Authors — David Rosen
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How the JOBS Act and Equity Crowdfunding Will Impact Indie Film
Yesterday was the day that “equity crowdfunding” becomes a legal means to raise investor money. For the last 80 years, companies have been required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state entity in order to publicly solicit investors and advertise the sale of securities. On April 5,2012, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, popularly known as the JOBS Act. Now, a year and a half later, it is taking effect. The federal bureaucracy grinds slowly. The first fundamental change in fundraising occurs because companies can now solicit “accredited investors,” those covered under […]
by David Rosen on Sep 24, 2013 -
Film Festivals and the Future of Streaming
When was the last time your film was screened at a festival? When was the last time you attended a film festival? It’s very tough getting selected for a choice festival slot, but many of the leading festivals are taking advantage of video streaming to promote themselves as well as films they present. Festival streaming provides indie makers an opportunity to jump into distribution and make back some needed revenue. In addition, it allows audiences a way to check out some of the hot new festival hits. Last year, Sundance offered nine short films for streaming and has also made […]
by David Rosen on Sep 9, 2013 -
An End to First-Sale for Movies?
Do you still buy newspapers, books or CDs? For the latest film or a classic flick, do you collect DVDs or subscribe to a “cloud” service like Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Google Movies/You Tube Premium or iTunes? A half-century ago, people went to theaters to watch a movie. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 1984 Sony decision, movie-viewing habits began to change. The Court permitted TV viewers to download copyrighted programming to their videocassette recorder (VCR) and record it onto a cassette tape. The Court’s decision was based on what is known as the “first-sale doctrine.” […]
by David Rosen on Aug 27, 2013 -
In the Age of Digital Disruption, What is a Movie?
What is a movie or a TV program? Is it the creative message, the story, or the medium of distribution, whether movie theater of living room TV set? Is a movie the once-upon-a-time full-motion b&w and color images of The Wizard of Oz or the grand panorama of Lawrence of Arabia – or is it the stories they tell? Is a TV show the grainy images distributed through a broadcast or cable system and displayed on a tiny living-room set shows – or is Edward R. Murrow, I Love Lucy or Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show? When is a movie […]
by David Rosen on Aug 9, 2013 -
Will “Unbundling” Kill Cable?
Digital disruption is restructuring the media industries. New production, distribution and display technologies shook up publishing (including newspapers, books and magazines), records and home video/DVDs. The cable industry’s day of reckoning may be at hand. A series of disquieting developments in the cable industry have been accumulating. Over the last decade, basic subscribers have declined by nearly 16 percent, to 56.4 million in 2012 from 66.9 million in 2001. Consumer viewing habits are changing, with many either abandoning or supplementing their fixed TV set with new devices and multi-screen viewing. More and more households are turning to the Internet for […]
by David Rosen on Jul 18, 2013 -
Amazon Studios Ups the Ante in the Content Wars
Amazon is upping the ante in the original content wars. On June 27, the giant online retailer’s movie group, Amazon Studios, started accepting 2- to 15-minute sizzle reels or pitches for feature-length films. Its Hollywonk blog said it was seeking projects that “express an idea that’s begging to be seen on the big-screen, in full-length, full-budget form.” Amazon’s current development slate includes a mixed bag of movies: the horror flick, ZvG: Zombies Vs Gladiators, a thriller, Burma Rising, a sci-fi, Hiber, and a family comedy, It Came in the Mail. “Amazon Studios wants to discover great talent and produce programming […]
by David Rosen on Jul 1, 2013 -
VOD Wars Heat Up
Intel, the giant computer chip manufacturer, is joining the growing roster of tech companies entering the web-delivered video jamboree. In addition to Google’s YouTube and Netflix, Apple and Microsoft are carving out space on the web to offer live and video-on-demand (VOD) TV programming. Web video distribution can be executed either as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) or as Over-the-Top (OTT). With IPTV, the digital signal is streamed and/or offered as VOD programming over a closed or proprietary network through a cable or telephone company. OTT refers to streaming and/or VOD programming distributed over an open or unmanaged video data stream […]
by David Rosen on Jun 18, 2013 -
What Indie Filmmakers Need to Know About Mobile Video Viewing
As of January 2013, comScore reports that 129.4 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones, accounting for more than half (55%) of mobile devices. A recent study by Harris Interactive for Telly, a social networking video service, conducted with 2,000 smartphone users projects that 78 million mobile device owners watch videos on their smartphones. One of the study’s surprise findings is that Apple’s iOS devices do not dominate the mobile video viewing market. Rather, Android devices are viewed by nearly one-half (46%), while Apple captured only a little more then a third (36%) while a little more than a tenth […]
by David Rosen on May 31, 2013 -
Will Tom Wheeler Kill Net Neutrality?
“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over.” Guess who said these memorable words? In November 2007, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama uttered this now all-but-forgotten campaign promise. The president recently announced his plan to appoint Tom Wheeler (above), a true industry insider, to head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Wheeler is a career water carrier for corporate interests. He served as head of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) from 1979 and 1984, and ran the Cellular Telecom and Internet Association (CTIA) from 1992 through 2004. […]
by David Rosen on May 16, 2013 -
Just How Healthy Is Independent Film Distribution?
Louise Levison, a longtime movie industry watcher, found that 2012 was a deceptively good year for indies. Writing at Baseline Intelligence, she noted “independent box office in North America in 2012 was $4.5 billion and 41.7% of the $10.8 billion total.” She warns, “the one film that I feel made the 2012 indie percentage an anomaly is The Hunger Game.” It grossed $408 million in domestic sales and, without it, the indie share would be 37 percent, in line with what she calculates as the historical annual average of indie films of 35 percent for the period of 2000 to 2011. […]
by David Rosen on Apr 30, 2013
