“How Streaming Platforms Are Changing the Game for Independent Creators” MASTERCLASS WITH TED HOPE AND NICOLAS STEINER
US producer Ted Hope and Swiss filmmaker Nicolas Steiner shared their many years of experience with streaming platforms in an interview with Marcy Goldberg. The Storylab students learnt about the impact these platforms have on the film business and on independent filmmaking in particular.
The discussion was lively due to the different perspectives of the two guests. Ted Hope explained that the primary goal of global streaming platforms is not, as initially assumed, to offer as much choice and variety as possible, but to ensure that viewers keep consuming similar content. As a result, global content would become increasingly homogeneous, leading to a blurring of the distinctions between regions and cultures and thus to a loss of the human aspect and empathy. Hope expressed the fear that this could also lead to a reduced ability to experience new ways of thinking. Streaming platforms are a huge opportunity, but the business model is at odds with artistic and aesthetic ambition and the willingness to speak “truth to power”. If the aim is to increase market share, a decline in quality is unavoidable. Although the audience is very diverse, there is no celebration of diversity. The business model of global streaming platforms is to attract viewers, and although the audience is very diverse, the aim is not to celebrate diversity, but rather to promote “sameness” throughout the world.
Nicolas Steiner emphasised that there are also smaller VoD platforms that offer curated content and have alternative structures. A distinction needs to be made depending on the story you want to tell (and how you want to tell it). However, Ted Hope advises young filmmakers not to distribute their films via large VoD platforms, but to show them directly to audiences in order to build a long-term audience base. Hope emphasised that these platforms cannibalise revenue for other forms of distribution that enable this type of audience building. In addition, according to Nicolas Steiner, who made the true crime series “Dig Deeper” for Netflix, the buyouts are sometimes not high enough. The topic of residuals also needs to be addressed in the context of “Lex Netflix” so that (Swiss) filmmakers receive royalties once their film is streamed and are adequately compensated if their film/series is successful and attracts many viewers. In other words, royalties as well as a share of profits.
“What I missed with a streaming release compared to a cinema release is the immediate reaction of the audience. The energy I got from my last cinema film carries me to this day and helps me with upcoming projects,” says Steiner. The Netflix series was a good experience, but he misses the interaction with people and therefore also this energy. His appeal to young filmmakers is therefore: “Go out and fight for the stories you want to see or create.”
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