Current Challenges of Product and Artist Managers

The current state of the entertainment industry is constantly changing and with that comes many challenges along the way. Product managers, and even artist managers, are constantly having to adapt the ways they execute their plans to penetrate their desired target markets. Through my own person experience, I have seen some of these problems firsthand. While working at my prior employer, Testronic Labs, I would often times find myself engaging in conversations with product managers that would explain some of the difficulties they have had trying to figure out ways to bring digital products to market. Since there are so many different avenues, nowadays, to distribute film and TV shows, product managers are faced with the task of monetizing various physical and digital formats.

Film and TV shows are not the only two facets of the entertainment industry that are going through major struggles in the globalization of the digital era. Recently, I was in contact with a colleague of mine that is a product manager for a company called Ematic. The company creates and markets their own version of Android tablets for specific niche markets. Within the past year and a half, the company released a product called “FunTab Pro” which is a tablet that is designed and marketed towards a younger audience. When speaking to the product manager who designed the product, he described the experience as being a very “challenging and rewarding business venture.” In a brief interview I had with the product manager, we talked about all of the different obstacles he had to overcome in order to make this dream a reality. One of the biggest problems he faced was trying to make sure that everyone involved with production was on the same page. The entertainment industry, as a whole, is faced with many new struggles almost daily.

An article I found online describes the some of the key challenges almost all members of the entertainment industry are currently being faced with. It describes that “not only do companies need to shift from physical to digital technologies and change their business models to include all the new digital platforms, but these new challenges imply that companies must change the way they manage their workforce and the way they function to meet even greater consumer expectations.” Within the article, it describes four key challenges: “Extra effort to stay competitive in a globalized marketplace, An added challenge in maintaining leadership, Extra vigilance for the public (and published) opinion and A new kind of workforce = new pipeline challenges.” All of these give a great example of the kinds of things both product and artist managers need to be aware of for when it comes time to promote their products, services and artists.

Negotiation and Deal Management – Michael Amato (Feature Film Producer)

When you are a film producer there are many things that you must plan, organize and negotiate. From budgets, to royalties and even schedules, everything involves going back and fourth between different people with varying personalities. Mr. Michael Amato is a feature film producer best known for his films Dead Man’s Curve and Supercross. Both films were able to obtain worldwide distribution and he considers them to be some of his greatest accomplishments to date. Currently, he produces films primarily for the Lifetime television network and still today has to negotiate and make deals between investors, distributors and the like. Over the past two decades, he has been able to master his negotiation skills by separating people from the problem, using objective criteria and always aiming towards mutual benefit.

During our interview, Mr. Amato discussed in great detail how important it is to make sure to focus on the problem at hand. He said that sometimes “there are times it is incredibly difficult to appease everyone involved in the initial planning stage of a production. The director might have a vision that is very different from the writer and, being a producer, you must be the facilitator between them.” However, everyone involved in any given project has the common goal of wanting to see it all the way to the end. Often times he has had to objective criteria to make sure that nothing gets out of hand. He will have to approve and deny certain shots due to costs and must present enough material to prove his point. Directors always want every shot to perfect and it is Mr. Amato’s job to make sure that he/she stays within the budget.

While on set and during production, Mr. Amato’s job is to make sure that everyone is happy and everything is running smoothly. He has to make sure that the actors have everything that they need, the crew has all of the tools and equipment necessary to set up shots and make sure that there is enough food to feed the entire cast and crew. One of the hardest parts of his job is maintaining a comfortable and efficient work environment. He has to make sure that everything is running on time and within the confines of the budget. In the end, he very much enjoys the everyday challenges that producing brings and the feeling of accomplishment when he finishes each project.

Entertainment Business Finance: Are Film Remakes a Necessary Evil?

Over the course of the few years, I have noticed a fairly significant trend from a majority of the major film studios. It really hit me the other day while I was reviewing my The Hollywood Reporter alert e-mails and found out that Warner Bros is remaking Flintstones while Lionsgate has a new Power Rangers movie in the works. I have often wondered why? Why do they need to remake these films and not focus more on original ideas and stories? Then, I reviewed the amount of money these remakes pull in. For instance, the Hollywood remake of War of the Worlds produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise made over $592 million in the box office worldwide. That is stunning when you look at other films, those having original ideas, turn into flops.

The film business is all about taking risks. Knowing and recognizing a trend seems to be the primary basis behind the reasoning for these major studios to green light certain productions. According to Ross Miller of screenrant.com, “no one can say that remakes and sequels are a new thing – it’s a notion that has been around for almost a hundred years. But lately (perhaps over the last 15 years or so), they have come not only to full fruition and thus extremely noticeable as a trend – but also they seem to be getting made left, right and center.” Out of all of the genres of film, on the other hand, Ross makes a relevant point in the same article that most remakes are within the Horror category. The Amityville Horror, The Hills Have Eyes, The Ring and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are just some examples of the films we have seen follow this trend again and again.

Now that we have established the success of film remakes and its impact within the Horror category, does it mean that this trend will spill over into other genres of films? The answer: It already has. Just over the course of the past few years we have seen a major increase in the amount of remakes in other genres. The new updated versions of RoboCop, Batman and Superman seem to state the obvious that the major film studios are now exploring their options to remake adventure, Sci-Fi and superhero films. In the end, it is inevitable that box office breaking films will eventually be remade. However, according to Ben Kendrick, “the time between reboots and remakes has become shorter than ever (with only five years between the release of Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man).” The success of these remakes is ultimately determined by how well they are produced and whether or not they pay homage to the original.

Business Storytelling and Branding - John Lloyd’s “An Inventory of the Invisible”

I had never known the significance of TED talks until I started my Bachelor’s degree program at Full Sail University. Now, I try to watch them as often as I can. Every time I review a video from the site, I am often times bewildered by how well the information is presented and the point made by each and every speaker. 

In a world so enthralled by the power of influence and the everyday norm, I repeatedly find myself asking the same question: “What is the point?” Meaning, why is it that I do the things I do everyday? What is my overall goal in life? I feel that lately we have all been concentrating so much energy on how to start a business, attract our target market and our careers to the point that we have forgotten the simple fact we are all in the same boat, traversing the unknown.

In John Lloyd’s TED talk “An Inventory of the Invisible” he begins the talk by asking the audience what is invisible. His response: “Everything, I would say. Everything that matters except every thing and except matter.” Throughout the talk, Mr. Lloyd gives many different examples surrounding the topic of how much we, as humans, do not know. “Thomas Edison once said, "We don't know one percent of one millionth about anything.”” So what does this have to do about media? Everything.

After watching this talk in its entirety, it started to make me thing about the entertainment industry and how much of it is dependent on data, analysis, trends and research. While this information is relevant (to a certain extent), I feel that we all need to recognize it’s place as tools and make better media by expanding our imagination just a bit more. Too many times have we seen remakes, remixes, etc in the market. What we all should take from this specific TED talk is to be unafraid to create something new and make mistakes. We need to learn through our experiences and open up our minds to take us to that next level.

References:

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_lloyd_an_animated_tour_of_the_invisible

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_lloyd_inventories_the_invisible/transcript

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/apr/11/interview-john-lloyd-comedy-producer

To Cut or Not to Cut? That is the Question.

     I believe that we can all agree that cord cutting has become a fairly common topic of conversation within the entertainment industry. With so many different instant streaming services being introduced into the market constantly, is it inevitable that television will follow a similar path as the music industry? In my own personal life, I subscribe to Spotify, Netflix, Hulu and many of these other newer services. Previously, in a prior post, I wrote about the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable and whether or not this will cause a spike in people cutting the cord. Brent Lang wrote in this article that “the percentage of pay television subscribers who said they definitely plan to discontinue their service in the next 12 months climbed to 10 percent, a 2 percent gain.” The television industry is definitely changing.

     What is most interesting about this change is the simple fact that more and more people are resorting to their mobile devices to view content. The introduction of the smartphones and tablets have definitely made a large impact on the industry as a whole. If you have not done so already, check out Aereo. They have come up with the ingenious idea to take what is being broadcasted for free over the antenna and swing it back to the internet for live streaming. It has, however, caused a majority of the broadcasters to react with a lawsuit. The company has been able to retain service, for now.

     In the end, the main goal for everyone in this industry is to turn a profit in order to continue producing new content. (Thus, we all know what the effects have been due to piracy via torrent sites.) What needs to happen, more than anything, is an update to the overall business model. Cable television thrives on subscribers and advertising sales. However, in the instant streaming world, what does the audience prefer? For instance this Forbes article mentions that ““Hulu Plus carries current season episodes for 5 of the top 6 US broadcast networks, which is something that Netflix is only able to do for a select few shows in international markets,” Devitt says, noting that parent companies ABC, NBC and Fox have made huge amounts of their content available on Hulu, which currently boasts a TV catalog of 86,000 episodes from 2,900 TV series. In other words: Netflix may be great for binge watchers, but cord-cutters looking for next-day viewing of their favorite shows are likelier to go to Hulu Plus.” So if many are looking to cut the cord and resort to instant streaming, what will we choose? A service that costs less with more content readily available (with commercials) or a service that provides content within a later timeframe and no commercials. Only time will tell.

Initial Post

     For my very first post on this blog, the timing could not have been more perfect for a topic to discuss. The news of possible merger between Time Warner Cable and Comcast has been hemorrhaging the Internet. Consumers from all over the United States have not been holding back their points of view. From CNN.com, one gentleman tweeted: "Sweet. We will never have affordable, high-speed internet in this country," said Allen Christopher of Winston-Salem, N.C.” These two companies are the two biggest cable and Internet service providers in the country. Comcast is currently the biggest shareholder of NBC/Universal and now with this possible merger, they could have even more control of the industry. What is very interesting is this strategic move by Comcast to dominate the market. However, what does this mean for media?

     From my point of view, I feel that in the future television will become a thing of the past. Ever since the introduction of instant streaming services like YouTube, Netflix and Hulu, I firmly believe that in the future we will watch everything through the Internet. Devices like XBOX, PlayStation and AppleTV will replace our cable and DVR boxes. Already, we are starting to see a huge increase in the amount of ads that appear through some of these services, YouTube via my AppleTV especially. According to TIME magazine, “right now kids’ television is a big sticking point keeping people tied to their cable providers.” The younger generations are becoming more and more accustomed to technology and sometimes understand it better than their parents. The real question here is whether or not the conglomerates will adapt to this change.

     The Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger could possibly be the deciding factor determining if we will see a huge increase in cord cutting. Everyday, I talk to many consumers that have decided to cut the cord and primarily rely on instant streaming services to watch content. With the increase of original content appearing on these sites, it is no wonder why this is becoming a huge topic of concern.