Expert Advice on Creating Business Plans

Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, also an angel investor wrote an article for TechCrunch on how to create an effective business plan.

Hoffman asks three poignant questions of the business plan author:

1)   How will you reach a massive audience?

2)   What is your unique value proposition?

3)   Will your business be capital efficient?

Hoffman advises that the entrepreneur have answers to “how do we get to one million users? Then how do we get to 10 million users? Then how will you get deep engagement from the users?”

He advises that you make your product unique enough to separate yourself from other out there, but not so unique that the market isn’t ready for your invention or business. He states that a product too far ahead of its time will be a failure.

The business plan must be prepared for the initial allotment of cash but also the stable, ongoing funding, also. The business must have available credit and be prepared for unforeseen changes, to be able to flourish.

Campbell, J. (2011, June 5). Two Business Plans Experts. 360 Digital Artist RSS. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from http://www.360digitalartist.com/business-plans-experts/#axzz340ShDtX0

"Akira Hirai is a regular guest speaker on the topics of business planning, financial forecasting, and capital formation at the Phoenix chapter of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's FastTrac entrepreneur training program and at various programs affiliated with Arizona State University (ASU). He also mentors companies preparing to present before the Arizona Angels and the Arizona Venture Capital Conference (AVCC). Akira has also served on the Board of Directors for ITASA (Information Technology Association of Southern Arizona). He was named Entrepreneur of the Week in October 2000 by vCapital.com" (Hirai, 2014).

Akira has advice on how to create an effective business plan. Some of the things he says to do are:

1)   Avoid value inflation – leave out the hype. Present your idea in the format of this is the problem and this is the solution. Let the investors determine whether there is value in your ideas.

2)   Don’t try to be all things to all people – narrow the focus and be concentrated on your idea and solution. Have a core thread and if there are other ideas or products, let them support the main core of your idea.

3)   Have a go-to-market strategy – without a good sales, marketing, and distribution plan, the business plan will fail.

He has many good points; such as don’t make the plan too long or too technical. Make sure to include risk analysis and to be organized. He emphasizes the financial sections should be detailed and realistic. A plan that is too unrealistic will make the plan without credibility to the investors.

From what I’ve read, Akira knows how to put together a good business plan. I found his advice to be straight forward and very sensible. This is definitely something to keep in reference while planning my business plan.

Hirai, A. (n.d.). Why Business Plans Don't Get Funded. - Common Startup Mistakes. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from http://www.caycon.com/why-business-plans-dont-get-funded.php

Box Office Review of Christian Films - How They Rate

If you've been to the movies lately, you may have seen titles such as "Son of God", "Heaven is Real" and "God's Not Dead". Are you curious if anyone is watching these "religious" films? Or, do you have a faith the pulls you toward movies like this? Let's discover how they are rating in the box office and if they are a hit or not.

First, let’s look at “God’s Not Dead” in comparison to other big budget films that opened the same weekend. This film was only shown in 780 screens compared to the competition’s 3200 screens, yet held up its end on the competitive side making $10,979 per screen. This is in comparison to the $14,228 for “Divergent” and $5,170 for “The Muppets” (Moviefone, 2014).

Just like “God’s Not Dead”, “Son of God” did well in the box office. Coming out at the same time as “Non-Stop”, a Liam Neeson film, the “Son of God” movie’s box office release forecast was impressive. Studying the digital marketing effort for this movie, these statistics show how popular “Son of God” was in comparison to “Non-Stop” one week before release.

 

Image source:

 Image source: http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/social-media-buzz-has-liam-neeson-put-the-fear-in-son-of-god-1201123385/

 

Image source:

http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/social-media-buzz-has-liam-neeson-put-the-fear-in-son-of-god-1201123385/

Opening weekend of these two movies proved they were close in sales. “Sonof God” came in at $26.5 million and “Non-Stop” at $30 million. The overall box office for “Son of God” was $59,646,236, and world wide was $69,402,236. The production cost $37,000,000, therefore making a nice profit. (Boxoffice, 2014).

Considering the star power and big budgets these Christian movies are up against, they hold their own in the box office. Reviewers liken the popularity to targeting a particular audience before the movie is released.

“Heaven is Real” showed a good on its release with $22.5 million during its Fri-Sun debut. It had reached $29.5 million in the first five days.

Overall, faith based films are doing well in the box office, even though most are not big budget films. Sccott Mendelson of Forbes.com reviews how “Heaven is Real” could very likely top the charts of box office sales, if all the factors fall in place. He states that we will know when we know.

To someone in the faith film industry, this is encouraging news! I hope you will find your way to seeing one or more of these productions. You may just find they are more enticing than you originally thought.

They're Doing it Right

Shalom Films supports the efforts of other Christian filmmakers.

One of the most exciting outreach ministries is producing new videos to be seen by millions of people. Billy Graham ministries has produced two new messages called My Hope and The Cross. Both of these videos are free to watch on the web and many churches will be showing The Cross for Easter Sunday.

Billy Graham, one of America’s most prominent preachers is reaching out to people from his home in the videos. Being 95 years old, he is too feeble to preach, but still yearns to reach people with the message of God’s love for the world. His desire to share the good news can be seen in these videos produced by his son, Franklin Graham. 

Billy Graham's My Hope America, image credit.

Both of these videos are excellent and have wonderful production value. Free to churches across America, the cost of production is being absorbed by the ministry. Therefore, they are asking for people to help support this effort.

Another awesome film is coming out, this Spring, produced by Pure Flix Entertainment, called “God’s Not Dead”. This film is about a college student who is challenged by his Philosophy teacher to prove that God’s not dead. In the process of having to stand for his faith, the student is met with obstacles that will put his faith to the test. This film features well-known actors such as Kevin Sarbo who plays the Philosophy teacher and Shane Harper as the student. Willie and Corie Roberston from the Duck Dynasty make a special appearance, along with the band Newsboys.  This film is coming to theaters in March of 2014 and is rated PG.

We hope you will engage with this thought provoking and life changing media. The message of God’s love is for everyone and we support these films.

Anyone Can Do It!

This past month I’ve dabbled back into web site building. Having learned HTML from the ground up, when the Internet was brand new, I’ve had my battle scars with web site building. For a few years I dropped out of the scene, as every kind of new language appeared and it became cumbersome to keep up. I was severely discouraged - until now.

Now there are so many free tools to help someone build a website that there is no excuse to not put one up – especially if you need one for business. Wordpress has become the hottest program out there for this adventure. 

If you are unsure about this, let me give you the best hand holding experience EVER! Tyler Moore specializes in teaching people how to create websites and you can watch the lessons on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jv47_VIBOQ.

Of course, it takes time and sometimes it’s frustrating when things don’t work right, but it is so much better than having to learn all of the programming. Tyler even puts his phone number on his video, so you can call him if you get stuck.

Another awesome thing I found are free graphics. Of course there are many sites that offer “free” graphics, but don’t really. It all has to do with copyright and royalties. Most graphic artists want you to pay for their graphics, if you are going to use them on a business page. Generally, personal pages and education related pages get a better deal than trying to find good graphics for business websites.

Dryicons.com offers free graphics with only the catch of putting in a word of who created the graphics on your page. That is a wonderful deal! Who wouldn’t want to give credit to someone who is so generously providing professional quality graphics?

GRsites.com offers free background images. They offer so many different ones; surely anyone could find something they like.

Take these tips and go out there and CREATE! Get your site up and share with the world the wonderful YOU.

What Will We Speak?

Have you ever considered the progression of our ability to communicate? Ever wonder if we will replace words with our own creative outpourings? It seems the future is getting closer – if you think like that. It is easy to create now – whether by word, picture or film. Being able to publish anything from a book to a film has been opened up to the masses by the digital age.  No longer are there restrictions such as being “found” by an agent. Anyone can publish, isn’t that great news?

I see our souls as creative entities and our shining of what’s inside will be so much more easily broadcasted to the world, if that’s what we want. No longer will it be a select few that will entertain and inform us. We will be able to do it ourselves. Think of how many more bright lights will be shared in the world.

What am I talking about? If you are lost, I apologize. I am talking about the new form of publishing that is easy to access and easy to do. These are called Print on Demand Sites (PODS) on the Internet. PODS make it possible for YOU, yes, YOU to CREATE! Create a book and publish it – no problem, or a CD of music or even a film! It’s really wonderful! You can do it all, on some of the sites, or you can upload something you’ve made in another setting.

As I’ve been looking around this past week, my favorite so far is CreateSpace. On CreateSpace.com you can create a book using their software and their site. They will give you a quote as to how much it will cost to print and ship it, so you can keep a tally of the cost as you create. It’s really nice!

My second favorite is CafePress. Ever wanted to make your own dishes, clothing and calendars with your photos? Now you can! It’s really not too expensive, either. I was investigating a Nook sleeve and created one with my cat’s picture. What fun! Expressing yourself has never been easier or more fun! CafePress offers all kinds of products to personalize, so have a look! Maybe you need a new bumper sticker – or a personalized picture to hang on the wall. They have it all!

I hope you find this type of service as inspiring as I do. It has given me such a feeling of freedom and excitement. Now I can “publish” a book and brag to my friends. (Of course I will encourage then to do the same!)

Entertainment Law: A Crucial Part of Filmmaking

One of the most crucial parts of filmmaking is understanding the legalities involved in the process. Intellectual Property and Copyright laws are two main areas of Entertainment Law related to the business of filmmaking.

A wonderful resource for hearing the most current cases regarding Entertainment Law are the podcasts put out by Gordon P. Firemark, Esq. and Tamara Bennett on Entertainment Law Update on the site of www.entertainmentlawupdate.com.

Also, Suffolk University in the Boston area showcases law podcasts through Itunes, which are very helpful in understanding IP and Copyright law. They are called the “Intellectual Property Law Podcast Series” by Suffolk University.

I found these podcasts to be very interesting and helpful in understanding some of the issues facing the media production companies and filmmakers today.

First, I listened to Professor Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, a former Patent attorney and now professor at Suffolk University. He lectured on the “IP Law Concentration”, which covers what IP Law is and how it has evolved over the years.

This podcast was helpful in understanding how the areas of IP law have progressed due to the expansion of intellectual property, due to the increase in technology. He states that most companies now have more intellectual assets rather than physical assets, whereas it used to be the opposite. This observation is astute and poignant when considering the impact of the IP laws on the creation of anything in the media, whether film, photo or music. Knowing how to protect the creation of art is fundamental to being able to produce films and media in this day and age.

Secondly, the podcasts produced by Gordon Firemark, Esq. are very interesting. He goes over the recent cases on Entertainment Law and if there has been an opinion granted from the courts. The podcasts listened to were:

Episode 43: http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2013/08/episode-43-no-copyright-sherlock/

Episode 28: http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2012/02/episode-28-political-campaigns-combat-helicopters-and-batmobiles/

Episode 43 had a relevant topic in regards to film on the case of Faulkner Literary vs. Sony Pictures Classic. The Faulkner estate was suing Sony for using a phrase out of Faulkner’s work, which was quoted in a Woody Allen picture, “Midnight in Paris”. They were being sued over a line, which incorporated a total of 9 words. The judge ruled that it wasn’t copyright infringement.

This case is one that is addressed quite often, it seems. Using other peoples’ works in a film can cause a case of being sued for copyright infringement. Knowing how to obtain rights and permissions would be the first way to alleviate this occurrence from happening. Having an Entertainment Attorney involved in the process would be the second best way to avoid lawsuits over copyright infringement. It can be a tricky area and having a solid foundation when creating the media is key to success.

Episode 28 had one relevant topic that stood out to me. They had as a guest, a Canadian Entertainment Lawyer present for the podcast to discuss the differences between American IP Law and Canadian IP Law. This was fascinating, as there seems to be more and more films being created between the U.S. and Canada. It is helpful to understand what their laws are like compared to ours in this area.

Bob Taratino, the Canadian Entertainment Lawyer discussed how the IP laws are different than ours in the area of moral rights. The artist has more say over how their work is used in Canada because of the moral rights aspect. They can tell someone, “No, you may not use my work,” and that is the end of it. Although, Gordon Firemark brought up a good point on how Canadian Law does not have reach in America. If it is law in Canada, it does not supersede the laws here.

For example, Mitt Romney asked the Canadian artist, Kid Rock, if he could use one of Kid Rock’s songs in his campaign. Kid Rock said no. Mitt Romney acknowledged this and didn’t use the song. In the U.S., Mitt Romney could have pursued a license for public performance; therefore he did not have to ask the artist for permission to use the song.

            I found these podcasts to be most informative. I recommend these podcasts to anyone in the Entertainment field, as they are very helpful and informative. It is a convenient and easy way to keep up to date with what is happening in the courts in regards to Intellectual Property laws.

Entertainment Law: Cases in the Industry

Intellectual Property and Copyright cases are common in the Entertainment industry. This blog will review three cases and determine the opinion from a student's perspective.
The first case deals with stealing of intellectual property of a film.

Hollywood Reporter states:

       “ Two years ago, shortly before The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn was released, Summit Entertainment made a fuss over an Argentinian hacking group that allegedly broke into its computer servers and obtained copyrighted material. The studio, now a subsidiary of Lionsgate, identified Daiana Santia as the perpetrator of efforts to circulate photos, unfinished images and video of Breaking Dawn.

     The lawsuit was to recover damages for copyright infringement for Summit films. The servers were allegedly hacked by the named perpetrators and images were shared before the films release date. Summit pursued damages as is their right under copyright protection in the United States.  Unfortunately, the courts did not agree with Summit's claims and the case was denied.” (Hollywood Reporter) 

Opinion: Even if Summit took two years to bring charges against the perpetrators, there is still a case. This piracy, whether in the United States or elsewhere should be adjudicated. Letting people hack into servers first of all and letting them get away with piracy is unthinkable. This is the crux of the piracy issue. What protection do film companies have if anyone can access their work illegally and distribute it without retribution. I think the case should have been in favor of Summit Entertainment.
The second case is from Hollywood Reporter:

“Will a new "Dungeons and Dragons" film be made by Warner Bros. or will it be made by Universal Pictures? A legal game is afoot to settle the answer.

Courtney Solomon's Sweetpea Entertainment believes that it can set up a movie for Warner Bros. In 1994, Solomon's company acquired D&D film rights in a deal with Hasbro and has since made one theatrical motion picture and two TV films. It was eyeing a fourth D&D film for Warner Bros., but before a deal was completed, Hasbro filed a lawsuit to stop it.

In its May lawsuit, Hasbro claimed that Sweetpea's rights had reverted. Believing that it had regained rights, Hasbro licensed Universal Pictures to make a "Dungeons and Dragons" reboot, and upon word of another D&D film in development, the toy company alleged that Sweetpea had committed copyright infringement. “ (Hollywood Reporter) 

Opinion: This case signifies the importance of knowing who has the copyright before going ahead with production in a film company. Somehow these two entities were working as if each of them owned the copyright. The article claims that the contract is ambiguous and not clear. Therefore, it would be pertinent to have clear language in any contract where copyright is assigned. 

The third and last case from Hollywood Reporter’s website:

“A Colorado judge has put another stamp on the cursed history of Stan Lee Media.

The company founded by Stan Lee in the mid-90s has been waging war in courts around the country ever since it emerged from bankruptcy a decade ago without valuable franchises like Fantastic Four, X-Men and Spider-Man.

SLM has attempted to hold various parties responsible for that fate, including Lee, including Marvel, and last but not least, Disney.

Last October, SLM filed a billion dollar lawsuit that alleged that Disney had committed copyright infringement on Lee's famous comic characters, "based upon Disney's independently actionable conduct which occurred after April 2009."

As we pointed out when the lawsuit was filed, the plaintiff figured to have a mountain ahead of them in getting beyond all the prior decisions in New York, California and Colorado courts that had gone against them.

Even though, SLM argued that this case was different than what came before, U.S. District Judge William Martinez disagrees.” (Hollywood Reporter)

Opinion: This case revolves around a copyright that was established in1998. Apparently it was not a strong case as Stan Lee Media has not been able to win even one of the court hearings regarding its allegations of copyright infringement. SLM has gone before courts for 10 years seeking copyright infringement on an agreement it had with Stan Lee back in 1998. The courts did not recognize this as a legitimate claim to the copyright, therefore did not agree with the case. 

When doing business in film, it is imperative to have clear agreements and contracts to make sure all creators’ rights are protected. This type of lawsuit could be avoided by having good contracts made up before work is produced and aired.

References

Breaking Legal News & Entertainment Law Blog - THR, ESQ.. (n.d.). The Latest Entertainment & Hollywood News - The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 12, 2013, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/thr-esq