OTT & Transmedia

GO SAM!!

It was awesome to represent Stage 32 in London at Focus. Sharing the stage with Elizabeth, Tom and Stacey was amazing. Thanks for sharing, Ashley Renee Smith!

Such exciting news!

Excellent Sam Sokolow! Recognition well earned.

Thank you for that Amanda Toney. This is going to be one of the top discussions for 2024.

Thanks for sharing the article, Amanda Toney. What are DTH companies and OTT platforms?

Hey Maurice Vaughan. DTH are Direct to Home, and OTT are Over The Top. OTT are like Netflix, they do not use standard air/antennae/cable, essentially streamers. DTH is basically satellite, the transmissions go directly to the home via dish.

Ok, thanks for explaining, James Hoey.

Thanks for sharing, James Hoey - going to ask Neil a question right now.

I'd love to see an adaptation of Limbo. I think it could be artistic, deep, and moving if done right. The change I would make is for the boy to occasionally speak. In the game, he doesn't talk, none of the human characters do. For a game that's certainly interesting, but I think occasional dialogue is necessary for an adaptation.

As for the bonus answer, James Hoey, I'm not sure what I'd change in the adaptations. It's been so long since I've played those games. I know who I'd cast as the lead character in a "Dino Crisis" movie. Karen Gillan.

Pong The Movie.

I would line up for that one Sam Sokolow

The second screenplay I ever wrote was an adaptation of a game called 'The Mark of Kri'. I actually did try to get the movie rights, but SONY wouldn't even respond to my enquiries. I have shelved the script, but I still think that game would make a great fantasy action movie in the style of Apocalypto or Black Panther 2.

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg good to see you back here, Shadow. So this is opacity veiled as transparency?

Geoff Hall Well as noted in the Deadline article https://deadline.com/2023/12/netflix-viewership-data-highlights-success-... - the numbers don't tell the whole story. Suffice to say that the MPA members and their minions gave up absolutely nothing in the recent whining about data transparency in the recent collective bargaining tussle. IMO it is naive in the extreme to think that any MPA member - or any corporation in any industry, let alone one which relies on the perception of popularity for its revenues, will ever release statistics which are not vetted, cooked and specifically for propaganda purposes. NetFlix is no different, in fact quite in that group and as a multinational has more opportunity than many to mess with the stats. Which, by definition, are intentionally skewed from the very beginning of the user experience to favor NetFlix's favorite content... Real stats simply are not going to be released... ever...

In accordance with the WGA deal, didn’t Netflix promise to allow a third party to have access to their numbers in order to calculate residuals? While I’m wary of self-reporting, if there’s going to be an auditor for those numbers, wouldn’t it be foolish to contradict what the auditors report?

That said, Netflix is leaving out some info that would be good to know. A breakdown by territory for instance.

Mike Boas No, to my recollection the WGA finally agreed to what the AMPTP offered on day one. Compare to the DGA for a moment, who settled even before their agreement expired - they get royalties calculated on numbers of registered paid SUBSCRIBERS not streams. That is frankly the ONLY trackable and auditable statistic. number of streams are not practically trackable or practically auditable or even relevant to revenues. The DGA knew that, but then they deal with the producers on a daily basis, as most professional directors must. The WGA and SAGAftra for some reason couldn't fathom this. Which confuses me for SAGAftra but the WGA dismissed their only legal counsel before the labor dispute and never got them back on board - showing us all how smart they really are. Streaming numbers are what the streamer says they are, period, end of story, and there is no practical or even reliable way to dispute whatever numbers they allege.SAG new this of course, and their real issue was AI and scanning - and again, they caved. This was a very, very bad move because now all union actors agree to be scanned as a condition of employment. No option. And no one who knows the first thing about the tech will seriously tell you that there is any way to protect their image after that - there is simply no practical way to track it despite the childishly naive contractual provisions in that agreement. SAG needed to stick it's heels in on this one. Instead, they have put an expiry date on their relevance to the industry, IMO. Background players especially are finished as a group. I have gone on a tangent, sorry.

I maybe mis-remembered the third party accountant (really, there should be one) but WGA residuals are based on streams, not subscribers. Reading it again, this section only covers material Netflix produces, not things they license from other studios.

“ the studios agreed to provide the WGA with “the total number of hours streamed, both domestically and internationally, of self-produced high budget streaming programs,” such as Netflix original series. The guild would have to agree to keep the information confidential, meaning the public wouldn’t have access to the data — though, per the summary, streamers agreed that “aggregated information can be shared.””

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2023/09/27/wga-contract-details-writers-strike-deal/

Hey Mark Deuce, thanks for chiming in. What is it that pulls you to YouTube?

I've always loved when the shows that I'm working on hit streaming because they're able to reach a much larger audience of people around the world. But I've yet to have a film premiere in an actual theater, so that is still a dream.

Ashley Renee Smith streaming hands down has the widest audience reach. Our short film Quarantine Rex will be on our YouTube channel, but our upcoming short Truth in Stone will hopefully get to some streaming services once it is complete. Theater premiers are wonderful but so seldom do they occur around us. Being landlocked in the Midwest has its hurdles.

That's certainly true, James Hoey! It's not easy to have a classic theater run these days, but I'll always hope to have that experience eventually. =)

I think you can't beat making digital content and streaming it to anyone and everyone. I know so many people who toiled in headshot mailers and 99 seat theatre showcases - they eventually made it - but global eyeball potential and a little success speaks volumes and in so many places.

My personal top 22 all-time fave video games: 1. MTGO, 2. Another World, 3. land of Illusion: starring mickey mouse, 4. Close combat, 5. The sims 1, 6. Lemmings, 7. Dig dug, 8. Gain ground, 9. Pro wrestling sms, 10. Marble madness, 11. Skullmonkeys, 12. Rampage, 13. Hacker evolution untold, 14. Joust, 15. Discworld 2, 16. Syphon filter 1, 17. California games, 18. Crimsonland, 19. MK2, 20. EA MMA, 21. No fear downhill, 22. Limbo

Great choices, PolyD Flynt! I also LOVE Limbo! My favs are probably- 1. Super Mario World, 2. Mario Party, 3-5. God of War 1-3, 6. Assassins Creed: Revelations, 7. Bioshock, 8. Uncharted 2, 9. Limbo, 10. Crash Bandicoot

Not a fan of crash bandicoot, I just felt it was taking tomb raider’s 3d style or later sonic and I don’t like that style, I prefer wall e and the lego games for 3d platformer style. But it’s okay we differ. For me uncharted showed one of the first times when a syphon filter meets grim fandango kind of story-driven adventure game could be true to form and really open up the writing possibilities, so I agree that game series is important! I didn’t get into the god of war or assassin’s creed or bioshock, I’m more into the indie stuff. But some great stories in those games! Love mario as well. I actually prefer mickey to alex kidd and sonic on the sega side of things. But sonic and mario both have amazing games! Do you like any racing/sports games? No fear downhill is my favourite but I’ve been thinking about doing something like Speedball or Rocket League but indie. Eventually. Currently working on two video game prototypes a fighting adventure about a yeti like daughter of a witch and a demon god and her friend, a paralysed ex-pro wrestler turned scribe. It’s going to be a bit like my friend pedro meets a 2d grim fandango meets syphon filter or uncharted but low budget. -in visual style. I’m writing the story, non-linear script and pseudocode atm, planning to get some character concept art (from some favourite emergin artists on fb) early 2025 or sooner ideally. My other game is a sim about hustling in high school.

Can't wait for a "Bioshock" movie, Ashley Renee Smith!

Same, Maurice Vaughan!