Media Wonk




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Paul Sweeting

Paul Sweeting is the editor of ContentAgenda.com and a columnist for Video Business. He has covered the home entertainment industries since 1985 for Billboard, Variety, Publishers Weekly and other leading business publications. He is based in Washington, DC.


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Paul Sweeting

Paul Sweeting, Editor
ContentAgenda

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Signs of hope in (Digital) Hollywood - May 7, 2008

Media Wonk is attending the Digital Hollywood conference in Los Angeles this week, where on Tuesday he sat in on a panel that underscored how far studio thinking about digital platforms has come over the last few years. As Media Wonk argued in a previous post, the web rewards enablers, not distributors or publishers. For content owners to thrive online they're going to have to figure out how to profit from enabling consumers to use--not just access--their content. At the panel on Hollywood and the Digital Consumer Tuesday, there were signs that at least some folks at the studios are starting to figure it out.

Some highlights:

Derek Broes, senior VP digital entertainment Paramount Pictures: "Consumers today have more control over their lives than ever before, in terms of what they'll do and what they won't do. We have to change the way we create content to make sure we're giving them content they actually want... We're going to start shooting our product differently, so that we're creating those winks and other bits that people like to embed in their own messages."

Herb Scannell, CEO, Next New Networks (former vice chairman, MTV): "Talent is going to disrupt this industry more than anything. There's a new generation of auteurs growing up who are what I call five-tool players: they write, produce, direct, host and market their own content. They don't need Hollywood's control over the infrastructure [of production and distribution] anymore. There's a different kind of sensibility coming out of this generation."

Saul Berman, IBM Global Business Services, Media & Entertainment: "Look at the money Apple has made in music. Where did that money come from? The record companies look at what happened to them and all they see is that they've lost money. But that money didn't go out the door, it just went to different people."

More from Digital Hollywood later.

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Rene
May 7, 2008
Response to:
Signs of hope in (Digital) Hollywood

As a web video producer myself, I'm finding myself having to realign the way I think about the content I'm providing. After all, narrative pictures are simply a medium for story, so enabling users to use story seems to be the holy grail. However, I'm filled with problems and doubts. Aren't stories inherently interactive? How can I enable a user to "use" a story? I'm reminded of those grade-school assignments where students are asked to analyze a book the class has read. Surely the solutions must not be so academic? So I've found myself focusing instead on the controlling idea of the stories I'm telling and thinking about how to tie in web content so when a user finishes watching the video, they're compelled to action beyond the video. In a way, the story and web resources are irrevocably tied, enabling a movement towards change in a user's life. For example, a romantic comedy about two deaf lovers could be the core of a "deaf persons dating site." In this train of thought, however, I'm having trouble keeping the focus on the video content, instead of the video content simply being an intro to some other media on the site. But am I missing the point? Isn't Google simply an expressway to other content, should I see my video content as simply a way of spurring people into the world with newfound focus? It's extremely confusing.




kardelen133
May 23, 2008
Response to:
Signs of hope in (Digital) Hollywood

good aritcle.