Distribution Revolution: Conversations about the Digital Future of Film and Television

by Kurt Sutter (Foreword), Michael Curtin (Editor), Jennifer Holt (Editor)

Distribution Revolution is a collection of interviews with leading film and TV professionals concerning the many ways that digital delivery systems are transforming the entertainment business. These interviews provide lively insider accounts from studio executives, distribution professionals, and creative talent of the tumultuous transformation of film and TV in the digital era. The first section features interviews with top executives at major Hollywood studios, providing a window into the big-picture concerns of media conglomerates with respect to changing business models, revenue streams, and audience behaviors. The second focuses on innovative enterprises that are providing path-breaking models for new modes of content creation, curation, and distribution―creatively meshing the strategies and practices of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. And the final section offers insights from creative talent whose professional practices, compensation, and everyday working conditions have been transformed over the past ten years. Taken together, these interviews demonstrate that virtually every aspect of the film and television businesses is being affected by the digital distribution revolution, a revolution that has likely just begun.

Interviewees include:

• Gary Newman, Chairman, 20th Century Fox Television
• Kelly Summers, Former Vice President, Global Business Development and New Media Strategy, Walt Disney Studios
• Thomas Gewecke, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Warner Bros. Entertainment
• Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix
• Felicia D. Henderson, Writer-Producer, Soul Food , Gossip Girl
• Dick Wolf, Executive Producer and Creator, Law & Order

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Kurt Leon Sutter is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He worked as a producer, writer, and director on The Shield, and appeared on the show as hitman Margos Dezerian. Sutter is also the creator of Sons of Anarchy on FX and writes, produces, directs, and plays incarcerated club member Otto Delaney on the series. Sutter spent time with members of an outlaw club in Northern California as research for Sons of Anarchy.

Reviews

[Christopher]

This is a collection of 17 interviews with current film and television industry professionals, divided into three separate sections: Studios, Upstarts and Creatives. Most of the information contained within is pretty illuminating, and the variety of points of view of the various subjects prevents the volume from giving into any one bias. Instead, what we get is a fairly comprehensive look at the world of moving-image storytelling and distribution in the early part of the 21st century, which is a time of rapid and paradigm-shattering change. For anyone interested in what is happening within Hollywood and its environs today, this is a must-read. It's not perfect - the editing of the interviews is uneven, and the book could benefit from an even greater variety of professionals - but it's quite good.

[Mike]

Really useful interviews in here that are already outdated in some ways. However, they provide useful primary sources for understanding how different points in the production process understand/stood the future of media distribution. One criticism is that some of the interviewees were allowed to get away with meaningless platitudes or dodging the question, but that is a minor quibble.

[G]

"The creation of this product 'standard' was essential in establishing DVD as arguably the most successful media format ever defined."

Come for the Introduction ("Making of a Revolution") – summarizing 75+ years of technological disruptions to content distribution – and stay for the interviews. Personal favs included Gary Newman, Richard Berger, Ted Sarandos, Scott Frank and Felicia D. Hendersen. Many POVs don't align but I guess that's the point.