Hollywood Software's TheatricalDistribution.com Signs First TDS 2000 ASP User
Hollywood Software, Inc. today announces that independent producer/distributor Providence Entertainment will become TheatricalDistribution.com’s first TDS2000 ASP (Application Service Provider) customer. TheatricalDistribution.com is Hollywood Software’s business-to-business portal offering software solutions plus film marketing and other services targeted to theatrical distributors and exhibitors. Hollywood Software is the premier developer of innovative software solutions and service for the entertainment industry.
TDS2000 ASP will give Providence Entertainment access to the same powerful theatrical distribution system that has become the industry standard for both major studios and independent film distributors. Hollywood Software’s ASP service will prove to be an invaluable resource to independent and smaller distributors that typically cannot afford to license such robust software applications or the technical staffs needed to maintain such a complex system. Hollywood Software’s engineers will host the software on the company’s servers and maintain the system around the clock.
Providence Entertainment personnel will have secured online access to TDS2000 ASP via the TheatricalDistribution.com site to book theaters, manage film prints and shipping, and handle billing, settlements, cash receipts, comparative box office performance data, customer statements and financial reporting.
David Gajda, chief executive officer of Hollywood Software, indicates, “The ASP version of TDS2000 provides the smaller, independent producers and distributors a very powerful tool that has never before been within their financial means. Now, independents such as Providence Entertainment, can book films, track bookings and collect revenue more effectively. This service will help facilitate the movement to digital cinema, which is expected to allow more independents to deal directly with the exhibitors”.
“Although we don’t currently compete head-to-head with the majors in regards to the number of screens, and film and marketing budgets, Hollywood Software’s ASP program has afforded us the ability to achieve an incredible level of electronic organization traditionally reserved only for the studios,” says J. David Williams, president, Providence Entertainment. “The access to this kind of software is coming to Providence at a time when the company is already poised for rapid expansion. It will greatly facilitate our financial decision making process, and allow us to perform all distribution, marketing and accounting procedures in a more efficient and economical fashion.”
About Providence Entertainment
Providence Entertainment is a Sherman Oaks-based theatrical distribution company that delivered such recent family films as Grizzly Falls, The Joyriders and The Omega Code (which was the second-highest grossing independent film of 1999). Providence is focused on reaching under-represented niche markets, including the family, Christian, county and Latino markets, and is committed to distributing and producing life-affirming films that entertain while exploring social and ethical values. Providence’s team of executive officers possesses nearly a century of combined experience in the motion picture industry, encompassing Hollywood studios, major independents, and management of “A” entertainment talent. Their combined experience has resulted in the production, development, marketing and distribution of some of the most successful projects in the industry.
About Hollywood Software
Hollywood Software, Inc. specializes in business and strategic applications and services for the entertainment industry. The company’s management team has extensive experience in management consulting, systems development, and strategic planning for the entertainment industry.
The company’s premier software product, TDS2000 (Patent Pending), is the only vendor-supported fully integrated client-server theatrical distribution system containing all key elements to manage film distribution. Distributors using TDS2000 include such luminaries as 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Artisan Entertainment, Lion’s Gate Entertainment, Trimark Pictures and Overseas Film Group/First Look Pictures. In addition to theater booking, TDS2000 also includes features that manage theatrical prints and shipping, billing, settlements, cash receipts, comparative box office performance data, customer statements and financial reporting. TDS2000 is fully scalable from single user to several hundred users to meet the needs of both major and independent content producers. The system interfaces with internal systems and external entities, such as Technicolor and ETS for print distribution, and Entertainment Data Inc (EDI) for theater performance information.
Hollywood Software recently showcased another software solution, RightsMart.com, at AFM and Cannes. RightsMart.com is a powerful, proactive tool that facilitates the acquisition, marketing and distribution of global media rights over the Internet. Operating seven days a week, 24 hours a day in five different languages, RightsMart.com is positioned to become the leading global Virtual Film Market. RightsMart.com provides buyers with the ability to search online for available features, shorts, direct-to-video products, TV movies, episodic series and specials. Trailers, promos and one sheets can all be viewed online using Microsoft’s Media Manager technology. Buyers can establish complex product searches that will automatically send notification of new products and availabilities that meet their pre-defined criteria. Producers can list product availabilities for narrowly-defined the media, territories and languages.
The company will also introduce RightsMart Back Office by the end of calendar 2000. RightsMart Back Office will become the industry standard for licensing and administering property rights to all media including international theatrical sub-distribution, free and pay television. RightsMart BackOffice will manage contract administration, sales and receivables, availabilities reporting, and all other functions associated with rights administration, distribution and licensing. In addition, new digital requirements such as embedded e-commerce and micro-cent transaction capability will be fully integrated.
TDS2000, RightsMart.com and RightsMart Back Office are components of Hollywood Software’s Digital Studio System (DSS), a fully integrated suite of applications that is being developed by Hollywood Software to strategically leverage and administer content in the emerging digital world. Look for other pieces of the architecture to be announced later this year.
For additional information, please contact Hollywood Software, Inc., 1604 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Suite 115, Hollywood, CA 90028. Phone: (323) 463-2144. FAX: (323) 463-1319. Email: info@hollywoodsoftware.com or david_gajda@hollywoodsoftware.com. Web sites: www.hollywoodsoftware.com, www.theatricaldistribution.com, and www.Rightsmart.com.
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