“Strange bedfellows”
As lines have blurred in viewing screens and audience appetites, so too have the lines blurred between the players in the production funding sector.
In addition to larger players like Netflix, Amazon, Disney+/ Hulu, other online and digital platforms, as well as global brands, have stepped up whether in the form of pre-buying, gap financing, co-producing (digital) or otherwise full on commissioning of original production('Originals'), whether in the form of web/mobile series(short form episodic) or full out feature films and TV /limited series. Beyond the larger players, and their competitors, even various niche or genre-specific VOD platforms (kids, docs, arthouse/indie, horror, and micro-niche platforms) also sometimes step into funding, not just buying.
At the same time, the formerly so-called traditional players, such as telecom,cable, payTV and free TV channels, have started co-funding streaming content as head on competitors to the BigGuns streamers, and overall thus there is a rich landscape of potential, if one navigates the players accordingly..
In both cases Rights Stuff assists with negotiations between stakeholders including the complexities around windows and rights, both locally and internationally.
If carefully handled, this crossover can lead to great creative and business opportunities for producers. For example, If Gone with the Wind were being made today, it might not just be a 4 hour feature film, but an expanded storyworld, with possibilities for related web or mobile series, cross-platform apps, VR and transmedia content. Think “Scarlett’s Diary’’ and “Rhett’s Story’’, with related games, ebooks, historical educational backdrop programming, and the like, for dedicated fans.
Rights Stuff works with producers to help find the right partners, funding and commercial exploitation for Originals and multi platform extensions. In 2016 Rights Stuff started focussing further on the emerging VR/AR content sector, working with key producers and platforms on the business side, from development through to distribution, and since 2018 also for various blockchain clients in VOD and funding.