PLAYDIGM Entertainment Licensing & Branding

Every Halloween I keep a tally of the different costumes I see at Helloween parties I attend and trick or treaters on the streets. Kind of a personal general brand popularity poll.

Last night at the new Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver there were almost 150 people at the costume party.  You can tell which brands are doing well by how many people wear the same or similar costume.

The ranking of the Halloween Party Brand Poll :

5) Angels and Fairies with wings on their backs.  Hard to pin point which brand they were promoting but one thing for sure, the ladies in these costumes definitely had halos.

4) Older Advertisement  characters – Tony the Tiger, Count Chocula, old school brands.  Since this crowd was above 30 you could expect some unexpected historical references that still appear now and then in culture.

3) Zombies & Vampires – lots of them.  Problem here is which movie/show/brand are they portraying?  When asked there were a few Twilight characters.

2) Sultans, princes, lords and ladies from the Medieval Ages.  Again, hard to pin-point which character or brand these costumed partiers were portraying.

1) …and the most popular costume of the night was – Pirates.  All seemed to want to be Jack Sparrow or some other cut throat scury dog.

I am not sure where all the Batman, Spiderman, or other comic characters were (guess they were at another party).  I was surprised at how few international branded characters were in attendance.  Or how few television based characters there were.

All in all – everyone had fun and that’s really what All Hallow’s Eve is about. Be safe and make sure you check out what others are wearing.  Brand popularity can be calculated by mindshare, which is observed in what people dress up as.  This may not be an exact science but ask anyone wearing a costume why they chose the one they have on and their response will usually be that they like the character or brand. If they say they don’t know, the brand has been subliminally imprinted. This simple study is done while having fun!

Have a great Helloween!!!

Sandford Tuey

According to Dictionary.com a brand is -

Ever wonder which of the corporate brands utilize and leverage social media the best?  A study by Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group and Wetpaint rank the top 100 brands by social media engagement.  I have only indicated the top ten companies.

The study revealed the level of each of the top 100 brands across more than ten social media, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wikis, and discussion forums. Starbucks scored the highest:

1. Starbucks (SBUX)
2. Dell (DELL)
3. eBay (EBAY)
4. Google (GOOG)
5. Microsoft (MSFT)
6. Thomson Reuters (TRI)
7. Nike (NKE)
8. Amazon (AMZN)
9. SAP
10. Tie – Yahoo!/Intel (YHOO) (INTC)

The report put brands into one of four kinds of categories, dependent on the number of social media channels they participate with.  The study suggests there is a correlation between social media engagement and revenue growth. Those using social media well, saw revenue increase an average of 18 percent over the past year.

As we all in the know realize, that with constant branding via the internet and other media, awareness increases proportionally.  So get your message out there and reap the rewards.

Stay tuned to future posts on how to make social media work for you and your brand!

Cheers!

Sandford Tuey

info@Playdigm.com

It’s not easy being creative and designing brands, toys, games, stories, products and screenplays. You work on your concepts every chance you get, with no guarantee that anyone  will ever see your latest masterpiece.  Showing it to friends and relatives is fine but just not enough.

Getting representation in the entertainment industry should be one of your goals.  If you allocate five days a week to writing, reduce it to four and dedicate one solid day a week to finding an agent or manager to advance your career.  Or mail out query letters to producers, studios and broadcasters. It is what I did to successfully get represented and gain interest in the industry.

Having someone shopping your screenplays to producers, broadcasters and studios is a best case scenario. It allows you to focus on the writing, creating and meetings with producers, directors, studio/broadcasters and actors to discuss their involvement with your script and brand.  You can concentrate on being a writer and put all your energy into the more enjoyable part of being a creator, the creating of stuff.

Make sure you find an agent or manager that you can work with. Don’t make the mistake of settling for the first agent or manager that shows an interest in your work unless you really get along with and relate well with them.  More importantly, will they market your material to a list of their connections, producers and production companies, make submissions, follow up and help negotiate a deal? If they also help you develop and edit your work, so much the better.

It’s a two way street, so help them do their job as well. Their time and money is precious and they could be working on another person’s file, so do what ever you can to help them advance your career.  Run a concept and logline by them before you put in the long hours of writing a treatment and final screenplay. They will ensure that your piece of work is ready for the outside world. Your agent/manager should be able to find real people with actual credits who will fall in love with you and your script and who fight for your projects.  These representatives are really worth their ten percent commission.

The mission of getting rep’d is a logistical campaign. It’s not easy and some say it’s 80 percent of your actual effort compared to the 20 percent dedicated to the creation of your screenplay, manuscript, toy, game or other brand/product. Start by submitting to agencies that accept query letters and submissions. You can find these contacts in Canada by looking in the Reel West Digest and Canada Film Directory or in the USA by purchasing the Hollywood Creative Directory or joining an industry association and guild. Check out websites related to the industry you are in such as IMDB pro and similar sites like these.  Use search engines and you will be surprised how easy it is to locate potential industry mentors.

Then the hard part starts – getting past the gatekeepers and having the chance to pitch your project to the person who can make a decision or write the check. The more personal you can become involved with these contacts you are making, the easier it will be to follow up and gain their interest in your properties and brands. Get to know them and have them get to know you, in and outside of the office.

Good luck with your search for representation and keep focused on your goal.

Sandford Tuey

info@Playdigm.com

Michael Jackson’s estate has one of the most powerful brands on the planet and the potential to earn more than anyone expects.  Controlling his name and likeness will be critical to maintaining the brand now that he has passed away. Combine that marketing income, with his assets and their total earning potential should allow his estate to become a powerhouse of revenue.   Especially since he is not able to continue his multi-million dollar extravagant spending sprees anymore.

On CTV the other day, the announcer stated that the Michael Jackson brand could top $20 million US dollars a year and depending on the business decisions of the Jackson family, could be structured to top the Forbes highest deceased celebrity earners list within the year.

MJ’s music has been selling faster than at any time during his life (except maybe when his Thriller album was released).  Check out the brand new separate page for Amazon and you’ll see young Michael Jackson smiling at you to click and buy, making it quick and easy to purchase more Michael Jackson merchandise.

Forbes last year had Elvis Presley as the top deceased celebrity earner making over $50 million US per year for his estate.  Rumour has it, that this is more than The King ever made annually when he was alive.  With Graceland and tight fiscal control of Elvis’ image, the Presley estate revenue is secure.

So will the King of Pop dethrone The King?

My prediction is ‘Yes’ and I prefer Elvis’ music.  It’s just logical.  Jackson’s original mass audience is younger than Presley’s, which translates to more of his fans outliving Elvis fans. Based on my radio listening, I hear MJ’s music more often than Elvis’ and I listen to many different stations.

It will be interesting to see how the Jackson family manage Michael’s estate. I hope they are able to pay off his staggering debt and still have enough cash leftover so his children are taken care of.  Which will be the case I am sure.

I wonder if Paul McCartney will now be able to purchase the Beatles publishing catalog rights?   I think that would be fair…

Sandford Tuey

info@Playdigm.com

The ongoing development of a brand.

Stage 9

Learning how to write a comic was the hard part compared to finding artists, colorists and lettering people. I took a three act sceenplay and broke it down into three comic issues of 22 pages each (this is the standard amount of story pages per comic these days).  Everything seemed fine.

I then searched the net and asked everyone I knew to recommend people to develop the screenplay into my comic book/story boards.

After compiling a list of potential candidates and reviewing their portfolios and previous work, it came down to three excellent artists.  There was a female who drew manga style (good for international markets but not what I really wanted), there was an unknown guy who drew very well but normal super hero style (which I knew would not translate well into the Asian markets)  and Scott Lee, who’s artwork was excellent and unique (might even go global if given the chance).

Scott’s characters are long, sexy and lanky. Very different style then what is out there.  His artwork is interesting and good enough that he has worked with Marvel, Top Cow/Image, DC comics and presently works with Radical Entertainment (one of Canada’s premiere video game publishers owned by Universal – Vivendi).  Picking Scott was the best decision I have ever made for designing new characters for a new brand.

The same process kind of happened with choosing the colorist but once Scott introduced me to the work of Ben Prenevost, it was an instant and wise choice.  His coloring technique was perfect for my theme and story. Plus he had worked with Scott before and together their style just works.

Next I checked out graphic designers who could provide lettering and page layout for printers.  I knew from the beginning that this person should be local (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) as I would need to work closely with them prior to it being submitted to the print company.

Rachel Moffat of was introduced to me and her graphic art experience is incredible.  Not only did she pick up the comic craft instantly, but we also designed our own dialog balloons (needed a special way to transmit thoughts from one Psion character to another character).  It was a pleasure working with her as the patience she needed to put the whole project together was amazing.  Remember, both of us had never produced a comic before.

The next installment will be titled Galactic Gladiators Part #6.

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Order – FROM THE MIND TO THE MARKET – now.  It will be available later in 2009. Pre-order by contacting Info@Playdigm.com.

(c) Sandford Tuey All Rights Reserved.

Learning by example. How I developed a brand.

Stage 6

Creating a three act screenplay is straight forward once you’ve read dozens of ‘How to Write a Screenplay’  books and absorbed so many scripts and compared them to the actual films.  This is mandatory, do your homework.

If you are going to introduce your brand in a novel or graphic novel form, then seek out the information on these publications and industries and work towards creating the best product you can.

When I finished the first draft of Galactic Gladiators I was pleased with myself (as anyone would be after writing 100 to 120 pages).  I read it again and again searching for spelling and grammar mistakes and changing a word here or there to increase the emotion or action.

Then it was time to give it to other writers, film contacts and friends for their opinion.  Guess I did a pretty good job because the majority loved the story and overall concept.

Stage 7

When I pitched the Galactic Gladiators idea to my corporation’s shareholders they were impressed.  I explained that I needed about $20,000 for storyboards to attract ‘A’ list actors, producers and directors.   My shareholders however, reminded me that they were capitalists and wanted to know how I would make money from selling storyboards.

It seemed no matter how much I tried to get them to invest further funds they would not do so as they only would give money to produce something that could be sold in a store.  So I banged my head for a couple days until I came up with the idea to turn my needed storyboards into comic books.

Stage 8

I pulled out my comic collection and reread all my Frank Miller and Stan Lee books.  Everything from Superman, Batman to Ironman, Spiderman to Sin City, 300, Ronin, Spawn, Men In Black and Hellboy.  Always trying to figure out why these brands hit it big.  I read a few books on drawing and writing comic format.

Then I approached my company shareholders again, only this time with the focus of financing a comic series based on my Galactic Gladiators screenplay.  Because they recognized the fact that I might be able to sell comics throughout the world, they started investing.  The cost of creating, developing, printing and marketing the GG comic books cost ten times what the story boards would have.

The next installment will be titled Galactic Gladiators Part #5.

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Order my ebook – FROM THE MIND TO THE MARKET – now. It will be available later in 2009. Pre-order by contacting Info@Playdigm.com.

(c) Sandford Tuey All Rights Reserved.

Sandford Tuey continues to detail how to develop and market a brand by using his Galactic Gladiators brand as an example.

Stage 4

I purchased Movie Magic software after extensive research and talking with film and television industry contacts. Final Draft and Movie Magic are the most accepted software programs in Hollywood and I chose Movie Magic. I also read every screenplay I could get access to and watched hundreds of movies in the genre.

Writing a screenplay is a daunting task but since I  just finished the first draft of my first screenplay titled, ‘EXIT IN’ I was some what prepared for it. Exit IN is an immigration cop story where Richard Freedman, an immigration removals/detention officer, who during the escort of an illegal alien back to country of origin, loses his detainee and must complete the mission within three days or be fired allowing a major criminal to lead a deadly gang war in North America.

They say ‘write what you know’ and at that time I was working with Immigration Canada.  So I took everything I knew about this subject and added real life details to the fictional script to make it as realistic a story with drama and suspense.  I changed the names of the character to protect me. lol   Great practice for a first time screenwriter.  So practice by writing what you know as it is a great way to start learning the craft.

Stage 5

The main reason for writing Galactic Gladiators was due to some information I came across at the Film Forum during the Vancouver Film Festival (I’ve been attending this business conference since 1988).  One of the Studio types mentioned that for every dollar made at Box Office, there are three to five dollars made from DVD/VHS sales but anywhere from ten to twenty dollars made from the toys and merchandise associated with the movie.

Well it takes the same amount of time to write a drama or love story (without a toy line), as it does to write a screenplay or novel with the possibility of toys and mass merchandise branching off of it.  It made sense to come up with a concept with toy potential.

One day my son (age 8 at the time) asked me, “Dad, if aliens exist, why do they always abduct hillbillies and not the President?”  I didn’t have an answer to that but I came up with one, and that is how Galactic Gladiators was born.

The next installment will be titled Galactic Gladiators Part #4.

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Order my ebook – FROM THE MIND TO THE MARKET – now. It will be available later in 2009. Pre-order by contacting Info@Playdigm.com.

(c) Sandford Tuey All Rights Reserved.

Writers and Creators of stories, characters, novels, comics or any other intellectual property must not just think about the industry they are in.  A brand is much larger than the initial concept and how it is introduced to the public.

The original one page short story you write may be expanded into a 90 to 120 page screenplay, which in turn could be copied and pasted into word processing software and then reformatted and expanded with more details into a 300 page novel or non-fiction book. You can also reformat all this into a comic series or graphic novel (like I have done) or reformat the text into a video game script.  This allows you to diversify your one idea into many separate markets and saves a lot of time and work in gaining brand awareness.

The short story can be submitted to magazines, the screenplay to film and television producers, while the novel version can be sent to book publishers. The comic/graphic novel and video game script can be sent out to comic and video game publishers

This is a great way to move your writing project further if it is not selling or being optioned in another medium.  Diversify your brand for better sales, interest and awareness.

Multiple markets are the way to go.

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(c) Sandford Tuey All Rights Reserved.

The Making of Galactic Gladiators

Stage 1

Originally I wrote a short story to be used as a synopsis and outline for the screenplay that I wanted to write.  Standard procedure before writing the script. By putting down my thoughts on three pages of paper in the form of a short fictional story I established two things, 1) immediate copyright protection and 2) it structured my concept into three acts.  This helped with the writing of the screenplay later.

Stage 2

As I wrote the short story I had to come up with the lead characters – protagonist and antagonist, their friends and henchmen, names for the intergalactic races and describe what each of these creatures looked like.  What kind of worlds do they live on and what structure of governments, mind set, life styles or if they even lived above ground or in oceans of methane.  In a resumes form I wrote out each important item in this sci-fi action adventure. This is one of my favorite parts of developing a brand.  Using my imagination.

This stage took me four months to work out and the writing of the story took about three weeks after this research.  Of course, tweaking and improving the overall concepts happens all the time, even to this day.

Stage 3

I gave the story to friends, family and business associates to gain input and opinions. I gathered up all this data and sifted through the material.   After a couple weeks, I went back to my original story and planned out the beats of the story in a new file within the movie magic screenwriting software.  This laid the framework, the blueprint and I commenced the screenplay. As the writing went on I made positive changes to the basic concept too.

How to decide which ideas to keep and which to discard came down to repeat comments.  First, if I liked an idea I came up with or one from someone else, I would analyze how it could affect the entire story, plot or characters.  If it seemed like a good idea I kept it and incorporated it into the concept.  If the idea did not fit or was questionable, I would run it past people to see what they thought.  If many liked it, I added it to the story, if no one liked it or only a few thought it worthy, I would chuck it.  The idea had to be liked by most of the focus group people to make it into the story.

Stay tuned for the next stages of Developing the Galactic Gladiators brand.

To read Galactic Gladiators Report #1.

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Order my ebook – FROM THE MIND TO THE MARKET – now. It will be available later in 2009. Preorder by contacting  Info@Playdigm.com.

(c) Sandford Tuey All Rights Reserved.