Rich Fiscus
11 Jul 2007 6:21
Hollywood figures ranging from Will Ferrel to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner are involved in Hollywood projects to take advantage of the profits generated by web video on sites like YouTube and MySpace.
The latest venture in this area, 60Frames Entertainment, is a partnership between Hollywood United Talent Agency Internet-based advertising agency Spot Runner.
As one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies, United Talent represents stars and filmmakers as prominent as Vince Vaughn, Johnny Depp and Ben Stiller. Spot Runner, which is partly owned by the WPP Group advertising conglomerate, has helped smaller advertisers make and place television ads with a Web-based system. It expects initially to sell ads for 60Frames through a sales force rather than through its site, a spokesman said.
“We were finding it could be as difficult to make deals for a Web production as for a TV series,” said Mr. Weinstein. “It shouldn’t be that way.”
To clear the path, 60Frames expects to provide capital for Web productions that typically run for a few minutes and cost “in the thousands, not hundreds of thousands” of dollars to produce, said the executive. It will then try to distribute the videos on a variety of Web sites and cellphone services, while placing ads wherever possible, and leaving a major stake in ownership to the creators.
The filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, the brothers behind movies like “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski,” have agreed to produce programming for the venture and will serve on an advisory board.
Source: New York Times