By Roger Jackson
Previously: Countdown to Launch
Comparison Shopping
Last week I had a discussion with a Netflix executive that convinced me of the importance of online VoD guides. Sites like Can I Stream It in the US, and Find Any Film in the UK. Netflix see them as a huge threat, since these sites make it super easy to discover which video-on-demand platforms have the film you want to watch. And which ones don’t. The reality is that Netflix don’t have most films. Here’s an example: “Bella” is one of my favorite films. Click here, scroll to the third film, and click Availability. All the major VoD outlets have it — except Netflix. But Netflix do have the physical DVD. So why can’t you stream it from them also? Maybe they haven’t got around to it. Or maybe the distributor (Roadside Attractions) think that if it’s streaming on Netflix or Amazon Prime (subscription services) it’ll cannibalize their VoD sales on Vudu, iTunes, Amazon, etc. And maybe they’re right, but there’s little data to support that. On all these platforms, note the divergent prices. Now let’s look at “Bella” in the UK via Find Any Film. It’s only available on iTunes. None of the UK video-on-demand outlets have it — LOVEFiLM, Blinkbox, Virgin, Sky, HMV. Why not? Probably because it’s so bloody difficult, expensive and slow to get films on to VoD platforms. So perhaps Roadside Attractions just hasn’t bothered.
London Calling
The opportunity to make it simple to distribute to VoD — painless and with no upfront cost — is huge. And that’s what we’re building with KinoNation. I’m going to London in May to convince the UK outlets to sign with us. Meaning they will get access to our online dashboard, showing all the films we have available. Then they select those they want, and we automatically deliver them from our cloud-based system. More countries to follow, but the UK is the biggest market after North America, so it’s the obvious first stop. Meanwhile I’ve started talking to Can I Stream It and Find Any Film. Not sure what a deal will look like — if there’s even a deal to be made — but at the very least I want to make sure all films submitted to KinoNation are listed on those sites.
Trust & Integrity
Last night I was inspired by an article in Inc. magazine about the CEO of a high growth company. She talked about the early days of her company, and how “…what you sell in the first place is not a product, it’s a service and relationship, and trust is a critical component.” That’s exactly our philosophy. We realise this venture is all about trust and relationships. Many filmmakers we talk to have been ripped-off by distributors, sales agents, etc. We’re building this venture for the long term, and so integrity & reputation need to be core values. A few months ago I felt like I knew every filmmaker and every film that was submitted. Now we have close to 150 films, so it’s getting tougher. This time next year we expect to have close to 1000 films. But it will always be about personal relationships. We love talking to filmmakers. It’s a nice break from negotiating deal or writing code. So don’t hesitate to email me and we can chat online or set up a call.
Artist to Entrepreneur
Ted has invited us to be one of several Technology Partner at the 4 day Artist to Entrepreneur (A2E) workshop at the San Francisco Film Festival, in early May. I’ll be advising the producers of twelve films — talking about VoD options, how to get their film on multiple outlets and, most important, how to make them stand out from the pack and get watched. Essentially, how to be a filmmaker-entrepreneur. What should I cover? I’d welcome your thoughts. My plan is to walk through a series of essential Jobs:
Job #1: Sell — convincing the VoD outlet to say yes — pitching press reviews, IMDb ratings, trailer views, festival accomplishments. KinoNation makes this pretty easy via our metadata pages.
Job #2: Up-Sell — impressing the outlet so much they’ll promote your film, not just take it and bury it. Again, we help filmmakers with this, but we can only do this when we have material that will impress. This is the entrepreneur part.
Job #3: Why Buy? — now you’re live on the VoD outlet — how will your film convince the audience to buy? Great poster, title, tagline, synopsis, etc.
Job #4: Pitfalls — avoiding mistakes that will cause viewers to bail and move on, particularly when they’re on an ad-supported outlet like Hulu. That means no pre-roll crap. 30 seconds of “A Roger Jackson Production”…”In Association with Speedball Films” is a good way to lose 50% of your hard won audience. You need to cut to the chase. VoD is different from theatrical. The first frame of the film needs to grab the viewer and never let go. Lose the ego-trip stuff. They don’t care about you or your name or your production company.
Job #5: Ad Breaks — some of the VoD outlets will pay you via advertising. Most let you choose the time-code points for the 30 second ad breaks. Take great care to choose wisely. You don’t want the break point to annoy your viewer, otherwise they will pull that ejection-seat handle!
Job #6: Marketing — your film is on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Hulu and LOVEFiLM. Excellent. Now promote the hell out of it. Press releases. Social media. Email promotions to cast and crew and supporters and friends and family. And then get creative…
Job #7: Long Tail — ultimately it’s not just the “release” marketing that generates the audience and the revenue. Release marketing provides an early bump, but what about finding an audience 6 months later? And 5 years later? After a few months it’s mostly about how “discoverable” your film is. That means keywords, SEO, new content, more reviews…anything that keeps your film on the boil. Get creative — your film is an asset to generate a VoD revenue stream for many years!
So that’s my plan for the workshop — what do you think? What “jobs” did I forget? Meanwhile, keep submitting feature films and docs — the private beta invite is here.
Next Up: Post # 25: Film Delivery Automation
Roger Jackson is a producer and the co-founder of film distribution start-up KinoNation. He was Vice President, Content for digital film pioneer iFilm.com and has produced short films in Los Angeles, documentaries in Darfur, Palestine and Bangladesh, a reality series for VH1 and one rather bad movie for FuelTV. You can reach him at roger@kinonation.com.
