Docs & Brands in a New Streaming World

Live on Zoom - Wednesday, May 20th at 12:00PM PST

These stay-at-home days have people cutting the cord and rushing to streaming platforms like never before. As reported in the Wall Street Journal last week, 3 million homes cut the cable in the first three months of 2020 and that pace is picking up during the pandemic. According to a recent report by research firm eMarketer, TV ad spend in the U.S. will decline by an estimated 22.3% to 29.3% — or $10 billion to $12 billion. With live sports sidelined and consumer cord cutting on the rise, interruptive advertising is in a steep decline.

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Now may be the time many brands will turn to documentary film and series production to connect with their target audience. This timely discussion will focus on:

- The role long form documentary series and films can play in helping to build brand awareness, reach a brand's audience, and drive ROI

- The current state of the marketplace for documentary content at the streamers, studios, networks, etc. How documentary projects are typically packaged and sold? How brands can better navigate through these waters

- The perception of documentary content to the general public, and viewership trends

- And, will address the question; why haven’t more brands taken advantage of this format? Budgets are manageable, audiences are engaged, and there are a number of ways to both monetize and distribute.

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Hosted by

Brian Newman

Founder Sub-Genre

Brian Newman consults on content development, distribution and marketing to help connect brands with filmmakers with audiences. Clients include: Patagonia, REI, IBM, Yeti Coolers, New York Times, Shopify Studios, Stripe, Unilever, and Zero Point Zero. Brian is the producer of The Outside Story (Tribeca Film Festival, 2020), and Love & Taxes, and executive producer of Shored Up. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute, and is the founder of the Brand/Foundation Alliance.

Featuring

David Charles Rodrigues

Filmmaker & Creative Director

David is the writer and director of Gay Chorus Deep South, Airbnb’s first ever feature film that was purchased by Sheila Nevins and her MTV Documentary Films as their Awards contender. The film has won 32 awards in festivals worldwide, including The Tribeca 2019 Audience Award Winner for Best Documentary. David is a Sundance New Frontier and Documentary Lab Fellow for his mixed media documentary Mythical Creatures.

As a Creative Director and writer he’s worked directly with brands like Airbnb, Apple, Impossible Foods and many others. In the past, he's been a Creative Director and Writer at 72andSunny, AKQA, BBH. He's created work for Airbnb, Google Play, Apple Watch, James Cameron's Avatar, FIAT, NIKE, Diageo Global, Mini Cooper, Visa, HTC, XBOX, The Standard Hotels and the launch of MOCAtv, the world’s first art channel on YouTube for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Rupert Maconick

Founder and Executive Producer Saville Productions

Saville Productions, founded by Rupert Maconick, is an established entertainment company that has produced hundreds of projects for big brands with high-profile filmmakers, including: Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), Barry Levinson (Rain Man), Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man), and many others. Saville produced the feature-length documentary, “5B”, for Johnson and Johnson, directed by Academy Award nominee, Dan Krauss. “5B” won the Entertainment Lions Grand Prix at the 2019 Cannes Lions and was purchased by Verizon Media for theatrical distribution. “5B” is also the first brand-sponsored documentary to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Saville also produced the Werner Herzog documentary “Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World” for NetScout. “Lo and Behold” premiered at Sundance and was purchased by Magnolia Pictures for worldwide distribution. The film won the 2017 Grand Clio, 6 Cannes Lions and a D&AD Pencil. Other Saville projects include: a global World Cup film for Adidas, directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God); “Takumi,” a one-hour documentary for Lexus, directed by Clay Jeter (Chef’s Table); and a 35-minute Werner Herzog film for AT&T, “From One Second to the Next.”

Lowell Shapiro

Founder & Partner Doc Box & Black Box Management Lowell is the co-founder of Black Box, an entertainment management and production company based in Los Angeles. Black Box represents writers, directors, actors, documentarians, and comedians for the film, television, digital, and branded entertainment industries.

In 2019 he launched Doc Box, a commercial production company dedicated to making documentary content for brands.

He began his career at William Morris Endeavor (WME) and holds an MBA from Babson College.