Content Rules All Screens
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® A PUBLICATION OF BRUNICO COMMUNICATIONS LTD. SUMMER 2013 PRODUCERS HONE DIGITAL STRATEGIES INDIE SURVEY SAYS... SPENDING RISING CONTENT RULES ALL SCREENS ALSO: EQUITY CROWDFUNDING | MUSE TURNS 15 | FILM SELF-DISTRIBUTION | PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PPB.Cover.summer13.inddB.Cover.summer13.indd 3 114/05/134/05/13 55:33:33 PPMM PPB.23305.StudioUpstairs.inddB.23305.StudioUpstairs.indd 1 113-05-133-05-13 33:30:30 PPMM SUMMER 2013 table of contents Canadian director Ken Girotti (left) sets up a shot with the crew during the shooting of Vikings, a coproduction involving Toronto’s Take 5 and Ireland’s Octagon Films. For more on how Canadian indie producers are making copros work with international partners, see page 23. 9 Up front 23 Playback Indie List 43 Muse at 15 Format trends, Mike Holmes’ brand Our annual survey of independent The Montreal-based, family-run at 10, industry execs turn a page to fi lm and TV production prodco on its growth and new ventures, prop printing, strategic partnerships guerrilla distribution 32 Education evolution How academic institutions and 50 The Back Page 16 Digital disruption training programs are adapting Web series writers Mark De Angelis, Canucks catch the wave to equip the industry’s next generation Naomi Snieckus and Amy Matysio’s no-fail tips for online glory. 18 Changing the stakes 40 Unions and Guilds How crowdfunding for equity stakes The industry’s professional bodies could open doors for new fi lm and are evolving to keep up with the TV fi nanciers demands on their members ® A PUBLICATION OF BRUNICO COMMUNICATIONS LTD. SUMMER 2013 The cover of the summer issue features the work of illustrator PRODUCERS HONE DIGITAL Gary Taxali. An award-winning Toronto-based artist, his work has STRATEGIES been shown in exhibits across Canada and the U.S.; his designs INDIE SURVEY SAYS... SPENDING RISING have even been featured in special edition coins issued by the CONTENT RULES ALL SCREENS ALSO: EQUITY CROWDFUNDING | MUSE TURNS 15 | FILM SELF-DISTRIBUTION | PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PB.Cover.summer13.indd 3 14/05/13 5:33 PM Canadian Mint. summer 2013 | 3 PPB.TOC.2013.inddB.TOC.2013.indd 3 114/05/134/05/13 88:26:26 PPMM PUBLISHER Mary Maddever • [email protected] EDITOR Matt Sylvain • [email protected] NEWS EDITOR Danielle Ng-See-Quan • [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS FACING CHANGE Mirella Christou, Mark Dillon, Etan Vlessing BRUNICO CREATIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR HEAD ON Stephen Stanley • [email protected] What a difference a year can make. ART DIRECTOR At the inaugural Playback Summit in April last year futurologist Alexander Manu, in his keynote Mark Lacoursiere • [email protected] presentation, used a word cloud based on key terms in news items published at Playbackonline. PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION SUPERVISOR ca to demonstrate that the Canadian screen-entertainment industry was behind the curve when it Robert Lines • [email protected] came to the movement of audiences to online and mobile video experiences. Far from beating up Playback for missing major business stories, Manu, senior partner and chief imaginator at Toronto’s ADVERTISING SALES InnoSpa International Partners, argued the point that sectoral rivals, in the form of Facebook, Twitter, (416) 408-2300 and YouTube, were winning audiences with their content. FAX (416) 408-0870 I wager that if Manu constructed a word cloud based on Playbackonline.ca news stories this 1-888-278-6426 spring he would fi nd the domestic industry has caught up to that curve. Indeed barely a day goes ADVERTISING EXEC by – and certainly not a week goes by – that we don’t run a story that a company has pacted with Jessamyn Nunez • [email protected] a digital platform or distribution service, launched an app or interactive second-screen experience; MARKETING CO-ORDINATOR or that industry veterans are evolving their companies or moving on to spearhead digital-specifi c Vakis Boutsalis • [email protected] ventures. As well, thanks to our site’s analytics functions, I can say that those stories are being read closely and Tweeted widely. You, the industry, are hungrily watching these developments. BRUNICO AUDIENCE SERVICES The change is happening quickly. I’ll be the fi rst to admit the rate at which the industry status quo ASSISTANT MANAGER is being upset is breathtaking. I hesitate to say revolutionary, as I’m old enough to remember that Christine McNalley • [email protected] term’s overuse in the 1990s tech boom and to also fi nd it more than a little unsettling. It makes me MANAGER think of things like the revolutions in France and Russia: neither ended very well for most people Deborah Brewster • [email protected] involved, whereas I am optimistic that this wave of change will be less bloody. The core experience today, when it comes to consuming fi lms and TV and online content, is the ADMINISTRATION centrality of the audience. OK, that’s not new. But what is new is the dawning realization of what’s PRESIDENT AND CEO known as the sharing economy. In the May issue of Wired magazine, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg discussed the sharing Russell Goldstein • [email protected] economy, indeed an economy which Facebook has helped bring about and remains the business’s VP AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER core offering. Zuckerberg noted that at fi rst people shared information online in that lowly form – Omri Tintpulver • [email protected] words. Then, a few years later, in large part because iPhones came equipped with pretty good still VP AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR cameras, came photo sharing. The next part of the trend is audio and video fi les. He predicts that Mary Maddever • [email protected] “three years from now, people are going to be sharing eight to 10 times as much stuff. We’d better VP ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE be there, because if we’re not, some other service will be.” Linda Lovegrove • [email protected] When I read these words recently, I immediately thought of the Canadian indie production sector. VP & PUBLISHER, REALSCREEN As the results of the 2012 indie production survey illuminate, starting on page 23, domestic Claire Macdonald • [email protected] prodcos are more than ever before thinking internationally and digitally. This year, for the fi rst time, VP & PUBLISHER, KIDSCREEN Playback asked questions on the survey specifi cally focused on digital productions and strategies. Jocelyn Christie • [email protected] While I don’t want to spoil the experience of fl ipping to the section, I will say this: You are facing the change head on. Matt Sylvain Playback is published by Brunico Communications Ltd., Editor, Playback 366 Adelaide Street West, Suite 100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 1R9 (416) 408-2300; FAX: (416) 408-0870 Internet address: www.playbackonline.ca Editorial e-mail: [email protected] Sales e-mail: [email protected] Sales FAX: (416) 408-0870 © 2011 Brunico Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. Postmaster Notifi cation Canadian Postmaster, send undeliverables and address changes to: Playback PO BOX 369 Beeton ON, L0G 1A0 U.S. Postmaster, send undeliverables and address changes to: Playback PO BOX 1103, Niagara Falls NY, 14304 [email protected] Canada Post Agreement No. 40050265. ISSN: 0836-2114 Printed in Canada. 4 summer 2013 | playbackonline.ca PPB.Editorial.inddB.Editorial.indd 4 114/05/134/05/13 88:28:28 PPMM PPB.23232.NBCarchives.inddB.23232.NBCarchives.indd 1 113-05-133-05-13 33:31:31 PPMM What’s now. The throne game What’s Being king isn’t easy, as anyone addicted to Game of Thrones can attest. next. Seems “content is king” was coined in the midst of turmoil, almost as a mantra to comfort and reassure producers Playback magazine and of content’s resilient value through media distribution uprisings – from specialties, satellite and internet audience thinning, to OTT and a cloud-full of streaming interlopers. playbackonline.ca cover With each new gamechanger, budgets are challenged and platforms lose clout. But somehow, despite more clutter the whole industry, during the intervening decades than the 500-channel-fearing industry ever imagined, content has regained its watercooler status. From Game of Thrones to The Walking Dead, there is still appointment viewing (whether that from breaking news to appointment is on network time or stream time). Yet every hit and each new distribution opportunity escalates the battle for audience – the oxygen of renewal. So in-depth features. while content is still king, the number of wild cards in the deck (like full seasons of new series such as House of Cards on Netflix randomly vying for time, scheduling be damned), mean fewer are choosing to go alone. While the model hasn’t tipped yet, with the growth of alt upfronts vying for advertisers’ media dollars, the Stay in the loop. changing viewing patterns of a streaming audience, and brands’ focus on their own content agenda, Canada’s producers and broadcasters are shifting gears faster. More producers are talking about their SVOD strategy and Every day. All year. there’s more network focus on digital audiences, and more new partners, as this issue shows. At the recent BCON Expo Playback and strategy put on, keynoter Xavier Kochhar talked about how important it For only $12 is to have more connections and to build relationships beyond your industry – saying that you need to take every meeting now, as you never know where the next hit or big social platform will come from. Kochhar, the SVP and a month. managing partner at Los Angeles-based advisory firm MediaLink, also spoke about the appetite and opportunity for “delicate branding” as content producers, media companies and marketers evolve their collaboration to leverage each other’s resources and reach audiences in this hypercompetitive mediascape.