Finding a buyer for a concept

[Bob Bonniol]

Hey Bob… Whoa. Touchy about this ?

I’ll just toss this highly incendiary log onto the fire: The world of mass market and mass marketing media is changing. Totally. So suddenly there’s a TON of people out there who were in diapers when you (and I) were already masters of our universes; and they are defining new methods of production and distribution that are demolishing the old edifices.

Read story after story about clever folks who make something compelling and viral, put it on YouTube, and BAM they are landing clients and making money.

Suddenly successful marketing of media savvy might have a whole lot more to do with creating clever little 8-bit looking light brite signs, hanging em’ all over Boston, and precipitating a police incident, then it does with knowing what who or how about editing systems or camera crap (confused ? Check out the marketing effort’s for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim). Think big media isn’t changing ? Go talk to somebody at a major record label or network who isn’t trying to figure out WTF is going on and how they can stay viable in the market… Go talk to Michael Eisner about how creating web based media for next to nothing is trumping what Disney did… Check out Mark Cuban’s bank balance as he pays people who are shooting in consumer HDV to churn content for his HD enterprises… Check out how MAJOR consumer entities are actually creating ad campaigns based on user submitted stuff on their websites.

I’m not disagreeing with you about the entitlement thing… I know plenty of Noobs who think they should graduate college, do an FCP tutorial, and then commence work with Spielberg… Har. BUT, the price of entry into the majors, both in actual specie and in experience, isn’t at all what it was when we started. These days, somebody with talent, motivation, and a PC, can actually create clever things, get them in front of powerful people, and leap many stairs on the way up.

I wrestle with this in a philosophical sense constantly. But reality seems to be showing that everything we all knew about distribution, creation, and sale of media is changing radically. The only thing I seem to know for certain anymore is that nothing is certain.

Peace out man…

Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
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