NowPublic@SXSW2008: Michael Eisner

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SXSW 2008 - Tuesday, March 11th

11:30am - Former head of Disney and founder of The Tornante Company as well as Vuguru, Michael Eisner, has just finished speaking here at SXSW.

LIVEBLOG // Michael Eisner, interviewed by Mark Cuban 

11:30am -- For some strange reason, the festival booked this session
in a small conference room which is now almost doubled over with people
-- every seat is full and people are lining up down the aisles and
against the walls, waiting to catch a few words of new media wisdom
from this entertainment business mogul.

11:34am -- Vuguru is the current company Eisner is working on whose goal is to "produce story-driven professional content for the internet."

11:36am -- Q. So with the concept of internet-delivered stories, will these be able to be monetized?

Eisner: I believe that the time for professionally delivered online content has come. It won't eliminate broadcast television, films, or any other media that has evolved in the past, it will
produce a new channel of expression and a new content stream.

11:38am -- Q. What kind of a model did you envision for outlets for content? How do you make money from this?

Eisner found the project "Sam Has 7 Friends", which became the show that lead to his development of the "Prom Queen" series.

But we constantly adapt; every month we change our creative development strategy. We have no plan. We pay for it and we stitch it together and we've got enough money to make it work.

11:43am -- Eisner: We're interested in working towards providing direct broadcast over broadband to television sets. Eventually that may become the primary distribution model for content. And people that are working on doing this successfully will become the Steven Spielbergs of the next generation.

11:46am -- Eisner: There is a lot of fear about where things are headed. Major distributors and studios want to retain control of all of their content. This is a mistake. When there are thousands of channels for distributing content, one network, studio, etc can't possibly own all of their content.

 
11:48am -- Where is the money? Google, MySpace, Facebook, all seem to be figuring it out.

Eisner: People are recognizing that something is happening but nobody knows what to do technologically....so you might as well tell a good story.

There is no unique business model any longer. My theory is, find the people who are doing interesting things on their own...and they're thinking about story. I want those people. I will put up more money and hope that somebody will watch it and that will drive distribution to a larger audience.

11:50am -- Q. What's your suggestion to people out there making this kind of content?

Eisner: Stay away from the old mogul guys like me with three beach houses and several wives...(laughter)...

There are different groups of people making content: young people producing user-gen, which I'm not that interested in, and then there are the "young professionals" -- of the creative class, generally well-educated, with good instincts -- and they are willing to work up from the bottom.

11:55am -- Q: A lot of the big media companies are putting the same type of design on new media, should they be? Or should they keep out of this sector to stay 'lean and mean'?

Eisner: They should participate. The economics part is so small, however, that I'd like the main media companies to continue to pursue their existing business.

Big media co's do see that young talent is emerging and they do see the upside. They see the big hits.

I think within five years that content on the internet will be as important as content on cable television, satellite, and other channels.

I think this content will be both primary and secondary, but how it's distributed will be different.

11:59am -- Most money being spent in home is going toward TVs not PCs. If that's the case, what's the experience going to be like, in the next five years, in the home?

Eisner: Veoh, Hulu, are working on ways of changing that, ways of organizing internet content on your home television. Eventually, there will be more Steve Jobs around that will make technology simple.

12:02pm -- Eisner: I'm interested in content because whatever the technology used to broadcast it or distribute it, it's still about storytelling and communicating an emotional experience. Stories still make you laugh or cry, no matter how you receive them.  

12:05pm - Eisner: I like experiments. I like trying out new things. We're going to do 50 x 2 minute internet pieces that are stories and characters drawn from a book coming out in the summer ("Foreign Body") -- but the web series will be released first, leading up to the release of the book.

Q: Is there any point that  you envision that will allow all content to be free?   

Eisner: You can't believe everything is really going to be free, There IS no such thing as a free lunch. If I want to bring on a writer, director, producer to work on something, they have rent to pay...I think that everybody has a right to get paid.

I'm looking at different models and if there is another model for content to be produced and distributed that is different than what we've done before, I'm all for it. Eventually something happens. It works itself out if it's a valid product.

I look for talent all the time and even bigger agencies have all set up offices now to look for talent. It's becoming a business. As long as the cost of production is low enough in the early stages, the business will grow.

12:11pm -- Audience Q&A

Question: Do you think there are artistic decisions about creating "great content" as to whether or not it's aimed at theatrical or television or web audiences?

Eisner: I learned early on, with Kramer vs Kramer, that you can't prescribe the success of a story by attaching it to a specific media.

Q: Copyright -- what's your take on movements like Creative Commons and remix culture? Are you thinking of taking advantage of that?

Eisner: I have a long history, obviously, in believing in copyright. I'm conflicted. What's separated US from rest of the world is patents and copyrights. To pay people for intellectual work is no different than paying for their physical work.

The general concept of people being rewarded for the work they do, of the mind, has got to be accepted.

The revolution in music and other media is important but it shouldn't come at the expense of people being compensated for what they do.

12:24pm -- Q. What do you think about the growth of product placement? What's the future of it?

Eisner: It's extremely important but in the creative process it's extremely important how it's used. It depends on how it's done.

There's a lot of experimentation going on. Sensitive product placement can work. We're used to advertising in entertainment. A lot of audiences prefer that to overt ads.

Have common sense and no when to say "that is annoying. that is just annoying." I think it's gone overboard in some cases.

12:25pm -- Q. What are your opinions about the added capabilities that digital content brings (interactivity, etc)?

Eisner: That's the one thing that makes this kind of content totally unique. I can't think of all the applications and ways that you'll be able to interact with it, but it's what will differentiate digital content from all other media.

 12:28pm -- Q: Any specific suggestions for large media trying to transition to this digital world? What about the published written word's place in this entertainment landscape?

Eisner: I have no idea. (Audience laughs). I've been thinking about this for a while,,,but I'm not sure what the answer is.  

As to the written word, it is the essence of everything that I'm involved with. The published written word is another matter. I believe that the written word is not over. We're trying to find new ways to promote it more.

Mark Cuban: Mark my words, we're quickly moving toward a time where everyone is going to start complaining about "screen fatigue"...and all the pundits will be blogging about how great it is to just read a book again or open a real newspape. So you all (points to SXSWi audience) are going to have to figure that out.

With much laughter and applause, the panel concludes, and everyone swarms up to the front to get a photo and few words in with Eisner.