Expert Views on the Value of Business Plans Part II

For the second part of my blog I will discuss what I have learned from the two industry experts I chose. The two industry experts I wrote about were Russell Simmons and Ron Conway. These two experts gave great insight on what they look for in entrepreneurs and business plans. Russell likes to make sure the entrepreneur know the industry they want to work in. Russell not only looks at the business plan that is presented to him, he also looks for the enthusiasm, creativity, determination and humbleness for the future entrepreneur. Ron Cook also looks for passion in the entrepreneur, he wants to see if they are excited about the industry they are going in, if they know they industry, and if they are ready to be dedicated to their company. He looks for the creativity in the way the presentation is being presented to him

After reading what Russell Simmons and Ron Cook looks for in a business plan looks for in a business plan I will ensure I know my industry very well, have a great backstory as to why I’m passionate about my business plan, and let my passion, enthusiasm, and creativity exude through my plan and presentation. I will show them that I know my industry but not act like I know more than they do.

The sections I consider to be the most important to the investor that is reading my plan are the financials, industry analysis, technology section, and the management section. The financial section is important because it shows the predicted future revenue of the business, and the start-up cost. The industry analysis is important because it shows the investor that you know I know the industry I am trying to enter and the trends. The technology section is important because it show that I know what type of equipment I will need to make my company successful. And the management section is important because it gives background and skills information of the management team, consultants, and advisory board

Expert Views on the Value of Business Plans

A well-written business plan is very important to have when starting a business and meeting with investors.  A business plan is an entrepreneur’s calling card because it outlines who they are, their purpose, and vision. Having a clear business that explains your goals and vision will help persuade investors to help you on your journey to success. The two business experts I chose to write about are Russell Simmons and Ron Cook.

Russell Simmons is an entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He began his career by promoting New York City musicians in his early 20s. He created Def Jam Records with Rick Rubin and signed major artist such as LL Cool J, Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys (Anonymous, 2011). He is considered on of the founding fathers of Hip-Hop. Russell Simmons owns a communications firm called Rush Communications, which includes an advertising agency, magazine agency, management company, and television production studio.

Russell Simmons has helped many entrepreneurs become successful in the entertainment industry. When meeting entrepreneurs Russell Simmons looks for the creativity, resilience dedication and hard work the entrepreneur is willing to put in to make their dream a reality. Russell Simmons believe ideas without effort is worthless. He looks at the enthusiasm, and determination in the eyes of the entrepreneur (Black, 2011).

Ron Conway has been an angel investor for over 15 years and has invested in more than 650 startup companies. He is known as The Godfather of Silicon Valley because he placed more bets on Internet start-ups than anyone else in Silicon Valley (CrunchBase, 2011). He was the Founder of Angel Investors LP Funds from 1998-2005, and he has invested in many Internet businesses such as Google, PayPal, Ask Jeeves, Twitter, Zappos, Digg, Facebook and many other successful Internet companies.

When meeting entrepreneurs, Ron Conway looks for the passion the entrepreneur has and he can tell if the person is very passionate about their business (Cook, 2011). While the entrepreneur is talking about their vision Ron Conway is looking at their personal characteristics. Passion is a key component that investors look for because it shows how bad you really want to start your business, and your love desire, and drive for what you want to do.

Seems like Russell Simmons and Ron Conway looks at the person presenting the business plan more than they would look at the business plan. They look for passion when the person talks about their dreams and vision for their company. I will definitely exude my passion for my company when I meet with investors because first impressions are lasting impressions. As investors go through the business plan it is important to have key sections stand out because an investor does not have all day to read business plans. Business plans are blueprints that outline how you want your business to be, and future outlooks for the business, it is important to conduct research and know your industry.

Reference

Anonymous (2011) Russell Simmons Biography – Facts, Birthday, Life Story. Retrieved on September 28, 2011 from http://www.biography.com/people/russell-simmons-307186

Anonymous (2011) Ron Conway’s Biography Retrieved on September 28, 2011 from http://www.crunchbase.com/person/ron-conway

Black, T. (2011) What Makes Russell Simmons So Successful. Retrieved on September 28, 2011 from http://www.inc.com/articles/201109/russell-simmons-interview.html

Cook, J (2011) Super Angel Ron Conway’s Advice To Entrepreneurs And Why This Isn’t A Bubble. Retrieved on September 28, 2011 from http://www.geekwire.com/2011/super-angel-ron-conway

Film Promotions and Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and an array of other social media sites have been on a steady incline over the past five years.  This increase has lead to many directors, producers, and studios taking full advantage to reach out to the multitudes of users and their friends to advertise and market their projects without a high overhead.  In most cases, the use of these media outlets can help to substantially reduce an advertising budget.  The reduction in the budget allows companies to focus additional revenue towards making a better product.

Matthew Cherry, of Transparent Filmworks, has become an industry pioneer in using social media outlets as his main source of advertising and introducing his company to potential investors.  Before resorting to traditional media such as radio and television, Matthew seeks to utilize a strong social media campaign for his projects. Typically, these campaigns are geared towards the sites that he is using.  Matthew uses Facebook Twitter to tweet and write about how production is going for feature projects. He allows his Twitter and Facebook friends and fans to view and be apart of the casting process by live streaming on USTREAM. Matthew does not only promote his films on social media sites, he also encourage future filmmakers to not give up on their dream, and also gives insight about the process it takes to create a feature film. Matthew has gained a huge following on Facebook and Twitter by sharing his projects.

As a pioneer in perfecting this art of film promotions, Matthew has set the bar and serves as an excellent model to follow to ensure ways to reach millions of people without spending million on advertising.  In an era where every penny counts towards something, Matthew is showing us that these pennies can become substantial dollars that a company can invest into other projects.  

Social media plays a crucial part in the success of a film because media marketing is becoming one of the main marketing strategies used to attract viewers to different film projects. Social media sites create new opportunities for exhibition for independent filmmakers, by allowing them to show and promote their short film projects. 

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUoiT2Kp1I0&feature=related

The Evolution of Marketing for Film

The days of radio ads and newspaper ads as the main form of marketing are long gone.  Now, we live in an era of blog sites, Internet advertising, social networking sites, and corporate websites as the leading forms of marketing.  If your company leadership isn’t well versed in digital marketing techniques, your company and its possibilities of great fortunes can be left behind the rest of the corporate world.

Digital marketing has helped many movies break the box office. Movies are advertised as backgrounds on blog sites such as TMZ, there will be a page set up for the film on Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking websites, trailers are posted on YouTube and other websites, and promotional website is set up for the film to draw interest. Hollywood studios knows how to reach an audience and using digital marketing has helped them to get attention to their films.

Avatar is a great example of how digital marketing helped this movies break the box office records. August 21, 2009 will go down in history because it was celebrated as Avatar Day. On this day 100 IMAX 3-D theaters worldwide watched 16 minutes of a new movie James Cameron was debuting, that movie turned out to be Avatar. Also, on this day Ubisoft debuted a trailer for the videogame based on the film, and Mattel introduced action figures based n the movie (Mendoza, 2010). This aggressive marketing campaign helped develop support for the film.

Social Media Marketing

Social media has helped Avatar’s marketing team reach millions of people. The marketing team used Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter to build interest in and spark conversation about the film. The Avatar Facebook page had over 1.3 million fans, the film’s MySpace page had 800,000 friends, and the film’s Twitter page had over 25, 000 followers (Mendoza, 2011). I have never seen a film draw this much attention on social media sites. Once the marketing team saw the success of the social media sites the media strategy moved on YouTube and Flickr, the two websites had a combined total of 12 million video and photo views. Marketing for Avatar did not stop at social media sites; interactive trailers were made where viewers can be apart of the film.

The type of digital marketing strategies that were used for Avatar helped the film become the biggest blockbuster movie of all time. Avatar grossed over $77 million during its opening weekend, and over $2 billion worldwide.

When I produce my first blockbuster movie I will utilize every aspect of digital marketing because I will not only reach millions of people around the world. I can also create interactive trailers, games, and websites that will give the audiences an experience of their life.

Mendoza, N. (2010) How Digital Marketing Helped 'Avatar' Break the Box Office. Retrieved on July 3, 2011 from http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/02/how-digital-marketing-helped-avatar-break-the-box-office039.html 

Mandy.com: A Great Resource For Filmmakers

A great website that was posted in the Google Docs assignment was Mandy.com.  I chose this website because of the various services the site offers to filmmakers. This website offers production jobs, casting calls, classified ads, vendors, and a film market in various countries. This site is a great place for filmmakers to seek distribution and buyers for their film projects.

A service that is offered by the website is a listing of over 96,000 producers, technicians, facilities, etc..  This service makes it easy for the consumer to locate and secure different staff members needed to produce an adequate production.  The fact that it lists all the different services needed in one location helps the consumer to eliminate the search process to locate someone to fill these needs.  The time saved could ultimately result in the ability to produce better products and more products in a given time period.

The site also offers the consumer access to a venue to sell their used equipment or purchase equipment that they may need.  This allows the consumer to search through a trusted reliable source.  It eliminates the unknown of dealing with people that are not credible.  Because the sites check out potential clients, it gives consumers a sense of comfort, and saves them numerous amounts of time.

The site also offers casting calls listings for actors. This allows the actors to check for casting calls in the United States for different types of productions for television, film, theatre and radio. The casting listings are available for SAG, AFTRA, and Non-Union actors. This site gives actors knowledge of potential jobs before any other site. The site also gives information about acting classes, digital arts classes, and film festivals.

Mandy.com is a site I would utilize to search for distributors, talent, and crew, and to purchase some equipment I may need for projects.

Anonymous (2011) Mandy.com: International Film and Television Resources. Retrieved on June 17, 2011 from http://www.mandy.com/ 

The Many Ways of Film Distribution

Technology has come a long way, and there are many ways films are distributed to the public. As technology advances so does the way movies are distributed. Films and television programs are distributed through movie theaters, DVD sales and rentals, websites, television, video game systems, and Internet. In the beginning movies were distributed in 2D, and on VHS. Now you can watch a movie in 3D and watch it anywhere, and on almost every electronic device made. 

The aforementioned advances have allowed for the distribution of movies to expand.  It allows for movies to be distributed electronically.  Movie can be electronically downloaded to Blu-Ray players, laptops, MP3 players, and a host of other devices.  This allows people to purchase movies in an eco-friendly nature.   Movies are also distributed in combination packs that include standard DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital Copy.  This prevents companies from having to package three different copies.

A trend I see in film distribution is Hollywood studios and cable operators are in discussions to send movies to people’s living room just a few weeks after the films release at the box office (Anonymous, 2011). Executives from Time Warner Cable at a cable industry convention pitched the proposal in 2011. Warner Bros., The Disney Co., Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and other Hollywood studios, is taking this proposal into consideration. This will allow people to watch new movies in the privacy of their home 30 days after the release for the price of $20 - $30 a movie. Although people go to the movies to socialize, I believe movie theaters will become obsolete in the future if a deal like this happens because it will be cheaper for a person to watch the movies at home, instead of paying $12-15 to get into the movies, pay $5.50-$7.00 for popcorn, and $5.00 for a soda.

I hope movie theaters do not become obsolete because movie theaters have served as an integral part of the social development of society.  Movie theaters are places where teenagers go to hang out with friends, where first dates take place, and family members go to watch a good movie together.  

Anonymous (2010) Trends in Independent Film Distribution: Retrieved on June 14, 2011 from http://showbizmanagementadvisors.com/Trends%20In%20Independent%20Film%20Distribution.htm

When becoming a successful movie director, producer, or screenwriter it is imperative to protect your intellectual property.  Protecting the intellectual property will protect the owner from accusations of stealing others material, and lawsuits. In a recent podcast titled Entertainment Law Podcast Episode 10 Gordon P. Firemark and Tamara Bennett had a discussion about the movie Avatar, director James Cameron and the many people that were trying to sue him for copyright infringement. Avatar was the blockbuster film of 2009 the movies grossed $2.78 billion dollars worldwide.  With the success of this came many lawsuits that accused the makers of Avatar of theft and copyright infringement. The lawsuits are done by people from all over, even a guy in China is saying he wrote the storyline that Avatar used.. According to www.io9.com James Cameron is accused of stealing from 16 different sources. Is it remotely possible James Cameron could have stolen the ideas of 16 people, or that great minds think alike and they all had similar ideas? Art, film, and music influence people to create masterpieces, and creative people may use what they see to create those masterpieces. I believe this is what James Cameron did and made a fortune doing it, but he should have gotten permission from the owners of those intellectual properties before doing so to avoid lawsuits.

Another case that was discussed was an incident that involved Justin Bieber’s manager Scott “Scooter” Braun who could face criminal charges for a riot that occurred at a mall in New Jersey. The crowd started getting wild before Justin Beiber and his manager arrived and the event was canceled. The police informed Scott Braun to log onto Justin’s Twitter page and inform people that the event was cancelled. Scott Braun initially refused, but eventually sent the message out one and a half hour later. There were a number of injuries and six people were hospitalized due the fans getting upset about the cancellation of the appearance. Mr. Braun was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal nuisance. Managers have the responsibility of protecting their Artist and the venue has the responsibility of protecting the hundreds, or thousands of fans that will be there to see their favorite Artist. The Fire Marshall and the police should have ensured the fans are not inciting a riot, and if there are fans causing a chaotic scene those troublemakers should be escorted away and the crowd is still maintained safely and with authority. If I manage any Artist I will make sure that all safety measures are in place for my Artist, and there are safety measures in place for the fans because without the fans there would not be any successful so it is important to ensure the safety of the fans also.

The third case that was discussed was the movie The King’s Speech. The American Humane Association was threatening the Weinstein Company, which is the production company and the distributer of the film, because the film used the phrase “No animals were harmed during the production of this film. The American Humane Association says their company trademarks that phrase. Although the movie was made in the U.K. the American Humane Association believes that if a film is going to be distributed in the United States and use that term, it will be confusing to the public if the American Humane Association gave their approval to use the term. If the Weinstein company had used the term “This film is animal friendly” or a term not close to the American Humane Association there would not have been a lawsuit. This case is kind of confusing, but I know if I was going to use another company’s trademark I would get permission to do so no matter where I am filming a movie

Anonymous (2010) The Complete List Of Sources Avatar’s Accused Of Ripping Off. Retrieved on May 25, 2011 from http://io9.com/5460954/the-complete-list-of-sources-avatars-accused-of-ripping-off

Firemark, G. P. (2010) Entertainment Law Update Podcast, Episode 10 – Use the Force, Big Boy, and Watch Out for Beyonce’s Undies. Retrieved on May 26, 2011 http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2010/04/entertainment-law-update-podcast-episode-10-use-the-force-big-boy-and-watch-out-for-beyonces-undies/

Firemark, G. P. (2010) Entertainment Law Update Podcast Episode 11 – Hot News – “Free Scooter!” Cries Justin Bieber. Retrieved on May 26, 2011 from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2010/05/episode011/

Firemark, G. P. (2010) Entertainment Law Update Podcast Episode 18 –Of Beauty Queens and Foot long Sandwiches Retrieved on May 26, 2011 from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2011/03/episode-18-of-beauty-queens-and-footlong-sandwiches/