Film Industry
31 dispatches
When We Wrote About Streaming Last January, We Made a Bet. The 2025 Numbers Decided.
AVOD and FAST hit $4.9B in 2024 and grew viewing hours 43% year over year. SVOD is still huge but increasingly opaque. The operational gap is real.
The Rise of Immersive Media
Disney made more operating income from parks and experiences in 2024 ($9.27 billion) than from entertainment and streaming. Why immersive media is rising.
Retrospective on Distribution Models in 2024 and What to Expect in 2025
What a decade of declining physical media, shifting audiences, the pandemic, and the strikes did to distribution in 2024, and what independents face in 2025.
How Streaming Platforms are Using Artificial Intelligence in 2024
From generated recaps and recommendations to smarter search and adaptive video quality, here are the main ways streaming platforms use AI in 2024.
FilmTrack Co-Founder, Jason Kassin, Joins Molten Cloud as Strategic Advisor, Reinforcing the Media Industry’s Shift to Next-Generation Cloud Infrastructure
Molten Cloud, a software platform recognized for modernizing media operations through innovative solutions, announced today that Jason Kassin, co-founder and former CEO of FilmTrack, has joined the company as a Strategic Advisor.
Three Surprising AI Facts from a Machine Learning Engineer
A machine learning engineer separates AI fact from Hollywood fiction with three surprising truths about what AI can and cannot do today.
Demystifying AI in VFX With Three Real-World Use Cases
Three practical ways VFX teams use AI today, from rotoscoping to cleanup and upscaling, and why the impractical tasks still need human artists.
Disney Activist Investors, Explained
Who the activist investors circling Disney are, what they want, and what the proxy fight means for the company and the wider entertainment industry.
Revolutionizing Media Operations: The Molten Cloud Advantage
The same data points span contracts, rights, titles, metadata, and royalties. Why Molten Cloud connects them from the ground up instead of siloing them.
Demystifying On-Demand Transcoding
How on demand transcoding removes the screener bottleneck from your sales workflow, delivering the right format instantly without pre made files.
MRSS & HLS Explained: A Technical Guide to Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST)
A technical guide to FAST: how MRSS and HLS feeds carry content to free ad supported channels, and what film distributors need to get them right.
Stop Pitching the Same Titles to Amazon Prime (and Other Platforms) - Here's How
Stop re-pitching the same titles to Amazon Prime and other platforms. How centralized avails data shows you exactly what to pitch where.
SAG-AFTRA Union Votes on Groundbreaking 2023 TV/Theatrical Contracts
SAG-AFTRA members vote on ratifying the 2023 TV and Theatrical contracts after a 118 day strike. What the agreement contains and what happens next.
The WGA Basic Agreement Cheat Sheet
The key figures from the new WGA and AMPTP agreement, distilled out of the full legal documents into the numbers you actually need to know.
The Post-Strike A.I. Playbook
Despite being the topic of contentious debate, artificial intelligence is just one of many areas in which the WGA sought - and won - protections for its members. So what exactly are the new terms for AI’s use in writers rooms? Let’s break it down.
Strike Update: Agreement Highlights & What's Next
The WGA and AMPTP reached a tentative agreement ending 148 days of striking. An overview of the terms as of September 25, 2023, pending ratification.
We Asked ChatGPT to Generate an Oscar-Worthy Film Idea, Here's What It Came Up With
We asked ChatGPT to pitch an Oscar worthy film. The result says a lot about what AI can and cannot do for creative development today.
Beyond Sci-Fi: The Present State of AI in Film
A grounded look at how AI is actually used across the film industry today, from production and VFX to rights management and distribution.
Over 100 Platforms Now Supported: Molten Cloud's New Era of Content Delivery
Molten Cloud now delivers content to more than 100 destinations, covering SVOD, AVOD, FAST, and broadcaster endpoints from one connected workflow.
The Secret Philosophy Behind Profitable Content Distribution
What separates distribution that makes money from distribution that only moves files, and the operating philosophy behind the difference.
SAG-AFTRA Strikes: What to Know
A concise breakdown of the SAG-AFTRA strike for people working in film distribution: what triggered it, what is at stake, and what it changes.
Demystifying FAST
Free ad supported television is growing fast and understood slowly. How FAST channels actually work, and how to monetize a catalog on them.
5 Tips for Monetizing with FAST
Five practical tips for monetizing your catalog on FAST channels, from metadata and MRSS feeds to royalty tracking across ad supported platforms.
Five Lessons for Film Distributors from 2022
The streaming bubble burst, budgets tightened, and AVOD surged. Five lessons film distributors should carry from 2022 into the year ahead.
Don't be Walmart on Black Friday
A messy content library costs you deals. Why organized, searchable content management separates a tidy Blockbuster aisle from Black Friday chaos.
The Role of Timing in the Distribution Pipeline
Distribution windows have multiplied far beyond theaters and home video. Why timing is now the most strategic variable in the pipeline.
The Insatiable Demand for Content
Streamers need more content than ever, yet loyalty is scarce. What the insatiable demand for content means for rights holders and distributors.
How to spend your free time at AFM
The best things to do around Santa Monica during the American Film Market, from beach runs to restaurants worth booking between screenings.
Top 6 ways to spend your free time during Marché du Film
Six ways to spend your free time in Cannes during the Marche du Film, from beach clubs to old town wandering and the perfect sunset spot.
Making the Most of Marché du Film: Top 5 Insider Tips
Five insider tips for the Marche du Film, from booking meetings before you land to the spots where real deals happen away from the Palais.
MOLTEN Raises $7 Million Funding from Top Hollywood & Tech Investors to Modernize Internal Operations of Media Companies
Ashton Kutcher, Michael Ovitz and Jack Dorsey invest, along with VCs; MOLTEN introduces comprehensive cloud platform to simplify rights, content and financial management for media and entertainment businesses