 This is NIMBLE COLLECTIVE's fabulous logo. Love it! January is already shaping up to be an extraordinary month with new technical developments in animation production, a host of great movies set for 2016 release and groundbreaking initiatives coming out of WOMEN IN ANIMATION that will pull more women into the industry than ever before. Let's start with TECH! I had the fabulous opportunity to spend quite a long time with the folks over at NIMBLE COLLECTIVE in Mountain View, CA late last week, getting a close up look at their technology platform vision and their awesome plans for supporting the creation of new stories. For those who don't know about the work of NIMBLE, here's a link to their site. Stay on top of what's coming out of this studio because they are openly using the phrase, "DISRUPT"! Aiming to lower the technology bar for new and upcoming animation teams, this firm plans to remove barriers to collaboration and technology through new ways to use the cloud and pipeline methods. Keep your eye on this firm which is pre-IPO with $ 1.0m in seed funding in 2015. http://www.nimblecollective.com/ Palo Alto, CA and Orlando, FL (May 12, 2015)--Nimble Collective, a wildly creative startup led by Academy Award- winning animators and technology entrepreneurs, today announced its formation to focus on revolutionizing the $90 billion worldwide animation content market. With an initial $1 million in seed funding, Nimble Collective is developing the industry’s first cloud-based, end-to-end platform and world’s largest online animation community to serve an estimated 10 million professional and aspiring animators around the globe.  Next up my favorite - WOMEN IN ANIMATION! Last night I attended the student committee chapter meeting for the LA chapter of Women in Animation. Great plans are afoot and you can check out this year's action line up at: http://www.womeninanimation.org/ WIA recently announced an industry initiative to achieve 50% gender parity in the animation industry. I can't think of a better way to spend my time than educating girls about animation, and working to achieve this goal. On that, I've been selected as the student chapter global lead and will be opening student chapters for Women in Animation in cities around the world. If you are not a member, dues are not expensive and the rewards and networking opportunities are way high. Stay tuned for more excitement and Happy 2016! Hello January readers! I get asked a whole lot of questions about how digital media distribution works, about the international licensing market, how to monetize music and animation, how royalties work and what international licensing is really all about, including government regulations, how to deal with piracy and how international ADR works. I've been putting together a pretty complete "How to" tutorial but for now it's only available to the group of folks I work for as a consultant. In the meanwhile, to share this valuable and important knowledge, I'll start to post items here that help share knowledge and educate as I write new research that's not been created as part of a for hire contract. To start, below is a nice article from the folks at IndieWire that may be of interest to anyone wanting to monetizing their content in the digital sphere. There are many pitfalls to avoid and I'll start posting about those as well as guides to building an audience and reaching your core target market. For now...Enjoy this reprint. -J Reprinted from: IndieWire: http://www.indiewire.com/article/what_the_hell_is_digital_distribution_heres_eight_core_ideas_you_must_under
What the Hell is Digital Distribution? Here's 7 Core Ideas You Must Understand You get it: Digital distribution is the future and the future is now. What you probably don't get is exactly what that means, because… well, no one understands it. Not entirely, not yet. Too many players, too many moving parts, too much in flux. However, there are a few ideas -- seven, to be exact -- that you can act on now. 1. CARVE OUT DIY DIGITAL. Distributors and Foreign sales companies often want all rights, including all digital distribution rights. No matter what, you must carve out the ability to do DIY digital distribution (services include EggUp, Distrify, Dynamo Player and TopSpin) whether off your own site, off your Facebook page or directly to platforms. Platforms and services can almost always geofilter, which eliminates conflict with territories where the film has been sold to a traditional distributor. Often, distributors don't mind that a filmmaker also sells directly to fans, in any case. 2. PLATFORMS ≠ AGGREGATORS ≠ DISTRIBUTORS. Here's the most basic definitions: Platforms are places people go to watch or buy films; aggregators are conduits between filmmakers/distributors and platforms; distributors usually take more rights for longer terms. And some companies combine more than one of these functions. Aggregators usually focus more on converting files for, and supplying metadata to, platforms. They usually don't need rights for a long term and only take limited rights they need to do the job. Marketing is rarely a strong suit or focus for an aggregator. A distributor should be skilled at marketing -- otherwise, what's the point? Sometimes distributors are direct to platforms; sometimes they go through aggregators. Know the difference; fees are taken out every time there is a middleman. Filmmakers should want to know the fee the platform takes (it's not the same for all content providers) and know if a distributor is direct with platforms or goes through an aggregator. Also, filmmakers should have an understanding what each middleman is doing to justify the fee. Ask for a description in writing of what activities will be performed. 3. THINK OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS AS STORES. A film should try to be available everywhere. However, sometimes that's too costly or otherwise impossible. When that's the case, prioritize according to where the film’s audience consumes media. Back in the DVD days, you'd want a DVD of an indie film in big chains such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video -- but a cool, award-winning indie would do well in a 20/20 or Kim's Video because those outlets target a core audience. Same with digital. While many filmmakers want to see their films on Cable VOD, some films just don’t work well there. Some films make most of their money via Netflix and won't do a lick on business on Comcast. Others do well on iTunes; some do business via Hulu or SnagFilms. Know your film and its audience's habits. If money or access is an issue, be strategic in picking your “stores” and make your film available where it's most likely to perform. It may not be in Walmart's digital store or Best Buy's. Above all, if you have a community (followers, a brand), your site(s) and networks may be your best platform stores of all. 4. KNOW YOUR CABLE VOD LISTINGS. It's hard to get films marketed well on Cable VOD platforms. Often metadata isn’t entered, or entered incorrectly -- and it's nearly impossible to fix after it goes live. Oversee the metatags submitted for your film and check immediately upon release. Also, since genre/category folders and trailer promotion are not always an option, films with names starting in early letters of the alphabet (A-G) or numbers can perform better. That said, there's a glut of folks trying that now and cable operators are getting wise to the ploy. All the more reason to focus on marketing your title so audiences look for it. 5. HAVE GOOD ART THAT WORKS SMALL. For God's sake, take good photos. And compose the images with an eye toward the fact that it won't be on a poster; it will be on a computer screen. Look at your key art as a thumbnail image and make sure it is still clearly identifiable. 6. TIMING IS EVERYTHING. If accessing Cable VOD is part of your plan, digital distribution often has to be done in a certain order,. Sometimes Cable VOD is not an option for a film (films often need a strong theatrical run before they can access it); in this case, the order of digital is more flexible and you can be creative or experiment with timing and different types of digital. However, Cable VOD's percentage share of digital distribution revenues is still around 70% (it used to be nearer to 80%), so if it's an option for your film it's probably worth doing. If your film is in the digital distribution window before Cable VOD, that will eliminate or at least dramatically diminish the potential that cable, or even an intermediate aggregator, will accept it. There is more flexibility with transactional services and much less flexibility with YouTube, or subscription or ad-supported services. Films that opt to be part of the YouTube/Sundance rental channel initiative could not get onto Cable VOD afterward. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but better to plan ahead than be disappointed. 7. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DEFINITIONS. There is no standard yet for definitions of digital rights. IFTA (formerly known as AFMA) has its rights definitions and for that organization’s signatories, there's a standard. But many distributors use their own contracts with a range of definitions that aren't uniform. When analyzing distribution options, be aware that terms such as VOD can mean different things to different people and include more or fewer distribution rights and govern more or fewer platforms. Consider VOD. IFTA describes it as a PayPerView Right (Demand View Right) and limit it to: “transmission by means of encoded signal for television reception in homes and similar living spaces where a charge is made to the viewer for the rights to use a decoding device to view the Motion Picture at a time selected by the viewer for each viewing”. However in some contracts, it’s defined as “Video-on-Demand Rights,” which is a lot more complicated and all encompassing. Here's one sample: a function or service distributed and/or made available to a viewer by any and all means of transmission, telecommunication, and/or network system(s) whether now known or hereafter devised (including, without limitation, television, cable, satellite, wire, fiber, radio communication signal, internet, intranet, or other means of electronic delivery and whether employing analogue and/or digital technologies and whether encrypted or encoded) whereby the viewer is using information storage, retrieval and management techniques capable of accessing, selecting, downloading (whether temporarily or permanently) and viewing programming whether on a per program/movie basis or as a package of programs/movies) at a time selected by the viewer, in his/her discretion whether or not the transmission is scheduled by the operator(s)/provider(s), and whether or not a fee is paid by the viewer for such function/service to view on the screen of a television receiver, computer, handheld device or other receiving device (fixed or mobile) of any type whether now known or hereafter devised. Video-on-Demand includes without limitation Near VOD (“NVOD”,) Subscription Video-on-Demand (“SVOD”,) “Download to burn”, “Download to Own”, “Electronic Sell Through” and “Electronic Rental.”Yeah. This is why lawyers have such nice summer houses. Here's some simpler questions to start: Ask if a definition of VOD or another type of digital right includes “SVOD” (Subscription Video on Demand) and includes subscription services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. If a contract notes a distributor has purchased “VOD Rights” but does not define them, or defines them broadly, then do they have mobile device distribution rights as well? “Video-on-Demand” sometimes only refers to Cable Video on Demand; other times, it's more general. In a “TV Everywhere” (and hence film everywhere) multi-platform all-device playable universe, the content creator needs to know. Know what you want for and can do for your film in terms of distribution and carve it up and spell it out. This is an edited excerpt from "Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul, which was written by The Film Collaborative co-executive directors Orly Ravid and Jeffrey Winter in association with filmmaker/author Jon Reiss (“Think Outside The Box Office”) and Sheri Candler. It's available via Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and ePub. It's supported by premiere sponsor Prescreen and official sponsor Dynamo Player. Prescreen and Area23a co-sponsored the book's printed edition. |
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