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FNB EDITORIAL ...The Future Might Just Be Slated February 13, 2012
We’ve been hearing a lot about Kickstarter lo, these past couple years, and have always found it an interesting diversion for smaller projects and flights of fancy. Not to diminish the site, it clearly does a lot of good for people, but it’s always struck us as a bit limited, with a defined ceiling for the size of the projects the site is designed to help. We thought there was room for something bigger, but we never actually got around to doing anything about it. Luckily, a couple guys named Stephan Paternot and Duncan Cork did, and the result is the terrific Slated.
The very purpose of the site is to match accredited investors with developing projects, allowing people to monitor the progress of casting and hiring, maintain buzz, it’s … it’s … intoxicating, really.
Seriously, creating a site where filmmakers, distributors, investors and sales agents can interact with each other and track projects in an online environment protected and vetted by the community’s own members? Genius. On top of that (and, truthfully, the best part for us, as we are noted snobs), it’s kind of an exclusive club. You have to be approved by two existing members to get in. Again, seriously. It’s like being a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only without the bombast and boring ceremony.
All kidding aside, what took everyone so long? This site is exactly what the internet was made for, as far as the entertainment industry is concerned. It’s eHarmony, J-Date and Match all rolled into one, but instead of trying to score a mate, you can score a sweet deal for your project (or, on the other side, score a sweet project to deal. It really does work both ways!). Already signed up are reps of IM Global, WME, Participant Media, Weinstein Co, FilmDistrict, as well as high profile indie producers like Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Lesley Chilcott, MaryJane Skalski and Rene Bastian. Fairly elite company.
One of the reasons why we’ve never really investigated Kickstarter is because it always felt too small. Getting a few bucks apiece from a couple hundred people was great in theory, but didn’t necessarily serve the purposes of anything on which we might have been working. But this? Even Chairman and co-founder Paternot admits, “all our investors are accredited investors, about 50 percent of our investor community represent institutions, distributors and sales companies.” That’s some serious juice right there, and most definitely the kind aimed at bigger fish.
It’s amazing, really, that some of the best ideas are the ones you look at and say, “How come no one thought of this sooner?” This is one of those times.
