Author Archives: Michael Korican

About Michael Korican

A long-time media artist, Michael’s filmmaking stretches back to 1978. Michael graduated from York University film school with Special Honours, winning the Famous Players Scholarship in his final year. The Rolling Stone Book of Rock Video called Michael's first feature 'Recorded: Live!' "the first film about rock video". Michael served on the board of L.I.F.T. when he lived in Toronto during the eighties and managed the Bloor Cinema for Tom and Jerry. He has been prolific over his past eight years in Victoria, having made over thirty-five shorts, won numerous awards, produced two works for BravoFACT! and received development funding for 'Begbie’s Ghost' through the CIFVF and BC Film.

Mid-2014 trends in the indie film marketplace

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Marc Schiller of BOND/360 has just released ‘An Analysis of Internet Trends in 2014 for Independent Films’ on Medium.

Main chapters comprise Commerce and Marketing while headings include:

  • Digital Revenue For Individual Films In Traditional Marketplaces Is Falling Rapidly
  • Niche Content Is The New “Mainstream”
  • Methods Currently Used By International Sales Agents Are Creating A Steep Decline In Revenue and A Steep Increase In Piracy
  • The Days Of “Free” Marketing On Facebook For Independent Films Are Over
  • Today, The Best Social Media Marketers Are Designers, Not Curators
  • Smart Filmmakers Are Realizing That The Key Value Of Crowdfunding Sites Is To Build Community, Not Raise Money
  • Publicity Alone No Longer Sells Movie Tickets

The insights are many, including:

“Today, the reality is that most independent films, even highly successful ones in the United States, have very little to no distribution in the majority of countries around the world…. Up to 40% of the audience that is following an independent film on Facebook is most likely living in a country where the film will never be released…. This has led to an increase in piracy that is not based on a desire to steal the film and watch it for free, but rather based on a the lack of availability when the global word-of-mouth is at its peak.”

And:

“More than any other platform that have preceded them (including behemoths like Facebook and Twitter), Kickstarter and Indiegogo create the most important and impactful communities for creators on the internet…. Those that have skin in the game (i.e. are “invested”) are the most important and loyal fans a filmmaker will ever have in their career.”

My take: this makes fascinating reading. Required reading. More by Marc to come.

California: a new studio and renewed tax credits

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Two new developments out of California recently:

As reported by Variety, the state Assembly has renewed the film and television tax credit scheme. No work yet on how much money will be allocated but big-budget features and TV series will now qualify.

“California’s current incentive program provides $100 million per year for tax credits, but that money is well short of demand. Proponents of expanding the program have often pointed to the need to at least be competitive with New York, which offers about $420 million per year in its program.”

As reported by Backstage, a new studio plans to make a dozen million dollar pictures each year.

“Thunder [Funder] plans to accept 500 submissions — which should consist of a sizzle reel, script, treatment, and, if possible, budget — per six-month period, of which 12 will be shortlisted. The studio’s lofty goal is to produce 12 of its 24 shortlisted projects each year. To put that in context, Disney released a dozen films in 2013.”

My take: California wants to keep more production in the state. Interestingly, these developments are at either end of the spectrum.

How would you redesign Copyright?

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Copyright is a 350-year-old legal concept at the heart of the financial exploitation of most creative works.

Open Media International wants to know how you would revise copyright law. They’re hosting an innovative interactive website you can use to let them know how you feel.

“Whenever you share, create, or collaborate, you are working with copyright rules. These rules, codified in law, increasingly shape what you can and cannot do both online and offline. They influence how creators are supported, the options for expression online, and how we participate in society. We’re setting out a participatory process to develop a crowdsourced vision for copyright rules that work for everyone in the 21st century — ‘Your Digital Future.'”

It’s fun, thought-provoking and easy-to-use. Check it out today.

My take: to me, compensating for copyright and the right to copy in a digital age should be easy. See my two minute short on the subject. After all, the Internet logs every hit by design. It shouldn’t be that difficult to build on that.

Crowdfunding campaign design tips

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Indiegogo has released a 30-page resource called ‘Crowdfunding for Film Handbook.’

Sections include:

Preparing your campaign
Creating your campaign
Launching your campaign – and keeping momentum
Wrapping it up
Dos and Don’ts

The insights are invaluable. For instance, have a $25 perk because that’s the most popular level. Also, consider your overall strategy:

“A key thing to remember is that you can always overfund, and many do! In fact, 89% of campaigns on Indiegogo do just that, and by an average of 30%. The philosophy is simple: “Shoot low, aim high” – set a goal at an achievable amount, look to hit that number in half the time, and then “aim high” and surpass it by the time the campaign closes.”

My take: download this and study it. The takeaways will save you time and money. And the price is right!

Infographic: What’s wrong with your script

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What scripts get positive notes?

An anonymous script reader has crunched the numbers and summarized the results in a fascinating screenwriting infographic.

profound_whatever goes on to explain it all in this reddit post: I’ve covered 300 spec scripts for 5 different companies and assembled my findings into a snazzy infographic.

“I give a RECOMMEND if I can’t find anything to criticize. The script has a great idea (or a great execution of an okay idea) and took chances. A RECOMMEND script doesn’t have to buck the tropes; it just has to use them well, and has to have some self-awareness as it’s using them. Edgar Wright and Rian Johnson are both aware of the tropes of their genres (film noir, cop movie, caper flick, zombie movie, sci-fi), but know how to use them in a fresh way. Tropes are tropes for a reason: they work.”

In descending order, the problems are:

  1. The story begins too late in the script
  2. The scenes are void of meaningful conflict
  3. The script has a by-the-numbers execution
  4. The story is too thin
  5. The villains are cartoonish, evil-for-the-sake-of-evil
  6. The character logic is muddy
  7. The female part is underwritten
  8. The narrative falls into a repetitive pattern
  9. The conflict is inconsequential, flash-in-the-pan
  10. The protagonist is a standard issue hero
  11. The script favors style over substance
  12. The ending is completely anti-climactic
  13. The characters are all stereotypes
  14. The script suffers from arbitrary complexity
  15. The script goes off the rails in the third act
  16. The script’s questions are left unanswered
  17. The story is a string of unrelated vignettes
  18. The plot unravels through convenience/contrivance
  19. The script is tonally confused
  20. The script is stoic to a fault
  21. The protagonist is not as strong as need be
  22. The premise is a transparent excuse for action
  23. The character backstories are irrelevant/useless
  24. Supernatural element is too undefined
  25. The plot is dragged down by disruptive lulls
  26. The ending is a case of deus ex machina
  27. The characters are indistinguishable from each other
  28. The story is one big shrug
  29. The dialogue is cheesy, pulpy, action movie cliches
  30. The script is a potboiler
  31. The drama/conflict is told but not shown
  32. The great setting isn’t utilized
  33. The emotional element is exaggerated
  34. The dialogue is stilted and unnecessarily verbose
  35. The emotional element is neglected
  36. The script is a writer ego trip
  37. The script makes a reference, but not a joke
  38. The message overshadows the story

My take: this makes a great list to check your script against.

Microsoft wants to be a content company too

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Microsoft want to position its Xbox One as a platform for the content it plans to begin releasing next month.

“Starting this June, you’ll have more reasons to love your Xbox: Xbox Originals – premium dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation, unscripted shows, and live events. Available only on Xbox 360, Xbox One, and other Microsoft devices, every Xbox Originals show will offer interactive capabilities, as well as unique interactive features customized on a per-show basis, making it a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience you won’t find anywhere else.

Xbox Entertainment Studios has attracted a slew of top Hollywood talent to develop its original programming slate, with names like Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott attached to two separate scripted projects based on the “Halo” franchise – but that’s only the beginning. Other shows in production include an unscripted series about international street soccer, an original drama about robotic servants in a dystopian world, and a documentary about the search for discarded Atari games in a desert landfill – which were unearthed yesterday in New Mexico – amongst several others.”

Of course, Netflix is the streaming king right now; they are platform agnostic. The silent giant in the corner is Sony with its PS4 and vast media holdings.

My take: although Microsoft is loosing the next gen console wars on price alone, there’s an outside chance that those Kinect motion sensor cameras might be just the ticket they need to build in interactivity into narrative content. Everyone else is using a second screen to do that right now.

Lightning strikes twice in Victoria!

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Telefilm Canada has just released the results of their Micro-Budget Production Program competition for this year.

And the staggering news is that lightning has struck twice in Victoria, BC! (Three times if you include Maureen Bradley from last year.)

Congratulations to these winning teams:

  • The Devout, by Connor Gaston (director) and Daniel Hogg (producer)
  • Shadow in the Woods, by Jeremy Lutter (director and producer) and Robin Chan (producer)

Along with the other 13 winning teams, these filmmakers will share $1.5 million to produce their first features. That’s approximately $100K each.

My take: when CineVic was overlooked as one of the recommending partners last year, we lobbied to be included. So I feel very gratified now that Victoria has been so fortunate. You’re welcome, guys! (Disclosure: I sit on the CineVic Board of Directors.)

How to build a rabid crowd-funding audience

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Matthew Sherrington believes successful crowd-funding campaigns are all about winning.

Win-win — for both filmmakers and crowd-funders.

“A good fundraising story — and I mean your whole organisational story — needs to give the supporter the feeling they are the key to winning. You need to make supporters feel special. You need to help them know they make all the difference. You need them to know you can win, against all the odds, but that you need them on your team to do that.”

This is something to keep in mind when you pick your project, devise your pitch and design your perks.

My take: Sure, crowd-funding is about raising money. But more importantly, it’s about creating fans — fans who essentially buy tickets before your film is finished. Just as market research on titles and poster art drove Roger Corman’s decisions on what films to produce, your crowd-funders validate your project.

The State of Online Streaming Today

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Qwilt has just released a very interesting report.

Ignore the headline touting Amazon Instant Video.

The real takeaways are here:

  • Online Streaming grew by 54.9% last year.
  • Netflix grew their share by 5%, rising from 52.5% to 57.5%.
  • Youtube dropped 11.3% while Xbox remained flat.

From Qwilt:

“The source of data for this report is total volume of online video traffic from US cable operators where Qwilt video delivery systems are deployed. Our video delivery systems are inserted in operator network where we can see all online video traffic, both On Demand and Live, from any content provider. We measure traffic based on the source content provider such as Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Twitch, Apple or Amazon. Our reporting of content provider volumes is independent of the device consuming the video. So, if a consumer is watching Netflix on their Xbox, we record the event as Netflix traffic not Xbox. The same is true across Roku, Chromecast, SmartTVs, Desktops and mobile devices.”

My take: Netflix is pulling away and winning this race!

Women are bankable

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A recent study refutes the common belief in Hollywood that women are not bankable.

By cross-referencing box office numbers with the Bechdel Test, Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight has proven that films with two women that talk to each other about something other than men make more money than those that don’t.

“The total median gross return on investment for a film that passed the Bechdel test was $2.68 for each dollar spent. The total median gross return on investment for films that failed was only $2.45 for each dollar spent. And while this might be a side effect of films with lower budgets tending to have higher returns on investment than films with higher budgets, it’s still a strong indicator that films with women in somewhat prominent roles are performing well.”

Although the article is long, it makes very interesting reading.

My take: Why consistently ignore half your audience?