language film of 2019: The Guardian reports. The answer - Neon is a marketing master. Look no further than the Jessica Jingle and other memes.
Disney+ Added 10M subscribers in 24hrs - making it the fastest growing streaming service ever.
Should we break up the Disney Monopoly? - That's what Matt Stoller thinks. I don't agree with all of his arguments, but it's worth a read.
Viacom bucks direct-to-consumer streaming trend with new Netflix deal for Nickelodeon - With every corporation and brand racing to create their own streaming service to serve their individual IPs, Viacom is trailblazing their own path through their continued partnerships with Netflix. The streaming bubble will burst, but perhaps this is one way to hedge your bets.
And from the Onion on the James Dean CGI: ‘No, God, No!’ Screams Agonized James Dean Disappearing From Heaven As Filmmakers Finish Constructing CGI.
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Branded Content
Vudu Struggles to find an audience and a model - Digiday has the rundown on the issues facing Vudu, not least of which was having a WeWork office in LA, as opposed to a more seemingly permanent home.
How Buzzfeed has built a creators network for branded content - Buzzfeed is moving away from treating creators as commodities, but rather as collaborators. Really smart way to keep generating effective content while actually being a company that creatives want to work with (not work for).
Nike smartly uses TikTok to encourage Sports Activity - Nike noticed an issue with women in Milan not wanting to hear traditional “get active” messaging from brands, so they worked with social influencers and elite athletes for some fun collaborations, and it worked, with 100M views and over 600M readers about the program. Brands looking into how to use TikTok, here’s your case study.
Miscellany:
PBS has a new brand - not branded content, but actual brand logo-type and design. Bringing them from a “flip-phone to an iphone world,” as Fast Company reports.
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