In the Movie Picture Association of Americas "MPAA Theatrical market statistics" they make the statement
"Cinema ticket prices track consumer price index".
They then show statistics that show that in eight out of the last ten years cinema ticket prices rose by more than inflation. Taken over those last ten years they in fact rose by a total of 16,3% above the consumer pric index.
So yes... last year they rose by just 0,6% above inflation.. but seen as a whole that's hardly something to boast about.
Cinema attendances are static.. but revenues continue to rise by the simple fact that they keep putting the price up...
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Monday, 29 June 2009
Piss-ups and breweries?! Film economics
The MPAA home page is full of interesting reading.....
"The average motion picture cost the MPAA member companies $96.2 million to make and market in 2005. Six out of ten movies never recoup their original investment."
That's an average of $60M 'negative cost' (I assume that's production) and $36M in marketing. (That's a lot of marketing!). Six out of ten is p*** poor.
There were 1,4billion theatre attendances in 2008 in the US - with over 500 new productions that's a little under 5 attendances per person -maybe a bit more if you exclude babes and the infirm.
"The US Motion Picture Industry employs over 750,000 people" or... "2,5million people"
...if you include 1,5 million handling things like dry cleaning and car rentals.
The average wage in the core production industry is 76% above the national average wage. Broadening this to include TV and film distribution the average is still 26% above the national average (telling us amongst other things that these latter groups earn less than the average wage).
The US industry is made up of 115 000 businesses. Over 80% employ less than 10 people. ... which means lot's of overhead cost on dealmaking, contracting, administration etc, etc, etc
So... to conclude...
Of course film makers do make money... Box office takings continue to rise, and a good film can takes between $100M and $500M - before it goes to DVD. But even so - with over 500 films in production in any year that's over 300 films a year that just don't cut the mustard - that's $18Bn in working capital tied up in projects that won't deliver a profit - even without looking at marketing costs (another $10Bn).
So here's some tips...
"The average motion picture cost the MPAA member companies $96.2 million to make and market in 2005. Six out of ten movies never recoup their original investment."
That's an average of $60M 'negative cost' (I assume that's production) and $36M in marketing. (That's a lot of marketing!). Six out of ten is p*** poor.
There were 1,4billion theatre attendances in 2008 in the US - with over 500 new productions that's a little under 5 attendances per person -maybe a bit more if you exclude babes and the infirm.
"The US Motion Picture Industry employs over 750,000 people" or... "2,5million people"
...if you include 1,5 million handling things like dry cleaning and car rentals.
The average wage in the core production industry is 76% above the national average wage. Broadening this to include TV and film distribution the average is still 26% above the national average (telling us amongst other things that these latter groups earn less than the average wage).
The US industry is made up of 115 000 businesses. Over 80% employ less than 10 people. ... which means lot's of overhead cost on dealmaking, contracting, administration etc, etc, etc
So... to conclude...
- The majority of films run at a loss. Studios can't tell a good film from a bad one, or have no idea how to manage production costs to a budget.
- Core production teams get paid richly paid for delivering loss making films.
- Lots of other underpaid people rely on their loss making 'genius'.
- Over ten new films a week says there's lot's of competition
- Individual viewers only see around 1-2% of the films released.
- The industry is inefficiently structured - lot's of small firms happily paying each other over the odds to deliver the latest creative masterpiece...
Of course film makers do make money... Box office takings continue to rise, and a good film can takes between $100M and $500M - before it goes to DVD. But even so - with over 500 films in production in any year that's over 300 films a year that just don't cut the mustard - that's $18Bn in working capital tied up in projects that won't deliver a profit - even without looking at marketing costs (another $10Bn).
So here's some tips...
- Big budget films don't necessarily make good cinema - plan for a lower break even cost... it's creativity not money that makes good films.
- Scale makes for more efficient businesses - consolidate and amalgamate.
- There are lot's of suppliers to choose from... get them to compete on price (duh!)
- ...or outsource to Bollywood
- There are too many films in production... make fewer films and get better returns on those you do make...
- Get a better deal on scripts, music and other copyrights and IPRs
- Pay realistic wages.. fewer films means you can pick and choose.
- And give a fair deal for the lower paid!
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Book publishers go phishing
On the same day that the courts decided the ISP Ephone has to give out IP details to book publishers over filesharing on a private (password restricted) server -Swedens first ruling under the controversial IPRED legislation - the Författarförbund (Swedish authors association) is warning it's members against signing agreements with publishers over e-book rights.
Publishers have been mailing their authors en masse to get them to sign over e-book rights to works in perpetuity. E-books are expected to take off big time and publishers are looking to stake their claim in the gold rush.
"Authors that have been around a while understand at once that this contract is not OK... "
...but some of the less wary are signing on the dotted line.
It's nice to know that the media industry is looking after the best interests of our creative talent...
Get those authors a spam filter!
Footnote: Contracts have automatic renewals after seven years with a four month period for authors to annul the agreement.
Publishers have been mailing their authors en masse to get them to sign over e-book rights to works in perpetuity. E-books are expected to take off big time and publishers are looking to stake their claim in the gold rush.
"Authors that have been around a while understand at once that this contract is not OK... "
...but some of the less wary are signing on the dotted line.
It's nice to know that the media industry is looking after the best interests of our creative talent...
Get those authors a spam filter!
Footnote: Contracts have automatic renewals after seven years with a four month period for authors to annul the agreement.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Piracy on the UK airwaves
Well almost.
The Pirate Party is a newly formed, as yet unregistered, political party in the UK. They support the same political platform as Piratpartiet here in Sweden - protection of citizens rights for privacy, and reform of copyright and patent legislation to bring these back into balance and stimulate innovation in the digital economy.
In the wake of the recent UK's Digital Britain report Johnathan Phan of the the UKPP was interviewed by Channel Four and tells them why information sharing is fundamental to our cultural heritage. It's a media first for UKPP -even if in the end it was not broadcast. Good on yer Johnathan.
I'd embed the clip, but they want you to go there and view it.....
The Pirate Party is a newly formed, as yet unregistered, political party in the UK. They support the same political platform as Piratpartiet here in Sweden - protection of citizens rights for privacy, and reform of copyright and patent legislation to bring these back into balance and stimulate innovation in the digital economy.
In the wake of the recent UK's Digital Britain report Johnathan Phan of the the UKPP was interviewed by Channel Four and tells them why information sharing is fundamental to our cultural heritage. It's a media first for UKPP -even if in the end it was not broadcast. Good on yer Johnathan.
I'd embed the clip, but they want you to go there and view it.....
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Divine injustice in the ballot box
HAX... Henrik Alexandersson.. a favourite stopping off point of mine for Swedish political gossip has a recent blog piece on electoral fraud in Sweden - speculating on whether the irregularities reported in the recent EU elections could have changed the outcome. An interesting topic for debate. Democracy hinges on the honesty and integrity of the voting process.
Interesting.. but not in the same league as this statement from Iran's Guardian Council reported by The Guardian on complaints of election rigging in Iran:
"Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80-170 cities are not accurate - the incident has happened in only 50 cities."
Read that again... in fifty cities the number of votes cast exceeds the number of eligible voters. (...by up to 40% I gather) That in my book is vote rigging of epidemic proportions ...and yet this seems to be considered a cause for reassurance....
Islam, in my understanding, has close ties between religion and politics - the state of the Islamic community reflects on the spiritual well-being of it's members. Quoting from the preface to Karen Armstrong's "Islam, A Short History"
"...the Quran gave them (muslims) a historical mission. Their chief duty was to create a just community in which all members, even the most weak and vulnerable, were treated with absolute respect. The experience of building such a society would give them intimations of the divine because they would be living in accordance with god's will"
Absolute respect is not expressed by stuffing ballot boxes... it is fundamentally repressive and unjust. ... and for moslems presumably not just morally, but spiritually wrong. And in this case condoned it seems not just by politicians but by spiritual leaders too. Double jeopardy.
It is a dilemma. What do you do when those leading you to a just society deliver injustice instead? How far are you prepared to go to stand up for justice and respect for all?.. and society's spiritual well-being?
What would you do, if your salvation depended on it?
Footnote: the original press conference explains the overflow to voters voting outside of the area where they live. A practice permitted in in presidential elections.
Interesting.. but not in the same league as this statement from Iran's Guardian Council reported by The Guardian on complaints of election rigging in Iran:
"Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100% of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80-170 cities are not accurate - the incident has happened in only 50 cities."
Read that again... in fifty cities the number of votes cast exceeds the number of eligible voters. (...by up to 40% I gather) That in my book is vote rigging of epidemic proportions ...and yet this seems to be considered a cause for reassurance....
Islam, in my understanding, has close ties between religion and politics - the state of the Islamic community reflects on the spiritual well-being of it's members. Quoting from the preface to Karen Armstrong's "Islam, A Short History"
"...the Quran gave them (muslims) a historical mission. Their chief duty was to create a just community in which all members, even the most weak and vulnerable, were treated with absolute respect. The experience of building such a society would give them intimations of the divine because they would be living in accordance with god's will"
Absolute respect is not expressed by stuffing ballot boxes... it is fundamentally repressive and unjust. ... and for moslems presumably not just morally, but spiritually wrong. And in this case condoned it seems not just by politicians but by spiritual leaders too. Double jeopardy.
It is a dilemma. What do you do when those leading you to a just society deliver injustice instead? How far are you prepared to go to stand up for justice and respect for all?.. and society's spiritual well-being?
What would you do, if your salvation depended on it?
Footnote: the original press conference explains the overflow to voters voting outside of the area where they live. A practice permitted in in presidential elections.
Monday, 22 June 2009
Pay it again, Sam
Shane Richmonds blog at the Telegraph has two pieces, here & here under the title 'What will the music industry tax next' - discussing a proposal from the 'Music Business Group' to the UK Intellectual Property Office consultation on copyright exceptions.
"The MBG, who represent "the collective view of the UK music industry" want to clamp down on format shifting, that is the process of, say, copying a CD to your iPod."
What they want is to have a tax on MP3 players to provide revenue for the artists who are having their works format shifted. It would be laughable if it wasn't clearly intended as a serious suggestion.
The argument goes that there is a value in having the music in a convenient format - and that part of that value should go to the artist... But hello guys... the artist makes music - and making music is what they want to get paid for (not that they really ever do). Now I've bought the CD. Now they have been paid and I have the right to play this album 24/7 if I want to. Where did the format come into this? It's not like I'm going to play it more than I already paid for now is it?
I go down to the shop and buy a wine box... hand over my cash and walk out. I get home and pour it into a glass... ching!!! Cash registers whirr and before I kow it there's a bill on the doormat for changing the format. Same wine... different receptacle. C'mon. Get a life!
There is no music on a CD. There are instructions for recreating music. A recipe. How I store the recipe has zip to do with the artists.. It's only music when the sound waves wash against my eardrums. If copyright is intended to prevent me changing the format then it is fundamentally flawed.
Of course - a tax on MP3 players is just what we already have here, albeit more honestly stated as a levy to compensate for piracy. Also levied on blank disks and stand alone hard drives. So when I save back ups of my photos or make a system restore DVD for my computer a cut goes to that creative artist that .... that did what exactly? Took money out my pocket for something they didn't create?
It's proposals like this that gets the music industry a bad name.... Shame that there seem to be so many of them!
"The MBG, who represent "the collective view of the UK music industry" want to clamp down on format shifting, that is the process of, say, copying a CD to your iPod."
What they want is to have a tax on MP3 players to provide revenue for the artists who are having their works format shifted. It would be laughable if it wasn't clearly intended as a serious suggestion.
The argument goes that there is a value in having the music in a convenient format - and that part of that value should go to the artist... But hello guys... the artist makes music - and making music is what they want to get paid for (not that they really ever do). Now I've bought the CD. Now they have been paid and I have the right to play this album 24/7 if I want to. Where did the format come into this? It's not like I'm going to play it more than I already paid for now is it?
I go down to the shop and buy a wine box... hand over my cash and walk out. I get home and pour it into a glass... ching!!! Cash registers whirr and before I kow it there's a bill on the doormat for changing the format. Same wine... different receptacle. C'mon. Get a life!
There is no music on a CD. There are instructions for recreating music. A recipe. How I store the recipe has zip to do with the artists.. It's only music when the sound waves wash against my eardrums. If copyright is intended to prevent me changing the format then it is fundamentally flawed.
Of course - a tax on MP3 players is just what we already have here, albeit more honestly stated as a levy to compensate for piracy. Also levied on blank disks and stand alone hard drives. So when I save back ups of my photos or make a system restore DVD for my computer a cut goes to that creative artist that .... that did what exactly? Took money out my pocket for something they didn't create?
It's proposals like this that gets the music industry a bad name.... Shame that there seem to be so many of them!
Fighting repression - a how to guide...
There are times and places where you don't want your views to be registered... but you still want to make them known?
Today's trail started off with an article on anonymous blogs - after , 'Nightjack', a policeman was 'outed' by the Times for blogging about his work . This raises questions about what was really in the public interest; naming the blogger or letting him continue anonymously making public details about his work. .. and highlights the difference between anonymous bloggers and journalistic sources where the press work hard to keep them anonymous. (In fact in Sweden anonymity for journalists sources is a right protected in the constitution)
That led me through an article on how to blog anonymously to this excellent article on "How To Communicate Securely in Repressive Environments" which with current world events uppermost in mind I thought deserved to be easier to find ... although it might look better in your browser if the link says 'Little known facts about the Isle of Man'. ;-)
And if you are reading this and genuinely need the information there you have my utmost sympathy and support.
Today's trail started off with an article on anonymous blogs - after , 'Nightjack', a policeman was 'outed' by the Times for blogging about his work . This raises questions about what was really in the public interest; naming the blogger or letting him continue anonymously making public details about his work. .. and highlights the difference between anonymous bloggers and journalistic sources where the press work hard to keep them anonymous. (In fact in Sweden anonymity for journalists sources is a right protected in the constitution)
That led me through an article on how to blog anonymously to this excellent article on "How To Communicate Securely in Repressive Environments" which with current world events uppermost in mind I thought deserved to be easier to find ... although it might look better in your browser if the link says 'Little known facts about the Isle of Man'. ;-)
And if you are reading this and genuinely need the information there you have my utmost sympathy and support.
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