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Highlights (cont.)
Current Activities—importance of distribution venue (producers ranked six venues in order of importance; % represents those who ranked the venue #1 or #2)
- 51% domestic broadcast
- 47% DVD
- 35% educational
- 27% international
- 20% theatrical
- 19% Internet
“Is it worth making a film accessible online (for free or reduced cost) if it will diminish the value of the DVD and other screenings?”
“In the case of my latest work, HBO owns the electronic rights but not the DVD. I am having a hard time getting a DVD deal or even putting the film on Netflix since the DVD companies are all going into streaming.”
Current Activities—HD
- 58% shooting in HD
- 44% HD users see HD as opportunity to get TV work
- 30% of HD users say HD raised budget by more than 20%
“Educate me about how my SD work will look when upconverted to HD—I know nothing about it!”
“Help us find a way to upconvert. It will be a real shame if all the previous work is lost.”
Future Impact of New Media and Digital Distribution
- 84% say it will promote culturally diverse media
- 83% say it will promote independent media
- 81% say it will promote citizen media
- 73% say it will promote aesthetically diverse media
“The point is you can NOT control where your project ends up once it’s online. So it’s a whole different model based on trust, like the Radiohead model…. This works only in some cases and is very niche oriented.”
“Important” and “Very Important” Keys to Future Success- 97% say targeted online promotion
- 96% say niche promotional strategies
- 95% say multiple platform distribution of multiple versions
- 92% say strong independent brand
- 75% say public television leadership
- 75% say single high-profile indie portal
“We need to rise above the din. That takes branding…. The audience has an incredible amount of choice and power now in what they watch and how they find it. Making ITVS (or some other brand) a beacon for them will be essential.”
“Create a strong brand like abc.com that draws viewers to the website to stream/download media. Give producers a reasonable cut of proceeds.”
“With the rise of satellite broadcasting, radio will become increasingly influential. For certain communities, radio is a very important piece of the cultural fabric. I plan to target very specific audiences for my current project and use radio to drive them to the Internet for sales, downloads, etc.”
What do producers want from ITVS and/or public television?
(write-in answers, grouped by category)
- 33% more funding for new media, general, HD
- 29% develop distribution and promotion partnerships with online leaders; become aggregator/creator of portal to distribute
- 20% training, teaching, forums, tech support
- 18% miscellaneous—more diversity, more experimental, more support for emerging filmmakers, more support for non-HD programming, etc.
“Expand funding to a larger number of smaller-budget projects which will reach audiences in a greater variety of ways.”
“Educate producers on how to integrate efforts at producing long form media with producing shorter pieces for alternative media distribution.”
“Lighten up a little!”
