Data on Demand
Hollywood Software Helps Distributors Manage Information
By Andreas Fuchs
“You probably focus on the onscreen action when watching a movie in a theatre, but the action behind the scenes is what makes your filmgoing experience possible. From booking to billing, Hollywood Software Inc.’s TDS2000 products makes movie distribution easier for theatres and distributors to handle.”
- Visual Basic Programmer’s Journal, March 2000, Vol. 10, #3, Fawcett Technical Publications
Now that we’ve reached the year 2001 of Stanley Kubrick’s eternally ethereal Space Odyssey, it seems appropriate to continue our series on how bits and bytes are affecting the business side of things in much the same way they have already changed the creative and technological aspects. It no longer takes the malfunctioning of HAL 900, but a simple “Fatal Exception Error” message from Windows or AOL, to show how much computers, software applications and Internet tools are helping us daily (or not). And, to stay with Kubrick’s masterwork, how many times have theatre owners felt like being thrown a bone, not to mention the monolithic mystery of settlement?
In this edition, meet the makers who developed the latest software that has Hollywood downloading dates, clicking for contracts and going online for grosses. Tinseltown’s very own hometown paper called them “Hollywood’s High-Tech Bookkeeper” (The Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 16 ,2000) and Business Week (Nov. 1, 1999) called their wares “the stuff of a movie mogul’s dreams.”
Visual Basic Programmer’s Journal made them “Basic Heroes” for “Film Distribution Made Easy” while the Microsoft “Line of Business Case Study” (published on Microsoft’s corporate website in January 2000) described in detail how Hollywood Software Inc.’s Theatrical Distribution System (TDS2000) “handles the planning, booking, print distribution and receivable collection for films produced by studios [and independents]: Based on Windows NT and SQL Server, TDS2000 simplifies and streamlines the management of the voluminous amounts of information required to effectively run a theatrical release.”
And, yes, even behind every Microsoft Certified Solution Provider, there are real and enterprising people who see a need for improvement and have found a way to address the way things have been done in our industry for years. Founded in 1997, Hollywood Software, Inc. (HSI) is privately held by co-founders David Gajda, chief executive officer, and Robert Jackovich, who, as company president and VP of application architecture, heads the Orange County based development and programming office. Film Journal International met with Gajda at the well-designed and rather hip headquarters in the center of the revitalized media district that the company’s name so proudly holds. Having worked in over 28 international territories during the last 12 years, Gajda is now calling Hollywood his home and fostering its revival not only in terms of business software but also in terms of its stately hardware. In addition to actively enjoying landmark movie spots such as the newly opened Vista Theatre on Sunset Drive, he is on the board of the Hollywood Business Improvement District, which does not green-light movies, but is the driving force behind much of the rejuvenation going on in the city of Hollywood.
“Before we started with Hollywood Software, I owned and managed another consulting firm that helped entertainment companies develop their three- to five-year strategic systems plans, among other things,” Gajda says, delineating the company history that ultimately led to its flagship Theatrical Distribution System (TDS). As a consultant, his high-profile clients included BMG Entertainment, EMI Music, Orion Pictures, Sony Pictures, Spelling Entertainment, Universal Music N.A. and Windham Hill Records. Special project assignments came from Capitol Records, MGM, New Line Cinema, Rysher Entertainment and Savoy Entertainment. “While talking to all the different clients, we realized that there was not one software package available that would address the specific needs of our industry. At the same time, the existing film distribution systems that, in most cases were 15 years old, needed to be updated or replaced due to Y2K compliance issues.”
The resulting TDS2000 application made its debut with the 2,502-print release of Artisan Entertainment’s Wes Craven production Wish Master on Sept. 19,1997. Thirty-five titles and who knows how many bookings later, HSI helped Artisan catapult The Blair Witch Project from 27 to 2,400 screens in just four weeks. Artisan’s executive VP of domestic theatrical distribution, Steve Rothenberg, “is one of the true forward thinkers in our industry,” Gajda declares. “Artisan jumped in when TDS was a very new concept, and recognized that it offered a real-time, PC-based, user-friendly and affordable solution to theatrical distribution problem.”
In the interim, several majors hired consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers to review their needs as distributors, along with day-to-day tasks and operational requirements. Starting by planning and booking theatrical engagements with print counts and shipping instructions (TDS interfaces directly with Technicolor or ETS), then going over gross collections (downloading distribution data from ACNielsen/EDI) all the way to theatrical settlements, co-op advertising and payment processing, the system design implemented a multiplicity of tasks. “TDS is modular in design,” adds Gajda, “and has been developed with enhanced user and data-entry efficiencies. HSI has both licensing and ASP [Application Service Provider] models that offer scalability for a number of users and releases in order to accommodate both majors and independent distributors.”
No wonder TDS then passed the “comprehensive stress test” and “code review” administered by PriceWaterhouseCoopers with flying colors. “We were able to put at rest,” Gajda says, “the studio’s concerns that an independent friendly start-up could not handle the volume generated by a major motion picture in North America.” And what a volume it is: 17,000 theatres housing more than 37,000 screens. Depending on the distributor, between five and 25 films each year playing on an average of 2,500 screens at 2,000 different locations. Resulting data volumes are between two and 12 Gigabytes, with literally millions of detailed transactions clocking in at an average rate of 5,000 per day while simultaneous users range between six and 250 for current TDS customers.
The next milestone came with Star Wars Episode I, which proved the successful integration of Hollywood Software’s interface with 20th Century Fox’s existing data of more than 43 million historical box-office records called “8-Ball.” David Gajda credits Justin Yaros, Fox’s senior VP and chief information officer, along with the estimable Tom Sherak, for green-lighting TDS and renaming it internally within Fox as the Falcon Systems software (after Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon, “the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy”), Here is how Business Week (Nov. 1, 1999) described “some techie’s celluloid fantasy” that in fact gives a real competitive advantage in making the right marketing choices. “You’re about to release a new flick, but you’re not sure which theatres will give you the most mileage for your marketing buck. How, for example, will it play in Peoria? So you dip in the company’s computerized database….In a flash, you can analyze which spots have rung up the most box-office receipts with similar films in the past….Wham! Bam! Just like that.”
The rest is (almost) history. Currently managing the efforts of 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Classics, Universal Studios, and Universal Focus, along with preferred clients Artisan Entertainment, Lions Gate Films, Overseas Film Group/First Look Pictures, Shooting Gallery, Providence Entertainment and Trimark Pictures. David Gajda and his team have created a new standard in the industry. HSI also just announced an agreement with Fox to develop a state-of-the-art software system to facilitate the placement of co-op advertising for theatrical films.
In addition to winning new clients, HSI has many more ideas for the merging digital world. HSI is in discussions with several major studios to take TDS2000 international in 2001 and enable worldwide film releases through one unified system. Best of all, they are also negotiating with certain domestic and international exhibition circuits to provide the same planning, booking and rental-settlement capabilities to the exhibition side of the business, with the long-term goal of linking distributors and exhibitors in anticipation of digital distribution. “our solutions are aimed at creating a marketplace for everyone within the industry,” says Gajda. “That way, we can impartially leverage technology for everyone’s long-term benefit and be uniquely positioned to provide other services that bring distributors and exhibitors closer together, like the automated updating of exhibitors theatre data.”
RightsMart.com is another HSI product line that basically represents a virtual film market “designed to facilitate the acquisition, marketing and distribution of global media rights over the Internet,” according to Gajda. “We will offer the back-office product, as well, that will manage contract administration, sales and receivables, availabilities reporting, and all other functions associated with rights administration 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 our Digital Studio System (DSS), a fully integrated suite of applications that we are currently developing.”
While we eagerly await the latest developments, David Gajda invites FJI readers to utilize the power of the Web at the company’s address for distributors and exhibitors, www.TheatricalDistribution.com . Launched last June, “our business-to-business portal provides many original online film marketing and distribution services to domestic feature film industry. Exhibitors from around the world can check out U.S. film release schedules and marketing materials, view trailers and use links to interact with distributors and other industry providers directly through the website.”
In another first, Polestar Entertainment Group used the site to market their new film Hobbs Landing directly to exhibitors . “As more and more producers and independent distributors seeks access to the theatrical marketplace,” Gajda predicts, “it will only become more difficult for exhibitors to connect with the increasing amount of commercially viable product. In response, we have instituted an ASP [Application Service Provider] version of our flagship theatrical distribution software to be available on a subscription basis via the www.TheatricalDistribution.com site. TDS2000 ASP will allow newer producers and distributors access to a powerful theatrical distribution system at a low-cost entry point.” Will this be the end of distribution as we know it? HAL would probably know. Or maybe Steven Spielberg will tell us in A.I.
The Goods: Hollywood Software Products & Services
TDS2000™ is the only vendor-supported Theatrical Distribution system on the market today. The system supports the complete business process required to distribute films, including bookings, box-office grosses, settlements, receivables, print shipping, etc. Hollywood Software, Inc. has licensing models that offer scalability for number of users and releases, which allow HSI to offer this software to small, independent as well as the major studios. The TDS2000 theatrical distribution system has become the industry standard, with three major studios and several independents currently using the application.
TDS2000/ASP™ is a subscription-based way to use the only fully integrated client-server Theatrical Distribution system containing all the key elements to process bookings and receivables without any infrastructure or MIS staff, via the Internet.
RightsMart.com™ is a powerful, proactive tool to facilitate the acquisition 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 a centralized virtual film market where buyers and sellers can list and locate unexploited rights for features, shorts, direct-to-video, TV movies, episodic series, specials, and made-for-Internet products. The emergence of lower-cost digital filming will fuel an explosion of product. At the same time, the demand for product will increase to fulfill the expanding content needs of cable, the Internet and international markets. Enhancing exploitation opportunities for entertainment product by bringing sellers and buyers together is the primary mission of RightsMart.com.
RightsMart/BackOffice™ is in the advance stages of design and development. RightsMart/BackOffice will be positioned to become the industry standard for back-office support of Rights Management. RightsMart/BackOffice will be integrated with Hollywood Software’s other products such as RightsMart.com and will be offered under licensing or service-bureau agreements.
HSI Consulting provides specialized business-consulting services to the entertainment industry. HSI consulting resources have experience in theatrical, video, television, music, publishing and financial-business sectors. Its client base includes many of the major entertainment providers, as well as emerging startups. HSI Consulting has conducted high-level strategic systems planning for Sony Pictures, EMI Music, BMG Entertainment, Orion Pictures, Rysher Entertainment and Universal Music, and continues to deliver quality consulting expertise for requirements analysis and system integration to other entertainment companies such as 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, MGM, and Spelling Entertainment.
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.
