News
September 12, 2014
Weekly Update from Film Ontario, September 12, 2014
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Happy Friday! So may TIFF events, so little time! My thanks to so many of you for including FilmOntario in your events; delightful to see and hear how busy everyone is!! And congratulations to all of the deal-makers out there - Ontario continues to punch above its weight. Sarah Ker-Hornell __________________________________________________________________ Weekly Update from Kelly Graham-Scherer, Los Angeles Representative
Studio System News this week also took a look at how state-wide incentives stack up. As detailed below, it is now including California as one of the top seven states where you get the most "bang for your buck".
In case you still need convincing that eyeballs are migrating from the television to the computer, the Los Angeles Times reported this week that views of YouTube network Maker Studios' videos have increased to 9 billion per month! As reported below, this represents a more than doubling since Maker Studios was acquired by Disney this spring for $950 million and industry watchers are predicting Maker Studios will emerge as an industry player akin to Marvel or Lucasfilm. In a related story, the Times also reported that Youtube's ad revenue is likely to hit $1.13 billion inn 2014. As detailed below, this would be a 39% increase from 2013, even as Youtube's market share of advertising revenue is expected to decline as a result of increased competition from companies like Yahoo and AOL. And finally this week, I've included an article I think will interest VFX and animation companies that struggle with the issue of retaining talent: the Times reports that DreamWorks and Disney are among the Hollywood companies targeted in a class-action lawsuit that accuses them of agreeing not to poach each other's workers. As detailed below, the lawsuit, filed Monday in San Jose, said the companies "agreed to work together to deprive thousands of workers" of better wages and positions at other firms. |