M+E Connections

The big problem with the pandemic — okay, for us — is that we have time with ourselves and that gives time to think about things … like what do you want to do when you grow up.

Then last month, we had a video conference with a friend in the middle of Ohio discussing a wide range of subjects regarding the shifting M&E industry. He sent over a report on who’s on top in the daily shifting streaming industry. After the call, we studied the research and analysis and had a question: “How have critics rated each major streaming service?”

First, we Googled the job to see what the educational, training requirements were — a person who judges the merits of literary, artistic, or musical works, especially one who does so professionally. We’re perfect for this job! All you have to have is an opinion and the ability to tell others. Rang up our guy in Ohio and he agreed.

But we’ll start slowly (and) safely, limiting ourselves initially to criticizing streaming stuff, streaming services. Then we’ll slowly expand our workload to books, entertainment venues and heck, maybe we’ll add to our critic workload — eating establishments, cars, clothes, airlines, vacation spots, anything where someone needs “a person to judge the merits.”

The possibilities are endless.

Who’s winning

After the brain fever broke, we thought about this year’s Oscars and the upcoming Emmy announcements (especially the Emmys).

Co-CEOs Hastings/Sarandos have already celebrated because it’s the second time Netflix has bested HBO in the quality domination race with 160 nominations compared to HBO’s 107.

Actually, AT&T’s John Stankey should be pretty happy with HBO’s showing under the guidance of CEO Richard Plepler because the number of nominations was respectable and the subscription numbers are up which will help cover some of the debt load he inherited from Randall Stephenson following his M&E acquisition spree.

Of course, the Television Academy’s awards program will make the best of a bad situation (social distancing) just as the Academy’s Oscars event will probably be early next year. With the Oscars, Tenet should win more than its fair share of statuettes no matter how much it earns at the box office.

The big question was how many people were willing to go into a dark room with a bunch of strangers?

However, AT&T/Warner/HBO earned brownie points where many in the industry feel they counted most – the Academy, National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) and cinema owners everywhere.

Sometimes popularity contests still count because we (as a critic) couldn’t really figure out what Tenet is other than a splashy espionage film shot around the globe (something that will be tough to do as the industry emerges but other than a whole lotta action, you’re not quite sure who’s the good guy, who’s the bad guy, who’s the really bad guy. Or does it even matter because it made it to the big screen?

Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of safe/sane time to watch it/figure it out on HBO.

Sometimes the awards ceremonies have flashes of memorable brilliance. But most of the time, they’re just O.K.

The postmortem by folks in the industry — people whose names fly by in the closing credits — is more fun to watch/listen to because first they judge the quality of the awards show which is “fun.”

But then, they also get to appreciate the attention of friends who were mentioned … as well as the folks who didn’t win but were “obviously” better than those who appeared on the screen.

Even though folks miss out on the pre-/post parties, you have to admit that the virtual award events went more smoothly than the live events.

No faked surprises, no stress to look sharper than the host/hostess and rest of the people who came and the speeches were well rehearsed and mercifully short.

Even though the events are virtual, the Oscars, Emmys, BAFTAs – and the hundreds of others held round the globe every year – matter because that’s recognition by your peers and “everyone” knows that recognition is more important than from a critic. We knew the year was going to be grim when Broadway went dark until at least the first of next year.

Even the best play kinda’ sucks if artists have to practice social distancing and there’s no audience to give you instant feedback, gratification.

At the same time, you could hear the popcorn machines in cinemas around the world go silent as studios and project owners began slipping and adjusting their premier schedules.

On more than a few occasions, the organizations have simply said the wait is too long and it’s time to think about how they meet the viewing consumers’ needs for good to great content.

International eyes

The world’s two largest move-watching markets – U.S. and China – were already facing losses of up to $15B because of the pandemic.

Everyone has serious questions as to how quickly people will rush back to buying snacks and practicing social distancing in a theater, but most analysts say it will take at least a year before cinema attendance regains some semblance of normalcy.

In China, a major release from ByteDance – Lost in Russia – bit the bullet, taking the film straight to their streaming platforms. They offered it free to viewers and racked up more than 600 million views.

Japan bravely opened their cinemas to the give the industry a peek at what holding films for the old-fashioned theater showing first could look like.

Overall, the country had been able to control the pandemic but even then, the first full weekend after theaters reopened, box office gross was only five percent of the total over the same period a year earlier.

At mid-year Japan cinemas were only showing a dozen movies – none of them blockbusters – but ticket sales were slowly, painfully recovering although dedicated theater goers were still staying away.

Going forward

Industry analysts feel it will take years to re-train people to return.

Despite that, experts and Academy officials insist that the only way studios can properly launch major projects – Mulan, No Time to Die, Quiet Place Part 2, Fast and Furious 9, Love Story, Black Widow, Jurassic World: Dominion, and others – is to have them be seen/judged on the big screen.

Fortunately, most of the studios had options to create an audience, attention and a following so they could focus on 2021.

It’s too bad that some of the judges chose to penalize the studios, actors and production crews who chose to change with the times and move into tomorrow.

We won’t dwell on the obvious errors expert judges made in tapping winners for this year’s Oscar winners because both the TV Academy and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have been under tremendous pressure to right the wrongs of years of white guys rule so we can understand why some folks who did a really good/great job may have missed on their award. But there will be other chances once we live in a more open, level, more honest playing field.

We know there is nothing warmer, fuzzier than being judged/honored by your peers, but the awards event we are looking forward to – yeah it will still probably be virtual – is the People’s Choice Awards in November.

There’s just something about seeing shows, movies, individuals recognized by the people who count … folks who they work to entertain.

After all, their only skin in the game is to be entertained as completely as possible and then saying, “Thank you, we really like your work.”

While NBCUniversal extended an olive branch to AMC that is good or bad (depending on which side of the negotiations you’re on); don’t kid yourself, both realize that there will be a major reduction in the box office first window.

The few titles that do come out through the end of the year – and perhaps well into 2021 – will do well but the extended pandemic and the availability of such a rich trove of films online have forced even the most dedicated theater-first viewers to reevaluate their priorities.

The old system of releasing films in restrictive windows – theatrical, VOD, home entertainment – is undergoing considerable scrutiny as we face the new normal.

Self-anointed critics’ recommendations are being replaced by reviews/analysis by sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb along with a healthy dose of friends, family recommendations when it comes to which viewing window people will select for their content.

Free, ad-supported viewing dominates China, India and the Asia-Pacific.

In the Americas and EU, SVOD is increasingly common, while exceptions can be found with truly special viewing opportunities – Trolls: World Tour.

According to a Morning Consult report, nearly 40 percent of consumers said same-date release should continue to allow consumers to enjoy the movie on “opening night,” even at a premium above their standard subscription service.

Contrary to what some would say, one doesn’t have to die for the other to survive.

In fact, there are enough opportunities for all viewing options to thrive in today’s entertainment-hungry world.

Habits change quickly but people have long memories when it comes to folks who stand in the way of their getting what they want.

M&E folks need to remember Mike’s comment in Coherence when he said, “This whole night we’ve been worrying … there’s some dark version of us out there somewhere.”

Even critics can’t make the dark version entertaining.

Andy Marken, President, Marken Communications, is an author of more than 700 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications.