On Sunday the 25th October I went to McM comicon so that I could network, plus go to the screening of raid redemption then ask Gareth Evans some question about the industry where im considering him as a director for my live action adaptation of GANGSTA.

The host who was leading the screening and interview was Robert Milazzo, a lecturer from the modern school of film based within America.

During the seminar they covered a lot of insightful topics, such as the convergence and impact of digital media and what it means for the industry in terms of:

Digital distribution

Newmedia platforms such as Netflix youtube ect and the opportunities it means for the indie produces, also for cult fans.

Director netflix, Director Youtube - More freedom, in that it's a free market with no restraint

Indie production advice

Advice on building our skill

And much more 

Here’s a clip from the seminar (I had another video, but it was too wobbly and out of focus - dad was the cameraman)

Afterwards i met with Gareth Evans at the meet and greet area, and asked him his opinion on directing an action adaptation into a television series; either as the main director, or the director of action choreography.

He said he would not be sure if he could do it because he may not be able to handle the stress, however, as a director of action choreography he would be in two minds about it because ideally he would like control of the whole production, although if it’s just action he could focus his attention on just directing that.

Overall the day was very useful, i found the screening then QnA very helpful as Gareth and Robert covered a lot of valuable usefully advice - talking about their experience working with a small budget and big cast, plus planning and also the troubles they faced due to censoring, overrunning schedule, casting and so on.. The topics covered during the seminar i feel have definitely helped improve my creative planning - in that it's helped me to reconsider alternative ideas (due to budget), and also be more confident about my decisions; not being intimidated by the industry accepting you because there is other avenues to gain recognition.

Interview with Gareth Evanas

Video Storyboard of the Raid 2 with the cast and crew


The Raid 2: Prison Riot (Video Storyboard) from Merantau Films on Vimeo.

Here's some clips from his films Raid and Raid 2

Examples of DC adaptation by Warner Brothers

In order to gain maximum exposure for the series I'm looking to create, i've been researching into different broadcasting platforms to publish the show for, seeing which TV channels it would suit plus how these platforms would benefit the series and vice-versa.
By the end of the blog post i hope to have a conclusion as to what TV channel i would like the series on.
(This research is built up over a few days so some sections may seem contradictory, however, they will be a conclusion towards the end of the post)

In doing this research i've found out that there's a variety of ways i could go about publishing this series for distributing across a variety of media platforms.

Syndication deal

Ideally, in producing this show, i would market it towards a syndicated distribution deal to a selection of TV stations, allowing them to buy licensing rights off of me in order to air the show in various regions in different parts of the world, gaining maximum exposure for the series, but also increasing sponsorship opportunities to help recover costs. Sort of like the Big Bang Theory, which is a popular TV sitcom that has been picked up for syndication and is shown on different TV channels. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/arts/television/17arts-THEBIGBANGTH_BRF.html?_r=0)

'The Big Bang Theory' Gets Syndication Deal

(http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/tv-economics-101-why.html) Article on licensing
(http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Syndication) Article on Syndication


Where there's a current advancement within the broadcasting industry pushing towards a technological convergence of media devices, i've researched into IPTV platforms that is slowly taking over the American market, as my show will ideally be targeting audience aged between 18-50, whom are actively engaging with new media platforms. So whilst researching into what channels i'd like to produce this show for, i've also checked to see what broadcasters provide the channels.

http://www.funimation.tv/get-the-channel/

Im not going to go into too much detail over all the conglomerates and their subsidiaries that i looked into, however, one of the companies that i've been researching is Time Warner, which is an American multinational media conglomerate. Ideally i would of liked to produce the series for The CW network ( 50% subsidiary of Warner brothers, which is owned by Time Warner) because it would fit the channels programming, but unfortunately that channel is exclusive to USA, however, i may still look into the channel because they're known to pick up syndicated series such as Crazy Talk and other syndicated series, here's an extract from an article talking about 'The CW' channel and it's involvement in syndicated TV series:

CW Predictions: Special Bubble Watch Conspiracy Edition

"So what sorts of things would we expect to see if The CW is legitimately worried about its feasibility beyond next season – or at least establishing as firm a negotiating position as possible beforehand? You’d expect to see the network get as many existing shows in as syndicatable a position as possible – say, by renewing their entire Fall lineup- at the expense of new shows that won’t live long enough to be worth anything in syndication by then. You’d expect them to push borderline shows to syndication even if they have to expand to lesser used chunks of the schedule (Summer). And you’d expect them to talk up the portions of their business model (Netflix, Streaming, International Sales) that don’t involve the portion they’re negotiating with…" 

The companies that Time Warner is responsible for is:

HBO
Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc
Warner Bros

The particular Channels that I'm interested in, to which Time Warner has a stake in is HBO and also Adult Swim. The reasons why is that these channels produce content of similar nature, plus they broadcast to a large part of the world TV audience. 
AMC is another brand i'm interested in as well because the channel receives a high percentage of the views within the American market and also has shows on its scheduling that would fit in with Gangsta, plus of recent it has expanded its service to UK (Via BT). 
AMC is available in 120 countries

Media Conglomerate.

Statistics taken from Tv by the numbers http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/07/21/list-of-how-many-homes-each-cable-network-is-in-as-of-july-2015/434373/

Schedule

At the moment i have not thought thoroughly about what time i would like the show to be on TV at, because where Adult Swim caters for the on demand audience, even if they miss a scheduled show they can catch up later via the On Demand service. So i will probably resolve the scheduling at a later date.