Sony Pictures Animation - Marshall MBA Project 2017 Project Faculty: Violina Rindova

Project Description

Sony Pictures Animation was founded in 2002, and is a division of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. Our mission is to produce a wide variety of animated family entertainment for audiences around the world. The studio is best known for Surfs Up (which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Feature Film), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and the Hotel Transylvania franchise. We recently released The Emoji Movie and we are currently working on an inspirational film called The Star which releases in November 2017, Hotel Transylvania 3 which release in July 2018; and a Spider-Man animated feature which releases in December 2018.

The main focus of our efforts to date has been the production of feature length animated motion pictures for theatrical release. Because of the lengthy production process for animation, we generally release two motion pictures each year. But, our business is challenged in a variety of ways: overall theatrical motion picture attendance has been falling and DVD revenue is 50% of what it was ten years ago; our business is dominated by motion pictures from Disney, Pixar and Illumination which makes it difficult to find good, non-competitive release dates as well as compete against Disney and Universal’s ability to promote their movies across multiple outlets, including theme parks, cruise ships and retail stores; because of the decline of DVD’s, theatrical performance has become more important and motion pictures are much more dependent on favorable reviews to get people out of their houses; and, audience viewing patterns are shifting, especially to streaming and other formers of non-theatrical viewing.

In order to compete in the future and address the challenges and changes in our business, we must look towards other forms of content beyond theatrical motion pictures. Your task is to develop a plan for creating and distributing alternative content. The final deliverable should identify an alternative content format (i.e. shorts, television shows, virtual reality), a distribution channel (i.e. Netflix, Amazon, YouTube Red), a target demographic, an expected budget, pricing and other monetization strategies and return on investment.

While we are certainly aware of alternate forms of content and are currently developing them. including animated series, we are looking for your particular perspective as many of you will have families in the future. What types of animated content do you thing you’ll be watching with your families, how will you be watching it and how can we make sure it’s content from Sony Pictures Animation?

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Daily Schedule –SPA Project (Tu & Th 11:00am-12:20pm)

Session Topics Case Additional Readings #1 Tu, Oct 17 Project Kick-off SPA Readings on BB Jeff Korchek, Executive Vice President Business Affairs and Strategy at Sony Pictures Animation https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-korchek-15290b3/ Ryan McGee, Director of Production Finance at Sony Pictures Animation https://www.linkedin.com/in/rlmcgee/

#2 Th, Oct 19 Class session: Competing in Creative Industries Readings: Case: Music and the (Real) World: Thirty Years of 1. HBS Note: The MTV Creative Industries: Managing Products and Product Portfolios, HBS Case: Music and the (Real) World: Thirty Years of MTV

#3 Tu, Oct 24 Class session: The Changing Industry Landscape David Stern, Owner at Create Advertising https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-stern-7a57357a/

Team meetings with Professor Rindova 2-3 pm; 4-5 pm; Call with SPA: 3-4 pm (T 1, 2, 3) #4 Th, Oct 26 NO CLASS Industry Research (preparation for Emerging Business Models and Trends showcase) Call with SPA: 1-2 pm (T 4, 5, 6) #5 Tu, Oct 31 Class session: The Promise of Digital Technologies HBS Note: The Case: Hatsune Miku: Japanese Virtual Idol Ignites Creative Industries: Global Value Co-Creation The Promise of Digital Technologies Case: Hatsune Miku: Japanese Virtual Idol Ignites Global Value Call with SPA: 3-4 pm (T 1, 2, 3) Co-Creation #6 Th, Nov 2 Class session: Core Business Processes in Animation Case: MRC’s House Call with SPA: 1-2 pm (T 4, 5, 6) of Cards #7 Tu, Nov 7 Mid-term Proposal Review with Jeff Korchek and Ryan McGee 1-4 pm, 30-min slots (T1-6) #9 Th, Nov 9 Class session: Emerging Business Models and Trends in the Creative Industries 10-min team presentations (T 1-6) #10,Tu Nov 14 Team meetings with Professor Rindova 1-3 pm Call with SPA: 3-4 pm (T 1, 2, 3) #11, Th Nov 16 Call with SPA: 11–12 pm (T 4, 5, 6) #12 Tu, Nov 21 Call with SPA: 2-4 pm (T1-6) #13 Tu Nov 28 Team meetings with Professor Rindova 11-1 pm 2

#14 Tu, Dec 5 9:30am – 12:30 pm Practice Presentations (30 min slots, attend only your own presentation) (T1-6) #15 Tu, Dec 12 9:30am- 12:30 pm Final presentations (at SPA lot, no pre-ordered slots) (T1-6)

Readings: 1. HBS: The Creative Industries: Managing Products and Product Portfolios 2. HBS Note: The Creative Industries: The Promise of Digital Technologies 3. IESE Note: The Impact of Digital Technologies on the Paid Content Market: Examining the Netflix Paradigm Cases: 1. Music and the (Real) World: Thirty Years of MTV 2. Hatsune Miku: Japanese Virtual Idol Ignites Global Value Co-Creation 3. MRC‘s House of Cards

Additional articles may be posted to Blackboard.

CONTACTS: Jeff Korchek, Executive Vice President Business Affairs and Strategy at Sony Pictures Animation, [email protected]; Ryan McGee, Director of Production Finance at Sony Pictures Animation, [email protected]

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