by Dov Kornits
“Technology is causing major disruption to the $68bn film and television business and our unique business model is set to capitalise on this trend, unlike any Australian production company has ever done before,” said Jay Grant, Partner at Reel House Productions. “The financial weight in the film industry has now shifted from cinema and broadcast television to online streaming.
“There is currently an ‘arms race’ between the streaming platforms Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and the established film industry studios such as Disney, Sony, Universal, Paramount and Warner Brothers. Each are desperate for high quality, affordable content to attract subscribers. Apple has dedicated US$6bn for content to support its new streaming service, Disney is spending US$24bn on content and Netflix is set to spend US$15bn on more than 300 projects this year.
“We will fund, produce and distribute our own movies, cutting out the middle man, which saves vast sums of money. Reel House Productions will produce a slate of low budget, high quality movies using economies of scale during film production – i.e. sharing film sets, production equipment and crews; with only the actors needing to be swapped out. We will produce and sell a slate of 6-8 movies on a rolling 12-month cycle using this business model, all based on genres proven to give high rates of return.”
That’s quite a claim for a venture capitalist with zero film industry experience, but thankfully Grant has surrounded himself with professionals, including Australian actor Costas Mandylor, who will be a part of the production committee.
Other members of the Reel House Productions team include Aussie actor and company director Tony Nikolakopoulos, Australian actor/comedian Costas Kllias (The Castle), American film producer Frankey Dey (Words and Pictures), American editor/post-production supervisor Edwin Harris, American producer Colby Mitchell (Sinners and Saints), American director/producer King Hollis, American writer/executive Lindell Singleton, and American director Will Kaufman (The Hit List). On the finances side is Geoff Moore, Director of Newhaven Group Pty Ltd, where the aforementioed Jay Grant is a senior partner.
Claiming to share many similarities with the Blumhouse Productions business model of low budget, highly profitable movies, ‘the Reel House Productions team expects revenue returns from its future slate of films to be in the vicinity of 230% for Action, 250% for Horror, 230% for Crime Thriller and 200% for Documentary, based on very conservative estimates.’
According to Tony Nikolakopoulos, “trying to replicate Lantana, Animal Kingdom, Rabbit Proof Fence, The Boys or Snowtown is not the future. Savvy production houses should be making a slate of low budget, high return movies more like Split, Saw, Paranormal Activity, Unfriended, or Get Out. The slate system that we will be pioneering in Australia prevents the downside of movie financing from being as steep as it often is for movie investors. This is a more secure way to attract investors.”
“We can build a vault of great stories quickly due to our partnerships in America,” said Jay Grant. “We have hundreds of stories good to go thanks to Reel House Productions’ relationship with Joe Lansdale, a prolific novelist and screenwriter who specialises in Crime Thrillers and Crime Noir.”
Right now, Reel House Productions is hosting an equity crowdfunding raise through Birchal.com, with investors able to own part of the company for as little as $200 and up to $10,000 for retail investors. Investors will receive ordinary shares in the company and also money can’t buy experiences such as exclusive film merchandise and memorabilia, extra roles, and VIP invitations to Premieres, set visits, wrap parties and special cast and crew screenings.
Well done. Congratulations.