Last month I got the opportunity to head out west to L.A. to help out with the Produced By Conference with Two West, the company behind the identity package for the conference. I met a lot of amazingly great people and was lucky enough to also attend some very informative seminars and realize that from Kansas City to Hollywood we’re all just trying to figure out the new playing field right now.  Here’s a little bit about what I learned at a couple of the seminars …

Branded Entertainment
One of the first seminars I caught the tail end of was about branding, sponsored by Two West. The panel consisted of:

Moderator, Michael Kassan Founder and CEO, Media Link, LLC
and Speakers …
Howard T. Owens Managing Director, Co-Head of Domestic Television and Head of Digital, Reveille, The Biggest Loser
Robert Riesenberg Chief Executive Officer, Full Circle Entertainment
Brian Terkelson Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Connective Tissue MediaVest
Peter Tortorici Chief Executive Officer GroupM Entertainment
Paula Wagner Producer, Mission:Impossible series (I, II, III), Vanilla Sky, The Others

• Go early to partner with a brand, before they set their advertising budget/plans for the next year
• Brands identify themselves early, usually about 18 months out
• Find ones that align with the show
• Offers opportunity to create conversation in social media
• Try small brands where it’s the biggest thing that could happen to them

Virtual to Viral: Opportunities for Monetization, Marketing & Development
The panel here consisted of:
Moderator, Gordon Paddison Founder and Principal, Stradella Road
and Speakers …
Stephanie Bohn Worldwide Marketing Director, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution
Scott Nocas VP, WW Marketing & Content Programming, Sony Media & Software Services

• Listen to your community
• Understand how your best evangelists behave
• Citizen Journalism – Having your community play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing & disseminating news  & info
• It’s all about timing … plan so you can build momentum
• Make digital experience equal to or better than the regular experience
• Develop exclusive content, different versions, etc. for DVD
• We’re at a tipping point in the video world as video stores are now closing, very much like the music industry
• Consumers online seem to respond well to independent filmmaking
• What the future might hold … Over the air downloading, similar to how you can download apps for the i-phone

Useful Sites:

• Facebook
• MySpace (although I wonder if this is starting to fade away)
  
• Flixster – Movie Social Network
• SocialMention.com – Social Media Alerts, Real Time Buzz Widget
• Twitter – Personal for people … not so much for brands (not sure I agree)
• Technorati – Blog search

Types of Online Video Distribution:

• Free: YouTube is still #1 and is now broadcasting full-length movies
• Video on Demand (VOD): iTunes, Amazon (CreateSpace), Vudu, ZillionTV (Content Producers)
  
• Electronic Sell Thru (EST): iTunes, Amazon, CinemaNow, Vudu
• Paid Subscription to Stream (SVOD): Sprint, Verizon V CAST, Netflix (Submissions)
  
• Ad Supported Streaming (AVOD): Hulu, Veoh, Joost (Submissions), MySpace, Fancast

So there you have my notes on a couple of the seminars in a nutshell … I’m sure this is just touching the surface, so if you have any comments or suggestions about the subjects of Branded Entertainment, Creating a Fanbase, and/or Video Distribution please leave a comment.

Look for my notes on the seminars Independent Filmmaking: The Way It Was, The Way It Is, The Way It Oughta Be and Digital Rights soon.