Interview With Perry Wang
(Update 2/20/06: Perry just emailed me to let me know he is no longer at Media Revolution. He’s now at Trigger. I’ve removed MR’s name from my notes on the interview below)
A couple weeks ago I had the good fortune to interview (via email) Perry Wang who has done a bit of work for movie studios. Below is the complete transcript of our interview. Many thanks to Perry for his time and insight on this process. Enjoy!
–Chris
MMM: How are you contacted by a studio to create a site? Is it something you pitch or something they contact you to do initially?
PWang: These are the three primary ways an interactive agency (aka “vendor” or “web shop”) is chosen:
1. A web shop proactively pitches a studio with creative concepts for a specific movie.
2. The studio opens a movie project up for bid to a select group of shops. The shops respond to a Request for Proposal (”RFP”) and the studio picks the best proposal, concepts, price and features.
3. The studio taps a shop to do a project, no bidding needed. A budget is assigned and the shop works with the studio to decide the best use of the dollars.
Each movie studio has a list of a half-dozen web developers that they trust to manage their movie projects. The competition for their high-profile work is fierce.
If applicable, a Request for Proposal (RFP) may be sent out when a new project is in the planning stages. The studio will typically know their budget beforehand, and understand the general focus of the web campaign. But more often than not, we won’t even know what the key art looks like, and usually the movie is not finished.
We have started and created countless online projects with only a rough script, a couple production stills, and our own assumptions about a movie based on that director’s previous work. In recent years, the studios have gathered assets earlier, and given shops like ours unprecedented access to them. These days, savvy studios have already set aside hundreds of filmmaker-approved photos. The soundtracks from trailers and the movie are pre-approved for web use. And most impressively, we have access to the talent from the film for web features that require their voice over, acting or input. Sometimes we have access to soundstages, propmasters, 3D models used in the film, etc. Access to film materials and content is typically dictated by the marketing strategy, which determines what content should be revealed to the general public, and when. That’s why MR is as involved as possible, as early as possible, in the marketing strategy for a new film.
Each studio has a handful of preferred web shops that they work with. These shops earn these seats at the table with hard work — we certainly pay our dues. Each studio will have web shops that they assign projects to based on that shop’s relationship to the studio and/or prowess for the subject matter. So you may not choose us for the next Reese Witherspoon comedy, but you’d probably want us for the next action-hero or sci-fi epic. Fortunately for us, the larger marketing dollars are currently behind the action-hero blockbuster.
Another factor is that certain studios have explored and successfully created their own in-house web development teams. These studio-teams employ art directors, Flash programmers and project managers that formerly worked at shops like ours. They are typically talented teams and turn out good work.
In some cases, MR has even gone head to head with in-house teams to pitch a new project. They have many if not all of the same challenges and pressures that a shop like ours has.
MMM: What is the creative process as far as determining the sites contents? Is it dictated by the studio or does someone from your firm come in with a list of content areas?
PWang: Let me use an analogy to answer this. Think of the studios as home owners, and a shop like mine as an architectural firm. Some home owners know generally what they want - they want a second story, vaulted ceilings and built-in shelving. The rest, they concede, is up to the architect to plan and propose. Other home owners have precise plans in mind, and need an architect only to implement it. And finally, there are home owners who have no idea what they want. They have $200k for a remodel, and trust the architect’s reputation to provide an amazing product.
In any scenario, we have a creative director, art directors and technical directors who constantly research new trends and technologies and pitch these to the client. Sometimes they bring all their own ideas to the table, and we’re primarily there to make it happen. The best studios know their audiences very well, and know how to market to them. As a result, they have strong opinions about what will and won’t work online.
The other factor is the filmmaker. Some filmmakers are hands off, and could care less what is happening on the web, so long as their movie is marketed correctly and with tangible results. Others are deeply involved, love the Internet, and have a vision for what should happen.
MMM: What has been the attitude/awarness of studio executives toward technologies like podcasting, RSS, etc? Have you found they are resistant or simply don’t see the point?
PWang: The studios we work with are extremely interested in emerging technologies, but don’t always have the content to support them.
Without great content (or a steady stream of it), new technology is meaningless. Without a film director who is willing to allow his staff to share movie information, a regular blog is impossible. Same with podcasting.
Another bottleneck for content is the budget for the film’s site. Good content costs money to produce. The teams that support the web updates also need to be paid. Only the most organized, integrated studios are able to align their decision makers and budgets to create and post new content like webisodes and other featurettes prior to a film’s release.
One noteable site is the one developed for Jackson’s remake of King Kong (file:///G:/www.kongisking.com). This site is pretty cool. It employs creative, regular, and timely updates delivered with the latest applicable technologies. Video diaries are plentiful, well-produced and are available as BitTorrent streams. The participation we see from Jackson and principal actors is phenomenal, to the point of making me wonder how they could have so much free time. Don’t they have a movie to make? Scroll to the bottom of the site, and you’ll see in the disclaimer that this is not an official site. Believe it or not, it’s run by fans — at least that’s what we’re supposed to believe. If this is true, it’s a new breed of fans: these are super-fans with super-access, creative fuel, energy and resources. The video blogs are expensive to produce, and I find it hard to believe that fans alone are able to afford production on them. Go to IMDB, and it’s confirmed; there is no official site listed. Jackson is smartly pushing people directly to the source of information they know people are already trusting and using: a blog-format site run by “fans†who appear to be unaffiliated with (and therefore unrestrained by) the studio. Fueled by examples like this site, MR is always forging relationships with filmmakers that lead to more access for online initiatives.
Another result of watching dollars carefully is that the studios are extremely creative with how to spend them. Remember Dreamwork’s first movie, “The Peacemaker”? This official movie site was co-branded as a big blue and red Pepsi site. “American Beauty” was an Amazon.com site that sold the soundtrack in the right-hand column. The studios know how to leverage marketing and content partners. Having a partner like Yahoo! build your site for next-to-free is attractive. In return, the studio gives exclusive content. The content partner will already have a development team ready to go, and they can track success against other films. Most importantly, they have more established, engaged and steady traffic than the studio does. Why spend $200k to draw people to OurNewMovie.com when you can expose people where they’re already looking for your movie info? (Studies show that more users go to movie info sites like Yahoo! for movie info, not official movie sites.) One downside to leveraging a partner is you’re not going to see a content partner implement ground-breaking technology for your movie site unless it lines up with their own strategies. Studios have a better chance at giving movie-goers a more refined, comprehensive representation of their movie on a site they build and direct themselves.
The potential use of a new technology will always be measured by its perceived effectiveness versus what it will cost to implement. There are many technologies that both MR and the studios want to use, but at the end of the day don’t make marketing or economic sense.
MMM: Why so much clinging to email updates? Is it simply because it forces the site visitor to divulge information that can later be quantified?
PWang: As you know, online marketing is an extremely accountable form of advertising. Ford knows exactly how many people click their keyword listings on Google, and the same kind of insight is expected from movie sites. While many understand the inherent benefit in online marketing, the marketing money set aside for the Web must be continually justified.
Registration provides the studio with information that is used to understand the success of their current campaign and demographic they are attracting. There are really only a few ways that the studios can acquire information like age, gender, etc from users: a) registration for updates and newsletters, b) registration for site features (such as a multiplayer game or activity), and c) sweepstakes entries. The studios we work with take user privacy policies very seriously, and use best practices that prevent the misuse of user information. In addition, we’ve worked with a studio that took great care to minimize the amount of required information requested in order to fulfill registration. Email, password and DOB was all we asked for, and it opened up a lot of information to the user. If the user moved into an area of the site where a username was required, we’d ask for it at that time. We asked for information only as we needed it.
Although this practice may be annoying, I’m not sure we’re going to see this go away for the forseeable future.
To proactively manage the information appearing on unofficial sites, studios work with the unofficial fan webmasters, and to some degree can steer the content in a way that benefits everyone. That’s why Harry Knowles is now invited to movie sets, and invited to report on everything he sees. Harry used to be a thorn in the studios’ sides, revealing information and movie reviews before studios were ready.
MMM: What role does the studio see the website playing in the marketing mix? What’s their ultimate goal in creating the site?
PWang: This depends on the studio, and the movie itself.
The studio:
Studios all have different strategies, directed by a handful of people responsible for the online marketing of each film. Some studios will lean on partners to promote their movie online. Others will focus on offline campaigns, because they figure the core audience of their films don’t go online for movie information. Others might see the Internet as a place to provide basic movie information, but nothing more. Strategies yield budgets, and those budgets yield the campaigns you are exposed to.
The movie:
For an epic superhero movie, the site must appeal to and energize the superhero’s primary fan base — with the end result being to mobilize as many people as possible to see the movie IN THEATERS during its first day and first weeks. Superhero movies may seem like an easy movie to market, but there is almost always a delicate balancing act to perform. At the same time that long-time fans are courted, a studio must also capture casual movie-goers (and casual fans of the genre) who are interested in the movie, but might be able to wait for the movie to come to DVD (The home video marketing group is often run by a completely different set of people, with different goals). Or worse, these casual movie-goers may be disillusioned and skeptical about another movie in this genre. The theatrical marketing group must make those casual movie-goers decide, “I have to see this movie right away. It looks too good to wait for, and I want to experience it with other people as soon as it comes out.â€
MMM: How closely are visitor stats tracked, if at all?
PWang: Stats are always tracked. Statistics are extremely valuable, and are treated like corporate secrets. Savvy studios hire third-party agencies that specifically generate the tracking mechanisms, which companies like ours insert into the site. The statistics are monitored directly by the studio, who employ people who sort through that data, and make the appropriate recommendations to redirect initiatives as applicable and to better plan for the future.
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