[Philip Lelyveld comment: this article does a good job of capturing the current state of the audio/visual content industry. Very similar points were made about the music industry 10+ years ago. That future reality came much faster than the music labels could adapt to. The studios are aware of this incoming upheaval. We shall see if they react or simply rail against the storm.]
Ben Silverman, Chairman of multi-media producer Electus recently keynoted a Venture Capital and New Media Summit in Los Angeles.
Ben noted that 100 years ago in order to make a film you needed 50 acres of land in the San Fernando Valley, an army of various craftsmen, sprawling soundstages, expensive specialized cameras, film labs and more.
He went on to say that in order to produce a film today you could likely do it with five dedicated artists, $30,000 worth of equipment and an office in Santa Monica with a green screen.
This got me thinking. A studio's main functions are finance, production, distribution and marketing of content. Considering how technology is greatly expanding the creative community's access to each of these and the entrance of new well capitalized players to the entertainment game: are motion picture studios becoming irrelevant and what does the future hold for the business of filmed entertainment?
Read the full story here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/movie-studios-gone-way-dinasours-144256285.html