Exclusive
17th Annual Final Draft Awards Announces Honorees
Final Draft has announced the honorees for this year’s 17th Annual Final Draft Awards. As the company enters its fourth decade in the industry, Final Draft seeks to recognize outstanding and elevated achievements in storytelling. This year’s honorees include Academy Award winners Guillermo del Toro and Jane Campion, Academy Award nominee Nicole Holofcener, and two-time Emmy Award winner Danny Strong. In a break with tradition, this year’s Final Draft Awards will feature 15-minute conversations with each honoree (hosted by another esteemed writer) in which they discuss the process and challenges involved with their work. In a statement, Final Draft’s Shelly Mellott said, “This year’s honorees are using their considerable talents to tell brave, audacious stories in imaginative ways that entertain, provoke and enlighten audiences. We could not be more proud to honor them and their outstanding work and the impact their stories have on our culture.”
Industry
Oklahoma Bound: Cherokee Nation To Offer a One Million Dollar Film Incentive
On March 1, 2022, the Cherokee Nation Film Office will begin accepting applications for their latest film incentive, aimed to bring television and film productions to Northeast Oklahoma. The incentive, which will be capped at $1 million annually, will offer a 20% cash rebate to productions filming within the boundaries of Cherokee Nation. Those projects that qualify can apply the rebate in addition to the incentive offered by the Oklahoma Film Office—a 38% rebate on qualified labor, goods, and services that promotes state-wide economic development. Jennifer Loren, Director of Cherokee Nation Film Office, said in a statement, “We are pleased to serve a role in helping support economic growth while furthering our mission to promote diversity, inclusion and accurate Native American representation at every level of these industries.” In addition to this incentive, the Cherokee Nation Film Office is also joining forces with several educational institutions to remove financial barriers for Native students and increase Cherokee representation both on-screen and off. The office has also created a Native film crew database to help projects source local film talent and ensure Native roles are historically and culturally accurate (not to mention ensuring that they are filled by true Natives!) Each film incentive must be applied for separately. This latest Cherokee Nation incentive is approved on project merit rather than the usual first-come-first-serve basis.
Streaming
Eyes on the Prize: Streaming Platforms Have Sights Set on Video Games
Activision Blizzard’s recent 68.7 billion dollar acquisition by Microsoft is making waves in the entertainment world, putting into question which streaming giant will be the next to make a move. In recent memory, Disney’s negotiations to be the sole licenser of their intellectual property seemed to be the new normal for entertainment, as other film and TV studios dropped out of their video game publishing investments with the company. Wall Street analysts see this recent acquisition as a potential sea change, inspiring Hollywood players to become involved in video game streaming. The Activision deal sets up Microsoft's new service, XBOX Game Pass, to become the “Netflix of Gaming.” Sony’s PlayStation platform is looking to set up a similar service in 2022. In addition, Netflix is seeking to work in this space with their own gaming division. Sony is next in line for a video game purchase, as their current gaming accounts bring in $3.1 billion in profit annually. In comparison, their film unit makes closer to $762 million. Gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) seems to be the current market favorite, with ownership of franchise titles like Madden, FIFA, NHL, and Medal of Honor. But MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler also suggests that Disney could make a bold play with the purchase on EA, as they continue to embrace new media.
Music
Ownership, It Is A-Changin': Bob Dylan Latest Artist To Sell Entire Music Catalog
On Monday, Bob Dylan announced the $200 million sale of his music catalog to Sony Music Entertainment, including everything he recorded dating back to 1962. Several artists have recently made comparable sales, including Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Stevie Nicks. According to Hannah Karp, Editorial Director at Billboard, “It is a great time to sell, especially last year when capital gains taxes were going to go up under the Biden administration.” For aging artists planning their estates, now is a good time to sell. Neil Young sold a portion of his song catalog for $150 million. Stevie Nicks sold a portion of her publishing rights for $100 million. And Bruce Springsteen’s mammoth deal was valued at $550 million for recording and songwriting rights. Some younger artists are making catalog deals as well, including Imagine Dragons and Shakira. Still, musicians like Taylor Swift have been very outspoken about their interest in maintaining creative control over their work. With streaming becoming the key player in the music industry, the selling of music catalogs is simply good business strategy for many artists.
Advertisements
A Million-Dollar Whoopsie: Software Error Results in Big Ad Dollar Loss
In December, Nielsen disclosed that a software error had caused out-of-home views to be undercounted. The latest VAB report, “Behind Billions of Lost TV Impressions,” shows the impact of this error: millions of lost advertising dollars. According to the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB), Nielsen did not count over one and half billion impressions across top-tier television, which equals a $57 million loss. The VAB is still performing calculations and believes the true figure could be closer to $350 million in ad spend. This error has contributed to a growing lack of confidence in Nielsen which began months ago, causing several networks to seek alternative options for ratings counting. Still, all major networks are struggling to accurately count viewership, since the number of ways people can watch TV has multiplied so significantly. Out-of-home viewership, the figure that was undercounted by Nielsen, is an important statistic for news and sports-focused networks, since more accurate counting could increase their viewership numbers. Overall, this miscount is causing a lot of advertisers to rethink and renegotiate their network contracts in order to take a closer look at how ratings will affect current deals.
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