Hank D. Greenlite (Instant Smash Films) Presentation.

Here is the final presentation video:

Here is the powerpoint presentation:

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Here is the script:

Over the last few weeks, I have been researching three companies and how they are owned, funded and also how they distribute their products. These three companies are The BBC, Sky And Netflix.

Some things to consider before I go into more information about each of these companies are that:
-The BBC is the world’s oldest and largest broadcasting organisation, with around 23,000 staff members and several television channels in the United Kingdom which are available to anyone who has paid their television license.

-Sky is the largest Pay-TV broadcaster in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and has over ten million subscribers, with hundreds of channels available to choose from.

-Netflix is one of the biggest on-demand internet streaming providers, with 40.4 million subscribers around the world in the third quarter of 2013.

All three of these channels are owned in different ways, and have different ideas when it comes to new content for their viewers.

-The BBC is horizontally owned, and believes that there is value in working alongside others. Working together with external partners allows them to support the creative industry on a wider scale, as well as bringing more content to audiences. They also often fund independent film makers to make projects for their channels.

-Sky also appears to be horizontally owned, however they seem to be stricter on what projects they will take on for their channels because of the subscription fees, and they believe that they need to commission shows that viewers cannot get on other channels such as the BBC or ITV. Because of this, they commission fewer projects, and, in their own words they ‘don’t take on every indie film maker who asks for a meeting with them.’ They do look through project briefs, however, but only consider ones where they feel that there is potential.

-Netflix is vertically owned, and simply does not consider taking on independent film makers. In an email I sent to Netflix to try and research whether or not they would consider taking on films from smaller, and lesser known film companies, they stated that they ‘If you are submitting a film for consideration: unfortunately, (they) do not accept or review unsolicited materials or ideas. For that reason, (they) will not consider any materials or ideas that (they) receive that were not specifically requested by Netflix.’

Funding, however, comes from different places for each of the three companies.

-The BBC is mainly funded by the public through the television licence fee, which is charged to anybody - both households and companies - which use any type of equipment that can receive live television broadcasts. This fee is set annually by the British Government, and this year it will cost £145.50 for a colour TV licence, or £49.00 for a black and white TV Licence. However, they also receive world service grants, and get profits from commercial operations such as programme and format sales.

-Sky is generally funded by the subscription fees that viewers must pay for access to their channels. It is not run by advertising, as the cost of a subscription to Sky is from £21.50 a month, but depends on what channels the subscriber wants to view.

-Netflix is also run by subscription fees, as it costs about £5.99 a month to subscribe to Netflix, although you can have Netflix on up to six individual devices at once.

From all this funding they get, there are different amounts that the companies put back into television and film.

-In 2012/13, the BBC generated headline sales of £1,116 million, although returned £156 million in profits back to the BBC to continue showing films and television programmes. However, £90.9 million was returned to independent rights holders to support independent production companies.

-Sky invested around £2 billion a year into their channels from their operating profit of £595 million as of the 30th of June, 2013. It is uncertain how much of this is used to support independent film companies, however.

-Netflix recently took on $400 million in debt to produce original content for its subscribers, however it is unsure exactly how much Netflix usually spends on such things without taking on debt.

All three companies are different in terms of who can produce content for them. For example;

-The BBC believes that there is value in working with many others - both large companies and smaller, independent film makers. They believe that it allows the BBC to support the creative industry on a wider scale, as well as being able to deliver more content to audiences. They often fund independent film makers to create new content for their channels, and provide different tariffs for different categories of programmes and films. For example, the tariff range for daytime, and low cost dramas would be from £50,000 to £500,000 per hour, but the tariff range for a scripted comedy broadcast across the network would be £110,000 to £600,000 per hour, so it really ranges depending on what sort of content they are receiving.

-Sky does not take on as many independent filmmakers as the BBC does, and they are specific when choosing the programmes and films to broadcast on their channels. They often research into what content their customers want to see, and go from there - they don’t commission into slots, or have tariffs like the BBC and some other companies do. They do quickly look through briefs of projects, however, but do not take the idea any further unless they believe that there is a strong sense of purpose for the project, and think that many people would love it.

-Netflix, on the other hand, will neither review, nor accept materials or ideas that are not requested by them, or not submitted through an established agent. This means that they rarely take on independent film makers, or films/programmes that they are not specifically looking for at that time.

All three of these companies have their ups and downs to consider, so which one is best? Quickly recapping on the three companies, we can see that:

-The BBC is available to almost everyone in the UK and is the biggest broadcasting service in the world. It is also horizontally owned, and believed there is value in working alongside others, which is also why they fund independent film makers for producing new content for them.

-Sky, on the other hand, is only available to those who pay the monthly subscription fees, although they are also owned horizontally, but are not quite as spread out as the BBC which means that they only occasionally take on independent film makers if they believe that their idea has potential on their channels.

-Netflix is also only available to those paying the subscription fees, but they are a vertically owned company, unlike the other two. They are picky with the films and programmes they give to viewers, and because of this they only take on films that they request, and not ones that are submitted to them through independent film makers.

Overall, I personally feel that the best company format for Instant Smash Films would be the BBC. It reaches an extremely large audience across the world, and is available to almost everyone. It works closely with other film makers to help contribute to the creative industry, and allows independent film makers a chance to get their work seen if it is good. People do not have to pay a subscription fee to watch the BBC, and because of the way it is funded, almost all of their profits go back into showing television programmes and films. It is not as restricted as Sky or Netflix, and therefore shows an extremely wide range of programmes and films on their many channels, and that is why I feel that is the best company format for Instant Smash Films to take.