Move over Hollywood, Here Comes Digiwood

Cass MBA is revolutionizing media industry business model

Zach Barfield is a venture junkie who wants to transform the movie industry.

The self-styled ‘serial entrepreneur’ has set up over 11 businesses spanning the property market to event management. His latest venture is Stuffed Animals Media, which produces audio-visual content across “any platform whether that is Internet or mobile [phone] based or traditional like DVD,” says Barfield. Consumers purchase the content directly, bypassing broadcasters or film distributors. Depending on the content, consumers will either pay for it or view it for free if it is funded by advertising.

Stuffed Animals Media intends to establish itself as the “1st Global Virtual Micro Studio” coining the term ‘Digiwood’ in the process.

Currently enrolled on the Cass MBA as part of the Film Business Academy, Barfield, his co-founder Max Newsom and chief operating officer Damon Oldcorn have seen the idea gaining ground since its inception four years ago.

“I saw what was happening in the music industry and how Internet and technology were fundamentally changing the business model...” says Barfield who cites media impresario Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of CSI and Pirates of the Caribbean, as his industry icon.

“When we first started out in 2006 I think we were a little ahead of the curve...This year, [response] has been much better. There’s a lot of empirical data to back up our cause and both the clients and potential investors are interested.”

Digital Economy Bill

Barfield also has some scathing views on the rushed-through Digital Economy Bill. A controversial set of legislation which could see persistent illegal file-sharers severely penalised.

“I think it’s going to be unenforceable...how can you prosecute a household when you don’t know who’s using [the net]? I think it was rushed through without any consultation,” says Barfield.

“I think that the government wanted to get it through because it was an easy bill to pass quickly and they had a lot of pressure from traditional media sources to force this channel.”

The future of the media industry

“I think [traditional television broadcasting] will not exist in the form that we know it in the next 10 years,” predicts Barfield. His prediction is based on the popularity of digital boxes such as Sky+ which allow the viewer to record, pause and stop live TV.

“I cannot see the feasibility for [traditional television]. The stats for iPlayer... are quite spectacular,” adds Barfield.

“The generation that is coming- the 15 year olds - who are going to be 25 in 10 years time...just want their particular content and they’ll want it now.”

Comments

Post a comment You must sign-in or register to post a comment

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 17.25 (UTC)

Sunny Li

commentBody

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 19.17 (UTC)

Fabio Morella

democratisation of video content - cool - kinda like hulu? or youtube?

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 19.20 (UTC)

Susie Watson

zach love that you were selling stuff at school at age 13 - how many of us tried this and failed?! i remember trying to flog coloured stones to my classmates - basically bits of rock that i painted with a gold pen and tried to pretend they were precious...

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 20.31 (UTC)

Zacchary Barfield

Thanks for your comments...
Sunny I am more than happy to expalin how we work...but simply put imagine the Hollywood Studio system re-invented for the 21st century, that is Stuffed Animals Media. The website will be up soon, will explain more.
Yes..selling stuff at school was fun.

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 20.37 (UTC)

Sunny Li

So you want an overhaul of Hollywood studio system, Zach? To me it's a reasonable successful system, don't you think?

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 20.46 (UTC)

Zacchary Barfield

Sunny,
Somewhat it is an overhaul of the Hollywood studio system, more of a re-invention, it has been successful but is failing and flawed. The comment box is not long enough to explain how & why but it is and you can see what has happened to the Music Industry and that is happening to the film/tv industry. We wish to take advantage of that.
There will be more articles and thoughts from me soon, but I am not alone in this a quick google search of trade news sources will highlight the issues.
Z

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 20.47 (UTC)

Zacchary Barfield

Fabio, not quite...we are not directly distribution points like Hulu or You Tube more Studio like Paramount or Disney...but flufflier and fairer.

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 20.48 (UTC)

Sunny Li

Zach I would love it if you can write an article about your master plan on BusinessBecause.com.

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 21.16 (UTC)

Zacchary Barfield

Sunny, once we are fully disclosed I shall do so...I shall let you know when.

Best,
Z

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 21.26 (UTC)

Sunny Li

That sounds great Zach.

Tuesday 25th May 2010, 21.40 (UTC)

Tian Ng

Interesting... So is google TV a competitor or another distribution channel? Seems like they will revive (or enhance, depending on which side of the argument you're on) the TV industry - aren't they effectively porting "traditional" TV content to digital?

Wednesday 26th May 2010, 10.38 (UTC)

Sian Morley-Smith

great name, how did you come up with 'stuffed animal media' ? Do you find that a lot of the younger budding film makers welcome your platform as a way for them to easily get their production out there without having to go through the more traditional giants in hollywood?

Wednesday 26th May 2010, 10.39 (UTC)

Sian Morley-Smith

sorry 'stuffed animals media' even!

Monday 26th September 2011, 09.28 (UTC)

Thomas Llose

But is not the democratisation of the video content a threat for the artists royalties ? The example of the decrease of music industry shows that it has become difficult to control the consumption of the content.
But it's sure that digital medias will be more and more the complement to traditional medias, so the only one solution would be to reconcile the improvment of content protection with the freedom allowed by new medias.