The Web is Hollywoods New Farm System

No matter where you look just about everything has a “farm system” to find their future talent. Professional sports have the minor leagues and college sports, business has internships and white-collar jobs have apprenticeships. A few years ago the entertainment industry basically has college programs and film festivals as their new talent pool, however that all has been changing over the past few years all thanks to the web.

Think about it. Just about everyone at one point or another had the thought that they had a great idea for TV of film. Only thing is they didn’t have the money or resources to go to film school or make the project on their own. Those people could have given us fresh ideas to where we wouldn’t have to deal with constant remakes and reboots.

Of course, these days everyone has the ability to create and share their ideas with millions of people around the world. This is all thanks to smart phones, cheap computers and sites like YouTube. Everything from vlogs to web series are being uploaded everyday by everyday people without the help of film school or any formal training. These people are gaining more exposure and views with a simple video then most professionally done web series or extras some networks create.

The more you look at the people who are embracing the web, the more you will see that even Hollywood stars seeing the potential it offers. People like Joss Whedon and Lisa Kudrow have taken the web by storm and used it as turning points for their careers. One of the reasons behind this is that they are free of network influence and censors. However, those are house hold names and really don’t have to worry about being discovered.

Just recently the web held its version of the Emmy’s with the Streamy’s. The best of the unknown went face-to-face with Hollywood Elite and the underdogs win. A girl vloging from her room weekly is a more recognizable face on the web than people like Felicia Day. Guys like Rhett and Link who make silly videos can go to having a show on the Independent Film Channel. So why is it that networks and studios are looking to the web for their next big thing instead of film schools and film festivals?

Crowd Funding The New Alterative

The second the Internet came online is the second everything about the entertainment industry changed. People were able to share information about all types of projects in various stages of development. You could download the script to your favorite movie and not have to wait to go to the movies to see trailers. Then in 2005 a little site entitled YouTube changed the game again. Now a days people from all over the world are creating new and entertaining content every second of the day and uploading so millions of people can enjoy it.

However, sometimes creating that content isn’t cheep and people need to find new and interesting ways to fund their projects. This is where Kickstarter and Indiegogo come in. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are crowd funding sites that allow anyone and everyone the opportunity to donate money towards a project they like. Anything from a $1 to $5,000 can be given to a project to help it meet its goal.

The reason these crowd funding sites are changing the game is because they are doing what YouTube did and that is changing the Hollywood system. Typically if you wanted to fund your project you would have to either beg for money from a studio or max out your credit cards just to finance your idea.

Of course, most people aren’t just going to donate. Both sites allow you give rewards for specific donation levels such as thank you or producer credits, props or stills from the project to even walk-on roles. Think of it as a way of giving back and saying THANK YOU for helping my project out.

The one thing I love about these sites is that they give people the chance to create something that they normally wouldn’t have been able to on their own. By helping them pay for extra props, a real editor or special effects these projects can become something more than just another D-rated movie or short. Plus, if you really enjoy the idea it could also catch the eye of someone in the Hollywood system and give that creator a chance to continuously entertain you.

I asked my friend Traycee King why she chose Indiegogo to help fund the second season of her webseries 8.13.

Indiegogo is a great way to get the community involved and to make them feel like they helped make a film. I also chose it because whether or not I make my goal; I want to finish as much as I can! With Indiegogo, I can keep the funds whether I make my goal or not.

As you can see some people in the system want to give back and get people involved with their projects. Yes, it’s nice to reward fans with cool features on DVDs and Blu-Rays, but lets face it those are old news. With these crowd funding sites you can get people more involved and give them a sense of being part of the project.

I will honestly think about using Kickstarter or Indiegogo to finance one of my future projects. 

My Business Plan vs. Others

It’s kind of funny that I profiled two experts who express how you should just go and start your business and worry about the business plan later. The entertainment business is an ever-changing business and that included how to go about starting a production company. Years go you would need to either max out numerous credit cards like Kevin Smith did to make Clerks and hope that you found someone to buy the film. Of course, if you somehow had access to thousands of dollars you could go on a spending spree and not worry about a budget.

Going back to what Carl Schramm said, “As soon as the plan is done, it is out of date” (Schramm, 2012). That statement is basically the entertainment industry in a nutshell. If you look at 2013 there are so many movies depicting the Earth either in danger or uninhabited. This is a great example of how the second you think you have a great original idea someone else is either working on or completed a script or pitch that is basically your idea.

That plays into what Chuck Blakeman said with, “Since the future is unknown implement now, perfect as you go” (Blakeman, 2011). The more time you spend developing your business instead of your ideas is the second you lose in this industry. No matter where you look everything has been done before, but maybe you have a new and interesting way of telling that story. You need to run full speed ahead with your ideas and worry about the business end as you go. There will be time once you know that your project is green lighted to worry about if you want this done under your own production company.

I look to incorporate what Mr. Schramm and Mr. Blakeman said with my business. The more time I spend developing a plan is more time my competition has to beat me to my idea. I will develop my business as I go and worry about getting my ideas into production. The reason behind this is because I need to prove to myself and the viewers that I have the ability to create original and engaging content. From there is when I can worry about building my business and team.

However, at some point I will need to have a business plan ready. Should I look for investors I would figure that my start-up costs and management would be the most important parts for them. Those are the two areas where the money will be going and everything else can be filled in.  

Blakeman, C. (2012). How: the worst, most asked planning question.Retrieved from http://chuckblakeman.com/2012/8/texts/how-the-worst-most-asked-planning-question

Schramm, C. Straight Talk on Business (2012) retrieved 8/5/12 fromhttp://steinvox.com/2012/04/17/carl-schramm-straight-talk-on-entrepreneurship-why-we-need-it/

undefined. (undefined). Clerks. In Viewaskew. Retrieved Jan 26, 2013, from http://viewaskew.com/clerks/info.html.

Business Plan Key Components For Investors

Carl Schramm is the former President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The vision of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is to foster "a society of economically independent individuals who are engaged citizens, contributing to the improvement of their communities." Mr. Schramm has a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and spent fifteen years teaching health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University. After leaving the Kauffman Foundation Mr. Schramm began teaching a class in entrepreneurship at Syracuse University.

Chuck Blakeman owns the Cranket Group, which is based out of Colorado. Mr. Blakeman’s company works with developing their businesses to make more money in less time and help them get back the passion when they first started their business. He has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, CNNMoney.com and The New York Times to name a few.

As Mr. Schramm states, “As soon as the plan is done, it is out of date” (Schramm, 2012). This is an important aspect to remember because in this day and age since technology is always changing and these days technology plays a major role in developing a business. Young entrepreneurs should spend more time creating the business and not worrying about writing what the business will be about. You have to remember that you are the face of the business to investors and they are investing in you as much as they are your business.

However, entrepreneurs need to be ready for the future and that is where a business plan comes in. Blakeman says, “But the flaw with that is the future cannot be foretold. Since the future is unknown implement now, perfect as you go” (Blakeman, 2011). Young business owners need to be ready for whatever can happen with their business and know they are capable of overcoming any obstacle. In the end the entrepreneur need to look out for their investors a little more than themselves. 

. (undefined). Wikiepedia . In Wikipedia.com. Retrieved Jan 9, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schramm.

Blakeman, C. (2012). How: the worst, most asked planning question.Retrieved from http://chuckblakeman.com/2012/8/texts/how-the-worst-most-asked-planning-question

Blakeman, C. (undefined). Chuck Blakeman. In ChuckBlakeman.com. Retrieved Jan 9, 2013, from http://chuckblakeman.com/.

Schramm, C. Straight Talk on Business (2012) retrieved 8/5/12 fromhttp://steinvox.com/2012/04/17/carl-schramm-straight-talk-on-entrepreneurship-why-we-need-it/

Google vs. Content Farms

Even though this topic is over a year old I still feel the need to talk about it because I experienced it first and still see that Google is working to fix this problem. Back in February 2011 Google went on to change their core ranking algorithm that would force content farms lower on search results.

Content farms are sites that create low quality content to appear higher on search rankings. Sites like this include About.com and Mahalo.com, which populate pages with basic information just to appear within search results. These sites base their revenue on ads and CPV they live and die via where they appear on searches.

The reason behind me talking about is because I was working for Mahalo when Google implemented their new core ranking algorithm. Now I really wouldn’t consider Mahalo a true content because a lot of the content was very information based. Now that information was mostly based around music, video games, photoshop and cooking.

Now Google’s head of web-spam prevention Matt Cutts said, “12 percent of Google’s search results saw some modification.” However, Mahalo felt the affects of that 12 percent results modification and had to deal with downsizing. The change did affect with how sites like About.com pay their writers and video editors who create the countless pages per day.

It’s interesting to see how Google goes about how it ranks sites, but it seems like they are trying to keep their search results ligament. That means forcing content farms and low quality sites below the fold. Of course, Google says that how a company operates is also included in how they rank.

Even though I saw first hand how this change could affect a company, I believe Google did the right thing. These sites can really clutter result pages and most of the time don’t have the correct information populating them. Also, by doing so Google is forcing sites to really work on creating quality content to help them raise their rank. 

The Power of Reddit

So you a blog post, video or image you want to share with the world because you feel it will take off. However, you are just some random person on the Internet and have no real powerful outlet to share your work. If only there was a place you could post the link to your work and let the Internet do its job. Well there is actually a site that could make or break your work and that is Reddit.

Reddit is “the front page of the Internet” and was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian. The is a mix of social networking and message board that allows users to either upvote or downvote all the content shared. Users are able to set the kind of content they wish to view by subscribing to specific “subreddits” that relate to numerous topics. With 3.8billion monthly page views it is fair to say that Reddit could be your distribution gold mine.

Of course, you could hope that the views and shares you can get through simply tweeting and posting on Facebook will help spread your content. Only thing is you won’t the recognition you deserve. Reddit will help you expand on your content to only make your future work better. Plus, by taking advantage of Reddit you will be able to have people realize they saw the content first before people on Twitter and Facebook.

Another great thing is that if your content covers multiple areas you can greatly expand your views or sharing by taking advantage of those numerous subreddits. By doing so you will expand on the eyes that see your content and the amount of them that will copy that link and share it on the other social networking sites.

Now this isn’t a typical publishing or distribution idea, but if you are going from an all-digital standpoint then this is something you need to consider. Even if you aren’t and are looking for a way to help spread the word about your work. Sharing exclusive content or holding an Ask Me Anything you will connect with demographics you might have never been on their radar. Yeah that is more of a marketing tool, but in the long run certain areas between that and distribution combine into the same idea.  

Digital Distribution

With the rise of digital distribution certain questions begin to come to mind. Because the media is stored on a hard drive and no longer on physical media should the price reflect that? Since the media is stored digitally does the inclusion of Digital Rights Management (DRM) take away from the customers experience?

Honestly, these are all questions I have heard since digital distribution has gained more and more momentum. This is mostly because more and more companies are pushing for digital distribution. Only problem is most people have limited storage space available on their devices and moving towards digital distribution will be a problem.

First, let me get to the question of price. Currently, Xbox and Playstation customers are paying full price, $59.99, for digital copies of retail games. This has raised some eyebrows because with the lose of physically producing the disk, manual and box the cost of the game itself should be cheaper. Let alone the fact that you are using up your storage space to house the game instead of being able to change disks freely. Another factor to look at is that these systems only offer a specific amount storage and after time space is limited. Which means you will either be deleting a game or having to spend an unfair amount on additional storage.

That brings me to the second question about DRM. Digital Rights Management is another term for a license that allows you to run the game on your system. It prevents users from installing the same game on other machines due to the CD key having already been used. Most publishers believe that DRM will protect their games from being pirated and force people to actually purchase the game. However, if you look closely the horror stories that surround DRM and it saying that the CD key for the game someone just bought has been used. Going through customer support is even worse because most of the time they will deny customers new CD keys because they don’t believe they actually bought the game even with proof.

One should also note the debate that took place betweenMartin Edmonson of Ubisoft and Gabe Newell of Valve. Both Ubisoft and Valve are two major video game developers and publishers. Ubisoft believes in protecting their content with DRM, while Valve distributes their games digitally through their own service called Steam. Gabe points out that customers aren’t pirating games to get them for free, but instead because of the customers needs.

I actually have to agree with Gabe because with the current state of some video games I feel that I wasted $59.99. Most companies are just pumping out titles to keep revenue streams up and not caring about the content of the game itself. This is why people pirate their games and feel that if I am using my own storage space for a digital copy I should be allowed to spend less.