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Panel: Film, vid game biz consider how to coexist
April 14, 2004 - By Chris Marlowe, The Hollywood Reporter
There is some rocky terrain between movies and video games. But even so,
the two industries are coming closer together — to their mutual advantage.
That was the fundamental conclusion reached by a panel with expertise in both
areas.
The Digital Coast Roundtable hosted the discussion on the future of games
Tuesday at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.
The topic is essential to the future of Hollywood, the panel agreed.
"You've seen the 18-34 male dropping out of the TV audience," Disney Online
executive vp and managing director Ken Goldstein said. "What do you think
they're doing with their evenings?"
Moderator Seamus Blackley of CAA remarked on the 10 years Hollywood and video
games have tried to cooperate. "There have been some interesting tries — and
some embarrassing results," he said.
But all that is changing as the game industry matures and technology improves
exponentially, according to the panel. And to even more positive effect, the
two industries are learning from each other.
Goldstein said Hollywood is peerless at marketing and audience research. This
is in sharp contrast to game companies, who rely on instinct to maximize a
product's short shelf life. There are no windowing opportunities in games either,
Goldstein added.
Another pitfall is when technology and novelty get in the way, and game developers
get "a giant mess for the simple reason that it wasn't entertaining," Blackley said.
Where Hollywood could improve is in its awareness of the game development time frame,
the panel agreed. The game needs to get started "a year before the first day of
production shooting on the film," Goldstein said. "Think of how the film might change
in the first year, and there you are in co-development."
Mobile gaming has the advantage of making unique products to suit various demographics
and geographic locations, said Rio Caraeff, vp wireless services at Sony Pictures Digital
Networks. Three different mobile games will be based on "Spider-Man 2," he said.
The lack of standards is a problem, however, as there are 160 versions of "Wheel of Fortune"
alone to cover the array of handsets and carriers.
Still, the effort is worth it. More than 250 million handsets are "entertainment-capable,"
Caraeff said, which represents an "opportunity to create value for Sony. We'd be silly not to
capitalize on it."
Russell Weiss, partner with Morrison & Foerster, began the proceedings with a presentation about
the legal ramifications of movies and games working together. "Hollywood no longer looks at video
games as its ugly stepbrother," Weiss said. Instead, as relative costs and profits are analyzed,
traditional entertainment has "some envy."
Those wishing to benefit from this cross-fertilization need to be aware of the legal considerations,
he said. Just for starters, movie people do not have experience in video game deal structures.
And working in the other direction, game people are not accustomed to contracts that involve movie
standards like the right of publicity, sequel rights, approval rights and additional services fees.
Copyright 2004 The Hollywood Reporter
For more information about Digital Coast Roundtable visit www.digitalcoast.org.
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