HAS YOUR FILM CATALOG BECOME A SLACKER?

A Short Essay on How Film and Television Distributors 
Can Survive Rough Waters Now, 
and Rougher Waters Ahead
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Written by
Stephen J. Kerr & Sarah Nean Bruce
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IMAGE-VIA KCBI.org

– 4 MINUTE READ –

PREAMBLE:

This article represents the next installment in our ongoing series, as we seek to advise and help film distributors, sales agents and other rights holders on “How To” maximize revenue, and minimize costs, of their catalog of movies, television series, and documentaries.

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➜ Roommates from hell that cost you money.

Remember when those nice new films came home with you?  They were funny, and exciting… so full of promise.  But now, they’ve grown lazy and almost completely useless.  What can you do with those dozens, or even hundreds of back catalog films that have worn out their welcome, and are no longer contributing to your household income?

Many sales agents and distributors are weighed down by past film acquisitions that no-longer provide any significant income to their bottom line, and sometimes add to their overhead (e.g., digital storage costs, rights management fees).

Distributors and Sales Agents are often unsure what to do with these films. They tolerate the titles because they need them on their website, and occasionally license them to some distant territory.  But, for the most part, older back catalog content does not carry its weight, it costs to store these titles (virtually), and often have become un-productive assets.

➜ Or, are they?

We’re not talking about “A” list titles with big movie stars and successful theatrical runs, we’re talking about those otherfilms, the ones that were never released theatrically and were only sold to a handful of territories overseas.  We use to call them “straight to video” titles.  Almost every sales agent and distributor has a few dozens of thosetitles in their back catalog.  They are not badmovies, just titles that have not been worth flogging in the global marketplace. These movie titles might be languishing in the hinter regions at Amazon, Hulu, Cinemax or Netflix.
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We presume that your company does not possess all rights to all the world’s territories for your movies/documentaries.  Most of you tell us, you have foreign rights only, and with those rights - sometimes - expiring in just a few years.  Or you may have domestic rights only, and your films are already available on Amazon or Netflix (or HBO / Starz / Cinemax / Epix / Showtime, etc.). 

➜ None of that matters.  There are still ways that you can extract money from these loafers. 

You are probably thinking right now that hiring a film sales person to call buyers around the country, and around the world, will be prohibitively expensive.  

And, you are probably right. That is why making money off your back catalog of films needs to be systematic, automatic, and cost-effective.  

​The good news is the entire process of monetizing – ingesting, localizing, versioning, storing, transferring and collecting money from broadcasters and directly from consumers – has become seamlessly automated, and low-cost.  

➜ Technology to the rescue!  

There are thousands of new OTT channels coming online, and (potentially) thousands of linear, niche broadcast channels that may want to license your content.  But these new wave streamers and broadcasters only pay a few hundred, or up to a few thousand dollars, per territory.  Many OTT channels pay through a rev share model, which means you need to lower the cost of rights clearances and delivery down to as close to zero as you can get it.  You will also need to streamline the localization and transfer of your content at a cost that is as little as possible.  Fortunately, there are technologically advanced services that will cut the labor, and cost, of delivering your content to broadcast and internet-based OTT channels down to dollars and cents – all with a couple of mouse clicks.

➜ Yes, but how?

To turn your slacker movies, television series, and documentaries into money making assets again, you need to do several important things:  

• ✓ Content should be mastered into the highest resolution that your media will support.  
• ✓ Chain-of-title documentation must be fully in order, including rights management.
• ✓ Captioning and sub-titling files are needed. 
• ✓ For A-VOD, you need natural advertising breaks built in (like a movie-of-the-week version).

If your movie and television assets reside on a server as ProRes files, if all your meta-data is in place, and your distribution rights are in order – then you are ready to start putting those assets back to work.  

Also, if you don’t already know, there is a new data storage and transfer protocol called Interoperable Master Format, or IMF for short, that many OTTs are adopting. This format enables better versioning, and deliverables.

➜ Versions and Genres and Niches, Oh My!

You probably are aware that some countries have different rules and censorship issues that may not work for your content, including violence, sex, alcohol, profanity and even smoking.  You may need to provide sanitized versions (similar to “airline versions”) of your content before they can be disseminated to certain territories.  As with delivery to foreign and domestic broadcasters, OTTs also need these sanitized versions for streaming around the world. What about localizing content, captioning, subtitling, and foreign language dubbing in the global landscape?With certain high-end, leading-edge, technology companies, these requirements can be met with one IMF file and your edit list of changes, additions, and omissions to sound and picture. 

​Now may be the time that you segment your legacy content into genre categories like horror/thriller, family, romance, drama, sci-fi, and art-house.  Consider bundling your niche titles (or do a content swap) and lay off titles that don’t define your brand.  Look to sub-license to specialists in a specific genre, such as Christian, Horror, or Art-House. There are OTT channels, and other specialty broadcasters, around the world that appeal to niche audiences, and who willingly pay for the rights to license your older genre titles on their platforms.

➜ Have it built, so these freeloaders get your audience to come directly to you.

​If you have a strong brand, premium content, and loyal audience, you might consider your own OTT. 

There are several companies that can build, manage, deliver and monetize your content for your OTT at a low cost. Those companies have already created, and operate, the complex processing requirements. They may also leverage the power of cloud-based services from Amazon Web Services (AWS), and AWS Elemental.

➜ Evolve… Perish… (or Retire). 

To survive, you must find new ways to make money in the film and television distribution business, or you should consider merging or selling your company.  Distributors and Sales Agents have a fiduciary responsibility to their content producers – to manage the rights, and to keep the assets organized / intact. Otherwise, they should consider surrendering that content back to the producers and filmmakers so it can be exploited elsewhere. 

The BAD NEWS:No longer can you rely on your back-catalog titles to carry their weight and offset overhead costs, without doing some work.  

The GOOD NEWS:There is a huge and growing market for your content, including the 4K / UHD rights on your best titles. And, all this is just waiting for you to exploit it.  The global OTT market is massive, and is getting larger every day.  

​It’s time for your older movies, television shows, and documentaries to get off their rear-ends and start contributing to your bottom line. 

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Let us help you.

Our firm, Bel Âge Médias (B.Â.M.}, is a company specializing in providing Business Development, Branding Guidance, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) expertise, Exit Strategies, and Investment Banking services. Additionally, under out ongoing Streaming / OTT / 4K / Ultra HD initiative, we continue pursuing strategic alignments with high-end, entertainment technology providers, and explore low-cost alternatives for theatrical, televised, streamed, and online distribution of 4K and 2K films & television programs globally.
 
Bel Âge Médias • Santa Monica, California
Call Us - or Visit Us Online - or Email Us:
+1 310 666-6474 
https://belagemedias.com/  
Stephen(@)BelAgeMedias.com • Sarah(@)BelAgeMedias.com

LinkedIn-Stephen J. Kerr – https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenjkerr
LinkedIn Sarah Nean Bruce – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahneanbruce

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Endnotes / References: 
1 – THE OTT VIEW-NIVERSE: A MAP OF THE NEW VIDEO ECOSYSTEM |  VARIETY – 04/29/2015 By Andrew Wallenstein http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/ott-map-video-ecosystem-1201480930/

2 - TO EXIT, OR NOT TO EXIT – STRATEGIES FOR FILM DISTRIBUTORS |  BMC Online – 09/18/2017 by Stephen J. Kerr http://www.bizmark.net/blogs/to-exit-or-not-to-exit-strategies-for-film-distributors

3 - HOW TO BUY SELL MERGE OR VALUE A FILM DISTRIBUTOR | BMC Online – 06/06/2017 by Stephen J. Kerr
http://www.bizmark.net/blogs/how-to-buy-sell-merge-or-value-a-film-distributor

4 - CAPITALIZING ON OVER-THE-TOP CONTENT DEMAND | BMC Online – 09/11/2018 By Stephen J. Kerr 
http://www.bizmark.net/blogs/capitalizing-on-over-the-top-content-demand

5 - WHAT IS YOUR 4K / UHD STRATEGY? | BMC Online – 01/05/2017 by Stephen J. Kerr http://www.bizmark.net/blogs/what-is-your-4k-uhd-strategy

Image Credits: 
IMAGE-VIA-kcbi-sleeping-on-couch.jpg – via KCBI.org
PHOTO_Sarah&Stephen.png – via BelÂgeMédias

Categories: #content #distribution #entertainment #OTT

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SIMULTANEOUSLY PUBLISHED AT:

LinkedIn-Stephen J. Kerr – https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/stephenjkerr

​LinkedIn Sarah Nean Bruce – https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/sarahneanbruce

BAM News – https://belagemedias.com/news/