I was reading through some RSS feeds on entertainment recently and came across something that really hit home the lack of understanding that Hollywood has about entertainment and the internet. The focus of my ire came from a panel discussion with some media Titans, with a capital 't":
(one of these things is not like the others..)
The panel was moderated by the former FCC Chairman
Michael Powell, no schlub when it comes to media and what's happening in the world, he still sits on the board of a bunch of companies, including little old Cisco.
Now - given these guys are the men who decide what happens in the world of media and entertainment, I didn't expect anyone to be rocking the boat too much - problem is, they seem to have missed said boat, and appear super-reactive. Outside of Brian Roberts demoing a DVR iPad app that shows essentially a glorified channel guide on your iPad - allowing you to circumvent the box-based menu with your handheld, little forward thinking was present.
These guys run the world of entertainment, they hold the power to greenlight films, shows, applications - in the case of Comcast they have the ability to change how we use and consume media. That's a big deal - and they're totally screwing the pooch.
Here's a selection of the dumber things noted:
Stupid Hollywood:
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Michael Powell: "Asked my son why don't you watch more TV? He says he wants interactive experience...Jeff what do you think?"
Jeff Bewkes: "First, let me agree with everyone" [LAUGHS! Among the execs anyway.] Listen to what Tom is saying, people want Avatar to unfold, they don't want to interact. But, then look at American Idol, people want to interact. It depends on the medium, the package.
Now...let's go with what's practical. TV world a huge invention, these people in this room did it. Now it's all over the planet. Seen networks that great creative opportunities and financial support for Lord of The Rings, Avatar and Harry Potter. If you think of risk taking branded cable channels are doing, before it was done people say no one is going to watch that.
It's possible to put all shows on all screens and we want to do that at no extra cost. Jeff says get VOD robust, "make interfaces better" things you see on the web bring to the television. In the future whatever device will tune you to the show you want to watch..."but let us write the script."
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Hey Jeff: no. The problem with the industry is that they think that the content that they're cranking out is the best available, and that lesser humans outside of the Hollywood system can't produce written content. Hold the phones there Jeffy. I think you've missed the entire point of the capabilities the internet has enabled. We have the access to scripts, insight behind making the shows, access to the behind the scenes footage or conversations through blogs, industry chatter, gossip sites, studio-supported communications, and the producers and stars of these shows (usually when they get cancelled) decide that they want to share everything to motivate their audience.
We can see what happens with shows, understand the elements that make them compelling, and can in many cases write, produce, create, and edit them ourselves. What Jeff has missed out on is that there's an opportunity that the studios and networks are missing - tapping into the single greatest motivated developer of creative that Hollywood has ever had at their fingertips, and ignoring the audience that has the final ability to king-make with their remotes. Yeah - we'll leave it you Jeff, HBO is killing it, and getting Conan on TBS is pretty awesome, but outside of that "My Boys" is probably not slaying it in the ratings. Either way - definitely keep the riffraff out - they surely can't predict, or contribute to what they actually want to watch.
Message: Let us decide and write for you guys. We're the pros.
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Jeff Bewkes (again): "We've helped consumers, we've developed a good distribution model, which is why we're not the music industry." --
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You're going to want to mark this one down and go and look at it about 5 years from now - as the cost of developing shows decreases (equipment continues to evolve decreasing the cost of entry) and "amateurs" become more and more savvy about their production quality, I get a funny feeling that's going to come back and bite Jeff in the ass. He doesn't see the future of content creation, the role of the studios in identify and nurturing new talent, and eventually as the costs to promote and produce the content drop ever lower - he needs to realize that yes, you are exactly the movie industry, and the timeline for you to recognize that is going to move exceptionally quicker than it did for the guys at Warner Music. TV is music - with a 10 year lag.
Hollywood needs to realize that as the shakeup of content providers occurs (accelerated by providing viable distribution platform outside of the existing studio system) that they are going to get their proverbial lunches eaten. They have the luxury of a technology buffer stopping people from creating broadcast-ready content. But that's changing, and tv better be ready.
Not to take Bewkes to town at the expense of the other monkey suits there. Andreesen talks to the tech side of distribution in an expectedly intelligent and cogent manner, everyone else is too busy sipping Kool-Aid or pitching their program guides to realize that the boat is sinking.
Check out what we're doing at Sketchl - the idea is to democratize the world of entertainment - and maybe show these guys how wrong they are. There's a ton of opportunity for us to change the world, and that's awesome. Source:
