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Hello! First off, I urge you to file a claim with the Equifax Data Breach settlement administrator (link). It takes one minute and you get $125 if you were affected. Teach those idiots a lesson, and buy some new kicks while you're at it. Fleece 'em. Next. I've been thinking about marketing strategies and distribution plans for films. I feel like trailers drop too far in advance of a film's release. I think it'd be easiest to mobilize an audience (read: convert to paying customers) once you actively engage them for a few minutes on YouTube. Now there are like four different trailers to maintain that same momentum, which to me, gives off this lackluster flash-sale energy. Manufacturing hype and urgency is incredibly difficult, might as well reap the monetary benefits while you're at it. Next. I'm seeing too many Russian bots on my Instagram story. I'm public. I dislike it. On that note, more of my exchanges with friends are happening directly over text - even sharing videos and photos. We finally might be seeing an "off-platform" shift in relationships. It's more personal. Normal. I like it. Lastly, I'm getting a bit fed up with the tech people that keep telling me indie films and early stage startups are super similar. They are not. Just because you've read Powerhouse and a Walt Disney biography doesn't make you a talent agent. Some aspects are comparable. Like the steep uphill battle for the first timer to raise capital. It's hard. Try pairing that with talent submissions, to also try to lure and secure investment. You need clout. Many of my friends are busy quarterbacking a couple of projects so that soon they can point to one and say - I made that happen from day zero. They've been in the business ~10 years, most starting as overworked and underpaid assistants. Myself included. To conclude. Very excited to see Once Upon a Time this week, and read some Siggraph news. We're moving into the August doldrums (esp for the Europeans), so now's a good time to clean up the inbox and get organized. That's all for now. Thanks for reading. See you next week.
Tech
Amazon ships skill flow builder for interactive stories (like Twine). Amzn
EasyMovie, France content creation platform, raised $5.5m. Fins
Unity raising $525m for early employees. TC
FlipGive, helps youth sports raise money, raised $5m. Fins
Replicant, voice bots, raised $7m. VB
Liv, vr livestreaming, raised $1m. GIB
Tencent and Pokemon to jointly develop games. Bberg
Trax, retail focused computer vision firm, raised $100m. DSA
Tilting Point invests $30m in Cat Game. GIB
Hipcamp, campsite rental platform, raised $25m (issue 47). TC
Pyze, ai data for consumer marketing analytics, raised $4.6m. VB
Cambridge Touch, touchscreen tech, raised $10m. Fins
Heap, automates consumer analytics, raised $55m. YF
Facebook built an ineffective ad library. NYT
Amazon to allow external ad buying tools on platform. WSJ
Apple favors itself on the App Store. WSJ
Virtual beings to make small grants for ai enabled animations. VB
Tesla cars might soon be able to stream Nflx and YT in idle. Bberg
Etsy to acquired Rever, music instrument market, for $275m. Cision
Twitter calling DAUs now, monetizable users. CNBC
Pomona, Indo co that offers cashback rewards on goods, raised $3m. TC
Media
Colony Capital circling Legendary. THR
HBO Max will have live news and sports. Variety
Vice in talks to buy Refinery 29. WSJ
Softbank Vision Fund 2 debut (yeesh). NYT
The Athletic hits 500k subs. Bberg
DraftKings pacts with MLB. Bberg
Plex makes piracy another streaming service. Verge
NBC expects $1.2b in ad sales for Olympics 2020. Variety
Fortnight World Cup finals happened, $30m to victor. Washpo
Lionsgate to open theme park in China. Bberg
Dish to buy $5b worth of assets in the Sprint T Mobile deal. Bberg
Sesac, music rights licensing biz, selling $560m bond. Bberg
Vivendi to appoint banks to sell 50% of UMG. Reuters
Atom Tickets and Regal end partnership. Variety
iPic, theater chain, to declare bankruptcy. Variety
Players Tribune and others start athlete production co venture. Deadline
Wanda Sports cuts its IPO size. Reuters
Peak food tv. THR
We Direct Music Videos new pledge. PTV
Nike might sell Hurley (just for fun). Reuters
Entertainment
TIFF lineup. Deadline
Venice lineup. IW
WGA opens up its new platform. WGA
Hitchhikers Guide tv series in the works at Hulu. Deadline
Free Association lands $2m revolving fund with Atwater. Deadline
iHeart inks podcast deal with Pride Media. Variety
Former Seville execs launch film sales outfit Wazabi (what a name). Deadline
Odell Beckham Jr launches unscripted prod co with Wheelhouse. THR
Marc Webb signs overall with ABC Studios. Deadline
Black List launches Latinx List. Deadline
Jennifer Salke on Amazon strat. Variety
Magnolia acquired Little Joe out of Cannes. Variety
John Krasinski inks first look tv deal with Amazon. Deadline
Batman and ATT in the era of streaming, ooh activations. NYT
MTV VMA noms. Bboard
Collaborative
Alex Heath on Facebook's intra-company competition, tipping points. Info
How video games engines created smarter ai. VB
Record labels are targeting Twitch streamers. Verge
The rise of voice powered gaming. MIT
The social effects of tv consumption. NYT
Inside Amazon's Hollywood struggles. Info
Benedict Evans on computer vision. BE
How urban planners ready for AVs. Washpo
Creating geostationary satellite systems and more. Nana
Fred Wilson on extensible / blockchain games. AVC
Howard Marks new memo. OakT
Jidenna 85 to Africa music video. YT
Cherie Hu on where streaming is taking us. NPR
NASA astronauts as space label designers. Med
Albert Wenger on the rise of AI (vid). YT
White paper on creating dialogue enabled virtual assts. PDF
Best practices on measuring consumer behavior on platforms. Nielsen
Scrambled data isn't as anonymized as you'd think. NYT
Taika's Jojo Rabbit teaser trailer. TWtwtr
The state of AI art. Gradient
How the retweet ruined the internet. BF
Monos trailer. YT
- Listen: Interview with Jon Steinberg on selling his co. Variety
- Read: Vertical mobile videos in China. TNW
- Watch: Four part doc of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. NHK
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