Last weekend I went on assignment to Rose City Comic Con for Panda Mony Toys. We are releasing our first action figure line next year and we are looking for cool shows to visit. Rose City was pretty great! Here’s a video of my adventures:
If you like t-shirts, hoodies and coffee mugs I suggest you check out our merch in our SHOP.
Filed under adventures, career, comic books, comic movies, Disney, doctor who, fan fic, fanboy, fiction, fun video friday, Game of Thrones, geek, Han shot first, hobby, horror, iron man, judge dredd, Jurassic Park, kids, Lego, Marvel, pop culture, rambling, sci-fi, star wars, super-heroes, the future, toys, travel, video, videos, Wolverine, work, working for a living, YouTube
Image from MediaBistro.com
The entertainment industry is changing faster now than it ever has before. The last decade has seen an exponential change in how audiences consume content, where content is created, how content can be monetized, and what that means for the people who create all of this content. I see this from the perspective of the “working class” trenches: no development fund, need to maintain employment, still keeping up a hustle. For people like me (and there are a LOT of us) we have seen this change in a very real way for a long time and, as much as I hate to admit it, haven’t been as proactive as we probably should have been to be on the front of that wave.
Instead the younger set, those without the idea of “this is how things work” found their place. YouTubers are doing very well for themselves and Hollywood is taking notice, ready to monetize on their popularity. Fan films get national attention and have their own festival circuit. The biggest name in horror for the last seven years has been Paranormal Activity – a series that started with a movie made for about $11,000 in a dude’s house with After Effects.
For those with vision and a camera the future is open and ready…
…that being said, the old model is far from dead.
A lot of talk happened the Monday after the Golden Globes when Netflix and Amazon both walked away with coveted trophies about how the nature of television is changing and that the very business is already inexorably changed. And it is, but not completely. Not yet.
Here are two articles that, for me, were kind of the yin and yang of the future of the business, at least for the next few years especially in the context of wide public distribution, like television.
I’m a “new model” guy who’s ready for the wild west, but it’s hard to pass up the money that can come with “old model” companies.
What do you think? Comment below.
Filed under actor stuff, Andelon, business, career, commentary, filmmaking, independent film, insight, internet, making movies, money, news, NPR, pop culture, producing, technology, television, the future, TV, working for a living, YouTube
Photo: Act.Watchdog.Net
Things are looking good for Net Neutrality.
In a one-on-one conversation with Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President Gary Shapiro on January 7th, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (sometimes referred to as a dingo) has implied that rules governing broadband communications will be based on Title II of the Communications Act – which is what most Net Neutrality activists and I have been hoping for.
HERE’S A LINK TO THE ARTICLE AT ARS TECHNICA
But for the TL;DR crowd here are some sound bytes:
“…it became obvious that commercially reasonable could be interpreted as what is reasonable for the ISPs, not what is reasonable for consumers or innovators,” Wheeler said. “And that’s the wrong question and the wrong answer because the issue here is how do we make sure that consumers and innovators have open access to networks. That led us to a more robust investigation of the well established concept of just and reasonable, which is a Title II concept. And as I said, Title II has always been something that was on the table. So last summer we began investigating various approaches using title II as a way to get to just and reasonable because it has the best protections.”
”What’s interesting also is that other ISPs, smaller ISPs, like the rural carriers, competitive ISPs, have all come in and said, ‘we like Title II, we hope you’ll do Title II,'” Wheeler added.
“It just so happens that 20 years ago I was the guy that negotiated on behalf of the wireless industry to establish Section 332,” Wheeler said. “Section 332 says that wireless should be regulated under Title II as a common carrier, except that the FCC is instructed to forbear from onerous provisions and inappropriate provisions of Title II, except for section 201 and 202, which is just and reasonable, and Section 208, which is consumer protection,” he added.
Shapiro summed up, saying, “what I heard you say is, without totally confirming it, is you’re going down the Title II path, [and] that the wireless model is a good model, and the wireless model said forbear by law except for a couple of sections.” Wheeler did not dispute that assessment.
Fingers crossed!
Filed under activism, Andelon, business, commentary, geek, internet, net neutrality, news, politics, re-post, technology, the future
EDIT: This was originally written for yesterday, but it looks like it didn’t get posted, so I’ve made some adjustments and am posting today. Apologies to my friends who’s shorts aired yesterday that this blog wasn’t a portal for people to see your stuff. -C.A.
The shameless self-promotion train continues today as we have five spook-tacular shorts premiering today: Fun Size Horror web site
Since neither Rene or I have any shorts playing today (although they are absolutely worth checking out, it’s a good mix today) I thought it might be nice to give a little history as to how Rene and I got involved in this project in the first place.
This whole project is the brainchild of my friend Zeke Pinheiro. He’s a director/writer/editor and you’ve probably seen his and my names together before particularly if you remember a horror film that we were trying to get made called The Pom Pom Massacre. The one thing we ran into, time and time again, was a lack of ability to get the film funded. Even after a successful Kickstarter to help get the development funds we needed, we just couldn’t lock the financing down. This happened for a few projects in a row and it started to feel like we were always looking for money and never actually making anything.
Last November I got a call from Zeke while I was on set for a commercial. He said that he wanted to make 31 short films for Halloween and release one every day in October. They would all be self-financed so we wouldn’t need to lock down funding. He and I know too many talented people, if we could just find a few that wouldn’t mind helping us out we’d probably be able to do it. That being said, I was a bit flabbergasted. But, it sounded like a hell of a lot of fun and I’m always up for a challenge so I told him I was in. After that he reached out to Mali Elfman and Michael May, two other friends of ours in the industry. Together we started building a plan. That plan was to reach out to other filmmakers we know and see if they were into the idea of:
Simple plans with a simple goal: get projects into production and get them seen by the public.
Thankfully a LOT of filmmakers we picking up what we were putting down and we were pleased to have more projects pitched than we were even able to use!
This is the first of what could be an annual event. So many great little shorts have come out of this and there is so much talent that Rene and I have had the pleasure of working with now. I look forward to how those relationships grow. I hope you’ve enjoyed the shorts this year. Check out the Facebook page and come to the public screening if you’re in L.A. on November 2nd.
See you next time!
Filed under acting, Andelon, awesome, business, filmmaking, Halloween, making movies, storytelling, the future, video, YouTube
3-D printing is a revolution in manufacturing. They can make almost anything with this technology, like toys, machine parts and even guns.
Now, in one step closer to a Star Trek-like future, they’re making food.
Pizza specifically.
Here’s a video of the print phases:
It still needs to be baked, so we’re a long way from the food replicators of Star Trek, but it’s still pretty cool.
More info here: I09 But How Does It Taste?
See you next time!
Filed under 3d printing, fun video friday, technology, the future, video, YouTube
I cannot get enough of House of Cards, the new original series from Netflix. It’s their second foray into content and they have swung for the fences!
Starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and too many other great actors to name, this political drama is riveting and clever and I’m just enjoying the hell out of it. It doesn’t hurt that David Fincher is also involved. Seriously look at this IMDb page!
What really excites me the most, though, is that this is extremely high quality content created by, what is essentially an internet entertainment company. I know Netflix is now fairly ubiquitous, I was the last person I know to get a Netflix subscription except for my parents, but when it’s all boiled down you can’t have Netflix without an internet connection. That fact that they could back this kind of production is really quite a step up from Harlem Shake videos or standard webseries. I’m very excited to see what they come up with next.
Here’s a trailer, now go watch it yourself!
See you next time!
Filed under filmmaking, television, the future, videos
Net Neutrality – The Fight is Getting Bigger
Photo: Act.Watchdog.Net
On February 5, 2015 the new rules proposal for broadband will be circulated for review. Later this month, February 26th, the FCC will vote on these regulations. They are reported to go the direction that Net Neutrality activists have hoped, and that’s a good thing, but the new Republican congress who benefits from an average of $350 million dollars a year in campaign contributions from the communications industry is attempting to derail all the progress that has been made. As described in the article linked to above, opponents to the idea of true Net Neutrality (personified by Sen. John Thune R-SD and Rep. Fred Upton R- Michigan) oppose the idea of reclassification and are proposing a separate bill that neuters the authority of the FCC thereby opening a backdoor to the kinds of actions that Net Neutrality activists were hoping to see squashed, like internet fast lanes.
In case you need a reminder of why reclassification is essential and why communication companies cannot be trusted to “self regulate” just check out this article which shows what happened when Netflix was forced to negotiate with Comcast.
On top of the big internet providers attempting to charge content providers, other businesses have been getting crafty as well. A large penalty was just levied on Marriott Hotels because they were blocking private wi-fi hotspots, the kind offered by carriers like Verizon and Sprint, and forcing people to purchase the wi-fi through the hotel. Although they were caught and fined, this is likely just the first of many such attempts as large companies try to find a way to grab market share on internet service as it becomes part of people’s daily lives more and more.
Even though true Net Neutrality is so close, the fight is still on and it is important not to stop making our desire for an open and free internet known. If you enjoy things like Netflix, Facebook, YouTube and even online dating then this effects you and your life.
You can follow THIS LINK to learn how to have your voice heard. Contact your representatives and let them know that you like your internet just fine and want it to stay free and open.
Keep up the fight!
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Filed under activism, Andelon, business, career, commentary, computers, goverment, internet, net neutrality, new media, politics, the future, Uncategorized