Authors — David Rosen

PERSONAL DEMOCRACY

The Internet is transforming social life and the political landscape. The growing pallet of digital media content-production technologies and social networking distribution sites, like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, is redefining the meaning of “democracy” and an individual’s ability to participate in the political process. The annual Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) is a geek and political-wonk fest, a 21st century Woodstock – without the drugs, rain and rock ‘n’ roll – and this year’s gathering was no exception. This is a momentous election year, with a day of reckoning coming in November. The nation is living through what Nobel Prize-winning economist […]
by David Rosen on Jun 14, 2012
IS CROWDFUNDING FOR YOU?

On April 5, President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, known as the JOBS Act. The Act establishes a number of registration exceptions from traditional securities laws to facilitate a wider adoption of micro-financing practices, including crowdfunding. This is the phenomenon by which a relatively large pool of small investors can use the Internet to make an equity investment in a company. Filmmaker has covered this important development. Scott Macaulay presented a helpful introductory overview to the Act and discussed some of its likely consequences for indie makes. Matthew Savare, an attorney, and Richard Jaycobs provided a more […]
by David Rosen on May 21, 2012
THE NEW HOLLYWOOD

In April, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent letters of inquiry to four Hollywood’s studios — Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures — informing them that it was investigating their business practices in China. According to Reuters, while neither the SEC, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) nor the individual movie companies would formally discuss the matter, it is assumed that at issue is possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that makes it illegal to make improper payments to foreign officials for business purposes. Such payments are not uncommon in China. Stay […]
by David Rosen on May 10, 2012
WHAT PRIVACY?

If you thought that the cyber privacy war was over with the defeat of the MPAA-promoted Senate’s PIPA and the House’s SOPA bills late last year, think again. A new House bill (H.R. 3523), dubbed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), was passed on April 26th. It will expand the ability of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Security Agency (NSA) to read your emails and share them with other federal agencies as well as private companies. It faces an uncertain future in the Senate and the Obama administration has threatened to veto it. The Electronic […]
by David Rosen on Apr 27, 2012
CABLE WOES

Some 70 years ago, the economist Joseph Schumpeter introduced the notion of “creative destruction” to explain the role of technological innovation in capitalism. Over the last decade, digital disruption has wrought havoc on the publishing industry (i.e., magazines, newspapers and books) as well as records and broadcast TV. Now, it is upsetting the cable TV apple cart. A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that the audience for 11 of the top 15 most-watched cable channels, including Nickelodeon, TNT and FX, is falling. Reuters reported that a Citigroup analyst, Jason Bazinet, found: “Beginning late last year we began to notice […]
by David Rosen on Apr 24, 2012
ON DIGITAL PRINTS AND THE HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE

Over the last century, as Hollywood matured as an industry, it grew increasingly more conservative. The movie business evolved from a maverick entrepreneurial venture, then an innovator introducing groundbreaking new technologies like sound and color, and finally to an evermore-cautious enterprise. One example of this conservatism is the studios’ reactions to the transition from analog to digital media. Last year, a coalition led by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the music industry and a handful of digital rights holders, including games companies Sony and Nintendo, launched a major campaign to fight “piracy” by restricting the Internet. However, in […]
by David Rosen on Apr 10, 2012
MEDIA CURRENT: ARE YOU BEING THROTTLED?

Do you watch movies via a wireless connection on your laptop, tablet, smartphone or even TV set? If so, have you received a love letter from your service provider informing you to either go on a digital data diet or plan to pay more to suck down more streaming 1s and 0s? If not, it will arrive shortly. The leading wireless companies are changing the usage and pricing models they have long used, shifting the industry from one with “unlimited” plans to “limited” deals. These new limited plans tier data downloads to the ability to pay. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Virgin […]
by David Rosen on Mar 19, 2012
MEDIA CURRENT: AEREO AND THE NEW ONLINE TV WARS

A coalition of broadcasters including WNET, FOX, WPIX and Univision filed a preemptive injunction in Manhattan’s federal district court earlier this month to halt the launch of Aereo, a $12-a-month online subscription service scheduled to go live on March 14th. Aereo proposes to use an array of tiny TV antennas to capture over-the-air broadcast channels and then retransmit these signals via online streaming to web-enabled devices, be it a computer, smartphone or tablet. The broadcasters argue that Aereo’s action will violate their protections under the Copyright Act. “Aereo has not licensed this television programming from those who own it. Nor […]
by David Rosen on Mar 6, 2012
MEDIA CURRENT: BRUISED APPLE

The shine on Apple’s corporate identity has been tarnished. For a period following Steve Jobs’ death after a long bout with pancreatic cancer, the company was in a national media halo, celebrated for its innovative technology as much for its stock performance. As indies long knew, the iMac and Final Cut Pro editing software revolutionized movie making. However, a January 2012 in-depth New York Times exposé about Apple’s manufacturing practices in China undercut the Jobs halo and gave the company a black eye. The report on its Chinese manufacturer, Foxconn, exposed Apple’s questionable business practices as well as those of […]
by David Rosen on Feb 28, 2012
MEDIA CURRENT: BROADBAND FAILURE

Broadband in the U.S. sucks. In fact, the U.S. has become a second-rate telecommunications nation. This is especially evident with regard to two key indicators – broadband adoption and data speed. The degradation of broadband Internet service has significant consequences for the nation and for independent filmmakers. The latest findings from leading government and private source speak for itself: As of June 2011, Europe’s Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked the U.S. 15th in “broadband” subscribers; the consulting group, Strategy Analytics, is even more pessimistic, ranking the U.S. 20th with a “broadband” penetration rate of 67 percent compared to […]
by David Rosen on Feb 13, 2012

About David

David Rosen is a writer and business-development consultant. He is author of the indie classic, "Off-Hollywood: The Making & Marketing of Independent Films," originally commissioned by the Sundance Institute and the Independent Feature Project. His most recent contribution to Filmmaker Magazine is “TV Wars” (Spring 2011). He regularly contributes to AlterNet, CounterPunch, Brooklyn Rail, Z-magazine, ANDmagazine and has written for MediaChannel, FilmInFocus, Harvard-Neiman Watchdog, Hollywood Reporter, San Francisco Focus and Red Herring online. He was on the management teams taking two start-ups public and served on the boards of advisors/directors of PBS’s Independent Television Service (ITVS), Film Arts Foundation and MoMA’s Video Collection. Check out www.DavidRosenConsultants.com.

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