Industry vets conclude at NATPE: “Show me the money”

By Britney McGuffie

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 2/4/08 — With Internet income at the crux of the winding-down writers strike, and key on the minds of the actor guild members whose contract soon expires, you have to figure it’s a prize worth fighting for. Yet don’t ask Internet investor Michael Eisner, former head of the Walt Disney Co., to go to the carpet for it. Like many others, he’s discovered there’s precious little gold to be garnered at present, even for top flight Hollywood projects.

Eisner, who has been experimenting in the new media content space with his “Prom Queen,” expects that better editorial control and programming efforts would increase the audience but for the time being, there is little or no support from advertisers which is where the money’s at.

The consumers are the leaders in this Internet movement perhaps because of the convenience of having television in different places and times. Eventually the advertisers will be forced to follow therefore creating revenue but entertainment Jonathan Dolgen, senior advisor to New Viacom, pointed out in an interview with Karen Swisher of BoomTown that “with a word processor and paper you can write but that hasn’t given us tens of thousands of great books.”

The quality of the programs available online is a huge issue because of the lack of funds. From Eisner’s view, it will take low cost equipment, discipline, and low budget content creators in order to make cost-effective programming. If the internet programming itself is of lesser quality than that of the television, it’s no wonder the consumers are spending billions of dollars on television upgrades.

The real question is how will the internet platform in television make money? Swisher states, “I am still waiting for better answers on how really serious money will be made.”

So the key word in Internet remains “monetization” and not how to slice the pie, or how quickly and efficiently programming can be delivered, but how to make the kind of billions Hollywood presently makes from traditional TV, theatrical and video sales.

“In a decade, or five years, seven years, two decades, (Internet) will be the primary source of scripted television with maybe a replay on ABC,” Eisner said. But not today.