Blog

Paramount’s new division for micro-budget films

March 11th, 2010

Paramount’s new division for micro-budget films: 10 films $100,000 each first year. http://bit.ly/dbL1ON Do they have Paranormal Activity envy? “Aren’t you tired of being fed the same movies wrapped in different paper?” asks the Insurge website, “We want to find and distribute crazy, unpredictable, and hopefully awesome movies – movies that make you want to line up [...]

Is a google set top box the “wave of the future”?

March 11th, 2010

Is a google set top box the “wave of the future”? http://bit.ly/bqezPS Lots of opinions from fairly positive to “never going to happen”. I’m biased as that type of index is exactly the vision we had for Open TV Network and Google faces the might of entrenched players, competing set-top boxes and very little reason for [...]

Futures trading for Film Profits?

March 11th, 2010

Futures trading for Film Profits http://bit.ly/bReQud This can’t end well. “Insider trading seems like it would be a non-trivial issue” I think this is a very bad idea. The ‘wisdom of the crowds’ is no more likely to get it right than the “experts” – and the example on predicting revenue for Alice in Wonderland proves [...]

OK Go leave EMI, form own label

March 11th, 2010

OK Go leave EMI, form own lable. http://bit.ly/aZ0uL1 EMI banned embedding for real viral campaign, tried fake viral. Band leaves. Profit. Pop band OK Go are riding a wave of viral video success again with the amazing video of Here we go again but their last video flopped because their then label, EMI, refused to allow [...]

Why should Apple buy Adobe?

March 11th, 2010

“Why Apple should buy Adobe” http://theappleblog.com/2010/03/09/why-apple-should-buy-adobe/ Simple answer, they shouldn’t! Also that the writer thinks After Effects could be discarded makes their knowledge of video production pretty suspect, and therefore the rest of the article should be treated with suspicion. But it’s an interesting thought. Apple could buy Adobe out of cash on hand. Adobe’s market capitalization [...]

Kyte introduces broadcast quality live streaming

March 11th, 2010

Kyte introduces broadcast quality (SD) streaming in a backpack, not a truck! http://tcrn.ch/9GL5yJ It’s hard to believe that a backpack kit with wireless links can do the same portability and live reporting flexibility as those news trucks I see driving around LA all the time, with their relatively clumsy microwave uplink tower. Kyte’s partners in the backpack [...]

79c an hour for Desperate Housewives

March 11th, 2010

79c an hour for Desperate Houswives from advertising revenue. http://nyti.ms/aRhoU2 This is right at the high end of advertising revenue per viewer per show. Most fall in the range of 25-65c per viewer per show, with a few very successful outliers at 70-80c per viewer per show. And yet, through iTunes they want $1.99. Just let me [...]

Scott Kirsner is giving away free copies of his “Fans, Friends and Followers” ebook

March 11th, 2010

RT @ScottKirsner: free copies of the “Fans, Friends & Followers” e-book for the duration of @SXSW: http://bit.ly/bs2k50 (spread the word?) I’m working my way through this book but Scott is one person who has his finger on the pulse of independent distribution. The book is a summary of his thoughts and a series of interviews [...]

EU parliament overwhelmingly rejects ACTA

March 11th, 2010

EU parliament overwhelmingly votes against insidious nasty ACTA http://bit.ly/9xbgbL Great result. US should follow quickly. Nasty stuff ACTA is a trade agreement being negotiated in secret so that even American politicians can’t see it. But old media are heavily involved and basically attempting to rewrite international law to favor their dying business models. Bad news for [...]