Our aim is to develop a deeper understanding about the history of business decision-making in film and television and to share with our audience the wisdom from the accumulated mistakes, experiments and achievements of the contributors.

Rob Antulov - biography

Rob Antulov is co-founder and CEO of 3eep, a provider of sports social network services. 3eep enables its partners to offer passionate sports players, fans, coaches and administrators the ability to take their real-world conversations into an online space. Rob is also currently an investor in, and director for, a number of technology and new media start-ups, including Autochic and One Minute Media. He also continues to operate a strategic advisory practice, MediaNext, focusing on the media and technology sectors.

Until recently Rob was Director of Strategy at Fairfax Media Ltd, responsible for Fairfax’s corporate direction on strategic growth, media convergence and digital expansion. Prior to that, Rob held senior management or consulting roles in media, technology, consumer goods and manufacturing companies, both within Australia and internationally. Rob holds an MBA from the AGSM, which he completed at the Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University in Chicago. He is currently a Director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and of the Sydney Film Festival.Audio download

• Whole interview, 21 minutes, 5mb MP3

Chapter 1 - New media start-ups and business models - 11 minutes

• New media start-ups and 3eep – the business of social networks
• 3eep providing consulting services
• Investing in new media, eg Autochic
• The impact of digital technology on content creation and distribution
• Broadcasters reach a mass audience – but the web offers interaction
• Content will find its audience
• Business model of 3eep – advertising, premium subscription, content syndication

Video downloads

• Chapter 1, 11 minutes, 44mb MP4
• Chapter 1, 11 minutes, 35mb WMV

Chapter 2 - Innovation, strategy and planning- 9 minutes

• Big business (eg Fairfax & News) responding to digital demands
• New media allows content-based community groupings and marketing
• Strategy and planning – looking three years ahead but remaining flexible
• Innovation is now cheaper
• The social benefits of new media are evident but investment decisions are the same and risks are high
• Start-ups need time to incubate
• Start-ups can import resources in return for equity

Video downloads

• Chapter 2, 9 minutes, 36mb MP4
• Chapter 2, 9 minutes, 28mb WMV

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Our aim is to develop a deeper understanding about the history of business decision-making in film and television and to share with our audience the wisdom from the accumulated mistakes, experiments and achievements of the contributors.

Brett Thornquest - biography

Brett Thornquest has been working with the Moneypenny group for the past six years . He has developed a unique combination of industry experience and knowledge, both as a production accountant and in the business and tax division. He has worked on international financing arrangements, and has provided tax planning advice to domestic and international artists and entertainers. Brett has also provided consultancy services to government organizations and companies within the film and television industry on production rebates, subsidies and taxation incentives and compliance.

Brett regularly authors or co-authors articles in various international publications regarding international production finance and taxation matters. He joined Moneypenny in 2000/01 as a Production Accountant and Post Production Accountant on the feature film The Quiet American for Intermedia/Mirage Enterprises. Prior to this, Brett worked as an accountant with Acclaim Entertainment and Warner Bros.

Audio download

• Whole interview, 47 minutes, 11mb MP3

Chapter 1 - Working with Moneypenny - 12 minutes

• Services offered by the Moneypenny Group – production accounting, business and taxation
• Special division on production incentive schemes
• Work with clients’ accountants
• Producer Offset based on 15% Location rebate – we know it well
• The Offset empowers the producer
• Advice from assessment to completion

Video downloads

• Chapter 1, 12 minutes, 46mb MP4
• Chapter 1, 12 minutes, 37mb WMV

Chapter 2 - The producer offset - 9 minutes

• Producer offset bringing Australian producers closer to the international production community
• Producer offset rewards success
• Significant Australian Content test in legislation is a bit vague
• Government should clarify this – and soon

Video downloads

• Chapter 2, 9 minutes, 35mb MP4
• Chapter 2, 9 minutes, 28mb WMV

Chapter 3 - Cashflowing the offset - 12 minutes

• Cashflowing the Offset – some investors interested, including foreign banks looking for local partners
• Moneypenny advising on this
• There are also some equity-style, smaller operators
• Is QAPE destabilising the certainty of the Offset?
• Cashflow lending needs solid risk assessment
• Lending rates for cashflow

Video downloads

• Chapter 3, 12 minutes, 47mb MP4
• Chapter 3, 12 minutes, 37mb WMV

Chapter 4 - Implications of the offset - 14 minutes

• Issues arising where 3rd party equity investors view Offset as subsidy
• In TV, broadcasters may force productions in-house
• Able producers can command deals
• Money should follow talent
• Producer Offset may push up prices and budgets
• Investors interested in creating funds for portfolio investing in screen production – the Montecarlo theory
• Hollywood studios use their own money to back producers with track record – and use other people’s money for riskier projects

Video downloads

• Chapter 4, 14 minutes, 54mb MP4
• Chapter 4, 14 minutes, 42mb WMV

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Our aim is to develop a deeper understanding about the history of business decision-making in film and television and to share with our audience the wisdom from the accumulated mistakes, experiments and achievements of the contributors.

Marian Macgowan - biography

Marian Macgowan is an experienced and award-winning producer, with five feature films to her credit. Her past films include Lillian’s Story, Two Hands (winner of an AFI and the Film Critics of Australia award for Best Film, 1999), Risk, and The Rage in Placid Lake (nominated for four AFI Awards in 2003). More recently, Marian produced Death Defying Acts, an Australian/UK co-production directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Marian founded Macgowan Films in 2000. Prior to this, she managed the production and publishing of the Australian film industry bible, The Production Book, and was Head of Producing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (where she now works as a consultant). She has also worked in the UK and Australia as a commercials producer and has directed a number of short films.

Macgowan Films is currently financing a number of projects. These include South Solitary, written and to be directed for the screen by Shirley Barrett, and Blessed, written by Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves, Patricia Cornelius and Christos Tsiolkos and to be directed by Ana Kokkinos.

Audio download

• Whole interview, 48 minutes, 11mb MP3

Chapter 1 - Budgets, financing and flexibility - 8 minutes

• Different sizes of budget - all equally hard to finance
• The smaller, $4-5 million, budget is relatively straightforward – limited sources of finance, predominantly Govt sources, plus debt finance
• The trend is now to tighten budgets and make a profit
• Death Defying Acts was $26 million, but felt like $12 million
• Policy - to be transparent with crew
• There is such a thing as the perfect budget – but it’s hard to define
• Must remain flexible, adapting to all changes

Video downloads

• Chapter 1, 8 minutes, 35mb MP4
• Chapter 1, 8 minutes, 26mb WMV

Chapter 2 - The producer offset - 12 minutes

• Impact of the Producer Offset on two different projects
• First decision was to make Blessed very low budget – a liberating decision
• Below $4 million – Producer Offset significant as equity
• But with the larger-budget South Solitary, it’s unlikely I can secure that equity
• Trying to get a realistic assessment of the cost of cashflowing the Offset
• A portfolio approach to project production is viable
• Digital rights exploitation – difficult to extract the rights

Video downloads

• Chapter 2, 12 minutes, 47mb MP4
• Chapter 2, 12 minutes, 36mb WMV

Chapter 3 - Understanding markets - 12 minutes

• Have to see audience market and distributor market very clearly
• Won’t take on $4-5 million films
• We knew South Solitary was going to be expensive – island setting, weather factors, not contemporary urban like Blessed
• UK fund has equity position, with deal terms that require full recoupment by the time 50% of the budget is recouped
• UK fund sees the Producer Offset as similar to UK tax credit – which they see as a grant; they’re not willing to let us recoup along with them
• Australian banks don’t recognise IP as an asset – but cashflowing the Offset is possible
• In financing, you always look for momentum – and another doorway
• The politics of perception

Video downloads

• Chapter 3, 12 minutes, 50mb MP4
• Chapter 3, 12 minutes, 38mb WMV

Chapter 4 - Managing creativity - 16 minutes

• Managing creativity – the film industry is exploitative; the assets are human beings
• Empathetic approach, wrangling process, letting them run with the idea (the producer is like a sheepdog)
• Almost all conflict is triggered by fear
• The producer’s first job is to make people comfortable and trusting
• All directors are different - some want you there, some don’t; many are in-between
• The producer can’t have an ego – you have to see the big picture
• Learn how to best use power of producer
• Must respect pressures on director
• Publicly, the director is always right (have your arguments in private)
• Conflict resolution - director & crew members
• Everyone on set has value – and can provide extra creative input
• Development, casting, editing are the hardest aspects

Video downloads

• Chapter 4, 16 minutes, 67mb MP4
• Chapter 4, 16 minutes, 51mb WMV

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Our aim is to develop a deeper understanding about the history of business decision-making in film and television and to share with our audience the wisdom from the accumulated mistakes, experiments and achievements of the contributors.

Peter Ivany - biography

As Chief Executive of Hoyts Cinemas (1988 – 1999), Peter Ivany grew the company from a small cinema chain with 40 theatres in Australia to a global business with over 2,000 theatres operating in 12 countries. The value of the company increased from $40m in 1982 to $1.3 billion in 1999, when it was sold to Kerry Packer’s Consolidated Press group (CPH).

Peter has expertise across many businesses, particularly consumer marketing, leisure, entertainment, retail, media, communication and property. He has taken three companies to IPO, raising in excess of $500m. As well as Hoyts, these have included television broadcasting and media outsourcing services and an entertainment and advertising business. Peter now manages his own diversified investment company, Ivany Investment Group (IIG). He is also an active member of the wider community, and is directly involved in a number of arts, educational, sporting and charity organizations.

Audio download

• Whole interview, 37 minutes, 9mb MP3

Chapter 1 - The expansion of Hoyts - 16 minutes

• Hoyts’s massive cinema expansion (1988-99) - from 40 screens to 2,000 across 12 countries
• A unique set of business circumstances
• Capital available in public and private markets, debt and equity mix
• Sold company in 1999 for $1.2 billion; roughly $600 million equity, $600 million debt (probably really worth about $900 million)
• Managing the growth and the impact of new venues on existing business
• Expansion driven by need to grow
• Managing physical expansion and maintaining operations
• Improving candy bar revenue, from $1 per ticket to $3 and up
• Measuring cost; counting candy bar as profit
• Combined distribution and exhibition business model

Video downloads

• Chapter 1, 16 minutes, 66mb MP4
• Chapter 1, 16 minutes, 50mb WMV

Chapter 2 - DVD, digital distribution and film financing - 13 minutes

• The Internet will impact on distribution policies
• DVD delivers about half the total income from films
• Piracy issues to overcome
• If you don’t protect your copyright you devalue your IP product
• Investing in VideoEzy – attracted by the membership base
• A good franchise model
• Learnt some lessons from the cinema business
• Ivany investments in IMAX, backpacker accommodation, retail and others
• Movie and media industries not a good investment – but people do it for love
• Investments in movies more a donation
• Film production needs subsidy
• Producer Offset will encourage production
• Investors need to limit risk to 30% of their investment
• Exhibition is perhaps the best business in this sector
• Digital cinema: the beneficiaries are the distributors – they should bear the cost

Video downloads

• Chapter 2, 13 minutes, 55mb MP4
• Chapter 2, 13 minutes, 42mb WMV

Chapter 3 - Training and the screen industry- 8 minutes

• Biggest training challenge (not counting great story ideas) is to learn digital
• AFTRS needs to work with the industry
• Competition for screen students
• AFTRS relocation to Fox Studios will promote creative networking
• Australia is the biggest screen industry nursery in the world
• Screen industry needs more Government support

Video downloads

• Chapter 3, 8 minutes, 32mb MP4
• Chapter 3, 8 minutes, 24mb WMV

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Andrea Buck, producer of The Jammed, comments:

Robert expresses so much of what we at the Picture Tank have been feeling for a long while, as demonstrated by our own methodologies for production and distribution (in association with Titan View) of The Jammed. Working primarily from private equity gave us the freedom to work out our own models, and adjust to market forces as we progressed.

We have entered a new era of film production and distribution globally, with new possibilities and new markets and revenue streams opening as audiences across the globe become available instantly. To compete and survive in this new world requires lateral thinking, innovation and flexibility. Hopefully the Australian industry can adjust and innovate to allow our creative talent to not only survive, but to flourish.

I was so encouraged to read Robert’s report, and to know that we are not alone in this thinking. Hopefully like minds will gain a critical mass to bring about a new era in Australian film.

Independent filmmaker Sam Genocchio was also strongly supportive of Robert’s paper:

The Hollywood business model will never work in Australia; we must think outside of the square and meditate on [the fact that] lower budgets equals greater profits. Producers and crew shouldn’t look to make money off the production, they should look to making money from the production.

‘Embracing Innovation’ is available as a free download here (PDF, 204KB). We encourage interested parties to use the comments function below to offer their opinions and contribute to an ongoing discussion around Robert’s ideas.

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Despite some experiments with on-demand movies, the US studios have tended to see mobile media as a marketing vehicle rather than a fully-fledged delivery platform for feature films. By contrast, PIX will work as a linear channel, making available such feature titles as Ghostbusters, Stand by Me and Philadelphia for mobile viewing.

What is most striking about the article, however, is a comment made by Eric Berger, the company’s VP, Mobile Entertainment. Acknowledging that many consumers are unlikely to watch a full-length feature on their mobile phone, Berger makes clear that Sony expects a mode of engagement very different from traditional cinema viewing: ‘This isn’t for people looking to view a movie for the first time. It’s OK to miss the beginning’. This comment squares with recent predictions by certain media observers that ‘snackable long-form’ will be the growth area for mobile content.

It also raises interesting questions about the type of long-form content most suited to this distracted viewing experience. Certainly, PIX’s list of titles doesn’t appear to make any obvious concessions to the non-linear viewing that Berger predicts. It features fairly conventional fare, including The Karate Kid, Layer Cake, Resident Evil and Roxanne.

A little more intriguingly, it will also deliver Memento, Christopher Nolan’s 2000 fractured neo-noir about a man with a short-term memory condition. Will the fragmented chronology of this story be well suited to media snacking, or will it render the film entirely incomprehensible? As Berger suggests, PIX may be best suited for re-watching films we’ve already seen.

In any case, if Berger’s prediction turns out to be true, then PIX will serve as the latest development in a long history of distracted viewing. The surrealists were early masters of this: in Paris in the 1920s, Andre Breton and his friends would wander from cinema to cinema, taking in a few minutes of a film before moving on to another one, creating their own unique media experience. During the remainder of the 20th Century, the development of television and the growth of new places to watch movies (from the drive-in to the aeroplane) have made distracted viewing a way of life for many.

Clearly, Sony itself views this as something of an experiment, suggesting the channel may shift to an on-demand service in future. Yet this experiment, like many others currently in train, promises interesting implications both for the future of mobile media and the future of that venerable media form, the full-length feature film.

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