Now never miss another digital media event be it social, mobile, gaming, film, tv or music. With Content NOW’s comprehensive industry events calendar, quickly find dates and locations of all the places you need to be to get your business done. Whether its NATPE, NAB, SXSW or CES, it’s all here with reviews, links to videos, quotes and an ever-current analysis of the content ecosystem and the production, distribution and monetization of 360 content across all connected devices.

Martine Paris
Editor, Content NOW

TV
Westdoc
NAB Show
NATPE LATV Fest
HRTS Digital Chiefs
Future Of Television West
Digital HollywoodThe Guide
NYTVF, IFP, ADWK, OMMA, MIXXGuide
Easy to Assemble Premiere
Mediaweek’s Upfronts
PGA Produced By
ConnectionsBoxee Dev
Digital Media Conference West
AO Hollywood
Battle of the Network Stars: Glee v. Modern Family
Digital Media Summit
,
Pathway To Fame
Cable Show, SXSW/MIPTV, Media Summit
DMLF/YouTube-Veoh, YouTube Live

FILM
AFM Thinking Outside The Box OfficeGuide
Animation of Disney Pixar’s Up
Epix Debuts
IFP Filmmaker Conference
New Video: When Do We Eat
BAWIFM Women of Pixar

San Francisco Film Society
RiP Remix Manifesto
Wondercon, II
Oscar.com, Sundance

GAMING
#AGDC/PlaySpan Monetization Forum, Guide
Engage! Expo, Virtual Goods
Social Gaming Summit
Virtual Goods Summit
LA Games Conference
, II
SDForum Games Conference
DMLF GamesLaw
GDC, DICE

MUSIC
Bandwidth, II
SanFranMusicTech
DMLF Rock Star
Industry Noise, Midem, NAMM

MOBILE
Mobilize
MobileBeat
Mobile Monday
Art Institute Mobile Marketing
Commonwealth Club Mobile World
VLAB Mobile Ecosystem
iPhoneDevCamp
Verizon Developers Conference
PayPal Platform Preview
EconSMCrunchies
WWDC

SOCIAL
Ypulse
TWTRCON
140 Characters
TeenTechTitans
CrunchUp
WOMMA
UGCX

FUNDING
Sheppard Mullin VC Outlook:  Draper, Chang, Lasky, Hornik
AlwaysOn Summit at StanfordII

TECH
Apple/Rock n Roll/Steve Jobs is Back in Black
Macworld
IIIIIIVVVIVII
Churchill Club/Browsers
Maker Faire
TiECONTEDCES, D7


AFM is still going strong but our attention now shifts back to the Bay Area where Mobile Monday rolls into town with a focus on Brands Gone Mobile, Nokia’s hosting cocktails, sure to pack the house.  The party continues on W eve at Adobe’s VIP reception and Th with NewTeeVee Live.  Everyone will be there. If you can’t attend, #NVTLive09 usually live streams and the content is not to miss – Om aims to treat the audience with breaking news.  Here are the guides.

M 11/9 7-9
Mobile Monday
Matt Marshall, Venture Beat, Cameron Clayton, The Weather Channel, Rick Witham, Nokia, Eric Duprat, Paypal Mobile, Rob Cross, Trulia, Yaren Oren, Hachette Filipacchi (ELLE, Road & Track..)
Intercontinental, 888 Howard, San Francisco

W 11/11 5:30-8
NewTeeVee Live/Adobe VIP Reception

by invitation only

Th 11/12 8-8:30
NewTeeVee Live

Mission Bay Conference Center, San Francisco
8, Breakfast
9, Opening
9:15, Marc Whitten, Xbox LIVE
9:35, Ryan Higa, YouTube Superstar
9:50, Avner Ronen, Boxee, Doug Knopper, FreeWheel…
10:30, Break: FrankEliason,@Comcastcares(lvl2-1), KevinTowes,Adobe(lvl2-2)
11:10, Rick Feldman, NATPE, Erik Flannigan, MTV/Comedy Central
11:30, Amy Banse, Comcast Interactive Media
11:50, Laura Goldberg, NFL.com
12, Murali Nemani, Cisco
12:15, Reed Hastings, Netflix
12:30, Lunch – Cisco (lvl2-1), Ooyala, Ticketmaster (lvl2-2)
1:20, Olympics Video Preview
1:30, Kevin Lynch, Adobe
1:50, Quincy Smith, CBS Interactive (fmr)
2:10, Making Katie Couric Sing
2:30, Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen
2:40, Hunter Walk, YouTube
3, Matthew McRae, Vizio
3:20, Break:Richard Bullwinkle, Rovi, Matt McKee, ZillionTV, Steve Polsky, Flixter (lvl2-1), Pankaj Gupta, Cisco (lvl2-2)
4, Andy Mitchell, CNN, Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook
4:20, Brent Friedman, Electric Farm, Angela Gyetvan, 3ality, Bismark Lepe, Ooyala, Jeremey Reed, Demand Media…
5, Anthony Wood, Roku
5:20, Jason Seiken, PBS
5:30, Gary Cohen, Redbox
5:50, Bill Gurley, Benchmark Capital, David Horowitz, Comcast Interactive Capital, Ross Levinsohn, Fuse Capital, Chris Hollenbeck, Granite Ventures
6:30-8:30, Cocktail Reception


We are now midway through AFM, and things are looking up from last year. Buyers are buying, but very specific in their wants.  I had a chance to catch up with John Foster, CEO, of Odyssey Pictures who recently acquired 31 hours of animated children’s content from DPM, a French-based specialty distributor of entertainment and how-to programming.  Having scored this superb catalogue of cartoon classics (Superman, Casper, Bugs Bunny) at Cannes, John is shopping AFM before heading on to other markets like NATPE in January.  ”We are looking to acquire content libraries for the children’s market as well as for specialty markets like health, finance and education.  We are in talks with ION for television distribution, Limelight to power distribution online, and working with Spelling Communications to secure US sponsors.  Odyssey already has several European sponsors signed up.  Backed by a $10mm acquisition fund, Odyssey is on a tear analyzing mobile marketing opportunities as well as those with connected devices.  ”Odyssey soon will be launching 1-3 hours sponsored programming via satellite and on the web.  We’re starting with established content but plan to showcase outstanding original programming in time.” Interested sellers can contact John at info@odysseypix.com.

For the weekend, AFI Fest has moved to the Laemmle at 1332 2nd close to the Loews.  Rush Lines are still getting into screening for free so stop by.  And the price of admission to AFM drops significantly as the market opens up to half-market badgers on Sunday.

There are also several excellent seminars still being offered:  Sa 11/7 at USC is Distribution U with Peter Broderick, Steve Kirsner, Jon Reiss, Adam Chapnick.. and Su 11/8 at Le Merigot is Changing Indie Distribution Strategies. At both events, Jon Reiss will be signing his timely new book:  Thinking Outside The Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution in the Digital Era.  He sent me a copy to review earlier this week and I am still deeply immersed.  Written in a light conversational tone and beautifully organized over 354 pages, Jon, a noted filmmaker (Bomb It, Better Living Through Circuitry) and CalArts teacher, passionate about connecting filmmakers to their audiences, arms filmmakers with the arsenal needed for a killer DIY direct to fan film marketing campaign.  This book drills down to specifics that allows the reader to form an actionable strategy, and is destined to become required reading for all filmmakers.   Some of his points are similar to what we’ve been covering:

- Budget as much for marketing and distribution as you do on production upfront, e.g. $100,000 production budget = $100,000 P&A budget (Jon provides detailed budgets with links to websites where assistants, publicists, bookers, sales reps/distribution consultants can be hired, and cost information to help filmmakers decide which path to take for theatrical release)

- Consider festival circuit as theatrical release, eventize screenings with cast and crew, reach out to traditional press as well as tastemaker/niche blogs for coverage, connect with fans, collect emails and zips, get venue/alcohol sponsors to throw after-parties, handout out stickers other pocketable schwag with website url, sell tees, merchandise, DVDs, CDs

The book also includes steps to create better engagement on WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube, and then in the next breath puts a call out to festival directors to see themselves as distributors, aggregators of quality indie content for traditional and new media.  It seems so complete I’m still reading on hoping he addresses ways not to trip up Oscar qualification with day and date online screenings.  An incredibly valuable resource.  $5 off if you order through this link.  Free if you’re a filmmaker who fills out the filmmaker survey (see page 17 of the book).  The companion website will be up soon at www.ultimatefilmguides.com. Enjoy!


In anticipation of the 11/10 DVD release of Up, giddy fans gathered Monday evening at the Cubberley Theater in Silicon Valley to enjoy a special Commonwealth Club presentation by Scott Clark, Lead Animator at Pixar Animation Studios. His reel included a behind the scenes look at life at Pixar, the late nights, the swanky lounges.  The audience oohed and aahed as he talked about visits by famed animators like Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. Then he showed the process of boarding, layout, and animating - talked about how it all starts with an idea, like an old man holding balloons, then it’s about the story, quoting John Lasseter, the story is king, if the script isn’t any good, it isn’t worth making, then it’s the editing, it’s always cheaper to redraw than to rebuild – showing pre-vis art and scratch dialogue of scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut.  For set dressing, the team went to Angel Falls, Venezuela to gather images of other-worldly plant life and rock formations for inspiration and reference. For character building, they even brought an ostrich, Ed Asner, a dog behavioralist, etc. to the studio.  He talked about humor, what is funny is what we know.  Then he closed with casting is key, the boy who was the voice of Russell was not an actor but discovered while his brother was auditioning.

ENCORE! When the program ended, Scott took a seat on the edge of the stage to hangout with his fans. In the crowd were tweens, fan boys, and up-and-coming animators like Robert Lazzarini, Animation Director for episode two of  Nova’s Becoming Human.  They chatted about Maya being as good as some of the proprietary tools used in the industry, how CG lends itself to an immersive world and hand-animated movies is best with lush flat graphics, Cal Arts being the top school in the field, RISD’s alumni including himself, Avatar’s Bryan Konietzko and Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane, AnimationMentor a respected online school taught by pros from Pixar, ILM, Sony.  He talked about Pixar being at 1000 employees now, expected to grow to 1300, hiring specialized talent.  He suggested those getting started look to the animation houses like Dreamworks and PDI, as well as the gaming industry. Lastly, he talked about the importance of drawing, there are 1000 bad drawings in you, so to get to the good ones start now.  And then he left them smitten with his Twitter ID and autographed drawings of Dug.  In full disclosure, I was the producer of the event but I have never seen an audience at the Club so thoroughly engaged.  Many thanks to Scott for a great evening!!!


Much of LA becomes consumed with the buying and selling of features this week as 8000 gather at the American Film Market which kicks off W 11/4 and runs through W 11/11 concurrently with AFI Fest. Ground zero is the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel where 400 distributors are getting ready to rumble.  As the distributors are there to sell, the first half of AFM belongs mostly to the buyers.  You need a full market badge ($895) for access to the upper floors during this time, but its free to linger to the lobby and lounge by the pool putting together target lists which many do in prep for half badge face time ($345) starting Su 11/8.  Day badges $275.  To see the market in action check out these videos from Film Specific’s Stacey Parks, UpsideDownTV’s Johnny Neurotic and Variety’s Michael Jones.

Here is the list of IFTA members where you can dig deep for contact information, slate and budgets. You can also pick up free in the Loews lobby the AFM directory in the bumper copies of Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen International and The Business of Film.

111 Pictures Ltd. View Profile
2929 International View Profile
Adriana Chiesa Enterprises SRL View Profile
Alfred Haber Distribution, Inc. View Profile
Alpine Pictures, Inc. View Profile
American Cinema International View Profile
American World Pictures View Profile
Arclight Films Pty. Ltd. View Profile
Artist View Entertainment, Inc. View Profile
Asylum (The) View Profile
Atlas International Film GMBH View Profile
Atrium Productions KFT View Profile
AV Pictures, LTD. View Profile
Bleiberg Entertainment View Profile
Bob Yari Productions View Profile
Bold Films International View Profile
Boll AG View Profile
Brainstorm Media View Profile
Camelot Distribution Group View Profile
Capitol Films, a Pangea Media Group, Inc. company View Profile
Cinamour Entertainment View Profile
Cinema Arts Entertainment View Profile
Cinema Management Group View Profile
Cinemavault Releasing View Profile
Cinesavvy, Inc. View Profile
Cinetel Films, Inc. View Profile
City National Bank View Profile
CJ Entertainment View Profile
Clandestine Service View Profile
Classic Media View Profile
Comerica (Jared Underwood) View Profile
ContentFilm International View Profile
Cori Distribution Group View Profile
Crystal Sky Worldwide Sales LLC View Profile
Curb Entertainment International Corporation View Profile
DeAPlaneta View Profile
Distant Horizon Ltd. View Profile
Distribution Workshop View Profile
E1 Entertainment (Lara Thompson) View Profile
Ealing Studios International View Profile
Echo Bridge Entertainment View Profile
Emperor Motion Pictures (Albert Lee) View Profile
Epic Pictures Group, Inc. View Profile
Essential Entertainment View Profile
EuropaCorp View Profile
Fabrication Films View Profile
Fidec View Profile
Film Department ($200mm for 4-5@$10-45mm) View Profile
Film Finances, Inc. View Profile
Filmax International View Profile
Filmexport Group SRL View Profile
Fintage House View Profile
First California Bank View Profile
Focus Features View Profile
Foresight Unlimited View Profile
Fortissimo Film Sales View Profile
Freeway Entertainment Group, BV. View Profile
Fremantle Corporation (The) View Profile
FremantleMedia View Profile
Fries Film Group View Profile
Gaiam Americas, Inc. View Profile
Gaumont View Profile
GK Films View Profile
Goldcrest Films International, Ltd. View Profile
Golden Network Asia Limited View Profile
Green Communications View Profile
Handmade Films International View Profile
HanWay Films (Ti Haslam) View Profile
Harmony Gold View Profile
Hollywood Wizard View Profile
Huayi Brothers Media Corporation View Profile
Hyde Park International (w Abu Dabi, $250mm) View Profile
ICB Entertainment Finance View Profile
ICON Entertainment International View Profile
IFM World Releasing Inc. View Profile
IM Global (Stuart Ford) View Profile
Imageworks Entertainment International, Inc. View Profile
Imagi Studios View Profile
Imagination Worldwide, LLC View Profile
Independent Film Sales View Profile
Intandem Films PLC View Profile
International Keystone Entertainment View Profile
K5 International GmbH View Profile
Kathy Morgan International (KMI) View Profile
Keller Entertainment Group View Profile
Kimmel International View Profile
Koan Inc. View Profile
Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC View Profile
Liberation Entertainment, Inc. View Profile
Lionsgate View Profile
Little Film Company, The View Profile
Mainline Releasing View Profile
MarVista Entertainment View Profile
Maverick Global View Profile
Media 8 Entertainment View Profile
Media Asia Distribution, Ltd. View Profile
Miramax International View Profile
Moonstone Entertainment View Profile
Morgan Creek International, Inc. View Profile
Moviehouse Entertainment View Profile
MPCA (Motion Picture Corporation of America) View Profile
Myriad Pictures (Kirk D’Amico) View Profile
NeoClassics Films Ltd. View Profile
New Films International View Profile
New Horizons Picture Corp. View Profile
New Line Cinema Corporation View Profile
New Zealand Film Commission View Profile
Nonstop Sales View Profile
Nordisk Film A/S View Profile
North By Northwest Distribution View Profile
Nu Image/Millenium (Danny Dimbort) View Profile
Odd Lot International (3-4@$5-60mm each) View Profile
Omega Entertainment Ltd View Profile
Paramount Vantage International View Profile
Park Entertainment Ltd. View Profile
Pathe Distribution View Profile
Peace Arch Entertainment View Profile
Peak Global Entertainment View Profile
Pueblo Film Group View Profile
QED International View Profile
Quantum Releasing LLC View Profile
Regent Worldwide Sales L.L.C. View Profile
RHI Entertainment Distribution, LLC View Profile
Screen Australia View Profile
Screen Capital ($100mm for 10@$15mm each) View Profile
Screen Media View Profile
Showcase Entertainment, Inc. View Profile
Sierra Pictures (Nick Meyer) View Profile
Six Sales Entertainment Group, S.L. View Profile
SND View Profile
Spotlight Pictures, LLC View Profile
Starz Media View Profile
Stevens Entertainment Group View Profile
StudioCanal View Profile
Summit Entertainment, LLC View Profile
Svensk Filmindustri, AB View Profile
Tandem Communications View Profile
Taurus Entertainment View Profile
Telepool View Profile
TF1 International View Profile
Troma Entertainment (Lloyd Kaufman) View Profile
U.S. Bank View Profile
UFO International Productions View Profile
UGC Editions View Profile
UK Film Council View Profile
Union Bank, N.A. View Profile
Vision Films, Inc. View Profile
Voltage Pictures View Profile
Weinstein Company, The View Profile
Wild Bunch View Profile
Works International, The View Profile
Worldwide Film Entertainment LLC View Profile

On the Variety & THR list of AFM targets are Akin Gump ($600mm for 60 films), Endgame (3-5@$10-40mm), Exclusive Media ($100mm for 2-3 films), Incentive Filmed Entertainment ($100mm for 10@$15mm each), Liddell (3-4 films@$5-20mm each), Magnet Media (Jeanette Buerling & Magie Monteith), Natural Selection ($100mm for 20 films@ $5mm+ each), Overnight Prods (3@$10-40mm), Sheppard Mullin ($65mm), Social Capital (2-3@$2-20mm each), Stroock Stroock ($5-100mm), Tic Tock (2-3 films@$10mm each), WestEnd Films (Maya Amsellem & Eve Schoukroun), Winchester Capital (3-4 films@$10-40mm each), plus those in bold above.

Some are speaking at the AFM seminars:

F 11/6 9-12:30
AFM Finance Conference

with Media Rights Capital, Hyde Park Entertainment, NatGeo..
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire
2008 Videos

F 11/6 4-5:30
FILMART/HK Co-Production Partners

with Screen International, Distribution Workshop, Imagi Studios
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean
2008 Videos

Sa 11/7 9-12:30
Pitch Me!
Producers for Bee Season, Capote, Nurse Betty
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire

Sa 11/7 9:15-5:30
Distribution U
9:15 Breakfast/Introductions
10:15 Fans, Friends, Followers – Scott Kirsner
11:15, Break
11:30, New World of Distribution I – Peter Broderick
12:30, Lunch with Adam Chapnick, Distribber.com, Thomas Mai, Festival Darlings, Jon Reiss, Thinking Outside of the Box (Office), Adrian Belic, Beyond the Call, Genghis Blues, Justine Jacob, Ready Set Bag
2, New World of Distribution II – Peter Broderick
3, Case Studies/Anvil!, Good Dick
4, Booksigning/Thinking Outside the Box (Office)
4:15-5:30, Pitch Workshop
USC, Davidson Conference Center, 3415 South Figueroa

Sa 11/7 2-5:30
Produce and Sell Your Film with Dov S-S Simens
Topics include: Theatrical Deal Memo Points, 7 Major Revenue Sources, Profit Participation Scenarios, Cable/TV/DVD Licenses, Publicity & Festivals, On-Demand vs PPV, Global Revenues, Foreign Sales, Private Placements, Investor Offerings, Gross vs Net, Split Rights & 50-50 Deals, Production-Distribution Agreements, plus Producer’s Workbook/Directory
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire

Su 11/8 11-12:30
Changing Indie Distribution Strategies

Ted Mundorff, Landmark Theatres, Jon Reiss, Think Outside the Box (Office)
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Su 11/8 2-3:30
DIY Distribution Playbook

with Adam Chapnick, Distribber.com, Matt Tyrnauer, Valentino, Sacha Gervasi, Anvil!, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, The Garden, Lisa Smithline, Trouble The Waters
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean
2008 Videos

Su 11/8 4-5:30
SAG/A Filmmaker’s Resource

Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 11-12:30pm
WGA/Writing for the Genre World
Mick Garris, Larry Cohen, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White, Stephen Susco
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 2-3:30
DGA/Online Piracy
Brad Beutlich, DtecNet, Darcy Antonellis, Warner, Jonathan Dayton, Little Miss Sunshine, Andrew Horton, Mark Monitor, Alann McNeil, Deluxe’s Web Watch
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 4-5:30
PGA/Package and Finance Indies Oversees
Aurora Productions, Akin Gump, Endgame Entertainment, The Film Department, Paradigm
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 11-12:30
Indie Marketing with Ondi Timoner, We Live In Public…
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 2-3:30
WIF/New Hollywood Movie Studio & Social Networking

Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 4-5:30
ASC/Film or Digital
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Sa 11/7 – Tu 11/10 9:30-5
Favorite Film Pitch
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

For newbies, there are AFM first-timers guides on working the market at:
IFTAFilmSpecific, and IndieGoGo.

As for AFM Hotels, many were booked by 10/2 but feel free to try:
- Georgian, 1415 Ocean 90401 ($242-384) 310-395-9945
- Ocean View Hotel, 1447 Ocean 90401 ($224-272) 310-458-4888
- Hotel California, 1670 Ocean 90401 ($260,299+) 310-393-2363
- Hotel Shangrila, 1301 Ocean 90401 ($319-489) 310-394-2791
- Le Merigot Marriott, 1740 Ocean 90401 ($365+) 310-395-9700
- Viceroy, 1819 Ocean 90401 ($348+) 310-260-7500
- Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire 90401 ($324+) 310-576-7777
- Hotel Casa del Mar, 1910 Ocean 90405 ($459+) 310-581-5533
- Sheraton Delfina, 530 Pico 90405 ($267-320) 310-399-9344
- Doubletree, 1707 4th 90401 ($270-$282) 310-395-3332
- Holiday Inn, 120 Colorado 90401 ($248-258) 310-451-0676
- Hotel Carmel, 201 Broadway 90401 ($175-232) 310-451-2469
- Ambrose, 1255 20th Street 90404 ($192-227) 310-315-1555
- Best Western, 1920 Santa Monica Blvd 90404 ($170) 310-829-9100
- Shutters, One Pico 90405 ($575+) 310-458-0030
- Huntley, 1111 Second, 90403 ($350) 310-394-5454
*There is a shuttle for the AFM hotels, parking lots and screenings.

Film Catalogue/445 screenings, 73 premieres including:
- American Sunset (Global Universal) – Corey Haim, Frank Molina
- Blue Seduction (Global Universal Pictures) – Estella Warren*
- Bobby Fischer Live (Amadeus)
- Chloe (StudioCanal, budget $10-25mm) – Julianne Moore
- Dorian Gray (Ealing Studios, budget $10-25mm) – Colin Firth
- From Time to Time (Ealing Studios, budget $5-10m) – Maggie Smith
- Get Low (K5) – Bill Murray
- Glorious 39 (The Works International) – Julie Christie
- Harry Brown (HanWay) – Michael Caine
- Hawaii A Voice For Sovereignty (ITN)
- Junkyard Dog (Epic) – Vivica Fox**
- Kill Speed (Epic) – Nick Carter, Tom Arnold**
- Life During Wartime (Fortissimo) – Ally Sheedy & Paul Reubens
- Love & Other Impossible Pursuits (Essential Ent) – Natalie Portman
- Mama I Want to Sing! (Vision Films) – Ciara & Billy Zane
- Mao’s Last Dancer (Celluloid Dreams) – Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Cheng
- Rounds (Global Universal) – Billy Drago, Mark Attenza
- Saint John of Las Vegas (E1) – Sarah Silverman & Steve Buscemi
- Snowmen (MPower) – Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd
- Stay Cool (American Cinema) – Wynona Ryder, Hilary Duff
- The Making of Plus One (New Films) film market wheeling and dealing
- The Meaning of the 21st Century (WWFilmEnt, bud $3-5m) – Michael Douglas
- The Next Three Days (Mandate Intl) – Russell Crowe
*no screening, ** got picked up by Independent Feature Films

And more:
AFI Festfree tx to screeningsred carpet events, details here
- IBM/USC Imagine The World in 2050 invite-only event
- TromaDance Film Festival press conference
- 8th Samurai screening at the Consul General of Japan

Events that recap AFM:
- 12/1 Distribution U, San Francisco
- 12/8 DMW/Variety’s Future of Film, Sheraton Delfina


After hearing about Epix for weeks now from Curt Marvis at Lionsgate at both #DH09 and #DMWC, I was psyched to hear this morning that they were giving away 72 hour passes to the EpixHD site this weekend.  Click here to get yours.  Great news for those of us who don’t have FiOS and want another Hulu on the scene.  Epix is a free streaming movie site stocked with the libraries of Paramount, Lionsgate, MGM – from blockbusters to classics to original programming.  Not sure what type of access any of us will have after the weekend, but hopefully we’re looking at another distribution partner for features and webisodes.  Launching with a beautifully clean interface, available to watch right now for free is Cloverfield, GI Joe, Iron Man, Spiderwick Chronicles, Flash Gordon, Love Guru, Madonna, Eat Drink Man Woman, Everybody Wants To Be Italian, Romance & Cigarettes, Dead Again, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Purple Rose of Cairo, Annie Hall, Stepford Wives, Godfather, Box of Moonlight and more.  Better selection than Fancast (Chaplin, Google Me, Hair, MacHeads, Meet the Mobsters, RIP Remix Manifesto, Supersize Me, Slacker…), Sling (Fiddler On The Roof, Heidi, Thief of Bagdad, Birth of a Nation…), Joost (Road to Bali, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Primal Fear, His Girl Friday…), and Crackle (Johnny Mnemonic, People v Larry Flynt, Shampoo, SLC Punk, Wolf..) combined.  Actually, now that I’ve taken a second look, I’m pretty impressed with their interfaces and selections too. Enjoy!


Virtual Goods Summit is in full swing with 500+ at the Westin but I am locked down in another universe and just can’t make it over.  Luckily, the Twitter stream has been strong. Special thanks to @lcddave, @killcreek, @jnusser, @joecotellese, @melissaliton, @traffichoney and all the other awesome #VDC09 tweeps, here’s a summary of what was said:

Amy Jo Kim, Shufflebrain - activities enhanced by VG:  socializing, decorating, shopping, gifting, enhanced gameplay, motivations: fun, feel important, self expression, build relationships, show they care, feel good about themselves, VG lets you monetize your most engaged players” – need scale (million), a meaningful context, freebies at start, create demand, needs contented, range of price point, easy to purchase, teen problem, VG selling emotions, keep VG fresh, only meaningful in a social context, profiles are a form of identity which draws people into the virtual world, can be important to VG. Virtual economies the key to sustaining users in social gaming.  Brian Balfour, Viximo – Context, content, currency, conversion, who is the audience and the behaviors they value.  Context – social and gaming aspects drives value of VG – winning, status, socializing.  Content – ongoing service, costly to keep running but known marketing, merchandising business models can work like using real-time data to maximize value of storefront.  Currency in social gaming = cash and time, time is money when you do reward/action base , never start with just currency. Jinen Kamdar, Ning - launched VG 2 days ago, strong metrics out of the gate, rev share on virtual gifts, not disbursing VG revenue til 2010, continuing to generalize platform allowing users to create own VG (custom images with prices), Questions? contact @lauraoatning.  Vikas Jambool, Social Gold – Separate value from money. Engagement before money.  Virtual currency must be integral to user experience.  We’ve always been in an experience economy, we’ve finally evolved to where we an accept more experience virtually.  Barriers to entry for creating a virtual economy and currency are far less than a real currency.  David Jesse, Gaia Online – talked about paying customers trading exclusive items with non-paying customers on secondary market for VG, dual currencies to balance high activity low spend vs. high spend, less activity, one currency to create engagement, the other to monetize the engaged deep pocket directly, allowing marketplace transactions between the two currencies helps with engagement and monetization of non-paying users, Gaia allows conversion from bought currency to earned through item sales, but not the other direction to prevent fraud, marketplace risks include fraud, laundering and gambling.  Jameson Hsu, Mochi Media – microtransactions are the future of online games, #1 mistake – set exchange rate too high with big VC balances (1-800 coins), price matters, keep exchange rate variable, SAS Zombie Assault 2 – $7-10 revenue per thousand game plays (RPM). $20K in first two months. Can’t just bolt on VG to existing game, people like bundles, better value, high multiples of virtual currency don’t work as well cause of perception of high prices, so 80 coins to $1 is better than 800 to 1 from a user perspective, downside of using platform virtual currency, harder to integrate secondary earned currency with paid currency.  Lee Clancy, IMVU – IMVU revenue mix 80% consumer direct, 20% advertising on site and offers, 69% female, 58% 18+, 62% US, 60min/day usage per user, user-generated VG economy, 175,000 items sold daily with very high engagement, one game made $20,000 in first 2m from VG like flame thrower, IMVU is making money and attracting investors, IMVU avoids exchange rate problem by letting developers resell credits at a discount to users, VG are consumer products just like in the real world, need to allow users to try them out, cant build a VG business without flexible payment options (paypal, prepaid, sms mobile..), average order size is $10-20, that’s not really a microtransaction, all UGC at IMVU is reviewed by the community before being added to the catalog, IMVU doubled mobile payments revenue after switchnig to Zong to monetize VG.  IMVU knows they sell less credits than their resellers – future work for the company to optimize, when we reached $2mm in revenue we celebrated by everyone getting mohawks!  Bill Grosso, Live Gamer – real economies, money circulates endlessly, virtual economies are different, have sources and sinks, also have perfect information, precision data limited only by the size of the hard-drive, RPU is lame when you have perfect data, individual stats are better, Live Gamer system means you don’t need ARPU, you know exactly what one user is spending, build a price based on how long you hold a user, ok to charge men more in virtual economies, discrimination is perfectly legal in virtual economies (really?), the incremental cost of another gif is zero, you can control content rollout, seasonality, accessibility by level…think about how users pay, how they earn.  Melinda Byerley, Linden Lab – Second Life revenue streams – % of initial currency exchange, microtransactions/classifieds, future:  phone calls, 1B voice minutes/month, 100min per login, 60% outside US, 100+mm VG, $L legal definition – grants a license to use something, not purchase, Philip Rosedale left recently, Linden Labs doesn’t allow you to sell cash back to Linden, only user to user, why? cash reserves. Mark Rose, PlaySpan – DDO went from $14.99 sub to hybrid sub/F2P w VG, give players choices – unlimited access or a la carte with toll gates, better to err on the side of more toll gate at launch than too few, the move to F2P users went up 10x, rev 3x Asia, it was a lot of work to convert game to hybrid – game changes, store, billing, login.. Turbine outsourced commerce to PlaySpan. F2P switch lowered acquisition cost 3x, subs are up 15% (40% reacq of alums), higher engagement, 22% of players transact in store incl free points, 70% cart to checkout, DDOs highest grossing item isnt exclusive content, its time currency, 400+ VG in DDO store, many ways to price and market them within the game, (Detail on DDO, read here.)  Payments PanelLex Bayer, PlaySpan, Adam Caplan, Super Rewards, Ron Hirson, BOKU, Will O’Brien, TrialPay, Roger Wood, ORCA - offers, mobile, credit, gamecards, conversion rates for F2P games 3-4%, need volume and ecosystem to privde value to paying customers, publishers need to watch CPA rates carefully, quality matters and too many bad leads hurts the offer providers and publishers, budget and test between different offer and mobile providers – only way to find ones that work best for your game.  Super Rewards – How to A/B/C test, split users into equal bucket, dont show all on same window, could become a CS nightmare, as consumers lose novelty of payment methods (sms, offers) customer experience will matter more.  Evaluating offer-based vendors – cost, CS, user experience, LT: deliver high LTV to advertisers.  Friendly fraud – chargebacks where users clam not to receive VG or services, VISA & MC make you stay under 1% of transactions.  Fraud is a cat and mouse game, the longer a vendor has been in business, the longer they’ve had to hone fraud rules.  Will O’Brien, TrialPay – est rev for FB game $10 ARPU-DAU, upwards of 10% conversion rates with some of their clients, so a game with 5mm daus has annual rev potential of $50mm, Charles Hudson, Serious Business – PayPal accounts for 50% of game revenue now, Roger Wood, ORCA – PayPal is the dominant force in VG now but its optimized for ecommerce and bidding not games.  Siqi Chen, Serious Business – small changes add up but use metrics to judge the change, tests and measurements need to be cheaper than arguing about it, data needs to be auditable by another service provider.

And that’s a wrap for today, follow on Twitter tomorrow at #VGS09 or stop by the Westin, 50 3rd/Market in San Francisco to register for the rest:

F 10/30, Virtual Goods Summit
9:30, Charles Hudson, Serious Business, Tim Chang, NVP
9:45, Justin Smith, Inside Social Games
10:15, Benjamin Joffe, +8* (Plus Eight Star)
10:45, David Wallerstein, Tencent…
11:30, Geoff Cook, MyYearbook, Jon Earner, Playfish, Steve Meretzky, Playdom, Keith Rabois, Slide, Andrew AT Trader, Tim Chang, NVP
12:30, Lunch
2, Zhan Ye, Gamevision/Giant
2:30, Philip Yun, mig33…
3:15, John Smedley, Sony Online Entertainment
3:45, Break
4:15, Bigpoint, Outspark, WildPockets, IGG…
5, PayPal, Incomm, Zong, Offerpal…
6, Offerpal Afterparty at Harlot (46 Minna)


Digital Media Wire was in town today at the swanky Hotel Kabuki delivering its intimate brand of confab, where content and technology is shaken not stirred, and thought leaders hunker down to vision the future of digital media.  Del Daix of the Examiner.com and Julie Robin Blaustein of Bub.blicio.us were there blogging as well.  Here is Julie’s post, and Del’s video, and here is our summary:

Jay Adelson, Digg/Revision3, @jayadelson
Recently moved from Upstate NY to Marin, tweeps helped find transport at www.shipyourreptiles.com for family gecko not allowed on plane.  Picked SF because @kevinrose was single and easy, would have worked anywhere except LA which is way too Hollywood.  Digg has two gs because Disney owned dig.com, half-joked about how catchy a one consonant, one vowel, two consonant word is like Buzz.  Digg was first coded by someone at elance who they later hired.  Love angels Marc Andreeson, Ron Conway, Reed Hoffman, for VCs looked more at who would be a great partner (Greylock, Highland Capital) than who had big pedigree (KPCB, Sequoia).  Chapter in Sarah Lacy’s (@sarahcuda) Once Lucky, Twice Good book. Pay wall will be print’s doom.  Impressed with CNN.com, likes the way Paranormal leveraged social media.  Digg is a discovery mechanism, a news aggregator catering to niche interests, lies somewhere between the Twitter firehose of unvetted breaking news and five guys in a room vetting stories based on yesterday’s news.  Google is for search, social media is for filtering.  10% of Digg users power relevance for the other 90%.  Digg’s content ads appear in-stream, pricing based on popularity, if its gets digged, price goes down, high CTRs of 2-3%, if buried priced goes up, bad content ads gets priced out, fewer buries than diggs.  (Similar to StumbleUpon’s offering)  Watch for platform redesign from uberdigg one-size-fits-all to microdiggs focus on verticals. Digg is hiring and dog-friendly!

Curt Marvis, Lionsgate
Lionsgate has direct deals with XBox, PS3, ZillionTV and is on Boxee, TiVo and Roku via CinemaNow, awaiting more information on Yahoo! Connected TV (SDK out 1Q10).  Founded CinemaNow 6/99, 9 years too early.  Heads up Lionsgate VOD, traditional (broadcast, satellite), EST digital, Xbox, liaison to FearNet, Epix (Lionsgate/Paramount/MGM venture debutting on FiOS this Friday), Break.com.  Works on new revenue models, webisodes, mobisodes, iPhone games.  There is a big difference in philosophy between Silicon Valley and Hollywood.  The technology business is based on versioning, programmers are never finished they just tweak it in the next version.  In the content business you just don’t see Mad Man 1.0, 1.2, they wait til its perfect to release.  This difference in mindset puts Hollywood at odds with Silicon Valley and worked against the early entrants of Paramount and Universal into digital, they saw it sucked and backed off paving the way for Broadcast.com, Real Networks.. In some ways CD-ROMs were the warm up act to the internet.   In 2010, two of the most disruptive businesses in Hollywood are not even digital: Netflix delivers physical DVDs via the US Postal Service and Redbox via grocery store kiosks.  Digital is only 4% of the studios revenue.  Won’t hit $1B this year.  Yet VG is huge.  Reason why Lionsgate is moving into gaming.  DECE, the digital entertainment content ecosystem, formerly the open market initiative, is a group of 50 companies working to create interoperability between devices…DVDs were released after 10 years of working on standardization..but standardization and interoperability are key to creating a broad base around digital distribution.  Keychest, TV Everywhere moving in that direction…playshifting…pay once, use anywhere.  Windows will start closing.

John Welch, Making Fun
Problem with Redbox is that right now it is not capturing the customer relationship like Netflix, will make it harder to transition to digital.  Studios spend lots of money to stop piracy, pointless.  Can’t stop piracy in a linear model.  FB has made a lot of money giving game developers a platform to make money off of VG, the developers in turn buy ads on FB to drive traffic to their games.  Free is the ultimate low, as far as I know, we’re not paying users yet, can’t teach users to pay for something new, must emerge them deeply first, free is a big funnel, tease them through the compulsion loop, play faster, want to do next thing now, embrace free, find a way.

Jon Potter, Digital Media Association
Ambassador organization for the digital media industry: webcasters, tech co, online music and video retailers, Board comprised of Apple, Best Buy/Napster, Live 365, Pandora, RealNetworks.  Sponsor of the Digital Media Conference, Billboard Film & TV Music, CTIA, MUSEXPO, Streaming Media, SFMT, MEFCON, NARM, World Copyright Summit, NXNE, ACL, Digital Music Forum, Billboard Mobile Entertainment Live, Entertainment Merchant’s Association…  Studios are not willing to experiment with business model, they wait til it’s perfect, why mess with their cash cow.  Studios would like to leapfrog MSO to go direct to customer.  Maybe that’s what Keychest is all about.

Mike Vorhaus, Magid Advisors
Hulu is DVR without skipping.  19% of US households use Netflix.  58% of 18-54y believe piracy is ok – need to make content a service, like gaming is become a service.

Scott Brown, Cisco Media Solutions Group
No longer a debate whether content or platform is king, the customer is king.  Thee is no single magic bullet, must embrace multiple revenue streams – ad, subscription, premium, upgrades..  Here is Scott’s blog post:  blogs.cisco.com

Daren Tsui, MSpot
Started 5 years ago, added video 3 years ago, now has 40mm users.

Ted Cohen, TAG Strategic
If featured in an Apple commercial, that’s your campaign.  Too many low priced crapplications crowding the market.

Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners, @timechange
It takes 3 months in the top 5 apps to make $10mm, no one has done that, 500,000 is a hit.  Do the math 500,000 x $.99 x 70% developer = cap on marketing budget, spend more on legal cost.  (in-app transactions on free apps important to create game as a service business, makes more sense than the $.99 one-off business model) iTunes works because of the 300mm credit cards on file.  Content may be king, but distribution is G-D almighty.   If you can’t figure out distribution, content is worth nothing.  We will see metrics shift from counting installs to daus as a measure of engagement to cross-promote and drive traffic.  US brands have always had a problem penetrating Asia, particularly Japan.  Interesting to see what happens when Apple starts selling iPhone in China, competing against 1mm jailbroken phones that already exist there.  China has 3 companies with $100mm+ from VG.

Kate Connally, AddictingGames, @kateconnally
Each generation has something that is there own, the phone is the under 20y screen, my job is to make sure that generation is entertained.  We have the best free flash games on the web, we’re the online equivalent of the teenage movie.  We’re not in this to prove something, we’re in this to make money.  Incorporating music into causal game play is one of the most exciting things happening.  Apple’s move to allow in-app transactions for free games is big.  Will be interesting to see how this new engagement will be factored in to Apple’s deck.  Every game distributed on iNetwork has cross-promotion for 5 other games. (Co-publishers can upload here) Also to ensure success work closely with Apple to identify type of apps they’re looking for.  Brands can use gadgets to weave deeply into lives of fans.  AG is a strong brand in english-speaking countries particularly the US (home page has 27mm monthly uniques), haven’t made push into Asia yet.

Allen Duan, MTV Networks
MTV is working with RealNetworks on games and apps.  It’s an iterative process, ok to make mistakes.  iTunes app store provides a great feedback loop, comments told us that South Park’s Mega-Millionaire, where the boys try to win one million yen, was missing a voice over element that was important to audience.  Now have a Colbert app with segments of The Word, has charted in the Top Ten.  China has the largest flash mobile phone user base.  Own WW rights to SpongeBob, work with local team that understands the market.

Madeline Herdrich, Paramount Pictures Digital
Apps are great for theatrical marketing.  Paramount is about to release a Star Trek Captain’s Log app where trekkies can interact on a daily basis, record voice, picture, travels, will interact with Star Trek MMO.  (Many in the audience were very excited) Recently did deal with MSpot to provide movies on Sprint, Samsung’s large screen device – doing very well.  Also make clips available to send as greeting cards.  Working on original content for web and mobile.  The economy slowed development down a bit but good days ahead.  Phones with TV out will allow you to watch movies on phone on a TV set.  As a member of DECE, Paramount backs the buy once, play anywhere business model.

Rani Cohen, TuneWiki
Picture Pandora with lyrics… Music has a $.99 problem, once the track is bought, what is the upsell.  TuneWiki uses the track as a platform and sells game and lyrics products on top.  With TuneWiki you can buy a karaoke track with the real band playing, not the copy band.  Insisted on worldwide publishing rights for the lyrics so can sell in China and Japan where TuneWiki is expected to be huge.

Jason Davis, Disney.com
Game-changers on the horizon – 1.  WiMax ubiquitous connection – providing a constant broadband connection everywhere and anywhere, 2.  computing power plateaus (netbook trend) rethinking production of content, what makes sense for that platform, what’s good enough to bring costs in line with economics without compromising experience, 3.  all consumer devices become network aware and PC disappears.  2y old son not talking yet but knows iTunes icon, how to launch it and can start and pause his favorite videos.  He’s part of a generation growing up digital.  Key media and digital trends over past 10 years:  entertainment on demand(dvr, streaming, download), broadband, mobile, games, social media, UGC.  For the younger kids the connected space is games, for the older kids it’s more about video and music sharing.  Most don’t use cell phones to make calls.  It’s about texting, photos, games, videos, music, web. Disney.com #1 mobile site in US – majority access site via iPod Touch.  Disney is about family and kids, we care about rich unique content that doesn’t push boundaries but provides a safe fun experience that’s age-appropriate, we are a content provider in a connected world across all devices from those in your palm to those in the kitchen,car and beyond.  Disney formula – (Content + Audience)/Digital Connection.  Competition years ago was Barbie, Sesame Street, Hot Wheels, Yahtzee, Monopoly, Nick, Zelda, TV, phone… now it’s YouTube, Xbox, FreeRealms, Clone Wars, JustJaredJr, Mattel, Babycenter, Twitter.  Nintendo once a competitor is now a partner – supermonetize Club Penguin on DS tie back to site, one of the top selling DS games.   Disney.com is not just a website, but an online destination, an online theme park, an entertainment experience.  Watch for Muppets holiday themed content, mom page for family travel, possibility shop, create paintings, comic books, mashups, animate…  In first 5 weeks, 175,000 pieces of artwork were uploaded to site.  Safe UGC for kids.  Now Disney.com is an iPhone app with snap a photo fun…  For the non-family fans of the Disney brand, there is @Disney023 geared toward the brand Disney, formed in 1923, this summer first D23 trekkie-like convention big hit.  FB Alice in Wonderland for Tim Burton, Johnny Depp fanboys, 50,000 fans signed on at Comic-Con competition continuing to feed fandom for IP.

Craig Newmark, Craigslist, @craignewmark
Now a Chronicle columnist, committed to customer service only as long as I live, believe you take care of your customers and you’ll succeed.  We rely on professional curators to some degree, but mostly we rely on people we trust.  Trust is the new black.  Reads Tim Goodman for TV to watch.  Like HuffPo.  Invests time in Wikipedia because it’s for the ages, where we’re putting our history now.  Agrees with Tech Crunch:  transparency is the new objectivity.  TechCrunch has an honest bias.  John Stewart gives no pretense of objectivity.  Would pay to block ads on Hulu, content creators and curators need to get paid, next year will see a change.Is there a place for record labels now?   The absurdity of CNN fact-checking SNL.  Re:  The Interenet Freedom Act (Net Neutrality) which allows ISPs to charge as much as they want for poor service.  It’s wrong that telcos are allowed to pay people to lie for them and mislead the public with sites like handsoff.org.  Telecos are using a public resource and should be acting in the public interest.  Believe most people are good and trustworthy, reason why streets are safe, still need to be careful, there are some bad people out there, but for the most part people are good.  The reason why you hear more from crazies is because moderates have stuff to do.  These days if you don’t have a social media strategy, you’re a tree falling in the woods.  Very accessible, feel free to email in the afternoons at craig@craigslist.org or on Twitter @craignewmark, or on facebook.com/craignewmark.  Blog is at www.cnewmark.com.

Richard Hart, Next Step
Al Gore was on hand at Current TV in San Francisco yesterday as pink slips were handed out.  Don’t always need polished media these days, read a lot build own pictures in head.

Adeo Rossi, Founders Institute & TheFunded.com
VCs keep a long blacklist.  CEOs are fearful to share key insights on who best to partner with for funding.  Recognized a market need for a subpeona-proof anonymous forum for CEOs to safely share unbiased information.  Use gmail because its also subpeona-proof.  Only CEOs allowed in the Club, each applicant is background checked, so far have 13,000 members.  Not looking to monetize, only 1000 hits per month.  If you see something on the public site, it’s likely not true, its a shill.  The VCs on the top of the list love TheFunded because they see a lot more deals.  Re: trends, happy to see the death of newspapers:  landfill makers, forest killers, banking OPM and the combustion engine.  Eventhough FAS 157 says Twitter is not worth $1B, rather worth $0, and in tough times failure is not an option (referencing yesterday’s FailCon) – its a great time to build!  Yes, Build!  Traction path:  idea, team, prototype, launch, adoption, revenue, profitability.  To launch TheFunded, invested $1500 for VC directory, made available to members-only as incentive to join, asked friends to populate with first 30 reviews.  btw:  Netflix marks to market salaries for all employees.

Kevin Yen, YouTube, @kevinyen
Heads up monetization for channel partners and branded entertainment.  Channel partners find YouTube additive, reaches different people.  Insight tool super-powerful analytics tells you demo of who is watching.  When someone is searching for content, they’re engaged, they’re looking to go to another page, whereas when someone is watching a video, they’re in watching mode, more likely to click on the next video.  YouTube is bullish on branded entertainment and you will start to see a lot of it.  Industry is trying to figure out how to scale it to a $100-$200mm business.  If channel partners integrate a brand, all they need to do is check a box.  YouTube stars are in high demand, like Fred and Smosh.  They are choosy about the projects they accept, know the value of they’re audience and won’t betray their fans by selling out.  There is a set than can drive 1mm+ views, and a set that can drive 100,000+ views, and both sets are getting custom promotion work.  Brands like Carl’s Jr and Jet Blue like using social media stars.  The new FTC guidelines on blogger endorsements doesn’t apply to branded entertainment.  The content is entertainment, it’s not the same as news or medical advice.

Anthony Soohoo, CBS Interactive
CBS is not on the boxes yet, not on Xbox, PS3, TiVo, Roku, Boxee, ZillionTV or Y! Measurement is a barrier .  For branded entertainment, the challenge is putting the right content in front of the right audience, have 20 types of branded entertainment shows slated.  Watch for Michael Cera’s Clark & Michael to make a comeback on TV.com.  As far as paid v free, dual revenue stream, subscription comes up every recession, it will cycle back when ad rebounds, CBS is happy with ad model, offers a hybrid, sell shows via iTunes, DVDs, offer them free on TV.com.  Some like ad-supported tv, web, others want to own.  Will start to see some interactivity, has a place in fashion shows and red carpet events, watch for Victoria’s Secret happening in coming weeks.  For brand awareness sometimes overlay works better.  Metrics tracking viewership across all screens will be huge next year.  Experimenting with 360 UGC tie-ins, did I Kissed a Girl singalong contest for the Grammy’s, winners won tickets and appeared on the CBS Morning Show.

Joy Marcus, Dailymotion
60mm monthly uniques, 10mm in US.  We’re a distributor, and syndicator, but don’t produce original content.  DM, like YouTube, provide an audience that is additive to our MotionMakers, demo:  high income, urban, techie.  Re Hulu’s rumored paywall, Hulu is a DM partner, we love Hulu with its gorgeous interface, but the inventory is spotty, can’t always find all the episodes, might be worth it to some to pay for it.  I remember when paid + music = ridiculous til iTunes provided a must have product. DM hosts contests all day long.  For the MTV Awards, did a movie spoof UGC contest, very large submission numbers.  Branded entertainment is here to stay, wouldn’t have said this 5 years ago, but the demand from advertisers is very strong, works well for marketers or they wouldn’t be asking for more.  Demand is so strong, we’re doing a road show looking for a production partner.  DM Motionmakers have been hired to produce commercials for brands, Coke, etc.  DM takes pride is fostering talent.  In the next month will be announcing a partnership for DM MotionMakers with a TV network.

Mitch Galbraith, Funny or Die
In the beginning made a decision to focus on making FOD a destination site to serve our celebrity principal partnerships, foster an environment for celebrity talent, frugal in-house production that never lets spending get ahead of web economics, in-house ad team.  Would send out widgets to recruit in the wild and bring back to the site, would see traffic bumps of 15-70% depending on the virality of the video.  Make $10mm a year, half of ad business is related to campaigns built around brands like McD, Norelco, Paramount…  We did a wildly popular spot for EA Sports with Charlize Theron…another one for MoveOn.org got 2.5mm views, entertaining, funny with brand message.  Make it good enough to mix into content pool, not in a sneaky way, its not misleading the public, they watch what they want to watch.  Right now there are no standards for branded entertainment but there isa group of publishers and advertisers working on it.  The Lindsay Lohan eHarmony spoof was not branded entertainment.  Now that FOD is well-established as a premiere comedy video brand and distribution has matured, we’re starting to syndicate our low-cost high-quality comedy content across web, tv, film.  11/09 FOD is launching a YouTube channel.  1/10 FOD is debuting a  half-hour show on HBO, and FOD’s first feature is in development.   TV is a huge opportunity, excited that Boxee and Macrovision are forging a path but its all pretty nascent, not where we invest.  Platform to discover talent, do look to develop talent and have sent producers on to SNL and Sony Pictures.

Stephen Condon, ATT Digital Media
On paywall, subscription is the flavor of the day, past experience says there is little money to be made from pay model apart from exclusive events not available elsewhere and those for niche audiences.  That said, having a pay option sets a perceived value for the content, user might be feel better sitting through ads if the alternative is to pay $10.  Looking forward to Macrovision’s (now Rovi’s) net guide on tv where you can search for program by name instead of just by day and time, and integrating personal video library.  Technology right now is a huge problem, no one wants 4 remotes, want seamless connection to TV.  Clickable video is tremendously impactful, lack of standards holding it up.

Tom DeLuca, Warner Home Video
Some budget are 100% online, some zero but mostly tv/web go hand in hand to be successful.  Trying to get more efficient with spending, go beyond the banner, love the engagement on Meebo, saw it and said we’re in.  Fan of mobile, LBS bluetooth marketing, couponing is untapped in US, looking to Asia.  Innovation drives decision.  Still an internal sell.  Marketers feel more comfortable with TV buy.  So pricing is key, budgets are very specific.  Want to know if we pay this, then these will be our brand evangelists.  There is a finite qualified audience and we know how much to pay for them.  Expect pricing to stay consistent.

Jim Louderback, Revision3, @jlouderb
At the point where long and short form content is going over the top, web video on tv is here, will take off with Roku’s new offering focused on indies: Revision3, TWiT.tv, etc.  Focused on emotional branding, where trusted host talks about sponsor, better reach to core group of millennial men, we get $80 CPMs for that.  It’s not an impression unless it makes an impression.  CPMs hold up when you deliver audience in a trusted way.  Premium content is whatever the audience wants, J&J bought Babycenter because they wanted new baby moms.  That’s premium content. Glam is half-premium, not specific enough within the women’s category.


Whether you’re North or South this week, there’s lots of fun to be had.  In San Francisco, on W 10/28 the Digital Media Conference West is at the Hotel Kabuki (1625 Post) and on Th-F 10/29-30 the Virtual Goods Summit is at the Westin (50 3rd/Market).  In LA, on Tu-W 10/27-28 Jeff Pulver’s 140 Characters Conference is at the Kodak Theatre, on Th-F 10/29-30 the Billboard Film & TV Music Conference at the Beverly Hilton, and on F 10/30 OMMA Video is at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.  CTAM is already in full swing in Colorado. Here are the guides:

SAN FRANCISCO

W 10/28, #DMCW, Digital Media Conference West
9, Top Digital Media Trends
9:30, Jay Adelson, Digg/Revision3
10, Break
10:30, Curt Mavis, Lionsgate, Scott Brown, Cisco…
11:20, Madeline Herdrich, Paramount, Allen Duan, MTV, Kate Connally, AddictingGames, Rani Choen, TuneWiki, Tim Chang, NVP, Ted Cohen…
12:15, Jason David, Disney.com
12:45, Craig Newmark, Craigslist
1:45, Adeo Ressi, TheFunded.com
2:15, Kevin Yen, YouTube, Anthony Soohoo, CBS Interactive/TV.com, Mitch Galbraith, FOD, Joy Marcus, DM, Liz Gannes, NewTeeVee, Stephen Condon, ATT…Kuk Yi, Best Buy Capital, Chris Petrovic, GameStop Digital Ventures, Jeremy Liew, Lightspeed, Charles Hudson, Serious Business…
4:15, Tom DeLuca, Warner Home Video, Martin Green, Meebo, Rob Griffin, Havas, Jim Louderback, Revision3…Gannon Hall, Kyte, Andrew Lacy, Tapulous, Bryan Perez, NBA Digital, Are Traasdahl, ThumbplayJoe Jasin, DNA Investments, former SK Telecom..Elizabeth Churchill, Yahoo! Research, Allen Guo, Yobo, Mary Hodder, Dabble, Michael Trigg, hi5…
5, Cocktails

Th 10/29, #VGS09, Virtual Goods Summit
10, Amy Jo Kim, Shufflebrain
10:25, Brian Balfour, Viximo
10:50, Jinen Kamdar, Ning
11:15, Vikas Jambool/Social Gold
11:45, Lunch
1:15, David Jesse, Gaia Online
1:40, Jameson Hsu, Mochi Media
2:05, Cary Rosenzweig, IMVU
2:30, Bill Grosso, Live Gamer
2:55, Break
3:20, Melinda Byerley, Linden Lab
3:45, Fernando Paiz, Turbine (DDO Online)
4:10, Lex Bayer, Spare Change, Adam Caplan, Super Rewards, Ron Hirson, BOKU, Will O’Brien, TrialPay, Roger Wood, ORCA
5, Siqi Chen, Serious Business
5:30, Cocktails

F 10/30, #VGS09, Virtual Goods Summit
9:30, Charles Hudson, Serious Business, Tim Chang, NVP
9:45, Justin Smith, Inside Social Games
10:15, Benjamin Joffe, +8* (Plus Eight Star)
10:45, David Wallerstein, Tencent…
11:30, Geoff Cook, MyYearbook, Jon Earner, Playfish, Steve Meretzky, Playdom, Keith Rabois, Slide, Andrew AT Trader, Tim Chang, NVP
12:30, Lunch
2, Zhan Ye, Gamevision/Giant
2:30, Philip Yun, mig33…
3:15, John Smedley, Sony Online Entertainment
3:45, Break
4:15, Bigpoint, Outspark, WildPockets, IGG…
5, PayPal, Incomm, Zong, Offerpal…
6, Offerpal Afterparty at Harlot (46 Minna)

LOS ANGELES

Tu 10/27, 140 Characters Conference
8:45, Jeff Pulver, @jeffpulver, Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO, Kodak, @jeffreyhayzlett
9, Cyndi Stivers, EW.com
9:10, @davewiner, Author, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fail Whale
9:20, Investing in REal-Time:  Ron Conway, @bijan, @howardlindzon, @scobleizer
9:40, @jeffreyhayzlett
10, @porterVA, Virgin America
10:10, @davidsaranga
10:20, Aaron Bleyaert, Tonight Show blogger, @bigbley
10:30, @timkring, Heroes
10:50, Break
11:05, @ariannahuff…
11:55,@insightfultoo
12, @sarah_ross, Katalyst Media, @sadaoturner, Ryan Seacrest fantweets..
12:20, @scottporad
12:30, Break
1:30, @jackgraycnn, AC360 producer, @jane_bickingham…
1:45, Google Wave
2, @billybush, Access Hollywood
2:10, Public Policy & The Law
2:25, @twittermoms, @masters212
2:35, Jeremy Welt, WB Records, @jblogg, Ted Cohen, TAG Strategic..
2:55, @jeffreypollack, World Series of Poker…
3:25, @stoweboyd
3:35, @jacobsoboroff, AMC News, @maegancarberry, HuffPo, @tedstew, Variety…
3:45, @hardlynormal
4:05, Police Chiefs That Tweet
4:25, Break
4:55, @wmmarc
5:05, @kevinpollak
5:25, @dougbenson, @mattbraunger, @robnuebel, @nerdlist
5:40, Fitting 140 characters into your life stream
7:30, After-Party

W 10/28, 140 Characters Conference
8, Education/Health
8:50, News:  @alexiatsotsis, @latimesnystrom, @ksablan, @mmilian, @richardrushfield
9:10, @odednoy, xen
9:20, @pr_couture, Red Door Interactive..
9:35, @hankwasiak
9:45, @slackmistress
9:55, @maheshmurthy
10:05, Authors: @markvhansen…
10:20, Brands:  @pacsun, @wlosangeles, @kogibbq, @kazkang
10:50, @cc_chapman
11, Break
11:15, 12 Seconds TV, @thesolster
11:25, @scobleizer, @wingdude
11:50, @drew
11:50, Photography
12:10, China
12:30, Break
1:30, @bing
1:35, @samgo, MSNBCi Twitter Team
1:40, @sass
1:45, Small Business Trends
2:10, Sports Brand Identity @kathleenhessert, @rking, @tomjolly
2:50, @jessicagottlieb, monetizing moms
3, Twitter for Rockstars @ashleypoole1, @dngrsdame, @actordougjones, @melissaschuman
3:15, Fans, followers, freinds
3:25, Luxury Brands
3:35, Mike Jones
3:50, Lifestreaming
4:05, @loic
4:15, @adventuregirl…
4:25, Publishing
4:45, @tomandrus
4:55, Musical performance @royzuarets
5:05, @fredfraver
5:30, @benparr

Th 10/29, Billboard Film & TV Music
8, Breakfast
9, Billboard Welcome
9:15, Music Supervisors:  Thomas Golubic, Breaking Bad, Richard Glasser, Crash, Frankie Pine, Brothers & Sisters…
10, Twilight Soundtrack:  Livia Tortella, Atlantic Records, Pual Katz, Summit Entertainment..
11, TV As The New Radio:  Peter DiCecco, Disney-ABC, Kate Juergens, ABC Family, Dawn Soler, ABC Entertainment, Frank Valenti, OLTL, Steven Vincent, Disney-ABC
12, Chris Wenitz & Alexandre Desplat, Twilight
1, Lunch Break
2, Ron Broitman, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Joe Mondry, Cherry Lane, Linda Newmark, UMPG, Randy Wachtler, PMA
3, Breaking into the Business: Ali Dee & Lamont Dozier, Songwriters..
4, Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat & Erran Baron Cohen, Composer
4:45, Music Supervisor Face Time:
Patrick Arn, President, Gotham Records
Brian Black, Music Supervisor/Soundtrack Producer, Zoophoria Music
Mike Boris, Executive Music Producer, McCann Erickson 
Rudy Chung, Music Supervisor
Mason Cooper, Music Supervisor
(Bonny Dolan, Executive Producer & Artist Liaison
Didier C. Deutsch, Record Producer, Sony/Legacy
Arlene Fishbach, Music Supervisor
Janet Fisher, Music Supervisor
Paul Glass, Supervising Music Director, “One Life To Live”
Richard Glasser, Exec in Charge of Music, Music Supervisor 
Rich Goldman, CEO, RipTide Music
Joel Goodman, Composer 
Kat Green, CEO, Bad Ass Music & Hella Good Records 
Keatly Haldeman, CEO,  pigFactory Music
Colin Kelly, Director, A&R, Gotham Records
Beth Krakower, CineMedia Promotions
Chris Langrill, Manager of A&R/Music Supervision, Man Made Music
Glenn Litwak, Partner, Litwak & Havkin
Teri Nelson Carpenter, President, Reel Muzik Werks, LLC(
Jeannette Perez, Sr. Director Soundtracks, Film & TV, RCA/Jive
David Polemeni, VP, Head of Film & Television, S1 Songs America
David G. Powell, Music Supervisor, The Music Bridge LLC
Davis Powers, VP of Music Programming, Current TV
Jen Pyken, Music Supervisor, Lucky Duck Music
Andrew D. Robbins, Director, Film/TV Music, MusicBox, LLC
Christian Salyer, CEO, Blazed Out Music
Joe Solo, Composer, Producer, Songwriter, Joe Solo Productions, Inc.
Jeremy Sweet, Music Supervisor, Smashtrax Music
Jonathan Weiss, Music Supervisor
Michael Welsh, Music Supervisor and Rights Clearance Specialist
Angela Rose White, Founder/President, DaBet Music Services
Josh Zieman, President US Operations, Dramatico
5:30, Roundtables – How to Pitch Getting Your Music Placed in Film & TV, Master and Synch Rights, Getting Music Placed in Commercials, Licensing Music, Making Music Documentaries,  Maxxing a Sync:  Gaining Exposure in Film & TV, Creating Music for Brands and TV, Building the Right Relationship for Film & TV Placement
8-1, HunnyPot Afterparty, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, 4th Floor

F 10/30, Billboard Film & TV Music
9, Breakfast
9:30, Fame:  The Anatomy of a Film Score – Fame
10:30, Anatomy of a TV Show – Glee
PJ Bloom, Music Supervisor
Adam Anders, Music Producer, “Glee”
Glen Brunman, Soundtrack Consultant, Columbia Records
Geoff Bywater, Head of Music, 20th Century Fox Television
Ward Hake, VP of Music, Fox Television
Lea Michele, Grammy Award Winner
11:30, Music for Commercials
12:30, Music from HBO’s True Blood
1:15, Break
2:30, Mary J Blige
3:15, Music of Battlestrar Galactica
4, Video Game Music
5, Transitioning from Music Supervision to Producing
As fees for music supervisors are dropping and competition is getting tighter, supervisors’ expertise on music-oriented films and TV shows are still in demand. Hear from several music supervisors who have made the transition into producing for TV and film about what it takes to make the switch — and why the skill sets needed for both jobs dovetail.
6-7, Poolside Cocktails

F 10/30, OMMA Video
9, Opening Remarks
9:15, Fuse Capital
9:45, Digitas, IPG..
10:30, Hulu-TV Killer or Killer App?
11, Break
11:15, Greg Colvin, Fox, Karin Gilford, Fancast, Anthony Soohoo, CBS Interactive, Charley Shoemaker, Nielsen…
12, Break, TubeMogul…
1, Lunch:  Ooyala, Auditude…
1:45, Keynote:  Illeana Douglas & Dominik Rausch, Easy to Assemble, Rob Barnett, My Damn Channel, Douglas Sarine, Beatbox Giant Productions
2:30, Video Metrics
3:15, Break
3:30, Leveraging Interactivity: Hayden Black, Evil Global Corp….
4:15, EQAL, Generate, Revision3, Alloy, Zenithmedia…


Digital Hollywood, the standard by which all digital media conferences are measured, a gathering at the intersection of film tv music gaming social mobile, an intense, exhilarating, deliriously exhausting brain squeeze where the brightest in the business try to piece it together while moving faster than the speed of light.  On stage and off were blockbuster producers, award-winning filmmakers, showrunners, web-celebs, network execs, festival programmers, publicists, press and brands. Even other stellar confabs (Westdoc, NY Television Festival, Digital Media Wire, SanFranMusicTech) were there soaking it in.  Co-located with the Variety, Content, EPPS, CodeSpace Summits, infused with fresh and compelling happenings from Gerber Rigler Productions, the networking was outstanding, the information gold, and never a dull moment. Video at www.digitalhollywoodlive.com. Twitter stream at #DH09.  Below is a summary of what was said:

Neil Stiles, Variety
Puzzled by YouTube, just don’t get it. WSJ estimated YouTube earned $250mm on $1B in storage costs/year, Hulu is trading analog dollars for digital pennies, CPMs gravitating to zero, when it gets to 5000 channels, everyone is a producer.  Every blogger is 9 years old, throw it up quick without regard to accuracy, leaving it to the wisdom of the crowd to clear mistakes. Web revenue will never be as attractive as print, if you spend money creating TV film content someone has to pay, consumers will pay for engagement, for what they can do with the content.  New models of content as a service, pay once, use in whatever form you want.

Orly Adelson, Dick Clark Productions
Our brand is our award shows, putting embeddable preshow online to drive interest onair.   There are an infinite number of eyeballs to attract so why not put it everywhere. Social media is a great filter, fans see something they like, they pass it around. With the Country Music Awards, there is a 200% spike in music sales the day after CMAs because viewers tell friends to check out the songs featured.  Would love to put  So You Think You Can Dance online but too expensive because of music rights.  Make great content and they will come…Paranormal was made for $11,000, now in 160 theatres, at that cost there is no risk, my kids said it was scary, when a film evokes a strong reaction like that you’re going to have a big draw.  Many are watch shows online because they don’t know when it’s on air, it’s easier to find them online.

Peter Guber, Mandalay Entertainment
Technology was not born 4 years ago, it was born thousands of years ago.  One of the largest owners of baseball teams and stadiums in the US.  Teaches class at UCLA.  Today you need to be a renaissance person, cant just be movies, or just be music. Started out in 1968 at Columbia Pictures when there was an elitism, tv didn’t speak to film or music, today is the greatest opportunity that ever existed to bring audience directly to the artist.  Can no longer think of yourself as a movie guy, landscape is changing too rapidly, the rate of change is 3D omnipresent, no longer linear, how do you stay present, its the beginning of the beginning.  Now things are being pulled by you, by interest, we’re in a sea change, can’t have linear philosophy.  We are no longer talking to one monolithic audience of a million, rather we are talking to an audience of one, a million times over. Will watch dailies on iPhone but not Forest Gump.  Regarding interactivity, may not be interested in changing the outcome of the story but might want to buy that thing on the show, so there will be an integrated benefit.  The opportunity to talk back and intersect with the host, the immediate audience reaction changes the outcome, similar to what happens when your onstage and you make a bad joke, you move on.  The medium will dictate.  Can’t be without a phone.  When producing a product you go after a niche.  Paranormal, the new Blair Witch, was made for $15,000, Avatar epic is closer to half a billion sitting in theatres side by side, does it make sense to charge the same ticket price?

Carson Daly, Last Call with Carson Daly @carsonjdaly
Launched TRL in 1998 in response to how bad music videos were on MTV, wanted to empower viewers to choose, in a way it was the beginning of social media on TV when we turned the programming reigns over to the viewers.  If only Viacom would have bought MySpace would have been able to get a deeper connection with the kids.  Now at NBC and at the end of the day it comes down to money, NBC is owned by GE, we need to get paid.  We still don’t see lonelygrl15 driving around in a Porsche. Last Call with Carson Daly breaks bands. Artists are fueled by ego.  Many older musicians don’t have much of a digital footprint, they want to know what’s the play, is it worth their time, takes a lot of time to post (Miley Cyrus, eh), make more money elsewhere, they want to know where is Twitter’s value? Post 20x/day to 38,000+ Twitter followers for #militarymondays, like the idea of microblogging but not that into it personally.  Would post a picture of my mom but never of my kid.  In 2006, got Kevin Reilly’s backing to take a fresh spin on AFV with IYS, It’s Your Show.  Went to the web for talent, lots of tastemakers online, recruited those with big followings, one was Brookers, the most viewed female on YouTube.  But the NBC.com people never met the programming people and it didn’t go anywhere.  At the end of the day, the bills have to be paid. As for integrations, used to hate the Coke on Idol as a blatant sell out but now I get it.  The DVR has killed the 30 second spot, so now selling integrations, pitch Chevy on Mary J. Blige getting out of a Chevy truck at MSG.  As long as you’re selling stuff that relates to my wheelhouse, that’s relevant to me – golf, girls, guacamole, guns, beer – no problem.  As far as cost, content creators need to start factoring into production the way content is being consumed.  Why spend to shoot in panoramic, why not tv ratio.  25y ago you could spend $40,000 to create a show for a guy and hope he watches but now that guy is not just watching tv, he’s gaming, he’s tweeting, he’s elsewhere.  Richard has invited me out to Hanger 8 but have an exclusive with NBC, so can’t, but if I was out of work would be at Hanger 8 filming, why not.  Fox has done things for $15,000 as well as $.5B successfully.  There is a cyclical nature to film that circles round CGI and Arthouse…I want to feel a movie again.  In some ways I miss the days of the movie star, as SNL’s Seth Myers puts it, today celebrity just means mammal.  Balloon Boy is a celebrity.  Go to Starbucks everyone is talking to each other but no mouths are moving, noone is looking at each other.  The good news is the value of the live social experience is on the up.  (More from CD at #w2s, here onstage with Mark Cuban)

Richard Rosenblatt, Demand Media, @demandrichard
Serial entrepreneur built over $1.4B in internet media companies, credits include MySpace and Demand Media.  In the old days they’d pay 400x profit for future platforms but it was early.  This is a great time now, we are finally at the point where digital and hollywood come together.   This is the first time ever the audience is telling you – who is that guy and what he wants.  In 2004, MySpace profiles weren’t real for fear of who was reading it, now on FB everything is real, pictures of kids, family, there is so much personal information on FB profiles. (Carson – it’s a big mistake, trusting too much) But you can now find 100,000 people interested in bocce ball, culling for niches has never been easier.  Even Yahoo is going open and shared.  When you know what people want, you can connect them to the stuff they need.  That’s why I bought eHow.  There are 100,000/month looking to make homemade detergent.  1mm articles, 200,000 videos on long tail topics with Digg features, etc.  Demand’s Livestrong.com has 6mm visitors/month allows Lance to bypass media, at the Tour de France he was tweeting from his bike.  Wife Brooke has Modern Mom show.  See Comcast/NBC as a good move, Comcast is very progressive.  Follow trends, to see where we’re heading you must immerse yourself in the technology first, FB, Twitter, try different things but make the right choices where to focus time, you can’t follow every company TechCrunch, PaidContent, Variety writes about, pick game changing trends, if a lot of people are doing it, there’s something to it.  Twitter works great for celebrities and marketers, great way to send links and filter information.  A great example is the movie Couples Retreat, critics hated it but friends were recommending it and caused a spike despite bad reviews.  Follow 5-6 people you trust, see what they say, with 70mm on the mobile web and 100mm tweets a day, a good search engine can filter valuable information like what’s skiing like on Mammoth today.  Twitter search is better than Google.  Sun Valley Media Conference chatter – 31% of retail companies are using FB connect.  People buy in their network, what to see what friends are shopping for.  As soon as advertisers can figure out ROI, the whole market will open up.  Regarding Chris Anderson’s Free, there’s always someone paying whether its the user or the advertiser.  If time is a scarce resource would its good to have the choice to pay then spend time watching commercials.

Stuart Levine, Variety
A lot of great shows this season:  Modern Family, Glee, Biggest Loser, Sons of Anarchy.  More watching NCIS than going to Transformers.  There is an enthusiasm for TV.  Personally have 37 season passes on AppleTV, watch 7 days later, some great shows cancelled due to bad time slots.  Mark Cherry has been talking about Desperate Housewives – when is it going to end (Lost similar), some shows have a limited life, want to go out with a bang. / What was a 22 episode season, we are now seeing more 10-12-13 episode mid-seasons. / The broadcast 18-49, 25-54 demo is antiquated, Viacom has it as 18-24, 18-34, everyone calls it something else as they sell to different niches.

Marc Graboff, NBCU
TV has a 90% failure rate, but the networks ned to get out of the way and provide a platform for creatives vision.  People don’t realize networks don’t get paid for shows that are TiVo’d.  For Office and Heroes, the numbers are off  full rating points because the DVR causes a 4 week delay. Being worked on by CIMM, the Council for Innovative Media Measurement, comprised of 14 advertisers, agencies and TV companies, who are developing cross-platform metrics intended to measure total audience consumption on any platform anytime. / At NBC mid-season orders not happening, difficult to accumulate enough stuff to sell in backend, 13 episodes is not enough. USA, TBS, TNT largest 3 cable networks take couple of hundred episode order, 5 22-episode seasons.  That said, with windows collapsing, perhaps 13 episodes can be monetized instantaneously.  Why delay syndication pot of gold for four years, why not take little bags of gold along the way.  / Audience is so fragmented, hits no longer pay for losers. Have to retool because of a change in consumption.  / Glad we’re equity owners of Hulu, remember Hulu was an antipiracy move, if it wasn’t on Hulu 24 hours after it was on air it would be pirated.  Hulu as a destination site for quality fully produced masters of the show.  Just wish we weren’t training viewers to watch programming online with so little ad viewing.  FOD windows, pay to watch earlier.  NBC.com is a superfan site, place to go when show is not on to interact with characters, creators, stars, chat, blog.  Then there is the blogosphere, twitterverse where viral word of mouth spreads fast, its a phenomenon.  Bruno had huge numbers Friday night, word of mouth was bad and numbers fell off on Saturday. / Regarding Leno it’s too early to tell, doing better tahn projected, will evaluate in 52 weeks, not affecting House at 8 or Law & Order at 9.  It’s a transitional year for NBC, Jay happened last December, didn’t want to lose Jay or Conan, this way the solution.  Impact on local news, everyone is down in the 11pm slot:  CBS 10%, ABC 11%, NBC 12%. / Higher CPMs with more targeted audiences, still need to aggregate eyeballs.  / Cable model is robust, subscriber base is there, free TV syndication not, cash license fees on barter, 30 Rock syndication all barter whereas The Office years ago was all cash.  / We’ve been guilty of derivative reality shows like everyone else.  Looking for next big tent pole watercooler reality show, not drama, comedy or next ABT, Biggest Loser.  Something fresh.  (Marc Graboff, NBCU also delivered EPPS Keynote later in the conference:  http://www.mobilizedtv.com/nbc-entertainments-marc-graboff-keynotes-at-digital-hollywood)

Mark Koops, Reveille
The Office the first season didn’t have the biggest ratings, but it did well for the network and they supported Greg Daniels with press, promotion, marketing, not telling him how to write a script. / Would have loved to have had Millionaire, the first $B failure continues to live on in syndication as a $B franchise.  / Talking about the cycle model, Biggest Loser took 2 cycles to increase ratings, now attracting marketing partners and advertisers on a more consistent basis, high-end sponsors:  Subway, General Mills integrations.. The only one showing up to watch Project Runway in the beginning was Laura Zalaznick.  / People turn up and watch The Biggest Loser and The Office because they know when its on, when you move the time slot the message to the audience is forget it.  / Mercy great scripted show on NBC, well cast, well written series, hope they stick with it.  / When you watch 24, you know you’re getting 24 original episodes, no more 3 originals with a repeat a week, with Biggest Loser (Tu 8) you know you’re getting 32 weeks of original programming.  / House business model works, control cost of it, powerful storytelling.

John Landgraf, FX Networks
Don’t have a huge slate, 11 scripted series, still read every script, watch every rough cut.  Creative stuff is fragile, need to baby it and nurture it in its infancy til its grows to be a robust adult.  / Damages viewing is up 80% from DVR but don’t get paid for it.  Nielsen needs to be revamped, follow viewers where they are, FOD cable partners cant track it and sell it, as viewing experience changes, measurement needs to chance too.  Now viewing over weeks and months, not over 3 days.  / Knowing when show has reached its potential, this is the last season of The Shield (Th 9)/ Seinfeld was an acquired taste, an unusual show leading 25mm into it./Now when we market to live-only viewer, make it an event for the viewer.  They know FX will repeat it or can catch up on iTunes or VOD but they’ll never get back to it, a decision delayed is never made, need to eventize and market the show. / Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Th 10) is a hit show after 5 years, up 70% in ratings.  FX is not a network known for comedy, model is about less expensive shows perhaps taking a loss on the first run, but having patience to to grow it 5 years and turn it into a compelling product.  FX owns Sunny, and took it off of Hulu to make it available for DVDs and syndication.  Damages value to leave it up forever.  But Hulu helps with discovery of previously obscureshow, wasn’t originally in heralded group of comedies, Hulu elevated it.  At first made all 50 episodes available to find audience.  The Hulu ecosystem even with a hybrid of ads and subs can’t replace linear airing to DVD to syndication, need to protect ability to create hits or don’t have a business. / FX caters to a yunger generation, but no one really knows who is watching, multiscreen challenge of tracking elsewhere, STB data not accurate. /Audience is not as attached to big ticket, The Shield and Sons of Anarchy have proved you can stick to your overall budget.  If changed production value on 24 audiences would notice, needs to be the same storytelling, intimacy of characters in the bedroom, less car chases, explosions. / Every network needs a healthy balance, look what Idol did for House/ Look How I Met Your Mother, a single camera sitcom with no middle, no buzz, is going strong thanks to Neil Patrick Harris as the breakout star. / Want 100 episodes, when you get to 80, you’re in good shape.

Dana Walden, 20th Century Fox Television
Can’t have a mid-level hit get to 4 seasons anymore, need to have a property people want to watch again for a viable DVD, syndication, international, EST and digital platform business.  Depressing when you get a bad time slot.  Joruneymen – highest testing pilot since 24, plum time period after Heroes, no longer enough, see it with Lie to Me, got best time period, best audience, audience found clicker and its premeired poorly.  Arrested Development was ahead of its time, sure Fox would love it on air now.  FBC didn’t have right fit for it, it was a bit narrow. / Big hit in the ratings:  Sons of Anarchy, successful 13 episode oder international and home entertainment, big eventized shows on lesser orders/  Its not one size fits all, need to be facile, business changing quickly, don’t want to burn out new revenue streams / X Files released favorite episodes in one million different ways, consumers will pay for cult shows/ Talking end of life – Ideally you want a show that is highly serialized but not episodic like Law & Order with an outstanding cast. For a show like Prison Break, how many prisons can they break from, if you try to stretch beyond its limits you creatively hurt the show long term, that incredibly bad ending memory of an asset in its afterlife of syndication, etc.. Prison Break is hugely lucrative DVD, International people want to collect it, own it. / DVRs make it hard to monetize videos. / We have two great shows:  Glee and Modern Family, and the luck of them being scheduled against each other.  Miss one, watch the other the next day on Hulu. We support Hulu and are part of NewsCorp which has an equity interest in Hulu but it’s personally challenging to have shows available so quick after airing.  The priority is to watch on air, then watch completed master in living room via Hulu, better than bootleg.  / Meanwhile in the past 2 years cost of production has escalated out of whack.  Need to make changes.

Mike Farah, Funny or Die
Specialize in celebrity content (Will Ferrell, Chris Henchy, Neil Patrick Harris, Mandy Moore, Christopher Lloyd, Renee Romjin..).  No celebrities are compensated for FOD, can’t pay for content but video producers can insert their own pre-rolls, FOD has ads on the site, brands buy into the entire slate, higher end productions that get seen, free publicity, cheap effective celebrity content shot on short notice, not much to crack the code, look for quality and quantity for good diversions from work, training ground for UCB groundlings, hands-on uber-control, cost effective,

Mike Polk, Break.com
Site has nutcake videos, skateboard stunts, rodeo donkey, what’s entertaining for millennial men can turn off advertisers.  Site has series and one-offs. Branded content for Cheetos, Mountain Dew.  Produced hilarious video:  Cleveland, II.

Josh Spector,Comedy.com
4mm monthly uniques, now a guide to what’s funny right now

Maria Kermath, ATT Interactive
Rebranding Yellow Pages for those born after 1977: Have to Eat, Drink, Snack, Pee.

(still posting, please check back later for more, thanks!)

Peter DeBruge, Variety
Creating entertainment brands and franchises.

David Zucker, Secret Secret Service, Airplane, Scary Movie..
Brand is zany comedy slapstick laugh-out-loud spoof.  Movies are in Oscar-free zone, get joke onscreen.  Shooting in HD – makeup has to be better.

Brett Ratner, Beverly Hills Cop IV, X-Men
Billion dollar director known for Rush Hour Trilogy grossed $800mm worldwide. Brand is action thriller but tastes are eclectic.  Would like to make a ronatic fantasy film too.  Old school, stuck on film, not embracing digital yet.   Likes Canon better than Red.  Spielberg said Dreamworks sends list of top 50 YouTube videos a month.

Bob Osher, Columbia Pictures
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs just hit $100mm mark.  Brand is good stories with good characters well told. Character driven even when its for kids.  Dont want to have a studio style, want it to feel fresh and original.

David Gale, MTV New Media

Devin Rice, igossip.com

Ondi Timoner, We Live in Public

Josh Harris, Wired City

Jason Calacanis, Mahalo.com

Marcia Zellers, FIDM

Jeffrey Gordon, Writers Boot Camp

Adam Armus, Heroes

Matt Corman &  Chris Ord, Covert Affairs, Deck the Halls

Helen Ross, Mad Men on Twitter

Seth Shapiro, New Amsterdam Media

Kevin Yen, YouTube

Russ Shafer, Yahoo! Connected TV

Jared Tobman, Reveille

Keith Quinn, Paramount Pictures

Jessica Schell, NBCU

Kenneth Hertz, Esq.

Felicia Day, The Guild

John Fasano, Woke Up Dead

Doug Cheney, Prom Queen

Michael Oates Palmer, West Wing

Sarah Fain, Lie to Me

Elizabeth Craft, Lie to Me

Patricia Handschiegel, Huffington Post

Eric Berger, Sony Pictures Television

Neil Tiles, G4

Sab Kanaujia, NBCU

Albie Hecht, Worldwide Biggies

Greg Goodfried, EQAL

Shawn Gold, Cocodot

Danae Ringelman, IndieGoGo

Matt Tyrnauer, Valentino

Courtney Sexton, Participant Productions

Rebecca Yeldham, Anvil

Marina Zenovich, Polanski:  Wanted and Desired

Scott Hamilton Kennedy, The Garden

Eddie Schmidt, IDA

David Gale, MTV

Ted Skillman, Bollywood Hero

Aaron Ryder, FilmNation Entertainment

Richard Wright, Lakeshore Entertainment

Nathan Mayfield, Hoodlum

Daniel Tibbets, GoTV

Justine Bateman, fm78.tv

George Ruiz, ICM

Kim Evey, The Guild

Paul Kotonis, For Your Imagination

David Freeman, Edelman/Matter

Drew Massey, maniaTV

Amber J Lawson, Babelgum
Where frat boy comedy ends, and evolved hipster comedy begins, political, timely, topical, female, sci-fi, celebrity, animation.

David Tochterman, Versatility Media

Ross Levinsohn, Fuse Capital

Tyler Goldman, Buzzmedia

Kate Neligan, Lionsgate

Gary G-Wiz, Public Enemy

Julie Supan, Ning

Thomas Hughes, MGM

Adam Powers, Rovi

Eric Gould Bear, Monkey Media

Arlene Zeichner, Selavy Associates

James Roberts, Global Capital Law Group

Julia Boorstin, CNBC

Lisa Hsia, Bravo Digital Media

Michael Benson, ABC

Stephen Andrade, NBC.com

Alison Moore, HBO

Geoff Katz, ATAS

Josh Weltman, Mad Men

Peter Yared, Transpond

Danila Koverman, Break.com

Ryan Stoner, Omelet

David Norton, LadderUp Media

Brian Seth Hurst, ATAS

Mark Ely, Sonic Solutions/CinemaNow

Jason Rubenstein, Redbox

Steve McKay, Entone

Larry Smith, MOD

Mark Lipsky, Gigantic Digital

Doug Sylvester, Avail-TVN

Ken@Divx

Brad Auerbach, HP

Ted Mundorff, Landmark Theaters

Laura Kim, I Wake Up Screening

Amy McGee, Sundance Institute

Rebecca Yeldham, LAFF

Sharon Swart, Variety

IAWTV International Academy of Web Television
2010 Streamys (the one Neil Patrick Harris termed the fettucini award) tentatively set for April 11, venue TBA.  Festively gathered in the audience were Felicia Day of The Guild, Ned Cantu of NYTVF, Tim Street of French Maid TV, George Ruiz of ICM, Dina Kaplan, of blip.tv, Drew Baldwin of Tubefilter, Jim Louderback of Revision 3, Justine Bateman and Dominik Rausch of Easy to Assemble and many others.  Had a chance to ask Justine about her studio endeavor fm78.tv, she said they had 20 scripts in development and were in talks with many brands including P&G and IBM, distribution partners including Hulu and blip.tv, but not CBS TV.com yet, more below.  Also caught up with Jim Louderback who announced a distribution partnership with Roku’s Indie Channel for Revision 3’s first scripted comedy series, Web Zeroes.  The IAWTV is putting a call out to grow its nascent membership of 100+ to better process the substantial number of Streamys submissions expected, 100,000+ were submitted for 2009.  1300 attended at the Wadsworth Theater.  Dues are free through 2008, $90 for 2010, benefits include participting in peer groups, voting on the Streamys, tickets to the Streamys, directory listing, events discounts, job listings, newsletter.  Next meeting is at NATPE in Vegas.  For more details, email membership@iawtv.org or visit www.iawtv.org.  / Later that night, the same group partied down at the Hollywood Web Television Meetup at Busby’s in West Hollywood.  Tubefilter announced its acquisition of TilzyTV, and hosted with blip.tvKoldCast.TV, Sony Creative Software, Stickam, AMD, Ooyala, Going Live! an in-depth look at producing a live television show on the web with UStream, Justin.tv, Stickam, and Livestream. Panelists included Hailey Bright, Co-Host, Coin-Op TV Live, Brian Gramo, Founder, theStream.tv, Tyler Crowley, Executive Producer, Mahalo Daily, Drew Baldwin, Producer, The Streamy Awards, Bismarck Lepe, Founder, Ooyala, and Marc Hustvedt, Editor-in-Chief, Tubefilter News.  Video at www.stickam.com/tubefilter.

Marketing Hollywood with Rock You, MyYearbook, MGM, Fox…
http://www.mobilizedtv.com/marketing-hollywood-cross-platform-branding

Rooftop Comedy, Demand Media, Fine Brothers Film, The Alchemists, Mom Life, BettyConfidential, ITVA
http://www.mobilizedtv.com/digital-holllywood-discussing-broadband-content

(Notables:  Mike McCurry, Arts & Labs, Glasgow Phillips, South Park, David Scacco, TwitVid..)


Digital Hollywood, a must for content licensing professionals, lands at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel M 10/19-Th 10/22 and producer Victor Harwood didn’t miss a thing.  Action packed with the Variety/Content/CodeSpace/EPPS Summits, International Academy of Web Television meetup, WGA comedy writers boot camp, filmmaker screening, pitchfest, poolside cocktails, a social mobile gaming connected device multiplatform hackathon, prizes, and DJ afterparties.  1500+ will be mixing it up with blockbuster producers, showrunners, festival programmers, publicists, A-list press, web-celebs, network executives, brands, agencies, Emmy winners and VCs.  Companies including HBO, Bravo, Starz, Scripps, Fox, NBCU, CBS, Disney-ABC, MTV, FX, G4, Sony Pictures, Paramount, Miramax, MGM, Mandalay, Lionsgate, Marvel, Merv Griffin, Dick Clark, CinemaNow, Redbox, Fremantle, Reveille, Endemol, blip.tv, Evil Global Corp, EQAL, Rooftop Comedy, Demand Media, YouTube, Y!, MySpace, Mattel, Activision, Guthy-Renke and more.  From Carson Daly to Public Enemy to Justine Bateman – everyone is heading down.  With sub-$100 pricing for unemployed media execs, this is going to be the most interesting DH yet.  But if you can’t make it, you can follow along #DH09.  The guide below is just a mere sampling of the offerings, for more details visit www.digitalhollywood.com:

M 10/19

10-11
Variety Summit/Orly Adelsen, Dick Clark Productions

11-1 Palisades Ballroom 5FL
IAWTV/International Academy of Web Television Inaugural Meeting, members include Alex Albrecht, Diggnation, Justine Bateman, Easy to Assemble, Miles Beckett, EQAL, Veronica Belmont, Tekzilla, Hayden Black, Evil Global Corp., Felicia Day, The Guild/Dr. Horrible, Greg Goodfried, EQAL, Brian Seth Hurst, ATAS,  Dina Kaplan, blip.tv, Jim Louderback, Revision3, Sam Reich, DutchWestTV, Scott Roesch, Atom.com, George Ruiz, ICM,  Tim Street, French Maid TV…

12-9
CodeSpace Hollywood:  SDKs galore, check out the platforms, join a team , build an app, win prizes, dance the night away

12:15-1:30
Variety Summit/Keynote Lunch/Carson Daly, Peter Guber, Mandalay, Richard Rosenblatt, Demand Media…

1-2:15
DHI/Mike McCurry, Arts + Labs, Fremantle, Reveille, Activision…
DHII/DH Upfronts/Genius Rocket, MTVN Tribes, Technorati, Google, IBM, Microsoft Advertising…
DHIII/Ted Cohen, TAG Strategic…

1:30-2:45
Content Summit/Withoutabox, Bunnygraph, The Station, Veoh…

1:45-2:45
Variety Summit/TV Ecosystem/NBCU, Fox, FX, Reveille…

2:30-3:30
DHI/Shashi Seth, Cooliris, MTV, Discovery, YouTube, Cisco…
DHII/Story Worldwide, USA, AOL, Comcast Spotlight, Ed Moran, Deloitte…
DHIII/LBS Apps/5th Finger, Nokia, Handango, Starcom, Mobiclip…

3-4:15 Room 631
Content Summit/Comedy Writers John Hamburg, Larry Amoros, Glasgow Phillips, FOD, Break.com…

3:45-5
DHI/ICM, Starz…
DHIII/TimChang, NVP, TwitVid…

4:15-5:15

Variety Summit/Brett Ratner, X-Men, David Zucker, Scary Movie, Sony Pictures..

4:30-5-6 Room 631
Content Summit/Pitch Camp/MTV, Lionsgate, KCET, IndieGoGo, Break.com, Omelet, Aniboom…

5-6
Poolside Cocktails

6:30-9
Content Summit/DH Excellence Tribute to Sundance Doc:  We Live In Public/Ondi Timoner, Jason Calacanis..

Tu 10/20

7:30-8:45, Venice Room
Breakfast Briefing, Monkey Media SeamlessTV Telescopic Video Patent Licensing Program, RSVP vip@monkey.com

8:30-9:15, Room 631
Content Summit/Writers Boot Camp for Screenwriters, TV, Webisode producers with Jeffrey Gordon

9-10:15
DHII/Social Apps and Mini-Apps/Permuto, Slide, Gigya, Verve, Rocketfuel…
DHIII/ZillionTV, Origin Digital, Priority Digital, HD Cloud, Zoran, BitGravity
DHIV/Craig Alexander, Turbine, Allen DeBevoise, Machinima, Microsoft, Stormfront, IGA…

9-5

CodeSpace Hollywood/Developer Camp

9:30-10:45
, Arcadia C
Content Summit/Transmedia Storytelling w Helen Ross, Mad Men on Twitter, Adam Armus, Heroes…

10:45-12
DHI/Kevin Yen, YouTube, Patrick Barry, Y! ConnectedTV, Reveille, MySpaceTV, MTV, NBCU…
DHII/MTV, msnbc.com, Wunderman, Enfatico, McCann…
DHIII/Braxton Woodham, Zannel, Gracenote, Sony Pictures, Motorola, ClipBlast!
DHIV/Mattel, Vivendi Games, Microsoft, Vector, Tarver, ASAP Games, g-NET…
3D/Angela Gyetvan, 3ality, Andrew Fear, NVIDIA, IMAX, RealD, SMPTE…

11-12:15, Arcadia C
Content Summit/Storyteller + Producer = Creator/Writers
Lie to Me, West Wing

12:30-12:55, Arcadia C
Content Summit/Lunch/Snagfilms

12:30-1:45
DHII/Neal Tiles, G4, Eric Berger, Sony Pictures, Sab Kanaujia, NBCU, Greg Goodfried, EQAL, Shawn Gold, MySpace…
DHI/Interpublic, Guthy-Renke, Google….
DHIII/Lionsgate, Cisco, Adobe, Microsoft, Verizon, THR…
Demos/MONKEYmedia, Qtv, PeopleBrowsr, Edgecast…

1-1:20
Content Summit/Indie Go Go…

1:30-2:45

Content Summit/Doc Filmmakers –
Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired, Anvil, Who Killed the Electric Car

2:15-3:30
DHI/Lionsgate…
DHII/Disney ABC, Oxygen, Fox, Filmaka, TVGuide.com, TheWrap, Microsoft Advertising…
DHIII/Reality/Reveille, Endemol, Merv Griffin, LATimes.com/The Envelope, AllThingsD…
DHIV/Fox, Motorola, mSpot, FLO TV, GoTV, Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, Fun Little Movies, Kit Carson…
DRM/James Burger, Dow Lohnes, Alan Bell, Paramount, Jack Lacy, Intertrust, Rajan Samtani, Digimarc…
VW/Electric Sheep, IMVU, Gaia, RocketOn, GMG, Sulake, Raptr…

3-4:15
Content Summit/PGA/Bollywood Hero, Level26, MTV, FilmNation…

3:50-5
DHI/Enhanced Advertising/RockYou, Starcom, Google, Bunchball
DHII/Best Buy, RallyPoint, Rovi, OpenTV Labs…
DHIII/Google, Canoe…
DHIV/Justine Bateman, Easy to Assemble & fm78.tv, George Ruiz, ICM, Dina Kaplan, blip.tv, Babelgum…

5-6
Content Summit/Starz Animation, Aniboom, ka-chew!, ASIFA…

5-6/6:30-8
Poolside Cocktails

W 10/21

9-10:15
DHI/Alloy, Jivox, TubeMogul…
DHII/Andrew Kippen, Boxee, OpenTV, Digeo, ZeeVee, SyncTV, Motorola…
DHIII/James Burger, Dow Lohnes…
DHIV/Michael Scherotter, Microsoft, JWT, Ooyala, Gotuit…

9-5

Code Space Hollywood/Developer Camp, Awards

9:15
EPPS/B/Breaking Talent/Dancing with the Stars, People Magazine, EMI, USA Today…
EPPS/A/Chuck D, Public Enemy, Lionsgate, All Things D, Orange-FT, Ning…

10:45-12
EPPS/Small Stories/PR Writing at the Moment
DHII/Scripps, Fox Sports, MONKEYMedia, Comcast Spotlight, MGM, Rovi…
DHIII/GCs/Grant Michaelson, ABC, IFTA, WGA-West, GoTV…
DHIV/Napster, Y!Music, MemBrain, WB Records, MySpace Music, Topspin…
DHI/Roku, Zoran, Clearleap…

12

EPPS/Keynote with Marc Graboff, NBCU with Julia Boorstin, CNBC

12:30-1:45
, Room 731
Content Summit/Interactive Emmys/Bravo, Hoodlum, NBCU, HBO, ABC, ATAS
DHI/Avi Savar, Big Fuel, Story Worldwide…
DHII/MTV.com, VH1.com, TV Guide Online, Sezmi, Oxygen, IFC…
DHIV/Ali Partovi, iLike, UMG, Sony Music, Gracenote, LA Times…

2-3:30
, Room 731
Content Summit/Brand Integration/Break.com, Omelet, Mad Men, LadderUp, Transpond, ATAS

2:15-3:30

DHI/Metacafe…
DHII/Intel Capital, Granite Ventures, Scale Ventures…
DHIII/Mark Ely, CinemaNow, Jason Rubenstein, Redbox…
DHIV/Kevin Arnold, IODA…

3:30

EPPS/B/Getting Air Time on TV & Radio/NPR, Clear Channel, ShowBizExpress, E!, Extra, AP, BET, CBS
EPPS/A/E!, Magic Johnson, ET, Parade Magazine

3:50-5

DHI/Fox, MTV, msnbc.com, Y!…
DHIII/Marvel, Motorola, Parade…
DHIV/Flixster, HSN, Fandango…

4:30

EPPS/Landmark Theaters, Sundance Institute, Variety, LAFF

5

Poolside Cocktails

6-9
, Arcadia A
Adobe Cocktails, Appetizers, Workshop, sneak peek at 2010 feature film/workflow

8:30-2

Code Space Hollywood/Afterparty with Mystery DJ

Th 10/22

9:30-10:45
DHII/Gaia…

11:05-12:20

DHIV/Marketing Hollywood/MGM, RockYou, Miramax, myYearbook
DHII/SodaHead.com, GOOM Radio…
DHIII/MTV, TurnHere, Vantrix

12:50-2

DHI/ClipSync
DHII/Nabbr…
DHIII/MomTV
DHIV/MapMyFitness, Sapient Interactive

2:15-3:30

DHIII/Rooftop Comedy, Demand Media, Fine Brothers Film, The Alchemist, BettyConfidential, Mom Life