EMST 3150 TEST 2
Cable network branding
- Cable networks produce shows that appeal to specific target audience >> HGTV, Lifetime - Cable networks are in constant competition for attention in a crowded marketplace - In addition of new networks means that cable networks constantly need to refine and redefine their brand identity >> Abc family → freeform
cable networks vs service
- Cable networks produce shows that appeal to specific target audiences - Cable networks are in constant competition for attention in a crowded marketplace - The addition of new networks means that cable networks constantly need to refine and redefine their brand identity.
alternative / reality programming
- Docusoap, makeover, and gamedoc (all sub-genres of reality) - Inexpensive to produce, but few have long-term success - Not as valuable in syndication
who are the key regulatory bodies of the US Gov?
FCC , FTC , DOJ
cost-plus financing
Network finances the entire cost but then owns the rights
media supply chains
Production (create) → festival / market (organize) → distributor (fund) → portal (organize) → ISP (deliver) ← viewer Production → broadcast network (fund / organize) → station (organize / deliver) → viewer Production → cable channel (fund / organize) → multi channel (organize / deliver) → viewer Production → portal (fund / organize) → ISP (deliver) ← viewer
Monk and USA
USA - form of syndicated programming R-eruns -Inexpensive - Nostalgia, built in audience - No production costs - Not new, unoriginal - Minimizes risks AND reward MONK - Success of Monk helped USA find its footing and start developing variation on detective / crime procedurals - Demanding actor - Wanted to avoid being insensitive - ABC brought Monk over to USA for a cable network with smaller audience and "more risks" - More complex and complicated characters - USA branded themselves as "characters welcome"
ratings system
When the critic uses a scale to show the degree of how much they recommend the movie - G, PG, PG 13, NC 17, R
niche audiences
a relatively small audience that is defined by a shared interest or need
manager
anyone can be a manager, work with minimal clients, can develop projects with talent, focus on big picture career guidance questions
deficit financing
practice of funding government by borrowing to make up the difference between government spending and revenue
cable programming (syndicated vs original scripted)
syndicated (reruns) - Dominant form of cable programming (only started to shift in 2000s) - Selecting popular shows and programming according to broad demographic information - ex: USA reruns - Investing in content that could differentiate the network - success of Monk helped USA find its footing and start developing variations on detective/crime procedurals
synergy
the power that results from the combination of two or more forces - A buzzword used to describe belief that in conglomerating various media operations or companies, the combined value is greater than the sum of the individual parts due to the potential of cross-promotion. - The value is enabled by owning multiple media outlets (horizontal INTEGRATION). - In practice, it means selling the same story over and over again... - Disney synergy: merchandising licensing, Disneyland, walt disney magazine, comic strips, art corner shops, new issues, distrib co, tv commercials, business films, 16mm films, music, tv, publications...
block booking
the practice of requiring exhibitors to rent groups of movies (often inferior) to secure a better one - Block booking → worked with line bidding → studios won't arrange screenings for their property (exhibition) a) Big star films b) Adaptations c) Not as successful d) Mediocre
economies of scale
the property whereby long-run average total cost falls as the number of output increases - how media is distributed (local, nat, internat)
distribution rights
the rights to circulate a particular movie in different parts of the world - The right of an author to place a copy of a copyrighted work into circulation for the first time.
TV Dual Product
the situation that occurs when a company sells two completely different types of "products" to two completely different sets of buyers - content (the show, thing you watch - the audience for the show
turnaround
turnaround time represents the amount of time that the film crew will have to relax, spend time with friends, take a shower, eat, and sleep. For most film sets, especially those that are union, turnaround time has a standard of 12 hours on, 12 hours off A turnaround or turnaround deal is an arrangement in the film industry whereby the production costs of a project that one studio has developed are declared a loss on the company's tax return, thereby preventing the studio from exploiting the property any further.
development hell
when a script gets caught in a cycle of rewriting that keeps it from getting the green light
package deal
put together by producer; term for arrangement that film producers make in order to engage the services of composers, arrangers, cutters, supervisors, copyists, librarians, instrumentalists and recording/mixing engineers in a project
government regulation
the government gives a single firm the exclusive right to produce some good or service - industry structure >How we watch > Who profits -content > what we see on the screen - IP, trademark, copyright --> complex processing of licensing
scheduling
- Assembling a schedule that balances licensing fee, advertising dollars, and network brand - Considering lead-insTime blocks are 30 and 60 minutes(irregular lengths would throw of the entire schedule) - Primetime slots are the most valuable ! (8- 9:30pm)
film vs tv production
- Develop properties for television >>> Deficit Financing: Network pays a portion of the production cost (in exchange for a license to air the show) a) Allows networks to have creative input b) License does not cover cost of the show — studios have to make-up the difference c) Studios retain syndication rights and can sell them off in the future if the show is successful >>> Cost-plus: Network covers cost of production plus an additional fee a) Studio can retain a modest profit, but doesn't retain the syndication rights
disney franchising
- Franchises are essential toDisney's business model - First use of the term "franchise"in relation to media was connected to the Honey, I BlewUp the Kid (Kleiser, 1992) - Disney owns a number of lucrative franchises, but also develops talent into franchises >> Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, theJonas Brothers, etc disney franchises: Pixar (toy story, monsters inc, cars...) Lucasfilm (star wars) the muppets marvel (avengers) winnie the pooh pirates of the Caribbean
policy and political leadership influences content
- Governmental policy has a profound influence on media policies and industrial structures - Ronald Reagan (former actor and Screen ActorsGuild President) was responsible for loosening restrictions on the media industries
horizontal intergration and hilary duff's career
- In today's media landscape dominated by largely vertical and horizontally integrated corporations, ''business interest'' is not the singular imperative of one tightly controlled company, but more often a product of different subsidiaries, corporate divisions, or licensed partnerships - each with their own specific business interests - working together on a larger project. hilary Duff and Disney's ''fresh face factory'' offers a useful example as the latest concerted effort by the multinational conglomerate long known for leveraging its holdings in film, television, consumer products, and theme parks to boost its bottom line. The relationship between Disney's Lizzie McGuire franchise and Duff's star image in the early 2000s exemplifies the contested terrain of stardom in contemporary media culture, where the management of star images must increasingly reckon with the management of intellectual property networks of franchise brands a star text constructed by the sum of our interactions with her as the Disney Channel character Lizzie McGuire, various promotional materials,press interviews, gossip columns, film roles, critics' commentaries, and a host of other interrelated texts.
post production (union vs non union)
- It is difficult to move between different categories - Getting jobs requires a tremendous amount of hustle and networking (even if you are in the union) Categories: Union / Non-union 1) Reality (unscripted, awards, documentary); NON UNION 2) Scripted ; UNION 3) VFX ; UNION - a union is a group of two or more people who have come together or people have joined for the purposes of collective bargaining in a labor situation. specific amount of hours - a nonunion means not belonging to a labor union : not accepting labor unions : not having employees who are members of a labor union POST PRODUCTIONG R O U P S L I K E B L U E C O L L A R P O S T C O L L E C T I V EH O S T N E T W O R K I N G S E S S I O N S , M E E T- U P S , E T C .
The Mouse House of CardsDisney Tween Stars and Questions of Institutional Authorship - Lindsay Hogan
- Lizzie McGuire: age 13 when cast. - hit tv show, music career, move, national concert tour, DVD releases - Disney is a multimedia empire building lucrative franchises around young performers like Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, or the Jonas Brothers became one of the Mouse House'smost profitable and well-known strategies - characterizing Disney tween stars as factory-produced products offer one way we might understand such visible cultural symbols of celebrity - as products of a commercial system, or texts authored by industry.4 The ''star machine'' discourse has a long history, of course, particularly in relation to the classic film studio era (roughly 1931-50) - the idea of a ''fresh face factory'' makes star creation look easy, but despite the best efforts of Hollywood (or any other industry, for that matter), commercial success and audience reception are never guaranteed. >> A variety of factors are simultaneously at play, running within, against, and alongside the corporate star machine,'' including individual audience tastes, social hierarchies, and other historical contexts.
motion picture production code
- Motion Picture Production Code - Adopted in 1930, but heavily enforced beginning in 1934. - Code was in effect until 1968, but began to loosen in the 1950s - Enforced by the Production CodeAdministration (PCA) and commonly known as the "HaysCode." - Among other things this code banned homosexuality, affairs, drug abuse, rapes, alc, and miscegenation, and required "compensating moral values" - Was replaced by the version of the contemporary MPAA rating system
how concentration limits access
- Proposed key nodes where most potential for gatekeeping power lies but also makes a central claim that any players power at one single node may have only limited influence on broader circulation of cult products unless that player also enjoys control over multiple nodes within the border system - FCC sets limits on media concentration
Op-Ed: How the streaming wars are changing what you watch
- Streaming services are upending the film industry's traditional model and consolidating power just as Hollywood's major studios did during its Golden Age in the 1930s - AT&T is spinning off warner media to merge it with discovery, forming a giant conglomerate. - amazon is acquiring MGM - As the power to produce and exhibit films online consolidates under the control of a few select companies, that shift will reshape what gets made and seen --> these platforms are slowly limiting the content they offer to what they produce themselves. - from the taditional consumer value lens , audiences are winning: > Streaming subscriptions usually cost less than traditional cable bundles > providing access to a broad range of titles as libraries consolidate > BUT the market looks very different from the vantage point of smaller competitors: independent producers and distributors - Small producers have always had to fight against the big studios to get their films seen. But they also relied on a robust independent theater market to help them break out. - Under streaming, however, the switch to a subscription service upends that dynamic. - netflix has upended the doc market by pushing filmmakers toward a less political "story first" approach --> production teams are having to adjust to netflix's decisions to ban the most pop digital camera in hollywood in its productions --> blurry cinematography - The new dynamics of streaming have also introduced new complications into how Hollywood compensates its talent - This uncertainty might scare away potential movie financers while forcing top talent to tie themselves to studios and tried-and-true franchises rather than choose their own projects - For more than a century, the U.S. has used antitrust laws to break up or curb monopolies that strangle competition. - It is time to investigate whether streaming giants should divest their film production divisions and operate exclusively as online exhibitors. - President Biden sets a robust antitrust agenda and Lina Khan, the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, is rethinking how to frame competition. They have the opportunity to expand their focus beyond Big Tech and toward Hollywood. - The old consent decrees from the Paramount case were ended in 2020, but consolidation in Hollywood's streaming landscape is creating an anti-competitive market as pernicious as the domination of Google, Apple and Facebook in digital infrastructure. - Federal and state regulators are suing Google, accusing it of abusing its market power, and some are discussing how a breakup could restore competition.
financial interest and syndication rules (fin - syn)
- Television was produced by the broadcast networks as well as other production companies. - In 1971, the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) was concerned with networks' control over TV production (as well as exhibition and distribution) - Essentially concerned that television was becoming too much like studio-era Hollywood - FCC thought this stymied diversity of programming RULES 1) networks could no longer have a financial interest in the production or syndication of their own shows 2) a show made to be sold to other networks (first run syndication) 3) a show that airs on a network and later licensed to another network (off- network syndication , or "reruns")
conglomeration minimizes financial risk
- always keep in mind that this is the PRIMARY OBJECTIVE of most media makers - media producers take adv of ECONOMIES OF SCALE / SCOPE - larger companies can absorb a large flop - companies with diversified interests might be able to recuperate costs through subsidiaries - ex: The Lone Ranger , Ben hur, Heaven's Gate
NATO (National theater owners of America)
- exhibition trade organization work with distribution - theatrical releases - keep members - create non profits fundraises to promote the industry - employe voluntary rating system - fight movie theft
Lobbyists
- people hired by private groups to influence government decision-makers. - they represent the interests of the media industries 1) National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2) National Cable and Telecommunications Association(NCTA) 3) Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) 4) Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) 5) National Association of Theater Owners (NATO
NAB (National Association of Broadcasters)
- represent commercial and non commercial over the air radio and tv broadcasting - improves quality and profitability of broadcasting - against harmful taxing and adv - promote diversity in non commercial and commercial areas
horizontal merger
- the combination of two or more firms competing in the same market with the same good or service. - acquiring media companies of similar types ex: Disney. Horizontal integration is when Disney develops material that is not directed towards their target market. This allows Disney to expand their business and create a new target market, giving them more profit. For example, Disney began as an animation studio that targeted families and children.
vertical merger
- the combination of two or more firms involved in different stages of producing the same good or service - acquiring supplies and / or distrib in order to integrate production and distrib - ex: paamount - Vertical integration helps a company to reduce costs across different parts of its production process. - It also creates tighter quality control and guarantees a better flow and control of information across the supply chain.
syndication
- the licensing of mass media material to outlets on a market-by-market basis. - Networks could no longer have a financial interest in the production or syndication of their own shows:
NCTA (national cable and telecommunications association)
- the principal trade association for US broadcasters, tv industries , and internet - opposes net neutrality, municipal broadband, and the FCC connect america fund
Who won in relation to the fin-syn rules? (4)
1) FCC - trying to reduce the monopoly of the big networks, create competition in the marketplace, and winner/loser 2) Broadcast networks: had to divest their interest in tv production; tried to find loopholes to the regulations ; loser 3) Cable networks - grew immensely ; winner. Now have a great deal of money to work with - were aloud to flourish bc of fin-syn >>Via-com 4) Viewer - more stuff to watch - more places to watch it
the big 3 / big 5 talent agencies
1) WME - William morris endeavor 2) UTA - united talent agency 3) CAA - creative artists agency (the death star) 4) APA - agency performing artists 5) Paradigm talent agency What do the big agencies do? - Represent talents and their interest in diff media - Use large client lists to create package deals that bring together interested financiers with talents and /or group talent >> Ex: WGA threatens to sue agents claims packaging fees are illegal kickbacks
what kinds of media do you want available?
1) conglomeration - when several smaller bus entities are combined under a single corporate umbrella 2) consolidation - the reduction of competitors to a few media companies (leads to oligopoly) 3) cooperation - ways that media companies retain their indep, but work together ( first look deals and co. productions)
media audiences (3 ways)
1) constructed audience a) predicted audience >>> what forecasters believe the anticipated audience will be - adv have to buy space before something airs b) measured audience - Nielsen ratings (or the number of viewers) or box office totals - confirms the value of the prediction (did the show garner the predicted numbers) - used to shape future predictions 2) actual / real audience - number of viewers - there are certain unobtainable truths about the number of viewers and their attention - advertisers buy/care about audience sales - we / us / you care about content, subscriber fees, and sales of network to cable or satellite systems
media regulation exs in modern media
1) replacing Kevin spacey as industry self-regulation 2) armie hammer and death on the nile 3) Ezra miller in the flash 4) john lasseter : sky dance for hiring john lasseter: it endorses and perpetuates a broken system not all leadership made the same decisions about what constitutes a good PR move
spec script market
1995: 173 scripts were purchased for production 2000 : 92 2005 : 58 2010: 55 2018: 40 (2 of these scripts were from new writers) 2021 : 34 (1 of these scripts was from a new writer) > Disney has not bought a script on spec since 2015
Media Regulation
3 key questions: 1) who regulates? 2) what is regulated? 3) how do regulations affect the products of the media industries? - Learn policies, and use three questions to understand policies prodiopswed in the future
upfronts
A period of media buying in which advertisers purchase time on network television a few months before (May) the new season of shows begin (September). They are thus bought "up-front." a showcase of the new fall schedule - historically in may, but now its a "season" that runs from march to may - networks put on a huge show and "wine and dine" adv as they try to get them to buy ad space upfront
Neoliberalism
A strategy for economic development that calls for free markets, balanced budgets, privatization, free trade, and minimal government intervention in the economy. - What separates neoliberalism from previous forms of capitalism is the concentration of power in financial institutions and the use of exotic financial instruments, such as derivatives and securitization, to exert control over the means of production - "neoliberalism" is somewhat vague: it can refer to political projects, ideologies, economic shifts, and other reconfigurations that have developed since 1970.
corporate venture capital (CVC)
A venture capital fund owned and managed by a corporation instead of independent investors. (internal force) - Originally created to allow customers to finance the purchase of consumer products manufactured by the industrial division, the financial arms of major corporations are now often growing faster than their manufacturing divisions.
copyright
An exclusive right granted by the federal government allows the owner to reproduce and sell an artistic or published work. - life + 100 yrs. book pre 1923 - The legal act of rights to an original work, is a means of registering ownership of intellectual property - Created as way to help authors profit from their creative endeavors - Register your work at US copyright office and library of congress -Claim offers - Tangible form - proof - Copyright has its limits - its becoming more ambiguous with digitization of messages and free exchange through computers When you copyright a work you have a) Reproduction right b) Distribution rights c) Performance rights d) Digital performance rights e) Display rights f) Derivative rights
work-for-hire
Anything prepared by someone within the scope of employment and, therefore, considered the property of the employer. - an agreement that when someone comes onto a project they do not own the copywrite
financialized hollywood and the importance of the financial sector on hollywood business practices (dewaard reading)
Abstract: The financial sector has a hidden but dramatic effect on Hollywood: three institutional investors hold the largest investment stakes in nearly all major companies; corporate venture capital has emerged within every entertainment conglomerate; and private equity firms have enacted leveraged buyouts of companies in all sectors, including production, distribution, exhibition, talent agencies, audience measurement, trade press, and content catalogs. This article argues that "financialized Hollywood" is a dangerous development; financial engineering strategies are extracting capital and reducing operational capacity, further depriving Hollywood of the diversity and heterogeneity it might provide the public sphere. - structural trends have transformed the US media industry by emphasizing the growth of corporations, integration, globalization, the concentration of ownership, digitization, networking, and deregulation - "The new rulers of Hollywood—and of the global entertainment industry at large," film historian Thomas Schatz claims, detailing "Conglomerate Holly-wood," are "not the studios but their parent companies, the media giants like Viacom(owner of Paramount Pictures), Sony (Columbia), Time Warner (Warner Bros.), and news Corp. (20th Century Fox). - the media giants have become beholden to the larger process of financialization. The big conglomerates still dominate film and television production and distribution, but they are mere investment and profit-extraction opportunities for powerful firms whose watchwords are highly leverage debt, labor efficiencies, and speculation
stars as models of intertextuality
According to Hogan (via Richard Dyer) we understand stars in relation to: 1) Promotion 2) Publicity 3) Film/tv roles 4) Criticism - Companies like Disney work hard across divisions to control and craft a cohesive public image that aligns with television and film roles - Richard Dyer introduced the idea of a star text, approaching the star image as an intertextual construct formed across a variety of media and cultural practices, capable of intervening in the meaning of particular films or works of art, but also worthy of analysis as a text in its own right.
key challenges disney faces when building a star
As kid-targeted family-friendly films, these roles both drew on and contributed to Duff's existing star image without significantly challenging her Disney persona; in fact, they synced quite well with the way Disney continued to benefit from Duff's star image via Lizzie re-runs on Disney Channel and ABC Saturday mornings even after her contract ended. The non-Disney film projects did, however, lessen Duff's reliance on Disney's co-brand in her star image and empower her and her mother with leverage to negotiate (and ultimately decline)further agreements with Disney. This business model necessitates certain adaptations for Disney, particularly in the move from franchises driven by animated characters to live-action franchises driven by young performers. This presents new developmental and promotional challenges for Disney, as young stars present issues of contracted earnings, aging, and a sense of agency that copyrighted animated characters often do not. short-term, single-project contracts can make it harder for a company to continue to benefit from its investment in launching a star once the talent becomes successful. Though Disney corporate discourse often refers to the Disney Channel's talent-driven strategies as ''developing'' or ''incubating'' young stars, the encompassing contracts and fast-paced production schedules instituted by Disney illustrate the speedy saturation needed for a compressed product life cycle, especially once they sign a performer to a franchise deal. These competing discourses reveal the challenge Disney faces in trying to control the authorship of young star brands for its financial benefit while also appearing to act in the young star's best interest. --> To reconcile tension, executives rebuff any suggestions of hasty overproduction or corporate control with a sort of ''now or never'' appeal to anxieties of age and the high turnover of the kids' market.
what advertisers care about
Audience sales!!!!! - Broadcast tv (Abc , nbc, cbs, fox, cw) - Cable tv systems (Comcast, charter) - Cable tv networks (Bravo. Espn) - Broadcast radio - Newspapers - Consumer magazines - Trade magazines - Internet sites
domain
Being in the public domain refers to cinematic, dramatic, literary, musical and artistic works that no government, organization, or individual owns, and as such is common property. Films in this list may incorporate elements from other works that are still under copyright, even though the film itself is out of copyright.
what can / cant be copyrighted?
CAN - Dance, Music, Art, movie/film, Books, Plays, scripts CAN'T - parody, news commentary, criticism - Can't copyright an idea - Clearances and adaptations - Not everything requires clearance >>Freely adat any pre 1923 facts/ non fiction are free >> Public domain >> News and history are free >> Ideas (arent expressions or written in a tangible form are free) >> Scenes a faire are free >> As a young filmmaker/ writer, if you want to adapt something you should look for a short story rather than a book
pretty little liars article on tv development (bob levy)
DEVELOPMENT HELL! - PLL was conceived in development department of alloy entertainment. a book packaging company that's effectively an entertainment concept think tank that crates ideas ripe for transmedia exploitation in books, tv, film - demographic in YA fiction a nd partners with young novelists - PLL began as an idea in 2000 and a book series in 2005. sold as book series first with idea of tv version in mind - similar tones and themes to desperate housewives: strong mystery hook. "teen desperate housewives" - BC alloy is a company and its employees jobs are to ideate new concept, the company owns the idea - sara shepard responded to the concept to PPL a nd agreed to spec a book proposal in collab with alloy staff. HarperCollins won the rights to publish PPL in a competitive situation among several publishing houses 1) first went to LA at Warner Brothers in a POD Deal. - had 2 writers writing 2 separate version of PPL on 2 coasts in summer/fall of 2005 (NY and LA) - conflict over plot / character changes - WB parent company announced the WB was folding, merging with UPN network, forming the CW and tosses and wrote off PPL 2) the show was in a "bite" - a tv network gets a 2nd chance too develop projects once its been bought. networks rarely take a2nd bite on development - project at CW began in 2006. no longer teen oriented but no 20 something yr olds -published a few books - CW creative adjustments caused confusion --> CW announced its first round of network pilot pickups and it didn't make the cut. 3) CXW passed it back to Alloy and ABC family became aware that the book was available again - won the right in a bidding war against MTV - Marlene King involved in production - 1st major goal was to make the audience relate and like the characters + secret foregrounds - 2nd goal was t introduce the overarching mystery of Alison - Lee greenlight the pilot --> pre production and hired Zane / Pillsbury casting company - Lucy Hale and her role within casting as Aria - tv show pilot shot in Vancover, British Columbia -ABC loved the pilot. took 5 years of development
pre production
Defining the parameters of the project and making preliminary decisions about conveying the intended message to the audience - location scouting for ex: Shooting in ga = Tax breaks, Cheaper labor, Est media industry, Authenticity, Money, Transportation hub - casting: most talent and crew live out in LA. top film industries in LA, NY, GA - extras (typically done wherever the film / tv show are being shot)
performance rights
Exclusive right given to the creator of copyrighted material to authorize the use of the work in public. - What a theatre must obtain from a publisher in order to put on a show
silver lake partners and TPG Capital, hollywoods private equity shadow studios
Following the financial crisis in 2008, many financial elites sought to take advantage of low interest rates and a landscape of distressed assets. Two private equity firms, Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital, took a particular interest in Hollywood and have since assembled their own versions of film and television conglomerates
franchising as strategy
Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its business model, brand, and rights to sell its branded products and services to a franchisee. In return, the franchisee pays certain fees and agrees to comply with certain obligations, typically set out in a franchise agreement.
benefits of media concentration
Functionalists see media concentration or the consolidation of any business as a step toward greater economic efficiency. In their view, consolidation reduces the cost of operations, freeing capital for the development of new creative outlets. industrial changes began in 1985: - conglomeration led to concentrated ownership - media companies became horizontally and vertically integrated
premium cable
In more recent years, premium cable refers to networks - such as Home Box Office (HBO), Cinemax, Showtime, The Movie Channel, Flix, Starz, MoviePlex, and Epix - that scramble or encrypt their signals so that only those paying additional monthly fees to their cable system can legally view them (via the use of a converter box).
derivative rights
Law restricting altering content, taking extracts from it, combining it with another work, translating it into another language, or otherwise creating a new work from an existing work.
pilot season
January through April, when pilots are ordered and made - During the beginning of pilot season, major networks purchase pilot scripts. Out of all of the pilots they buy, they then decide which ones will be cast and shot, (this is also pilot season for actors).
institutional investors
Large organizations - such as pension funds, mutual funds, and insurance companies - that invest their own funds or the funds of others - This pattern of common ownership by institutional investors is readily apparent in the media sector - The BigThree are right where we should expect them: they own the largest stakes in all rival companies, gravely harming competition. Vanguard, the largest provider of mutual funds and the inventor of the index fund, holding more than $5 trillion in assets under management, owns the largest stake in Disney, Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, andAT&T, and the second-largest stake in CBS and Netflix largest institutional shareholders in the largest publicity traded media companies (2018) 1. disney (DIS) - funded by vanguard, blackrock, state street, state farm (17.01%) 2. comcast (CMCSA) - funded by vanguard, blackrock, capital world investors, state street (17.8%) 3. time warner (TWX) - funded by vanguard, blackrock, dodge and cox, state street (16.36%) 4. CBS 5. fox 6. netflix 7. verizon 8. AT&T
why do creators sign away their rights?
Make money Access to resources (funding, distrib, marketing) Association Extent of press license Publication Of the work Copyright registration Publicity
the year of network tv : a timeline
jan = pilots ordered jan - april = pilot season may = upfronts june - aug = listen to pitches for the coming yr sept = current yr fall network premiers sept - dec = successful pitches are turned into pilots
agent
licenses, have lots of clients, ,might be specialized, tale 10% of profits (negotiate the best deal. Client focused / serving, very structured - Operate on diff timelines for applications
Deregulation
The lifting of government restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities. It is promoted wherever and whenever possible, especially for financial mechanisms, resulting in the protection o flenders, the opening of trade frontiers, the privatization of social protection and pen-sions, the curbing of inflationary pressures through monetary policies, and the dramatic rise of government and household debt. Media industry historians consider the de-regulation of media ownership restrictions and the easing of antitrust concerns in the1980s and 1990s, such as the Telecommunications Act of 1996, to be transformational events, but far less remarked on is the corresponding deregulation of financial mechanisms that occurred during the same era.
private equity in hollywood
Previously known as leveraged buyout firms or "corporate raiders" during their rise in the 1980s, private equity (PE) firms are a specialized, high-risk type of investment fund that is subject to minimal regulatory oversight.
Package Unit System
Production on a film by film basis during which a temporary team is put together often through an independent production company Though the package-unit system generally allows stars more decision-making power and authority over their own star image, this is somewhat complicated for child or teen stars, whose status as a minor means their agency is often overshadowed and/or taken advantage of by those claiming to work on their behalf. Short-term, project-based contracts are key to the contemporary industry package-unit system, but they present obstacles for a company like Disney thatseeks to ''develop'' talent with its corporate brand.
television development (network schedule and Levy article)
network development - Shows need to align with schedule and be appealing to the demographics that advertisers want to capture - Attempting to capture a mass audience (but this is increasingly an impossibility) - Every year executives are narrowing from hundreds of pitches at each network to ~22 new shows across all network
DOJ (Department of Justice)
Responsible of prosecution of those suspected of medical fraud and abuse - Assesses mergers and acquisitions along with the FTC. Influences film, broadcast, cable, internet, and other non-media businesses.
FTC (Federal Trade Commission)
prevents the unfair, false, or deceptive advertising of consumer products and services - Regulatory agency that assesses mergers and acquisitions that diminish market competitiveness. Influences film, broadcast, cable, internet, and other non-media businesses
Line bidding
process in which public agencies receive vendors' bids for goods, services, construction or information services electronically over the internet in a real- time, competitive bidding event
production
The Writer, Director, Producer, and countless other creative minds finally see their ideas captured on film, one day at a time. Production is usually the shortest of the five phases, even though it is paramount to the film and where most of the budget is allotted.
fair use
The ability to use a small amount of copyrighted work without permission, but only in certain ways and in specific situations (schoolwork and education, news reporting, criticizing or commenting on something, and comedy/parody). - allows for the quoting of portions of a copyrighted work for news reporting, criticism, parody, and teaching >> Not a right >> A legal defense position
FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
The government agency charged with regulating the electronic media - Enforces regulatory provisions that govern broadcast and cable television (and some aspects of the internet)
Paramount Decree of 1948
The government vs paramount - the end of vertical integration and the studio system as the big 5 were forced to sell their theatres chains or distribution arms to independent companies. This caused profits to plummet further due to the post war baby boom - creation of family based entertainment at home TVs ( in 1947 14,000 TV sets owned - 1950 4 million sets owned ) - DOJ re-examined whether the paramount decrees placed an unfair restriction on film studios in the streaming era. (2018) - 2019 DOJ files motion to terminate paramount consent decrees - Covid 2020 → shut down theaters - Studios were found guilty of restraint of trade and monopolistic practices - Put an end to block booking and blind bidding - Ordered to separate distribution and exhibition (in practical terms this meant selling off all theaters) - Only prohibited WB, Fox, and MGM from owning theaters - Studios that never owned theaters were free to acquire them - Didn't actually put an end to vertical integration - Re-examined whether the Paramount Decrees placed unfair restrictions on film studios in the streaming era. Production → distrib → exhibition > (film) Studios =/= (lot) studio >>>Film studios (vertically) owned their studio lots a) Better value to rent space - Pinewood = film studio lots b ) Many private companies/conglomerates own lots than film studios
development
This a nebulous term that can refer to any phase of conceptualizing, acquiring rights,outlining, preparing, writing, polishing, revising, or packaging a project - This is where a lot of people work — and this is a good place to intern if you want to learn about what gets made.Some projects never leave development, but stay in "development hell" Writer develops a 2nd script → agent or manager sets up meetings → producer options property and buys it → poetry moves in development
How things DONT get made: EX - Tommy Wallach and John Davis
Tommy Wallach - Thanks for the trouble - The characters are based on ppl from HS and didn't ask permission Wallach publishes new book (optioned by anonymous content) after screenplay was written John davis - Optioned in 2014 for paramount Starts to ramp up interest in the project and paramount bring in someone to write the script - Script is terrible, paramount lets option lapse, project languishes but they still own the rights to the terrible script
RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America)
Trade organization that represents the recording industry distributers in the ; consist of record labels and distributors; "Create, manufacture, and/or distribute approx. 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the US. - gold / platinum records - research the music industry - parental advisory warning - combat piracy -protect IP rights - regulate and review released laws
Havens and Lotz on whether conglomeration equals homogenization
What Havens and Lotz call the "Conglomeration = Homogenization" argument (38) Many in the conglomeration-equals-homogenization camp tend to rely on frameworks of media industry operation that place much more emphasis on ownership as the deciding factor of what industries do than does the Industrialization of Culture framework. How concentration limits access The top five firms in the recorded music industry account for 80 percent of the market and in the theatrical film, six studios account for 90 percent of the box office receipts. By 2005, two of the five music firms had merged, resulting in the "big four" controlling all but 18 percent of the global music market. Hollywood studios continued to control 90 percent of the market in 2012. Our distribution services are just as concentrated as content producers. Verizon and AT&T dominate mobile phone service in the United States, while many homes have access to only one high-speed broadband service provider.
option
producer pays a small fee that gives them the right to make a film from your copyright work (usually) w/in 12-18 months while producer packages the project and secures financing - When something is optioned it doesn't mean that it will be made - If everything goes to plan , they buy your assignment or grant a license (25-29)
reproduction rights
a copyright holder's exclusive right to make copies or phone records of the protected work. Unauthorized copying by others constitutes infringement - - Sync Rights (in the film) - Mechanical Rights (for copies sold of music or DVD)
self regulation
an alternative to government control, whereby an industry attempts to police itself - content > what we see on the screen (ratings) >> hollywood production code (hays) 1934
authorship vs stardom
authorship -to be a constant process of meaning production among various groups (or authors) competing for control >>> This process is made up of intertwined efforts to foreground certain authorial voices and privilege meanings aligned with those interests. >>> Thinking about authorship in regard to stars and economic interest, then, means thinking about competing tensions that complicate the roles of text and author. stardom - a persona that garners attention outside their performance on stage and screen. >>>Though often rooted in film and theater performance, this notion of stardom extends to other areas, be it sports, music, dance, or spelling bees - to be a star is to be a figure that embodies more than the creative work for which one is originally known
broadcast vs cable networks
broadcast networks - A terrestrial network (or broadcast network in the United States) is a group of radio stations, television stations, or other electronic media outlets, that form an agreement to air, or broadcast, content from a centralized source. >> CW, ABC, NBC, Fox cable networks - a television network making programming available for viewing by any technology other than over-the-air broadcast >> TNT, TBS - 1986 fox as 4th broadcaster - 1978 3 broadcast networks Cable networks have found out how to make fragmentation more meaningful → targeted audience not mass
the disney star making machine
creating franchises and star power based on image and Disney brand - Stars are unknowable — we as audience members know themthrough their various texts(roles, promotional material,interviews, etc.) - We can study and analyze these components to consider what stars represent - In the case of Disney this might mean considering what they represent in relation to the larger brand > hannah montana, hilary duff, jonas brothers
OTT (over the top)
delivery of content over the internet without requiring users to subscribe to a traditional MVPD - the name for film and entertainment distribution over the internet - It is typically used in connection with services offered by other traditional broadcasters. - OTT allows users to subscribe to a traditional cable or satellite pay like Time Warner Cable and Comcast.
digital performance rights
grants owners of a copyright in sound recordings an exclusive right "to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission
Intetextuality
indicates that all texts, whether written or spoken, whether formal or informal, whether artistic or mundane, are in some way related to each other. It is a particularly apt term to understand current media culture, with its ever increasing abundance of images, sounds, characters, and stories.
MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America)
is a trade organization that represents the major film studios - work to rate movies for audiences - help with trade of films - work against theft and piracy - help with internat film distrib - rating affects what theaters films are shown at and what customers can view / attend - members themselves are a part of diff studios
Disney/20th Century Fox merger
recent news; Disney has library (which is why Disney+) and big consolidation giving Disney power - disney and fox are hoizontally integrated - on March 19, 21st Century Fox officially completed distribution of new Fox shares ahead of the completion of the Disney deal. The deal was officially completed on the night of March 19, 2019. Under the terms of the acquisition, Disney will phase out Fox brand usage by 2024 --> increased concentration among producers of content - Disney will be capable of providing higher quality of its content and entertainment options to respond to increasing consumers' demand, expand its international impact, and increase its direct-to-consumer offerings including ESPN+ for sports fans, ....etc --> The deal gives the combined company ownership of a greater share of popular movies and programming, which also means control of how that content is delivered to consumers
economies of scope
the ability to use one resource to provide many different products and services - uses synergy - synergy adv of economies of scope - X men - disney princess cultural product --> marketabilitty --> synergy
WGA (Writers Guild of America)
the closed-shop union that represents screen and television writers
monoply
the complete control of a product or good by one persons or group THE NEW MONOPOLY (1983) by Ben H Bagdikian - the new media monopoly and the argument against consolidation > analysis emerged from an obv about the news business > media companies behave like a cartel > core argument : fewer owners equals fewers viewpoints in the media > whats havens and lotz call "the conglomeration = homogenization" argument (38)
Reading: From Bill Seiter and Ellen Seiter, the Creative Artist Legal Guide (new haven, Ct: Yale 2012) on Copyright
the copyright act grants the owner of a copyrighted work exclusive rights: 1) reproduction 2) distribution 3) performance 4) display 5) digital performance 6) derivative these exculsive rights equip the copyright owner to deal in copyrights and arm the owner to keeping track: - keep a clear paper / digital record of date you create a work is key, depends on medium publication - used to be a prerequisite to obtaining a copyright - abolished in the copyright act of 1976 which came into effect on jan 1 1978 - some of the advantages of registering a copyright are available only if the registration occurs within a specified time period after publication - the yr of publication determines how long copyright lasts for "works made for hire" - in order to register a copyright or not, works published in the US are subject to mandatory deposit with library of congress copyright notice - does not require a prereq anymore - eliminated as of march 1, 1989 - a copyright notice should contain 3 things: 1) copyright symbol 2) yr of first publication of work 3) name of the owner of the copyright copyright registration - you do not need to register your copyright with the copyright office in order to have a valid copyright but there are adv how long do they last? - copyrights last a long time - copyright act of 1976 radically changed the way we commute copyright terms in the US - pre 1978 or post 1977 dealing with copyright - copyrights can be bought, sold, and licensed - when copyright is bought outright, the buyer needs to insist that the seller sign a copyright assignment confirming the transfer - they are not valid unless put in writing and signed by the copyright owner or authorized agent - a copyright license lets one retain reproduction and distribution rights - as a producer, you will initially want to buy an option to acquire the rights. >>> in a typical option and purchase agreement, in exchange for payment of a relatively small option price, the copyright owner grants the producer the option (w/in a period of time) to acquire the motion picture and related right to commercialize it - a work-for-hire agreement typically will make the creator represent and warrant that the work commissioned is an original work of authorship - an orphan work is a copyrighted work for which it is difficult or impossible, after reasonable effort, to discover and locate the owner copyright infringement - unless the alleged infringer admits copying, the copyright owner must prove copying by presenting sufficient evidence both that: 1) the alleged infringer had access to the protected work 2) substantial similarity exists between elements of the original work and the infringing work
Location shooting
the filming of a scene in a found location rather than in a constructed set. - location shooting can provide significant economic development benefits to the area in which they are shot. - Cast and crew heavily rely upon local facilities such as catering, transportation, and accommodations. - Filmmakers often choose to shoot on location because they believe that greater realism can be achieved in a "real" place, however location shooting is also often motivated by the film's budget. - It is often believed that filming "on location" takes place in the actual location in which its story is set, but that is not usually the case.
Licensing
the legal process whereby a licensor allows another firm to use its manufacturing process, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, or other proprietary knowledge
