The Business of Entertainment:

Tribeca Film Festival Talk 2011, SVA-2 Theater, April 27, 2:30pm, sponsored by Bloomberg, with Charlie Rose one on one conversation with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, and legendary Hollywood producer, director & studio head Joe Roth, about the future of entertainment business

Today's talk is actually a great one to attend-- Charlie Rose could not have chosen  guests who have as diverse difference than these two-- one is all Ivy League B School multi-degree earner, looking 3,000 feet above, and the other is a high school drop out, looking 2 feet ahead of his floor, completely working on his own instinct using street smart, work his way through day by day.  But the result are the same, when it comes to success-- they are both most successful leader in their own field.  You would ask-- there are so many ivy-leaguers, and high-school -drop-outs-- The common denominator of these two for success are hard working plus dumb luck. 

Charlie Rose with Jeff Bewkes, CEO Time Warner
photography: wen wen lin 2011

Charlie Rose with Jeff Bewkes:

(1) digital revolution:  reinventing and restoring Time Warner-- HBO went digital 20 yrs ago, at HBO created original movies of their own to meet the challenge at that time, when VCR and DVD were threats to their existence.  HBO started to produce their own shows and movies, such as Soprano and now Entourage, which gain them great success.  The cable and HBO are going head on this time with digital revolution (streaming ) challenge, facing so many fierce competitor such as Netflix, which was not taken seriously as a threat at first a few yrs ago.

(2) POD vs free TV: active audience instead of passive audience:  when the TV is completely free, the audience was not free, in terms of choice.  The viewers were under the control of the TV station, they couldn't choose what they wanted to watch at the time they want to.  The TV and channel station acted as connector from the audience to the advertisement.  The world is going to the direction for the freedom of choice of the viewers-- the viewers decide when to watch, what and where.  So POD is the future.

(3) Is Cable on the way to decline, when facing digital internet live streaming challenge?  Time Warner Cable revenue is up 30%, when all other business is down 20% the past 2 yrs--  and Time Warner stocks are up more than 100% last yr--  it says so far, there is still so much demand, and the structure is so immense, it is hard to replace it right away.  MY question is:  what about 5 yrs from now?  Netflix is already in 25 million homes, and will be in 75 million homes in 3 yrs.  The future of cable seems doomed, if they do not invent anything and reinvent themselves soon.  The recent success is just a flip back from the bottom because it dived too fast down 2 yrs ago in the world economic crisis.  Dead cat bounce, maybe.  They would have to face the reality that is going to set in....  It is those who can see the future, and do something about it wins....

(4) indies on cable:  conventional venues, and structure are very unforgiving when it comes to indies film.  But when it is on cable, it gets to be seen 10 times more than the conventional theater release-- so cable is a encouragement to indies film.

(5) here is a great idea for 3D  film-- 3D porn!  Ha. envision it!   :)))

Charlie Rose with Joe Roth, legendary independent producer
photography: wen wen lin 2011 

Charlie Rose with Joe Roth:

(1) Alice in Wonderland:  the producer is Joe Roth-- who has no degree, completely relying on his 6th sense to decide which is a good script, and to what degree it is going to be produced, and in what budge.    The film gross 1 billion, and is the 6th largest gross ever in film history.  When he started, 25 yrs ago, he made his first film with $35,000, and with no where to distribute it, and he had to rely on a porn outlet to do it, and the result is that the film gross 1 million.  Joe Roth will follow this model for his future film: do a classic all time story that moves all different generations of all ages, but retell the story with extreme new digital technology-- sort of dressing the old with new.  And it is proven to be a good formula for success, at least for Alice In Wonderland!

Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton, Produced by Joe Roth, 2010

(2) the new way for producing: A producer's job is the first man in to see potential, follow the whole way through, and the last man out to promote the film.  The time is tough now, so the weak links got cast out, those who made bad films, or so so films would not get any fundings, and actually it leaves the best better chance than before to produce.

The Sixth Sense, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Produced by Joe Roth, 1999

(3) the future of theater:  95% of what a movie makes relies on the first 30days release in the theater-- The film maker and the producer have zero control over how long the film is going to stay in the theater.  The conventional way of distribution is stiff and do not have much flexibility.  A film has about 3 weeks' life span in a theater, followed by 4 months frozen in cold (that's when the pirate version comes out), and then it is released to DVD or POD.  If the production company actually owns the theater-- they could decide what to and what not to, and maybe to have it as POD the second week after release???  it would change the whole business if the production company actually own the theater.

(4) funding for indies:  it is impossible to raise capital in the studio for docu film.  However, there is a worldwide audience for low budget art-film, the most recent success is King's Speech, and Black Swan.  Target 40 yrs and up more sophisticated audience.

Home Alone, directed by Chris Columbus, Produced by Joe Roth, 1990

i hope that you enjoy the talk as much as i do-- in that case....

I Shall Be Back...

goodnight and good sleep

from wen wen da neuvo yorku