Slated and Indie Film Production

[wilberfan]

After listening to the most recent (Jan 9/11th) episode of the Brett Easton Ellis podcast (this episode is really quite fascinating and I would urge you to give it a listen by whatever means)--and seeing the first two episodes of "Valley of the Boom" (also recommended), I learned of the existence of Stephen Paternot.

An interesting fellow with an interesting career arc so far (theGlobe.com, anyone?) his most recent venture is a Kickstarter-ish company--only for serious investors interested in film production.   What fascinates me is that he's using algorithms and data-crunching to 'predict' what should be funded and what combination of artists and filmmakers would most likely produce the 'best' (or 'most successful') results.

From an LA Weekly article on Slated:

Two years ago, combining his passion for both tech and film, Paternot launched his comeback: Slated, a website that connects filmmakers with investors.

Years ago, he astutely conceived of a virtual community where people could connect socially. This time, Paternot believes he has spotted a gap in the filmmaking community: It's too closed to outsiders. Navigating Hollywood, he felt, could be a lot easier. "It made me think, 'Why isn't the Internet solving this?'?"

He started doing research with the goal of solving "the inefficiency of fundraising and communication in Hollywood" - basically, how to help investors find worthy projects, and help filmmakers find both investors and key personnel, such as sales agents and dist
ributors.

His remedy was Slated, a filmmaking social network that already boasts 10,000 members, including Oscar-nominated producer Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, An Inconvenient Truth). Membership is free but two current members must vouch for someone wishing to join. From there, members can peruse other profiles, list their projects and see what others hav
e listed.

"We want to make it as easy to invest in a film as it is easy to buy a book on Amazon," Paternot says. Unlike Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which bring in donations, Slated is based on equity financing, wherein investors own a piece of the project - and its profits. "Those sites are a great place to start for filmmakers doing their first films," Paternot says of crowdfunding sites. "Crowdfunding is where you start. Slated is when you graduate and are in it for a career."

I'm curious if any of you have heard of Slated, if any of you have worked with Slated (or know anyone who has), etc.     A lot of things about traditional Hollywood financing and producing don't work very efficiently, so it will be interesting to see if Slated gains any traction--especially with all of the changes coming courtesy of Netflix models of production, etc.

[Sleepless]

Snakes On A Plane II?